Fifteen Men On A Dead Man’s Chest

Rum has been called some nasty things in the past. Some believe it originates from the Devonshire description for a great tumult: rumbullion. However, even this is tame compared to some of rums other names: red-eye, Devils death, rumscullion, Kill-Devil and Nelsons Blood. The latter stemmed from the widespread belief that Nelsons body was brought…
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Abramovich New Luxury Yacht Has Missile Defence System

Roman Abramovich’s new yacht, which is currently under construction in Germany, will have a missile defence system to protect him from any attack. The yacht will also be heavily armoured with bulletproof windows. If attackers do manage to get past the defensive systems, the onboard submarine is available for a quick escape. The yacht is…
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Emirates Palace

Neither country is teeming with the sort of “authenticity” beloved of some western tourists and earnest backpackers. However, while Dubai sweeps the issue under the carpet and attempts to distract – look! Another new, really tall building! – Abu Dhabi cheerfully acknowledges that, before discovering oil 50 years ago, the country was basically a few…
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What Does it Take To Be The World’s Best Free-diver

I find myself writing about this because no matter how much I think about it, it still just seems so extraordinary. ‘It’ being Mighty Mouse, aka Sara Campbell, the world free-diving record holder and the tester of our Supermarine watch. My brother, Giles, and I have been developing mechanical watches now for several years. Our…
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Laucala Private Island, Fiji

Friends? Over-rated. Friendliness means people want something out of you. And I’m a woman with much to give. Friendly companies? Distinctly suspect. “The World’s Friendliest Airline”. Sounds rather nice, doesn’t it?  Don’t be fooled. Pacific Southwest, the last airline that carried this slogan, managed to kill 187 people, the majority in a crash ironically caused…
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Capital’s Best Kept Secret

About as unwanted as a jury summons in August is the demand from a public relations firm that you actually acknowledge, in print, the services provided by one of their clients. But that would let the cat of the bag! I protested. And your point being? The icy reply, anyway, they’re threatening to call in…
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Parental Guidance is Advised

She taught me the joy of getting your hands dirty and earning that bucket of fried chicken. Sure, then I struck oil, paid people to get their hands dirty while I had two extra buckets of fried chicken, but I didn’t forget the lesson. Mostly because I pay someone to remember it for me, but…
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The Dearth of Service

The von Essen hotel chain has always had something of the Bond villains evil empire about it to me. There’s Cliveden, the undeniably grand but slightly louche front that 007 first encounters. But once inside, he’d pick up some information that led him onto all the other stuff: the helipad in London- for quick getaways,…
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