Aynhoe Park: a vast collection of the sublime and the ludicrous
(Image credit: Andreas von Einsiedel)
It's safe to say that relations between the generations aren't particularly good at the moment. The young already blame the middle-aged and elderly for sky-high property prices. Now they have another potential source of grievance the "boom in 50-year-olds choosing to mark their birthday with extravagant parties", according to Katie Morley in The Daily Telegraph. These have become "more extravagant than parties celebrating younger milestones", such as the 21st.
What explains the trend? As a manager at a party-planning firm puts it, "at 50 people have paid off most of their mortgage, they have good job security and are generally not looking to climb the ladder, their children have probably left home, and they've likely got upward of 100 people to invite People are looking to wow their friends with a round of welcome prosecco, sharing boards and a band they want to splash out."
One old-timer who recently pushed the boat out further than most is Noel Gallagher, the former Oasis rocker, who "celebrated his 50th birthday with a Narcos themed party" at Aynhoe Park, a 53,000 square foot stately home near Banbury that has been transformed into "a kind of Downton-meets-Wonderland" venue for "parties for the uberhip and ultrarich", says Julia Llewellyn Smith in the Sunday Times.
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During the party, Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander danced under a giant poster of Gallagher reimagined as "El Presidente", Bono read the birthday boy a poem he'd dashed off, Bob Geldof fell asleep under a table and Poppy Delevingne "had to be dragged off a giant disco ball in the garden by security while she was trying to recreate Miley Cyrus's Wrecking Ball video".
"They had a great night," says James Perkins, the former rave promoter and current owner of the property. Now a property tycoon, he bought the mansion, first built in the 1400s and remodelled after the Civil War, after spotting it from a helicopter while "acquiring a job lot of buildings from the collapsing Country Houses Association". He then completely restored the property before filling it with "sublime and ludicrous objects".
These include "headless emperors, giant urns, elaborate friezes" and "plaster casts from Perkins' vast collection that look as if they've been lifted straight from the vaults of the Louvre".
Indeed, there are so many items that a nearby warehouse is filled with the "surreal overflow" from the house, such as "a plaster wolf-suckling Romulus and Remus" and "a pair of Chinese dragon sculptures and a stuffed dog". The 28 guest bedrooms offer butler service and anyone yearning for a breath of fresh air can stroll through the "250 acres designed by Capability Brown and Humphry Repton".
Naturally, such surroundings don't come cheap. A wedding package starts at £34,000. Fifty-year-olds planning a big bash to celebrate and money to burn might like to check out the website at AynhoePark.co.uk. Cash-strapped millennials might want to take a leaf out of my own book and just enjoy a night in with family, friends and a bottle of fizz.
Tabloid money "a million isn't a lot for people like us"
The taxman is clawing back millions from celebrities who put vast sums into a tax-avoidance scheme, says Tony Parsons in The Sun on Sunday. The idea behind the Liberty scheme was to allow big earners to create artificial losses offshore, which they could then claim back in reduced tax bills. "Clever, but not kosher."
HMRC successfully challenged Liberty in 2014, and has just won again in the Upper Tribunal appeals court. That could mean more millions being clawed back. "My late mate George Michael put more than £6m into the scheme. They say that only two things are certain death and taxes. It looks like George got them in the right order."
No wonder reality-TV star Gemma Collins, from The Only Way is Essex, was cross after falling through a trapdoor on stage at the Radio 1 Teen Awards, says Saira Khan in the Sunday Mirror. "Thank heavens only her pride was hurt But Gemma, listen up. With every fall we rise. And you could make yourself £250 if you send that video to You've Been Framed."
Property prices are falling in some parts of Britain, but I doubt any seller has been forced to make the sort of cut Michael Douglas has on his Spanish villa, says the Daily Mail's Sebastian Shakespeare. After struggling to find a buyer, the Hollywood star has knocked £17m off the price of his "spectacular" clifftop Majorca mansion.
The 250-acre estate, which Douglas bought in 1989 with his first wife, film producer Diandra Luker, is now on the market for £32m down from £49m two years ago. Still, he and his current wife, Catherine Zeta-Jones, shouldn't be too troubled. They are reported to be worth £190m. As Zeta-Jones said in 2003, "a million dollars isn't a lot of money for people like us".
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