LattéLife's New Power Base

Nicole & Keith               Matt Handbury           Reg Grundy               Miriam Margolyes                 James Fairfax

It's like a roll call of Australia's most powerful citizens : businessmen like billionaire poker machine king Len Ainsworth, properly mogul Theo Onosforou, show biz giants Nicole Kidman, Keith Urban, Miriam Margolyes and Reg Grundy, publishing family scions James Fairfax and Matt Handbury, horse trainer Gae Waterhouse and artists John Olsen and Tim Storrier.

Bill Ranken                John Olsen                          Theo Onosforuw                         Len Ainsworth                    Tim Storrier

All have two things in common- they live in beautiful homes in the surrounds of NSW's gorgeous Southern Highlands just an hour's drive from Sydney and all will be amongst the readers of LattéLife's new Highland's edition of the popular Eastern suburb's newspaper.
In a few short years LatteLife has grown to a circulation of 50,000 in Sydney with the new edition boosting that to 80,000 to an audience that now contains a concentration of the most powerful Australians in politics, business and the arts.
Two experienced editors have been appointed- Monique Butterworth will oversee the Sydney edition while Bowral local Alex Speed will take on local newspapers. Both will continue the current lively mix of news, interviews with locals , colourful offerings from social snapper Bill Ranken (who fortunately lives in both places- Elizabeth Bay and on a splendid property near Goulborn) motoring tips from Aaron Zerefos and the newsy snippets that have drawn advertisers flocking to the pages, making rivals look decidedly dull by comparison.

New editors: Monique Butterworth and Alex Speed :  below -local scenery

Bushells Tea, Murdochs, China & Ewan Mcgregor

Altona                                              Carthona                                                    Iona

The only news that really matters in this town is property prices. One week they are up, the next down according to our scribes on the tabloids totally uninfluenced by the massive amount of advertising dollars that stream in to the dead tree press.
Naturally news today that Sydney's "most expensive house" Altona has sold for a whopping $50M plus has pulses racing. It's been snapped up by a Chinese mega millionaire 75 year old Xiuzhen Ding who also owns a splendid bay side manor in  Melbourne.

As the Shuttle has reported before, Altona in Point Piper was once owned by Rupert Murdoch's nephew Matt Handbury and his then wife Fiona. They held superb parties attended by the likes of yours truly. Fiona copped Altona in a divorce settlement, promptly sold it for a reputed $29M to publisher Deke Miskin, and then nipped off to the UK  to join the British aristocracy as Lady Dartmouth when she married William Legge the grandson of legendary romance novelist Barbara Cartland and stepbrother to the late Princess Diana.

         The Handburys                            Chris & Tracey-Ann Oxley

Just around the corner from Altona in Darling Point is a complex of 3 houses owned by one family, the Oxleys who inherited the Bushells Tea fortune. Carthona sits in the middle, a magnificent Gothic pile which Tom Cruise once tried to buy for Nicole Kidman.  On one side is Beach House and on the other is the superb new modern abode built for Christopher Oxley with, as the other two houses have, the most commanding views of Sydney Harbour that sweep from the Opera House to The Heads.

It was an appropriate location for the launch of a new LG $16K television set  launched at great expense today by LG's "ambassador", movie star Ewan McGregor. Ewan reckons this TV makes him look sensational , or as he puts it more simply :"just say that they're fucking good tellys". The tellys go on sale around the world later this year. Ewan also had some nice words to say about Baz Luhrmann who directed him in Moulin Rouge, describing his  1996 flick Romeo & Juliet as one of the "great movies of all time". Luhrmann's own house Iona, the 1880's mansion in Darlinghurst is also on the market for $15M.

A Former Murdoch's Hubby Is Arrested

Dramas in the household of the Earl of Dartmouth according to the the Daily Mail as his lordship is arrested on suspicion of assault following a domestic dispute.

 The Earl is the son of Raine Spencer who was the second wife of Earl Spencer, the father of Diana Princess of Wales.

Fiona  & Matt when she was a Handbury

He was arrested after his wife the Countess of Dartmouth telephoned police after he became 'disoriented' when he woke up with a start. M'lady says that nothing dramatic really happened. The Countess was formerly Fiona Handbury and married to Matt Handbury the son of Rupert Murdoch's late sister Helen Handbury. Matt inherited around $100M along with Murdoch Magazines although he has recently lost a considerable fortune through failed investments.

                                                        

The Handbury's lived in one of Sydney's most magnificent harbour-side mansions, Altona, currently on the market for around $54M. Fiona received Altona as apart of a divorce settlement and sold it for $29M before moving to the UK and joining the British aristocracy. Matt and Fiona hosted sensational parties at Altona where Matt would entertain fronting his own rock'n'roll band.

The Earl is an hereditary peer and a Member of the European Parliament for the UK Independence Party which amongst other polices wants to leave the EU, crack down on crime, defend Britain's borders and a host of other motherhood style things that you can read about here in their manifesto.

Raine                              Barbara                                Mohamed                           Diana                                   Teddy

** The Shuttle was once presented with a delightful Harrods Teddy Bear by Raine Spencer : she was a spruiker for Harrods and it's owner Mohamed Fayed, traveling the world and dispensing cuddly bears to needy journalists. Raine's mother was the charming pink enveloped Romance Novelist Dame Barbara Cartland.

What a complicated world we live in !

A Sydney Pad for Ricky Martin (& kids)

He's due to arrive in late February with the family in tow : Ricky Martin is looking for somewhere to bed down in Sydney and live La Vida Loca with partner Carlos Gonzalez Abella and of course, their twin boy bubs and presumably a coterie of assistants and nannies.

Martin is replacing Keith Urban on The Voice for 2013 and is looking for digs near Fox Studios where the show will be filmed. The Shuttle's hears a Martin rep has been in town for 2 weeks checking out suitable  properties and several have taken his eye with details dispatched back to Martin who has just taken possession of a new New York apartment.

First up is the sensational Altona in Point Piper, once the home of Rupert Murdoch's nephew Matt Handbury and his wife Fiona. Fiona scored Altona as part of a divorce settlement and sold it for around $29M before fleeing to the UK and joining the aristocracy as the Countess of Dartmouth.

Altona is on the market for around $54M but it can rented for $40,000 a month. It comes with a harbor side swimming pool and a jetty with a boathouse (handy for security guards).

Altona                                                                                  The Astor                                Packer's Bondi beach house

 Another property looked at is the grand 1920's apartment block in Macquarie Street in the city :The Astor. The 2 storey 5 bedroom luxury apartment is being sold by Yellow Brick Road boss Mark Bouris who fronts the TV show The Apprentice as a local Donald Trump but with better hair. The Astor apartment is going for four grand a week and was once owned by Barry Humphries. It has superb harbour views.

And discreet inquiries have been made about James Packer's luxury Bondi pad that was recently put quietly on the market for $20M.
 Ricky can basically pick and choose from any number of Eastern Suburb mansions. Many have lingered on the market for years now while owners ask impossibly high prices.
As for Martin's spiritual health- he is a Buddhist -we also hear his rep made a visit to the Nan Tien Temple (right) in Woolongong.

Jack Vidgen Joins Eric Bana & A Murdoch

Getty

YOTS patron Eric B

Having picked up a prize of $250,000 with his spectacular win in the latest Australia's Got Talent, 14 year old Jack Vidgen has been revealing how he plans to spend some of the money.

A new Audi is on the cards- for Mum ( Jack has 2 more years to go before he gets his P plates) but Jack also wants to donate to charity with has heart set on Youth Of The Streets, YOTS the charity started and run by Catholic priest Father Chris Riley . YOTS provides services to assist homeless and disadvantaged, abused and neglected youth.

And Jack joins some high profile names- actor Eric Bana is the charities patron and publisher Matt Handbury, nephew of Rupert Murdoch has been a patron of YOTS for decades. Handbury donated a farm to YOTS in NSW to be used as a rural retreat for deprived city kids.

Vidgen is working on his first album having been signed by Sony and the song he wowed audiences with, Yes I Am is now available on iTunes here.

For more about Youth Of The Streets go to their website here.

A Recipe For Wagyu Beef From Ezekiel

That's what award winning chef Peter Gilmore told the guests last night at The Quay restaurant at a dinner to celebrate the San Pellegrino restaurant awards. Apparently the recipe was inspired the Ezekiel passages in the Bible.

Peter Gilmore

He was talking about the main dish of a lavish  banquet at Sydney's top restaurant that sits by the harbour and has spectacular views over the the Opera House, the Harbour Bridge and points beyond.



The dinner for about 25 was in the upstairs dining room that was once an outlook station for pilots when The Quay was a part of the Overseas Terminal where ocean liners once berthed on a weekly basis.

Quay has again been named amongst the World's Top 5o Best Restaurants in the San Pellegrino restaurant awards. It clocked in at no 26, up one place from last year at the awards which were announced in April at the Guildhall in London.

If they dined on Wagyu beef in Biblical times like that enjoyed last night, they certainly ate well.

Three other locals came in the top 100-Tetsuyas and Marque in Sydney , and Attica  in Melbourne. The Copenhagen restaurant Norma was voted No One for the second year running (a favourite of Prince Frederick and Princess Mary of Denmark) and a Stockholm establishment- Lilla Nygatan was named as the 'one to watch'.
                                              **********************************

Altona

For a lazy $60 million the harbour-side mansion Altona in Point Piper can be yours according to adverts that have appeared in a local Eastern Suburb's newspaper.

Publishers  Deke and Eve Miskin have just put the house on the market. They bought it from Fiona Handbury, the ex-wife of Rupert Murdoch's nephew Matt Handbury for $28m in 2002.
Fiona, who has re-married to William Legge, the grandson of the romance novelist Barbara Cartland, is now the Countess of Dartmouth and received the mansion in a divorce settlement.

The Miskins are moving to the northern playground of Byron Bay and for the past 3 years have let the house out to celebrities like  Hugh Jackman. One actor who has inspected the property with a view to buy-Russell Crowe .

Arise Gina Rinehart -Media Baroness

What is happening with Australia's richest woman Gina Rinehart ?. 

2 years ago she was content with quietly cruising the Mediterranean after a protracted legal  battle with her ex-mother-in-law Rose Hancock Porteus, the Filipino maid who married Gina's dad, the late West Australian mining magnate Lang Hancock when he was 70. Gina, who was left a $4.5 billion fortune by her father claimed there had been skulduggery over her father's death although it came to nought.

Now she has embarked on media buying frenzy and looks set to join her Perth friend the billionaire Kerry Stokes who moved east and swept up the Seven TV Network along with Pacific Magazines which he purchased from Rupert Murdoch's nephew Matt Handbury.

Today Gina bought just under 5% of Fairfax Media, publishers of the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age in Melbourne along with several chains of suburban newspapers. Fairfax are the only serious rivals to the News Ltd empire. 

2 months ago, as the young tycoons Lachlan Murdoch and James Packer banded together to purchase 17% of the Ten TV Network, 4 weeks later Reinhardt  stumped down a few million for a 10% stake in Ten.

Just 6 months ago the normally reclusive Gina clambered aboard a pick-up truck in a Perth park opposite the Hyatt Hotel  to protest then PM Kevin Rudd's proposed 40 % mining tax. Reinhardt was joined by fellow miner and billionaire Andrew 'Twiggy' Forrest. She helpfully handed out printed placards to the arriving protesters-all mining workers. 

Has this new public profile sparked of a deisre to become a player and power broker in the media world ?

Photo Finish !



Gai & Robbie Waterhouse, Hoda Vakili and Tom Waterhouse



Too many parties, too much champagne !.

Our discovery of the week : a travelling cocktail cabinet filled with Pommery Champagne. This we like.



The gorgeous Racheal Finch



It was at the  hot young bookmaker Tom Waterhouse's launch of his betting website at the Beach Haus nightclub in Kings Cross : http://www.tomwaterhouse.com/ : online betting.

Tom's family has been in the horse racing game for over 100 years. His mum Gai Waterhouse is Australia's (and one of the world's) top trainers who has trained so many winners she has billionaires and Middle East potentates battering down her door to have her train their stallions at her stud.



Terri Biviano & Tim Holmes a` Court

His dad is Robbie Waterhouse who had a slight mis-hap with a nag named Fine Cotton. Something about daubing it with paint and a substitution  horse. A few million bucks was won on the betting tote. The whole scheme came crashing down and Robbie was 'warned off' the course for awhile but he's back in business.



a Pommery cabinet !



But it's young Tom who has taken over the family mantle and he gave me a few tips for the track :

"it's always easier to back winners in the first half of a race meeting"-"if the track is heavy and the favourite is odds on, get on"- "if you like a horse and you are surprised the odds are longer than you expected, don't alter your bet, bet the amount you intended. Value is king"

So there it is, straight from the horse's mouth as they say.

                                             

 ***********************************

OK, enough already !. We've had a few dozen emails demanding to see our snaps of gal about town Sharon Sargeant who took the ritzy Black and White Ball crowd by storm in her glittering red outfit.



Here are 2 to go on with.  Sharon is launching her own website soon so check back for the address. She promises us you won't be disappointed.



The Parliamentarian who makes grown men tremble-Bronwyn Bishop MP & B&W president Sue Diver

# A special mention must go to Tamburlaine Organic Wines (alcoholic !) from the Hunter Valley who supplied their superb tipple at the Black & White Ball. Visit their website :  http://www.mywinery.com/. Not only  a very nice drop, healthy to boot !
                                     *******************************************

The Quay Restaurant is world famous. This year it was voted Number 27 on the coveted S.Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurant’s list, to become the highest ranked Australian restaurant in the world, as well as rewriting Australian restaurant award history by scoring a “double double” win, having been named Restaurant of The Year for the second consecutive year in the industry’s two top awards, the Australian Gourmet Traveller Restaurant Awards 2010 and The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2010.



Leon & Margaret Fink



Chef Peter Gilmore & John Fink



So of course you would be stark raving mad to miss a book launch there especially when it's a recipe book by the famed head chef at the Quay, Peter Gilmore.

You know the nibbles will be superb, the Bollinger chilled to perfection and the crowd friendly. The only thing missing were some of the restaurant's regular clients when in town-David Bowie, Gordon Ramsay, Mick Jagger and King Constantine II of Greece.



our favourite Murdoch family member-Matt Handbury and partner Clare



The Quay is owned by Leon Fink and run by his son John. John's mum is the film producer Margaret Fink who produced Candy with Heath Ledger and My Brilliant Career (for which she won an Academy Award )and which launched the careers of Judy Davis and Sam Neil.



The view from The Quay Restaurant







A Swell Party-One Missing Guest !

It was one of the smartest bashes Sydney has seen for some time.

The 75Th Birthday party for one of the top producers of pearls in the world-the famous Paspaley Pearls who dominate the industry in Darwin and Australia.

Thrown at the magnificent Great Hall (part of the snooty gel's school SCEGGS) in East Sydney.

Models stood very still in nice poses on marble plinth's wearing beautiful pearl and diamond creations valued at millions of dollars and a host of well heeled Sydney-siders and Paspaley customers trotted out for the evening to view the gems, scoff Darwin oysters and quaff the finest French champagne.

We counted ten multi-millionaires in the room including the Man From Uncle-publisher Matt Handbury , (he's Rupert Murdoch's fabulously rich nephew) hotel csar Terry Schwamberg and heiress Anna Lisa Klettenberg who quietly informed us that she has just purchased a few chalets in her favourite skiing town Aspen, as one does-"so much nicer than hotels my dear". Quite.

But there was an undercurrent coursing through the room. The magnificent decor had been put together by designer Edward Coutts Davidson.

For the unenlightened Coutts Davidson swept into town from London eighteen months ago, took up residence and brought his well thumbed CV to impress the locals. That includes designing and decorating houses for Madonna, Kate Moss and George Michael and a dozen glitzy magazine articles told us all about it.

Paspaley's 75th was to have to been a superb showcase for Coutts Davidson's exceptional talents with it's genteel guest list, wonderful location and the Chiparus tableau living statues in a 1920's hall decorated as a speakeasy complete with a lively floor show of black musicians specially flown in from Harlem for the evening.

In a town where the party decorator James Gordon reins supreme, Gordon may have found a rival to his unique talents. But it seems it isn't to be. Coutts Davidson appears to have vanished and was certainly not at the party he designed which was a credit to his skills.

It seems Mr Coutts Davidson has fled these shores unexpectedly and some prospective clients are a tad unhappy, others extremely disgruntled. Something about large deposits paid, goods undelivered and so on. There is talk of Inspector Knacker getting involved.

Apart from that minor detail, we can assure you that not only do Paspaley's deserve their reputation as one of the world's finest jewellers-they know how to give a memorable party !

Marylynne Paspaley poses with a bunch of hoofers from Harlem

Third time lucky for Russell Crowe ?

Our real estate spy disguised as a potted palm informs us that Russel Crowe, wife Danielle Spencer plus children and a number of relatives including dad-in-law, the children's TV host Don Spencer have paid a third visit to Altona, currently on the market and Sydney's most expensively priced house at $45 Million.

The pair have 2 children and are planning another says our source and are seriously looking at upgrading to a house and selling their Wolloomooloo Finger Wharf penthouse where Russ has lived for the past 10 years. Altona has a glamorous history. It was originally an up-marker guest house where the likes of Frank   Sinatra and Bing Crosby stayed on visits to the Emerald City before being purchased by the Man From Uncle-Matt Handbury, publishing mogul and nephew of Rupert Murdoch. 

When Handbury divorced his wife Fiona, the former Vogue  model, Altona passed to her as part of a divorce settlement. She sold out to the music mag publishers Deke & Eve Miskin  for $29M. The Miskins are now planning to move permanently to the dress circle area of Byron Bay, Wategoes Beach. Fiona has now re-invented herself as the Countess of Dartmouth, dividing her time between Belgravia in London and the Hampton's outside New York

Wolloomooloo Wharf

Altona was recently rented to Hugh Jackman & wife Deborra-Lee Furness for $36,000 a month while he filmed Wolverine in Sydney and both expressed an interest in purchasing the mansion that comes with it's own jetty, harbourside pool, boathouse and one of the most sensational views in Sydney. 

The Miskins weren't selling then and a phone to call to Jackman's agent received the response "Hugh has no plans to buy in Sydney at present".

Crowe already owns a farm outside Coffs Harbour that houses a compound for visiting family members. As for the penthouse on the wharf, retired radio announcer John Laws who lives in an adjoining apartment has always told Crowe that if he ever plans to sell, he wants first offer.

Watch a sales video for Altona above !

discreet aristocratic entrance

      Slipping quietly into her former home town for a visit is the Countess of Dartmouth, the former Fiona Handbury who divorced the owner of media magazine empire, Matt Hanbury in 2001.Hanbury also happens to be Rupert Murdoch's nephew which has earned him the nickname-The Man From Uncle.

     When Sir Keith Murdoch died in 1952 he left one newspaper, the Adelaide Advertiser to his son Rupert who has since parlayed it into the News Corp world-wide media empire.

     Leaving a handful of small moderately successful magazines to daughter Helen, her son Matt turned them into a nation wide publishing success Murdoch Magazines which he sold in 2004 to Perth billionaire Kerry Stokes for $77M.

      Fiona, a former model who has appeared on Vogue covers around the world was once Sydney's party queen, holding court at the Handbury's magnificent Point Piper pile, Altona. The Handbury parties were the most sought after invites with Matt

(pictured right), a frustrated rock'n'roller taking to the stage with his own rock band and electric guitar.

        Altona is one of the most desired harbourside properties. Fiona once confided to tSS at one of their poolside shindigs that the Handbury and Murdoch clans aren't terribly close and only ever meet at the most formal family functions like birthday get-togethers for the Murdoch matriach Dame Elisabeth Murdoch.

       As part of her divorce settlement, Fiona received Altona which she promptly sold for nearly $29M. It currently rents out to visiting celebs like Bono and actor Hugh Jackman. Jackman  has expressed a desire to purchase the house.

      Cashed up, Fiona fled the Sydney scene for rural England.

Enter William Legge, the 10th Earl of Dartmouth.and an MP of the European parliament. Friends were surprised when Legge took Hanbury for his bride, convinced he was destined for confirmed bachelorhood. Now Fiona is a regular at London society parties and across the pond in New York and the Hamptons.

There's a rumour around town that the Countess's visit may involve discussions of a financial kind. Handbury still owns a highly successful publishing company Murdoch Books which goes from strength to strength operating, from a set of magnificent offices on a huge wharf on the harbour.

   

As revealed exclusively by tSS a year ago actor Eric Bana has become the public face of Father Chris Riley's Youth Of The Streets charity which gives homeless kids  a head start with the skills needed to survive after a rough childhood. YOTS as it is called is one of Matt Handbury's favourite causes and he has purchased a country farm for the charity and is it's most feverent financial supporter. Matt currently lives in the National Trust listed Bronte House on a 50 year lease on condition he opens the superb gardens which have magnificent sweeping lawns down to Bronte beach once a year to the public.
                           As for the Countess, she divides her time between a Belgravia house and a New York apartment while the Earl attends to affairs in Brussels.

                                      **************************************

Distant cousins ?

Belgian cartoon character Tin Tin

                                                                                            

                                                                                                              Aussie PM Kevin Rudd