Fairwater, Uri Geller and Lady Mary Fairfax

 The recent reports that  Fairwater, the former home of the late Lady Mary Fairfax has sold for a whopping $100M brings to mind a chat that Whispers once had at Fairwater with Lady Mary, who died in 2017, and the famous "spoon bender" Uri Geller.

Whispers arrived very early for a gala charity ball to be held in a marquee in the garden at the Fairwater mansion. Arriving minutes later and also early was Geller who was in town at the time.

Connections: Uri with Theresa May

We started to chat as Uri grilled Whispers on who the guests would be for the night- the usual shakers & movers of Sydney society. Soon Lady Mary joined us and during the conversation as Uri asked Mary about the history of Fairwater, she commented that she had left the property to the National Trust with a provision that her staff were entitled to live there for the rest of their lives. It was the second time we had heard this from Lady Mary.
But anyone can change their mind and, obviously she did as Fairwater was sold recently to a tech billionaire making it the most valuable house in Australia.

# As the night progressed Lady Mary sent her loyal butler to retrieve some silver forks and spoons from her collection which Geller proceeded to bend for the 200 guest's delight- and in front of Whispers who was no further than 2 feet from the man. Uri also commented that the guests may find strange things happen with their personal items.

The lady who accompanied Whispers to the function, a writer for the National Enquirer found her late mother's watch, a sentimental item she always carried in her handbag but which had never worked, started ticking. She also found an eye-brow pencil in her make-up bag (branded "ESP") had split down the middle. Spooky !.

A giant (bent) spoon outside Geller's new museum in Israel

The local manager of the French champagne company Veuve Clicquot found his car keys had twisted completely out of shape and he had to catch a taxi home. Likewise a well known hairdresser who accompanied Whispers and our date up the long Fairwater driveway while leaving the party commented that Geller, as he passed him on the way out had tapped his shoulder. Reaching into his pocket to get his car keys- he found them twisted beyond recognition. We report- you decide!.

Uri Geller has moved from the UK to Israel where he now lives. He is opening a museum in Old Jaffa in a splendid building which will house his vast collection of items including his amazing car covered in bent spoons and forks. Is Lady Mary Fairfax's cutlery among them?
# Uri thanks Lady Mary Fairfax in the forewood of his latest book.

Lady Mary bows out

She is probably the last of an era. Lady Mary Fairfax who died on Monday at age 95 was farewelled today at a service at the church of choice in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs, St Marks in Darling Point. Lady Mary was the second wife of Sir Warwick Fairfax, the heir to the Fairfax publishing empire which at it's peak published the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age in Melbourne regarded as two of the great broadsheets of the world.

Whispers attended numerous parties at Mary's Darling Point pile Fairwater. Fairwater has been left in trust to the National Trust with the stipulation her loyal staff live there until they too pass on. Indeed we also spent a week at Lady Mary's New York penthouse on top the Pierre Hotel which was once the most expensive apartment in the world and which had it's own full sized ballroom. Mary wasn't there at the time but she arranged for her loyal chauffeur and his wife to host us.

Lady Mary's charity parties were the stuff of legend with guests like Prince Edward and Albert, Prince of Monaco ( Lady Mary was the Honorary Consul for Monaco) hosted in a giant marquee in her garden that backed on to Sydney Harbour.
With great style, Mary would invite selected media (like Moi) and we would be treated as equal guests, usually joining a line-up with her staff to be introduced to the royal guest of the evening. In a way it summed up not just Lady Mary's exquisite manners but the way she treated all people of varying backgrounds equally. Having risen to such great heights and privilege, Lady Fairfax devoted her life to charitable causes for the disadvantaged.

At one of Mary's parties we attended spoon bender Uri Geller was the star guest, Mary sent her butler to retrieve some of her silver cutlery which Geller proceeded to bend while dozens of guests found keys in their pocket bent out of shape or watches stopped or started. One guest, the representative of a French champagne company spent the night sleeping in his car when he found his car & house keys twisted out of shape.

Party guests: Albert of Monaco* Prince Edward, Uri Geller * James Murdoch

Pals: Ron & Nancy Reagan, Pope John Paul

When Lady Mary arrived at her New York penthouse just as Whispers was departing, she engaged us in a detailed conversation as to whether she should purchase a new Rolls Royce or a simpler Cadillac in which she was to be driven to Los Angeles (inviting us to accompany her but we had to turn her down as we were traveling on to London). Mary eventually purchased a sparkling new Roller and was duly driven to LA and when she asked her chauffeur to arrange for it to be shipped to Sydney he pointed out it was a left-hand drive:" Perhaps Madam should sell it and buy another one in Sydney". Instead she donated it to a local California charity to be auctioned off to the highest bidder.
While in the US Mary would always drop by the White House in Washington to dine with her pals Ronald & Nancy Reagan. As a Catholic convert, they say she had The Pope on speed dial.

At another party at Fairwater Whispers photographed a young lad who had lain down on a sofa and promptly fallen asleep. He turned out to be a 14 year old James Murdoch on work experience for his dad Rupert Murdoch's Daily Telegraph. Mary's family purchased a portrait painting of Lady Mary by Whispers and artist Skid Stuart in 1995. We like to think it may still hang in the drawing room along side her  Rodin statue.
Lady Mary Fairfax, born in Poland is survived by her sons Warwick Fairfax , Garth Symonds from an earlier marriage to businessman Cedric Symonds and children Anna Cleary, Charles Fairfax and 12 grandchildren

Heil King Henry IX !

 

 Well that's according to Nostrodamus and Mario Reading's

The Complete Phrophecies of Nostradamus.

King Charles III will abdicate in 2022 (yes-it will be Camilla's fault) and Harry takes over (no word on why William is by-passed). Expect Buck House to become fun city and a cross between Annabel's and your local boozer.

       Not for long-the Royal Family is gone by 2040 and Britain becomes a Republic and naughty France rejoices ! (don't worry-by 2098 France has descended into utter anarchy)

   

   

 tSS telephoned our regular psychic Mandy Miami ( right ) who is currently in Melbourne for our new century predictions but she wasn't giving anything away. 'Not since my run-in with Uri Geller over Michael Jackson" she said."

 " I keep my predictions to myself now", Mandy had written a raft of predictions for that august publication the National Enquirer and correctly predicted the winner of the Kentucky Derby, the next host city of the Olympic Games but one piece raised the hackles of thousands. Words to the effect of "within the coming year Michael Jackson will be involved in a huge scandal that will forever change his life and he will need to re-invent his image. He will marry but never be the same again".

       Sounds innocuous but at a charity dinner a few weeks later Geller declared his "close friend" Michael would never get himself involved in scandal  and to shove home his point he bent Miami's dinner fork, house key and stopped her watch.

       Nine months later the Jordan Chandler story erupted and the rest is history.

   Nostradamus,according to Reading's book, says there are rocky times ahead including the flooding of the Aegean Sea in 2016 .
       Things aren't looking too rosy for Pope Benedict with a new younger, liberal and more hip Pope taking over in 2012. That rules out the ultra-conservative Cardinal Pell of Sydney who was pipped at the post by his German pal.

        Hillary Rodham Clinton becomes president in 2015 with the prediction in the following quatrain :

The Masculain woman will exert herself to the north.

 She will annoy nearly all of Europe and the rest of the world

 (surely Sarah Palin ?.)

   Meat will be banned by 2031 and we'll all be vegans. Or maybe eating

Soylent Green. And the following year the new Anti Christ is born !

     Islamic terrorism is on the rise and new weapons will be actually secreted inside their bodies-forget body scanners. A waste of money.

         And finally the fear of White Australia will come true in 2037 when Oz and Indonesia go to all out war over who dominates the Indian Ocean.

    And a victory for the UK Independence Party in Britain when England leaves the Eurpean Union in 2064.

        

There are endless climate disasters ahead for us and most of New York disappears in an earthquake in 2083. There are tsunamis , locust plagues wiping out crops worldwide, earthquakes in Europe and a re-emergence of the black plague that wipes out huge amounts of the population throughout the world and Europe.

       But Britain is spared !. Not so fast folks. Over populated, the UK suffers from a famine. (remember-the locusts )

            And did I mention the asteroid that hits planet earth in 2069 ? So don't even worry about the global nuclear war that begins in 2070 and lasts for 20 years.

       

The Protestant and Catholic churchs will be kaput by 2070 and Buddhism is the new faith. And maybe Scientology with Tom Cruise as the new Messiah.

 It just gets worse after that so there's no point in being too pessimistic.

     

Basically we're all going to hell in a handbasket. So all in all-nothing much changes for the next ten decades and it's business as usual.!

 Happy New Year and have a great century !

              

                 ***********************************************************
# our thanks to a regular reader Mr P.Taylor who pointed out some shocking spelling mistakes. Mildred Pierce is banished from the office yet again . Staff are hopeless these days.

But you have worse things to worry about really-the Anti Christ is on his/her way !

Vale the Don

He only came to Australia to host a brief series of a 'tonight' style shows in the 1960s and stayed until he passed away today at 75 from a dementia related illness.

Don Lane was born in the Bronx as Morton Donald Isaacson in 1933 and was a moderately successful lounge singer in Las Vegas before an offer came out of the blue to host 6 variety TV shows in Sydney which the producer thought Don could fit in between some Hawaii nightclub appearances. He was to be a replacement for host-Irish comedian Dave Allen who had been sacked for appearing drunk on his first show.

He had been recommended as a suitable candidate by singer Wayne Newton who was in the country at the time. The Lanky Yank never left and became one of the most loved and popular show biz personalities.

In the 90's he became the voice of American NFL broadcasts for local TV with his American accent and passion and understanding of the sport. From the 60's to the late 90's Lane never stopped working in entertainment,becoming a successful talk-show host until sadly he was diagnosed with altheimers in 2008. The end came quickly today.

Memorable moments in Lane's career included being invited to join Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr on a tour and his run-in with skeptic James Randi. Spoon bender Uri Geller and British psychic medium Doris Stokes were regulars on his shows discussing the paranormal.

When Randi began to make derogatory remarks about Doris Stokes who Lane adored, he said to the skeptic :"we're going to a commercial break now and you can piss off". As a stunned Randi stared-Lane swept props off a table and to audience applause, stormed off his own set.
He was corny, he was too American, he couldn't sing that well but Don was loved by all.

RIP Don Lane.