Patricia Booker Anna Torv 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.
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.