Matthew Steeples suggests Jim Davidson should admit he got it wrong in suggesting returned to jail paedophile Gary Glitter was a “remorseful’ man who “looked ready to start a new life”
This morning, the washed-up wazzock and all-round scumbag that is Jim Davidson OBE was trending on Twitter after an interview with the ‘Mouth of the Sewer’ that is GB News’ Dan Wootton last night.
Whilst Davidson – a foul-mouthed ‘5×3’ (five kids by three of his five wives) – used the interview to bang on about “smug” Gary Lineker and how he “never particularly felt welcome” at the BBC, he neglected to comment on his thoughts on the real trending news, that of the filthy paedophile Gary Glitter being returned to jail after just 38 days in a bail hostel after breaching his licence terms.
Glitter – who was caught and photographed by another bail hostel resident using a smartphone to access the ‘Dark Web’ via something called ‘The Onion’ to attempt to snare further victims – had been visited by Davidson at the Isle of Wight prison where he was then housed by the former supermarket shelf-stacker Davidson in 2019.
Afterwards, in June 2021, Davidson shockingly and rather casually shared of his child abusing ‘chum’:
“I spoke to Paul [Gadd, AKA ‘Gary Glitter’] when I visited The Verne [prison] two years. He’s remorseful and he looked ready to start a new life.”
Instead of remarking on this very, very clear ‘error of judgment,’ speaking to Dan Wootton on GB News yesterday regarding the BBC’s #GaryGate debacle, Davidson raged:
“My political interest was cast upon me way before at Thames Television when I had The Jim Davidson Show and a man called John Howard Davis, who was a BBC producer, turned up and got rid of me and Benny Hill overnight.”
“And then, about a year later, I got a little cassette, a VHS, dropped on my desk by my manager and it [sic] said: ‘The BBC want you.’”
“I said: ‘What’s that?’ They [sic] said: ‘They want you to do this, it’s some rotten show about snooker, so me and John Virgo went and did that show and I never particularly felt welcome there.”
“I was a smell under peoples’ noses and then one day Bruce Forsyth went sick and I stepped in and did The Generation Game. I replaced him just for a day and I wasn’t particularly good, but it made Bruce get better very quick.”
“When he went to do his new deal, they said: ‘No, we’ve got Jim Davidson’ and I did The Generation Game for seven years. I did The Big Break for twelve seasons and seven seasons of The Generation Game.”
“Now look at the BBC. I’m totally erased; I am the statue that’s thrown into Bristol Docks… They gave me a million quid to go away. I had a contract with a million quid’s worth of wages and they said: ‘We’ll give you a million quid if you go away; please don’t tell anyone,” but I told you ‘Danny Boy’ [Dan Wootton].”
“I was worse [than anything else] because I was a working-class Tory. I was a traitor and I like to mess about and have a laugh and be rude and stuff on the rehearsals and it was all pretty much frowned upon.”
“They’re more concerned in being woke and ticking boxes. You know, ticking boxes; the man said to me: ‘We have to have 8.9% ethnic minorities on every show’ and so if you couldn’t get anybody that wanted to come on Big Break who was of non-white persuasion, you had to go out and kidnap some poor bugger and throw him in.”
“You know, err, it was daft and do you know what I learnt there, and I’ve been in the business forty-seven years… I’m nearly one-hundred… So, you learn a thing or two about the BBC and it’s full of people that don’t know how to make programmes. I had to tick a box and I had to be silly.”
“Now, I wouldn’t have thrown Lineker off like that and having a boss called Tim. Now come on, how scary is a Tim?”
“Now, anyway, you wouldn’t throw someone off; just turn them off. I can understand that it’s taxpayers’ money and I hate the BBC with a passion. It’s a toss-up between them and the NHS who I hate the most, but I, you know, I wouldn’t have got rid of him because now Tim’s shown himself as lily livered.”
“[Lineker] can now say what he wants, can’t he? He’s won and he’s going to be even smugger. Smug, smugger.”
“It’s upto Tim and all those silly people [what the BBC does next] and now they want to get rid of the chairman ‘cos he arranged some loan or helped Boris [Johnson]. Now, everyone’s just picking on one another. I think the BBC have lost the public; they’ve lost the dressing room.”
“You know, who do we watch now? GB News, anything but BBC. What does the BBC stand for? ‘Bring Back Corbyn,’ ‘Bring Back Communism.’”
“You know, it is a joke and we have to pay for it whether we like it or not. You know, let’s scrap it and watch GB News all day long.
Responding, this morning on Twitter, I asked:
“As Jim Davidson trends, should he apologise for his June 2021 remark: “I spoke to Paul Gadd [Gary Glitter] when I visited The Verne [prison] two years ago. He’s remorseful and he looked ready to start a new life” given the paedo has been recalled to prison after being caught on Dark Web?”
Other Twitter users took up the mantle and amongst comments were:
“I wonder if Jim Davidson still believes that Gary Glitter is remorseful and ready to start a new life?”
“Remember when Jim Davidson was funny? Me neither.”
“Fun Fact: For years the BBC didn’t give a flying sh*t about their right-wing so-called ‘comedian’ Jim Davidson’s racist/misogynistic stage show when he was hosting their flagship Saturday night show ‘The Generation Game’ #IStandWithGaryLineker.”
All that Glitters is not gold; all that is Jim Davidson is utterly toxic and now it is time for the latter to apologise for getting it well and truly wrong about one of the most evil men ever to set foot on this planet.
Editor’s Note – Unlike as is the case in many publications, this article was NOT sponsored or supported by a third-party. Follow Matthew Steeples on Twitter at @M_Steeples.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGGBmDZbfgE
TRAILER – Matthew Steeples will be ‘live’ with Shaun Attwood to discuss his views on Gary Glitter being returned to the clink after breaching his licence terms whilst in a bail hostel on Wednesday 15th March at 6pm GMT. Please do tune in and please do ask away.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylQ6N-_gPRQ&t=0s
FULL EPISODE – This will be ‘live’ for the first time at 6pm GMT on Wednesday 15th March 2023. View here.
As Jim Davidson trends, should he apologise for his June 2021 remark: “I spoke to [Gary Glitter] when I visited The Verne [prison] 2 years ago. He’s remorseful and he looked ready to start a new life” given the paedo has been recalled to prison after being caught on Dark Web?
This morning on Twitter, Matthew Steeples asked: “As Jim Davidson trends, should he apologise for his June 2021 remark: “I spoke to [Gary Glitter] when I visited The Verne [prison] 2 years ago. He’s remorseful and he looked ready to start a new life” given the paedo has been recalled to prison after being caught on Dark Web?” He gave the options: A) “Yes, disgraceful remark”; B) “No, second chances matter”; C) “Cancel Davidson and Glitter” and D) “Couldn’t care less.” By 11:30am on Wednesday 15th March 2023, the majority of respondents favoured the idea of the cancellation of this noxious pair of grifters.GB News is about the only channel that will now accept the weird warblings of these two utter berks. A pair of toerags forever linked by a hashtag.Twitter users have rightly mocked the ‘entertainer’ over his decision to visit a disgraced ‘singer’ who abused children as young as 10 years old in prison. What on earth was it about the paedophile-nonce-monster Gary Glitter that attracted Jim Davidson to visit him in prison? An answer is required. The public should be told.Those that think Gary Lineker was WRONG to tweet about politics whilst working for the BBC should be reminded that both Jim Davidson and the late paedophile Sir Jimmy Savile openly campaigned for the Conservative Party and that both men also worked for the BBC. It is pure hypocrisy to call out Mr Lineker on this basis.
'What does the BBC stand for? Bring back Corbyn, bring back communism…and we have to pay for it whether we like it or not. Let's scrap it, let's watch GB News all day long.'
It is very clear that Dan Wootton has no nous when it comes to questioning Jim Davidson. Mr Wootton is clearly not a journalist prone to drilling into real stories; he just PR peddles for his chums.
Deserved “Public Hate Figure” Jim Davidson OBE’s Worst Moments…
On Great Yarmouth:
“Full of fat children of all colours.”
On London and the UK:
“I am never coming to London again… I may as well go to Dubai and be an ethnic minority there than wait five years till I become one here.”
On former UKIP leader Nigel Farage:
“The Jim Davidson of the political world.”
On beating up one of his four ex-wives:
“We’re like a couple of boxers. On the first occasion, I poked her in the eye by accident. I actually went for the mouth… The second time I gave her a shiner. I threw a bunch of keys which whacked her in the eye. Just for a giggle she kept blackening it up to make it look worse.”
“I took the wife out last night; one punch!”
On supposedly giving up on making jokes about black people:
“I can’t do impressions of Frank Bruno or Ian Wright? That’s racist, is it? But I can do Sven-Göran Eriksson?”
“I’m not going to get on my knee, and I’m not going to go ever black person I see, ‘hail you.’ I’m not going to apologise for the past; the past was the past.”
On Black Lives Matter protestors:
“Pondlife… F**king stupid.”
Of his thoughts about his chum Boris Johnson:
“Don’t listen with mother.”
On Piers Morgan (after he was paid to appear on his Life Stories programme):
“You don’t deserve to listen to anyone’s life story because you don’t f**king listen.”
On the BBC and the NHS:
“I was a smell under peoples’ noses… I’m totally erased; I am the statue that’s thrown into Bristol Docks… They gave me a million quid to go away.”
“I hate the BBC with a passion. It’s a toss-up between them and the NHS who I hate the most.”
Proving himself the ultimate ‘Brain of Britain’:
“People who do stupid things with hazardous materials often die.”
After being declared bankrupt:
“My problem is money.”
On himself:
“I could cure Aids and give £1 billion to womens’ groups and people would still think I was a racist, sexist twat”.
Aside from blocking people on Twitter, Michael Barrymore may finally have to become cooperative given new developments in the Stuart Lubbock rape-murder case
Disgraced ‘entertainer’ Michael Barrymore likes to roll around drunk on the floor with racist baronesses like Marie-Claire von Alvensleben. He likes to block anyone who dares call him out on social media, likes to praise the croaked paedophile Sir Jimmy Savile whilst pretending to be Hitler and likes to not answer questions about what happened at his Essex bungalow on 31st March 2001.
Last week, returning to the case of the brutal rape and murder of Stuart Lubbock at Barrymore’s home that fateful night, the Sunday Mirror and People’s Dan Warburton reported:
“The dying dad of the man found drowned in Michael Barrymore’s pool is hopeful there will be justice for his son by the year’s end.”
“Terry Lubbock, 76, is yearning for closure after prosecutors confirmed they were giving ‘early advice’ to police in relation to a man, 50, held on suspicion of murder and sexual assault in March.”
Speaking to Warburton from the care home where he now resides, the victim’s father, terminal cancer sufferer Terry Lubbock, stated:
“The police are pretty much there with the case. They haven’t cracked it just yet. But I hope it will come by Christmas. We will see justice done and it will be the best Christmas ever if it comes true. If it happens that will really spread some festive cheer.”
“I think the penny’s dropped now. The people who are hiding – and they know who they are – know we are pushing until there’s nothing left to give.”
“I may be going down. My legs are gone and I struggle to walk. And my head’s going, which I really don’t want to lose.”
“But I’m not going down without a fight. I will spend my last days pushing. It’s disgraceful that it has dragged on so long. But I am sure it will be over soon.”
Now, today, we join those demanding: “Michael Barrymore and your party chums – it’s time for some honest answers. Do the right thing and help get justice for the father of this innocent victim of rape and murder.”
Pictured top: Michael Barrymore disgustingly pretending to be Hitler (left) and victim of rape and murder at his home, Stuart Lubbock (right).
Michael Barrymore pictured rolling around on the floor off-his-skull with convicted racist Marie-Claire, Baroness von Alvensleben.Michael Barrymore pictured ‘worshiping’ Sir Jimmy Savile in the ‘Celebrity Big Brother’ house in January 2006. Of the late paedophile, at the time, the self-centred ex ‘Strike It Lucky’ host disgustingly declared: “When he came in I was blown away because it’s him and he never lets you down. I didn’t think seeing Jim and hearing Jim talking and being so personal and kind to me. I started to well up in there and thought here we go.”Cowardly cretin Michael Barrymore likes to block anyone who dares call him out on social media. He also likes to conveniently not answer pertinent questions about the horrific rape-murder that occurred in his very own home on the 31st March 2001. Shame on him!
Editor-in-chief of ‘The Steeple Times’ Matthew Steeples appeared on Shaun Attwood’s True Crime channel in March this year to discuss developments in the Stuart Lubbock rape-murder case at 4 Beaumont Park Drive, Roydon, Harlow, Essex, CM19 5HB. Last year, Essex Police and CrimeStoppers issued a new appeal for information at which time they stated: “19 years – still no justice; Help us get answers for Stuart; Someone knows.” Going further, Detective Chief Inspector Stephen Jennings added: “I believe that [Stuart] was raped and murdered that night. One or more of those party-goers are responsible for that serious sexual assault on Stuart Lubbock. We remain committed to this investigation and continue to appeal for information leading to arrest and conviction in relation to the rape and murder of Stuart Lubbock. Nine people went to the party at Michael Barrymore’s house, but only one of them – Stuart – ended up being violently sexually assaulted and murdered. We know not everyone at that party was responsible for what happened, but someone was. We also know that not everyone at that party may know what happened, but someone does.”
Russell Brand should be condemned not congratulated after his rabid dog killed a wallaby in the scene of weird animalistic happenings, Henley-on-Thames
In July 2014, we featured the sale of a “chocolate box” thatched cottage – with the rather predictable name ‘Thatched Cottage’ – next to the River Thames at Mile End Reach, near Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire that had featured in the Inspector Morse sequel Lewis on two occasions.
Visited in that murder mystery series by the since gone-utterly-off-his-merry-rocker actor Laurence Fox in his role as DS James Hathaway, by February 2016, Thatched Cottage had become the real-life home to the near equal wack job Russell Brand. Now, after a particularly gruesome incident, it ought to be the scene of a real-life police and RSPCA visitation.
Supposedly escapees from a nearby private zoo along with a chimpanzee also in 2002, the “delinquent” (according to the Evening Standard) wallabies of Henley – like other wildlife that does as it wishes in these environs – suffered a calamity courtesy of Brand’s deviant dog last Monday.
According to The Sun, vegan rent-a-gob Brand’s German Shepherd dog, Bear, caught a female wallaby “whilst it had its baby in its pouch” and “mauled it to death.”
Unlike with another irresponsible dog owner previously featured by The Steeple Times, Rebecca Sabben-Clare QC – whose snarling terrier tore a defenceless seal apart in March this year – the media has yet to tear into Brand for not having kept his dog on a lead. Unbelievably, instead, they bigged up this brazen bozo as a “brave… funnyman.”
Bizarrely terming this complete and utter wazzock wastrel “quick thinking” and a hero,” but neglecting to condemn him for allowing his out-of-control pet for disgustingly slaying another animal, the paper instead focused on how the crackpot comedian “sprang into action.”
One is now simply left asking: “Why is The Sun so ludicrously lauding Russell Brand for ‘rescuing’ the victim’s offspring joey from its pouch as its parent died the most hideous of deaths, when it was, in fact, his very own self-declared ‘tornado of fear’ dog that caused this utterly avoidable incident?”
If Brand’s dog had attacked sheep or a child – which it quite potentially could do next given it plainly has a clear penchant for blood – would The Sun so easily have leapt to his defence? The hypocrisy of this shocking story is clear and today we call upon the RSPCA and police to intervene before Brand’s dog slaughters something else.
Russell Brand’s home, Thatched Cottage at Mile End Reach, near Henley-on-Thames was used for the filming of two episodes of ‘Lewis’ – starring Kevin Whately and Laurence Fox – before being sold to the crackpot ‘comedian’ circa 2016.Russell Brand with his killer dog, Bear. Unsurprisingly and quite possibly an invented source ridiculously remarked of the rabid beast to ‘The Sun’ yesterday: “Absolutely no one is blaming Russell or his dog — it’s just a horrible accident. In fact, Russell was the hero because he managed to save the little joey. It could have been far worse if he hadn’t stepped in so quickly. He is a very caring man with animals – he has plenty of pets and they’re all his babies. I understand he’s devastated over what happened. It’s really sad.” Brand’s dog, Bear, with a lamb that one can only hope was not injured subsequently and looking especially savage whilst with its owner’s kittens.Prior to Russell Brand’s dog, Bear, going on the rampage, the weird wildlife of Henley-on-Thames was able to roam freely and without incident. His dog, Bear, now, must be classified as a very grave danger and the police and RSPCA must act.
As Jim Davidson’s decision to come out in support of the paedophile nonce Gary Glitter is declared a step too far (even for him), we share 10 of this buffoon’s very worst moments
Jim Davidson – of whom fellow comedian Benny Hill once declared: “Went to a showbiz party. Met Jim Davidson, a fine comedian and a gentleman. Talked to all three of them” – has put his feet firmly in the proverbial yet again. No surprises there, but on this occasion this washed-up wazzock’s gone further than before and come out in support of one of the most reviled paedophiles on the planet.
This week, in comments shared first by the Dorset Echo and then the Mirror, former supermarket shelf stacker Davidson – a 5×3 due to his having had 5 kids by 3 of his 5 wives – came out as a supporter of the one-time glam rock singer Gary Glitter (real name: Paul Gadd) and commented: “I spoke to Paul when I visited The Verne [prison] two years. He’s remorseful and he looked ready to start a new life.”
‘Dimwitted Davidson,’ curiously however, showed no empathy for the victims of this perverted paedophile nonce in his comments. “Public hate figure” Glitter has been convicted on numerous occasions in Britain and Vietnam and aside from having downloaded more than 4,000 child pornography images, is convicted of drink driving on multiple occasions, indecent assault, having sex with a girl under the age of 13, obscene acts with minors and the attempted rape of minors amongst other things.
Though this monster will remain on the UK’s Sex Offenders Register for life and was last sentenced to 16 years in prison in February 2015, he has declared that he will return to the music scene as soon as he can. In 2008, he remarked: “I have an incomplete album that I want to finish. I have been thinking about the plan during my days in jail. I have sung rock ‘n’ roll for 40 years. After jail, I will continue to rock ‘n’ roll.”
Elsewhere yesterday on Twitter, Davidson attempted to portray himself as political aware to his 180,000 followers with a 2:18-minute video missive on Twitter during which he repeatedly praised Boris Johnson and mocked the Prince of Wales. He ended: “Don’t listen with mother.”
Jim Davidson OBE’s 10 worst moments…
On Great Yarmouth:
“Full of fat children of all colours.”
On London and the UK:
“I am never coming to London again… I may as well go to Dubai and be an ethnic minority there than wait five years till I become one here.”
On former UKIP leader Nigel Farage:
“The Jim Davidson of the political world.”
On beating up one of his 4 ex-wives:
“We’re like a couple of boxers. On the first occasion, I poked her in the eye by accident. I actually went for the mouth… The second time I gave her a shiner. I threw a bunch of keys which whacked her in the eye. Just for a giggle she kept blackening it up to make it look worse.”
“I took the wife out last night; one punch!”
On supposedly giving up on making jokes about black people:
“I can’t do impressions of Frank Bruno or Ian Wright? That’s racist, is it? But I can do Sven-Göran Eriksson?”
“I’m not going to get on my knee, and I’m not going to go ever black person I see, ‘hail you.’ I’m not going to apologise for the past; the past was the past.”
On Black Lives Matter protestors:
“Pondlife… F**king stupid.”
On Piers Morgan (after he was paid to appear on his Life Stories programme):
“You don’t deserve to listen to anyone’s life story because you don’t f**king listen.”
Proving himself the ultimate ‘Brain of Britain’:
“People who do stupid things with hazardous materials often die.”
After being declared bankrupt:
“My problem is money.”
On himself:
“I’m a homophobic arsehole.”
Reactions to Jim Davidson’s offensive remarks on Twitter:
In October 2019, ‘The Steeple Times’ joined those condemning Warner Brothers for deciding to use a song by the incarcerated paedophile Gary Glitter (also known as Paul Raven, G.G., The Leader, Rubber Bucket, Paul Monday and Paul Russell) in their film, ‘Joker.’
1964 Aston Martin DB5 convertible – complete with very first car phone in Britain – owned originally by Peter Sellers and subsequently by Princess Margaret’s husband to be auctioned
A “regal runaround” – a 1964 Aston Martin DB5 convertible owned first by the actor, comedian and avid car collectorPeter Sellers CBE and then by both the 1st and 2nd Earls of Snowdon – is to be sold at auction next month.
Ordered new complete with the very first wireless Motorola car phone in Britain – which the then Viscount Linley later described as working “a bit like a walkie-talkie; you clicked a button twice and got through to the exchange” – the Caribbean pearl blue, Carrozzeria Touring Superleggera designed car was one of only 123 soft-top variants produced.
Featuring a 282 bhp 4-litre straight-six engine, “mated to a state-of-the-art five-speed ZF manual gearbox,” according to auctioneers Bonhams, the vehicle is “capable of a 145 mph top speed.” It came with extras numbering fog lamps, a cigar lighter, a dark blue hood and cover and non-standard chrome roadwheels also.
In the possession of Sellers, it is believed, for just a year, the vehicle passed to his friend, the then husband of Princess Margaret, the former Anthony Armstrong-Jones, circa 1965 and was used for “family journeys” in Chelsea, Mayfair and Soho and even also for roadtrips to places as far away as Prague.
Tellingly, the 1st Earl supposedly “smuggled Lady Jacqueline Rufus Isaacs, daughter of the Marquis and Marchioness of Reading, away from his country house when the Princess returned home unexpectedly one evening” in the boot of the car, whilst Bonhams add, the 2nd Earl recalled: “We always had the windows down so my mother could smoke her cigarettes.”
Kept subsequently at the National Motoring Museum at Beaulieu, the 1st Earl gave his son the car to mark his 25th birthday in 1986 and during the next period, it was altered, rebuilt and maintained by Aston Martin Service Works.
Speaking of the convertible to Aston Martin magazine and driving it to Italy even, the 2nd Earl of Snowdon – known professionally as ‘David Linley’ – mused:
“[When my father gave me the car], it had already spent a few years at the motoring museum at Beaulieu and my father advised me that it might be quite a good idea to leave it there… But I was 25, for God’s sake, and living in London – the car didn’t stay in the museum!”
“I loved that it had this patina that reminded me of my father. Everywhere I went in Italy it was: ‘Che bella macchina!’ [what a beautiful machine].”
The Aston Martin has most recently been offered for sale by Joe Macari – whom declared of it on their website: “[It] was given to Lord Snowden’s son, Viscount Linley, who sold it in an auction in order to raise money to pay the Death Duty on his inheritance. While only £3 million was required to pay the duty, over £13 million was raised leading to Lord Snowden accusing his son of selling anything that wasn’t laid down… The chance to own such a stunning car with such interesting provenance is a rare one!”
The vehicle will be now be auctioned on Friday 9th July at the Bonhams Festival of Speed Sale at Goodwood, near Chichester. The firm have set an estimate of £1.4 million to £1.7 million and commenting, director of Bonhams Motoring Cars UK, Sholto Gilbertson, commented:
“If ever a car defined an era, this DB5 is surely on the shortlist. Not only was it one of the most desirable and thoroughbred sportscars of its day but it has an extraordinary provenance being owned by the crème de la crème of the 1960s.”
Going further and speaking about letting it go, the now 2nd Earl of Snowdon added:
“I sold it and everybody said it was a great price. Obviously, I had no idea that the market was about to go completely crazy.”
“The thing is, if you are always going back on what you did and regretting things, you just start beating yourself up. You do what you think is right at the time, right?”
“Should I have sold it? No. Do I regret it? Yes. Can I put back the clock? No. Could I pay five million pounds to buy it back? Definitely not! But it [the sale] helped get Serena [his then wife] and I on a steady keel. I got the Linley business working. Got a job here at Christie’s. Got myself in a better place.”
Anthony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon in the car seat with his then wife, Princess Margaret, and children David Armstrong-Jones, Viscount Linley and Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones (later Lady Sarah Chatto).Peter Sellers driving another of his cars, a Mercedes-Benz, with Liza Minnelli and another friend.Chris Evans in the Aston Martin in 2015.
The Names & Numbers
Friday 9th July 2021 – Bonhams will offer the 1964 Aston Martin DB5 convertible with an estimate of £1.3 million to £1.7 million ($1.8 million to $2.4 million, €1.5 million to €2 million or درهم6.8 million to درهم8.9 million) at their Bonhams Festival of Speed Sale on Friday 9th July 2021.
2015 – Chris Evans is pictured in the car just as he is announced as the replacement presenter of the hit show Top Gear in a multi-million pound deal that made him the BBC’s highest paid presenter at that time.
Circa 2011 – Believed to have been sold to television and radio presenter Chris Evans around this time.
2002 – Sold by the subsequent 2nd Earl of Snowdon, the now former Viscount Linley, in order to pay towards the death duties incurred by his late mother’s estate.
1986 – Valued at £30,000 or the equivalent of £90,000 today ($128,000, €104,000 or درهم469,000 today), according to Aston Martin Magazine and given by the 1st Earl of Snowdon to his son, then Viscount Linley, to mark the latter’s 25th birthday.
Dates unknown in this period – Kept at the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu, Hampshire.
Circa 1965 – Sold “at a loss” to Lord Snowdon, the former Anthony Armstrong-Jones, according to GQ magazine.
July 1964 – First registered in the name of Peter Sellars. The cost of the convertible new at the time was £4,490 or the equivalent of £93,000 today ($132,000, €108,000 or درهم484,000 today). This was “well above the average house price of the time, assuring that only a privileged few were able to afford one. The epitome of British elegance and class, celebrities snapped them up – Peter Sellers, Beryl Reid, and even HRH Princess Margaret could be spotted in a DB5 convertible,” according to RM Sotheby’s whom sold a 1965 left-hand drive example for £1.9 million ($2.7 million, €2.2 million or درهم9.9 million) in December 2017.
‘The Steeple Times’ chooses the 25 best and 25 worst people of the last year and the 25 who’ll be missed and the 25 who won’t
Happy New Year to all our readers. Our ‘Heroes & Villains’ list was well received in 2019 and as we move into 2021, we join all celebrating ‘good riddance’ to the monstrous mess that was 2020.
Whilst many bombed, most especially Dominic Cummings and Donald Trump in the sphere of politics, for example, the likes of the heroic footballer Marcus Rashford and his campaign for free school meals for poor children showed that even a footballer can make a difference in a pandemic.
HEROES OF 2020
Obvious heroes of the year: Jacinda Ardern for being a leader capable of acting with good sense, Captain Sir Thomas Moore for raising £32 million for the NHS, Lord Sumption for arguing for lockdown liberty and Joe Wicks for keeping the nation healthy and turning down a £2 million deal with a supermarket.
WINNER – Bob Grace
Eternally cheerful groom Bob Grace led out his first winner after 38 years of racing at Royal Ascot in June when his trusty steed Battaash romped home in the King’s Stand. He raised the spirits of the nation and of this humble hero, one Twitter user concluded: “Bob is wonderful, be like Bob.”
Emily Bolton
One of “Britain’s most powerful civil rights lawyers,” Emily Bolton boldly fought for the likely wrongly convicted ‘Freshwater Five’ fisherman in 2020. She is tenacious and dedicated and a force for genuine good.
Steve Cotton
Alongside his cat named Hitler as his barman, “Britain’s grumpiest landlord” proved the spirit of Victor Meldrew was well and truly still alive in 2020. Summing up his approach to business and life in general, Steve Cotten remarked:
“I just make it up as I go along. I might not know how to run a pub but I know what’s wrong with every pub I’ve ever been in. There’s no landlord anywhere, nobody talks to each other. I involve the whole community – everyone knows it’s not my pub, it’s everybody’s pub… We are a dark and cold and miserable boozer – and that’s what people like about it.”
“They all know you can do what you want here, use it for what you want, come here on your own at any time of the day or night and help yourself to a tea or coffee. Everybody will talk to everybody… You can discuss any topic under the sun here, nothing is taboo… Everyone has a go serving behind the bar, we all have a laugh and everyone joins in… No one else talks to them like crap like I do.”
Bilkis Dadi (real name: Bilkis Bano)
This 82-year-old crusader and anti-Modi protester became the “voice of the marginalised” in India in 2020 and was escorted away from the farmers’ protest by the police. This heroine was included in Time magazine’s 100 most influential people of the year and remarked: “We will not stand for this division.”
Alfie Diaper
Ten-year-old “little star” Alfie Diaper recovered from a ruptured spleen in 2019 and “came back fighting” with riding successes in 2020. One Scottish reader of The Steeple Times quite rightly termed this pint-sized hero a “talented, spirited wee soul.”
Julia Donaldson
The author of The Gruffalo went down in literary history as the biggest seller of the last decade in any genre in 2020 and now sells a book about every 11 seconds. JK Rowling did not even make the top five.
Hollie Doyle
Whilst she was ridiculously robbed of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2020 and came third, Hollie Doyle amazingly scored 151 wins in 2020. She also broke another record in becoming the first woman to win five races on a card at Windsor and our money is on her to become a hero of 2021 too.
Alain Ducasse
In January, Alain Ducasse spoke complete sense is echoing Iris Apfel’s “more is more and less is a bore” mantra. This culinary remarked: “I’ve noted [the Dry January] trend, but I don’t want to see or hear of it, I am opposed to it… “[I want to] rid consumers of their inhibitions [with regard to wine drinking].”
Lord Fowler
The Lord Speaker of the House of Lords quite rightly argued “there are too many Lords” in December. He added: “As we have just seen, its recommendations can be overridden by No 10. The result is that a prime minister has the power on his or her own to add peers to a house of parliament that can make and, within limits, unmake laws. Is this what the public expect in the third decade of the 21st century?”
Bryony Frost
Rising-star jockey Bryony Frost became the first woman ever to win the King George VI at Kempton on Boxing Day. This true heroine of the year is undoubtedly going to break many other glass ceilings in 2021.
Lady Glenconner
The former lady-in-waiting to the late Princess Margaret declared of coronavirus: ““I’ve been through the second world war and lived with someone with Aids at the beginning [of the Aids crisis]. I’m not scared of a little virus, you know.”
Agnes Gund (AKA ‘Aggie’)
A “put-your-money-where-your-mouth-is” philanthropist, Agnes Gund was described as “the last good rich person” by the New York Times in 2018 and in 2020 used money from the sale of one the most valuable artworks from her collection, a Roy Lichtenstein worth £120 million, to fund US prison reform. She has also given more than 900 significant works to the Museum of Modern Art in New York in the last 50 years.
Anders Holch Povlsen
Asos billionaire Anders Holch Povlsen led the way in rewilding in 2020. He also paid back the government £300,000 of furlough money during the year voluntarily and thus made a mockery of the likes of Sir Richard Branson and Sir Philip Green.
Patrick Hutchinson
Compassionate “fitness buff” Patrick Hutchinson carried an injured far-right racist protestor to his safety in spite of being himself black in June. Sensibly, he remarked: “Living with the image of a man being beaten to death isn’t something I could stomach. How do the police do that? They just seemed to be standing there watching it and filming with their selfie sticks. One of them said ‘well done’ to me, but I couldn’t really comprehend it.”
Jeremy King
The co-owner of The Wolseley rightly slammed Boris Johnson repeatedly during 2020. He rightly described lockdown Tier 2 coronavirus restrictions as “another knee jerk, ineffective, window-dressing, butt-covering initiative that hasn’t been thought through properly.”
Abdulkareem Musa Adam
This child refugee from a war zone in Darfur shone at Royal Ascot 2020. Accompanied by Shadn, this 22-year-old’s story was described by Clare Balding as “[showing] the incredible power of sport to bring people together and help them to heal, even after the most appalling suffering.”
Dolly Parton
In 2020, Dolly Parton gave £733,000 to fund a COVID-19 vaccine. The Guardian rightly said of her: “She understands that money is something you do, rather than something you have.”
Sister Norma Pimentel
Described as the “pope’s favourite nun,” Sister Norma Pimentel featured on Time magazine’s “100 most influential people of 2020” list. She has supported over 100,000 people seeking refuge at the border between Texas and Mexico and of her Julián Castro, former United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, remarked: “Sister Pimentel will keep changing the world, one act of kindness at a time.”
Dr. Ugur Sahin and Dr. Özlem Türeci
The “dream team” husband-and-wife team behind the leading vaccine to solve COVID-19 were amongst the ultimate healthcare heroes of 2020.
MacKenzie Scott
The ex-wife of Jeff Bezos gave £4.3 billion of her fortune to charity during 2020. In doing so, she became one of the biggest single donors to charity in a single year ever.
Santosh Shah
He didn’t win, but the unlikely star of MasterChef Professionals 2020 was this Nepali chef. He was eternally positive and widely lauded as the “people’s champion.”
Shirley Sherwood OBE
Britain’s leading botanist, after losing her tycoon husband at the age of 87, has become an unlikely star of Facebook with her videos sharing positivity and her passion for plants. She has rightly been described as the “driving force behind a revival of interest in botanical art.”
Micheline Stephen
A martini drinking 90-year-old and Dame Maggie Smith-lookalike, Micheline Stephen fought off a burglar and told him: “You’re a wee shite” in 2020.
‘Window Twerky’
Spotted on both the Fulham Road and Kings in Chelsea, this unknown woman amused many with her maniac moves during Lockdown 1.0. Her Fifty Shades of Crazy antics during that Strictly insane time were batshit bonkers but brilliant.
Tobias Weller (AKA ‘Captain Tobias’)
This heroic 9-year-old with cerebral palsy and autism raised over £150,000 for a children’s hospital during Lockdown 1.0 by completing marathons. He remarked: “It feels amazing to have completed both marathons. I feel fantastic. Thank you for clapping and cheering me every step of the way. You are all awesome. I love doing challenges so who knows what will be around the next corner?”
VILLAINS OF 2020
Previous list makers, but repeat offenders included Sir Philip Green, Sir Richard Branson, Tim Martin, Dominic Cummings, Boris Johnson, Darren Grimes, David Starkey, Sir Cliff Richard, Prince Andrew, Matt Hancock, Ghislaine Maxwell, Larysa Switlyk, Liz Hurley, Owen Jones, Richard Madeley, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Michael Barrymore, Vivienne Westwood, Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump and Ferne McCann, but our winner just had to be:
WINNER – Priti Patel
When she wasn’t “minglin’” and “movin’” and misusing the English language, Priti Patel was angling for a return to the death penalty in the UK in 2020. Asked what kept her going in 2020, when even Emily Thornberry declared “gin,” the most awful Home Secretary in generations ridiculously responded: “Showing the perpetrators of crime that they have nowhere to hide and joining our police on early morning raids – reminding the criminals that we’re coming after them.”
James Abbott-Thompson
The son of calculator lacking Diane Abbott MP appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in January after “spitting at a police officer and biting his colleague.” He’d previously exposed himself on a hospital ward and had crystal meth delivered to his mother’s £1.2 million home.
Victoria Baker Harber and Inigo Philbrick
Though ‘Mini Madoff’ Inigo Philbrick was deservedly was dragged to the clink by the FBI in June and remains in custody, his latest ‘baby mama,’ Victoria Baker Harber, couldn’t keep her almightily large trap shut. Shortly afterwards, she turned on one of his many victims, Kenny Schacter, and crudely tweeted: “Are you crying about cash or cock?”
Brian Basham
Bombastic PR peddler Brian Basham didn’t manage to get the mucky madam Ghislaine Maxwell out of jail in 2020. In response he angrily ranted to his friends at the Daily Mail and called Finding Ghislaine podcast host John Sweeney a drunk and someone he “despises.”
Scott Borgerson (AKA ‘Scott Marshall’ and ‘Mr Ghislaine Maxwell’)
This tech company CEO was revealed to be Ghislaine Maxwell’s “secret husband” in December. He then tried and thankfully failed to use their millions to get her out on bail in time for Christmas.
Benjamin Clark
After attacking the Winston Churchill statue in Parliament Square in September, son of a pastor Benjamin Clark deservedly got fined. His solicitor’s attempts to try to defend him quite rightly fell on deaf ears.
Lizzie Cundy
Desperate-and-will-do-anything-for-attention Lizzie Cundy, 52, turned coronavirus into a photo opportunity in a bikini made out of face masks in October. For her, nothing isn’t worth using for self-publicity.
Ellen DeGeneres
The wheels fell off for goody two shoes Ellen DeGeneres when she was shown to be anything but nice. Her attempt at an apology for allowing workplace bullying was mocked as “underwhelming.”
Alan Dershowitz
Having defended multiple rapist Harvey Weinstein in 2018, Alan Dershowitz went one stage further in 2020 when he leapt to the defence of Ghislaine Maxwell and trashed the reputations of the victims of Jeffrey Epstein.
Tamara Ecclestone Rutland (AKA ‘Miss Piggy’)
Banshee-like billionairess Tamara Ecclestone Rutland appeared on ITV1’s This Morning in April. This daughter of a man whom once disgustingly described Hitler as someone who “was able to get things done” pestered people far poorer than her to donate to the NHS. Of this shameless attention seeker, a Twitter user remarked: “No offence but this feature on #ThisMorning is embarrassing. Trying to raise £1m but they have a family net worth of almost £4bn? Good publicity stunt though…”
Charlie Elphicke and Natalie Elphicke OBE MP
Ex-MP turned sexual predator and “Naughty Tory” Charlie Elphicke and his replacement MP wife Natalie got caught out after urging fellow parliamentarians to pester the judiciary after he got sent down. She was also very nasty about immigrants.
Laurence Fox
Actor Laurence Fox morphed from a housewives favourite and telly box treasure into a tedious twerp in 2020. His Reclaim Party became a laughing stock online and his decision to tattoo “freedom” and “space” on his hands was mocked unsurprisingly.
Mark Francois MP
This tedious Tory was pilloried online when he “disappeared” after an MP was accused of rape. He returned just-in-time to bang on and bore about the brilliance of Brexit in December. We can only hope he’ll “disappear” again in 2021.
Art fraudster Angela Gulbenkian attempted to flee to Portugal to escape going on trial in June. She was quite rightly extradited back to the UK and victims including Percy Bass of Walton Street should finally get justice against this blonde bimbo in 2021.
Julia Hartley-Brewer (AKA ‘Julia Heartless-Brouhaha’)
She’s awful every year without a doubt and will never be a hero to anyone, but in ignorantly defending a right-wing thug who’d relieved himself on a memorial to murdered constable Keith Palmer, this tedious twerp made a total prat of herself. In response, one Twitter user asked her: “Why do you as a woman think it is ok for a bloke to expose himself by getting his dick out and urinating in a public place?”
Michael Heaver
In blubbering like a baby after Nigel Farage failed to make the New Year’s Honours List, “milk bottle white” Westmonster co-owner Michael Heaver again showed himself as just one thing: “A remarkably unpleasant child.”
Lady Victoria Hervey (AKA ‘Toff Totty Vicky’)
Accurately described by the late Tara Palmer-Tomkinson as “unpleasant” and “a right snob,” dimwitted dope Lady Victoria Hervey defended Prince Andrew in 2019 and then stated: “Fuck BLM [Black Lives Matter]” in 2020 on her Instagram page. The world hope she remains silent in 2021.
Eamonn Holmes
Crackpot conspiracy theorist Eamonn Holmes morphed into the David Icke of 2020 when he declared that the “mainstream media’ was hiding a link between 5G technology and coronavirus. Him and his wife were unsurprisingly subsequently dropped from their weekly presenting roles on ITV1’s This Morning.
Dr. Walter Palmer (AKA ‘The Driller Killer’)
Having slayed ‘Cecil the Lion’ in 2015, deranged dentist Dr. Walter Palmer returned to his barbaric ways when he massacred an endangered ram in July 2020. Though he claims to be “looking forward” to his next “adventure,” one can only hope that this monster meets a sticky end in 2021.
Stephanie Pratt (AKA ‘Shady Steph’)
One-time crystal meth addict demanded shoplifters be shot in May 2020 on Twitter. Unfortunately for her, the public were on hand to remind her she’d been arrested for stealing a £1,000 of clothing from Neiman Marcus in May 2006.
Phillip Schofield
Aside from “claiming to have been murdered in a past life because of a debt” in October, Phillip Schofield attempted to rival Sir Cliff Richard and launched quite possibly the most loathed collection of boxed wines ever in September. What a plonker!
Carrie Symonds (AKA ‘Carrie Not On Regardless’ and ‘The Duchess of Downing Street’)
Boris Johnson’s wine chucking puppet mistress proved herself to be a total busybody in 2020. Despite not being elected herself, that the PM’s latest ‘baby mama’ got her own cronies into Downing Street during the year was a total disgrace.
Alexandra Tolstoy
Miserable moaning Minnie Alexandra Tolstoy bleated about not being able to live on £10,000 per week before getting £606,000 for a few of her possessions in a Christie’s auction in November. Loopy to her core, she remarked: “We’re just surviving.”
Dominic West
Aside from being caught kissing actress Lily James in October, actor Dominic West got caught breaching social distancing rules on a shoot in Wiltshire in December. He also claimed to have “jumped for joy” when he found out Donald Trump had coronavirus.
Heroes & Villains 2020 – Lizzie Cundy (left) and Inigo Philbrick and Victoria Baker Harber (right) – Examples of the worst people of 2020 without a doubt.
THOSE WHO’LL BE MISSED
Sadly, many great people were lost in 2020 and amongst those most widely mentioned were Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Honor Blackman, Chadwick Boseman, Kobe Bryant, Jack Charlton, Sir Sean Connery, Des O’Connor, Kirk Douglas, George Floyd, Dame Olivia de Havilland, Eddie Van Haylen, Irrfan Khan, Dame Vera Lynn, Diego Maradona, David Prowse, Gene Reynolds, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sachs, Jackie Stallone, Larry Tesler and Bill Withers.
WINNER – John le Carré (born David Cornwell)
Having sensibly summed up Donald Trump’s election and the banality of Brexit, novelist John le Carré died from pneumonia aged 89 in December. Of his passing, his agent Johnny Geller remarked: “[He was] an undisputed giant of English literature. He defined the cold war era and fearlessly spoke truth to power in the decades that followed… We will not see his like again.”
Michael Angelis
Liverpudlian actor Michael Angelis brought happiness to many. He was the narrator of Thomas & Friends for 21 years and also appeared in Bergerac and Z-Cars. He died in May aged 76.
Lady Elizabeth Anson CVO (married named Lady Elizabeth Shakerley)
This first cousin-once-removed of Queen Elizabeth II was “discreet and professional.” She observed that “the very rich, the very idle, the very busy and the ones who simply haven’t a clue what to do” didn’t have the skills to organise events, so set up a party planning business. She died in November aged 79.
Sir Terence Conran
Multi-skilled and described as “the most passionate man in Britain when it comes to design,” Sir Terence Conran died in September aged 88. He once remarked: “It’s thrilling as a designer when you see something you’ve designed and built actually being used. Seeing a shop filled with people, or a restaurant with people smiling away happily, it’s like, gosh, all my dreams have come true.”
Alan Davidson
This legendary newspaper photographer captured stars at play from 1969 until his death in March aged 70. Of him, the Daily Mail’s Richard Kay remarked: “No event was off limits to Alan.”
Sir Harold Evans
Described in an obituary in the Guardian as “the most admired newspaper of his generation,” Sir Harold Evans died aged 92 in September. He will be best remembered for exposing Robert Maxwell as a fraudster and Kim Philby as a traitor. In doing so, he became the first editor to order a D-notice and summing him up, here was someone who’ll be remembered as someone “loved by his staff.”
Lynn Faulds Wood
The wife of fellow television presenter John Stapleton was best known for co-hosting the BBC’s Watchdog with him. She died after a stroke in April aged 72.
Derek Fowlds
Affable actor Derek Fowlds was best known for his roles in Yes Minister and The Basil Brush Show. He died as a result of complications from pneumonia in January aged 82.
Desmond Guinness
Brewing heir Desmond Guinness was an author and expert on Georgian architecture. He will be remembered as a “great dandy of his generation” and saved countless buildings from the wrecking balls of property developers. He died in August aged 88.
John Hays
Having doubled his workforce and saved thousands of jobs when him and his wife bought Thomas Cook in 2019, “high street hero” John Hays died suddenly at his offices in November aged 71. He considered his workers “family” and laughed off people comparing him to a “country bumpkin.”
Shere Hite (born Shirley Gregory)
Twice married sex educator and feminist Shere Hite renounced her US citizenship in 1995, was briefly stateless and then became German. She posed in the nude for Playboy whilst at university and died of corticobasal degeneration in September aged 77.
Thomas Hoare (AKA ‘Mad Mike Hoare’)
This fervently anti-communist British mercenary leader died in February having led campaigns in the Congo and a failed “package-holiday coup” in the Seychelles. Of him, his son remarked: “Mike Hoare lived by the philosophy that you get more out of life by living dangerously, so it is all the more remarkable that he lived more than 100 years.”
Tony Hooper
A founder member of the Strawbs, singer and guitarist Tony Hooper died in December aged 81. He left the band after argument over whether they should be more folk or rock in 1972 and became an educational author and book jacket designer in the 1990s.
Knut Kloster
With a name that sounded like a brand of breakfast cereal, “visionary” cruise line king Knut Kloster died in September aged 91. He was best known for co-founding the hugely successful Norweigan Caribbean Line in 1966, but his attempt to build a “world peace boat” eventually came to nothing.
Sir Stirling Moss OBE
“Who do you think you are? Stirling Moss?” will go down in history as a much-quoted punchline of policemen, but this racing driver will be remembered for two other quotes also: “If God had meant for us to walk, why did he give us feet that fit car pedals?” and “There are two things no man will admit he cannot do well: drive and make love.” He died in April aged 90 having survived falling down the lift shaft of his Mayfair home in 2010.
Geoffrey Palmer OBE
As Time Goes By star Geoffrey Palmer died in November aged 93. Of him, his co-star Dame Judi Dench concluded: “Geoffrey was master of comedy.”
Julia Peatling
This Stockwell based medical secretary loved a gin and tonic at PJ’s on Fulham Road and her Downton Abbey star dog, Poppy.
Margarita Pracatan (born Margarita Figueroa)
Cuban novelty singer Margarita Pracatan, who died in June in New York aged 89, was best-known for performing on Clive James’ television show Saturday Night Clive in the 1990s. Of her, he remarked: “She never lets the words or melody get in her way. She is us, without the fear of failure.”
Carl Reiner
Born in The Bronx, actor, author and comedian Carl Reiner joined Twitter at the ripe old age of 90 in 2012. Two days before he passed in June, he tweeted: “Nothing pleases me more than knowing that I have lived the best life possible by having met and marrying the gifted Estelle (Stella) Lebost – who partnered with me in bringing Rob, Annie & Lucas Reiner into to this needy & evolving world.”
Michael Russell
“Publisher, wit and author” Michael Russell was the creator of the spoof memoirs of J. R. Hartley, he of Yellow Pages fame. He also published Richard Spitzy’s How We Squandered the Reich – a book that described Hitler as being “like a cross between a head waiter and a chimney sweep.”
James Sherwood
Buccaneering American businessman James Sherwood revived the Orient Express, built up a chain of hotels and created the Sea Containers empire. He died in May aged 86 having once been stranded at 16,000 feet in the Andes with Princess Michael of Kent after his helicopter had to make an emergency landing.
Barbara Smoker
This “promoter of many causes now take for granted” died in April. Barbara Smoker will be best remembered for saying: “Don’t always be obedient. Obedience is overrated. You’ve got to work out your morality for yourself, not do everything you’re told. Obedience can be more of a vice than a virtue.”
Alexandra Sykes (born Alexandra Sotomayer)
The third wife of businessman Mark Sykes was vivacious and bubbly. “Wise and kind” Alexandra Sykes loved to keep fit and at a party, hers was always the liveliest voice in the room.
Helen Taylor-Thompson OBE
After having worked as a spy in occupied France in the Second World War as part of Churchill’s “secret army,” Helen Taylor-Thompson co-founded Europe’s first AIDS hospice. She died in September aged 96.
Alexander Thynn, 7th Marquess of Bath
Polygamous Lord Bath was as famed for his ‘wifelets’ as he was for his erotically styled paintings. He played an aristocrat in the 1987 video for the Pet Shop Boys song ‘Rent’ and died of COVID-19 in April aged 87.
The late Margarita Pracatan is exactly the kind of person we could do with now.
THOSE WHO WON’T BE MISSED
WINNER – Peter Sutcliffe (AKA ‘The Yorkshire Ripper’)
This evil HGV driver claimed he’d “heard voices that ordered him to kill prostitutes while working as a gravedigger” as an excuse for slaughtering at least 13 women and attempting to murder 7 more between 1975 and 1980. He died as a result of complications from COVID-19 in November.
Tariq Aziz
Saddam Hussein’s principal spokesman died in June aged 79. He had been found guilty of “deliberate murder and crimes against humanity” in October 2010.
Donato Bilancia (AKA ‘The Liguria Monster’ and ‘The Killer on the Trains’)
This Italian serial killer murdered 17 people between October 1997 and April 1998 on the Italian Riviera. A compulsive gambler with a passionate hatred for night watchmen and sex workers, Bilancia died of COVID-19 in Due Palazzi prison in Padua in December.
George Blake
This remorseless British MI6 officer turned double agent for Soviet Union believed he was not a traitor and once remarked: “To betray, you first have to belong. I never belonged.” He died on Boxing Day having caused the deaths of at least 40 British agents in Russia as a result of his treachery.
Alfred Bourgeois
This trucker molested and murdered his 2-year-old daughter and then joked about it. He was given a lethal injection of pentobarbital in December at a prison in Terre Haute, Indiana.
Anthony Casso (AKA ‘Gaspipe’)
An American mobster and serial killer considered a “homicidal maniac.” He confessed involvement in upto 36 murders and was imprisoned for 455 years in 1998. Casso died from complications related to COVID-19 in December.
Brian Daniels
A bus driver turned paedophile serial rapist, Daniels was approaching the end of an 18-year sentence for attacks on four young girls in May when it was discovered he had further victims. He died in prison in October having remarked: “I did something against kids and I was punished. I don’t deserve to live. My final punishment will be death.”
Roy Den Hollander
This American lawyer shot himself in July after being made a suspect in the murder of fellow lawyer Marc Angelucci in California and the son of Judge Salas in New Jersey earlier that month. He had been a member of the National Coalition for Men, but after being kicked out called them “wimps and whiners.”
Terry Dicks (AKA ‘Phil’)
Possibly the most bigoted ex-Conservative MP ever, Dicks termed Nelson Mandela a “black terrorist” and ridiculed a Somali refugee family buying water in a supermarket by saying “where they come from they’re happy to drink out of puddles.” He referenced himself as a “spastic” due to his cerebal palsy and said of an Observer journalist sentenced to death by his hero Saddam Hussein: “He deserved to be hanged.” He loathed gay people and was nicknamed ‘Phil’ – for “elevating Philistinism to an art form.”
Vikas Dubey
An Indian gangster and history-sheeter turned murderer, Dubey was “killed” in July after “the police vehicle carrying him met with an accident and overturned.” He snatched a pistol from a policeman trying to fix a flat tyre, tried to run away and was then shot by another officer.
Scott Erskine
This American serial killer and rapist was responsible for the death of at least 3 child victims. He died in July after contracting COVID-19 in July.
Lonnie Franklin (AKA ‘The Grim Sleeper’)
This LA born serial killer committed at least 10 murders between 1984 and 2007. The majority of his victims were black women.
Dustin Honken
This serial killer was responsible for the murders of 3 adults and 2 children in Iowa in 1993. Before being executed in July, his last words were: “Hail Mary, Mother of God, pray for me.”
William LeCroy
This former soldier murdered a woman he believed was a witch in Georgia in 2001. He never showed any remorse for his actions and his last words were to his “spiritual adviser.” He remarked: “Sister Battista is about to receive in the postal service my last statement.”
Daniel Lewis Lee
This American white supremacist murdered a gun dealer and his family in Arkansas in 1996. He claimed to be innocent until the end.
Samuel Little
An American serial killer responsible for the deaths of at least 60 women, Little claimed to have killed as many as 93 between 1971 and 1997. He died in a Los Angeles County area hospital in December.
John Lowe (AKA ‘Keepers Cottage Stud Murderer’)
This puppy farm owner fatally shot his partner and her daughter in February 2014. He claimed he wanted them “put down” and himself died in a hospice in August.
Ba Ag Moussa
A Malian militant and jihadist, Moussa was shot and killed by French Armed Forces in November.
Roy Norris (AKA ‘The Toolbox Killer’)
Along with Lawrence Bittaker, Norris kidnapped, raped, tortured 5 teenage girls in 1979 in Southern California with pliers, ice picks and sledgehammers. He died of natural causes in February.
Abel Ochoa
High on crack, Ochoa killed five members of his family and tried to justify it due to being “intoxicated and in a delirium.” His final words were: “I would like to thank God, my dad, my Lord Jesus savior for saving me and changing my life. I want to apologise to my in-laws for causing all this emotional pain. I love y’all and consider y’all my sisters I never had. I want to thank you for forgiving me.”
Gordon Pinkerton
An RAF serviceman turned child abuser, Pinkerton sexually abused 6 young girls between 1963 and 2011. He was jailed in 2013 and died of coronavirus in prison in April.
Wesley Ira Purkey (AKA ‘The Claw Hammer Killer’)
Executed by lethal injection in July, Purkey raped and killed a teenager in 1998 and beat an 80-year-old to death with a claw hammer later that year.
Omar Sadiq (AKA ‘Roger’)
This Glasgow gangster and racial hatred inciter was killed by two of his associates in September. A floral tribute at the location of his shooting read: “Absolutely devastated. There was a better plan for you.”
Cathy Smith
This Canadian backup singer injected Saturday Night Live’s John Belushi with a fatal dose of heroin and cocaine in 1982. She died in August and had received a further drugs conviction in 1991 after serving 15 months between December 1986 and March 1988 for involuntary manslaughter.
Howie Winter
This mobster and leader of the Winter Hill Gang was implicated in a number of slayings in the 1960s and 1970s, but never charged. Of his demise in November aged 91, Thomas Foley, a retired Massachusetts State Police colonel, remarked: “It’s the end of a legend, but not a good legend… He is a guy that actually got away with murder.”
Pictured top: Winning Villain of 2020 Priti Patel and winning Hero of 2020 Bob Grace.
WARNING: EXPLICIT – Chi-chi auction house auction smutty Benny Hill-esque novelty automotive clock; it’ll be erecting a lot of interest
The late comedian Benny Hill once said: “I’m not against half naked girls – not as often as I’d like to be” and added: “Girls are like pianos. When they’re not upright, they’re grand” and surprisingly this month, the normally conservative auction house Bonhams is selling a clock that most definitely would appeal to his slapstick sense of humour.
Described simply as a “novelty erotic desk clock,” the item to be offered in their automobilia online sale is shaped “in the form of a vintage limousine.” The clock is inset into the rear wheel and a hinged door opens “to reveal [an] animated erotic scene” that is “operated” by a pendulum to the rear of the car. They neglect, however, to go into detail of what sexual action the ‘gentleman’ in the rear is actually ‘enjoying.’
Bonhams have set an estimate of £500 to £700 ($672 to $941, €554 to €776 or درهم2,468 to درهم3,455) for the clock and bidding ends on the 14th December at 14:02 GMT. Someone who doesn’t care about sparing their visitors blushes, will no doubting be erecting a bid.
Erecting a C(l)ock – The car opens up to reveal a ‘gentleman’ with his trousers down laughing as he is pleasured in a sexual sense by a naked ‘lady.’ One could imagine it sitting in the study of the late Jeffrey Epstein’s New York townhouse.
As outdoor swimming pools reopened, Michael Barrymore trended on social media; it is time thus to remind the disgraced entertainer to reveal the truth about what happened on the night of the 31st March 2001
On Saturday, as public outdoor swimming pools were allowed to reopen (indoor ones will follow on the 25th July), an image of the toxic twerp Michael Barrymore trended on social media.
Captioned simply: “Swimming pools to reopen,” the photograph circulated showed a sequin clad, somewhat bog eyed Barrymore looking drunk and delighted.
Whilst the shared image will offend some, it is also a timely reminder that the unfunny ex-comedian (born Michael Parker) still hasn’t explained what happened on the 31st March 2001 at his then home at Roydon in Essex. As we reported in September 2019, there were nine (accounted for) people present and of them one, Stuart Lubbock, was murdered and one was his murderer.
Again, today, we join those reminding Michael Barrymore to do the decent thing. He should take a break from trying to revive his career and from using Instagram to reach his few, sad sack ‘fans’ and finally answer the police’s questions about which person there that fateful night orchestrated the killing of an innocent man. Stuart Lubbock deserves justice and the dark secrets of Barrymore’s swimming pool finally need to be revealed.
Pictured top: A smashed off his face Michael Barrymore with his arms around the horrific and equally smashed off her face Marie-Claire, Baroness von Alvensleben; the image that circulated on social media.
He post-fixed: “He’s surely not offended anyone (other than Boris Johnson and Theresa May).”
The response, thus far, has been phenomenal and at a time when people have been attacking statues of Christopher Columbus, Sir Winston Churchill and Queen Victoria, we perhaps need to ignore Janet Street-Porter’s miserable demand to “junk the lot” and get something erected that celebrates a bit of fun.
Of the 495 votes cast (with 4 hours still to go) in the completely unscientific poll, 94.7% of respondents are currently supporting “Yes – Get him elevated” whilst only 3.2% are of the view “No – He’s off his trolley.” Just 2% haven’t got a clue who Count Binface actually is.
Whilst a legal dispute with the plainly joyless Gremloids creator Todd Durham resulted in the “displacement” of Lord Buckethead – who had stood in four British general elections from 1987 onwards – the political satirist Jon Harvey announced his replacement, Count Binface, to the world on 12th December 2018. He describes the character on Twitter as an “Intergalactic politician and ex-Lord Buckethead,” has a following of 17,600 and was standing in the London mayoral elections until the coronavirus pandemic kicked in.
The Count is good; let’s get him elevated.
Pictured top: Count Binface with a slightly perplexed Boris Johnson.
The “replacement” Lord Buckethead (played by David Hughes) with Count Binface behind him during the 2019 general election campaign; Jon Harvey as Lord Buckethead on the night of the 2017 General Election at Maidenhead.The Twitter poll had attracted nearly 500 votes as of 10am GMT on Thursday 11th June 2020.Lord Buckethead (comedian Jon Harvey) on John Oliver’s HBO talk show Last Week with John Oliver in May 2017. He also appeared at the Glastonbury Festival in June that year and even made a video with the all-round oddity Ben Fogle at one point too.Lord Buckethead with Theresa May in May 2017. He registered 249 votes and that Christmas made a charming YouTube video sharing a message of peace and goodwill. Sadly, that subsequently had to be deleted due to Todd Durham’s legal actions.
Power of social media proven after the senseless murder of James Scurlock in Omaha, Nebraska allegedly by a bar owner Jake Gardner who has been photographed with Donald Trump
The true reach and usefulness of social media was illustrated on Sunday after the murder of a 22-year-old unarmed man named James Scurlock in Omaha, Nebraska the previous night.
WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT – This tweet shows video footage of the shooting of James Scurlock allegedly by Jake Gardner.
Whilst initially (at time of publishing at GMT 18:45, just hours after the alleged shooter, a cocktail bar owner named Jake Gardner, had “bailed out [of custody] at 6am” according to one local), no mainstream media outlets were reporting on the story, a GoFundMe page to support Mr Scurlock’s grieving family had gone viral.
It read:
We are creating this fundraiser for James Scurlock and his family.
Who is James Scurlock?
A 22 years old young black man who showed his dedication a love for his people every single day.
James was passionate for Justice, but today his fight ended as he was shot and killed downtown Omaha while protesting for the same Justice he deserves.
May you Rest In Peace James.
Within just seven hours of being made live, the page had raised over £32,000 ($40,000) for the late Mr Scurlock’s family whilst elsewhere on Twitter, filmed footage of the incident had gone viral. In it, gunshot can clearly be heard whilst other images shared include one of the alleged killer Jake Gardner posing with President Donald Trump.
James Scurlock died of his injuries soon after being shot.Jake Gardner’s bar, The Hive, is situated at 1207 Harney Street in Omaha, Nebraska. It is described as an “old-school bar with live music and a dance floor” that serves “cocktails, whisky and canned beer.” Here Mr Gardner is pictured outside it with his dog.Prior to the shooting, Jake Gardner posted on social media about “[having] to pull 48 hours of military style firewatch.”Jake Gardner posted a photograph of himself and his dog with President Donald Trump on Facebook on 25th September 2017. In the wake of the shooting, that image has gone viral on Twitter.Mr Gardner shared this image of himself on his Facebook page in July 2018 at the Republican National Convention with the Fox News commentator Jesse Watters in the background.Mr Gardner has a dog named LeBRON. It has its own Instagram account with 2,300 followers. Here it is pictured sporting Trump campaign materials.Another image of Jake Gardner shared on Twitter in the hours after the shooting shows him posing in one of his bars.This photograph of Mr Gardner with the comedian Adam DeVine has also been shared widely.
