Michael Buble, Anna Nicole, The Who and Robin Hood

Michael Buble and his favourite actor Cary Elwes

  Crooner Michael Buble has announced via this week's Woman's Day that his favourite all-time movie and actor are The Princess Bride and star of the flick, Cary Elwes who also played Robin Hood in Mel Brooks' Robin Hood: Men in Tights.
By co-incidence Elwes was in Melbourne last week as a guest at the Comic Con convention along with Star Trek's William Shatner and George Takei and actress Shannen Doherty. Around 33,000 fans attended the convention.
The Shuttle's omnipresent spies also report that  Elwes was spotted at Melbourne's magnificent National Gallery of Victoria last Friday where he appeared absorbed in the works by Australia's first acclaimed artist George Washington Lambert.

Kit Lambert with Townshend & Daltrey

George Lambert's self portrait

As reported by the Shuttle last year, Cary Elwes is to direct a bio-pic on the life of the late rock manager Kit Lambert who discovered The Who and Jimi Hendrix amongst other music legends. Lambert led a dissolute but magnificent life before dying tragically in mysterious circumstances at the age of 43 in 1981. At his peak he owned a house in Belgravia and a palace in Venice where he wooed his neighbour, the art collector Peggy Guggenheim.
Kit was the grandson of George Washington Lambert  and the son of noted English classical composer Constant Lambert .

The Who perform at the closing concert for the London Olympics last year

George Lambert was appointed the official war artist for the WW1 Gallipoli campaign that is so etched into the Australian psyche and was accompanied on that venture by a young war correspondent Keith Murdoch, father of media baron Rupert Murdoch. Both were disturbed by the upper class British generals at Gallipoli who they considered dangerous and incompetent.

Agnes Bruckner stars as Anna Nicole

Kit Lambert was born into privilege and was privately educated and his classical education combined with a rock'n'roll lifestyle influenced The Who's music as exampled by the rock opera Tommy. Remaining Who members Peter Townshend and Roger Daltrey are enthusiastically backing the film about Lambert and it's rumored will be composing music for the film.  The Rolling Stones and The Who are the remaining 60's Supergroup and are still huge throughout the world. In 2010 The Who performed at the most watched event in TV history, the Superbowl and at the closing ceremony for the London Olympics last year in front of an estimated 750 million viewers worldwide. 
 As for Cary Elwes, he has several films to be released soon including one on the life of Anna Nicole and he has just produced a film about the famous meeting between Elvis Presley and president Richard Nixon in 1970. Nixon made Presley, who was high as a kite on drugs at the meeting, an Honorary Marshall. That movie is to be released by Aussie actor Eric Bana's production company.

Sir David Frost on Julian Assange and Robert Kennedy

 David Frost spoke today of the most impressive person he had ever interviewed in his long career: The former US Senator Robert Kennedy who was assassinated in 1968 .

Robert Kennedy

"He was forthright, honest and had a keen intellect, one of the most truthful people I have ever interviewed" said Frost at a press conference he gave today in Sydney with the former British talk show host Michael Parkinson.

Parky & Frost

The pair are doing 2 shows at the Sydney Theatre this week where they interview each other and reveal some candid moments  interviewing some of the most famous people during their respective careers.

Both said Nelson Mandela was a interview subject they had both greatly admired. Frost who has concentrated on world leaders said that he found former Australian prime minister Gough Whitlam to be a "towering intellect, possibly the most intellectual politician"' while Parkinson said that both he and Frost were fond of cricketer Shane Warne who he described as "a life enhancing force".

Of all the people he had loathed David Frost described the former head of the Hitler Youth League
Baldur von Schirach who served 20 years in prison for crimes against humanity as a "particular loathsome person".

von Schirach "loathsome"

"He had absolutely no regrets about his time as a Nazi and I shivered after the interview when he put his hand on my arm and with a twinkle in his eye said 'at 23 you were in charge of your own television show and at 23 I was in charge of the Hitler Youth-you see we really aren't so different! ' "

On Julian Assange who Frost has just interviewed and Wikileaks he said: "I was expecting a fairly soul-less person but I was pleasantly surprised and liked him by the end of the interview".

Asked what he thought about Assange's release of secret cables Frost said:
"it hasn't been proved that anyone has been harmed by them and they have exposed serious crimes. It's the sort of thing journalists should be doing".

Parkinson and Frost said that research and preparation was the most important aspect of interviewing any person with Parkinson giving the ABC interviewer Andrew Denton as a great example of a young interviewer of today who gets the most out of his subject.

And they weren't giving much away about what their two man show will be about :
"I'm still working out things to ask Michael "said Frost."In fact this press conference has given me some new ideas".
"I think David will turn out to be my favourite interview subject of all time " responded Parkinson.

To book for Parky And Frost. Two Nights Only Tues 8th Feb & Wed 9th Feb go to this website.

Here is David Frost and part of his famous interview with Richard Nixon:

exclusive : Lady Sonia McMahon dies

Sir William & Lady Sonia McMahon in that dress with president Richard Nixon at the White House

Julian McMahon & sister Debbie

much loved-Lady Sonia and son Julian McMahon

St Vincent's Hospital has issued a statement that Lady Sonia McMahon has died in a Sydney hospital.

Lady Sonia, the wife of former prime minister Sir William McMahon and mother of actor Julian McMahon, died late on Friday evening with her family by her side.
Lady Sonia, 77, had been battling cancer for over a year. Details of her funeral had not been released yet by her family, the hospital statement said.

It was just a year ago that Lady Sonia, one of Australia's most loved social figures attended the funeral of her great friend Johnny Baker along with her children including the Hollywood star Julian, who were by her bedside when she passed away late last night.

On the 24th of March tSS wrote about Lady Sonia's amazing entree onto the world stage when she appeared at a state dinner at the Richard Nixon White House.
Newspaper front pages around the world ran photos of Sonia's split gown with straps that revealed her tall shapely legs as she ascended the White House steps. The dress, now in a museum of contemporary art has been described by the Washington Post as the most talked about fashion garment to be ever seen in Washington.

ailing Sonia who took the White House by storm

Sad news today that Lady Sonia McMahon, widow of ex-Prime Minister Sir Billy McMahon is in the private wing of St Vincent's Hospital being treated for cancer. It's the third time Sonia has faced treatment and she has successfully fought of the disease before.
At 77 there is no keeping the much loved society figure down. Only late last year she recovered after a fall down the gangplank of media mogul Paul Ramsay's cruiser at a birthday party on Sydney Harbour and was soon back out on the party and charity circuit. Sonia is a regular at the Melbourne, Sydney and Ascot horse racing meets.

Lady Sonia at the White House with Richard Nixon

It was in 1965 when Lady Sonia and her husband Sir Billy, the then Prime Minister paid a visit to the Richard Nixon White House and the snaps of their ascent /descent of the White House stairs for a state dinner went flashing around the world making front page news as everyone asked who was the stunning 6ft blond in a revealing dress with slits up the side. The Washington Post has described the gown as the most talked about fashion item ever to be seen in Washington. That dress is now stored in the Powerhouse Museum.

Sonia was 20 years younger than Sir William when she married him in 1965 when he was 57. It has long been rumoured that Sir Billy was gay and had been advised by Liberal Party founder and Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies to marry if he wished his career in politics to advance. Lady Sonia and Sir William subsequently had 3 children.

Son Julian McMahon is a former model and the star of the US series Nip Tuck and is currently working in South Africa on the film The Smell Of Apples with Gillian Anderson.

Sonia & son Julian McMahon at Johnny Baker's funeral

Lady Sonia & Priscilla Presley

Julian fell out with Lady Sonia when against her wishes he married Danni Minogue in a short lived marriage in the late 1990's.

Sonia also faced legal battles when daughter Debra challenged the will of her late father and demanded a share of his estate. Estranged from her mother for several years, Debra turned to Spiritualism and alternative religious beliefs.
Julian has returned to Sydney to be by his mother's bed-side and was at the funeral of the late society walker Johnny Baker in August 2009 where Lady Sonia and her 3 children appeared united once again.