A Day at The Races

A perfect Autumn day in Sydney and the races at the Royal Randwick Racecourse is as good as a Saturday gets in this city.

Here is a roundup of some of the folk and fashions spotted on the day.

No outfit is too outrageous and indeed it's encouraged. It's all good fun and the excitement is palpable as a race reaches it's climax.

There are thrilled shouts as a backed winner romps home and any tears of disappointment at a lost wager are soon forgotten once you hit the Champagne Bar in the magnificent Queen Elizabeth 11 Grandstand.    

And when it's time to leave so many of Sydney's inner city pubs and clubs now ensure the party continues (take a taxi !).

We even spotted a chap (right) wearing the latest in Rayban sunglasses - well that's what our pal said.

Hot stuff at Royal Randwick

If you have any sense on Saturday you should be heading out to the Royal Randwick

Racecourse  for The Championships Day 2 Longines Queen Elizabeth Stakes, one of the racing calender's premier dates.
The gees gees will be competing for mega prizes :
$1 million James Boag’s Premium Australian Oaks and the Group 1 $2 million Schweppes Sydney Cup. Wow! 
And look at the weather..it's going to be a glorious day. And we have a hot tip for punters, No not a race tip but if you keep your eyes peeled you may catch a glimpse of the latest Hollywood hunk to come out of this country- JAI COURTNEY.
OK Jai will be  wearing a tad more clothing than what he has on in our snap. After all they have a dress code at Randwick, collared shirt, tie and jacket but that's just part of the fun. And you can always imagine can't you?

Also at Randwick tomorrow will be Michelle Payne who made history last year as the first woman to win the Melbourne Cup. Have they made a movie of her life yet? They should. 
The gates open at 10.45am so I'd be early. Jai is expected to arrive around mid-day and there will heaps of other celebrities to gaze at. 

And that's what the races are all about.The chance to win some cash and thrill as the horses race as the excitement and tension builds up, and sip some champagne while star spotting. 
And anyone who hasn't yet checked out Randwick's magnificent new stand is really missing something

Spotted

This rather hirsute gentleman looking very relaxed  is Hollywood actor Jason Momoa who was imbibing in a latte at a local Adelaide cafe today.

Momoa appeared in the popular Game of Thrones TV series and starred in action films like Conan The Barbarian and Batman Vs Superman.

Jason has been shooting scenes for a new action film Aquaman in which he takes the title role along side co-stars Nicole Kidman and Amber Heard.

Whispers' spies are omnipresent !

Fairfax Fail # 14

Don't get Whispers wrong, we really are fond of Fairfax Newspapers. Especially having worked for lengthy periods twice for them although the partnership didn't always end amicably. The real problem is despite Fairfax hosting some of the nation's best journalists, those in management are not newspaper people. They are businessmen looking at the bottom financial line and that isn't always a happy marriage.
Say what you will about the Dirty Digger ( Rupert Murdoch) he employs expert experienced newspaper men & women to run his worldwide operations and that's why they succeed (hey and they pay on time !).

So it's always sad when you see an obvious corker in one of Australia's venerable institutions and one we need so badly. As in this report by the local Southern Highlands' Fairfax newspaper where two budding journos got it so badly wrong.

Local newspaper baron Cristian King (pictured right with his Mum Jane)  Australia's youngest newspaper executive and an editor at King Media is involved in a dispute with some local Highland's colorful characters. He's been charged with an offense but most certainly not 'stalking' a fairly serious offense as the local Fairfax newspaper alleges. Cris is in good hands though His brief is from one of NSW's best law firms run by Christopher Murphy. We reckon King will prevail in court. We don't think M'lud will be happy with the Fairfax report.

Disclosure : Whispers has worked for Fairfax, Rupert Murdoch, King Media, Vanity Fair, the Wentworth Courier..oh hell, who haven't we worked for?

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And on the subject of King Media, Cristian and Jane King are about to launch their fourth local newspaper, The Independent Goulburn. This is the way of the future in print publishing - small independent newspapers will thrive. Take it as gospel from an old hack.

TOMORROW: THE TRUTH ABOUT MOVIE STAR MARILYN MONROE

ANOTHER GRATUITOUS BRYNNE GORDON PHOTOGRAPH !

We just had to bring you yet another snap of Brynne Gordon from the series taken by uber fab Melbourne snapper Greg Desitov. ( check out Greg's sensational work here)

And why not ! We reckon the America's loss is Australia's gain. Whispers has never actually met Brynne- we did linger in the background at a Bondi Beach promotion where she and her ex-hubby Geoffrey Eldersten featured but everyone who has met her says Brynne is one very nice gal. It shows.

What Joan Collins did Today

Whispers was invited to one of Dame Joan Collin's birthday parties many moons ago. The invite came via a telegram, those funny old things of yesterday before email. The party was at the Rainbow Room that deliriously gorgeous penthouse room in Kensington High Street. Outside as pink flamingos wandered in a sumptuous park, we all toasted Joan's 5? birthday.
We digress, Dame Joan today launched a fab new dinghy called Joie de Vivre for the firm Uniworld. We have the picture. Nice.

Pic by Lee Tulloch  http://www.leetulloch.com

Kirsty's Palm Beach Bash

Palm Beach swells Carol Jaeger & Douglas Jenks pose on the Clark's patio

While all eyes are on Palm Beach's Mar-a-Lago (described by it's owner as the Southern White House) as Donald Trump plays yet another round of golf, Whispers presents an exclusive as former Queensland model Kirsty Clark (nee Hinze) and her billionaire husband Jim Clark host a concert for the Pelmen Music Program at their own nearby home.

The event saw nearly 200 classical music lovers and philanthropists gather for drinks on the porch of the Clark's magnificent mansion followed by a concert of Pelmen students with pieces by Mozart, Mendelssohn and Dvorak captivating the audience.
pictured left : Jim Clark

 Among the Palm Beach heavyweights on the guest list : Martha and Steve Greenwald, music figures Vicki and Chris Kellogg, legal eagles Patricia Lowry and Hon. James Hopkins and Hollywood actress Sheryl Lee Wilson (right) best known for Twin Peaks and The Book of Mormon. 
 Pics by Annie Watt

Music lovers joined Kirsty Clark (centre) : Susan Lloyd, Jason Laskey, Michael James, and Mark Addison

Brynne Update

It's not usually an earth shattering piece of news but we really thought we should immediately bring you a copy Brynne Gordon's updated Facebook profile pic. It doesn't get much better than this. Whispers is sure you will agree. This snap is by Melbourne photographer Greg Desitov. We think he's excelled himself. Check out his work here

Cartoonist Bill Leak farewelled

The late News Ltd cartoonist Bill Leak (left) who died suddenly at the age of 61 was farewelled in a memorial service today at Sydney's Town Hall. 

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and wife Lucy were there along with former PM John Howard. Media personalities who attended included broadcasters Richard Fidler and Wendy Harmer, dozens of Leak's former News' colleagues and comedian Barry Humphries who was a long time pal of Leaks.

Humphries drew a round of applause when he claimed the only memorial service he'd like to attend was one for the Human Right's Commission which had been locked in a battle over some of Leak's more controversial cartoons. President of the Commission Gillian Triggs (pictured above) has held her ground while under a sustained attack by the right side of politics.

Whispers found Leak's cartoons a tad on the old fashioned side but we enjoyed his many Archibald portraits which we have included below. Leak never won the main prize but he did win the Packer's Prize once.
All part of life's rich tapestry in Sydney's never dull social life.

arriving at the memorial: Barry Humphries & Lizzie Spender * Malcolm & Lucy Turnbull

Bill Leak Archibald portraits : Sir Les Patterson * Paul LePetit *  Bob Hawke * Graham Richardson * Dame Edna Everage

Just In

He's in Sydney and he's appearing tonight in his (almost) sell out show and Whispers will be there. It would be mean not to publish the latest snaps of Justin Bieber from his Calvin Klein adverts. Not nude but, hey who cares,

JUSTIN BIEBER NUDE !

Sorry but we don't have any new nude snaps of Justin as this is just a shameless attempt to cash in on

the fact we get around 1000 searches on this site alone for his naked pics - you have to go here for those. 
But there are tickets available for his Sydney show tonight and we can assure you Bieber clothed is just as good. BE QUICK IF YOU WANT TICKETS AND GO TO THIS WEBSITE

It's All Go at Royal Randwick

It's that time of the year again for the 2017 Sydney Carnival, a six week program of world-class racing entertainment from 11 March to 15 April 2017 at Rosehill Gardens and Royal Randwick.

The Sydney Turf Club invited some of Australia’s most respected racing figures to a small shindig at Randwick to celebrate the event and Whisper's spy disguised as a Colorful Racing Identity slipped in to check out the evening. Among the guests : racing, trainer Gai Waterhouse, NSW leading Provincial trainer Kris Lees, and champion jockey Hugh Bowman joined actress and AACTA Award winner, Elizabeth Debicki, actor and member of Swing On This, Ben Mingay, 800 Words star, Melina Vidler, model Montana Cox, Ginger & Smart designers, Alexandra and Genevieve Smart and radio hosts, Ryan Fitzgerald and Michael Wipfli were named as Sydney Carnival ambassadors for 2017.

Wow! And many of them are there in our beautiful snaps from the evening. And what glorious weather it should be. Not too hot nor cold and lovely blue skies. Rosehill is perfect if you hail from west Sydney, located right near Parramatta and Whisper's course of choice Royal Randwick is so handy for the Eastern Suburbs with plenty of parking. There are always lots of things happening at the racecourse during this carnival so get there early. You can check on the Turf Club's website for activities here.

The Only Gig to be at Tonight

Delectable singer Christie Lamb will be launching he new album tonight at the insanely named Rooty Hill RSL ( Whispers has been there- like something out of Las Vegas!)

Christie Lamb             pic: fireflyphotos.com.au

Born in Nottingham, England, Christie moved to Australia aged 6 and attended a Performing Arts School for dance, drama and music.

Now with a plethora of prestigious awards under her belt, Christie can add ‘CMC New Oz Artist of the Year 2015’ and a Golden Guitar for ‘CMAA New Talent of the Year 2016’. Winning both these awards is unheard of as an independent artist, and at just 23 years of age, is a truly extraordinary achievement. 

These awards wrap up an incredibly fruitful year that started with the success of her debut album 

‘All She Wrote’. Following a sold out album launch in Sydney, the album hit #1 on the Aria Hit Seekers Album Chart (All Genres) and #2 on the ARIA Australian Artist Country Chart. The subsequent five radio releases spurned three #1 hit singles and two top 5 singles.

As a result, Christie Lamb has been hailed as ‘the one to watch’ by country music industry insiders including legend, Lee Kernaghan.  As Lee concurs, “Christie is an incredible artist; not only an amazing singer, she is also an extremely talented multi-instrumental musician. I reckon Christie Lamb is the one to watch. She is a star of the future”
Tickets are $20 and can be purchased here : http://rootyhillrsl.com.au/christie-lamb-tickets-2016

Cate Blanchett channels Dusty Springfield

Occasional Sydney resident Cate Blanchett made a surprise visit last week to New York's famous Stonewall Club to aid the Newtown Action Alliance. And - in Givenchy of course -  looking sensational, she lip-sinced to Dusty Springfield's famous hit You Don't Own Me and we have the video for your viewing pleasure:

Joan Crawford, the Waldorf Astoria, Times Square and Moi

Poster from Feud and right : Joan Crawford

There is a new movie Feud about to hit our screens staring Jessica Lange and Susan Sarandon and it

looks sensational. It tells the tale of the rivalry between two Hollywood legends, Joan Crawford and Bette Davis.
It brings to mind Whispers part in making the movie based on Joan Crawford's life, Mommie Dearest into a minor world-wide hit. The film was based on a book by Crawford's adopted daughter Christina Crawford.

It was the late 1970s and Whispers accompanied then Daily Express columnist Timothy Swallow (left) to New York to produce a book about famous women. We ensconced ourselves for a fortnight at the Waldorf Astoria. Our madcap adventures in that two weeks are for another time but one incident has now become a legend. Timothy and I on a free afternoon ventured over to a Times Square cinema to watch Mommie Dearest staring Faye Dunaway. The movie was languishing in the box office doldrums and the Hollywood "elite" had turned their backs on Dunaway claiming her brilliant portrayal of Crawford was some sort of betrayal.
We simply loved the movie and early that evening over drinks in a  bar in the Waldorf we created a tale for Timothy's column in the Express: the William Hickey column. We claimed groups of fans were turning up to watch the film and at the crucial moment when Crawford attacks her children with a wire coat hanger, the fans stood up and waved their own wire coat hangers. Silly stuff to fill a column. Within days the tale was front page news around the world and life imitated art : fans began to do just that. The film became a minor box office hit and a year later back in London a producer tracked us down and took Timothy and I to the uber smart Knightsbride eatery San Lorenzo for lunch to thank us. Former Vanity Fair editor Tina Brown later recounted our story in her book 1983 book Life As a Party.
Below is a trailer for Feud and beneath the infamous scene from Mommie Dearest.

Arrivals

 

Oh the glamour. Pictured is model Adam Williams arriving at Royal Randwick for the races on Monday. Saturday's races were cancelled because of the unseasonable heat with horses being regularly hosed down  to prevent heat stress.

And that's how hot it actually was : for Aussies to abandon the chance of a day betting on the gee gees is unheard of.
Back to Adam. The amazingly sculptured Adam, an ex-boyfriend of celebrity hairdresser Joh Bailey is a model, dancer, choreographer and event compere and he's extremely popular throughout Asia where he is a role model for 1000s of young men who, well want to look just like him. And that gleaming auto is a special edition of a BMW. Everything sparkles! Isn't life so grand at times?

Openings

Wendy Whiteley & Anna Schwartz at the premiere

St George's Open Air Cinema at Mrs Macquarie's Chair with it's unsurpassed view opposite the Sydney Opera House is one Whisper's favourite spots on these warm, balmy evenings. Open air cinema takes us back to our childhood when we used to sneak into the local cinema. It had no roof mainly because it burnt off one very hot summer and they sensibly thought, "why bother replacing it?". We were of course so small at the time we could fit between the wooden boards that made up the walls and find an empty deck chair to take in the latest Hollywood flick. It may have been silent film.

 I digress- this was also the location to premier the new film Whiteley directed by James Bogle, a fascinating examination of the career of the late Aussie artist Brett Whiteley. The movie will be released in May and it's narrated by Wendy Whiteley, Brett's widow who has become keeper of the flame for one of the countries most famed painters. (pictures by William Yang)

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Warren Fahey

Picture right is actor Max Cullen preparing for his new role in Warren Fahey's new show Dead Men Laughing.

Fahey and Cullen toured Australia last year to huge acclaim with their show Dead Man Talking.

The new production tells of the lives of Australia's two greatest humorists, Lennie 'Lo' Lower, author of 'Here's Luck', and Roy 'Mo' Rene, star of vaudeville and radio's 'McCackie Mansion' - who are "stuck outside of Heaven's Gate" with the two just about saying or doing anything to get inside! 

 Warren Fahey is one of Australia's most renowned historians of folk music and folk lore. At a Kings Cross party a few moons ago we recorded Warren singing a song he claims was a favourite in the early colonies :  The Kings Cross Harlot's Ball. Here it is for your delight and for bookings for the new show go here.

Booted by Wikipedia

It's a sad day when one of Britain's top selling newspapers gets told by the on-line encyclopedia

Wikipedia to clear out their desk and leave the premises. The Daily Mail has been told that it can be no longer be used as a reliable source although Whispers feels quite a few British tabloids could well receive the same treatment.
We here are quite fond of the Mail even if they do nick the odd story from us. We've also made a habit of posting our regular Daily Mail Fails such as this ripper when they reported on the sad death of comedienne Tracey Ullman's mother. In the photo caption they claimed (in several editions) that the lady accompanying Ullman was her mother when in fact it was Australian actress Nell Campbell of Rocky Horror Film fame. The fact both women appeared to be of similar age seems to have eluded the editor.
Alas the curse of Daily Mail Fail has struck again on the very day they get their marching orders from Wikipedia.

 In this story about the sad death of British society identity Tara Palmer -Tomkinson they make some strange mistakes, firstly claiming Palmer-Tomkinson's body had been discovered by her "Portuguese cleaner" and then just a paragraph later claiming her body had been discovered by a 'friend'.
Mind you, perhaps her Portuguese maid was a close friend.

Still, who are we to cast stones. There's probably a blog somewhere compiling some of our corkers.

David Jones Winter Collection

Whispers as always selflessly attended the David Jones fashion spectacular last night so we could drink many glasses of French Champagne bring the latest winter fashions to you which you simply must have this year. As you can see there was a Media Wall -  a must have at every event, even the opening of a small coffee shop so readers can see yet another blatant advert know exactly where they are. Photographers of course hate love these media walls as they basically date their snaps. When picture editors surf through photographic files for a pic of a certain celebrity they tend to by-pass media wall snaps as they date the pic. Enough bitching. Whispers takes it's job as Nibbles & Fine Wine Inspector at social events very seriously. You know who all these slebs are or you should. They were at the last event. OK Lara Bingle wasn't so among our fabulous snaps you will find her, against that media wall. And the fashions? It's up to you to zip into your nearest DJs and pursue what's on offer. You won't be disappointed

Editor's note : corrected for spelling etc and hack severely reprimanded for supply copy at 2 am after consuming numerous refreshments
Below: Celebrities against the Media Wall!

 Below: models & fashion..a requirement at fashion shows