Orlando, FL (July 26, 2005) ? The SciFi Zone Radio Show will be reformatting to a one hour show with a time slot of Saturday 11pm to midnight in Orlando, FL (EST), 10pm to 11pm in Kansas City, MO (CST) and Sunday 11pm to midnight in Tampa, FL (EST) beginning Saturday, August 6th .

?This is a good thing,? commented John Fuld, Executive Producer of the show. ?When we started to syndicate, we thought we had to have a two hour format down.? However, after consulting with their syndication company, Radio Linx, The SciFi Zone learned more stations are able to pick them up with a one hour format. ?Sometimes you have to take a step back before moving forward,? says the show?s producer, Frank Dowler.

Apparently, that?s proving to be true with at least three new markets interested in the show with their new format.

About the SciFi Zone
The SciFi Zone Radio Show has been airing in the Central Florida area for almost two years making appearances at events and conventions throughout the southeastern region. The show features segments such as the Animinute, Club and Convention Zone along with guest interviews. For more information, please see their website at www.scifizoneradio.com

James Doohan, best known for the roll of Lieutenant Commander Montgomery Scott – or Scotty – passed away this morning at his home after battling Alzheimer’s and pneumonia. He was 85. He will be missed by fans – I shook hands with him while waiting outside for a convention to open – he actually came down and greeted everyone in line.

The Season 2 DVD Set of Star Trek: Enterprise is due out next Tuesday, and to celebrate StarTrek.com will be hosting viewing parties: On August 3rd, for episode “A Night in Sickbay”, and August 17th with “Cogenitor”. Both will happen twice, at noon and 6PM PST (3PM and 9PM Eastern).

Battlestar Galactica co-creator and exec producer David Eick have some details on somthing Ronald D. Moore revealed at ComicCon: that the Battlestar Pegasus will make an appearance in the new show. For those that remember the original, the Pegasus under the command of the “Living Legend” Commander Cain appeared and helped destroy a Base Star. The story line will likely be different in a number of respects, as it kicks of a complex arc and will probably be in several episodes.

A couple of updates to some movies we’ve been following: Logan’s Run is still in the sights of Joel Silver and Bryan Singer, and they are looking to start shooting as soon as Singer is done with Superman, with an eye towards filming in Berlin; and director Andrew Adamson announced at ComicCon that Liam Neeson will replace Brian Cox as the voice of Aslan in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

I probably don’t even need to post this, and would have posted earlier (stupid job getting in the way, but tonight is probably the biggest single night in SCI FI Channel’s history, with three of their biggest success premiering new seasons tonight. Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, and Battlestar Galactica all premiere tonight, starting at 8PM ET. I may have BOTH TiVos record (which are on UPSs), just in case…Update 7/19: SCI FI should be pleased – the returns are in, and its good – SG-1 scored 2.1, Atlantis 2.2, and Galactica did its best ever, with a 2.6 rating.

Your GABIT Events team are *thrilled* to announce that we have a new date for the long awaited event: Amanda Tapping, A Weekend With Her Fans.

In her first UK convention appearance since February 2002, Amanda will be joining her fans for a weekend in London, England on 28th-30th October 2005 at the Renaissance Hotel, Bath Road, Heathrow, London.

New tickets are now on sale via the Registration link on the web page. (www.gabitevents.co.uk)” Read More for the full announcement.


Before we find ourselves in that heady position, it may be worth reflecting on the fate of other Olympic cities. For them, the Olympics bring more than record-breaking feats and impossibly close finishes . It also brings years of citywide construction and — at least in recent games — huge cost overruns.

One day this January, we may suddenly learn that Boston is the US nominee to host the 2024 Olympics, and the odds-on favorite to beat the competition and become the official host city. At that point, with the race already underway, there will be a lot of pressure to push ahead with the bid and, well, go for the gold.

Aren’t the 2024 Olympics a decade away?

Yes, but planning for the games is a marathon, not a sprint. Decisions about where to hold the games, and what infrastructure to build, are being made now.

In January, the United States Olympic Committee will select one US city as its official nominee. Boston is vying for that spot against Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C.

Whichever US city is chosen will then compete against other global destinations for the right to host the 2024 games, with the final decision coming in 2017.

Boston’s bid isn’t being put together by the city, or the state, but by an outside group called the Boston 2024 Partnership, chaired by John Fish, CEO of Suffolk Construction. In true Olympic spirit, “Boston 2024 partnership” has its own opponent, No Boston Olympics, a loosely organized group trying to stop what they think is a costly boondoggle.

What would a Boston Olympics cost?

Boston 2024 Partnership has suggested that the cost of a Boston Olympics would be roughly $4.5 billion. That figure hasn’t been independently vetted, and there isn’t a detailed breakdown to assess. Still, there are reasons to think that $4.5 billion is probably an underestimate.

Recent games have tended to cost somewhere between four and nine times as much. The 2012 London Olympics cost nearly $20 billion. Brazil is expected to pay something similar in 2016. And Beijing spent roughly $40 billion in 2008.

What is more, huge cost overruns are relatively common in Olympic history.

Who foots the bill?

Between TV rights, sponsorships, and ticket sales, the Olympics does generate a fair bit of revenue, which can help cover the costs. In recent years, TV rights have amounted to nearly 50 percent of the Games’ revenue, while ticket sales make up 15 percent or less.

But even when all of the revenue streams are counted, it will probably add up to just five or six billion dollars, which is well below the $15 billion to $20 billion cost of recent Olympic Games.

If the pattern holds in Boston, and costs far exceed revenues, the difference will likely be made up by Massachusetts taxpayers. Before the International Olympic Committee will accept Boston’s bid, Massachusetts has to agree to cover all necessary costs.

Would the Olympics spur our economy?

Economists have searched mightily for evidence of economic gains related to the Olympics, but they haven’t found much.

That may sound implausible, particularly if you think of the Olympics as an event that attracts thousands of visitors to stay in Boston-area hotels, eat at local establishments, and spend money all over town. But tourism actually fell during the London and Beijing Olympics, and those who do come are chiefly interested in the Olympic events — which means they’re less likely than other tourists to visit museums or travel to outlying communities.

Two of the leading experts in the economics of the Olympics and other sports mega-events work here in Massachusetts: Victor Matheson at Holy Cross and Andrew Zimbalist at Smith (who shared with me his forthcoming book “Circus Maximus,” which provides a full picture of the costs of hosting an Olympics.) In study after study, these and other economists have found that the economic benefits of the Olympics are either nonexistent or extremely small.

Wouldn’t some spending help modernize Boston?

Sometimes, a deadline can help you focus on the task at hand. Hosting the Olympics has a similar effect, encouraging cities to make long-delayed investments that improve their transportation systems and address other vital needs — before the eyes of the world arrive.

The Boston 2024 partnership has a stated commitment to use the Olympics as a catalyst for Boston’s development, turning the Olympic village into university housing after the games, for example, and using modular architecture to possibly transform a new 60,000-plus Olympic stadium into a scaled-back home for the New England Revolution (read more about possible sites).

Most every Olympic city, however, starts out with prudent and perspicacious plans — only to find them overtaken by more pressing Olympic demands. That isn’t because of limitations in city planning or failures of foresight. It’s because the Olympic process isn’t really set up to meet the needs of the host city. It’s set up to meet the needs of the International Olympic Committee. As Zimbalist puts it: “An eleven-year process of one-upmanship, along with meeting direct demands made by the IOC or FIFA, leads to ever more elaborate and expensive plans.”

Are there any clear benefits?

There are some industries that do benefit from hosting the Olympics, notably the construction industry. For Boston to host an Olympics, we need to build a brand new Olympic stadium, along with a new aquatic center, and a velodrome. Each is a major construction project in its own right, and while cost overruns may hurt taxpayers they won’t necessarily hurt those involved in the construction.

If you’re looking for reasons to be skeptical about Boston’s Olympic bid, consider that members of the construction industry have played an outsized role in the effort. When the idea of a Boston Olympics first came up, the state put together an official exploratory committee (prior to and totally separate from the Boston 2024 Partnership). Both of the expert economists I mentioned — Zimbalist and Matheson — expressed a willingness to participate in that process when informally asked. Ultimately, though, neither was invited to join. Instead, the members were drawn mostly from the tourism and construction industries.

How likely is Boston to get the Olympics?

The decision-making process is quite secretive, but whatever city is chosen as the US nominee is likely to be the international front-runner.

One reason for that is the shrinking interest. More and more democracies are looking at the cost-benefit breakdown and deciding not to participate. The 2022 Winter Olympics may end up being held in authoritarian Kazakhstan because all of the European cities have withdrawn their initial bids.

But the other reason is that TV revenues tend to be higher when the Olympics are held in the United States. Local time zones make it easier for Americans to watch the games, and American viewers are especially valuable to Olympic sponsors, because they tend to spend more money.

Aren’t the Olympics great entertainment?

They are, and it’s perfectly reasonable to argue that this benefit alone outweighs the high cost of hosting. After all, people pay good money to go to football games and soccer matches. Perhaps $15 billion to $20 billion is the right price for three weeks in the international spotlight and the pleasure of enjoying a hometown Olympics.

What happens next?

If Boston is chosen as the official US nominee for the 2024 games, we’re likely to see a broader and more transparent public discussion, particularly since legislators will have to decide to commit taxpayer dollars to cover the likely cost overruns.

If, instead, Boston doesn’t take the gold in this competition, we can still enjoy the Olympics. We can even undertake massive construction projects, if we choose. We’ll just have to leave the 2024 hosting duties to someone else.

Evan Horowitz digs through data to find information that illuminates the policy issues facing Massachusetts and the United States. He can be reached at evan.horowitz@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeHorowitz


On May 19, 2003, a man in his late twenties walked along New Bond Street, in London, and stopped outside the flagship store of Graff, which proudly claims to sell “the most fabulous jewels in the world.” The man, whose image, captured by surveillance cameras, was later studied by detectives on three continents, was five feet eight and blond, with a small waist and the upper body of an acrobat. He spoke to no one, and did not go inside to look at the necklaces and rings on display. After five minutes, the man stepped away from the storefront and continued down the street.

Graff’s clients, who include Oprah Winfrey and Victoria Beckham, prize the store for its colored diamonds, including its yellow stones, which were considered tainted before Graff mounted a successful marketing campaign, and rare blue ones that acquire their tint from traces of boron. The man on the surveillance footage, Predrag Vujosevic, was not a typical Graff customer. Raised in Bijela, a fishing village in Montenegro, he was reputed to be one of the leaders of a spectacularly inventive, and elusive, gang of jewel thieves known as the Pink Panthers. Many élite jewellers, including Chopard and Harry Winston, can be found on this stretch of New Bond Street, which is a few streets north of Buckingham Palace; Vujosevic may have been attracted to Graff because he had a yen for colored diamonds, or because security at the store seemed lax.

On a recent visit to Graff, I was welcomed by a security guard who did not ask if I had an appointment or peek inside my leather satchel. Overt security precautions make wealthy customers uncomfortable. Within the perfumed interior were three customers, all Russian-speaking women. A salesman, named Martin, showed me diamond-solitaire necklaces in the hundred-thousand-dollar range, which, he noted, might make a thoughtful present for my wife. He told me that he had been with Graff since 1973 and had been in the store the day after Vujosevic canvassed it. Around noon, Vujosevic and an accomplice walked in the door and, in less than three minutes, made off with more than thirty million dollars’ worth of diamonds. It was the biggest jewel heist in British history. “We are delighted to serve the whole world,” Martin told me, dryly. “We would just prefer that people pay for what they like.”

According to British police records, Vujosevic, who had been living in Paris, arrived in London two weeks before the robbery, staying at a cheap hotel in Bayswater, near Hyde Park. His travel arrangements had been made by Milan Jovetic, who was from Cetinje, the former royal capital of Montenegro. A week before the heist, Nebojsa Denic—a hulking Serb from Kosovo, who worked cleaning floors in a Swiss hospital—flew in from Zurich. The three men reportedly met up in Isleworth, in west London, and bought a used Vespa Piaggio motor scooter. It was to be Vujosevic’s escape vehicle.

On the day of the heist, Denic, posing as a customer, entered the Graff store wearing a suit and carrying an umbrella. An Elvis-style pompadour wig sat awkwardly on his head, but it did not alarm the clerks, who thought that he was a rock star in disguise or a wealthy man suffering from a disease. Denic asked to examine a twelve-carat diamond ring priced at four hundred and fifty thousand dollars. “It’s too glamorous,” he said, upon inspecting it. “Do you have a smaller one?”

Denic then pulled out a chrome-plated .357 Magnum, yelling, “Everyone on the floor!” Vujosevic, who had just entered the store, smashed open several display cases with a hammer, pulled out a bag, and scooped up forty-seven pieces of diamond jewelry. Both men ran out the door. A security guard pursued Denic, and tried to wrestle away his gun. It went off, and a bullet ricocheted off an air-conditioner, grazing the nose of a woman walking by.

Steve Alexander, a Scotland Yard detective, arrived to find Denic lying subdued on the ground. Alexander, recalling the incident, said that Denic “was very smartly dressed, but with a ridiculous wig. It looked like a cat was lying on his head.”

Scotland Yard launched an investigation. Within days, detectives in London, who often rely on informants, had identified Milan Jovetic, the Montenegrin fixer, as an accomplice. Jovetic and his girlfriend, Ana Stankovic, were renting a flat in Bayswater, and British police tapped their phones, eventually obtaining a warrant to enter their home. During the search, a detective found a jar of face cream in the bathroom. He stuck his finger in the cream, swirling it around until he felt something hard—a blue-diamond ring, from Graff, worth seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars. (Stankovic had hoped to set the blue diamond in her engagement ring.) After this discovery reached the press, the Daily Mail and other London newspapers dubbed the robbers the Pink Panthers, for one of the Peter Sellers comedies, in which a similar dodge is used.

Scouring the apartment, the police also found two fake Italian passports, with no names or photographs inside. Italy, Alexander explained, is “the route that you take from Montenegro, if you want your movements to be covert.” Alexander was one of several European detectives who told me that the Panthers maintained logistical bases in Italy. Many detectives said that the Italian police had largely failed to coöperate with their investigations.

Jovetic’s phone records led Scotland Yard to an apartment in Paris, which local police identified as Vujosevic’s home, but he wasn’t there. Alexander went to Paris to visit the Brigade for the Repression of Banditry, a special police unit that investigates organized crime. Comparing notes, Alexander and Paris detectives concluded that well-dressed criminals with strong Eastern European accents had pulled off some twenty robberies similar to the Graff heist. French police evidence, including footage from security cameras, indicated that Vujosevic had gone on a crime spree across Europe, robbing Castiglione in Paris, a Graff store in Amsterdam, Wempe in Frankfurt, and jewellers in Geneva and Barcelona.

After months of searching, police intercepted Vujosevic as he was driving into France from Italy. A loaded gun was found in his car. Detective Alexander returned to Paris to interrogate his suspect. He described Vujosevic as “a little bloke . . . the kind of guy you wouldn’t notice twice in the street,” adding that “he was very polite, very articulate.” Vujosevic, however, refused to speak about the Graff robbery, the intended destination of the stolen jewels, his criminal history, his upbringing in Montenegro, or anything else that could have helped the police. After months of investigating, detectives were no closer to understanding who had commissioned the robberies, or where the diamonds had gone.

The London robbery was soon followed by dozens of other Pink Panther heists, in Europe and in Asia; the take from these robberies approached a quarter of a billion dollars. In March, 2004, Panthers targeted a jewelry store in Tokyo. Two Serbs, wearing wigs, entered the store and immobilized a clerk with pepper spray. They made off with a necklace containing a hundred-and-twenty-five-carat diamond. That same year, in Paris, Panthers exploited a visit to Chopard by the wife of Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, and stole fourteen million dollars’ worth of jewels from an unguarded display case. In 2005, a Panther team, dressed in flower-print shirts, raided Julian, a jewelry store in Saint-Tropez. The heist, which took place in broad daylight, lasted just minutes. The thieves ran out of the store and down to the harbor, where they escaped in a waiting speedboat.


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Great Taste 2015 Award Winner 30 September 2015

Great Taste 2015 announces new stars and Trafalgar Fisheries is a winner!

The world’s most coveted blind-tasted food awards, Great Taste, has just released the Great Taste stars of 2015 and Trafalgar Fisheries is amongst the producers celebrating as it’s Kiln smoked trout fillets is now able to proudly carry the little gold and black Great Taste logo.

Judged by over 400 of the most demanding palates belonging to food critics, chefs, cooks, restaurateurs, producers and a host of food writers and journalists, Great Taste is widely acknowledged as the most respected food accreditation scheme for artisan and speciality food producers. When a product wears a Great Taste label it carries a badge of honour but more importantly, the Great Taste logo is a signpost to a wonderful tasting product – hundreds of judges have worked tirelessly to discover the very best, through hours and hours of blind-tasting a total of 10,000 different foods and drinks.

Recognised as a stamp of excellence among consumers and retailers alike, Great Taste values taste above all else, with branding and packaging ignored. Whether it is cheese, ale, steak or chutney being judged, all products are removed from their wrapper, jar or bottle before being tasted. The judges then savour, confer and re-taste to decide which products are worthy of a 1-, 2- or 3-star award.

There were 10,000 Great Taste entries this year and of those products, 130 have been awarded a 3-star, 597 received a 2-star and 2,382 were awarded a 1-star accolade. The panel of judges included Masterchef judge and restaurant critic Charles Campion, TV presenter and cook, Aggie Mackenzie, Great British Bake Off winner, Frances Quinn, Masterchef the Professionals finalist, Adam Handling, food buyers from Harrods, Selfridges, Waitrose and Marks & Spencer, and chefs including James Golding, Chef Director of The Pig hotel group, who have together tasted and re-judged the 3-star winners to finally agree on the 2015 Top 50 Foods, the Golden Fork Trophy winners and the new 2015 Supreme Champion.

Finally on Monday 7 September, at a nail-biting Awards’ Dinner at the Royal Garden Hotel, London, the great and the good from the world of fine food will gather to hear who has won the Golden Fork Awards and the final applause will be reserved for the Great Taste Supreme Champion 2015.


The Lodge at Sonoma Renaissance Resort & Spa

The Lodge at Sonoma Renaissance Resort & Spa

Sonoma

A small town in the heart of California wine country, Sonoma features 76 miles of scenic Pacific Coast views, stately Redwood forests, some of the finest shopping in California, miles of pristine trails to explore, and arguably, the finest wines in the world. In truth there is so much to do here that guests staying at our Sonoma hotels may find it necessary to extend their travel time.

With more than 300 award-winning wineries in the Sonoma Valley, there is a varietal (and a culinary masterpiece) to suit every palate. For an outdoor adventure, there’s kayaking on the Gualala River and sailing on Bodega Bay. As well, our Sonoma accommodations are close to Spring Lake Regional Park, offering up all the swimming, boating, hiking, and horseback riding you can take in. Take a load off and enjoy the ocean breeze at Sonoma Coast State Beach for a relaxing and beautiful escape.

While you're a guest at our hotel, visit the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art and the LaHaye Sculpture Gallery or the Sonoma County Museum, located in a historic Post Office. You can also lose yourself in "all things Peanuts" when you tour the Charles M. Schulz Museum in nearby Santa Rosa. Satisfy your hunger with exquisite French fare at The Girl & The Fig, or munch on some Mediterranean cuisine at Olive & Vine for an upscale experience.

Whatever your pleasure, there's an activity to suit every traveler's taste close to any of our Sonoma hotels.

Marriott For:

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ArcelorMittal’s new global headquarters

ArcelorMittal and the Fonds Kirchberg announce the winner of architecture contest to design new headquarters for the world’s leading steel company

Luxembourg, 13 December 2017

“What I personally love is that this building visibly features steel, which is so often hidden from view. In fact, we believe that no other building of this size and scale has been designed specifically to feature steel throughout. Wilmotte & Associés have developed a truly innovative design that shows how beautiful steel is.”Aditya Mittal.

ArcelorMittal and the “Fonds d’Urbanisation et d’Aménagement du Plateau de Kirchberg,” (“the Fonds Kirchberg”) have today announced that the architectural practice, Wilmotte & Associés Architectes, (“W&A”)is the winner of the architectural consultation to design ArcelorMittal’s new global headquarters building in Luxembourg.

W&A was selected by a nine-person jury chaired by Aditya Mittal, CFO of ArcelorMittal and CEO of ArcelorMittal Europe, following a highly competitive process with designs proposed by many of the world’s leading architects.

Other landmark buildings designed by W&A include the Ferrari sporting management centre in Maranello, Google’s UK headquarters in London, the LVMH corporate headquarters in Paris and the five-star Mandarin Oriental Hotel also in Paris.

The ambitious winning design - which was unveiled in Kirchberg, Luxembourg today - is primarily steel and glass, and will showcase the diverse benefits of steel over other building materials* in addition to highlighting the use of steel in ‘green’, sustainable construction. As well as being ArcelorMittal’s headquarters, housing around 800 employees, some of the space will be leased for other uses. There will also be a restaurant, sports facility and a 200-seat auditorium available to the public.

W&A’s design responds to a detailed brief to design a modern, sustainable building that harnesses all the potential of steel from top to bottom. The result is a truly unique building that includes numerous design firsts, including innovative new products and features that are the result of a close collaboration between the designer and ArcelorMittal’s research and development teams. Technical innovations include:

A fluid and flexible ground floor space featuring no columns, a feature that is only possible with steel due to the use of a suspended steel exoskeleton

An integrated flooring system fully designed in steel which removes the need for false ceilings, resulting in high quality acoustics and improved aesthetics

A curtain wall completely designed in steel which results in a lighter, more airy building due to steel’s higher strength and superior elasticity

New section bars adapted from products designed for the automotive sector

The W&A design also responds to ArcelorMittal’s desire to have a sustainable building that promotes steel’s contribution to the circular economy. The building follows the “cradle-to-cradle” concept, meaning that it can be dismantled and nearly all the steel products re-used in a new building without the need for recycling.

The building is also a low-carbon, energy-efficient building and will be “BREEAM outstanding,” “DGNB Gold,” and “BBCA” certified. Environmental credentials include solar power generation – featuring 4000 square metres of ArcelorMIttal steel photo voltaic cells on the roof - rain water management, and automatic window opening for natural ventilation. It also features a bioclimatic public atrium, ventilated by a Canadian well system, which naturally cools the air in summer and heats it in winter. The atrium is designed to evoke the Luxembourg countryside and will feature trees and plants in a woodland style that will bring additional environmental benefits, acting as a buffer for the temperature. Further green space will be created by setting the building back from the limit of the plot, creating new outdoor public spaces. The building will also be certified by a Gold level “WELL” label.


The former MI6 officer accused of trying to sell spying secrets is also now charged with trying to trade lists of British intelligence personnel, a court heard.

The new charge against 25-year-old Daniel Houghton was added at a hearing at Horseferry Road Magistrates' Court on Thursday.

Piers Arnold, for the prosecution, said Houghton had "unlawfully disclosed staff lists as a result of which people working for the intelligence services were put at risk by his actions which damaged operational capability", The Times reports.

The half-Dutch computer science graduate was arrested at a central London hotel on March 1, following a sting operation by MI5, which is responsible for counter-espionage.

He is also accused of accepting a briefcase containing £900,000 in exchange for USB sticks and a laptop hard drive containing MI5 and MI6 intelligence gathering techniques up to Top Secret level, the highest classification. He had allegedly sought £2m.

At an earlier hearing it was revealed that British security services acted on a tip-off from their Dutch counterparts. It is unclear which nation's intelligence service Houghton allegedly believed he was selling to.

Houghton has not yet entered a plea. He was remanded in custody until a further pre-trial hearing is scheduled for April 29.

An Old Bailey trial is scheduled for May 27. ®


Bayswater

Bayswater is an area within the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in West London. It is a built-up district located  west-northwest of Charing Cross, bordering the north of Kensington Gardens and having a population density of 17,500 per square kilometre.

Bayswater is one of London's most cosmopolitan areas: a diverse local population is augmented by a high concentration of hotels. In addition to the English, there are many other nationalities. Notable ethnic groups include Greeks, French, Americans, Brazilians, Italians, Irish, Arabs, and many others.

The streets and garden squares are lined with Victorian stucco terraces, mostly now subdivided into flats and boarding houses. Properties range from apartments to small studio flats. There are also purpose-built apartment blocks dating from the inter-war period as well as more recent developments, and a large council estate, the 650-flat Hallfield Estate, designed by Sir Denys Lasdun and now largely sold off.

Queensway and Westbourne Grove are its busiest main streets, both having many international ethnic-cuisine restaurants.

History

The land now called Bayswater belonged to the Abbey of Westminster when the Domesday Book was compiled; the most considerable tenant under the abbot was Bainiardus, probably the same Norman associate of the Conqueror who gave his name to Baynard's Castle. The descent of the land held by him cannot be clearly traced: but his name long remained attached to part of it; and, as late as the year 1653, a parliamentary grant of the Abbey or Chapter lands describes "the common field at Paddington" as being "near a place commonly called Baynard's Watering."

In 1720, the lands of the Dean and Chapter are described to be the occupation of Alexander Bond, of Bear's Watering, in the same parish of Paddington. It may therefore fairly be concluded that this portion of ground, always remarkable for its springs of excellent water, once supplied water to Baynard, his household, or his cattle; that the memory of his name was preserved in the neighbourhood for six centuries; and that his watering-place now takes the abbreviated name Bayswater.

Notable residents

Damon Albarn
Brett Anderson
Mike Atherton
J. M. Barrie, playwright and novelist, and his wife, Mary, lived at 100 Bayswater Road.
Tony Blair
Winston Churchill
Richard Cobden, lived on Westbourne Terrace
A. J. Cronin
Umaru Dikko, former Nigerian minister of transportation
Tim Dry has lived in Bayswater since the early 1980s.
Ade Edmondson
Roger C. Field, inventor and designer whose first home was flat D, 15 Cleveland Square
Alexander Fleming
Mariella Frostrup
Ferdinand de Géramb
Reginald Gray, Irish artist, lived with his wife Catherine at 105a Queensway from 1958 to 1963.
J. B. Gunn, physicist, lived with his mother, the Freudian psychoanalyst L. F. Gunn/Grey-Clarke, at 14 Durham Terrace, in the 1940s
Alice Hart-Davis
Paul Johnson (writer)
Dylan Jones
Jonathan King
Keira Knightley
Guglielmo Marconi, the pioneer of wireless communication, lived at 71 Hereford Road between 1896 and 1897 with his mother upon arrival in England (marked by a blue plaque).
Rik Mayall
Stella McCartney
Dermot O'Leary
Irfan Orga, exile and writer, lived at 29, 35 and 21 Inverness Terrace from 1942 until the mid-fifties, publishing his memoirs Portrait of a Turkish Family in 1950.
Ilyich Ramírez Sánchez, terrorist known as Carlos the Jackal
Jennifer Saunders
Paul Simonon
Sting occupied a basement flat at 28A Leinster Square in the late seventies during the formative years of The Police. Trudie Styler, now his wife, lived in a basement flat two doors down.
Georgina Castle Smith (pseudonym Brenda), children's writer born and bred in Bayswater
Luigi Sturzo, Catholic priest and politician, and one of the fathers of Christian democracy and a founder of the Italian People's Party (1919)
John Tenniel, artist and cartoonist, was born at 22 Gloucester Place, New Road, Bayswater on 28 February 1820.

Local politics

The Bayswater area elects a total of six councillors to Westminster City Council, three each from the eponymous Bayswater Ward, and from Lancaster Gate Ward.

Following the 2018 Westminster City Council elections, five members belong to the Conservative Party and one to the Labour Party, with the Bayswater Ward being a split-party marginal and Lancaster Gate being a fully Conservative-held ward.

Education

Nearest places
 Paddington
 Notting Hill
 St John's Wood
 Knightsbridge
 Little Venice
 Kensington

Nearest tube stations

The stations within the district are Bayswater and Queensway. Other nearby stations include Paddington (Bakerloo, Circle and District lines and Circle and Hammersmith & City lines), Royal Oak (In Westbourne) and Lancaster Gate (To the east).

Places of interest
 Whiteleys Shopping Centre
 Marble Arch
 Hyde Park
 St Sophia's Cathedral
 Opus Dei UK headquarters
 The Mitre, Bayswater

References in fiction
 In John le Carré's The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, Liz is a member of the Bayswater South Branch of the Communist Party.
 In le Carré's Smiley's People, the retired Estonian general turned British spy, Vladimir, lives in a dingy flat on Westbourne Grove.
 Many of the characters in Samuel Selvon's novel The Lonely Londoners live in Bayswater.
 The Alfred Hitchcock film Frenzy was filmed in the area.
 In Martin Amis's Success, the two main characters live together in a flat in Bayswater, which he calls 'the district of transients.'
 In Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest, Lady Bracknell indicates that the perambulator (carrying Jack, as a baby) was found "standing by itself in a remote corner of Bayswater".
 In Saki's short story "Cross Currents" (1909), Vanessa Pennington lives on a "Bayswater back street" but would have preferred "smarter surroundings."
 In Evelyn Waugh's novel Brideshead Revisited, Charles Ryder's father lives in Bayswater.
 Whiteleys is frequently seen in film, e.g. Love Actually, Closer, and was referred to in My Fair Lady as Eliza Doolittle is sent "to Whiteleys to be attired" in Pygmalion. It also has Princess Productions' studios on the top floor.
 Scenes in Alfie (1966) were filmed around Chepstow Road.
 The main character in Iris Murdoch's novel A Word Child, Hilary Burde, has a "flatlet" near Bayswater Tube Station.
 Scenes in The Black Windmill refer to, and were filmed around, the area.
 In the Italian comics series Dylan Dog  the main character lives in Craven Road.
 Nick Jenkins meets Uncle Giles for tea at the Ufford Hotel, "riding at anchor on the sluggish Bayswater tide", in The Acceptance World (1955), volume three of A Dance to the Music of Time by Anthony Powell.
 The Poisonous Seed a novel by Linda Stratmann is set almost entirely in Victorian Bayswater.
 In Lauren Willig's Pink Carnation Series, her character Eloise Kelly lives in Bayswater while writing her doctoral thesis.

See also
 In reference to the Bayswater river, refer to River Westbourne
 Aeroford – automobile manufactured in Bayswater
 Leinster Gardens – a false façade on this street hides a London Underground line from view
 Craven Hill Gardens

References

https://tfl.gov.uk/maps/track/tube

External links

Category:Areas of London
Category:Bayswater
Category:Districts of the City of Westminster


Airport

London Heathrow International Airport (LHR)

- London Heathrow Airport, Depart on Chipstead Road 0.1 miles, Turn right onto Cromer Road West 0.1 miles, Bear left onto Camberley Road 0.1 miles, Bear left onto Inner Ring West 0.2 miles
At the roundabout, take the second exit onto A408.

London Gatwick (LGW)

- Distance from hotel: 69 MI/ 111.04 KM North East l

- Turn left off the hotel premises and take a right into the M4J4 roundabout. Take the third exit from the roundabout onto M4. Take first exit on to M25 South. Take junction 7 on to M23 towards Gatwick.

Train

West Drayton Mainline station

-Distance from hotel: 2 MI/ 3.22 KM North

- Turn left out of station onto Station Approach, turn left again onto Station Road. Continue as this changes to Sipson Road. Bear left onto Cherry Lane and the hotel in on the left hand side.

Underground

Heathrow Terminals 1,2 and 3

- Distance from hotel: 2 MI/ 3.22 KM South

- Follow signs for all routes which takes you out of the airport onto the Heathrow Spur road. Follow this road and take the far right hand lane signposted Uxbridge. Pass under the M4 motorway and get into the left lane. Hotel is on the left.

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The son of a Russian defector who died in the UK 17 years ago claims his father was murdered and has called on British authorities to investigate his death.

Vladimir Pasechnik was a Soviet microbiologist who defected to Britain in 1989 when he warned that Russia's germ warfare programme was 10 times greater than thought.

He went on to work at the microbiological research centre at Porton Down, near Salisbury, Wiltshire, and died in 2001 aged 64.

While Mr Pasechnik's official cause of death was given as a stroke, his son, Nikita, suspected foul play and espionage were behind it.

He wants the government to take another look at his father's death following the poisoning of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal , 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, in Salisbury.

(Image: GrahamHunt/BNPS)

(Image: AFP)

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Russia has denied allegations that it may have been involved in Sunday's poisoning, which has left the father and daughter critically ill in hospital.

Nikita, 53, called for a new investigation into his father's death after MP Yvette Cooper asked in Parliament for Home Secretary Amber Rudd to launch an inquiry into 14 suspicious deaths in recent years which are possibly connected to Russian intelligence services.

Mr Pasechnik's death is not listed among these cases.

(Image: GrahamHunt/BNPS)

His son slammed Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson's threat that British dignitaries and officials may boycott the football World Cup in Russia this summer as "weak", saying Russian President Vladimir Putin "would be laughing at him".

Nikita, who lives in Bridport, Dorset, and works as an IT specialist, said: "Of course it is important that every case is investigated, including my father's.

"My father ruined the whole industry of biological weapons in Russia when he escaped to the UK and told the government and Margaret Thatcher (about Russia's programme).

(Image: GrahamHunt/BNPS)

"My father was always scared and told me the KGB might kill him.

"He understood how serious the threat to him was and told me several times the story of a Bulgarian diplomat who was killed by an umbrella."

He added: "Officially his cause of death was a stroke but I spoke to doctors and they said his brain was severely damaged in different areas and they had never seen a stroke like it - it was as if he had several strokes simultaneously.

"They didn't understand the reason for the stroke.

(Image: GrahamHunt/BNPS)

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"I spoke to specialists in different countries and they confirmed certain chemical substances could cause a stroke by causing the blood to go thick and creating a clot.

"I see similarities between my father and what has happened in Salisbury. My father was at home and he had a severe headache and felt dizzy.

"He took painkillers and tried to drive to his office but turned back then smashed his side mirror driving onto the garage before collapsing in the home.

"My mother was there and they rushed him to hospital but he died several weeks later. There was never a proper investigation into his death.

"It is very difficult to say how or where it happened but I believe my father was poisoned."

(Image: Reuters)

Nikita pointed to the cases of Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko, who died after being poisoned in London in 2006, and Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky.

Mr Litvinenko, 43, died weeks after drinking tea laced with radioactive polonium-210 at London's Millennium Hotel.

A public inquiry concluded in 2016 that the killing of the outspoken critic of Vladimir Putin had "probably" been carried out with the approval of the Russian president

Russia denied any involvement in the dissident's death.

(Image: Getty)

(Image: Getty)

Mr Berezovsky, who was living in exile in the UK after falling out with Putin, died in 2013 in mysterious circumstances.

The body of the ex-Kremlin insider was discovered slumped at his ex-wife's luxury Berkshire home, with a ligature wound to his neck.

An inquest heard that he was discovered lying on the bathroom floor. A piece of the same material around his throat was tied on to the shower rail above him, indicating he apparently hanged from the rail.

Police initially investigated after concern that there may have been foul play, but detectives subsequently said there was no sign of a struggle.

However, police told a coroner they could not rule out murder.

(Image: PA)

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The coroner, Peter Bedford, returned an open verdict in March 2014 after hearing conflicting expert evidence about how Mr Berezovsky was found hanged.

He said he could not prove beyond all reasonable doubt that the 67-year-old either took his own life or was unlawfully killed.

Nikita, meanwhile, said he fears the Russian president, but he must speak out over his father's death and allegations he was murdered.

He said: "The Russian authorities are very dangerous, they are very arrogant and they believe they can threaten anybody.

"I was disappointed with Boris Johnson's response that they may not send dignitaries to the World Cup.

"Putin will be laughing at such a weak response."


Yesterday Freida Pinto, Dev Patel and Danny Boyle attended the party for this year’s BAFTA nominees. Freida is nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of “Latika” in Slumdog Millionaire. I’ve added 21 photos from the event so far. Check them out by clicking on the previews below!

Be sure to return to Freida Pinto Fan tonight to see the first photos from the red carpet of the BAFTA Awards, and to find out if Freida’s won the award! See y’all tonight.

Yesterday, Freida returned to Toronto, Canada, for a press meeting. She was very happy to be back in the city, as audiences at the Toronto International Film Festival were among the first to praise Slumdog Millionaire. I have added a few photos taken between the interviews and an article from the event can be read below.

“I’m very excited to be here,” the Mumbai-raised model-turned-actress, who made her film debut as the love interest in the drama that’s been nominated for 10 Oscars, said at a gala for the South Asian lifestyles magazine Anokhi.

“In a strange way it’s like my little gift back to the city because this is where it all started. This is where we had a first fan following, where we had the first standing ovation given to us by the press,” said Pinto, 24, referring to the People’s Choice Award the film won at the Toronto festival last September.

“I think in a strange way if this city hadn’t started it all for us, it could have been a bit more difficult.”Read full article.

Freida Pinto is featured on the Vanities page in the upcoming March issue of Vanity Fair! She’s seen holding a miniature earth globe as a pin-up girl in a red bikini top, yellow polka-dot shorts and red shoes. Let me tell you, Freida is hot. On second thought, she’s hotter than hot; She’s hote.

Being on the Vanities-page is a big deal, and I want to congratulate Freida for the tremendous honor of being featured! I have added both the magazine scan as well as the original photoshoot-picture to the gallery. Enjoy!

Freida’s mentioned on yet another style-list, this time on Vogue.com‘s “Best Dressed”. She came in at the top spot, before celebs such as January Jones, Marion Cotillard and Renée Zellweger. The outfit they chose to showcase is the one seen to the left.

Yesterday, Freida was spotted in New York City as she was heading to designer Oscar de la Renta’s headquarters on Manhattan. She then left with a new coat and a gown in a long garment bag (carried by her stylist George Kotsiopoulos). Will she be wearing Oscar de la Renta to the Oscars? Or will the Oscar-dress be seen at the BAFTAs this Sunday? Wow, that was confusing.

Freida Pinto is featured at the third spot on TeenVogue’s Best Dressed list of January 2009! Thanks to the TeenVogue staff for the heads up on this. The outfit they chose to represent Freida’s fashion sense was her gold/yellow dress at this year’s Golden Globes.

The 29th Annual London Critics’ Circle Film Awards is being held tonight at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London, England. There are already photos from the red carpet, though the only Slumdog Millionaire people there so far are Dev Patel and Danny Boyle. Fingers crossed for Freida!

Update: Still no sign of Freida at the award show. I guess she’s still in New York (she was seen leaving a business meeting there two days ago). Sorry to dissapoint!

As some of you noticed, Freida Pinto Fan experienced some downtime earlier today. It’s all fixed now and everything should be working normally again. Now onto today’s update; Another batch of 70+ photos of Freida from the 61st Annual Directors Guild of America Awards have been added to the gallery! She looked absolutely amazing in her draped Zac Posen dress.

Thanks to the lovely contributor Michelle, we now have a scan of Freida from the November/December 2008 issue of Krome magazine. Freida was shown with a photo among other stars in a collague-type feature. The picture is nothing short of stunning, as you can see from the preview below. Click on it to see the scan in full size. Enjoy!

If you have any material on Freida Pinto – whether it’d be scans/other photos, news, information or other things – don’t hesitate to send it in to me here. Full credit will be given, of course. Thank you, in advance.

Yesterday the 61st Annual Directors Guild of America Awards was held at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles. Freida Pinto along with co-stars Dev Patel & Anil Kapoor and director Danny Boyle were all in attendance. Miss Pinto looked fantastic in a short silvery dress, showing off her legs-for-days. Click on the previews below to view all photos in full size, as per usual.

Slumdog Millionaire walked away with yet another award! This time Danny Boyle received Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures. Are you too starting to smell some serious Oscar wins for the movie?


This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Gordon Ramsay’s restaurant empire is back in the black despite tough conditions in the restaurant industry.

The celebrity chef’s company made a pre-tax profit of £0.5m in the year to August 2018 after making a £3.8m loss the previous year when the company was hit by a hefty legal bill and the five-month closure of its Plane Food venture at Heathrow’s Terminal 5.

The group, which has only previously made a profit in one year since 2012, hailed a “strong performance” with a 4.3% rise in sales to £53.6m.

The revival of Ramsay’s business comes amid tough times for restaurateurs. Fellow celebrity chef Jamie Oliver’s restaurant business fell into administration last week closing all but three of its 25 outlets while chains including Carluccio’s and Gaucho’s Cau have been forced to close outlets.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Jamie Oliver at one of his Jamie’s Italian restaurants. Photograph: Chris Bull/Alamy

Ramsay said he planned to expand Street Pizza, his new “bottomless pizza” concept, outside London this year despite “much-maligned market conditions”.

The group currently has 15 restaurants in London, including Pétrus, Bread Street Kitchen and Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, as well as 23 overseas outlets. Ramsay’s Maze restaurant in the London Marriott hotel in Grosvenor Square closed in January after 14 years and is being replaced by a new venture Lucky Cat which opens next month.

Gordon Ramsay defends new restaurant in cultural appropriation row Read more

Lucky Cat has taken 3,000 reservations since opening bookings on 23 May and will include a late bar and two chefs’ tables in the kitchen alongside the main restaurant.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Ramsay’s Lucky Cat restaurant in Mayfair. Photograph: Gordon Ramsay Restaurants

The company said it had also invested significantly in its digital promotion strategy gaining 1.3m of its own social followers on top of Gordon Ramsay’s personal following of 20m, and 10m subscribers on his YouTube channel.

Ramsay said: “Guests do not just expect a good plate of food, we are relentless with our food quality, that is a given. Our guests want to join us for all occasions, be it social or business, and then relax in a great environment. We have to understand our guests, what they want, where they are heading and we have to head there with them or be left behind.”


Mixed martial arts fighter Ivan ‘JP’ Cole has died aged 25, with early reports suggesting he was shot while playing Russian Roulette.

Dallas Police has confirmed Cole was found dead on Saturday morning.

A fundraising website, apparently set up by his wife Kymberli Cole, has said she lost her husband to “gun play”.

“Today 11 June, 2016 I lost my husband to gun play,” the page reads. “He made a bad decision that cost him his life. If you could donate anything I would really appreciate it.”

Notable deaths in 2016 Show all 42 1 /42 Notable deaths in 2016 Notable deaths in 2016 Debbie Reynolds was an American actress, singer, businesswoman, film historian, and humanitarian. She died on December 28 in Los Angeles Rex Notable deaths in 2016 Actress Carrie Fisher died on December 27 aged 60 Rex Notable deaths in 2016 Comedian and Actor Ricky Harris died on December 26 aged 54 Rex Notable deaths in 2016 British singer George Michael died on 25 December aged 53 Getty Notable deaths in 2016 Rick Parfitt OBE was an English musician, best known for being a singer, songwriter and rhythm guitarist in the rock band Status Quo. He died on December 24 in Marbella, Spain Rex Notable deaths in 2016 Lord Jenkin of Roding died at the age of 90 on the 21 December PA wire Notable deaths in 2016 Rabbi Lionel Blue died on the 19 December Rex Notable deaths in 2016 Zsa Zsa Gabor died on December 18 Getty Notable deaths in 2016 Leonard Cohen died on 7 November Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Grand secretary of the Orange Order Drew Nelson died on 10 October aged 60 after a short illness PA Notable deaths in 2016 Aaron Pryor, the relentless junior welterweight died Sunday, Oct. 9, at the age of 60 at his home in Cincinnati after a long battle with heart disease AP Notable deaths in 2016 Polish Director Andrzej Wajda died on October 9, aged 90 Reuters Notable deaths in 2016 Stylianos Pattakos has died following a stroke on 8th October. He was 103 years old. AP Notable deaths in 2016 Dickie Jeeps, was an English rugby union player who played for Northampton. He represented and captained both the England national rugby union team and the British Lions in the 1950s and 1960s. He died on 8th October. He was 84 Getty Notable deaths in 2016 Duke of Westminster Billionaire landowner the Duke of Westminster, Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor has died on 9 August, aged 64 Rex Features Notable deaths in 2016 Christina Knudsen Sir Roger Moore’s stepdaughter Christina Knudsen has died from cancer on 25 July at teh age of 47 Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Caroline Aherne The actress Caroline Aherne has died from cancer on 2 July at the age of 52 Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Christina Grimmie Christina Grimmie, 22, who was an American singer and songwriter, known for her participation in the NBC singing competition The Voice, was signing autographs at a concert venue in Orlando on 10 June when an assailant shot her. Grimmie was transported to a local hospital where she died from her wounds on 11 June Getty Notable deaths in 2016 Kimbo Slice Former UFC and Bellator MMA fighter Kimbo Slice died after being admitted to hospital in Florida on 6 June, aged 42 Getty Notable deaths in 2016 Muhammad Ali The three-time former heavyweight world champion died after being admitted to hospital with a respiratory illness on 3 June, aged 74 Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Sally Brampton Brampton who was the launch editor of the UK edition of Elle magazine has died on 10 May, aged 60 Grant Triplow/REX/Shutterstock Notable deaths in 2016 Billy Paul The soul singer Billy Paul, who was best known for his single “Me and Mrs Jones”, has died on 24 April, aged 81 Noel Vasquez/Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Prince Prince, the legendary musician, has been found dead at his Paisley Park recording studio on 21 April. He was 57 Notable deaths in 2016 Chyna WWE icon Joan Laurer dies aged 45 after being found at California home on 20 April Notable deaths in 2016 Victoria Wood The five-time Bafta-winning actress and comedian Victoria Wood has died on 20 April at her London home after a short illness with cancer. She was 62 Notable deaths in 2016 David Gest The entertainer and former husband of Liza Minnelli, David Gest has been found dead on 12 April in the Four Seasons hotel in Canary Warf, London. He was 62-years-old PA Notable deaths in 2016 Denise Robertson Denise Robertson, an agony aunt on This Morning for over 30 years, has died on 1 April, aged 83 Notable deaths in 2016 Zaha Hadid Dame Zaha Hadid, the prominent architect best known for designs such as the London Olympic Aquatic Centre and the Guangzhou Opera House, has died of a heart attack on 31 March, aged 65 2010 AFP Notable deaths in 2016 Ronnie Corbett British entertainer Ronnie Corbett has passed away on 31 March at the age of 85 2014 Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Imre Kertesz Hungarian writer and Holocaust survivor Imre Kertesz, who won the 2002 Nobel Literature Prize, has died on 31 March, at the age of 86 REUTERS Notable deaths in 2016 Rob Ford Rob Ford, the former controversial mayor of Toronto, has died following a battle with a rare form of cancer. The 46-year-old passed away at the Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto on 22 March Notable deaths in 2016 Joey Feek Joey (left) passed away in March after a two-year cancer illness. She was part of country music duo, Joey + Rory, with her husband Rory (right) Jason Merritt/Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Umberto Eco Italian writer and philosopher Umberto Eco died 19 February 2016 aged 84 EPA Notable deaths in 2016 Harper Lee Harper Lee, the American novelist known for writing 'To Kill a Mockingbird', died February 19, 2016 aged 89 2005 Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Vanity Vanity, pictured performing in 1983, died aged 57 REX Features Notable deaths in 2016 Dave Mirra The BMX legend's body found inside truck with gunshot wound after apparent suicide aged 41 Notable deaths in 2016 Harry Harpham The former miner became Sheffield Labour MP in May after many years as a local councillor. He died after succumbing to cancer, at the age of 61. Notable deaths in 2016 Dale Griffin The Mott the Hoople drummer died on January 17, aged 67 REX Notable deaths in 2016 Rene Angelil Celine Dion's husband and manager Rene Angelil has lost his battle with cancer on 14 January, aged 73 2011 Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Alan Rickman Legendary actor Alan Rickman has died on 14 January at the age of 69 after battle with pancreatic cancer. He is largely regarded as one of the most beloved British actors of our generation with roles in Love Actually, Die Hard, Michael Collins, and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and an illustrious stage career 2015 Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Maurice White The Earth, Wind & Fire founder died aged 74. The nine-piece band sold more than 90 million albums worldwide and won six Grammy awards Notable deaths in 2016 Lawrence Phillips Former NFL star found dead in prison cell on 13 January in suspected suicide, aged 40 AFP/Getty Images

On its Facebook page, local news station CBS DWF reported: “Cole killed himself while reportedly playing roulette with gun in Dallas apartment [sic]”.

Police are currently looking into the events surrounding his death.

“On 11 June, 2016, at approximately 7.30 am, officers responded to a shooting in the 13700 block of Montfort Drive. Officers found Ivan Robert-Earnest Cole, B/M 25-years-old, deceased,” a statement on the Dallas Police Department website reads. “The death of Mr Cole will be classified as an unexplained death pending the results of the autopsy.”

CBS reporter JD Miles wrote on Twitter that Cole’s death had been “attributed to [a] deadly game of Russian roulette”. But he later said police were still investigating these reports.

Fellow MMA fighter Antwan Williams said he does not believe reports Cole had been playing Russian Roulette. “I don’t think he would play with himself like that,” he told CBS.

He also paid tribute to Cole. “He’s such a great athlete in the cage or in the ring, just such a great athlete. You can’t even explain it, but when you see him outside of the ring or the cage, he’s just so cool.”

Cole, a New Orleans native, was a rising star in the mixed martial arts scene. He became a professional MMA fighter in 2012 and he last took part in Bellator 135 in March 2015 but lost to George Pacurariu in the first round via submission. He is survived by his wife and a four-year-old daughter.


London (AFP) - Baffled and bewildered, residents of five London tower blocks were dragging their belongings through the dark streets early Saturday, having been told to pack their bags and get out due to fire safety concerns.

"It's totally crazy. What difference would another night have made?" asked Melanie Tham as she evacuated her home on the Chalcots Estate in north London following a snap decision by the Camden Council local authority, a few hours before midnight Friday.

The cladding on the Grenfell Tower, visible three miles (five kilometres) away across London, is widely blamed for spreading the fire that so quickly engulfed the block last week, leaving 79 people presumed dead.

Urgent tests found Thursday the Chalcots buildings had similar cladding -- installed by the same contractor in 2006.

But fire brigade safety inspections Friday determined that the towers were unsafe to spend another night in, with the council owners taking no chances.

"I was at my boyfriend's, I received a text message, and I had to rush back home. They told us we had to evacuate before midnight," Tham told AFP.

Leaving on foot, some with suitcases and bags, hundreds made their way to the nearby Swiss Cottage library to be allocated a hotel for the night after the council block-booked rooms across London.

Evacuated residents could be spending up to four weeks living in hotels while the cladding is removed from outside the 800-odd flats.

- Scramble for information -

Some residents made frantic calls on their mobile phones, while others tried to find out more information from officials in high-visibility jackets as night fell.

Casey Oppong head of the tenants' association in the estate's Blashford tower, was trying his best to tell people what they needed to do.

"We got the order to evacuate the towers tonight. I'm going to inform the other residents," he told AFP.

Council leader Georgia Gould announced the decision to evacuate all five towers very shortly after the authority said just one tower block would be "temporarily decanted".

Story continues

"Lots of questions from residents about why this move is essential. Firm advice from fire service was blocks not safe to sleep in tonight," Gould said on Twitter.

Mother-of-three Adelina, who lives in the estate's Burnham tower, said: "I am in shock and I don't believe it."

But she added: "I think it's the right thing to do if it's health and safety. I'd rather be safe."

Ahmed Mohamed, 19, who lives in the Taplow tower with his parents and two sisters, said they were alerted by a neighbour.

"It was a mess. We only had five minutes to get our stuff.

"I don't think this is the right thing to do, I feel safe here and I don't think there's any threat to our building.

"I don't know why they're telling us to evacuate 800 homes right now.

"We could've packed our stuff nicely and they would've have time to rehouse people."

Residents will be allowed in to collect more belongings on Saturday daytime, under escort from the fire brigade.

- Grim view of Grenfell -

From her 18th floor flat on the estate, Pippa Wordsworth has a grim view of Grenfell Tower, now a burnt-out hulk.

"I'm very frightened when I'm in the building," the bleached-blonde grandmother told AFP.

"This cladding looks nice. We had no idea it could be so dangerous," she said.

Now the modern covering on her 1965 tower reminds her of the early hours of June 14 when she saw Grenfell Tower on fire.

Britain is now carrying out emergency checks on cladding installed on social housing tower blocks across the country, with 600 identified as potentially dangerous in England alone.

Cladding on 14 towers in different parts of the country has so far been found to be "combustible".

"The scariest thing to know is that if it happened to Grenfell, it can happen to us," Oppong said.

Besides the cladding concerns, residents want the council to install sprinklers and fire alarms, which are currently absent in the high-rise apartments, as well as provide fire blankets, he added.

Oppong blamed the use of multiple subcontractors for work on council tower blocks for putting fire safety at risk, saying that "in the end, there is no control".

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How do you solve a problem like Somalia? By Mary Harper

Africa editor, BBC World Service News Published duration 10 May 2017

image copyright Getty Images image caption Recent al-Shabab suicide bombings in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, have targeted the UN, hotels and military leaders

This Thursday, the great and the good will descend on London to discuss Somalia, a country that has topped the Fragile States Index for eight of the past 10 years.

The London Somalia Conference, co-chaired by the UK, Somalia and the United Nations, will be held in Lancaster House, a grand mansion in the exclusive district of St James's. Many of the delegates will stay in swish hotels nearby.

This is the third such London gathering since 2012, and there is an element of "cut and paste" to its agenda, which focuses on security, governance and the economy.

The official conference document emphasises how much progress has been made.

But its description of Somalia from the time of the first meeting still applies: "Chronically unstable and ungoverned", and threatened by Islamist militants, piracy and famine.

There has been some improvement.

Piracy, which at its height cost $7bn (£5.4bn) a year, is much diminished, although there has been a recent resurgence

US drones, African Union troops, Western "security advisers" and Somali forces have pushed al-Shabab from most major towns, although the jihadists still control many areas and attack at will.

A recent electoral process resulted in a new and - for the time being - popular president, Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, nicknamed Farmajo , and more female and youth representation in parliament.

Life-threatening malnutrition

Somalia is in a "pre-famine" stage rather than the full-blown disaster of 2011, in which more than 250,000 people died.

But it is perhaps surprising that the current water shortage will not be a headline topic at the conference.

The country is in the grip of its worst drought in decades. Four successive rainy seasons have failed.

Even before you enter Burao Regional Hospital, in the self-declared Republic of Somaliland 's drought-stricken Togdheer region, you hear the haunting, high-pitched wailing of malnourished children.

image caption Severely malnourished children in Baidoa regional hospital

One boy, dressed in purple, stares blankly at the wall. "His brain is damaged due to a prolonged lack of adequate nutrition," says Dr Yusuf Ali, who returned home to Somalia from the UK two years ago. "He will never recover."

According to Unicef, the number of children who are or will be acutely malnourished in 2017 is up by 50% from the beginning of the year, to a total of 1.4 million, including 275,000 for whom the condition is or will be life-threatening.

Most are too sick to go to school or help herd animals, making the life of the country's many nomads even more precarious.

People are already dying from hunger and diseases that strike those weakened by lack of food.

Severely malnourished children are nine times more likely than healthy ones to die from illnesses such as measles and diarrhoea.

The World Health Organization says there were more than 25,000 cases of cholera in the first four months of 2017, with the number expected to more than double to 54,000 by June.

More than 500 people have already died from the disease.

It is not just humans who are suffering.

'Triangle of death'

In Somaliland, officials say, 80% of livestock have died.

Livestock is the mainstay of the economy - the ports in Somaliland and nearby Djibouti export more live animals than anywhere else in the world, mainly to the Gulf.

image caption Tens of thousands people fleeing drought and al-Shabab live in tents on the outskirts of Baidoa

In south-western Somalia, tens of thousands of drought-affected people have fled to Baidoa, clustering into flimsy, makeshift shelters on the outskirts of the city.

This area - known as the "triangle of death" - was the epicentre of the famines of 2011 and 1991.

"Al-Shabab is harvesting the boys and men we left behind on our parched land, offering them a few dollars and a meal," says one woman. "Against their will, our children and husbands have become the jihadists' new army."

"The biggest problem in dealing with this drought is insecurity," says Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden, president of South West State, in his modest palace in Baidoa.

The city, which is protected by a ring of Ethiopian troops, is right in the heart of al-Shabab country. "The militants have closed all the roads so we cannot deliver help to those who need it most."

Deadly clashes

This brings home in the starkest of terms why security is top of the London Somalia Conference agenda.

As long as Somalia remains violent, with different parts of the country controlled by a multitude of often conflicting armed groups, it will be impossible to deliver emergency assistance, let alone long-term development.

image copyright AFP image caption Al-Shabab, which has links to al-Qaeda, is believed to have between 7,000 and 9,000 fighters

The recently created South West State is one of the regions making up the new federal Somalia.

Critics fear this will lead to balkanisation, and risks introducing another dimension to conflict, as the new states rub up against each other and start fighting. This has already happened in central Somalia, where last year there were deadly clashes between Puntland and Galmudug states.

The attitude of people in South West State shows how much of a gamble the federal system is.

"We have always been marginalised and looked down on by other Somalis," says a farmer, Fatima Issa.

"We do not want the federal troops here. They don't hunt down al-Shabab the way our local militias do. We should push for more autonomy, maybe even break away and declare independence like Somaliland did in 1991."

One aim of the London Somalia Conference is to push for more progress on the sharing of resources between the regions and the centre. This contentious issue has been debated since before the first London gathering in 2012.

'Predatory carnival'

South West State has a special friendship with Ethiopia, which is not on the best of terms with the new federal government. This highlights another possible problem - some foreign powers have started to sign bilateral agreements with regional states.

For instance, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is building a military base in Somaliland, a territory the federal government considers an integral part of Somalia. The UAE has also given military hardware to Jubaland State in southern Somalia.

Somalia's former special envoy to the US, Abukar Arman, has described the London Somalia Conference as a "predatory carnival", with foreign powers gathering to slice up Somalia for their own benefit.

image copyright Getty Images image caption The loss of two Black Hawk helicopters in Somalia in 1993 made the US wary of intervening in African crises

Some in Somalia see it as a waste of time.

"It is an expensive talking-shop," says Ahmed Mohamed, a rickshaw driver in the capital Mogadishu. "The politicians and diplomats are obsessed with the conference instead of taking action on the drought."

But lessons have been learned, and there is now a far more nuanced approach to Somalia than there was when the crisis began, in the late 1980s.

The US response to the Somali famine of 1991 was to send in nearly 30,000 troops. This ended in a humiliating withdrawal, following the shooting down of two US Black Hawk helicopters in 1993


Eulabee Dix

Eulabee Dix Becker (October 5, 1878 – June 14, 1961) was an American artist, who favoured the medium of watercolours on ivory to paint portrait miniatures. During the early 20th century, when the medium was at the height of fashion, she painted many prominent figures, including European nobility and famous actresses of the day.

Early life
Dix was born in Greenfield, Illinois, to Mary Bartholomew and Horace Wells Dix, She had an early interest in art, and her talents and love of reading were encouraged from an early age. Her family moved several times during her early years due to financial setbacks. During her teens, Dix went to live with wealthy family members in St. Louis, where she attended Washington University, and spent a year studying oil painting and life drawing at the St. Louis School of Fine Art. Her work there was recognised with two medals. Dix returned to her parents in 1895, when they set up home in Grand Rapids, Michigan. There she taught art classes, and was inspired by the daughter of an Episcopal minister to paint portrait miniatures.

New York studies
In 1899 Dix moved to New York City, where she first studied with William Merritt Chase, however she left after one week, partly due to Chase's focus on oil painting, and also because she disagreed with his philosophy of colour. She went on to continue her studies at the Art Students League with George Bridgman, of whom she did approve. She also underwent tuition with William J. Whittemore, who taught her the technique of painting on ivory. Whittlemore was a founder of the recently established American Society of Miniature Painters (ASMP), where she exhibited some of her work. She also studied under Isaac A. Josephi, who was the first president of the ASMP.

Carnegie Hall Towers studio
Dix took a tiny studio apartment at 152 West 57th Street, on the 15th floor of one of the Carnegie Hall towers. Here she worked on commissions for many prominent New Yorkers, including the actress Ethel Barrymore and photographer Gertrude Käsebier. By coincidence her neighbour, Frederick S. Church, was also from Grand Rapids, and he helped her make contacts within New York artistic circles. Miniaturist Theodora Thayer, whom Dix associated with and admired, also had a studio nearby.

Gaining recognition
Even with a limited income, Dix made a conscious effort to dress fashionably, and held regular Friday afternoon gatherings at her home, where she showed off her work to potential buyers.

In 1904 Dix met Minnie Stevens Paget, a close friend of Edward VII, and wife of Arthur Paget, a high-ranking officer in the British Army, who later reached the rank of General, and was knighted. They became close friends, and it was to be near Paget that Dix began to divide her time between New York and London. When in London, she took up residence in an up-market residential hotel near Stanhope Gardens, in Kensington. Through her connection with Paget, Dix received commissions from many prominent figures, including the Holywood actress Ethel Barrymore, whom she painted in Philadelphia in around 1905, fashion designer Countess Fabricotti, as well as several from Paget herself.

Dix made a number of trips to Europe starting in In 1906, where she profited from greater access to historical miniatures and European paintings than was possible in America. She held her first exhibition, Exhibition of Portrait Miniature by Miss Eulabee Dix, at the Fine Art Society on London's New Bond Street, where she exhibited 24 works. That same year she also held shows at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, and the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool.

In New York Dix had the opportunity to paint writer Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known by his pseudonym Mark Twain. In 1908 she did the last painting of him from life.

Dix as a subject

Dix herself was the subject of two portraits by renowned artist Robert Henri, to whom she was introduced in 1910 by prominent Irish artist John Butler Yeats. For one of these, she posed for a full-length portrait in her wedding dress.
She was also photographed on at least four occasions by her friend Gertrude Kasebier.

Marriage
On December 22, 1910 Dix married Alfred Leroy Becker, a New York lawyer, after a three-year engagement. The marriage produced two children, Philip and Joan.

John Butler Yeats, referring to Eulabee Dix's strong personality, wrote to his daughter Lily the day after the wedding:
I once told her [Dix] I would not envy the man that she married, for she would be sure to devour him. She has a clinging way like ivy, which we know always kills the tree to which it attaches itself

The marriage ended in 1925, after 15 years. It had been a strained marriage, partly because both of them had pursued successful careers in their chosen field. The situation was made worse when Dix aborted a pregnancy against her husband's wishes. Becker ended the marriage by declaring his love for another woman.

Changing fortunes
Following her divorce in 1925, Dix sailed with her children to France, and divided her time between Europe and New York.
She won a medal at the Paris Salon in 1927, and also in New York and Philadelphia in 1929.

The stock market crash of 1929 and the resulting depression were to affect Dix's work, as many of her former clientele had seen their fortunes wiped out. Frustrated with her stagnant career, she became estranged from her son, Philip, who went to live with his father.

Dix moved to East 57th Street, where she lived for around seven years. Despite now living in a working-class neighbourhood, she continued to dress in extravagant outfits, always wearing a hat and carrying a cane. When miniaturism went out of favour in the 1930s, she gave lectures on the art of miniature painting. She also adapted her techniques, turning to floral still life paintings, and large oil works.

In 1937, with her daughter now married, Dix moved to Southern California, where at first she lived on a ranch near Santa Barbara. In an attempt to find emotional stability, she briefly joined a community of monks led by Ananda Ashrama, who preached religious tolerance and simple living. Despite her impatience, the experience reportedly had a calming effect on her.

Declining years
During World War II Dix took a job with the Plas-Tex Corporation painting radium on airplane parts. During this time she suffered from exposure to radiation, which resulted in a small pension.
Following this, she worked in a laundry, and joined the International Association of Machinists, drilling holes in airplane parts.
She was justifiably proud of her part in helping the war effort, but her painting all but stopped. Despite this, she exhibited in the miniature division of the California Art Club.

Her last miniature portrait was of her granddaughter, Elizabeth Becker, started in January 1950, added to in April, 1950  at her 3d avenue studio in NYC and unfinished due to her failing eyesight. Her grandson was visiting during Easter break from Hingham, MA, and noted her difficulty in getting ".. good light" (her words) in the studio under the 3d ave EL. It remains in her archives
at The American Museum of Women in the arts. Her grandson, Peter Becker, delivered it there spring 1998 from her daughter-in-law (Mildred P. Becker) holdings during the final distribution of Mrs. Becker's remaining art work holdings under her trust.

Her last portrait commission, in 1951, was from Kaufman Thuma Keller, who at the time was Chairman of the Board of the Chrysler Corporation. However deteriorating eyesight meant she was unable to finish the painting.

In 1956, aged 78, Dix sold her possessions and moved to Lisbon, Portugal where in 1958 an exhibition spanning her life's work was held at Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga. It was her last exhibition, and newspapers in New York and Portugal carried articles.

Her last portrait, a head and shoulders, thought to be of the wife of the American  Ambassador to Portugal (1958), was done in Lisbon during this time. It is on loan to the Museum of Nebraska Art in Kearney, from her grandson, Peter Becker. Robert Henri's wedding dress portrait of Dix is also in The Museum of Nebraska Art's permanent collection.

Dix returned to the United States in 1961, moving in with her son and his wife in Woodbury, Connecticut. On June 14, 1961, the day before she was due to be moved to a care home, Eulabee Dix died. She was interred at Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis.

Legacy
Dix's work hangs in several institutions including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, Lisbon; the National Museum of American Art, Washington DC; and the National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C.

The National Museum of Women in the Arts has in its permanent collection over 86 of her paintings. They also hold an archive of letters, journals and other manuscripts relating to Dix's life, as well as her palette and brush, her awards, and a pencil sketch by John Butler Yeats. The archive, known collectively as the Eulabee Dix Papers, was entrusted to the museum in 1989 by Joan Becker Gaines, Dix's daughter.

References

Further reading
 Ridley, Jo Ann (1997). Looking for Eulabee Dix: The Illustrated Biography of an American Miniaturist. USA: Natl Museum of Women in the Arts.

Category:1878 births
Category:1961 deaths
Category:19th-century American painters
Category:20th-century American painters
Category:American women painters
Category:Washington University in St. Louis alumni
Category:Painters from Illinois
Category:20th-century American women artists
Category:19th-century American women artists
Category:Art Students League of New York alumni
Category:Students of William Merritt Chase
Category:Burials at Bellefontaine Cemetery
Category:People from Greenfield, Illinois


Working outside the Hollywood bubble, the stand-up vet is making comedies in his own register. God Bless!

Inducing that audience identification seems to be more important to Goldthwait than getting laughs. "I'm not interested in making comedies that are punchline driven," he says, and in fact, his comic style has always been more stunt-oriented than joke-centered. "My initial act was trying to make fun of stand-up—this guy crying on stage reading a Dear John letter, and then, like, 'Good night!'" The point, he says, was to subvert the comedy audience's expectations, to provoke an unexpected emotional reaction. Similarly, Goldthwait's movies tend to start with an outrageous one-liner premise based on protagonists doing the unthinkable—experimenting with bestiality, exploiting the death of a child, murdering reality-TV stars simply because they're annoying—who, over the course of the film, are humiliated and humbled by the merciless worlds they live in, putting the viewer in the uncomfortable spot of feeling badly for the bad people.

America stems from Goldthwait's personal experience in a number of ways. "The germ," as he puts it, came from catching a marathon of MTV's My Super Sweet 16 while in a hotel in London. "I was like, 'Holy shit, this is really what they think [Americans are] all like.'" And the film's subplot involving a mentally disabled talent-show reject was based on the filmmaker's time at Jimmy Kimmel Live, and his mixed feelings about building segments around the culture's designated objects of ridicule, like American Idol castoff William Hung.

He apologizes for the film's "dated" cultural references—he says he tuned out of popular culture after writing the script, which is one of half a dozen he has completed in the three years since Dad's release. "The movie is a little bit me getting old," he admits. "'Get off my lawn, you kids!' But I insist I'm not Frank. Joel says I'm Frank; my wife says I'm Frank. But I think I'm much happier. And I'm not homicidal."

Stephanie Diani

Bobcat: Same name, different hair

Magnet Releasing

Joel Murray and Tara Lynne Barr in God Bless America

Frank's killing spree might be an exaggeration of Goldthwait's own frustrations, but it happens against the backdrop of a recognizably real world. The movie is both an over-the-top farce and an eerily accurate time capsule; the material comprising the montages of Frank's compulsive channel surfing—from scatological reality-show antics to news reports on "God hates fags"–chanting protesters and conservative talk-show hosts comparing Obama to Hitler—was taken directly from real life. "We just reshot things we saw and heard," Goldthwait says. "All the stuff that the political [pundits] are saying are just paraphrased quotes from people like Bill O'Reilly and Glenn Beck."

Predictably, America has been attacked, sight unseen, by what Goldthwait terms as the "right-wing fringe, saying that this is a leftist snuff porno." He's proud to represent the opposite fringe. "Michael Moore got booed at the Oscars, so how liberal is Hollywood? Honestly, it's not liberal enough for me!"

Promoting World's Greatest Dad, Goldthwait promised that his next film would complete what he called his "boo-hoo trilogy." The planned third movie, Easter Dad, concerned a struggling screenwriter who jokingly pitches a studio on a Santa Clause–esque franchise about "the true meaning of Easter"—and then, to his dismay, is actually hired to write it. But Goldthwait decided to scrap the script. "It came off as me saying, 'My life is hard, boo-hoo,' and my life isn't hard—it's pretty awesome. So I lost my energy to make [it]. It was also a really aggressive fuck-you to Hollywood, and I don't feel that—because I don't participate in it, so I don't care."

Goldthwait avoids "participating" in the industry by keeping his films extremely low budget. Darko, he says, "seem to like what I do, and I do them very small, so it's not a big roll of the dice." That said, on America, he forced his financier's hand just a bit. To explain, he pulls down his cotton Henley to show me a full-color tattoo on his left pec of the logo for Hamm's beer—Darko exec Ted Hamm's family business. "I came in and showed him this new tattoo, and I go, 'Hey, are we gonna do this?' Clearly the movie was on the bubble, because they didn't laugh—they just got really quiet. And I go, 'Plenty of room for Fox Searchlight on [the other] breast!'"

Low risk nets low reward: Unable to make a living making his movies, Goldthwait relies on stand-up to pay the bills. No one is more surprised than he is that there's still an audience for the Bobcat Goldthwait of high-pitched screech and thinning mullet. "When I play places, the folks who come have this expectation of seeing this thing—I blame Vince Neil and Bret Michaels. People think I should have hair extensions and a girdle." But in recent years, Goldthwait has made a conscious decision to jettison his familiar persona. "I decided to just go onstage as myself," he says. "And I did lose work. But I had to do it because it was so horrible to do this act that meant nothing to me anymore."


Pages

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Albert Camus

Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Guest Post and Giveaway The Master's Book by Philip Coleman

Description:

In 1482 Mary, the last Duchess of Burgundy, lies on her deathbed in a castle in Flanders. She is only 24. In her final moments she makes a wish that, 500 years later, will threaten the lives of a boy and a girl living in Brussels.

The Master’s Book is the story of Sean, an Irish teenager, just arrived in Brussels to a house that is also a crime scene. Together with Stephanie, his classmate, he finds an illuminated manuscript, only for it to be stolen almost at

once.

Where did this manuscript come from? Who was it originally made for? Is there a connection with the beautiful tomb Sean has seen in Bruges? Above all, why does someone want this book so badly that they are prepared to kill for it?

Part thriller and part paper-chase, this book is aimed at boys and girls of twelve and over.

GUEST POSTThe true woman behind movies and books

by Philip Coleman

On June 15 1952, Denis Muldowney, a steward on the ocean liner Winchester Castle, spotted Krystyna Skarbek, alias Christine Granville, on the stairs of the Shelbourne Hotel, Earls Court, London, and stabbed her to death. A schizophrenic, Muldowney imagined himself in love with Krystyna, who had also worked as a steward on that ship, but she had rejected his advances. Thus ended the short life of one of the most glamorous – yet, perhaps, also one of the most troubled – spies in recent history.

Born in 1915, she was the second child of a Polish count and a Jewish mother. After a convent education, she competed successfully in the Miss Poland contest at the age of 17. Through all her life, it would be her haunting beauty, as well as her taste for adventure, and her need to feel loved, that would be the defining marks of her character.

Her father used his ample dowry to furnish a lavish lifestyle that he couldn’t otherwise afford. His bad financial management caught up with him in the 1920s, forcing the family to give up their family estate and move to Warsaw. After his death, Krystyna was forced to take a job in a Fiat dealership but soon had to give this up due to the effects of the car fumes. At first she was diagnosed with tuberculosis. Using compensation money received from her employer, she began to follow medical advice, which fitted with her own inclinations, by spending as much time as possible out of doors, hiking and skiing.

A marriage with businessman Karol Getlich ended almost as soon as it had begun. She went on to marry Jerzy Giżycki, whom she met when he rescued her from a skiing accident in Zakopane. Soon afterwards they moved to Ethiopia, where he took up the post of Consul general for Poland.

When the her native country was invaded by Germany in 1939, sparking the outbreak of World War II in Europe, the couple went to Britain, where Krystyna tried to persuade the British authorities that she could be of use in the war effort. After some reluctance on their part she was recruited into the Secret Intelligence Service. She went to Hungary, from where, she made the dangerous winter crossing over the mountains into Poland with the help of Olympic skier Jan Marusarz (a crossing she subsequently made another seven times). On her arrival she tried, unsuccessfully, to persuade her mother to leave; Stefania Skarbek died subequequently in a Nazi prison. Krystyna, meanwhile, set up a network of Polish couriers to carry intelligence to Budapest. While inHungary, she met a Polish officer named Andrzej Kowerski, whom she had met once as a child, and who was also now operating as a secret agent under the false name of Andrew Kennedy, helping to get Polish military personnel out of the country. Skarbek’s ability to get out of a tight situation saved their lives when, in 1941, they were arrested by the Gestapo. She managed to persuade them to let her go by convincing them she had tuberculosis, a deception she achieved by biting on her tongue until it bled. They subsequently escaped, with the help of the British Ambassador toHungary, finally arriving in Cairo.

At first the ease of her escape initially provoked suspicion. Offended by this, her husband, Gizycki, ended his career as an agent and, when Krystyna told him that she and Kowerski were now lovers, he left for Canada. Krystyna took on the name Christine Granville but did not play a significant role until 1944. Her exceptional beauty made her superiors consider her unsuitable for a desk job, where she would be working with men.

With the Allied invasion of France imminent, and having been trained in the use of weapons and radio, she was parachuted into south-eastern France in July 1944, under the alias Pauline Armand, where she played a role in uniting French and Italian resistance fighters in the Alps, as well as encouraging Poles conscripted into the German army to defect. On one famous occasion she persuaded a German Captain to release two fellow agents by posing as General Montgomery’s niece and offering him a substantial bribe. This exploit greatly enhanced her reputation, earning her the George Medal. It was only when she had escaped that she realised how big a risk she had taken, remarking that “they might have shot me as well”. Her exploits in France subsequently gained her an OBE (Order of the British Empire) and the French Croix de Guerre.

Then, after the war, came the saddest and shabbiest part of her story. She was let go in Cairo with only a month’s salary in her pocket and her application for British citizenship got tangled in bureaucracy. Kowerski went to Germany, something she refused to do. With an imperative need to earn her bread, and accustomed by now to instability (perhaps nowadays she might have been diagnosed as suffering from post-traumatic stress), she finally took the job as a liner steward which ultimately led to her brutal murder in the London hotel.

She was buried in the Catholic cemetery at Kensal Green, London, where Kowerski’s ashes were also interred after his death in 1988. Muldowney was hanged for his crime in September 1952.

This beautiful, enigmatic and haunted woman has been the subject of several books, most recentlyThe Spy who Loved: he Secrets and Lives of Christine Granville, Britain's First Special Agent of World War II (2012) , by Clare Mulley. She was also the inspiration for two of Ian Fleming’s most glamorous women of action in the Bond novels: Vesper Lynd (Casino Royale) and Tatiana Romanova (From Russia, with Love).

Philip Coleman has worked as a biologist for most of his life—in Ireland, Belgium and now in Switzerland. Having been an avid reader all his life, he took up writing only in 2006. This is his first published novel. He drew his inspiration for the story from the period he spent working for the EU in Brussels. He has a grown-up son and daughter (who were roughly the same ages as Sean and Maeve during the time in Brussels but otherwise aren’t a bit like them at all!). He now lives in France.

6 comments:

The book sounds interesting but the guest post about Krystyna was fantastic sometimes real life is better than fiction isn't it, I got so caught up in that I'll have yo go back and look at the actual book


Walk to Big Ben from our four-star hotel

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