Sad passing as David Grant dies

David Grant and partner Katerina

Special events organizer David Grant has died from a brain tumor at age 55. David was the genius behind the legendary Cointreau Balls organized by PR supremos Deeta Colvin and Nikki Andrews. A few hundred select people including international guests were ferried by limousine to secret locations all over Sydney to be greeted by unforgettable scenarios created by the genius Grant.

David then went onto design shindigs at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and was soon in demand by Olympic Committees around the world who commissioned him to organize their parties and social events. These had to be perfect considering the dignitaries including crowned heads of state who attend. Along the way he was hired by US presidents and world leaders to put together unforgettable events. David was a much loved personality, funny and charming who always remembered every person and every name. A sad loss indeed and most especially for his family- wife Katerina who David married this September and sons Seigfried, Max, Jack and Lewis, his parents, Bill and Maggie and brothers, Michael and Peter, and first wife, Lisa.

# Unforgettable Cointreau Balls included a circus tent on the sand hills at Wanda near Cronulla, Beach and various factories around Sydney and the Maritime Museum with a Titanic theme.. Guests would be collected by limo (impossible to book one for the night) and delivered to an unknown location to dine on cuisine by Sydney's best chefs, sip champagne and of course, drink Cointreau.  Below: scenes from the Cointreau Ball

It's A Girl !..but not a Princess yet

Not long ago we chided a Sydney columnist for gushing that Royalty, in the form of horse loving Zara Phillips, had attended the Magic Millions on the Gold Coast in Queensland. Zara is a commoner as are all children born to those with Royal titles unless HM The Queen confers titles upon them.
Of course Her Maj usually does as a matter of course unless the parents decide otherwise as in Zara's case where her parents HH Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips decided to turn down the offer.
While a colonial writer and even a New York paper (as out pic shows) may be forgiven for making a common mistake, it's unacceptable for British newspapers who have also elevated the Duchess & Duke of Cambridge's newly born daughter to Princess status when, in reality she is a commoner at this stage. Talk about slack fact checking!.
Nothing is guaranteed in the world of Royalty where they ( and their handlers / courtiers) more than anyone judge the mood of the general public.
 Kate and William may just decide to accept no title for the new bub,
Time will tell but I'm sure she's a little princess in their eyes.


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Fairfax Fail : The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age have both failed in the fact checking
department. Are we being pedantic?. I think not as this indicates how journalists these days fail to do the most basic fact checking.
Calling the new baby a "princess" is simply wrong until the Monarch confers a title upon her.
In fact she will not even strictly be a 'royal' unless she is given a peerage as well which is why her parents were created the Duke & Duchess of Cambridge which is also why her grandfather Prince Phillip was created the Duke of Edinburgh before he married the Queen so that she would not be marrying a commoner.
Last month with such sloppy fact-checking we had 2 large publishers killing of Australian actress Nell Campbell on the claim she was comedienne Tracey Ullman's mother.
# Even Whispers is less than perfect. We did forget that the recently born and now (created by the Monarch of Great Britain) Her Royal Highness the Princess Charlotte of Cambridge was a Lady from the word go. Being the daughter of a Duke & Duchess she is entitled to that title.
Critics again have attacked me for being pedantic which is nonsense. British titles are a powerful legal entity crafted over centuries of law making. The new Royal Princess could one day also be the Queen of Australia. We aren't a Republic yet (if ever) and it's sad that major media outlets in this country can display such ignorance. What other mistakes are they making?
It's remarkable that newspapers that lived and breathed the late princess Diana have ignored the fact that she felt the cruelest blow to her after divorcing the future King, Prince Charles was losing her Royal status.

The Real Thing

The Gold Coast is nothing if not colourful and glitzy in a sort of refreshing way that Sydney and Melbourne could take more notice of.
The Magic Millions is now one of the world's great race meetings with prizes that dwarf others. Obviously an injection of cash from (always complaining) retailer Gerry Harvey and his wife Katie is welcome. Yet the often clueless social writers who snatch their freebie flights and Casino hotel rooms in Queensland and breathlessly report on the z-list celebs that attend always forget whose idea it always was and who put the whole idea of a race meet on the Gold Coast into motion, against the odds, and was successful

Angela Belle McSweeney

And credit for that goes to Sydney socialite Angela Belle McSweeney who comes from a well known racing family. It was Angela's brainchild and it was her efforts that eventually saw Queensland's recalcitrant racing officials finally concede that her idea had merit.
The Magic Millions should always pay homage to one of Australia's more interesting public relation's experts and entrepreneurs.
Here are a couple of snaps from this year's event.
 Princess Anne's commoner daughter Zara Phillips (hey guys- she is not Royalty which was  the whole idea of her parents not giving her a title) and one of Sydney's glam couples, fine vodka purveyor Vitek Czernuszyn (right)and his always glamorous wife Deborah Thomas who is head honcho at Bauer Media and doubles up as a Double Bay councilor in her spare time, with a couple of good looking chaps.

Earth to the Channel Ten TV network....

     The Magic Millions -one of Queensland's Gold Coast social events on the racing calendar wasn't the 'brainchild' of advertising man John Singleton and billionaire Gerry Harvey.

 It was the brainchild of publicity guru Angela Belle McSweeney . Angela conceived of the idea-put it together and launched what is set to become a race with the biggest cash prize in the world. Angela also helped build the Dubai Cup into a world major racing event and is often a guest BBC reporter at the Ascot races.

  Do your research folks- Singleton and Harvey took over the enterprize only recently and Singleton's most 'brilliant' idea to date was to bring American Pie actress Tara Reid ( who she?) out as the 'celebrity' guest a year after he launched his Bondi Blonde Beer with the oh-so-yesterday Paris Hilton.

Gerry Harvey & John Singleton demonstrate that adopting the late Kerry Packer's motto "always play to the lowest common denominator" pays off !