Will: a testament
Four centuries past to this very day,
A chap called Will spent his last hours on earth
All these years on there remains much to say,
A legacy that underpins his worth.
To honour the Bard, and works of his time,
We have taken on way more than we ought,
And will introduce Diary with this rhyme,
Bear with us, it’s much harder than we thought.
Fourteen lines, ten syllables each – so strict,
No excuses because Shakespeare knew best
But it’s just the format that we have nicked
The words, all our own, put us to the test.
We did it though! Well, we gave it a try
From us all, here’s to Will S. What a guy!
Rage against the machine
You could hear a pin drop when it came to the first question from the floor at last week’s inaugural Estates Gazette City Talks event, held in Southampton. Local businessman Philip Marsh pulled no punches when he pointed out that a “big weakness” within the council is the political decision-making process. He said: “We’ve got well-meaning local councillors, but are they up to the job to deliver the high-calibre plans we’re speaking about? I think not. They are amateurs. We don’t have the calibre of politicians we need.” The hushed 260-strong guests immediately looked at panellist and Southampton City Council chief exec Dawn Baxendale, who drew a deep breath and jokingly said: “I’ll take you out and beat you up later.” Fisticuffs in Southampton? Not quite, but Baxendale herself pulled no punches when she said: “I fundamentally disagree with you about the calibre of the politicians… If they were that crap we wouldn’t have what’s going on in Southampton now.” Ouch.
Two peas in a frog
Jo Allen may have succeeded Paul White as chief executive of real estate fund manager Frogmore but the two think like peas in a pod, finishing each other’s sentences and even holidaying together. What’s more, they even dress the same. Well, kind of. When Diary caught up with them to talk about the changes at the top, they both had matching frog cufflinks.
Gerald Kaye: hipster
Wonderful images were conjured up at last week’s opening of The Bower, the new Helical Bar building at Old Street Roundabout, E1. Helical chief executive-to-be Gerald Kaye cut across the ambient dance muzak and welcomed guests by saying it had been a while since so many suits had been seen on the north side of the roundabout. Following Kaye was Crosstree’s Nick Lyle. He assured the gathered masses that we would soon return to the sounds of Kaye’s iPod and, lest anyone should doubt it, he explained why Helical was the perfect developer for what remains one of London’s cooler parts. “I remember Gerald turning up for his first meeting with us on his bike, wearing skinny jeans,” Lyle quite possibly misremembered.
You can’t always get…
It has been 50 years, but Keith Richards still can’t get no satisfaction after blaming the Chelsea Residents’ Association for the Rolling Stones being banned from playing outside the Saatchi Gallery. But Cadogan’s Hugh Seaborn has no sympathy for the guitarist. “Absolute rubbish!” he started up at a Profile Network interview last (Ruby) Tuesday. The band could have been given shelter – had they bothered to apply for planning permission. “They didn’t want to do that because it would have got out too early and they would have been overwhelmed.” Luckily, Richards knows that if it’s not easy, blame the landlord.
