Exclusive: Win your very own Picasso for just a few $$$

 A few years ago Whispers attended an exhibition of paintings by the legendary Pablo Picasso at the Art Gallery of NSW. What struck us at the time was so many of the more famous ones were actually quite small.

Who owns a Picasso in Sydney.? Well the late famed Sydney architect Harry Seidler (right)  had one on the wall  just outside his bathroom at his amazing apartment at Kirribilli overlooking Luna Park as Whispers discovered at a party there many moons ago. (That was a small one as well.)

Now you too can own a Picasso by buying a ticket for 100 Euros or approx $A163 in this ambitious lottery. 

And it's all for charity by   who will use funds raised to build and rehabilitate wells, washing facilities and toilets in villages and schools in Cameroon, Madagascar and Morocco. 

# Or you could just donate to the charity but remember- 
You Have To Be In It To Win It !!

Below: some snaps from the Picasso exhibition at the NSW Art Gallery including Ros Packer with MP Simon Crean.

### Pablo Picasso's  Nude, Green Leaves and Bust  (right) sold for a mere  $106.5Million in 2010.

To buy a ticket to win your own Picasso go here:

https://1picasso100euros.com/pages/painting

# Whispers has been unwell but has crawled back from death and defeated The Devil (or was it God?) and thus has sadly disappointed so many of our 1000s of readers especially in Russia and the USA with our intermittent reports on Sydney Society (intermittent itself at the best of times)  

But we are back with a vengeance !

21 : and Just For Fun

Anyone brought up in Sydney will recall the motto of the fun park Luna Park : Just For Fun. Situated with possibly the most commanding views of Sydney Harbour it was the location for media heiress Francesca Packer Barham to celebrate her 21st birthday. Francesca is the daughter of the late Kerry Packer's only daughter Gretel Packer and her ex-husband British banker Nick Barham. When she's not partying at Luna Park, Francesca hangs out with the likes of Tom Cruise and Robert de Niro on her uncle James Packer's cruiser in the Mediterranean.
Pictured is Francesca ( as a Minnie Mouse character) with PR supremo Roxy Jacenko of 'Sweaty Betty' fame and below, a snap of some other fancy dressed guests.

Very Sharp

Martin Sharp & Fairley Kingston

Artist Martin Sharp has a new exhibition at the Damien Minto Gallery in Redfern and as always, it's not too be missed. Sharp has been ill for some time but he still made the opening night along with many old pals from the past.
You can also watch the superb ABC TV documentary on Sharp : The Sharp Edge - The Art of Martin Sharp .here
 And of course you can just look across the harbour and beneath the Harbour Bridge to the wonderful entrance face to Luna Park, painted by Martin.

Damien Minton Gallery, 583 Elizabeth St, Redfern, 2016
 Tel : 9699 7551

Graceland : Tue 6 - Sat 17 August 2013

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Earth to the noted Sydney fashion Designer, much beloved by the Sunday tabloid gossip merchants :
When you post your preferred voting intentions on Facebook ( perfectably reasonable) it's probably best not to say the country should by run by businessmen and as a corporation when your own business went belly-up a few years ago leaving dozens of small creditors out of pocket, some who lost their businesses and had to take out mortgages to pay debts, whilst you re-surfaced in a large mansion and opened new boutiques. Why do these words spring to mind : Boliva, marching, powder.

Going Out In Style

Luna Park

Darryn Lyons

Some years ago the Shuttle attended a function at one of Sydney's most fab restaurants Quay.
 With it's glorious views over the Sydney Opera House, the Harbour Bridge and Luna Park (motto : 'Just For Fun') and a reputation as one of the world's top restaurants, it was one of those parties you just don't turn down.

The occasion was the Australian launch of Big Pictures- a newish paparazzi agency that was set to take Australia (and the UK ) by storm.

In typical Shuttle faux pas style we questioned just who was the conservatively suited rotund chap before us (protectively eyeing our third glass of Moët).
" I am Big Picture", he responded.
For it was he : the (not yet) cockatoo haired Darryn Lyons, late of Bendigo in Victoria and soon to take London by storm.
Sadly it's all come adrift. While the broadcaster Alan Jones' (left) media career seems to be plunging downwards- only days after the Shuttle sipped drinks with him at tailor John Serafinos's 50th year celebrations-so too is Big Picture grinding to halt with the announcement that it is in administration.  Read it all in the Press Gazette.

Picture : News Corp Boss Sleeps In Street

Luna Park

John Hartigan

There he is in our snap-John Hartigan the boss of Rupert Murdoch's News Ltd empire in Australia.

He'll be sleeping rough tonight at Luna Park (motto : Just For Fun) along with over 200 other CEOs to raise awareness and cash for Sydney's homeless which is reaching epidemic proportions.

In a city where one house (Altona) just went on the market for an estimated sale price of $60 million, there are families living rough in caravans, cars, on church steps while hundreds of young people sleep rough at train stations and so on.

The Mathew Talbot men's hostel in Woolloomooloo, just a stones throw from the Finger Wharf with some of the countries most expensive restaurants and the penthouses of Russell Crowe and broadcaster John Laws, accommodates around 35000 people a year and serves 600 meals a day.

So far the combined CEOs have raised over $1,230,000 $3,326,064 but aim to quadruple that overnight. Hartigan, who reckons he can "sleep on barbed wire " is the biggest fundraiser to date.

You can go to the website of the CEO Sleep out 'Rise To The Challenge' and donate in the name of your favourite CEO (if you have one/) or register to sleep-out with them