So many celebrities and 1000s of ordinary members of the public have contributed huge sums to aid the victims of the terrible fires. One donation however has gone unreported. While entertainers like Pink, Elton John who are regular visitors to Australia and homegrown actors like Nicole Kidman and Chris Hemsworth have come up with the cash, singer Bette Midler who hasn't visited these shores for over 15 years has just donated $500,000. All Heil Bette !.
And she's had a go at Rupert Murdoch at the same time. The entire Murdoch family, worth mega-billions have remained oddly silent. Rupert however has been sunning himself in the Caribbean with with wife Jerry 'Murdoch' nee Hall.
Whispers first saw Bette Midler in a showcase in downtown New York in 1973. We've loved her every since. Such a voice. Here's an example:
An invitation to a cocktail party arrives from our dear acquaintance Lord Edward Davenport in the UK. You must know him. From the Davenports of-well we aren't quite sure. For some inexplicable reason the entire Davenport dynasty has been omitted fromBurke's Peerage & Gentry.
Fast Eddie with the startling blue eyes is having a Christmas soiree at his pile, 33 Portland Place in London's West End. The mansion landed in his possession after some complicated dealings with the former owners , the High Commission of Sierra Leone and after paying the paltry sum of about $70,000. The Sierra Leone government is still scratching it's head trying to work out what happened.
Eddie hires out Portland Place with it's 24 rooms for PR parties and private functions and if you are lucky, Eddie comes to the party as well. And he makes himself available to be photographed with celebrity guests as you can see in our snaps. There are more at his website where you can read that Eddie has rubbed shoulders with the likes of Jean Claude Van Damme, Pink and 50 Cent.
Lord Eddie's bash is tomorrow night which doesn't give the Shuttle much time to get to London. We'll have to pass on it. Which may be just as well as last year London's High Court banned him from throwing parties or hiring out the house .
Eddie made a motza organising the famous Gatecrasher Balls in the English countryside in the late 1980s. The Shuttle went to one (one was enough) at Longleat, the seat of a fellow aristocrat, the eccentric Alexander Thynne, the Marquis of Bath. Edward moved into property developing, nightclubs and even a pawn broking business and spends much of his time in Monaco.
The Shuttle will be in London next April so we hope to support Lord Eddie in a pending court case. Inspector Knacker of the Serious Fraud Squad felt Eddie's collar in late 2009 over an apparent mis-understanding concerning $15M.
In the meantime, you can see 33 Portland Place in the film that will sweep the Oscars, The King's Speech starring Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush. The house was used for location filming.
Here is a video of Mr Lucas at Monthira's birthday party at Portland Place. It sums up the state of London society today.
Whispers first saw Bette Midler in a showcase in downtown New York in 1973. We've loved her every since. Such a voice. Here's an example:
