TALK OF THE TOWN: Lord Brocket’s rocket over £3,000 pair of curtains
Lord Brocket doesn’t exactly have a squeaky clean reputation, but striking a 69-year-old woman over a set of curtains seems like a new low.
Brocket, 68, who was jailed in the 1990s over a £4.5 million insurance fraud involving his classic car collection, has been caught on video verbally abusing society upholsterer Grace Stedman and swatting her with his motorcycle glove.
The film was shot as the peer confronted Grace at her London shop after he was awarded £2,838.92 in a court action against her – the sum covered the cost of the curtains plus a £75 admin fee.
Clash: Lord Brocket, wearing a bike helmet, in the footage of his shop visit. The film was shot as the peer confronted Grace Stedman at her London shop
He arrived at the premises in Pimlico on a motorcycle and kept his helmet on – which ‘terrified’ Grace.
She says: ‘Brocket entered my shop saying I owed him all this money. He pushed his way in, said I was a charlatan, and hit me around the face with his glove.
‘When I stood up to him, he became aggressive. It was terrifying.’
In May 1991, as he face financial hardship, Brocket had two of his staff dismantle three Ferraris and a Maserati and hide them in a storage unit in West London. He then claimed the £4.5 million in insurance. But the scam was discovered and the peer served two and a half years in jail.
It’s perhaps surprising to hear that the former I’m A Celebrity contestant has so much money to spend on soft furnishings. The aristocrat moved out of Brocket Hall, his ancestral house in Hertfordshire, for a pad in Fulham, where he contracted Grace’s firm, Grace Interiors, to fit the curtains.
Grace says: ‘We’d finished them for him in 2017 but he took me to court in December 2019. He said the curtains were too long and he had to get them altered. We measured them top to bottom – the problem was the size of the curtain pole he used.’
Lord Brocket pictured in 2015. The aristocrat moved out of Brocket Hall, his ancestral house in Hertfordshire, for a pad in Fulham, where he contracted Grace’s firm to fit the curtains
Grace Interiors is in the process of being dissolved after she lost a separate court case to another dissatisfied customer. She recently set up a new business, Grace Designs, in new premises and that is where Brocket confronted her last month.
Brocket did not respond to requests for comment. Sounds like all parties need to pull themselves together…
He was a superstar in the 1970s and 1980s, so my heart goes out to Bryan Ferry, who turned up to a party… and some guests didn’t recognise him.
Chat show host Jonathan Ross tells me the Roxy Music singer once came to his house in Hampstead, ‘but a lot of the younger kids did not know who he was’.
‘One of the kids was doing karaoke and she said to Bryan, “Come on, join in.” He replied, “I don’t think so.” And she went, “Come on, we are all s*** singers here!” She genuinely did not know who he was.’
There is no better way to haemorrhage money than to buy a yacht – just ask Eric Clapton.
British musician Eric Clapton pictured attending the press conference for the movie ‘Eric Clapton: Life in 12 Bars’ during the 42nd annual Toronto International Film Festival in 2017
The Va Bene from the wharf of Euroship Cess Cornelissen BV with the length of 47.80m and is owned by Eric Clapton – he bought the boat in 2005 for just under £10 million
Slowhand has been trying to sell his prized vessel Va Bene for two years and has just chopped another £2 million off the asking price.
He bought the 156ft boat in 2005 for just under £10 million and forked out £6 million on a lavish refurbishment a few years later.
But the running costs are astronomical, so he listed it for sale at £10.1 million in 2018 and cut the price tag to £8.1 million a year later – but now it could be yours for ‘just’ £6.1 million.