Miranda Kerr Nude!

THE SEASONAL fashion battle between the 2 Australian department store chains begins this evening with David Jones fashion parade in their city store and Myer at Fox Studios on Thursday.

DJ's star recruit Miranda Kerr struts the boards tonight. Here are some exclusive snaps of Miranda that will be published in the latest Harper's Bizarre. The pics are by the best and most unpretentious fashion snapper New Yorker Terry Richardson and if you haven't yet discovered his diary, go here. It's fun.


                                *****************************************
So the closing ceremony of the London Olympics is receiving mixed reviews and Sydney 2000 still retains it's title of The Best Ever Olympics (according to then IOC boss Juan Samaranch). Indeed the Sydney opening and closing bashes were better co-ordinated but one Aussie is receiving rave reviews for his commentary on the BBC. Armani clad ("Giorgi is a friend") Ian Thorpe with the UK Daily Express and the News Statesman amongst others praising the 5 times Gold Medal winner.

The Thorpedo with artist Charles Billich in March this year

Gunning For The Mayor

The Prince Edward Yacht Club boasts one of Sydney's premier locations. Right at the end of ritzy Point Piper with commanding views of the harbour, it reeks of old world charm with it's wide verandahs and commanding views of the harbour.

Any excuse to visit the club is taken but the opportunity to wish council aspirant Deborah Thomas well for her bid for a seat on the Woollahra Council couldn't be turned down.

Malcolm Turnbull & Deborah Thomas

Andrew & Penne Peacock

Really, the folks of the Eastern Suburbs should be so lucky to be represented by a quality candidate like Thomas. Deb's day job is the Media Manager for ACP Magazines. She used to be editor of the Australian Women's Weekly, the magazine that is the basis for the Packer family fortune. Kerry Packer knew the top selling magazine would be in good hands when he handed the reins to Deborah. After all, her mother and grandmother had been editors of the Weekly in their days.

Joining us for the launch was Liberal MP Malcolm Turnbull (they say he talked Deborah into standing) and former Liberal party leader Andrew Peacock with wife Penne. Penne Peacock is a great pal of Laura Bush (Andrew famously had a long affair with Shirley MacLaine who will star in the next series of Downton Abbey)
Also there to wish Thomas well, Christine Foster (right: who just happens to be the sister of Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott) who will be challenging Lord Mayor Clover Moore.
                                *******************************************
 DESPITE SEVERAL NEWSPAPERS and radio shows claiming noted private investigator Frank Monte would be standing for the Mayoral elections in September, the Shuttle can reveal he has dropped out of the race at the very last moment.

Frank Monte & fiancee Sharon Sargeant

Monte says he had to make a quick decision last week on the day nominations closed and decided against throwing his hat in the ring:
 " I had great feedback especially from business owners in the City and Kings Cross who are fed up with Clover Moore. However there are good reasons I decided not to run at the last moment. I had  information that both Labor and Liberal would be throwing big bucks at the election as they perceived Moore is vunerable. It takes at least $30,000 to mount a reasonable campaign and I would rather wait until the General Election next year and run as an Independent. And I have to travel for business in the next 3 weeks which would complicate any campaign"
"To Rome by any chance?" the Shuttle asked. Our spy disguised as a humble gaffer at the famous Cinicitta Studios in Rome tells us Monte is booked in as a consultant for a new Italian TV series about the Mafia.
"I have nothing to say about that" replied Monte before the phone went dead!

Introducing The Langham

SYDNEY HAS a new 5 star hotel-The Langham on Kent St in The Rocks. It's actually been there a few years as The Observatory Hotel run by the Orient Express people.

Sarah De Bono

The Shuttle has spent many a pleasant evening there for small shindigs. One for Sarah, Duchess of York and another for the Irish actor Gabriel Byrne who lived there while was he was filming Jindabyne . Keanu Reeves called it home for around six weeks and we once lunched with the late and wonderful British actress Susannah York in the hotel's Galilieo Restaurant.

Langhams are a name-in London and Hong Kong so we expect great things from them. They haven't changed much, just the name at present but it was always a wonderfully elegant old style hotel with superb service and that looks like it will continue. Certainly with their launch party last Wednesday, the future looks cosy. Sydney rock oysters and caviar, grilled duck and other such delicacies all washed down with great lashing of Laurent Perrier dispensed by an army of waiters bearing magnums of the stuff.
Megan Gale says she almost lives in The Langham whilst in Melbourne or London so we trust her word.

 One guest we were eager to meet was the gorgeous songbird Sarah De Bono who was such a success on The Voice. See her video below. Check out the unique staff uniforms :lovely pink Jackie Onassis, Chanel style suits with pearls .And full marks for the little gift as we departed, a bunch of lovely flowers.

God Abandons Rupert!

It just goes from bad to worse for Rupert Murdoch.
With News having just posted a $1.9 Billion loss today, yesterday the Church Of England (CEO : HM The Queen) announced that it had sold it shares in News Corp for $3 million because of the "bad behaviour" of some of it's newspapers.

Andrew Whittam Smith is the First Church Estate's Commissioner and in charge of their finances. He is also the founder of the Independent Newspaper which along with The Guardian has been on the attack over the great hacking scandal and other matters previously. It was he who made the decision to sell the Church's stake in News.
A former journalist and the son of an Anglican vicar, Whittam Smith is far from being a prude and was once president of the British Film Board Classification and was responsible during the 90s for liberalising what naughty parts Brits could see in videos and films. Until then it had languished about 50 years behind the rest of Europe.
He also thinks Scotland Yard may soon be feeling the collars of both James Murdoch and his father for having breached Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 and is quoted as saying:
"“It means that if you have presided over an organisation that has conducted criminal activities, either you have the orders, or you gave permission, or you connived, but if you did none of these things, then you were neglectful. That, I believe, is the trap in which the directors of News International find themselves."

Could this be why Rupert and James are both moving permanently to New York?. Given how the British courts are now closely co-operating with US courts in extradition matters ala Julian Assange, perhaps both could seek sanctuary in Australia House in The Strand and ask for asylum.

Vale Anna Piaggi

Anna Piaggi, the Italian fashion writer and one of the most colourful characters of the fashion world has died in Italy at the age of 81.

Anna only visited Sydney once for the Mercedes Fashion Week in 2002 but what a joy she was. Unpretentious, exquisite,grand but friendly especially to new young designers offering them encouragement and advice.

Molly, Elton and Robert Hughes

EVERYONE loves Molly Meldrum.

 A year ago the most bumbling but lovable TV interviewer fell from a ladder while trying to hitch some Christmas fairly lights to a tree near the backyard pool in his Melbourne house. Molly banged his head on one of the repro Sphinx heads that adorn his Egyptian themed house and for a few months we all feared we may lose him.
In hospital doctors worried he may have suffered serious brain damage.

At times nurses had to lead Molly back to his bed when he was convinced the hospital hallways were a red carpet premier of a new film or rock event. Once they  nabbed him a nearby coffee shop where he had fled convinced he was being held prisoner and had begged the shop owner to call him a taxi. At times he looked perplexed when handed his trademark cowboy hat.

But Molly is back in form and the man who famously ummed and ahhed  his way through an interview with a bemused Prince Charles in 1979 (see below) has returned with a triumphant interview with his old pal Elton John who has slammed Madonna as as "like a fucking fairground stripper, a nightmare " and that "Her tour's been a disaster. And it couldn't happen to a bigger cunt"
 Several media outlets have proclaimed that Elton's outburst was meant to be off-camera and not part of the interview.
Oh yeah?. Our spy in the Molly camp says Elton said after his Madonna attack "and make sure you print that Molly."
                                                      


                                                    *************************

Hughes with Danton

Art Critic Robert Hughes who passed away today at the age of 74 never fully recovered physically from a 1999 car accident in the Northern Territory


But it was the death of his son Danton Hughes in 2002 that really rocked Robert and and knocked the wind out of his sails.
Hughes confided to friends that he felt a total failure as a father after  Danton, who had been living with designer Jenny Kee, committed suicide in Kee's garage while she was visiting friends in Byron Bay.

 Although Hughes and Kee never spoke to each other while Danton was living with Jenny, they had one meeting after Danton's death and settled their differences.
Hughes would also say that if he had never met and married American artist Doris Downes that he believes he may well have joined Danton in suicide.

The Mars rover Curiosity mission: what has astrology to say?

How appropriate that her website is decorated with theatre style red velvet curtains- this dame has taken more curtain calls than Dame Nellie Melba, bid farewell more times that John Farnham and looks like being around as long as The Rolling Stones.

The always controversial Madame Arcati who has a habit of scooping Fleet Street tabloids  has returned again, albeit with an astrological angle and the above story on the Mars Rover.

Three weeks ago the Shuttle dined at Ottos with a visiting NASA scientist attending a conference at the University of New South Wales and we were given a detailed description of how the Rover would descend upon the Mars surface. Speaking to a scientist about life elswhere is a frustrating process as they will never admit to anything. However after the third glass of red our expert told us that NASA has discovered hundreds of possible earth like planets but publicly admits to just a few.
And of course, it is life they are looking for on Mars. We think he knows what he is talking about as he was amongst the team that found ice on Mars.
  Click HERE to go to the Madame Arcati blog.

Earth To Sydney Confidential

The old Darlinghust Gaol built in 1840 must have been a foreboding thought for those sentenced to be housed there by the nearby Darlinghurst Criminal Court where the more sensational murder cases are still conducted today.
Being banged up in the tiny and claustrophobic cells for life (for those who avoided the gallows) would have been a mind destroying experience.

These days the Gaol hosts a variety of schools in the arts and catering fields and  it's a lively place of learning.
Last week the National Art School housed there held a fundraiser attended by a number of leading artists including this year's Archibald winner Tim Storrier and, as Rupert Murdoch's top selling Daily Telegraph put it : "revered artist John Olsen".
Accompanying the story is the above photo with the caption " Ros Packer and Tim Storrier."
For the record : this is artist Tim Storrier ( the artist above is John Olsen) at the right :

..and at left  is Ros Packer (at the Bulgari party 2 weeks ago). Both feature often in the Shuttle. (they should read us more often as some leading UK newspapers do to source their stories)
 Rumours are flying thick and fast that a major staff crunch is coming at News Ltd in September and the fear and loathing at the Holt Street HQ is palpable. Perhaps they may re-think the notion of out-sourcing their sub-editing.

Kings Cross Gossip

To the oddly named Akward bar at the top of William Street, Kings Cross for a Sony Music reception for The Gossip.
Gossip are a 3 piece American rock band relatively unknown in these parts and Sony hope to change that with their new album A Joyful Noise. On the plus side, a small party of about 30 guests with a chance to chat to the band- on the minus side, Gossip didn't perform. Nathan "Brace Paine" Howdeshell & Kathy Mendonca are the two musicians and vocalist Beth Ditto has a sensational voice. We're sure you'll agree : here is Beth and the band with 2006 song Standing In The Way Of Control.

Lana Wachowski

****************************
Wachowski Brothers Bulletin:
Larry & Andy Wachowski were regulars on the Sydney scene during the making of the hugely successful Matrix series at Fox Studios. The Shuttle encountered them at several receptions.
Larry wants the world to know that he is now Lana.

Vale Vidal

And so the greatest essayist in America has passed away at the age of 86. There really isn't anyone like him left.

Jimmy Trimble

Gore Vidal is to be buried at Rock Creek Cemetery, a graveyard in suburban Washington DC next to his life partner Howard Austen who died in 2008 which prompted Vidal's move from the Amalfi Coast in Italy to the Hollywood Hills where he died today from pneumonia.

On one side of Gore and Howard is the grave of Henry Adams (1838-1913) the American journalist, novelist, academic and historian who featured in Vidal's books.

And on the other side is the great love of Gore Vidal's life, indeed the person who he said was the only person he had ever  loved,  Jimmy Trimble who was a school  colleague of Vidal's who died at Iwo Jima in WW2.

Here's the famous encounter between Gore Vidal & William Buckley:

Royalty On The Best Dressed List

Vanity Fair magazine has released it's 2012 International Best Dressed list which features a refreshing list of royals and fashion designers with just a handful of the usual movie stars (mostly men).

Michelle Harper

Duchess of Cambridge

Princess Mary

Carlos Souza

Tasmanian born HRH Princess Mary of Denmark is the only Aussie born to feature along with a smattering of European royals including Prince Harry and Princess Kate. See the full list here.

Gina Spends Up

When you are the richest woman in the world and in line to be the richest person on the planet, what's a few million dollars here and there.

 Gina Rinehart is buying up property abroad and has purchased 2 luxury apartments for nearly $44M in Singapore's new Seven Palms Sentosa Cove project. That's off-the-plan as they haven't actually been built yet and Gina's taking a bit of risk here with the Asian property market swings of highs and lows putting Dubai's property plunge to shame.

Lady Mary Fairfax

The last Aussie to splash out on property abroad was newspaper heiress Lady Mary Fairfax who bought the 3 storey penthouse in the ritzy Pierre Hotel in New York in 1988 for $12M . That pad came with it's own ballroom, 5 bedrooms and 7 bathrooms and featured spectacular views over Central Park. Lady Mary had plenty of cash to splash about at the time having picked up at least $250M in the failed takeover bid of Fairfax Newspapers by her son Warwick Fairfax which ended in tears although the extended Fairfax clan became immensely rich in the process.

The Pierre Hotel

The Pierre Ballroom

Fairwater

 This month that clan will gather at Lady Mary's Sydney harbour side mansion Fairwater in Double Bay to celebrate her 90th birthday. Fairwater doubles-up as the Monaco Consulate as Lady Mary is the Honorary Consul. When Mary passes the house has been left in trust to the nation although it's stipulated in her will that her retainers, servants, chauffeurs and gardeners can live there rent free for the rest of their lives

As for that Pierre Hotel penthouse, Lady Mary sold it for $21.5M in 1999, a record for a New York apartment.
That record was soon eclipsed by another Aussie newspaper baron Rupert Murdoch who paid $44M for a flat in the Rockefeller Centre but he was soon topped by David Geffen paying $45M for socialite Denise Rich's sumptuous pad on 5th Avenue (the Shuttle partied there for Milton Berle's 80th birthday). All this expensive real estate is put in the shade though by a penthouse that has just gone on the market for a whopping $95M in the mid-town Manhattan City Spire building