The Merry Wives Of Murdoch, the Gardener & the Crooner

Patricia Booker               Anna Torv                 Wendi Deng

Whilst the rest of the media is still reeling after having been caught on the hop by the announcement of the Rupert Murdoch divorce : unlike Social Shuttle readers who read 2 months ago that the marriage was on the rocks and the end was pending, a former Murdoch confidante has come up with an insightful article on Rupert Murdoch and his former wives including Patrica Booker, Anna Mann (nee Torv) and the soon to be Wendi Deng.

Most of the media have turned to Michael Woolf's excellent biography  The Man Who Owns the News: Inside the Secret World of Rupert Murdoch for details but Rodney E.Lever was Rupert Murdoch's right hand man and a News Ltd executive for many years, a friend of the family and someone intimately involved in Rupert's personal and business affairs. He even accompanied Rupert and Anna on their honeymoon.

His series on Murdoch and his empire on the informative website Independent Australia are well worth reading.

One piece shines out as a previously unknown detail is revealed : In Adelaide when Rupert first set up home with his first wife Patricia, the gardens were tendered by a dusky hued handyman. And who was this gardener?.Step forward our favourite Malaysian import Kandiah Kamalesvaran , the late Queen Mother's favourite singer and now known as Kamahl !. Kamahl has certainly come a long way from the Adelaide Hills. He now lives in a large mansion on Sydney's elite North shore and drives a gleaming Rolls Royce. Last week we encountered Kamahl at an America Australia Association awards dinner attended by Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

What a small world we live in.
Here is a clip of Kamahl (hiding in the foliage) singing his 1975 hit The Elephant Song which won the heart of HRH Queen Mother who invited Kamahl to share a few G&Ts at Clarence House.
trivia : He first used the name Kamal but after an MC introduced him as 'Camel' he became Kamahl.

splitsville for the Murdochs ?

It's been reported by the Sydney Morning Herald's 'PS' columnist Andrew Hornery that Rupert and Wendy Murdoch may have split. The story apparently appeared first on the net blog crikey.com.au.

the Social Shuttle (c)

 Although denials have been issued by News Ltd representatives, Hornery has quoted Murdoch biographer Michael Woolf of Vanity Fair : ''It's the oldest trick in the book,'' .[the Murdochs] never deny anything because they know it will just inflame it regardless of whether it is true or not.''

Woolf's The Man Who Owns The News , published in 2008 wasn't the best-seller expected. Whilst initially getting Murdoch's co-operation and interviews with the Dirty Digger, the relationship between Woolf and Murdoch floundered and the writer has kept up a running dialogue since via his VF column on Murdoch's attempts to grapple with the 'new media', plunging circulations of his world-wide newspaper empire and the endless speculation on who will run the massive News Corp empire upon Rupert's demise. He also revealed how a top News Corp executive regularly referred to the 3 contenders, Murdoch's children James, Lachlan and Elisabeth  as "the cretins".

tSS reckons this isn't a credible tale. But hey-let's send it viral anyway !
 **************************************************************
Putting in a lively performance today in the 2 federal by-elections of is our newest political force The Australian Sex Party which is running on policies like:
* To create total equal rights in all areas of the law for gay, lesbian and transsexuals.
* Overturn racist laws that ban Aboriginal people from possessing erotic and sexual media in the Northern Territory.
* The listing of Viagra, Cialis and other drugs used to treat sexual dysfunction, on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme
* Ensure the sexual rights and freedoms of the disabled and elderly.
Let the good times roll...here is their Bob Dylan inspired advert: