DUNSTONE ALL SET FOR UPCOMING NUPTIALS
FORGET Simon Cowell’s star-studded 50th birthday bash – this weekend will see the party of the City’s year when Carphone Warehouse tycoon Charles Dunstone finally ties the knot with PR executive Celia Gordon Shute.
Dunstone – who recently enjoyed an impressive motoring-themed stag do split between the Goodwood estate and on the Isle of Wight – is keeping tight-lipped about the couple’s big day on Saturday, to avoid being pestered by pesky paps at the nuptials. But I hear there’ll be many a swish surprise in store for his high-profile guests – including M&S supremo Sir Stuart Rose, Credit Suisse banker Russell Chambers and even, reputedly, an ex-prime minister. Ooh-er.
The Capitalist is predicting a giant wedding cake in the shape of Dunstone’s beloved sailing yacht, Rio, though he will hopefully steer clear of Cowell-esque monogrammed bread rolls…
PSYCHO SPEAK
Boris Johnson may have been confidently waxing lyrical on the virtues of bankers at the Tory party conference yesterday, but elsewhere, he’s been stripping himself bare. Not literally, you understand; we’re talking about an interview with Tatler magazine, in which Boris seems to be coming over all philosophical for a change.
“I’m a tender, quivering mollusc of apprehension and nerves, like all human beings,” he told them. “We’re all poor, frail pathetic egos…”
Nerves? Somehow, The Capitalist doubts it. Mind you, all this psychobabble was probably recorded after lunch, which Boris admits he likes to be just a little bit boozy.
“I find it gives me wings,” he says of a cheeky lunchtime drink. “Bill Deedes insisted on going out to lunch and he would always have two pints, and the thing about two pints at lunch is that you don’t feel drunk, you just feel ever so slightly superb.”
No wonder he’s a fan of the City.
ROYAL BLOOD
Given the Middle East’s long-standing love affair with English football – Sheikh Mansour and Sulaiman Al-Fahim having bought up Manchester City and Portsmouth, and now Saudi’s Prince Faisal showing an interest in taking a stake in Liverpool – it’s hardly surprising that ears were pricked at the Chelsea game on Sunday, where the Kuwaiti royal family were comfortably ensconced in a private box.
But though the blue bloods were respectfully welcomed to the game via the pitch presenter’s microphone, I’m assured there was no ulterior motive behind their appearance than to schmooze with the generous owner of Stamford Bridge’s Millennium box.
A pity, that; the prospect of digging teeth into a new juicy footballing alliance was making The Capitalist’s mouth water.
MOTOR SHOW
City petrolheads should book their seats now for the Formula 3 Championship final at Brands Hatch on 17 October, where a rather racy new breed will be on show. Competing for the first time at the event is one of the world’s greenest racing cars, developed by the University of Warwick’s Dr Kerry Kirwan – who has built a turbo-charged environmentally-friendly mobile that has a top speed of 135mph and does 0-60mph in 2.5 seconds. Which is no mean feat, considering it runs on biofuel made from chocolate and is constructed from woven flax, recycled carbon fibre, recycled resin – and even carrot pulp for the steering wheel…
TREASURE TROVE
City boys and girls keen to get themselves out of a financial rut should listen up. Word reaches The Capitalist of a rather useful new site, ValueMyStuffNow.com, which will give you an online valuation for your treasures and trinkets ahead of going to auction.
The site has attracted over 1,000 clients in its first month, including a City trader who discovered he owned a collection of vintage Louis Vuitton luggage worth £24,500 (move over, Victoria Beckham). Still, that wasn’t a patch on other expensive items the site has seen so far – including a vintage 1920s golf ball valued at between £400 and £600. Who’d have thought it?
JEAN GENIE
Three cheers for the Royal Bank of Scotland’s most dapper resident Italian, deputy head of global banking and markets Marco Mazzachelli.
I hear Mazzachelli single-handedly raised over £5,000 for charity on Friday when he took part in Jeans for Genes day, though his participation was actually the result of some mischief-making from his colleagues on the bank’s business operating committee.
Mazzachelli, you see, is a typical Italian, favouring fine wool suits and silk ties instead of ripped denim – and didn’t possess a single pair of jeans before last week.
Luckily, he went along with the fun and turned up on the day in a rather fetching pair from the brand “Money Talks”. Quite.
CROWD PLEASER
New Labour must have been surprised to see City super-spinner Roland Rudd turn up for the Tory party conference yesterday like a shiny new penny, unembarrassed by those who feel he may be switching his political allegiances.
Rudd, who famously advised Tony Blair on his now-prolific career activities post-Downing Street, says he was up in Manchester primarily to chair an event for Business for New Europe, his pro-Europe pressure group, along with Clifford Chance senior partner Stuart Popham and The Work Foundation’s Will Hutton.
(The event, which would normally have only attracted the die-hards, apparently pulled in crowds of over 100 people, including the Tories’ most active pro-European Ken Clarke, after the recent focus on Ireland voting “yes” to the Lisbon treaty.)
Rudd, the founder of Finsbury, has always been known for his ability to cosy up to the right people at the right time, but he’s also got other loyalties to think about this time around, what with his sister Amber standing as the Tory candidate for Hastings and Rye.
Times really are a-changin’.