Richard Neville Farewelled

It was at the book launch in 2011 for the late film-maker Albie Thoms at the Paddington Town Hall that Whispers last spoke to Richard Neville  (pictured left at the launch)

A close friend confided that Richard had been diagnosed with early-onset dementia. He seemed fine and in good spirits but sadly this terrible scourge carried Neville off earlier this month at age 74.

It's a shame we couldn't make the memorial last Saturday morning for Richard at The Wharf  but Sydney's chronicler of personalities, photographer William Yang was there:

Richard Walsh & Julie Clarke Neville

"RICHARD NEVILLE'S memorial event was, appropriately, something of a talk fest. The speakers, each in their way excellent, created a diverse and rich tribute to Richard. Julie Neville welcomed the guests and Richard Walsh began the avalanche of memories. Louise Ferrier, once girlfriend to Richard, spoke of the time in London. George Gittoes read a message from Julian Assange. Charlie Waterstreet, Jenny Kee, Morris Gleitzman gave tributes. Bryan Brown read Richard's adaptation of Ginsberg's poem "Howl" set in a more modern corporate world. Hellen Rose and Reg Mombassa each sang songs. Richard's daughters, Angelica and Lucy. stole the show. They painted Richard as a father conflicted by his alternative, libertine past and a persona they called "The Colonel", (his father was a colonel), who had extremely conservative views when it came to raising his daughters, and who terrorised their boyfriends. The singalong of Dylan's "Mr Tambourine Man" as the finale almost worked.
The event at the Wharf was a true TRIBAL GATHERING, touched with sadness and celebration, and memorable because of the speeches.

                                             Words & Photos by WILLIAM YANG

Jenny Kee & William Yang *    Tony & Amanda Bilson *        Jill Wran & David Malouf *   Mick Glasheen

Mystic Meg Moment

The Shuttle's spooky prediction has been fulfilled not 48 hours after we suggested that the UK MailOnline might find space for a tale about Sydney wireless announcer Fifi Box, much beloved off local outlets like the Woman's Day and the magazine publishing wags naughtily refer to as No Idea.
Alas, the MailOnline's wacky tale about Fifi landing a black eye on My Kitchen Rules' host, French born  Manu Feildel has been given it's own shiner. The report on Manu, whose accent has taken on extraordinary guttural Marseille tones since his TV success, has fallen flat with readers. The verdict is in according to Mail fans, most who seem to be Australian in this case and who have damned the British tabloid's reporting :
      

 


Update :
A feature in today's Mail gives a riveting account of Sydney model Tahyna Tozzi (incidentally-discovered by the Shuttle) who today married her boyfriend dancer and choreographer Tristan MacManus.  

Kim in London has some kind words for the loving pair :

"A warm and heartfelt congratulations ... whoever you are"

Bulgari Art Award 2013

The Bulgari Art Award is an annual award to support contemporary Australian painting.
Each year, the Gallery identifies a significant painting by a mid-career Australian artist to be acquired for the collection.
The award, sponsored by Bulgari, consists of $50,000 for acquisition of the painting and a residency for the artist in Italy valued at $30,000. The total award of $80,000 makes it one of the most valuable art awards in Australia.
The 2013 winner is Jon Cattapan for his work Imagine a Raft (Hard Rubbish 4+5) 2012.
And the award is presented at a slap-up dinner for around 100 guests. This year's chef : Tony Bilson, the Godfather of Australian cuisine.

A Rooster One Day...

FIVE weeks ago everything seemed to be coming up roses for Sydney chef Tony Bilson-often referred to as the 'Godfather of Australian cuisine".

Ita Buttrose,Margaret Fulton & Bilson at his book launch.

At the Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide launch and awards his Bilson's Restaurant at the Radisson Hotel in the heart of the city was awarded a prestigious Three Hats, the top award shared by just a few other establishments. Quay, a rival to Bilson's is regularly included in the world's top ten restaurants.

A week ago the 'godmother' of Australian cooking Margaret Fulton launched Tony's new book Insatiable-My Life In The Kitchen at the Radisson. First reports say the book has been flying off the shelves.

But on Friday the shutters came down on Bilson's as it was announced the top restaurant had gone into administration with debts of over a million dollars. Tony announced that he had failed to secure a promised rescue  packaged that may have saved his Circular Quay bar that closed it's doors a month ago and the Radisson Hotel restaurant.

The Radisson

Eighteen staff have been laid off while Tony tries to find them alternate positions with chefs like Tetsuya Wakuda. Bilson, who regularly hosted noted foodies like A.A Gill, Rick Stein, Jamie Oliver and Anthony Boudain when in town is said to be distraught. He's had his financial problems before but always triumphed and re-surfaced. Hopefully he will re-emerge in better located premises possibly in the Eastern Suburbs. While the Radisson is a beautiful old colonial sandstone building, it's location in the centre of the financial district may have been fine for daytime trade but evenings were desperately quiet.
                                          *******************************
Fabulous Understatements #1

David Patrick Columbia writing about New York restaurant Michael's on his New York Social Diary : " The Hockneys and the Lichtensteins and Stellas do something in the room. I love sitting there and just looking at them while waiting."

Bill's Star Keeps Rising

Next month Bill Granger's new London restaurant opens in trendy Notting Hill Gate to join the 6 other establishments he owns-3 in Sydney and 3 in Japan.

The Brits  have taken Granger to their hearts. His Bill's Food TV cooking show received a healthy audience on the BBC and was shown in 22 countries although he his still finds time to clock on to Richard Glover's ABC 702 afternoon radio show every fortnight.

Now Bill's cookbook Bill's Everyday Asian has been included in The Independent newspaper's Top 50 Cookbooks along with  foodie heavyweights like Rick Stein, Jamie Oliver and Michel Roux and the legendary Elizabeth David and Delia Smith.

The Shuttle has breakfast 2 or 3 times a week at Bills in Surry Hills and this morning we heard an interesting piece of news from a very reliable source.

Both the Independent and the Evening Standard newspapers in  the UK are owned by the Russian 'oligarch' Alexander Lebedev, an entrepreneur who was once pretty high up in the KGB, a spy for the USSR in London and who is financing the political comeback of Michael Gorbochev.

A year ago Lebedev launched the lightweight daily I Newspaper that appeals to commuters and sells for around 22cents. It's a better version of the Murdoch freebie Mx that is handed out at Sydney and Melbourne rail stations.

Alexander Lebedev

Our source says Lebedev has had a small team working the Sydney and Melbourne markets to calculate if they could handle an Oz version of I Newspaper. Which would surely be a welcome addition to either city dominated as they are by Fairfax Newspapers and News Ltd.

There is a story doing the rounds that an angry James Murdoch summonsed Lebedev's son Evgeny who runs the UK newspapers, to the Wapping compound with a demand The Independent lay off reporting on the hacking scandal when it was in it's infancy.

An annoyed Murdoch received no joy from Evengy and a spokesman is reputed to have said later- "Alexander Lebedev faced some formidable opponents in the KGB-the Murdoch's don't frighten him."

Here's a reminder of how Alexander Lebedev deals with those who annoy him :

Come On Down Alex !..Australia needs you.

Tony & Margaret

# Sadly the Australian matriarch of cooking, Margaret Fulton was not included in The Independent's 50 Best Cookbooks but we feel sure it was oversight.

Kate Gibbs with chefs Tetsuya & Lucio

When her Margaret Fulton Cookbook was launched in 1968 it sold an unprecedented one and half million copies and her 12 books since have sold more cookbooks than any other chef on the planet. Not that the diminutive 87 year old Scot is deterred.

Last week she was out on the town launching Tony Bilson's new book and she has a new website that will be up and running shortly and she has an Iphone app. In fact the entire Fulton family are at it with daughter Suzanne Gibbs a respected food writer and Margaret's 2 grand-daughters taking up the mantle.

Lousie Fulton Gibbs has just launched a children's cookbook- My Grandma's Kitchen while Kate Gibbs is a contributor to the Sydney Morning Herald's Good Food Guide.

Rick Stein Accepts Award For Lyndey

What flat-lining economy ?. If last night's The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2012 launch and restaurant award announcements are anything to go by, the dining business is booming with more than 950 establishments listed including more than 100 new places to eat.

Rick Stein & Sarah Burns

The 27th edition of the book and one of the largest to date was launched last night at the magnificent 1920's Byron Kennedy Hall in the Fox Entertainment Centre (corner of Errol Flynn and Peter Finch Boulevards) with 400 guests sipping Louis Roederer champagne.

The awards consist of one, two and three hats and the usual suspects topped this year's winners. Those awarded three included Quay which regularly tops international awards, Marque in Surry Hills, a newcomer on the block Sepia in the city and Bilsons run by the Godfather of Australian modern cuisine, Tony Bilson and Est, part of Justin Hemmes' empire with chef Peter Doyle.

Porteno in Surry Hills won Plumms Wine Glasses Best New Restaurant.

Tony Bilson makes a point to Patrick Benamou

40 reviewers put together the guide and the awards presided over by the SMH restaurant reviewer Terry Durack and co-editor of the guide Joanna Saville.
 
Terry Robinson  the chef at Sepia picked up the The Josephine Pignolet Best Young Chef while one of the countries favourite food identities Lyndey Milan was awarded the Vittoria (coffee) Legend Award. Lyndey is in Ireland filming a new TV series so good pal Rick Stein jetted in to accept the award on her behalf.

A full list of the awards is here.

Terry Durack & Jill Dupleix

Rachael & Sarah Doyle from Porteno

James Valentine MCd

Kin Chen & Kylie Kwong

    

Terry Robinson from Sepia

Three Hats for Peter Gilmore of Quay

                                                                                                                 

Missing AA Gill

baboon

Gill

The writer AA Gill is in town for the Sydney Writer's Week which concludes today. Infamous for once blasting a baboon to death to 'see how it felt' the grovelling to the scribe around town was embarrassing. The Shuttle missed his interview on Thursday (one of the few events that wasn't sold out) and we lost count of the number of restaurant workers phoning us to impart the news that "AA Gill is here eating "

Even at the launch party at Porteno for the second season of Foxtel's 'Spirited' a waiter collared the Shuttle and solemnly informed us that Gill was downstairs if we wished "to pop down and get a snap  ". We passed.

We did manage to hear him on radio being interviewed by local foodie God and long time Shuttle pal Tony Bilson along with American ex-chef Anthony Bourdain . When Bilson commented that large food corporations were colluding to force manufacturers to list ingredients and that he believed it was a conspiracy to drive small providers out of business Gill launched into a diatribe about the importance of those tiny lists on the side of products. Ten minutes later when Bilson defended vegetarians Gill railed against foodies who included endless claims about the ingredients their nosh was complied of.

Emma Forrest

Later when a female audience member asked a question and Gill interrupted, she scolded him with "oh shut-up Anthony, you're no better than some yapping kid at the back of the bus ". The applause was deafening.

We did make it to the small cocktail party given by the advertising agency BWM for American /English writer Emma Forrest. Emma has just published an autobiography Your Voice In My Head.

Forrest was diagnosed as a manic depressive (bi-polar!) at 14 and began self harming, slashing her legs and arms.

She became fascinated and obsessed by sex whilst being repulsed by it and remained virginal until she finally flung herself into a series of destructive relationships. Emma wouldn't confirm or deny that the 'famous actor who broke her heart' was the long rumored Colin Farrell-she simply told us that she 'knows and likes his work'.
Emma now writes movie scripts and lives between New York and Beverley Hills. 
"I couldn't handle the grey skies of London anymore "said Emma when the Shuttle commented on her breezy outlook for someone who had gotten off an 18 hour flight at 11am that morning.

"I love LA, no matter who bad it is the sun always shines. This morning I bounded off the plane when I saw the brilliant sunshine".

She told us of the interview she once did with Brad Pitt who told her obsessively of how he and Angelina Jolie wanted to have a 'surrogate' baby. The following day Pitt phoned and left a voicemail message asking her to phone him urgently. 2 more messages followed over the same number of days. She never called him back. She thought he may ask her to have his baby !

Murdoch : "you're fired!'

Your Voice in My Head  is to be made into a film. I asked Emma who she would like to play her in the film
"Cate Blanchet" she responded." but when I told the producers they said 'oh no'. It doesn't matter that Blanchet has won Oscars. They don't know her in Middle America. They only know 2 actresses- Sandra Bullock and Julia Roberts"

Honourable mentions at writer's week : * Booker Prize winner Howard Jacobson in discussion with Frank Moorhouse celebrating the return of the comic mode in fiction. Brilliant.
 *Elisabeth Wynhausen and Bruce Guthrie telling Mike Carlton about the shock and the fury of getting fired by Rupert Murdoch. Very funny.