As inheritances go, 12,000 acres on the Shropshire/Staffordshire border, plus 130 farmhouses, cottages and other rental properties, is pretty enviable.
But perhaps it’s not quite enough for Alexander Bridgeman, Viscount Newport, the 7th Earl of Bradford’s eldest son and heir.
That’s the bracing conclusion of family friends monitoring a simmering row between father and son which, I’m told, now threatens to boil over in court.
It’s a dismal prospect, given that Richard Bradford, as the earl prefers to be known, worked tirelessly to save the estate when his father died suddenly in 1981, leaving Bradford, then 33, to contend with an £8 million tax bill. He paid it off, though at the price of parting with the family’s ancestral seat, Weston Park.
Determined that Alexander should not suffer similarly, he handed him control of the estates in 2019. ‘He then also left the farmhouse that he’d lived in and gave it over to Alexander, to avoid tax,’ recalls a family chum. ‘And he left behind a quantity of extremely good wine, intending to remove it.’
Earl Of Bradford Richard Bridgeman, who is threatening to sue his son for the loss of wine – £30,000’s worth
The Earl’s son, Alexander Bridgeman, with his wife Eliza Liepina
But it seems he never got the chance. ‘Before he could do so, Alexander and some friends, including a ghastly man who encouraged him, drank it all.’
The subsequent row, the chum adds, has ‘rumbled on for years, and now it’s got so bad that Richard’s threatening to sue Alexander for the money – the loss of the wines. About £30,000.’
The twice-divorced earl, who ran Porters English Restaurant in London’s Covent Garden, acknowledges that his relationship with Alexander, 45, has soured. ‘He knew that the wines were not his,’ he tells me. ‘We’re not on happy terms.’
Alexander’s wedding in 2022 to Latvian-born Eliza Liepina offered the first inkling of his cellar’s fate. ‘His best man said: “I would like to thank Lord Bradford for the wonderful Chateau Latour 1967.” ’
It transpired that this wasn’t said in jest. ‘At least half a case was drunk,’ Bradford tells me, reflecting that Alexander presides over ‘some fairly raucous house parties’.
A bottle of Latour ’67 could easily cost £500 – if you could find any. But it was not the most expensive wine to go down Alexander’s noble hatch.
Two bottles of Latour ’55 – the best part of £1,000 a bottle – were also drunk. ‘And he went through a bottle of Palmer ’61,’ adds the earl, refraining from mentioning that Palmer ’61 could sell for £4,000.
Much of the wine, he says, was acquired ‘before [Alexander] was even born’. The total cost of those drunk could indeed be £30,000, he adds, explaining that, at the very least, it’s £20,000.
An email request for the money proved fruitless, so the matter is now in the hands of his solicitors. ‘I would much rather that he just paid me the money that I consider he owes me,’ says the earl, before adding that, ‘if necessary’, he will take it further – ‘even if it means issuing a county court summons’.
Queen’s son sees beloved dog savaged
The King turned 77 yesterday but his stepson was in no mood to celebrate.
Tom Parker Bowles had just witnessed his ‘darling’ Jack Russell, Maud, savaged by a mastiff near Kensington Palace.
Tom Parker Bowles, pictured with mother Queen Camilla last year, witnessed his ‘darling’ Jack Russell, Maud, savaged by a mastiff near Kensington Palace
‘We saw a vast dog, ahead, possibly a Cane Corso, on a metal chain lead, and passed it very carefully, giving it a hell of a lot of room,’ says Tom, The Mail on Sunday’s restaurant critic.
‘But it spotted Maud, dragged the owner off his feet and attacked her. It was 15 stone at least.’
‘I eventually managed to fight off the beast, rolling about on the pavement, and desperately trying to unlock its jaws from her tiny torso.’
Maud, pictured, had to undergo ‘very serious surgery’ and remains in the care of an emergency vet.
‘I want to thank the old man who hit the dog with his stick as it continued to attack,’ he adds.
Maud, Tom’s Jack Russel who was attacked in the park
Holly’s hint she WILL waltz into Strictly job
A former BBC 1 controller claimed earlier this month that Holly Willoughby was being lined up to host Strictly Come Dancing after Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly leave.
And Holly, 44, is in no rush to play down the rumours.
Asked about them at the preview night for Winter Wonderland in London’s Hyde Park, left, she made a point of talking about the programme. ‘At the moment, I’m just having a lovely time at home watching Strictly,’ she tells me.
Her comment comes after I revealed that former BBC bigwig Peter Fincham was tipped off about Holly by a top source, in the hair salon of all places.
‘My hairdresser also cuts the hair of a well-known channel controller,’ Fincham said. ‘What’s said in Harry’s the hairdresser stays in Harry’s. But he says with great confidence that Holly Willoughby will take over.’
Holly Willoughby, seen attending a VIP preview for Hyde Park’s Winter Wonderland, is said to be double-stepping into the role
A ‘miracle baby’ for Victoria Aspinall
Her struggle to conceive ended her marriage to casino and wildlife park heir Damian Aspinall. But now Victoria Aspinall has given birth to a ‘miracle baby’. She has posted a photograph of her child online but does not disclose the name or sex. The former Burberry executive, 39, does not seem to be in a relationship with the father.
‘I was utterly shocked when I found out I was pregnant,’ she said. ‘For seven years, my husband and I fought for this dream: multiple rounds of IVF, miscarriages, and an endless hope that slowly eroded. It cost me everything I once loved.’
Former Burberry exeutive Victoria Aspinall revealed she’d had ‘miracle baby’. She has not disclosed the name, sex or father but said it was her ‘dream’
Kids’ pitch ban for Petra’s man
Life in Los Angeles isn’t all sunshine and smoothies for Bernie Ecclestone’s son-in-law Sam Palmer.
The former vintage car salesman from Essex, who is married to Formula One heiress Petra Ecclestone, reveals he’s been banned from his stepson James’s football club after a furious row with an official during a match.
Sam Palmer and Petra Ecclestone, the Formula 1 supremo Bernie’s daughter, in 2019
‘There was an empty pitch behind them – the balls kept going over so I kept throwing them back on,’ explains Sam, 42, stepfather to Petra’s three children with ex-husband James Stunt, along with the couple’s daughter, Minnie, three. The family settled into a sprawling $42 million (£32 million) home in 2023. ‘A bloke screeched up on a golf cart – big fat bloke,’ Sam says. ‘“Get over there! What do you think you’re doing?” I told him where to go. I’m not having anyone speak to me like that, especially in front of my kids.
‘I lost my temper. I really lost it badly… I don’t regret it. I didn’t hit the man, but in some ways, I wish I had, because I’d get the same punishment. The guy obviously ran away crying and grassed me up to the club. It turned out he was the vice-chairman of the league. I called him a few choice words, but the man asked for it.’
All Creatures Great and Small star Samuel West says there are differing views on whether actors should bring some of their own personality to the characters they play, but Imogen Stubbs knew very clearly what she thought. ‘Imogen Stubbs, when she was at RADA on the first day, class of ’85, she was a bit nervous,’ he says of the celebrated drama school. ‘And the tutor said, “Just relax and be yourself”. And she said, “I don’t want to be myself, I hate myself – that’s why I’m here”. And I think that’s true of quite a lot of actors.’
David Cameron ditched plans for a pool at his £1.8m Cotswolds retreat after locals accused him of turning his garden into a ‘tacky Benidorm resort’.
Now, the former PM has applied for a change of use of two small areas of adjoining land, making his garden bigger.
His cottage, near Chipping Norton in Oxfordshire, already boasts a £25,000 shepherd’s hut in which he wrote his Downing Street memoirs. West Oxfordshire Council is expected to make a decision this month.
Theatre producer JJ Powell, whose hits include Sunset Boulevard starring Nicole Scherzinger and Merrily We Roll Along with Daniel Radcliffe, was flattered when Esquire magazine’s Mexico edition told him he had won one of its ‘man of the year’ prizes. ‘A week later, I was informed the “honour” would cost me $15,000 [£11,400], which I quickly rejected.’ And on the night of the awards ceremony, he posted this withering comment on social media: ‘For those of you this evening pretending to be hot stuff, the rest of us know you agreed to spend $15,000 for a bought accolade and a heavy massage of your ego.’ Esquire has not responded to a request for comment.
O’Toole’s stair-free fitness plan
Orlando Bloom enjoyed performing with the late Lawrence Of Arabia star Peter O’Toole, who played his father in 2004 epic Troy.
‘We had this scene at the top of some stairs, and he was walking up maybe a hundred stairs,’ recalls Canterbury-born Bloom, 48, who is best known for his roles in the Lord Of The Rings and Pirates Of The Caribbean films.
‘He had a cigarette hanging out of his mouth, and an assistant director next to him said, “Hey, have you ever thought about quitting cigarettes?”
And he went, “No, but I’ve thought about quitting stairs.”’
Stolen bag brought back… by the thief!
Lady Alice Manners with the thief who stole her bag then gave it back
Here’s a crime story with, for once, a happy ending.
The Duke of Rutland’s daughter Lady Alice Manners was devastated when her handbag was stolen while she was shopping in west London this week. She absent-mindedly left it in the basket of her hired electric bicycle.
‘I went into a shop for 15 mins, realised I didn’t have my bag, ran out and, of course, it was gone,’ Lady Alice, 30, wrote online.
She later received a message from the thief. ‘He had my name from my driving licence and found me on Instagram,’ she explains.
‘He went on to say that he took the bag, bought something with my White Company [the luxury retailer] gift card, then decided that it was wrong. He said he was trying to be a better Muslim, cancelled the order and returned my bag to me by hand.’
Lady Alice shared this picture of herself with the penitent thief. She says: ‘It is never too late to do the right thing.’
(Very) modern manners
Planning to dig out your old Christmas decorations? Amanda Cronin has grander plans.
The Real Housewives Of London star tells me she has spent £4,000 on her festive baubles. ‘My decorations are going up in the 24th [of November], which is early. A pink and black theme. We are doing the tree, garlands, a whole decoration around the door.’
