“I know I have been critical of Trump, but it is only a couple things that bother me. President Trump wasn’t that bad, other than when he incited an insurrection against the government, mismanaged a pandemic that killed nearly half a million Americans, separated children from their families, lost those children in the bureaucracy, tear-gassed peaceful protesters on Lafayette Square so he could hold a photo op holding a Bible in front of a church, tried to block all Muslims from entering the country, got impeached, got impeached again, had the worst jobs record of any president in modern history, pressured Ukraine to dig dirt on Joe Biden, fired the FBI director for investigating his ties to Russia, bragged about firing the FBI director on TV, took Vladimir Putin’s word over the US intelligence community, diverted military funding to build his wall, caused the longest government shutdown in US history, called Black Lives Matter a “symbol of hate,” lied nearly 30,000 times, banned transgender people from serving in the military, ejected reporters from the White House briefing room who asked tough questions, vetoed the defense funding bill because it renamed military bases named for Confederate soldiers, refused to release his tax returns, increased the national debt by nearly $8 trillion, had three of the highest annual trade deficits in U.S. history, called veterans and soldiers who died in combat losers and suckers, coddled the leader of Saudi Arabia after he ordered the execution and dismembering of a US-based journalist, refused to concede the 2020 election, hired his unqualified daughter and son-in-law to work in the White House, walked out of an interview with Lesley Stahl, called neo-Nazis “very fine people,” suggested that people should inject bleach into their bodies to fight COVID, abandoned our allies the Kurds to Turkey, pushed through massive tax cuts for the wealthiest but balked at helping working Americans, incited anti-lockdown protestors in several states at the height of the pandemic, withdrew the US from the Paris climate accords, withdrew the US from the Iranian nuclear deal, withdrew the US from the Trans Pacific Partnership which was designed to block China’s advances, insulted his own Cabinet members on Twitter, pushed the leader of Montenegro out of the way during a photo op, failed to reiterate US commitment to defending NATO allies, called Haiti and African nations “shithole” countries, called the city of Baltimore the “worst in the nation,” claimed that he single handedly brought back the phrase “Merry Christmas” even though it hadn’t gone anywhere, forced his Cabinet members to praise him publicly like some cult leader, believed he should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, berated and belittled his hand-picked Attorney General when he recused himself from the Russia probe, suggested the US should buy Greenland, colluded with Mitch McConnell to push through federal judges and two Supreme Court justices after supporting efforts to prevent his predecessor from appointing judges, repeatedly called the media “enemies of the people,” claimed that if we tested fewer people for COVID we’d have fewer cases, violated the emoluments clause, thought that Nambia was a country, told Bob Woodward in private that the coronavirus was a big deal but then downplayed it in public, called his exceedingly faithful vice president a “p—y” for following the Constitution, nearly got us into a war with Iran after threatening them by tweet, nominated a corrupt head of the EPA, nominated a corrupt head of HHS, nominated a corrupt head of the Interior Department, nominated a corrupt head of the USDA, praised dictators and authoritarians around the world while criticizing allies, refused to allow the presidential transition to begin, insulted war hero John McCain – even after his death, spent an obscene amount of time playing golf after criticizing Barack Obama for playing (far less) golf while president, falsely claimed that he won the 2016 popular vote, called the Muslim mayor of London a “stone cold loser,” falsely claimed that he turned down being Time’s Man of the Year, considered firing special counsel Robert Mueller on several occasions, mocked wearing face masks to guard against transmitting COVID, locked Congress out of its constitutional duty to confirm Cabinet officials by hiring acting ones, used a racist dog whistle by calling COVID the “China virus,” hired and associated with numerous shady figures that were eventually convicted of federal offenses including his campaign manager and national security adviser, pardoned several of his shady associates, gave the Presidential Medal of Freedom to two congressman who amplified his batshit crazy conspiracy theories, got into telephone fight with the leader of Australia(!), had a Secretary of State who called him a moron, forced his press secretary to claim without merit that his was the largest inauguration crowd in history, botched the COVID vaccine rollout, tweeted so much dangerous propaganda that Twitter eventually banned him, charged the Secret Service jacked-up rates at his properties, constantly interrupted Joe Biden in their first presidential debate, claimed that COVID would “magically” disappear, called a U.S. Senator “Pocahontas,” used his Twitter account to blast Nordstrom when it stopped selling Ivanka’s merchandise, opened up millions of pristine federal lands to development and drilling, got into a losing tariff war with China that forced US taxpayers to bail out farmers, claimed that his losing tariff war was a win for the US, ignored or didn’t even take part in daily intelligence briefings, blew off honoring American war dead in France because it was raining, redesigned Air Force One to look like the Trump Shuttle, got played by Kim Jung Un and his “love letters,” threatened to go after social media companies in clear violation of the Constitution, botched the response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, threw paper towels at Puerto Ricans when he finally visited them, pressured the governor and secretary of state of Georgia to “find” him votes, thought that the Virgin islands had a President, drew on a map with a Sharpie to justify his inaccurate tweet that Alabama was threatened by a hurricane, allowed White House staff to use personal email accounts for official businesses after blasting Hillary Clinton for doing the same thing, rolled back regulations that protected the public from mercury and asbestos, pushed regulators to waste time studying snake-oil remedies for COVID, rolled back regulations that stopped coal companies from dumping waste into rivers, held blatant campaign rallies at the White House, tried to take away millions of Americans’ health insurance because the law was named for a Black man, refused to attend his successors’ inauguration, nominated the worst Education Secretary in history, threatened judges who didn’t do what he wanted, attacked Dr. Anthony Fauci, promised that Mexico would pay for the wall (it didn’t), allowed political hacks to overrule government scientists on major reports on climate change and other issues, struggled navigating a ramp after claiming his opponent was feeble, called an African-American Congresswoman “low IQ,” threatened to withhold federal aid from states and cities with Democratic leaders, went ahead with rallies filled with maskless supporters in the middle of a pandemic, claimed that legitimate investigations of his wrongdoing were “witch hunts,” seemed to demonstrate a belief that there were airports during the American Revolution, demanded “total loyalty” from the FBI director, praised a conspiracy theory that Democrats are Satanic pedophiles, completely gutted the Voice of America, placed a political hack in charge of the Postal Service, claimed without evidence that the Obama administration bugged Trump Tower, suggested that the US should allow more people from places like Norway into the country, suggested that COVID wasn’t that bad because he recovered with the help of top government doctors and treatments not available to the public, overturned energy conservation standards that even industry supported, reduced the number of refugees the US accepts, insulted various members of Congress and the media with infantile nicknames, gave Rush Limbaugh a Presidential medal of Freedom at the State of the Union address, named as head of federal personnel a 29-year old who’d previously been fired from the White House for allegations of financial improprieties, eliminated the White House office of pandemic response, used soldiers as campaign props, fired any advisor who made the mistake of disagreeing with him, demanded the Pentagon throw him a Soviet-style military parade, hired a shit ton of white nationalists, politicized the civil service, did absolutely nothing after Russia hacked the U.S. government, falsely said the Boy Scouts called him to say his bizarre Jamboree speech was the best speech ever given to the Scouts, claimed that Black people would overrun the suburbs if Biden won, insulted reporters of color, insulted women reporters, insulted women reporters of color, suggested he was fine with China’s oppression of the Uighurs, attacked the Supreme Court when it ruled against him, summoned Pennsylvania state legislative leaders to the White House to pressure them to overturn the election, spent countless hours every day watching Fox News, refused to allow his administration to comply with Congressional subpoenas, hired Rudy Giuliani as his lawyer, tried to punish Amazon because the Jeff Bezos-owned Washington Post wrote negative stories about him, acted as if the Attorney General of the United States was his personal attorney, attempted to get the federal government to defend him in a libel lawsuit from a women who accused him of sexual assault, held private meetings with Vladimir Putin without staff present, didn’t disclose his private meetings with Vladimir Putin so that the US had to find out via Russian media, stopped holding press briefings for months at a time, “ordered” US companies to leave China even though he has no such power, led a political party that couldn’t even be bothered to draft a policy platform, claimed preposterously that Article II of the Constitution gave him absolute powers, tried to pressure the U.K. to hold the British Open at his golf course, suggested that the government nuke hurricanes, suggested that wind turbines cause cancer, said that he had a special aptitude for science, fired the head of election cyber security after he said that the 2020 election was secure, blurted out classified information to Russian officials, tried to force the G7 to hold their meeting at his failing golf resort in Florida, fired the acting attorney general when she refused to go along with his unconstitutional Muslim travel ban, hired Stephen Miller, openly discussed national security issues in the dining room at Mar-a-Lago where everyone could hear them, interfered with plans to relocate the FBI because a new development there might compete with his hotel, abandoned Iraqi refugees who’d helped the U.S. during the war, tried to get Russia back into the G7, held a COVID super spreader event in the Rose Garden, seemed to believe that Frederick Douglass is still alive, lost 60 election fraud cases in court including before judges he had nominated, falsely claimed that factories were reopening when they weren’t, shamelessly exploited terror attacks in Europe to justify his anti-immigrant policies, still hasn’t come up with a healthcare plan, still hasn’t come up with an infrastructure plan despite repeated “Infrastructure Weeks,” forced Secret Service agents to drive him around Walter Reed while contagious with COVID, told the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by,” fucked up the Census, withdrew the U.S. from the World Health Organization in the middle of a pandemic, did so few of his duties that his press staff were forced to state on his daily schedule “President Trump will work from early in the morning until late in the evening. He will make many calls and have many meetings,” allowed his staff to repeatedly violate the Hatch Act, seemed not to know that Abraham Lincoln was a Republican, stood before sacred CIA wall of heroes and bragged about his election win, constantly claimed he was treated worse than any president which presumably includes four that were assassinated and his predecessor whose legitimacy and birthplace were challenged by a racist reality TV show star named Donald Trump, claimed Andrew Jackson could’ve stopped the Civil War even though he died 16 years before it happened, said that any opinion poll showing him behind was fake, claimed that other countries laughed at us before he became president when several world leaders were literally laughing at him, claimed that the military was out of ammunition before he became President, created a commission to whitewash American history, retweeted anti-Islam videos from one of the most racist people in Britain, claimed ludicrously that the Pulse nightclub shooting wouldn’t have happened if someone there had a gun even though there was an armed security guard there, hired a senior staffer who cited the non-existent Bowling Green Massacre as a reason to ban Muslims, had a press secretary who claimed that Nazi Germany never used chemical weapons even though every sane human being knows they used gas to kill millions of Jews and others, bilked the Secret Service for higher than market rates when they had to stay at Trump properties, apparently sold pardons on his way out of the White House, stripped protective status from 59,000 Haitians, falsely claimed Biden wanted to defund the police, said that the head of the CDC didn’t know what he was talking about, tried to rescind protection from DREAMers, gave himself an A+ for his handling of the pandemic, tried to start a boycott of Goodyear tires due to an Internet hoax, said U.S. rates of COVID would be lower if you didn’t count blue states, deported U.S. veterans who served their country but were undocumented, claimed he did more for African Americans than any president since Lincoln, touted a “super-duper” secret “hydrosonic” missile which may or may not be a new “hypersonic” missile or may not exist at all, retweeted a gif calling Biden a pedophile, forced through security clearances for his family, suggested that police officers should rough up suspects, suggested that Biden was on performance-enhancing drugs, tried to stop transgender students from being able to use school bathrooms in line with their gender, suggested the US not accept COVID patients from a cruise ship because it would make US numbers look higher, nominated a climate change sceptic to chair the committee advising the White House on environmental policy, retweeted a video doctored to look like Biden had played a song called “Fuck tha Police” at a campaign event, hugged a disturbingly large number of U.S. flags, accused Democrats of “treason” for not applauding his State of the Union address, claimed that the FBI failed to capture the Parkland school shooter because they were “spending too much time” on Russia, mocked the testimony of Dr Christine Blasey Ford when she accused Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault, obsessed over low-flow toilets, ordered the rerelease of more COVID vaccines when there weren’t any to release, called for the construction of a bizarre garden of heroes with statutes of famous dead Americans as well as at least one Canadian (Alex Trebek), hijacked Washington’s July 4th celebrations to give a partisan speech, took advice from the MyPillow guy, claimed that migrants seeking a better life in the US were dangerous caravans of drug dealers and rapists, said nothing when Vladimir Putin poisoned a leading opposition figure, never seemed to heed the advice of his wife’s “Be Best” campaign, falsely claimed that mail-in voting is fraudulent, announced a precipitous withdrawal of troops from Syria which not only handed Russia and ISIS a win but also prompted his defense secretary to resign in protest, insulted the leader of Canada, insulted the leader of France, insulted the leader of Britain, insulted the leader of Germany, insulted the leader of Sweden (Sweden!!), falsely claimed credit for getting NATO members to increase their share of dues, blew off two Asia summits even though they were held virtually, continued lying about spending lots of time at Ground Zero with 9/11responders, said that the Japanese would sit back and watch their “Sony televisions” if the US were ever attacked, left a NATO summit early in a huff, stared directly into an eclipse even though everyone over the age of 5 knows not to do that, called himself a very stable genius despite significant evidence to the contrary, refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power and kept his promise, and a whole bunch of other things I can’t remember at the moment.But other than that. . .” plz copy and paste. Whoever wrote this deserves credit.”
Wacko Window Washing
When we first moved into our Miami Beach condo, I was astonished to see how our windows were washed. I couldn’t believe window washers would put themselves in such danger. We live 36 stories up. The first video was taken the other day. The second one was 19 years ago. I get dizzy every time I watch them.
———————————————
Manhattan’s First Public Beach at Gansevoort Peninsula Will Begin Construction This Spring – New York YIMBY

———————————————
New York Times: House Republican shunned by family members over Trump criticism

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2021/02/15/politics/kinzinger-impeachment-family-letter/index.html
———————————————
Charges against ‘Central Park Karen’ Amy Cooper dismissed

https://nypost.com/2021/02/16/charges-against-central-park-karen-amy-cooper-dismissed/
———————————————
Retailers trade Fifth Ave. for Worth Ave. as Palm Beach scene thrives with Americans heading South

———————————————
Andrew Lloyd Weber Sends You A Belated Musical Message
———————————————

———————————————

———————————————



Down Memory Lane

———————————————

No cheating allowed…
Thank You Cousin Marilyn Levine for sharing.
There are only
nine questions.This
is a quiz for people who know everything!
I found out in a hurry that I didn’t. These are not trick
questions.
They are straight questions with
straight answers.
1. Name the one
sport in which neither the spectators nor the
participants know the score or the leader until the
contest ends.
2. What famous
North American landmark is constantly moving
backward?
3. Of all
vegetables, only two can live to produce on their own
for several growing seasons. All other vegetables must
be replanted every year. What are the only two
perennial vegetables?
4. What fruit
has its seeds on the outside?
5. In many
liquor stores, you can buy pear brandy, with a real
pear inside the bottle. The pear is whole and ripe,
and the bottle is genuine; it hasn’t been cut in any
way. How did the pear get inside the
bottle?
6. Only three
words in standard English begin with the letters ‘ dw’
and they are all common words. Name two of
them.
7. There are 14
punctuation marks in English grammar. Can you name at
least half of them?
8. Name the only
vegetable or fruit that is never sold frozen, canned,
processed, cooked, or in any other form except
fresh.
9. Name 6 or
more things that you can wear on your feet beginning
with the letter ‘S.’
Answers
To Quiz:
1. The one sport
in which neither the spectators nor the participants
know the score or the leader until the contest ends:
Boxing.
2. North
American landmark constantly moving
backward:Niagara
Falls .. The rim is worn down about two and a half
feet each year because of the millions of gallons of
water that rush over it every minute.
3. Only two
vegetables that can live to produce on their own for
several growing seasons: Asparagus
and rhubarb.
4. The fruit
with its seeds on the outside:
Strawberry.
5. How did the
pear get inside the brandy bottle? It
grew inside the bottle. The bottles are placed over
pear buds when they are small, and are wired in place
on the tree. The bottle is left in place for the
entire growing season. When the pears are ripe, they
are snipped off at the stems.
6. Three English
words beginning with dw: Dwarf,
dwell and dwindle…
7. Fourteen
punctuation marks in English grammar: Period,
comma, colon, semicolon, dash, hyphen, apostrophe,
question mark, exclamation point, quotation mark,
brackets, parenthesis, braces, and
ellipses.
8. The only
vegetable or fruit never sold frozen, canned,
processed, cooked, or in any other form but fresh:
Lettuce.
9. Six or more
things you can wear on your feet beginning with
‘S’:Shoes,
socks, sandals, sneakers, slippers, skis, skates,
snowshoes, stockings, stilts.
PLEASE DO YOUR
PART;
Today is
National Mental Health Day.
You can do your part
by remembering to
send this e-mail
to at least one genius challenged
person. Okay, my job’s
done!
———————————————

——————————————-
Valentine’s brunch at Valentine’s Day brunch in Matheson Hammock Park, Miami. Red Fish by Adrianne











Happy Valentine’s Day






Ask Your Doctor

https://www.romper.com/life/how-covid-vaccines-affect-mammogram
———————————————

Inside the Dakota Apartment Building in New York | Architectural Digest
https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/dakota-apartment-building

Bee Gees Singer Robin Gibb’s Former Estate Lists for $12.9 Million | Architectural Digest
https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/bee-gees-singer-robin-gibbs-former-estate-lists
——————————————-
Can You Guess The Secret Gadget ???
We are debuting the 30th episode. If you can use this product let me know. It’s quite unique. Watch the video below.



———————————————
Some of the stories I recently read ….


Searching for Shelley Duvall: The Reclusive Icon on Fleeing Hollywood and the Scars of Making ‘The Shining’
After leaving L.A., and making only one public appearance since, on a widely condemned mental illness episode of ‘Dr. Phil,’ the complicated actress sat down for a conversation with The Hollywood Reporter about her legacy and the trauma of the Stanley Kubrick film.
Read in The Hollywood Reporter: https://apple.news/Am4dguxX4R8KWM8AgfoXPbQ
———————————————

Vornado looks to dump Trump
https://therealdeal.com/miami/2021/02/09/vornado-looks-dump-trump/

Bloomingdale’s to debut small store concept | Chain Store Age
https://chainstoreage.com/bloomingdales-debut-small-store-concept
———————————————

Claudia Conway Is Going From TikTok to American Idol | Vanity Fair
https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2021/02/claudia-conway-american-idol
——————————————-

The Ugly Secrets Behind the Costco Chicken
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/06/opinion/sunday/costco-chicken-animal-welfare.html?referringSource=articleShare
Two Big Gems
What’s happening to the Republican Party? It’s shrinking. Find out why. Watch the video.
GOP Registration Drops Nationwide After Capitol Attack | Meet The Press …

Enjoy this story that I copied and pasted for you.

———————————————

Maxwell’s Plum


Today, Ghislaine Maxwell’s father Robert is best known for his mysterious death. But in his prime he represented power, money, and shocking deceit—and British society ate it all up.
Can scandal be hereditary? Ghislaine Maxwell’s involvement with Jeffrey Epstein made her a household name, but her ongoing legal woes didn’t mark the first time her family had endured the glare of the spotlight.
When Ghislaine’s father Robert Maxwell died in 1991, the official cause of death was a heart attack—but not everyone was convinced. Rumors swirled that the larger-than-life newspaper baron, whose body had been found near the Canary Islands (he was presumed to have fallen off his yacht), had committed suicide in the face of financial ruin or been assassinated by some shadowy intelligence agency. And was it really any wonder?

Throughout his life, Maxwell worked tirelessly to obscure the truth about himself. He changed his name, denied his religion, and played shell games with vast fortunes, all in an effort to storm first the British aristocracy and later the international cabal of billionaires, businessmen, and power brokers. The plan worked. In his lifetime Maxwell became a global publishing tycoon—running such newspapers as London’s Daily Mirror and New York’s Daily News—a member of Parliament, and a bête noire for the likes of Rupert Murdoch and Margaret Thatcher. There were also rumors that he was a spy for Israel, or Britain, or both.
In the new biography Fall: The Mysterious Life and Death of Robert Maxwell, Britain’s Most Notorious Media Baron, author John Preston follows the story of Maxwell’s life, from a destitute childhood in Czechoslovakia to the heights of fame and fortune. Preston deftly depicts how the trappings of money and power can be used to obscure a lifetime of secrets and lies. In this excerpt Maxwell’s uncanny ability to deflect attention with abundance is on full display—and serves as a chilling reminder that the apple never falls far from the tree.
The dinner dances hosted by Robert and Betty Maxwell at Headington Hill Hall were considered, even by hardened party goers, to be in a class of their own. The house itself was an ideal venue for a party. It had been built in the early 19th century by a culture-loving family of brewers, the Morrells. They too had been keen party-givers. In 1878, Oscar Wilde was among the 300 guests at one of their fancy dress balls. For reasons that are not entirely clear, he chose to come dressed as Prince Rupert of the Rhine.
Ever since the Maxwells moved into Headington Hill Hall, they continued the tradition of throwing grand parties. But, as guests soon discovered, Maxwell had his own way of doing things. The writer and future Conservative MP Gyles Brandreth was a guest at one of their parties in the 1970s. At first nothing struck him as out of the ordinary. “It was only when I went up to Maxwell that I realized he had this apparatus on. There was an old-fashioned microphone attached to the lapel of his jacket with a windshield on it. And on his belt was this large box, the size of a hardback book with a dial in the middle. This was somehow connected to speakers in each of the rooms.”
Maxwell, Brandreth realized, was wearing his own personal PA system, enabling him to address people no matter how far away they were. “He’d turn the dial down when he was talking to you. Then, as soon as he saw someone he wanted to talk to on the other side of the room, he’d turn it up again, and this disembodied voice would come booming out of the speakers.”
For all the splendor of his parties, Maxwell himself remained an oddly elusive figure. “It was as if there was a kind of invisible moat around him,” Brandreth recalls. “He was definitely a presence, but whenever he came into a room, instead of the room being more crowded, it always seemed slightly emptier than before.”
As Maxwell’s fortune grew, the larger and grander the parties became. Cabinet ministers would rub shoulders with captains of industry, leading scientists with newspaper editors. But the joint party to celebrate Maxwell’s 65th birthday and the 40th anniversary of his company, Pergamon Press, in June 1988, was confidently predicted to outdo them all, in terms of both opulence and pomp.
No one, not even his many critics, could deny that Maxwell was on a roll: From Oxford to Osaka, his empire was booming. As he had boasted just a few weeks earlier, “The banks owe us money, we have so much on deposit.” At the same time, academic institutions were queueing up to bestow honors upon him; Maxwell had just been given a doctorate of law by Aberdeen University, as well as an honorary life membership in the University of London’s Institute of Philosophy.
So many guests had been invited—around 3,000—that it had been decided to hold the party over three consecutive nights. Friday night would be white tie and “decorations,” and Saturday night black tie, while the Sunday night party would be a more informal affair for members of staff. In between there was a lunch party on Saturday.
In the days leading up to the first party, vast marquees were erected around the house. Two floor-to-ceiling windows were removed to improve access to the main marquee. Legions of florists came down from London to create elaborate displays in the house, the marquees, and even the swimming pool—this involved them transporting the flowers out to the middle of the pool in little dinghies.
A stage had been built at one end of the main marquee and a dance floor laid so that guests could dance to the sound of the Joe Loss Orchestra; later on it would be a disco. At the end of the meal, the cast of the West End musical Me and My Girl would perform highlights from the show. To ensure that everyone enjoyed unimpeded views of the entertainment, the dining area had been constructed on two levels. A mobile darkroom had also been set up on the grounds. Guests who had their pictures taken during the evening by a team of six photographers would be able to collect them as they left.
To mark the 40th anniversary of Pergamon, a special book of tributes had been compiled. Pergamon had grown into the world’s largest scientific publisher, and the editors of Maxwell’s scientific journals—more than 300 in all—along with various Nobel laureates extolled his virtues in extravagant terms.
The editor of the International Journal of Hydrogen Energy noted, “Everything Bob Maxwell touches turns to gold,” while the director of one of his Japanese companies wrote, “Each time I have the pleasure of meeting him, I am reminded of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s words that a millionaire is no ordinary man.” Arthur Barrett, editor of Vacuum, recalled how his initial doubts about Maxwell had soon disappeared: “I have to confess that, quickly realizing his predatory and entrepreneurial ambitions, I none the less took a great liking to him.”
Among the congratulatory telegrams was one from the U.S. president, Ronald Reagan: “As the Happy Birthdays ring out, Nancy and I are delighted to join in the chorus of appreciation.” The prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, offered a somewhat solipsistic contribution of her own: “Robert Maxwell has never made any secret of the fact that officially he is politically opposed to me. But to tell the truth, I think he rather liked my approach to politics and Government—a sense of direction and decision. These are the very qualities that have taken him far.” As far as the Labour leader, Neil Kinnock, was concerned, “If Bob Maxwell didn’t exist, no one could invent him.’”
On the night of the first party, guests passed down a receiving line where they were greeted by Maxwell, Betty, and all seven of their children. Some of the guests arrived bearing birthday presents. The broadcaster David Frost turned up with a £500 bottle of wine. Unaware of how much it had cost, Maxwell’s chef later tipped it into a beef stew.
As guests sipped their drinks, the band of the Coldstream Guards marched back and forth across the lawn. Before dinner started, Robert and Betty made their formal entrance into the marquee to an announcement from the master of ceremonies—“Ladies and gentlemen, would you please welcome your host and hostess, Robert and Elisabeth Maxwell”—and a fanfare of herald trumpeters.
Robert Maxwell was known for lavish parties at his Oxford estate, where he would show off his books and awards.
At one of their earlier parties—in 1986—the speech had been given by a former prime minister, Harold Wilson. Suffering from the early stages of Alzheimer’s, Wilson had begun his speech brightly enough but then clearly forgot who he was supposed to be talking about. This time nothing had been left to chance. The main speech was given by Maxwell’s banker, Sir Michael Richardson, managing director of Rothschild’s bank and an economic adviser to Mrs. Thatcher.
That evening the economist Peter Jay found himself sharing Betty Maxwell’s misgivings. “It was as if people came because they wanted to see Maxwell; it was a spectacle. And although they sucked up to him and enjoyed his hospitality, you could see them raising their eyebrows at the same time.”
After dinner was over and the cast of Me and My Girl had finished performing, guests were asked to go back outside. There they were treated to a fireworks display, the culmination of which was a huge flaming sign spelling out the words “Happy Birthday Bob!” across the Oxford skyline. But not all the guests stayed to watch. Some of them succumbed to curiosity and went snooping. Mike Molloy, by now the editor in chief of the Mirror, was particularly struck by the decor of Headington Hill Hall: “All the furniture looked as if it had been bought from the sale of a second-rate country house in the 1920s. And the paintings were absolutely terrible. I’ve never seen a worse collection.”
Having inspected the art, Molloy peered into Maxwell’s drawing room. “There were all these bookshelves with books on them. Except when I looked more closely, I saw that they weren’t real books: They were made out of cardboard. I couldn’t get over it. Here was this man who had made his fortune out of publishing, and yet there weren’t even real books on his shelves.” In fact, not all the books were false, only those concealing Maxwell’s stereo system.
While the dancing was going on, Maxwell asked another of the guests, Gerald Ronson, CEO of the property developers Heron International, if he would like to come into the house for a quiet drink. “He waved his fat finger at me and said, ‘Let’s go into the library, because I don’t want to talk to these people.’ ”
They were, Maxwell told him, “a bunch of arseholes” who would go anywhere if they were invited by someone important. It wasn’t just that, though: Maxwell had something he wanted to show him. “Bob said, ‘You always thought I was joking when I told you that I had won the Military Cross.’ He then opened a large photo album and proudly pointed to one of the photographs. Taken more than 40 years earlier, it showed Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery pinning the medal onto the uniform of a much younger, slimmer Maxwell.” Ronson laughed and held up his hands. “I said, ‘I take it all back, Bob. I’m sorry if I didn’t believe you, but you do tell so many stories…’ ”
From Fall: The Mysterious Life and Death of Robert Maxwell, Britain’s Most Notorious Media Baron, by John Preston. © 2021 John Preston. Reprinted by permission of Harper, an imprint of Harper Collins Publishers.
———————————————
A Gorgeous Day In The Neighborhood










Warning: Adults Only
I went totally x-rated (several times) on this episode. I was so nervous appearing with Jefferson Graham that I made Joan Rivers look like a clean comic. The results? I guessed the gadget.
Episode 28 – WHAT THE HECK IS THAT? Gadget Game Show With Guest Panelist…
———————————————





A New Era








