For the second time in as many weeks the beautiful Sarah Murdoch, wife of Lachlan Murdoch has fronted the cameras.
They're tall, beautiful and Aussie- Sarah Murdoch (centre) with contestants from the show
Sarah hosted a preview of Australia's Next Top Model at Fox Studios last night followed by a drinks party and for once, the media was far too polite to mention that matter that has consumed them for the past 3 weeks.
They should be models : gorgeous Charlotte Dawson with some hunky footballers
But where do they find such beautiful and tall girls?. As you can see from our exclusive snaps another bevy of statuesque teens are battling to win a lucrative modelling career.
They'll choose Australia's Next Top Model : Charlotte Dawson, Sarah Murdoch & Alex Perry
It's been just four months since Australia's much loved artist Margaret Olley attended the controversial Archibald Prize when the portrait of her by artist Ben Quilty won Australia's richest art prize for portraiture.
Dobell's portrait of Olley
But it was also the second time a portrait of Margaret had won the Archibald-the first was in 1948 when William Dobell took the gong and launched he and Olley on the road to art celebrity.
Margaret with Ben Quilty in April
Today Margaret passed away at the age of 88 in her Paddington terrace. She'll be sorely missed. No event at the NSW Art Gallery was complete without Margaret shuffling through the crowd with her walking frame-bell ringing incessantly if anyone dared to momentarily impede her trajectory.
Olley was an icon who held over 90 shows during her life. Her paintings brought the largest price for an Australian living artist and she leaves a legacy of work behind, painting right up until the end. She also left a mass of works to the NSW Art Gallery, nearly seven million dollars worth and donated her own collection of masters including 3 Cezannes and a Picasso. When she purchased the Cezanne at auction in London she thought it looked rather lonely so snapped up 2 more saying "three makes a better statement".
Olley never married and once said in an interview that she liked to be "a one-woman band, too independent to be subservient to anyone". She loved helping new young talent and to that end has left a trust fund of a million dollars to assist budding young painters.
One half of the Christian The Lion duo-Anthony 'Ace' Bourke has confirmed that the famous saga about Christian, the Harrods bought lion that was raised in a Kings Road, Chelsea furniture shop is to be made into a Hollywood film.
Ace was talking at the Sherman Gallery at the exhibition of Vietnamese artist Dinh Q. Lê.
In 1969 he and Australian born social writer John Rendall purchased Christian and raised him in their shop Sophisticat, eventually returning him to Africa under the care of the famous conservationist of Born Free fame George Adamson.
Bourke and Rendell returned a year later to see how Christian was faring and the grainy film of Christian bounding down a hill to hug both John and Ace became a YouTube hit (with over 30 million views) when put to the song I'll Always Love You. It lead to a publishing deal and a world wide tour on TV interview shows including Oprah Winfrey.
*********************
Brian Sherman & Dinh Q. Lê
Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation's current exhibition Erasure,
is a newly commissioned work by Vietnamese artist Dinh Q. Lê – an
interactive sculptural and video installation that draws on recent
debates in Australia concerning refugees and asylum seekers.
The darkened gallery space is dominated by a floor-to-ceiling
moving image of an 18th century tall ship beached on an isolated
coastline slowly being consumed by flames. The gallery floor is
strewn with small islands of debris – discarded clothing and wooden
fragments. Amid the destruction are thousands of small black and
white photographs – self-portraits, family and passport photos – which
Dinh spent years buying in second-hand stores in the hope of finding his
own family’s pictures.
To date the Shermans have now sponsored 11 similar artists to the tune of $100,000 each. The exhibition runs until the 11th September 2011, Wednesday to Saturday 11 am – 5 pm
16–20 Goodhope Street, Paddington
Sydney NSW 2021 Australia
Phone +61 (0)2 9331 1112
The News of the World hacking hearing was interrupted when a man
attacked Rupert Murdoch with a plate full of shaving cream. The attack
was foiled when Murdoch's wife Wendi Deng pounced to the defense of her
husband. The assailant is a comedian who calls himself Jonnie Marbles.
People are curious how he managed to get past security. Meanwhile,
hacktivist's LulzSec came out of "retirement" to prank Murdoch. They
hacked The Sun's website, posting a fake report of his suicide. But
Murdoch is still very much alive. Does Wendi regret her decision to save
him?
The Murdoch family still face battles with the British parliament and a public still reeling from the great phone hacking scandal but life appears to be far rosier for some members of the extended first family of the media.
While Lachlan Murdoch accompanied his father Rupert Murdoch and brother James to London this week keeping a low profile and returning to New York with them on their private jet, his beautiful wife model and TV presenter Sarah Murdoch was last night voted Favourite Personality at the Astra Awards for pay TV held at the Sydney Theatre Company.
Anna Torv splash
Sarah is host and executive producer of the series Australia's Next Top Model which co-incidentally is screened on Foxtel , the cable network part owned by her famous father-in-law.
Meanwhile the on-line magazine The Beast has come into bat for the Australian actress Anna Torv and claimed that she is a victim of the The Emmy Awards’ 10 Biggest Snubs.
Kia Torv, William & Anna Mann, Hans Torv
Anna appears in the hugely popular TV series Fringe which has a world wide cult following.
She's the daughter of Gold Coast radio network owner Hans Torv who is the brother of the former Mrs Anna Murdoch and she's the cousin of James, Lachlan, Prudence and Elisabeth Murdoch. Anna is named after her famous aunt.
John Noble
Not that Anna has much contact with her famous media family cousins. She's been estranged from her father Hans since the age of eight when he and her mother parted company but she does maintain contact with the former Mrs Rupert Murdoch and regularly visits her aunt in New York. Anna Murdoch married New Yorker financier William Mann and as our exclusive picture shows is extremely close to her brother Hans and his present wife Kia. Anna Mann is also a co-owner of the Queensland radio network run by Hans. Anna Torv has been signed for another series of Fringe along with the star of the show, Australian actor John Noble who The Beast reckons should also be up for an Emmy.
Two months ago we wrote of the doom and gloom at the venerable Fairfax Media publishing house who produce two of the world's oldest and most respected newspapers The Sydney Morning Herald and the Melbourne Age.
As crikey.com.au revealed Fairfax plan to cut up to 200 staff including journalists and sub-editors at the same time they are reaping in tens of millions of dollars in annual profits. Fairfax want to out source sub editing to Pagemasterspart of AAP who are in turn 45% owned by News Corp currently the subject of a police and parliamentary investigation in the UK over hacking and whose boss Rupert Murdoch was attacked by a cream pie wielding comedian yesterday.
One complaint over the Fairfax cuts that will further concentrate media power into fewer hands is that standards are likely to fall. Particularly at an organisation like Fairfax which has maintained a long history of high standards not only in reporting news but in presentation.
Fairfax managers should heed our warnings. Just a few days ago we pointed out how the web-site of the Daily Telegraph carries the odd story of how Lady GaGa appeared at the Sydney Opera House although it was in fact the Sydney Town Hall where she wowed 1000 invited guests. The clanger still remains.
There was a reason Lady GaGa chose the Town Hall-it boasts the world's biggest and most magnificent organ which GaGa pounded away on to great effect during her concert.
Is the curse of the absent sub-editor spreading ?. This series of posts in one of favourite newspaper websites London Evening Standard owned by the Russian entrepreneur AlexanderLebedev caught our eye this morning :
On Sunday the Shuttle ran the tale of how Lady GaGa made a dramatic entrance onto the stage of the Monster Hall (Sydney Town Hall) in a wheel chair wearing a mermaid tail.
We pointed out that this was remarkably similar to Bette Midler's act from over 20 years ago when she appeared at the Sydney Entertainment Centre.
Midler has warmed to the theme and been twittering her fans : I’m
not sure @ladygaga knows that I’ve performed my mermaid in a wheelchair
for millions of people — and many of them are still alive,”
“Dear @ladygaga I’ve been doing singing mermaid in a
wheelchair since 1980-You can keep the meat dress and the firecracker
tits, mermaid’s mine.” Ouch !.
It was one of the most anticipated television appearances in modern time. The legendary media mogul Rupert Murdoch was to be grilled by the powerful UK Culture, Media and Sport Committee.
In the end it was more like being lashed with a damp lettuce leaf but who wasn't impressed by Rupert Murdoch's humble physical appearance that one viewer described as more like Mr Grace from Are You Being Served.
Heir apparent James Murdoch was full of sincerity with his Ivy league, well mannered and scrubbed looks. With Murdoch Sn we saw flashes of his Australian laid back humour but direct answers. And who could not have felt for him when he appeared almost on the verge of tears as he described his father, the late Sir Keith Murdoch who broke tradition when he attacked the British government over the Gallipoli disaster in which Australian and New Zealand troops were treated as useful cannon fodder for incompetent British generals.
Rupert was reminding us that there is a need for an open and fearless media to shine a light on the political machinations that are not always in the best interests of citizens and he is correct on that.
Sadly Rebekah Brooks appearance was an anti-climax although she presented her case well.
But the winner of the day was Wendi Murdoch who sat loyally behind her hubby, at times trying to stop him thumping the table (a legendary Rupert trait) and who rushed to the defense of her man when threatened with a custard tart (an annoying stunt that was badly timed).
While James Murdoch looked suitably shocked with a momentary freeze, Wendi jumped to her feet and laid into the tart bearer with a right hook that left the attacker wearing his own pie !
@buchuPiegate hits hackgate. Wendi Deng is more sprightly than the portly Met officer who ran across the screen#hackgate.
And as Rupert is 80, there is one person who shines above the others as the ideal candidate to lead the mighty News Corp into the uncertain future-step forward Wendi Murdoch: Warrior Princess
PS : Thank God for spell check but it produces some odd corrections such as :
Rupoer ( as in Rupert)...Ripper !
Gallipolli (as in Gallipoli)..Gladioli !
With perfect timing a new book has just been published by Murdoch Books- Making News by Melbourne sport's journalist Tony Wilson.
Murdoch Books is owned by Sydneysider Matt Handbury who is the son of the late Helen Handbury, Rupert Murdoch's older sister. When Sir Keith Murdoch died in 1952 he left the Adelaide Advertiser, his only newspaper to son Rupert and a small publishing firm to Helen who subsequently passed that firm on to Matt.
Matt Handbury built the company into highly successful publishers of magazines and books selling off the magazine section in 2004 for $77M to Perth media mogul Kerry Stokes.
The London Evening Standardsays Making News is a thinly disguised novel which is highly critical of the behaviour of news-hounds in Australia and Britain
Says author Wilson : “The phone hacking scandal is right on
topic for my second novel, Making News. Phone hacking is an
important part of the plot, albeit in the sense that the hacked know
they’re being hacked, and deliberately spread misinformation to the
tabloids in the hope of a defamation success. It’s a satire of British
tabloid misbehaviour. In the first half of the book, a young ‘weekend
trainee’ learns the standard hack tricks. In the second, the trainee’s
celebrity father is caught up in a sex scandal that sweeps the world,
and motivates the trainee to seek revenge against his mentors. The main
inspiration for the novel was a memoir by a celebrated tabloid editor.”
Matt Handbury & former wife Fiona
The diarist who penned the Standard piece says: " As a publisher, Handbury has not previously been critical of his uncle.
But maybe he feels Murdoch’s days of influence and power are on the
wane".
But it's been long rumoured around town that the Murdochs and Handburys aren't the greatest of friends.
Clare & Matt Handbury
The Shuttle recalls attending a party at the magnificent harbour side mansion Altona when the Handbury's owned it and asking Fiona Handbury-then married to Matt , if they would be attending the wedding of Lachlan Murdoch and model Sarah O'Hare.
"Certainly not " replied Fiona, "Matt and I are regularly forgotten when it comes to family invitations. The only one we seem to get is the annual family get-together organised by Dame Elisabeth Murdoch atCruden Farm"
Matt and Fiona divorced in 2000 and Fiona received Altona as part of a divorce settlement promptly selling it for $29M to publisher Deke Miskin (it's currently on the market for a reported $60M).
Fiona-now the Countess of Dartmouth married William Legge, the 10th Earl of Dartmouth and the grandson of the legendary romance novelist Dame Barbara Cartland.
Matt Handbury married Clare Strang in 2002 and they now live in the beautiful council owned Bronte House overlooking Bronte Beach on a 50 year lease. Once a year they are obliged to open Bronte House's splendid gardens for public viewing.
The endless round of product launches in Sydney can be tiring at times, especially when what passes for the social media in this town present some very dubious characters as 'socialites'.
Brodie Castle
How pleasing then to be invited to the annual Brodie Clan get together -The Grand Bannockburn Ball at the inner west suburban Petersham Town Hall. We sent a Shuttle operative along to get a few snaps and a short film.
The Brodies are a clan whose origins are slightly obscure as the rival Gordon Clan pillaged and burnt Brodie Castle near Inverness in 1645 destroying their historical records. They were like that these Scottish clans. Always at war with each other.
That castle was re-built and still stands today and is run by the Scottish National Trust. You can rent out apartments in it for the weekend. The landlord of Brodie Castle and the 27th Chief of Clan Brodie flew in from Scotland as a special guest for the night. He's the wonderfully named Alexander Tristran DuffBrodie who wrapped himself in the new Brodie Clan flag for our cameras.
But on viewing some film of Alexander being piped in something caught our eye. He's accompanied by a tall flame haired woman who looks suspiciously like Rebekah Brooks the Fleet Street Titan just released from police questioning.
Did she make a secret visit to Sydney 3 weeks ago ?. Looking for a bolt hole, knowing her collar was about to be felt by the Old Bill?. The Murdoch's are another Scots clan and Uncle Rupert did famously say when asked what his first priority was.."to look after her !" We should be told.
The media lapped up the Lady GaGa promotion and fell into lock step in the way that the Australian press is famed for reporting every action of the diva word for word as though it was an earth shattering news event.
Ms GaGa entered the stage at the beginning of her Sydney Town Hall concert (note to the Sunday Telegraph-not the Sydney Opera House as claimed on your website) in a wheelchair wearing a mermaid's tail.
Bette Midler 1991
'Brilliant'! they proclaimed with one voice.
One noted tabloid scribe described the colourful entertainer as "the most original performer the world has ever seen "!
Not quite. As you can see from our pic above of Lady GaGa in her wheelchair entrance, it's remarkably similar to another entertainer-Bette Midler who 20 years ago premiered her show at the SydneyEntertainment Centre by errr..arriving on stage-in a wheelchair wearing a mermaid's tail.
We know last week Lady GaGa took Sydney by storm much in the way Oprah Winfrey did late last year. However what is wrong with this report today at telegraph.com.au ?:
"IF YOU'RE into pop music, it doesn't get much better than Lady Gaga.
Lada Gaga at the Opera House
And
as far as live shows go, it doesn't get much bigger or better than Lady
Gaga in such an intimate venue as the Sydney Opera House.
With a
guest list of just over 1000 people - most of whom were competition
winners - a select group of less than 200 celebs packed the venue
balcony for Lady Gaga's only official Sydney show last week.
For the occasion, the iconic venue was renamed the Sydney Monster Hall - a reference to Lady Gaga's legion of fans"
This is Sydney's "iconic venue" the Sydney Opera House :
and this is the Sydney Town Hall dubbed "Sydney Monster Hall "
last week for Lady GaGa's concert
We reckon they look different.
question for 'Insider' : which one these two is Lady GaGa and which one is a journalist who got their facts wrong ?
"The British find it very hard to believe what every outsider knows – that their culture is rotten to the core.".." Assange, who is about to be extradited to Sweden to face charges of being a terrible fuck. " Germaine Greer is furious. Her phone wasn't hacked !
"You can imagine how crushed I am to discover that I am NOT on any of the lists of potential hackees!
My phone remains inviolate! To someone as desperate for publicity as
myself, this is proof positive that I have fallen into utter obscurity.
Not even in the first 4000! "
Greer continues :
"It matters not to the British commentators that Rupert M. has dumped
Australia for the US. Every move he makes reveals him to be a
treacherous Antipodean. Hordes of noble British workers have lost their
jobs because convict-spawn Rupert has exercised his brutal power and
closed the doors of the News of the World, even as it was being read to the nubs by seven million British half-wits."
Germaine has written a piece on the new website Hooplaset up by comedienne Wendy Harmer for the over 35s. Harmer has roped in a bunch of women like Greer, broadcaster Angela Catterns and Jessica Rowe to contribute and its all rather fun.
This video of a magician shot at a club in Monaco must be seen. It's amazing. How does the pianist stay on his stool ?.
Note in the audience-Prince Albert loving the act.
Not everyone was mesmerised by the Lady GaGa whirlwind as the diva swept through Sydney over the past three days.
The Sydney Morning Heraldreports GaGa was pelted with eggs after her performance at ARQ nightclub on Tuesday evening as she left via a lane way at the rear of the club surrounded by fans. Apparently an irate neighbour furious with all the noise made their sentiments felt from a window high above the commotion.
It's reminiscent of the time Sarah, the Duchess of York was in Sydney and was hired to promote Rupert Murdoch's cable TV network Foxtel. Around ten years ago the 200,000th subscriber was to be connected and a media event was organised in the seaside suburb of Clovelly.
An electricity manhole was opened in the street outside the lucky subscriber's house and Fergie did her duty, clambering into the hole to flick a switch to activate the connection as the occasion was to be broadcast live on Foxtel and Sky News. The assembled hacks crowded around jostling and pushing as they tried to get a good vantage point as a PR operative on a microphone introduced Sarah.
Suddenly a window in a nearby building was flung upon and an elderly woman leaned out and yelled "what's all that bloody racket down there about?"
Foxtel PR flacks rushed over and asked the woman to keep quiet telling her a very important person was about to give a speech. The woman responded : "I wouldn't care if you had the bloody Prime Minister or that silly Duchess woman there you can pull your heads in and shut up " as an egg landed squarely on the head of an earnest looking publicist.
Jack Vidgen
Accompanying Lady GaGa on her trip was the US blogger Perez Hilton who has slimmed down and was looking remarkably fit compared to his visit 3 years ago.
Here's a film of Perez on an empty Bondi Beach :
Perez features blond bombshell Jack Vidgen ( he was at Lady Ga Ga's concert) on his website. Jack gave another stellar performance on Tuesday on Australia's Got Talent with his rendition of Adele's Set Fire To The Rain and we have the video below followed by fellow teen sensation in his first public appearance Ronan Parke singing up a storm in front of thousands and mincing sashaying down the stage like an old trouper.
Two months ago we wrote of the doom and gloom at the venerable Fairfax Media publishing house who produce two of the world's oldest and most respected newspapers The Sydney Morning Herald and the Melbourne Age.
As crikey.com.au revealed Fairfax plan to cut up to 200 staff including journalists and sub-editors at the same time they are reaping in tens of millions of dollars in annual profits. Fairfax want to out source sub editing to Pagemasters part of AAP who are in turn 45% owned by News Corp currently the subject of a police and parliamentary investigation in the UK over hacking and whose boss Rupert Murdoch was attacked by a cream pie wielding comedian yesterday.
On Sunday the Shuttle ran the tale of how Lady GaGa made a dramatic entrance onto the stage of the Monster Hall (Sydney Town Hall) in a wheel chair wearing a mermaid tail.
Murdoch Books is owned by Sydneysider Matt Handbury who is the son of the late Helen Handbury, Rupert Murdoch's older sister. When Sir Keith Murdoch died in 1952 he left the Adelaide Advertiser, his only newspaper to son Rupert and a small publishing firm to Helen who subsequently passed that firm on to Matt.
An electricity manhole was opened in the street outside the lucky subscriber's house and Fergie did her duty, clambering into the hole to flick a switch to activate the connection as the occasion was to be broadcast live on Foxtel and Sky News. The assembled hacks crowded around jostling and pushing as they tried to get a good vantage point as a PR operative on a microphone introduced Sarah. 
