'Birdman,' 'Mr. Turner' Lead London Critics' Circle Film Awards Nominations

Both titles picked up seven nominations, while Julianne Moore got two actress nominations

Birdman continued to gather awards season buzz on Tuesday, picking up seven nominations from the London Critics’ Circle Film Awards.

Michael Keaton got a best actor nomination, while Edward Norton and Emma Stone were acknowledged for their supporting roles. Alejandro G. Inarritu was nominated as best director and the film was also among the 10 titles vying for the film of the year award.

Read more 'Birdman' Flies Above the Other Film Nominees at Golden Globes

Tied for the most total nominations with Birdman, Mr. Turner saw nominations for film of the year, British film of the year, actor of the year and British actor of the year for Timothy Spall, supporting actress for Marion Bailey and director for Mike Leigh.

In the best actress category, Julianne Moore picked up two nominations for Maps to the Stars and Still Alice

The awards ceremony is set to take place Jan. 18 at London’s May Fair Hotel.

See the full list of nominations below.

FILM OF THE YEAR

Birdman

Boyhood

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Ida

Leviathan

Mr. Turner

Nightcrawler

The Theory of Everything

Under the Skin

Whiplash

FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR

Ida

Leviathan

Norte, The End of History

Two Days, One Night

Winter Sleep

BRITISH FILM OF THE YEAR

The Imitation Game

Mr. Turner

Pride

The Theory of Everything

Under the Skin

DOCUMENTARY OF THE YEAR

20,000 Days on Earth

Citizenfour

Manakamana

Next Goal Wins

Night Will Fall

ACTOR OF THE YEAR

Benedict Cumberbatch - The Imitation Game

Jake Gyllenhaal - Nightcrawler

Michael Keaton - Birdman

Eddie Redmayne - The Theory of Everything

Timothy Spall - Mr. Turner

ACTRESS OF THE YEAR

Marion Cotillard - Two Days, One Night

Essie Davis - The Babadook

Scarlett Johansson - Under the Skin

Julianne Moore - Maps to the Stars

Julianne Moore - Still Alice

SUPPORTING ACTOR OF THE YEAR

Riz Ahmed - Nightcrawler

Ethan Hawke - Boyhood

Edward Norton - Birdman

Mark Ruffalo - Foxcatcher

JK Simmons - Whiplash

SUPPORTING ACTRESS OF THE YEAR

Patricia Arquette - Boyhood

Marion Bailey - Mr. Turner

Jessica Chastain - A Most Violent Year

Agata Kulesza - Ida

Emma Stone - Birdman

BRITISH ACTOR OF THE YEAR

Benedict Cumberbatch - The Imitation Game

Tom Hardy - Locke & The Drop

Jack O'Connell - Starred Up, '71 & Unbroken

Eddie Redmayne - The Theory of Everything

Timothy Spall - Mr. Turner

BRITISH ACTRESS OF THE YEAR

Emily Blunt - Into the Woods & Edge of Tomorrow

Felicity Jones - The Theory of Everything

Keira Knightley - The Imitation Game, Begin Again & Say When

Gugu Mbatha-Raw - Belle

Rosamund Pike - Gone Girl & What We Did on Our Holiday

YOUNG BRITISH PERFORMER OF THE YEAR

Daniel Huttlestone - Into the Woods

Alex Lawther - The Imitation Game

Corey McKinley - '71

Will Poulter - The Maze Runner & Plastic

Saoirse Ronan - The Grand Budapest Hotel

DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR

Wes Anderson - The Grand Budapest Hotel

Jonathan Glazer - Under the Skin

Alejandro G Iñárritu - Birdman

Richard Linklater - Boyhood

Mike Leigh - Mr. Turner

SCREENWRITER OF THE YEAR

Wes Anderson - The Grand Budapest Hotel

Damien Chazelle - Whiplash

Dan Gilroy - Nightcrawler

Alejandro G Inarritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris & Armando Bo - Birdman

Richard Linklater - Boyhood

BREAKTHROUGH BRITISH FILMMAKER

Hossein Amini - The Two Faces of January

Elaine Constantine - Northern Soul

Yann Demange - '71

Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard - 20,000 Days on Earth

James Kent - Testament of Youth

TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

'71 - Chris Wyatt, editing

Birdman - Emmanuel Lubezki, cinematography

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes - Joe Letteri, visual effects

The Grand Budapest Hotel - Adam Stockhausen, production design

Inherent Vice - Mark Bridges, costumes

Leviathan - Mikhail Krichman, cinematography

Mr Turner - Dick Pope, cinematography

A Most Violent Year - Kasia Walicka-Maimone, costumes

Under the Skin - Mica Levi, score

Whiplash - Tom Cross, editing


Blog

INSTADIARY | COCKTAILS, COVERAGE & CHRISTMAS TREES

With just under a month to go until the doors are set to open for the season, alongside all the building work the team have been busy crafting cocktail menus, meeting Jägermeister and wine tasting… it’s true what they say, it really is a drinking resort with a ski problem!

Last weekend Verbier officially opened for the winter when everyone grabbed their skis and took to the slopes for the first ski day of the season. The snow continued this week up top and after a busy week everyone is ready to hit the slopes again!

Head Bartender Aaron, previously head bartender at London’s exclusive Mayfair Hotel has been busy creating a 50 strong cocktail menu, with the return of some popular classics and a few new kids on the block including a Mango and Chilli Mojito, a sweet and spicy twist on the classic. The question is… can you handle the heat?

What was it we were just saying about Verbier being a drinking resort with a ski problem? This month Verbier was voted ‘Best Party Resort’ in British Airways HighLife magazine and Le Farinet got a mention as the perfect place to settle down on a leather sofa with a cocktail… we couldn’t have put it better ourselves!

This week we started a new series here on the blog which gives you the chance to meet the team so you can put names to some of the faces you will be seeing a lot of this season. First up, the guy at the helm, General Manager Stephen Wilson aka Scotty who you can get to know here.

Every year before the season begins so much effort goes into getting Verbier ready for all the thousands that will start to arrive in town over the coming months. This year Christmas has come early as Christmas trees went up around Place Centrale, baubles and all! We just need some more snow down in the village again to complete that festive feeling.

Did you hear the news? Après is opening a week earlier than previous seasons!! Better yet Spyglass are returning to kick off the line up of live bands on stage from 19th – 26th December.

Another week, another Instadiary… and no hangovers in sight (promise!) Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram!


Norton, in what is apparently a very big chair. Photo: Allen Berezovsky/Getty Images

For a person who spends a lot of time making last-minute cross-country trips, Jim Norton is a surprising creature of habit. “It’s so hard for me to not eat badly,” says the Opie & Anthony co-host. “When I find something that’s healthy that I can tolerate, I eat it every day until I’m sick of it.” That means a lot of Weight Watchers Smart Ones when he isn’t flying to L.A. (or back). In fact, this past week saw Norton flying to Los Angeles not once, but twice, to do the Tonight Show to promote Please Be Offended, a new stand-up special airing tomorrow night on Epix. For a look at a life that involves impatient Justin Bieber fans, a dinner-companion-for-hire, and great Middle Eastern food from a comedy club, read on in this week’s New York Diet.

Friday, June 22

Every morning, I have the same thing for breakfast: scrambled egg whites, a medium Starbucks coffee with skim milk, a banana, and a little bit of low-fat cottage cheese. I eat that every morning. An intern from the radio show gets the coffee for me.

Right after the show, I spent most of the day flying to L.A. for the day to do a segment on Leno called “Woulda Shoulda Coulda” with me and two other guests. I did not want the turkey sandwich option on the plane, so I had the prawns. But I also had pumpkin soup because somebody didn’t want their pumpkin soup—which came with the turkey sandwich — so, of course, I took it and shoveled it into my face.

After we taped the show, I did a set at the Improv and went back to the hotel.

Because of the travel, the food on Friday wasn’t that interesting. More interesting is what I had for dinner the night before in New York: grilled salmon with Brussels sprouts. I went to Porter House, my favorite restaurant. I was with a woman who was not with me for free. I think she had a filet with some kind of a salad and no vegetables, and I think she had wine. I don’t drink at all. I just had unsweetened iced tea.

She didn’t charge me for dinner, because I wouldn’t pay somebody to eat with them. But as a part of the night, she was like, “Yeah, we can go out and eat first, if you want,” so I was like, “Oh, okay,” and then we went home and kind of hung out. I had her for technically an hour, but she was cool with doing something else beforehand because she was kind of familiar with me, so she didn’t mind going out and eating. So we spent probably two and a half hours together.

Once you have sex, let’s be honest — she just wanted to get out of there. She had to fake it like she was having the time of her life. And I had to pretend that it didn’t suck — it’s a big acting job that you’re both doing.

Saturday, June 23

I flew back to New York Saturday morning because I didn’t want to lose the Comedy Cellar set that I had that night. I had the regular cheese omelette on the plane coming home.

For lunch, I had a Smart Ones Weight Watchers, one of their six or seven points ones. I’m not obese at all, but I want to lose, like, fifteen pounds, and I just can’t stop eating pretzels with mustard. So I’m trying to eat meals so I know how much I’m eating. You don’t realize, when you’re sitting there shoving pretzels into your face at one o’ clock in the morning, that’s a lot of weight. It’s a low-fat snack, but it’s a lot of weight.

Saturday night at the Comedy Cellar, I had my regular tabouleh salad with grilled chicken and a skewer. I always just eat the tabouleh at the Cellar, because I finally found something healthy. They have a great Middle Eastern menu there.

After my set at the Cellar I went to Anthony’s house — from Opie and Anthony — and I just hung out with him and two other guys. It was really uneventful, but I wound up eating badly: lime Tostitos, Twizzlers, and potato chips. Anthony drank about a keg of alcohol.

Sunday, June 24

I never cook, and I have a great kitchen. I have an amazing kitchen for New York — it’s one of the reasons I bought my condo. But I can’t cook for anything, and now I’m learning that plastic gives you cancer. And all this stuff I microwave, like all these Smart Ones, it’s like, I gotta start to cook because plastic is obviously very bad for me to be eating.

That said, for lunch, I had a Smart Ones. They have a good Salisbury steak. I like all their stuff, honestly. They have this one fettuccine pasta, which I like, but I think it’s, like, seven points.

I did a set at the Cellar, then I went to a place called Gobo on Sixth Avenue and ate vegan. I rarely eat vegan, but I was with a friend. I had Vietnamese stir-fry, some steamed dumplings, and a large veggie juice to drink.

Monday, June 25

I got up at 5:30 and did the radio show for four hours in the morning, where I had my scrambled egg whites, medium Starbucks coffee with skim milk, a banana, and a little bit of low-fat cottage cheese. Then I did a radio interview for the Comedy Channel on Sirius XM.

I was supposed to do Hannity that night, but he canceled because of the impending Supreme Court decision. After I found out I was canceled, I worked on an article for Esquire instead. Then I went to the gym. I go to the gym in my building: I force myself to do the elliptical machine; I can’t do anything else.

For lunch, I had the Smart Ones microwavable Asian sweet-and-sour chicken. Then I had one of their low-fat toffee ice-cream bars. I like their ice-cream snacks. They’re, like, three or four points, and they’re phenomenal. I eat one of those after almost every meal. It’s really, really hard to not eat those.

Then I went to the Comedy Cellar that night, where again I had the tabouleh. You always know where I am by my menu.

Tuesday, June 26

Scrambled egg whites, a medium Starbucks coffee with skim milk, a banana, and a little bit of low-fat cottage cheese.

Did morning radio and immediately got in a car to the airport to L.A. Continental is my plane of choice, but NBC has a deal with American, and their plane is great, so I’m happy to take the American plane back and forth. I had the prawn dish in sauce again, this time with some nuts. I flew all day and landed in L.A.

For lunch, I had Caesar salad, with grilled chicken on the side at my hotel, the London. Then I did a set at the Melrose Improv. Then I did the Jim Jeffries and Eddie Ifft podcast in Venice at 9:30 p.m. after my improv set, then I came back to my hotel, and Jay Mohr came to my hotel at midnight and recorded his podcast with me from 12 to 1:30 a.m.

I had some pretzel nuggets before going to bed. It’s really hard — like, I try to eat healthy, but when you’re in a hotel with a mini bar, it’s really hard not to shove a lot of fattening food into my face. I try to eat healthy, but it’s very difficult.

Wednesday, June 27

I woke up and had a fruit plate and egg whites from room service, with dry wheat toast, fruit, and coffee. Then I was off to tape Leno.

The green room is great — they have potato chips, and liquor, and soda — I’ve been in every green room you could be in because of all the time on the Jay Leno show and stuff. I ate some fruit off a fruit plate when I walked in. I only eat fruit in dressing rooms.

The Friday segment was just a little segment after the monologue. This was actually as a guest to promote my special, so it was Mila Kunis and then me, and then Justin Bieber sang. When they first announced Justin Bieber in the beginning of the show — the screams! These are not Leno watchers, these are 16-year-old girls. So they think the longer I talk, the less they see Justin Bieber. Basically they’re associating me with not seeing Justin Bieber. So I should have addressed that with them. I wanted to tell them, “Guys, they’re not going to bump Justin for me. Relax.”

My manager and I flew to some sushi place and made it right before they closed at 9:45. I had salmon, sea urchin, crab — it was amazing. A lot of people won’t eat sea urchin because it tastes like the ocean, but if it’s a place you trust, it’s actually really good. I enjoy it. Afterwards, we went to a place on Santa Monica Boulevard called the Yogurt Shop, where I had cake-batter-and-Oreo-cookie-dough frozen yogurt. Back to the Smart Ones tomorrow.


Hugh Jackman breaks down while remembering how his mother abandoned him at the age of eight during emotional TV interview

He is known for playing tough and hardened characters in his films, but when it comes to his family Hugh Jackman becomes emotional, especially when it comes to his family's past.

During an intimate interview on Sunday night, the Les Miserables star openly cried as he recalled the morning his mother Grace left...and never came back.

As he remembered the fateful day his mother said goodbye for the last time before fleeing to England and leaving Jackman, his four older siblings and his dad Chris alone to fend for themselves, the 44-year-old actor couldn't hold back the tears.

Scroll down for video...

Emotional: Hugh Jackman breaks down as he recalls when his mother left him aged eight on 60 Minutes on Sunday

Jackman was on 60 Minutes to promote Les Miserables but also opened up to interviewer Scott Pelley about the sad details of his childhood.

He said: 'I can remember the morning she left, it's weird the things you pick up.

'I remember her being in a towel around her head and saying goodbye, must have been the way she said goodbye. As I went off to school, when I came back, there was no one there in the house.

'The next day there was a telegram from England, Mum was there. And then that was it.

Heartbreaking: His mother abandoned his four older siblings as well as his father also Abandoned: His mother left and never came back one day. Then a telegraph arrived saying she was back in her native England 'I don't think she thought for a second it would be forever. I think she thought it was "I just need to get away, and I'll come back".

'Dad used to pray every night that Mom would come back.'

The Wolverine star also became emotional when talking about his father, who he called his 'rock'.

He said: 'My father is a rock. My father is my rock. It's where I learned everything about loyalty, dependability, being there day in, day out, no matter what.

'It's always about the family.

'It's not about work. And I think that's him living with probably some of his regrets.

'And feelings of maybe he at the wrong time put too much in his career.

Suffering: It turned out his mother Grace suffered from post natal depression

'And he doesn't want me to make me that mistake. In his gentle way, he always reminds me this the most important thing.'

Jackman said he never spends more than two weeks apart from his wife Deborra-Lee Furness and their two adopted children, Oscar, 12, and Eva, seven.

He explained: 'We choose not to. We don't like it.'

According to a previous interview in Australia’s Women’s Weekly magazine Jackman's English-born mother suffered from post natal depression and 'struggled' being so far away from home.

Reconciled: Jackman has since forgiven his mother and the pair see each other three or four times a year. Pictured at the W Hotel in London in June He also admitted that it took him until the age of 12 or 13 to realise that Grace was not coming back. He said: 'For many years, I thought it was not going to be forever, so I clung on to that. Up until that age of about 12 or 13, I thought Mum and Dad would get back together. 'Finally realising it wasn't going to happen was probably the roughest time to be honest.' Doting dad: Pictured out with his wife Deborra-Lee Furness and their two adopted children Oscar, 12, and Eva, seven in Sydney in June

But although his mother's leaving scarred him, Jackman said he never felt she stopped loving him. He said: 'But the thing I never felt, and I know this might sound strange, I never felt that my mum didn't love me.' In recent years, Jackman and his mother have reunited and he has forgiven her. Close bond: Jackman describes his father Chris as his rock He added: 'There comes a certain point in life when you have to stop blaming other people for how you feel or the misfortunes in your life. 'You can't go through life obsessing about what might have been. 'We see each other three or four times a year.'

Dashing: Hugh was pictured leaving his New York City abode on Tuesday with his wife Deborra-Lee Furness to pick up their children from school

Hand in hand: Deborra held hands with Ava as they walk back from the Manhattan school. The actress and her husband had just attended a luncheon for Les Miserables


Sixx:A.M.

Sixx:A.M. is a hard rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 2007 by Nikki Sixx, DJ Ashba, and James Michael, and was a side project of Sixx, who was also at the time bass guitarist for Mötley Crüe. The group is best known for their songs "Life Is Beautiful" and "Lies of the Beautiful People". The name Sixx:A.M. is a combination of all of the members' last names (Sixx, Ashba, Michael).

To date, Sixx:A.M. have released five studio albums: The Heroin Diaries Soundtrack (2007), This Is Gonna Hurt (2011), Modern Vintage (2014) Prayers for the Damned and Blessed (2016), and three EPs; X-Mas In Hell (2008); Live Is Beautiful (2008) and 7  (2011).

Band history

Formation and The Heroin Diaries Soundtrack (2007–2008)

The band released The Heroin Diaries Soundtrack in 2007, which is based upon Sixx's autobiography, The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star.

The band made their live debut at Crash Mansion on July 16, 2007. They performed five songs from the album, The Heroin Diaries Soundtrack. The album had no drummer because lead singer/rhythm guitarist James Michael programmed all the drums. Due to this, there was some curiosity as to who would be playing drums for them live. Former Beautiful Creatures drummer Glen Sobel ended up playing on tour with the band.

On October 25, 2007, Sixx:A.M. played another show opening for Korn. At the time of this show, Glen Sobel was on tour drumming with Elliott Yamin.

Originally the group stated they had no intention of touring. After constant support for the band and interest in a tour, they held a nationwide vote for tour dates. The tour was scheduled to start in spring 2008 but was postponed to the summer due to unforeseeable circumstances.

In 2008, Ashba and Michael assisted Sixx with the writing and recording of Mötley Crüe final studio album Saints of Los Angeles.

On April 15, 2008, Sixx:A.M. announced they would be touring as part of Mötley Crüe's Crüe Fest, along with Buckcherry, Papa Roach and Trapt. The tour began on July 1, 2008, in West Palm Beach, Florida. During Crüe Fest, Papa Roach drummer Tony Palermo served as a touring drummer for the band. A deluxe tour edition of The Heroin Diaries Soundtrack was released on November 25, 2008, which included a bonus live EP entitled Live Is Beautiful which features recorded performances from the band's summer tour.

This Is Gonna Hurt & Modern Vintage (2009–2014)
Sixx confirmed the work on a follow-up album to The Heroin Diaries Soundtrack in late 2008 after rumors that the band had begun writing for their second studio album during the tour in the summer of 2008.

In April 2009, both James Michael and Sixx confirmed that the band was in the studio recording new material. Sixx added that the new material was "inspiring. it feels like we may have topped ourselves on this album coming up, and can't wait for you to hear what it sounds like." He also revealed that the new album, like the first, would be a concept album, but refused to reveal more details about the concept. He also added that a "surprise," possibly a new song, might be coming soon and that the album would probably be ready in mid/late 2010.

On February 19, 2010, Sixx revealed that the band was currently in the studio recording the new album, with some guitar tracks by Ashba already laid down, but bass still left to record. Sixx also said that there were over two albums' worth of material written, but as with the first album, it would probably end up being a single album with the best songs chosen so it wouldn't have fillers.

On May 27, 2010, Sixx revealed that all bass tracks for the upcoming album had been recorded and James Michael was reworking the lyrics before recording final vocals. Sixx also said music video director P. R. Brown was writing the treatment for the video for the first single to be released from the album, due in early 2011. On July 23, 2010, Sixx confirmed that the new album had been finished.

On September 4, 2010, it was announced that Sixx would be releasing a book entitled This Is Gonna Hurt, which would be accompanied by an album by Sixx:A.M. Some of the songs on the upcoming album were inspired by the author's photographs, and others inspired photographs of their own, as the book was part photo, part journal. The HarperCollins imprint William Morrow and Company announced that the book would be released on March 22, 2011, accompanied by the album on the same day.

On December 7, 2010, the band uploaded a video preview for the new album on their official website, stating that it would be released in April 2011. On January 3, 2011, another video preview by the band confirmed that the book would be released on April 12, 2011, with the album soon following on May 10, 2011, which was confirmed by Sixx. The lead single "Lies of the Beautiful People" was released on February 25, 2011. On February 15, 2011, Sixx announced through his Twitter and Facebook accounts that the music video for this song would premiere on the website for his radio show Sixx Sense on February 16, 2011. Sixx also announced that due to fan demand, the album's release date had been moved up to May 3, 2011.

On December 5, 2011, lead singer James Michael announced the band would be releasing an acoustic EP entitled 7 on December 13, 2011, featuring seven new acoustic renditions of songs from the band's previous two studio albums. Michael also hinted at an upcoming surprise release from the band.

On April 11, 2012, the band performed live for the first time in four years at the Revolver Golden Gods Awards at Club Nokia in Los Angeles, California. The band performed only two songs: "This Is Gonna Hurt" and "Are You with Me Now", also filming the music video for the latter at the show.

On November 21, 2012, the band announced via Twitter that they were working on new music.

On July 18, 2013, they released a song called "Relief"' for their third album.

On January 14, 2014, the band announced via its Facebook page that the final song on the next album would be titled "Let it Haunt You (So Beautiful)."

On July 31, 2014, the band announced that the title for their third album would be Modern Vintage. It was released on October 7, 2014.

Touring and Prayers for the Damned, Vol. 1 and Prayers for the Blessed, Vol. 2 (2015–2017)

The band made their Japanese debut at the Nippon Budokan on February 19, 2015 as part of VampPark Fest, hosted by the rock band Vamps.

On April 27th, 2015, they performed their 10th live show with a full set at the Best Buy Theater in Times Square, NYC.

In July 2015, Sixx stated that Sixx:A.M. planned to release two new albums and do a worldwide tour in 2016. Also in 2015, Ashba left his other band, Guns N' Roses, to focus solely on Sixx:A.M.

On March 1, 2016 Sixx:A.M released a single called "Rise," the details of the first of their two newly recorded albums, Prayers for the Damned, and dates for a new US tour scheduled to take place during April and May 2016. "Rise" debuted live in an acoustic format with no PA at an invite-only session at the Sanctum Soho Hotel in London, England on February 23 ("Stars" from the Modern Vintage album and "Life Is Beautiful" from The Heroin Diaries Soundtrack were also played). Pre-orders for the album started on March 4, and the album was released on April 29. The second of the two albums is, Prayers for the Blessed, Vol. 2, was released on November 18.

In October 2017, Sixx:A.M. released a tenth anniversary edition of their debut album The Heroin Diaries Soundtrack to commemorate its tenth anniversary and Nikki Sixx's biography of the same name. The re-release additionally contained three re-imagined tracks, including the songs "Life Is Beautiful, "Accidents Can Happen", and "Girl With Golden Eyes".

In February 2018, Michael and Ashba created a new band, Pyromantic while announcing that Sixx:A.M was on hiatus.

Future (2019-present)

In March 2019, Sixx announced the band had recorded four new songs and also announced that they will release a greatest hits album.

Band members
Current members

Touring member

Nikki Sixx – bass guitar, backing vocals
DJ Ashba – lead guitar, backing vocals
James Michael – lead vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboards, programming, piano ; drums
Touring member
Dustin Steinke – drums, percussion
Touring musicians
Melissa Harding – backing vocals
Amber Vanbuskirk – backing vocals
Previous touring musicians
Glen Sobel – drums, percussion
Tony Palermo – drums, percussion
Studio musicians
Jeff Fabb – drums, percussion on Modern Vintage
Dustin Steinke – drums, percussion on Prayers for the Damned, Vol. 1  and Prayers for the Blessed, Vol. 2

Discography

Studio albums

EPs

Singles

Promotional singles
 "Help Is On the Way"
 "Skin"
 "Let's Go"
 "You Have Come to the Right Place"
 "Barbarians (Prayers for the Blessed)"
 "Without You"
 "Life is Beautiful 2017"

Music videos

Video albums

References

External links

 Sixx:A.M videos

Category:2007 establishments in California
Category:Hard rock musical groups from California
Category:Musical groups established in 2007
Category:Musical groups from Los Angeles
Category:American musical trios


Jonathan’s Gems: London’s Milestone Hotel is the place to be this summer!

We continue to get more positive feedback from guests about The Milestone in London than any other Celebrated Hotel in England. Did you know that The Milestone was named the #2 city hotel in Europe in last year’s Travel + Leisure’s WORLD’S BEST AWARDS? It comes down to the service! Saying that it is simply warm and welcoming does not do justice to the performance The Milestone’s team puts on every day. Each employee at The Milestone feels as if they were put on Earth to take care of their guests.

So much of the friendly service revolves around the hotel’s wonderful food and beverage experiences. At this luxury 5-star hotel located across from Kensington Palace, when food or drinks are served it feels like entertainment, and it is frequently rather educational. These are my favorite activities at The Milestone, and the summer is a perfect time to enjoy these experiences:

Picnic in the Park. When staying at The Milestone, you have quite a view! Our favorite rooms overlook Kensington Palace and Gardens. What could be better than enjoying a picnic in these beautiful gardens. Guests can enjoy afternoon tea which includes Devonshire clotted cream, homemade scones, passion fruit macarons, the hotel owner’s cheese cake, and of course classically English finger sandwiches. In addition to the tea and champagne, The Milestone team delivers quite a service experience in the Park.

Strawberries and Cream Afternoon Tea. In honor of Wimbledon, the hotel has created a themed tea which features some of the best things about summers in England: fresh strawberries, Berry Eton Mess, Pimm’s jelly slices, champagne & raspberry tartlets, lemon and coconut macaroons and more. Our favorite spots to enjoy traditional afternoon tea at The Milestone? The Conservatory and The Park Lounge.

The Art of Sabrage. Champagne certainly tastes better when uncorked with a sabre! At The Milestone this age old tradition thrives thanks to Fabrizio Russo on their team who will gladly teach guests about sabrage and of course is available for a demonstration!

The Etiquette and History of Afternoon Tea. Celebrated Hotels have great Celebrated Perks, wonderful extra amenities for our clients. This is one of our favorites as guests learn all about afternoon tea, and how this lovely tradition has evolved over the years.

Order a Cocktail. Let The Milestone bar team guide you as they truly put on a show rather than simply pouring a drink. This summer they are featuring a Carousel Cocktail which is made with Barrel rested Patron Tequila,Old J Tiki Spiced Rum, Orgeat Syrup, Juice of half lime and a few drops of orange bitters. My favorite drinks is their Smoked Old Fashioned. See it to believe it!

Another thing that makes The Milestone stand out are its beautiful apartments within the hotel – perfect for families or longer stays. Starting in September 1st they are available again for stays of just three nights or more (in summer they do require a slightly longer length of stay). These gorgeous 2-bedroom apartments start around $1100/night, including tax, breakfast and consortia amenities. Of course, their rooms and suites are pretty sensational as well and many can connect for families!

London is always a good idea, but this summer it is a great idea…especially if you get to stay at The Milestone. To learn more about one of my favorite hotels, please email me or give me a call!


1. Where to Stay

Photo: Courtesy of Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay

Experience a bygone era at the elegant Don Vicente de Ybor Historic Inn (from $139) in the Cuban-American enclave of Ybor City, a National Historic Landmark District just east of downtown. Formerly the offices of a cigar magnate, this restored 1895 building now houses sixteen rooms with Persian rugs and brass chandeliers, as well as an antique-filled lounge that provides a welcome respite from the area’s sometimes-raucous nightlife scene.

Sleep in the heart of Tampa’s resurgent downtown at the Floridan Palace (from $149), a nineteen-story architectural icon that ranked as the state’s tallest skyscraper when it was built in 1926. Reopened last July after nearly seven years of renovations, the hotel’s 195 rooms and eighteen suites are decorated in the Beaux-Arts style, with a palette of rich jewel tones and furniture accented with gold-painted overlays and carved rosettes.

Opt for one of the 45 casitas (from $189) at the Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay, which underwent an extensive $16 million redesign last fall. Located on a 35-acre private nature preserve on Old Tampa Bay, these 300-square-foot Spanish-style villas feature modern interiors that subtly evoke this stretch of coast and its Latin history with sea-glass-like wall accents, Saltillo-tile floors, and Moorish-inspired throw pillows.

2. Where to Eat

Photo: Courtesy of The Refiner (L); courtesy of edison: food+drink lab (R)

Snag a reservation for dinner at the Refinery, which has earned three James Beard Award nominations since opening in 2010. Housed in a converted Craftsman-style bungalow on an industrial stretch in Seminole Heights, the restaurant features a homey aesthetic and a market-oriented weekly menu that mixes high and low: Think sweetbread-stuffed tomatoes ($10) offered alongside a vegetarian sloppy joe ($13).

Channel your inner food geek at edison: food+drink lab, where you’ll find liquid-nitrogen milkshakes ($4), a dessert menu designed around a map of the taste buds, and wine served by the 375 mL Erlenmeyer flask (from $15). Opened last August by chef Jeannie Pierola, formerly of famous Bern’s Steakhouse, the restaurant is appropriately illuminated by lots of Edison bulbs and has a menu that changes daily, as the chef reinterprets classics for her du jour egg dishes ($11), charcuterie boards ($12), and PB&J sandwiches ($9).

Relive Tampa’s past as a gangster haven at Ciro’s Speakeasy and Supper Club, where the Prohibition-era theatrics include a dress code, a password required to bypass the unmarked entrance (given to you when you book a table), a written list of house rules, and a waitstaff decked out in pearls, suspenders, and fedoras. The cocktails are a throwback to the twenties, but the food is less self-consciously retro, anchored by a slate of small plates including black-truffle popcorn ($9), raw oysters with Bloody Mary sorbet ($18), and prime beef tartare with a foie gras emulsion and fried quail egg ($18).

3. What to Do

Photo: Courtesy of Oxford Exchange

Shop for well-curated books and home décor pieces at Oxford Exchange, a 24,000-square-foot, multiuse space that opened last September in the former stables of the now-defunct Tampa Bay Hotel. Inspired by London’s shops and clubs, this reimagined arcade draws heavily on British design, with checkerboard marble floors, coffered ceilings, tufted leather sofas, and a glass conservatory roof. In addition to shops, there’s also a restaurant where you can have breakfast or lunch, as well as outposts from local favorites TeBella Tea Company and Buddy Brew Coffee.

Stroll the pedestrian-only Tampa Riverwalk, an ongoing urban renewal project that will eventually link 2.4 miles of cultural institutions along the Hillsborough River, including the Tampa Bay History Center, the Glazer Children’s Museum, the Tampa Museum of Art, the David A. Straz, Jr. Center for the Performing Arts, and the soon-to-be-renovated Waterworks Park in Tampa Heights. A series of bronze busts honoring famous historic Tampa citizens and a new stretch along Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park are recent additions to the waterfront, which also features Sunday afternoon yoga classes, two interactive fountains, and the southeastern U.S.’s first NEOS 360 Ring, a state-of-the-art playground attraction that combines video games and aerobic exercise.

Sample unique microbrews ($5 for sixteen ounces in the tasting room) inspired by local history at five-year-old Cigar City Brewery. Different varieties are named after the pre-Columbian Tocobaga tribe, the Cuban sport of bolita, and José Martí, the father of Cuban independence; the ingredients, too, reflect the city’s culture, with flavor additions including Cuban-style espresso beans, the Spanish cedar used to make cigar boxes, and, because Tampa is sometimes lovingly dubbed “the Big Guava,” pink guava purée.

4. Insider’s Tip

Join in-the-know foodies at the Sunday market at the Wat Mongkolratanaram, a Thai Buddhist temple hidden among Spanish-moss-draped trees on the Palm River. Get there early (around 10:30, to be safe) if you hope to secure a spot at one of the red picnic tables on the riverbank, then fill up on Thai iced teas ($1), curries ($5), and crispy deep-fried taro, sweet potato, and banana ($3) made and sold by local Thai-American families. Make sure you order the popular khanom krok, dumplings made from scallion-studded coconut custard, as soon as you arrive to avoid a potential hour-long wait.

5. Oddball Day

Photo: Courtesy of Visit Tampa

Spend a day exploring Tampa’s vibrant Cuban culture in and around Ybor City, the former cigar-manufacturing capital of the world. Start with a café con leché (from $1.25) at no-frills La Tropicana Café (1822 E. Seventh Ave.; 813-247-4040), and the scrambled egg, ham, and chorizo sandwich (from $3.25) comes served on toasted Cuban bread from nearby La Segunda Bakery. Next, stroll north on 19th Street to explore La Casita, a restored cigar worker’s bungalow at the Ybor City Museum State Park ($4), which also includes the historic 1923 Ferlita Bakery building and adjacent Mediterranean-style gardens. Return to Seventh Avenue (La Septima) and stop into the many smoke shops where cigars are still rolled on site to this day. Grab a copy of La Gaceta, America’s only trilingual newspaper — Italian, English, and Spanish — and head to Carmine’s (1802 E. Seventh Ave.; 813-248-3834) for a Cuban sandwich ($7.99), which many say was invented in Tampa as a quick lunch for cigar rollers. (Ybor City’s version often adds Genoa salami to the traditional lineup of roast pork, ham, Swiss cheese, mustard, and dill pickles as a nod to the neighborhood’s Italian influences.) Hop aboard the yellow TECO Line Streetcar (one-day pass, $5) and head downtown. Step off at stop No. 9 to check out the world’s largest collection of cigar memorabilia at the Tampa Bay History Center ($12.95), then ride the trolley to the end of the line and follow Franklin Street north to the elaborate Tampa Theatre (new releases, $10), built in 1926 in the hodgepodge Florida Mediterranean style with Spanish, Italian Renaissance, Baroque, Byzantine, Greek Revival, and English Tudor influences. The theater is meant to evoke a Mediterranean courtyard under a ceiling of twinkling stars, and each movie begins with a performance on the Mighty Wurlitzer pipe organ. End the day with dinner back in Ybor City at Columbia Restaurant, which opened in 1905 and now ranks as Florida’s oldest restaurant. Order sangria, made tableside with Spanish red wine or cava (pitchers from $18.95), and then make a dinner of paella (from $24) or more local Cuban-American specialties, as you watch one of the two nightly flamenco shows ($6 cover, 7 and 9:30, no shows Sunday).

6. Links

Explore the city’s burgeoning culinary scene with Tasting Tampa.

Dive In Tampa Bay is a hyperlocal guide to the nightlife and culture scene of South Tampa.

The Tampa Downtown Partnership is an up-to-the-minute guide on what’s new and buzzworthy downtown.

Culture Shock, the blog of the David A. Straz, Jr. Center for the Performing Arts, offers “news and musings” on the local and national theater world.


Image copyright Getty Images

US President Donald Trump will touch down in the UK on Tuesday for a Nato summit - the second visit he has made to Britain this year. What will the security operation involve and what hardware and staff will the president bring with him?

Whenever the US president arrives in the UK, a multi-million-pound security operation is brought into action.

Mr Trump's three-day state visit in June, which involved more than 6,300 officers, cost the Metropolitan Police £3.4m, according to figures released under the Freedom of Information Act. A previous four-day working visit in 2018 cost more than £14.2m.

Here are some of the incredible vehicles and entourage the president could be bringing with him this time around.

The president is likely to arrive in the UK on his customised, high-spec aircraft Air Force One.

Air Force One isn't actually a specific plane but instead refers to one of two specially adapted Boeing 747-200B series aircraft, which carry the tail codes 28000 and 29000.

Whichever of these aircraft the president is on board is referred to as Air Force One.

With its advanced avionics and defences, Air Force One is classed as a military aircraft, designed to withstand an air attack.

It can jam enemy radar and eject flares to throw heat-seeking missiles off course.

It is also capable of refuelling midair, allowing it to fly for an unlimited time - crucial in an emergency.

Air Force One is also equipped with secure communications equipment, allowing the aircraft to function as a mobile command centre.

There are 85 onboard telephones, a collection of two-way radios and computer connections.

Image copyright Getty Images

Inside, the president and his travel companions enjoy 4,000 sq ft of floor space on three levels, including an extensive suite for the president, a medical facility with an operating table, a conference and dining room, two food preparation galleys that can feed 100 people at a time, and designated areas for the press, VIPs, security and secretarial staff.

Several cargo planes, including C-17 Globemaster transport aircraft, carry the president's fleet of armoured vehicles and helicopters, usually landing in advance of his arrival.

Image copyright Twitter/US Secret Service

According to the Washington Post, the president is always accompanied by a military aide carrying an emergency satchel known as the "football", which contains the "gold codes" for launching the country's nuclear weapons and options for their use.

The military aide must be nearby the president at all times, as the commander-in-chief is in possession of personal identification codes required to order a strike.

They are carried on a plastic card known as the "biscuit", which can be read only when its opaque plastic covering is snapped in two and removed.

The presidential motorcade, which includes two identical limousines and other security and communications vehicles, are transported ahead of the president by United States Air Force transport aircraft.

On the ground, the president travels in Cadillac One - a bullish, enhanced limousine dubbed the "Beast" for obvious reasons.

The spare, decoy vehicle that accompanies it has the same Washington DC licence plates - 800-002.

President Trump's generation of presidential car debuted in 2018 - with the US Secret Service tweeting ahead of the UN General Assembly that it was "ready to roll".

But the service and vehicle's designers at General Motors have remained tight-lipped about the vehicle's special security features.

Weighing in at about nine tonnes (20,000lb) - with an armour-plated body and bulletproof windows (which don't all open) - the car is reported to have tear gas grenade launchers, night vision cameras and a built-in satellite phone.

Reinforced tyres surround steel-rimmed wheels, which mean the car can still be driven if the tyres are flat.

The passenger cabin is said to be sealed, to fend off a chemical attack, while special foam would surround the fuel tank in case of impact.

The vehicle also has extensive electronic equipment, Reuters reports.

The car can hold at least seven people and has a wide range of medical supplies on board, including - NBC News suggests - a fridge full of blood matching the president's blood type, in case of emergency.

But that's not all.

Image copyright EPA

When the president's on the move - you know about it.

Other vehicles in the cavalcade include a parade of police outriders, secret service backup vehicles, counter-assault and hazardous attack teams, an armoured SUV communications vehicle, known as Roadrunner, medics and the press corps.

The president could also bring a fleet of helicopters with him to the UK.

Among them Marine One, which, like Air Force One, isn't a specific aircraft but instead refers to any US Marine Corps aircraft carrying the president.

However, Marine One usually refers to one of the president's large Sikorsky VH-3D Sea Kings or the newer, smaller VH-60N White Hawks.

The specially adapted helicopters are known as "white tops" because of their livery and are fitted with communications equipment, anti-missile defences and hardened hulls.

It was Sea King versions that met the president at Stansted Airport and carried him to London, accompanied by tandem rotor chinook aircraft.

As a security measure, Marine One often flies in a group of identical helicopters acting as decoys.

It is also usually accompanied by two or three Osprey MV-22 escort aircraft, referred to as "green tops".

These tilt-rotor aircraft carry support staff, special forces and secret service agents, who are tasked with dealing with any mid-flight emergency.

The Ospreys, capable of vertical landings and high-speed flight, were heard circling around London during President Trump's last visit to the UK in 2018.

Staff are also transported around in CH-46s Sea Knight helicopters.

British forces' aircraft are also likely to be part of the security operation during his visit.

Secret service and special forces

Image copyright Getty Images

Some estimates put the number of people in Mr Trump's entourage for his UK visit in 2018 at 1,000, including more than 150 US secret service agents.

Staff included military communications specialists, White House aides, a doctor, a chef and members of the media.

Some 750 rooms were booked out to accommodate his entourage, according to Matt Chorley, of the Times newspaper.

For his 2019 state visit, the president was reported to have booked a floor of the Corinthia Hotel in Westminster for his family and entourage.

This time around Mr Trump will be in London and Hertfordshire between 2 and 4 December for the Nato summit.

He will also attend a reception at Buckingham Palace on 3 December, which will be hosted by the Queen.

By Lucy Rodgers, Dominic Bailey, Gerry Fletcher, Sandra Rodriguez Chillida and Irene de la Torre Arenas.


Google ‘famous graves in London’ and you’re assaulted by the usual suspects – these lists generally include Emmeline Pankhurst, John Bunyan and perhaps the best known of them all – Karl Marx.

There’s no denying the above named peoples influence and legacy but there are others whose graves are just as interesting – be it architecturally, because of what the person achieved in life or just for the monument they chose to be remembered by.

After nearly four years of going around various Graveyards and places of remembrance, here are my personal top 10 graves that I’ve found…

1. The Lego Grave

This is always a favourite when I mention it to people, especially when you hear about the bravery of the poor little lad it acts as a marker to.

This grave in Highgate Cemetery remembers Sonny Anderson, a courageous young Arsenal supporter who died of Cancer in 2011. His treatment, experiences and untimely end are collected in this heartfelt blog written by his Mum. The Lego figures at the top seem to alternate; I assume visitors to the cemetery or his family leave their own figures there as a token of respect.

2. Joseph Bonomi the Younger

A modest headstone in Brompton Cemetery, marked with the Egyptian God of the Underworld, is the marker of a man who promoted Egyptian influences in British Architecture. In 1824 Bonomi went on an expedition to Egypt via Malta; igniting a lifelong fascination with the ancient world.

In 1861 (amidst much criticism) he was appointed curator of the Sir John Soane Museum in Holborn: a posting which was usually given to a practicing architect. Bonomi also designed the Egyptian entrance to Abney Park Cemetery, the facade of the Temple Works in Leeds and supposedly, the Courtroy Mauseoleum, just a short walk from his final resting place.

It’s also one of the saddest headstones that you’ll ever see, as he shares the grave with his four eldest children who all died of Whooping Cough during the Easter weekend of 1852.

3. Samuel Broome

This grave must’ve been spectacular when it was new. Broome was a champion Chrysanthemum grower and gardener at Inner Temple gardens for over 40 years; considering the plant only arrived in this country in 1846, by the 1860’s he’d turned the formerly desolate gardens into a paradise filled with Roses and other flowers, to the extent the Royal Horticultural Society had a show there on a yearly basis. It was reported that ‘10,000 of the outer world, chiefly Children, who are always in search of the lost Eden, come here annually’ Now, his grave, sans Chrysanthemums, lies forgotten under a canopy of mature trees in Nunhead Cemetery and the gardens which he worked in for decades seem to lack the sparkle of their heyday.

4. The TARDIS of Streatham Cemetery

It’s blue. It looks like a TARDIS-cum-Temple. What more do you want! This is the grave of Henry Budden and it dates from 1907. According to cemetery historian Colin Fenn, the monument is made of a material called faience ( a type of tin glazed earthenware). Budden’s family worked at Doulton’s of Lambeth and you can see a fragment of its glorious factory still on the corner of Lambeth High Street and Black Prince Road on the Albert Embankment. It’s from here they had access to all the materials that they needed to fittingly create a memorial for Henry.

5. William Booth

The founder of the Salvation Army is situated in one of the most picturesque parts of any Cemetery I’ve been to, the Booth grave in Abney Park fascinates me because historically, this spot has been captured by historic film footage. It’s interesting how the changing fortunes of the cemetery can be seen from these images: where was once immaculate kept flowers and graves is now wild woodland.

6. The Bronze Man of St. Marylebone Cemetery

Sam introduced me to this tomb and it’s easily one of the most beautiful bronzes I’ve ever seen. Very much in the same vein as the Lancaster and Greig tombs I wrote about a year or so ago, this is a draped Roman figure on a sarcophagus to Thomas Tate, sculpted by F Lynn Jenkins and was completed in 1909. I always advocate that Cemeteries are just as good as museums – how about this for an exhibit?

7. Brutalist Mausoleum

Tombs aren’t always classical or gothic Victorian affairs, as seen here in St. Patrick’s Cemetery in Leytonstone. this is the mausoleum of the Ferrari family, a concrete structure originally built in 1965. It sticks out like a sore thumb amidst hundreds of sculpted Jesus’ and Our Lady – I can’t say I’m a massive fan of Brutalism, but this is a must see.

8. Joseph Westwood

Joseph Westwood’s grave is the most impressive monument in Tower Hamlets Cemetery; indeed, it seems like it’s been airlifted from Highgate and decided to timeshare in this woodland for a while. Westwood was a ship builder who originally built yachts for the likes of the Prince of Egypt and others; however; an economic downturn in the 1860’s had him repurpose his business into building ships, bridges and railroads across the expanding British empire, which provided far more reliable work. A local guy, he was buried where he lived. Sadly the grave is a shadow of its former glory – it’s built out of Portland Stone (like St. Paul’s) and would have shone a brilliant white; small bells were once attached to it which would have quietly jingled in the wind.

9. Celtic Cross of Orbs

Not far from where Joseph Bonomi is, is this remarkable Celtic Cross which is studded with different rocks of astounding colour. Remarkably, it’s been untouched since 1897 and none of them have been pinched. Long may this continue.

10. A Father’s Love for his Daughter

Don’t blink…otherwise you’ll miss one of Kensal Green’s most beautiful monuments. This baroque number commemorates Mary Eleanor Gibson. She died at the Great Western Hotel by Kings Cross, possibly on a visit to London to see a medical consultant. Sadly she never got the chance to receive treatment; she died aged 18 in 1872. If you ever need evidence of a father’s love for his daughter, then point them in this tomb’s direction – it’s on the main boulevard with other equally impressive monuments such as that of William Mulready and Andrew Ducrow nearby.

The four angels here originally held a crown. Now, they are frozen, almost mid dance, whilst she sleeps eternally below.

Well that’s my top 10, but what are your favourites? I’d love to hear about them – feel free to comment below or on our Facebook, Instagram or Twitter!

All photos © Sheldon K Goodman, 2017.


Day 2 at @Hotelympia and the Curtis team are up and ready to spend the day showing off our fine contract furniture… https://t.co/GHXL1nLwZa

Day 2 at Hotelympia and the Curtis team are up and ready to spend the day showing off our fine contract furniture all made in our 45,000ft2 factory in the heart of Yorkshire! If you're at ExCeL London today be sure to stop by stand 3011 and say hello!

Today's the day! Make sure you pop down to @ExCeLLondon and see @curtisfurniture on stand 3011 at @Hotelympia ! Sye… https://t.co/cMuuEXf0Ld

Today's the day! Make sure you pop down to ExCeL London and see us on stand 3011 at Hotelympia! Syed and David will be manning the stand all day to discuss how our beautiful hotel furniture can transform your business.

RT @TheClinkCharity: Our chefs from The Clink Brixton will be competing in Salon Culinaire @Hotelympia on 8th March - please come and suppo…


A Saudi prince has been ordered by the High Court in London to give evidence in a multi-million pound legal battle with a woman who says she was secretly married to his late father.

If Prince Abdul Aziz – son of the late King Fahd – does not attend, he could force contempt proceedings – and possible arrest if he enters the UK, a judge warned.

The judge made the order even though he was told that the prince has been “forbidden” by his uncle King Salman from flying to the UK to appear in the witness box.

The judge was told there were fears of the Saudi royal family being caught up in “a media circus”.

The judge made his order on the first day of a claim being made by Janan Harb that she was secretly married to King Fahd – then a minister of the interior of Saudi Arabia – in 1968 when she was 19.

Prince Aziz wants to rely on witness statements signed by him, and witnesses called on his behalf. Lawyers for the prince said it was impossible for him to attend because of the stance being taken by the royal household.

But Mr Justice Peter Smith said: “I do not accept at the moment that if I make an order he will not attend.”

The judge warned that if the prince failed to appear in court next Tuesday it was possible that he would be in contempt of court.

Ms Harb, who was in court to give her own evidence, claims that she and Prince Aziz had a meeting at the Dorchester Hotel in London in the early hours of June 20 2003.

She says the prince entered into a binding agreement to pay her £12m and transfer back to her two flats in Chelsea, west London, in order to satisfy promises given by his father to provide for her financially for the rest of her life.

The judge said the prince denied her claim, and “the linchpin” of the case was “who do I believe?”

The way to obtain “best evidence available to decide who is being truthful” was by way of oral testimony and cross examination.


"Perhaps British players are a little afraid to move abroad" - Ashley Cole

There is a detail in Ashley Cole's story, My Defence, scripted eight years ago which seems suddenly resonant this weekend.

In the book the 33-year-old gives his version of events about a rendezvous that turned into a notorious tapping-up scandal, when he met with Jose Mourinho in a London hotel while he was still an Arsenal player.

The meeting, Cole suggested, was coincidental as he thought he was only going to chat with the agent Pini Zahavi about possible options if he decided to seek pastures new when the Chelsea manager arrived.

But what is interesting now, as the defender prepares to make his debut in Serie A with Roma, is the notion that he went to meet Zahavi purely to talk about moving abroad.

"Pini told me not to worry about a thing. Whether it was now or later, there were plenty of clubs who would be interested," he wrote, before adding: "Barcelona, Real Madrid, Valencia for sure, and these magnificent clubs just rolled off his tongue."

He continued: "I fired off a few questions about the differences between Spanish and Italian football, the weather, the people, the lifestyles. I asked about the different clubs and how other English players had adapted and made to feel welcome.

"It was just while I was talking that there was a knock at the door... " And in walked Mourinho with Chelsea's then chief executive Peter Kenyon.

Ashley Cole's career timeline in England November 1999: Makes Arsenal debut in League Cup March 2001: Makes England senior debut in World Cup qualifier against Albania May 2002: First-choice left-back as Arsenal win the Premier League and FA Cup double August 2006: Signs for Chelsea May 2010: Wins the second Premier League and FA Cup double of his career May 2012: Wins a record seventh FA Cup and wins the Champions League final with Chelsea at the third time of asking May 2013: Wins the Europa League with Chelsea May 2014: Retires from international football after failing to make England's World Cup squad and also announces he is likely to have played his last game for club July 2014: Released by Chelsea and signs two-year-deal with Roma

As Cole prepares to make his debut for a continental club this weekend - Roma host Fiorentina on Saturday evening - it is intriguing to reflect that he gave serious thought to an overseas move back in his mid-twenties.

Of course, that never materialised. He took a far shorter and considerably more infamous journey across London instead, echoing the choice made by an old team-mate, Sol Campbell, when he eschewed the chance to play abroad to make the short hop from Tottenham to Arsenal when in his prime.

While there may have been temptation to try out a completely new experience for England's elite players over the last decade, staying on home shores was the preferred bet.

A couple of years ago, Zlatan Ibrahimovic suggested Steven Gerrard should have tried his luck abroad.

"Although of course Liverpool is a big club, I would like to see Steven at a big international club," said the Swede.

Ashley Cole: British footballers who have played abroad

"I would like to see that also for England because it is very exciting when someone goes abroad and shows who he is in another competition. For me, a fantastic player can make the difference in every country wherever he plays."

The general lack of English players who venture overseas remains an anomaly in football's global marketplace.

At the 1990 World Cup, before changes in employment laws transformed the landscape and players began crossing borders in increasing numbers, one player from England's squad played his club football outside Britain - Chris Waddle in Marseille.

But the numbers since don't show much of an improvement.

In all the World Cups since then, only three squad members played for foreign clubs - David Beckham joined Real Madrid in 2003 - Owen Hargreaves (Bayern Munich), who had lived most of his life abroad, and Fraser Forster when he played in the SPL. It is a paltry figure covering nearly 25 years.

There are a couple of stereotypical explanations - that the wages in the Premier League are attractive enough to keep talent in-house, and that English people are naturally less inclined to go through the personal tests required to succeed in a different country. But still.

England stars Jimmy Greaves (left), Trevor Francis (centre) and Paul Gascoigne spent some of their best years playing for AC Milan, Sampdoria and Lazio respectively

Even Italy, who were generally resistant to leaving their home league, now find themselves with greater numbers abroad, including their best young talent (Mario Balotelli, Marco Verratti and Ciro Immobile play in England, France and Germany).

Not so long ago Spanish players seemed to have a hoodoo when it came to trying out other European leagues but that feels like ancient history. England is the last place to appear reluctant to open its exit barrier.

When he was unveiled in Rome, Cole hinted that there is a prevailing fear factor. "Perhaps British players are a little afraid to move abroad," he said. "They are accustomed to British culture and for them it is convenient to stay at home.

"But as soon as I had this opportunity, I was glad to get out of London, to face a new language and a new culture."

It is telling that Cole acknowledges this move has come at exactly the right time for him, a little older and wiser, and thus more confident to take on the various challenges needed to adapt and immerse himself in a new culture, language, and way of life as well as a new style of football.

He recently posted a photograph on Twitter of an afternoon stroll around the Colosseum.

In another he mentioned he was off for an Italian lesson - something that once might have left him open to mockery but now can only be regarded as sensible and good practice. He signed off one tweet in local vernacular with a "buona notte" (goodnight).

It has got to be a positive thing for the English game that Cole appears to be relishing the opportunity to push himself and challenge boundaries that have been familiar throughout his footballing life.

But it also opens up the debate about whether it would benefit the English scene to have more players gaining that kind of experience and taking themselves out of their comfort zone - especially in their formative years.

In 1997, Wales striker John Charles was voted by Italian fans as the greatest-ever foreign import

Roy Hodgson advocates it for younger players. "It wouldn't hurt them at all to go abroad," he says. "If you're asking me would it be better for some of our players to be playing in good teams abroad rather than warming the bench in the Premier League, then of course, as a national team manager I would like to see that."

As the English game tries to come to terms with its national side exiting the World Cup so early and a new squad that seems short of experienced inspiration, perhaps that is a point the FA could do with encouraging.

When Ashley Cole went on loan to Crystal Palace as a teenager, what influence might it have had on him - not just as a footballer but as a person - if he had tested himself back then with PSV Eindhoven or Porto instead?

Defender Eric Dier, 20, at Tottenham has made an immediate impression not just with his ability but also his mature attitude having spent several years educated at Sporting Lisbon.

English players broadening their horizons can only be a good thing. The sooner it can happen to players, before they reach veteran status, the better.


2017 ICE Totally Gaming to be Held in London

By Brodey Sheppard
- October 27, 2016

The 2017 ICE Totally Gaming is fast approaching and anyone who works within the online casino gaming industry knows that this is one of the events in the year that one should not miss! For 2017, the event will take place at ExCeL London, from Tuesday 7 February to Thursday 9 February. The product sectors exhibiting for the event include street, sports betting, social, online, mobile, lottery, casino, bingo and betting.

Why Should You Visit 2017 ICE Totally Gaming?

There are several reasons why people from the igaming industry should visit the upcoming ICE Totally Gaming event. Just by looking at its previous 28,487 record attendance, one could tell that the event has a reputation for being one of the most sought-after international business events in the field.

Over the three-day run of the event, hundreds of new products are launched by key companies in the industry.

ICE is a unique and effecting venue to network with major gaming players, including regulators and operators, among others.

With representations from hundreds of countries around the world, ICE’s international credentials are unparalleled.

Visitors can freely attend the show-floor seminars and get useful and up-to-the-minute information from engaging debates.

Things to Do in London

The upcoming ICE Totally Gaming will be held in London – a city unlike any other in the world. While your primary objective is to maximise your time by checking out everything that the event has to offer, there are many things you can do around the city while the event is running or even after the last day. It is always good to plan your visit ahead of the event so you can have an enriching and fun experience once you’re there.

As luck would have it, the 2017 ICE Totally Gaming venue is located ten minutes away from Canary Wharf. The heart of London’s Royal Docks, this area is a major business district which features over 200 shops, bars, cafes and restaurants. Needless to say, finding things to do and key establishments would not be a problem for you. For starters, there are several hotels near the venue, ExCeL London. You can use the venue’s HotelMap and get exclusive, discounted hotel rates. You can compare hotel rates and see what suits you the most. However, you have to hurry and book your accommodation as early as now because those closest to the 2017 ICE Totally Gaming venue are quickly getting booked!

Inside ExCeL London, you can find over 16 retailers, including high-street brands that you may recognise. There are several food establishments within the venue to keep you satiated. These include Costa Coffee, Subway, Upper Crust, Chozen Noodle and the Bagel Factory. If you want to enjoy chargrilled steaks or juicy burgers, visit the Bridge Restaurant Diner & Bar and have a delightful dining experience.

London is known for its thriving culture, restaurant and attractions. But after hours, it is best known for its vibrant night life. After the event, it would be high time for you to explore the best that London has to offer. The following are the best establishments to visit near the event venue:

The Narrow – Established and owned by renowned chef Gordon Ramsay, this restaurant is known for its variety of tasty dishes. Its menu includes fresh cuts, a fish of the day and other British classics, which are chalked up daily on the blackboard. If you want to enjoy cocktails, wine or beer, you can go to the bar or the conservatory where you can see the stunning river views.

Boisdale of Canary Wharf – Aside from its Scottish ambiance and delicious steaks, the bar is what makes this establishment worth visiting. It stocks over a thousand different types of whisky. You can enjoy live jazz, blues and soul music while having your favourite drink.

Everyman Cinema – Think of fusing the laidback feel of a living room with a big screen cinema. That is what you’ll experience when you watch a movie at Everyman Cinema. You can kick off your shoes and completely relax on the big, squishy cinema sofa. It has an intimate ambience which makes you fully immersed in the movie you are watching.

Places to Visit During Your Downtime

There are so many establishments and attractions to visit near the 2017 ICE Totally Gaming venue. You can visit West India Quay which is home to the Museum of London Docklands and a Cineworld multiplex cinema. There are also several bars and restaurants by the dockside. If you have plenty of time, explore Greenwich. This is a World Heritage Site which features attractions like London’s oldest royal park, the National Maritime Museum and the Royal Observatory.

You can also visit the O2 – the world’s most popular music venue. The area offers over 25 restaurants and bars, including The indigO2 which is a smaller live music club’ an 11-screen cinema and visitor attractions like The British Music Experience and Up at The O2. As you can see, as a person working for one of the most popular online casinos in the UK or across the globe, there are plenty of things you can find useful and even enjoyable when you visit the 2017 ICE Totally Gaming event. Hurry and register now!

Brodey Sheppard

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" 'j. o ' N ... , . - ..... - ..,. -- - ......'" /; ;,;, : .' :-":... . . .;. ØÞ" Vh'" ....' )', , , ," ".........' ,',' --- "' " ,.- ..::;.y <. - -.:----, -, N - t "" ", ...... ....., ...." ,1 "." .. . .. .. Iu& llrø dwh and {jlJ ..edacø -'-' RUton is always the height of good taste. From the panoramic delights of Our 28th Floor Windows Restaurant tn the superb cuisine which has gaIned two "Gault Mìllaut toques", one of the highest accolades the culinary world can bestow Ring Angello Sorelli nn 0171-493 8000 to book your place at the table of Jaques Rolancy, our celebrated French chef LONDON KillIN Take me to The Hilton. The London Hilton on Park Lane 0171 493 8000. WALK ENGLAND ..."..- ....... Durrants Hotel, George Street LONDON WIH 6BJ England West End family run Hotel Reservations-Tel: 011-44-171-9358131 Fax: 011-44-171-4873510 .:i...J 1 t", I , t \D.' . '--: 1 I ß..rJ - """'--'! '06LISH ADV'OTUR'S TRAVEL BACK IN TIME ON OUR WXURY TOURS TO THE ENCHANTED VILLAGES AND SPECTACULAR MOUNTAINS OF WORDSWORTH'S LAKE DISTRICT, PWS THE ROMAN WALL AND YORKSHIRE DALES WORLD-CLASS WALKING AND UTERARY/CULTURAI/CUUNARY FUN. 12-PERSON GROUPS PRIVATE sums IN A GRAND VICTORIAN MANSION. Four adjoining Georgian townhouses overlooking private garden square. Located in fash- ionable Kensington/Chelsea, family owned, very friendly service. Minutes away from the- atres, museums and shopping. Tel: 0171 373 3232, Fax: 0171 373 7944. 1-800-253-3485 ADVERTISEMENT THE I B EST 0 F - \ I f\1 ...... t"_ >- '= c::. -:'''' 0 I < ..,::.........- - .,..-- -tt 4f m I . '" c::. :::::> o -. . \ '" '" -. ... a " . . " . .. LON .. I . A fascinating city that IS at once ancient and avant-garde, London offers something for everyone, from the student and the shopper to the theatre lover and the history buff. Every visitor to London can experience some- thing old and something new An ideal day in London might include a visit to Buckingham Palace for the traditional "Changing of the Guard" at 11 :30 A.M., complemented by an afternoon visit to the National Gallery's newest and most controversial wing, a decidedly mod- ern design by an American, Robert Venturi. E E T EE N The world's first and arguably most useful underground transit system, the London Underground offers the cheapest, quickest, and easiest way to get around central London. In a city whose variety of attractions can be over- whelming, a two-hour tour from the roof of a double-decker bus can lay the groundwork for informed exploration of some of London's best, not-to-be-missed sights, including the Houses of Parliament, St. Paul's Cathedral, Tower Bridge, and the Tower of London. It's also well worth a short trip down the Thames to explore the Docklands, the most modern section of the city, featuring the futuristic, computer-driven Docklands Light Railway, which leads down to Greenwich and the National Maritime Museum of the Royal Observatory, home of Greenwich Mean Time. THE BEST SHOPPING In this "nation of shopkeepers," visitors enjoy first-class service in a wide variety of retail shops And London is widely regarded as the shopping capital of the world. The exclusive shopping district of Knightsbridge boasts an array of designer shops, boutiques, and depart- ment stores along Brompton Road, Sloane Street, Walton Street, and Beauchamp Place. Once a busy fruit and flower market, the lovely, cobbled piazza of Covent Garden is still one of


An Inspector Calls

There’s a gentle tap on the door shortly before 8am. It’s a welcome change from a brutal, automated telephone wake-up call – especially when accompanied by a silver tray, on which sits a pot of tea, a white bone china cup and saucer, a silver sugar bowl and a silver milk jug. Pouring the tea and settling back into bed for a few more minutes, I take a long look at my surroundings as if working on a Visconti film set. The camera pans slowly from one corner to the next, past a pretty chest of drawers, a loose-covered sofa, a couple of mildly erotic 1930s prints of women, a bookshelf empty of books but housing a decanter of water and two glasses, and an antique full-length overmantle mirror. Two sheepskin rugs lie either side of the bed. Next door, the bathroom is enormous, with space for, in addition to the essentials, a proper chaise longue and a large battered cupboard. In hotel parlance, I am staying in a suite, and a remarkably private one at that because it occupies the whole floor of a Victorian stucco building in one of London’s most des res areas: just off Westbourne Grove in Nottinghill. But this isn’t a hotel. It isn’t even a bed and breakfast ( you get a choice of tea or coffee in the morning but nothing to eat). It’s simply a place to stay and it’s one of the capital’s best-kept secrets after enjoying its fourth year of business under the dedicated ownership of Caroline Main, who I’m told has worked variously as a commodities trader, horse trainer, safari guide, explorer, Mayfair club owner and DJ.

Both she and her young helper, Aimee, greet me when I check in. Caroline lives on the ground floor with her son and an Alsatian dog. There are four rooms available each night for as little as £55 per person. If I were a businessman in need of a comfy bed before a big meeting, this is where I would come; if I were a tourist in need of some bohemian vibes before setting off down the Portobello Road, this is where I would come.
Caroline tells me to shout if I need anything and soon I’m knocking on her door to ask for an iron. “We’ll do it for you” she says, and I skip off for dinner with the keys of the house in my pocket. It’s like staying at a friend’s except I don’t have many friends who live in such rarefied part of the town. When I get back at midnight, I notice that there’s a small television near one of the windows. But I won’t need it: this is a room where you curl up with Henry James, not Andrew Neil. The Main House, as it’s called, has a breakfast arrangement with at Tom’s (Tom Conran’s deli) around the corner. I pay £ 7.85 for a cappuccino, scramble eggs with Parma ham, roast tomatoes and toasted focaccia. What a trendy crowd! Everyone except me looks as if they’ve walked off a stage – or want to walk onto one.

Aimee sorts out the paperwork before I leave and thanks me for coming. I thank her for having me and ask her to send my best wishes to Caroline. It’s all frightfully British and I love it.


Londoner

Under flack for breaking the celeb boycott of hotels owned by death-to-the-gays dictator, the Sultan of Brunei, by sneaking in the back door of The Dorchester for a wedding on Friday.
'The wedding was a big boost for the hotel,' said a source. 'It shows that the royals will not let the Brunei business keep them away.' The Dorchester is not in LondonNet's hotel's guide.

The 24 star, who has been filming over here for the new series, aims to buy a London pub. 'I would love to buy a pub in London, that would be so cool,' he said. 'It wouldn't be a super-trendy place, just a real British pub where real locals come for a drink.' Looks like he's accusing Londoners of not being trendy.

The Happy singer has added a third date to his schedule in London later this year, with an extra show at the O2 Arena, on 10 October, on top of his appearance at the same venue the night before and at the Wireless Festival in Finsbury Park on 4 July.

Worried about burping, the Dark Horse gave her beer to a fan during her 02 concert last night. 'Someone help me out with this beer,' she said. 'You sir have this and have my cooties forever.' Tickets for KP's shows at the O2 on Friday and Saturday are still available. Beers not included.

Ayyyy, The Fonz plans to charge £20 for an autograph at this weekend's London Comic Con at the ExCel. Other stars, including Game of Thrones' king-maker James Cosmo, will let you have their scribble for £15. Bargain!

London is the most expensive city in the world in which to go on a date, even if you start your romantic session at McDonald's. All-in a 'cheap' London date costs £72, £15 more than second placed New York, according to a new survey.

There's a free, live screening of Verdi's opera set in 19th century Paris at 7pm this evening on Trafalgar Square, beamed from the nearby Royal Opera House, directed by Richard Eyre. Tickets for the regular performances here.

He won't be in it himself, but Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, the spin-off from Potter's adventures, has a release date and a very specific one at that - 18 November 2016. 'The story will start in New York, seventy years before Harry's gets underway,' said JK Rowling, who is writing the movie.


21 Ultimate Gifts: Breezing Along

An exclusive visit to the Bentley factory in Crewe, England, followed by a one-night stay at the Lanesborough hotel in London.

$3.36 million

In the spirit of Bentley’s top-down motoring tradition, this gift promises a Robb Report reader true open-air excitement in a brace of superb motorcars, one old and one new. In doing so, it also offers the connoisseur a rare opportunity to acquire one of the most desirable Bentleys ever made.

In the past 20 years or so, few if any 6½ Litre Bentleys that have come on the market are as significant as this gift’s 1927 Bentley 6½ Litre Vanden Plas Sports Tourer. Just a handful—perhaps nine—of Vanden Plas Tourer bodies remain on their original Bentley chassis, which alone would make this car special; but it also features commissioned coachwork that, when the Tourer was new, cost its owner nearly twice the price of a standard Vanden Plas body.

In addition to boasting originality and superb condition, this Bentley has a completely documented ownership history. Such unbroken provenance is remarkable for a motorcar that has changed hands—first in 1929—a dozen or so times over the decades. The matching serial numbers on the chassis and engine confirm that both are original, and original-period photographs establish that numerous design details are absolutely correct.

The car, which was recently serviced and detailed by noted California restorer Alan Taylor, presents an honest, mellow patina befitting an older restoration.

If the new Continental GTC convertible lacks the rarity of the vintage Bentley, it compensates with excitement. The 2012 GTC represents the first redesign of the popular Continental GTC model, which Bentley first unveiled in 2006. Among other, subtler alterations, it displays more aggressively sculpted bodywork and a new grille, and it is powered by a brawnier 6-liter twin-turbocharged W-12 engine that develops 567 hp and burns premium gasoline or E85 ethanol.

With a zero-to-60-mph time of about 4.4 seconds and a top speed just shy of 200 mph, the GTC provides a perfect mix of luxurious and uncannily quiet grand touring and top-down exhilaration.

The vast variety of factory options for the GTC includes a choice of 123 exterior paint colors, eight complementary fabric colors for the convertible hood, and 17 hide colors and seven species of wood veneer for the interior.

The recipient of this gift also can order the GTC with massaging seats equipped with neck warmers that can extend the top-down-driving season, and such embellishments as a Naim premium audio system and a veneered case for sunglasses and keys.

The gift recipient can order these options and others in person during a visit to the Bentley factory in the English town of Crewe. Bentley will arrange meetings with the company’s color-and-trim team to discuss the color palette and wood options, and also a meeting with the workers who will build the GTC. Or the visit can take place later, when the new owner can watch those folks assemble his or her GTC.

The experience begins with first-class air travel for two on British Airways from the United States to England. A chauffeured Bentley will provide ground transportation in England. Two nights’ accommodation at Nunsmere Hall Hotel near the Bentley factory will be followed by a one-night stay in London at the Lanesborough hotel and dinner at the Bentley room at Mossiman’s private dining club.

This gift is being offered as a package until December 31, 2011, though the two Bentleys may be purchased separately. If purchased separately, the new Bentley is available until June 30, 2012, and the vintage Bentley until December 31, 2011. The price of the new Bentley is $260,000, plus an additional $100,000 for the factory visit. The vintage Bentley is $3 million and may be purchased from Dennis Nicotra (dnicotra@olympiallc.com). Delivery of the vintage Bentley outside of the United States will incur an additional cost.


Servant Girl Annihilator

A serial killer, who became known as the Servant Girl Annihilator, preyed upon the city of Austin, Texas, during the years 1884 and 1885. The sobriquet originated with the  writer O. Henry.

The series of eight axe murders were referred to by contemporary sources as the Servant Girl Murders.

The December 26, 1885, issue of The New York Times reported that the "murders were committed by some cunning madman, who is insane on the subject of killing women".

The murders represent an early example of a serial killer operating in the United States, three years before the Jack the Ripper murders in Whitechapel.

According to author Philip Sugden in The Complete History of Jack the Ripper, the conjecture that the Texas killer and Jack the Ripper were one and the same man originated in October 1888, when an editor with the Atlanta Constitution proposed this conjecture, following the murders of Stride and Eddowes by Jack the Ripper.

Murders

According to Texas Monthly, seven women (five black, two white) and one black man were murdered. Additionally, six women and two men were seriously injured.

All the victims were attacked indoors while asleep in their beds. Five of the women were dragged, unconscious but still alive, and killed outdoors. Three of the women were severely mutilated while outdoors.

All the victims were posed in a similar manner. Six of the murdered women had a "sharp object" inserted into their ears.

The series of murders ended with the killing of two white women, Eula Phillips, age 17, and Susan Hancock - who was attacked while sleeping in the bed of her 16-year-old daughter on the night of 24 December 1885.

Only one of those arrested, James Phillips, was convicted. He was found guilty of murdering his wife but the conviction was later overturned.

London authorities questioned several American cowboys, one of whom (according to the authors of Jack the Ripper, A to Z) was possibly Buck Taylor, a performer in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. Taylor was born in Fredricksburg, Texas, about 70 miles west of Austin.

According to a front-page article in The New York Times of December 26, 1885, 400 men were arrested during the course of the year. According to the Texas Monthly, powerful elected officials refused to believe that one man, or one group of men, was responsible for all the murders.

The African-American community and some practitioners of voodoo believed the killer was a white man who had magic powers that enabled him to become invisible, as no dogs outside or in fenced-yards adjacent to locations where murders occurred were heard to bark or raise any alarm.

The series of murders stopped when additional police officers were hired, rewards were offered and citizens formed a vigilance committee to patrol the streets at night. Contemporary newspapers reported that the murderer(s) had apparently fled the area, as no more murders were officially attributed to the killer by the authorities.

Victims
 Mollie Smith, 25, was murdered the night of 30 December 1884. Walter Spencer was seriously wounded.
 Clara Strand and Christine Martenson, two Swedish servant girls, were seriously wounded the night of 19 March 1885.
 Eliza Shelly was murdered the night of 6 May 1885.
 Irene Cross murdered by a man with a knife on the night of 22 May 1885.
 Clara Dick was seriously wounded in August 1885.
 Mary Ramey, 11, was murdered the night of 30 August 1885. Her mother, Rebecca Ramey was seriously wounded.
 Gracie Vance, was murdered on the night of 28 September 1885.
 Susan Hancock was murdered the night of 24 December 1885.
 Eula Phillips was murdered the night of 24 December 1885. Her husband, James Phillips, was seriously wounded.

Eyewitness accounts
According to a July 2000 article in the Texas Monthly, there was an eyewitness who claimed to have seen the murderer, but reported contradictory information to the police.

The killer was variously reported to have been white or dark-complexioned; or a "yellow man" wearing lampblack to conceal his skin color; or a man wearing a Mother Hubbard style dress; or a man wearing a slouch hat; or a man wearing a hat and a white rag that covered the lower part of his face.

There were also reports that the killer worked with an accomplice, or belonged to a gang of murderers.

The Malay cook suspect
According to the Atchison Daily Globe of November 19, 1888, the Austin American-Statesman reported that a Malay cook "running on ocean vessels" was a suspect in the Jack the Ripper murders.  The newspaper reported that "a Malay cook had been employed at a small hotel in Austin in 1885." Furthermore, the newspaper reported that the Austin reporter:

In London on the 13th of August 1888, a sailor named George M. Dodge was interviewed by Scotland Yard. Dodge claimed to have met a Malay cook named ‘Alaska’ (possibly ‘Laskar’, an old Malay word for ‘sailor’) at the Queen's Musical Hall at Poplar, London. He claimed that Alaska was about 35 years old, 5 feet 7 inches, weighed 10-11 stone (around 63-69 kg), and sometimes carried a double-edged knife, which he showed George. The following is what George claimed Alaska told him "he had been robbed by a woman of bad character, and that unless he found the woman and recovered his money he would murder and mutilate every Whitechapel woman he met."

Similar to the murders in Austin, all five of the Ripper’s victims would follow a similar pattern of lower-class women within the radius of Whitechapel, deep throat cuts, severe body mutilations and organs removed, except in the case of Elizabeth Stride. Several witness testimonies of sightings of the alleged Ripper talking to Elizabeth Stride right before she was found dead have provided description of him. One William Marshall claimed the Ripper was  "a stout man of about 5 feet 6 inches tall wearing a black cut-away coat, dark trousers, and a cap that was “like something a sailor would wear." A police constable named William Smith claimed, "the man had a dark complexion and a dark moustache, wearing a cutaway coat and dark trousers and carrying a parcel wrapped in newspaper." A recent immigrant named Israel Schwarts claimed "he shouted ‘Lipski’ to a second man… he had a full face, was broad-shouldered, and wearing a dark jacket and trousers with a peaked cap."

Back in Texas, the author of the Statesman followed up on that same lead and tried to contact the Malay cook in London. Before he could reach him, however, he discovered that the cook had left London. After that, just like with the Austin killings, the Whitechapel killings stopped too.

Nathan Elgin
On July 15, 2014, the PBS TV show History Detectives aired an episode on the killings.  Using a combination of historical research and modern techniques, including psychological and geographic profiling, they identified a suspect: Nathan Elgin, a 19-year-old African-American cook.

Elgin worked in close proximity to the crime scenes and was missing his little toe which was similar to a footprint believed to have been left by the killer. In February 1886, shortly after the last murder, Elgin was shot and killed by police while he was attempting to assault a girl with a knife.

In popular culture
William Sydney Porter, better known as the short story writer O. Henry, was living in Austin at the time of the murders. Porter coined the term "Servant Girl Annihilators" in a May 10, 1885, letter addressed to his friend Dave Hall and later included in his anthology Rolling Stones: "Town is fearfully dull," wrote Porter, "except for the frequent raids of the Servant Girl Annihilators, who make things lively in the dull hours of the night...." However, no contemporary newspaper or published source referred to the murderer(s) as "The Servant Girl Annihilator".

In 2000, Steven Saylor published the novel A Twist at the End, which closely reconstructed the murders and the ensuing trials, with young William Sydney Porter playing a fictional role. The novel was published in the United Kingdom (as Honour the Dead) and has been translated into Portuguese and Hungarian.

Episode 6 (2015) of the podcast Tanis, a mystery/suspense docudrama, is titled "The Servant Girl Annihilator". It suggests a connection between the killings and the mysteries central to the podcast's ongoing story.

See also
List of fugitives from justice who disappeared
List of serial killers in the United States

Cited works and further reading

External links
Macabre Monday The Case of the Servant Girl Annihilator

References

External links

 The Servant Girl Annihilator - Nathan Elgin - A Criminology

Category:1884 in Texas
Category:1884 murders in the United States
Category:1885 in Texas
Category:1885 murders in the United States
Category:American murderers of children
Category:American serial killers
Category:Axe murder
Category:Crimes in Austin, Texas
Category:Male serial killers
Category:Stabbing attacks in the United States
Category:Unidentified serial killers
Category:Unsolved murders in the United States


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Booked this hotel very very last minute (about 3 hours before we checked in). I saw the hotel on a booking website then went to the hotel's own site which was both a 1/3 cheaper and gave us free breakfast and wifi. The location is fab, just few minutes walk from oxford street/ regents street. Staff were really friendly and professional. The room we had was a little small in my view but as we were only sleeping there and out more than we were in, we didn't worry. Breakfast was good and free which was great.

Stayed: July 2014, travelled as a couple

Location

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Ask binnysays about The Mandeville Hotel

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This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC

Stayed there about a year ago and the rooms were great. Location, hotel quality and a great concierge. Upgraded to the slightly larger rooms so size and cleanliness of the rooms were excellent. Only place that needs improvement was breakfast. Our rate had breakfast included but it was very poor. It was a business trip so needless to say, I left for work hungry and picked something up along the way.

Stayed: November 2013, travelled on business

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Rooms

Service

Ask CBalciyan about The Mandeville Hotel

1 Thank CBalciyan

This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC

The Mandeville regrettably represents everything that is wrong with "luxury" central London hotels. It's rooms are overpriced, cramped, and, in my personal experience, ridden with bedbugs (*reaches down to scratch yet another originally small spot on his leg breaking out into a big red blister*) It's phones are barely working, wifi slow and unreliable, and it's £17.44 "continental breakfast buffet" is pitiful at best. What topped it for me was the reaction from the disdainful receptionist when I reported the bedbugs - "do you have any proof of that, Sir?" After briefly considering stripping down in the reception, I instead reached for my phone, and through this I hope to prevent anyone else from wasting their money on this rubbish.

Stayed: July 2014, travelled on business

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Ask endrelunde about The Mandeville Hotel

12 Thank endrelunde

This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC

Maurice Fabian S, Director of Sales at The Mandeville Hotel, responded to this reviewResponded 1 August 2014

Dear endrelunde,

We are sorry to hear of your disappointing experience at the Mandeville Hotel.

With regards to your comment regarding “Bed Bugs” we would like to state that the hotel is pest free and has been at all times. The room question was checked immediately an independent pest control unit on your departure and again the following morning, it was certified that on both occasions that the room in question was pest free.

A copy of both reports, are available upon request.

In regards to your comments regarding breakfast and technical items, I would kindly ask you to contact me directly on nbb@mandeville.co.uk in order to clarify that all matter are addressed.

Once again, please accept my sincerest apologies.

I look forward to hearing from you

Kind Regards

Neil BainbridgeDirector of Sales and Marketing

Report response as inappropriateThank you. We appreciate your input.

This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of TripAdvisor LLC

I had to cancel a trip. I called American Express who called the Mandeville Hotel. The HOTEL MANAGER MR. [--] CHARGED ME FOR ONE NIGHT'S ROOM CHARGE APPROX $250 BECAUSE THE CALL TO CANCEL WAS RECEIVED 55 MINUTES SHORT OF THE 24-HOUR CANCELLATION TIME. NOTE THE HOTEL WAS ALSO FULL THAT EVENING SO THE HOTEL ALSO MADE MONEY ON MY ROOM.

Mr.[--], indicated that we was terribly "sorry" BUT that is the policy. POLICY. 55 MINUTES. I REPEAT, IT'S A POLICY!!!!

I can't comment on the hotel but I do have a sense that if their policy is any indication of your stay you are well served to look at other properties. No doubt they will reply and you will get the "blah blah" of POLICY. Here's my POLICY - it's called the benefit of the doubt for the 55 minute delay.

Help send a message to Mandeville and consider another hotel option. I love Trip Advisor because it helps shape stupid policies like this by having consumers elect NOT TO BE VICTIMS.

The Hotel General Manager is [--]. I asked to speak with him but was told he doesn't speak with guests on these matters. "Would you like his email?", I was asked. NO THANKS MR. [--] I HAVE TRIP ADVISOR.

Stayed: July 2014, travelled on business

Service

Ask Joseph H about The Mandeville Hotel

6 Thank Joseph H

This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC

Did lots of research before deciding which, of thousands, hotel to stay in when husband and I went for a shopping weekend in London. The Manderville was mid range value and ideally located near Regent Street, Oxford Street, New Bond Street and Marylebone High Street. Also within a few minutes walk from the bars and restaurants at Christopher Place. We booked directly as we found it was actually cheaper than using hotel discounting websites. The hotel didn't disappoint and I would happily recommend it to anyone looking for a place to stay. The room was large, light and fully equipped with espresso machine, gowns, slippers, etc. The shower was great and the bathroom very clean. The room also had a decent "proper" hair dryer. We arrived at 9.30am and fully expected to leave our luggage but our room was ready and we were allowed to check in early. Everyone at the hotel was friendly and helpful. I will certainly be staying here again.

Stayed: July 2014, travelled as a couple

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Service

Ask TheOldMarrieds about The Mandeville Hotel

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This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC

Stayed here with friends for a night. We were attending a party on park Lane. It was fab from start to finish. Great comfortable room. Value for money charming staff and I particularly liked the coffee machine in the room. Nice touch

Stayed: July 2014, travelled with friends

Ask siglen about The Mandeville Hotel

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This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC

It's in a price range that's not too hard on the budget when you want a hotel just yards from Oxford St.Of course the rooms are small but very comfortable and nicely equipped with complimentary nespresso machine. "Doors" to the bathroom are a bit funny though.

It's quiet in the evening from the busy city outside. However the soundproofing of the rooms might need a touch.

The continental breakfast is boring but it'll fill you up 'till later :)

Room Tip: Got a room facing the little courtyard and that's probably more quiet than those facing the stre...

See more room tips

Stayed: July 2014, travelled as a couple

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Rooms

Service

Ask ceklarsen about The Mandeville Hotel

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This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC

Located in fashionable Marylebone, The Mandeville Hotel provides the perfect venue for every occasion. The luxurious bedrooms offer style and comfort whilst bar and restaurant at Reform Social & Grill make The Mandeville Hotel London's premier address for food, drink and luxury accommodation....more less

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