ALL CHANGE AT LLOYD’S AS IT RINGS 25 YEARS May 26, 2011 IT MAY seem like only yesterday for many City veterans, but today marks 25 years since the first managing agents moved into the landmark Lloyd’s building on Lime Street. So happy anniversary to the insurance giant, which still shows traces of more than 300 years of Lloyd’s history, such as the famous Lutine Bell, which [...]
ROYAL WEDDING BELLS AT LAST November 16, 2010 A ROYAL wedding between prince William and his fiance Kate Middleton could come as early as spring next year, after the pair announced yesterday that they are to tie the knot. Prince William proposed whilst on a holiday in Kenya last month, and used the engagement ring his father gave to his mother, Princess Diana, [...]
Blair’s firecracker memoir September 1, 2010 A JOURNEY BY TONY BLAIR Hutchinson, £25 Very unusually, no review copies were sent out, nor was a serialisation deal struck. So it was amid intense hype and speculation that Tony Blair’s madly anticipated autobiography, A Journey, hit bookshops yesterday. It didn’t disappoint. One of the most delicious assertions in this overall rather delicious tell-all [...]
Al-Fayed offloads Harrods to Qatar for over £1.5bn May 9, 2010 BRITAIN’S most iconic luxury department store, Harrods of Knightsbridge, has been sold to the Qatar royal family for over £1.5bn, after a quarter of a century in the hands of Egyptian mogul Mohamed Al-Fayed. News of the deal came despite 81-year-old Al-Fayed’s avowed intention never to sell the racing green-fronted store, claiming last month that [...]
The doyenne of British fashion talks Ascot style May 13, 2010 GOD knows how I’ll manage to be in heels for Ascot,” says Amanda Wakeley, OBE for services to British fashion, savvy businesswoman and recent recipient of knee surgery following daredevil skiing. Something tells me that she’ll rock flats just fine. After all, her clothing line – which she learned to design the old fashioned way [...]
Curry in a hurry is a bit confusing April 5, 2010 Bangalore Express City 1 Corbet Court, Gracechurch Street, EC3 V0AT. www.bangaloreexpress.co.uk Cost per person without wine: £25 ONE of my first memories of arriving in London was going for a curry on Brick Lane. While I wasn’t particularly impressed by the food the décor has stuck in my mind – massive and slightly wonky paintings [...]
The comeback cad trying his luck in the Med March 2, 2010 JAMES Hewitt – former lover of Princess Diana, ex-solider, comeback cad – throws his head back and laughs at what I have just said. “Yes, I suppose this is like Rick’s in Casablanca,” he says when he recovers. “And everyone comes to Rick’s.” We are having dinner in a corner of Polo House, his bar [...]
Tigers are no match for United’s champion cubs May 21, 2009 HULL CITY VS MANCHESTER UNITEDSUNDAY 4.00PM, SKY SPORTS 3 JFK, Roswell, Princess Diana. Could Hull City v Man United become the next conspiracy theory on Sunday? Sir Alex Ferguson seems certain to field a ‘weakened’ side and any of Middlesbrough, Newcastle or Sunderland could be relegated if the champions are beaten by Hull. The only [...]
Brown to hire Royal spin doctor June 15, 2009 Prime Minster Gordon Brown is set to appoint the man responsible for the turnaround of the Queen’s public image after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales as his new spin doctor. Simon Lewis, whose clients include Buckingham Palace, Centrica and Vodafone, will try to restore Brown’s dogged reputation. Lewis is an old acquaintance of [...]
City crisis takes its toll on marriage August 6, 2008 Job-losses mean divorce rates are rocketing, finds Anusha Bradley When the credit crunch bit, it was clear that banks were going to suffer and that things would look grim for many businesses. What was less predictable was the effect that it would have on divorce rates. According to a survey commissioned by law firm Mishcon [...]