Roman Abramovich Wins Court Battle

The clash of the titans has finished and Roman Abramovich has come out on top, winning his legal battle against exiled Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky.

The Chelsea FC owner was said “to be a truthful, and on the whole reliable, witness” by Mrs Justice Gloster.

Mr Berezovsky had said that Abramovich had intimidated him into selling his shares in Russian oil giant Sibneft and was claiming £3bn in damages. Mrs Justice Gloster said the 65-year-old had not been an “inherently unreliable” witness.

The judge said in her ruling “On my analysis of the entirety of the evidence, I found Mr Berezovsky an unimpressive, and inherently unreliable, witness, who regarded truth as a transitory, flexible concept, which could be moulded to suit his current purposes.”

She dismissed Berezovsky’s claims that 45-year-old Abramovich had broken a promise on a deal which involved the Russian aluminium company RusAl “in their entirety”.

Mr Berezovsky said he was “shocked” at the decision and that Mrs Justice Gloster had rewritten Russian history.

There was a certain amount of mud-slinging during the three-month trail with Berezovsky calling Abramovich a “gangster” and Abramovich saying Berezovsky was “something of a megalomaniac”.

Abramovich was not in court but in a statement issued on his behalf said: “There were many serious allegations made against Mr Abramovich by Mr Berezovsky, including attacks on Mr Abramovich’s honesty and integrity.

“We are pleased that the judge has firmly rejected all such allegations and has described Mr Abramovich as a truthful and frank witness who showed a responsible and honest approach when giving evidence in this case.”

At one point the Queen watched the trial and talked to Mrs Justice Gloster

Under The Bridge Showcase Live Relaunch

When: 12 September 2011 | 7pm
Where: Under The Bridge
Chelsea Football Stadium, Fulham Road, SW6 1HS

On the 12th of September I went to the relaunch of Roman Abramovich’s £20 million venue in West London, at Chelsea Football stadium. Showcase live has been the starting point of some of the biggest names in popular music, including, JLS and Jessie J and their partnership with Under The Bridge is sure to bring many more household names to light in the future.

Under The Bridge is a brilliant venue, it has good ambiance, a good crowd (surprisingly, not all WAGs) and a good sound system. The music was brilliant.
 
We had performances from Vida, Paradise Point, Daniela Brooker, Project Alfie & Will Heard.
 
Vida | JLS star Oritse Williams remembered exactly where he started his career when he put Showcase Live on the top of his list of priorities for his new girl group VIDA. Oritse is working with Colin Lester / Twenty First Artists on the project.
 
Paradise Point | Paradise Point are energised school-leavers who are determined to return credibility to teen pop music. Bass player Roman is hoping to follow in the footsteps of his father, Spandau Ballet star Martin Kemp.
 
Daniela Brooker |17-year old Daniela already has a very promising career ahead of her. She has been writing her album with Paul Garred (The Kooks) and Rob Harris (Jamiroquai). Her band is formed of Dizzee Rascals guitarist, Julian Perrettas drummer, Claire Maguire’s keyboardist and Go West’s bassist.
 
Project Alfie | Project Alfie is creating a sound which blends classic film soundtracks and soul. He shares same the stylist as Jude Law and Dave Gandy and has written with some of the biggest names in the industry such as The Invisible Men (Jessie J) and Future Cut (Lily Allen).
 
Will Heard | A charming story teller with an undeniably beautiful voice.  The 20-year-old singer-songwriter from SW London brings a unique blend of blues, folk, soul and funk to the table.
 

Web | www.showcaselive.co.uk
Facebook | www.facebook.com/showcaselive
Twitter | www.twitter.com/showcaseliveuk
YouTube | www.youtube.com/showcaselive

This Month's Magazines; Jennifer Lopez Believes in Love, 9/11 Anniversary.

Note: Magazines come out a month in advance. September’s magazines are Augusts.

The September issue of Vogue is out and the advertisers have made the issue heavy enough to use as a dumbbell. No complaints from me.

It is the International Collections special and there are lots of clothes to fawn over, Labels and trends to be urban cool, and accessories that make a difference in Vogue’s Big Fashion Issue.

There is a brilliant article on the history of Gucci, Paloma Picasso revisits Venice and talks about her journey to becoming a jewellery designer, Dries Van Noten gives a guide to his Antwerp, up-coming actress, producer and writer Brit Marling is interviewed (Frost loves her), Rifat Ozbek is doing Robin Birley’s new club, Ruperts; Good two page article.

Olivia Wilde talks Haiti and Childhood, there are a lot of autumn clothes that all look too hot, it’s 30c in London at the moment!, Miss V has her excellent social diary, there is a 9 page spread on the turbulent life of John Galliano, Tom Ford on his new cosmetic line and an article on the new David Bailey film. I noticed afterward that in the shops you get a free fashion DVD. However, I did not get this as a subscriber. Bad form.

Emily Mortimer is on the cover of this month’s Tatler and there is an interview inside.

There is a free gift but not for subscribers, grr.

There is a moving tribute to Tatler senior editor John Graham, Princess Tatiana of Greece and Denmark, A guide to nightclubs, An article on what it is like to stay on Abramovich’s yacht and the Royal Family residences, who sits where at White’s, Secret Cinema, Kate Middleton joins Competitive Princessing, Sir Michael Sorrell, What to wear: looking posh on less dosh, Legendary Lotharios, Rich Kids, a good 6 page spread on Tina Brown.

Guy Pelly, Astrid Harbord and Jake Warren have a new club, 37 year old Sam Leith goes back to school, Diana Von Furstenberg tells all about what she loves.

There is also lots of Travel and the Bystander (the social diary). Kate Middleton makes an appearance at the Derby with William, as does Elton John’s annual White Tie & Tiara Ball.

Frost has been complain that Marie Claire has not been giving its subscribers free gifts because of ‘cost’, and this month’s issue came with a free gift. It would seem someone listened but, alas, no. In the shops you get a free nail polish and a conditioner. I just got a conditioner.

Anne Hathaway is on the cover and interviewed inside. There is a good article on what to wear to fashion week (which I will be listening to!), an interview with Mulberry bag designer Emma Hill, an interview with Katie Holmes, how to get French style, what the New York fashion pack wear, China’s fashion, what men won’t tell you until the third date, Should you move abroad?, 9/11 Anniversary, A good three page article on Stella McCartney, The X Factor, Beyonce, Oh Land, a One Day Special; article on the book and interviews with cast and lots & lots of fashion and beauty.

Vanity Fair has Jennifer Lopez on the cover and her first interview since her divorce inside. She says she is “an eternal optimist about love…it’s still my biggest dream.”

L’Wren Scott gives us the low-down on her stuff, in Fairground there is a lot of lovely picture of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in Hollywood attending the BAFTA party.

Also articles on Michael Buble, Private Eye’s 50th anniversary, Agnes B, how the US failed to stop 9/11, Hackers, The 2011 Best Dressed List; Tilda Swinton, The Duchess of Cambridge, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, Andrea Dellal, Johnny Depp, Vanessa Paradis and Arpad Busson all feature, There is a celebrity portraits of Angelina Jolie amongst others, Michael Lewis investigates German attitudes towards money, the actors who play the Duke and Duchess of Windsor are photographed and interviewed for Madonna’s new film W.E, Designers and their muse, John Currin.

Glamour has Mila Kunis on the cover and she is interviewed inside.

How to be a Cavalli Girl, Feminism, Fall in love with your job again, How to eat well if you have £15 until pay day, 9/11 Anniversary article, Career rules rewritten, What sex feels like, Jim Sturgess interview, Are you Destroying your own love life?, Comedian Jack Whitehall, Why do women want to be WAGs?, Fashion’s Hot 100, How to have a great hair month, How to get more energy.

Phew!

Red has Laura Bailey on the cover and has a free bodywash. Laura is interviewed inside. There is a good article on no kids and no regrets, the original supermodels and what they are doing now, an article on people’s on/off duty wardrobes,

My City, My shopping guide, The looks that sum up a city. Anjum Anand show Red around her life, 8 Lessons in love and loss, four women reveal the moment they found their dream property, Dominic Cooper, Adele, Tom Ellis, Will Young, Colin Farrell, Fiona Neill, Jo Whiley’s Festival Guide, 4 ways to update your face, How to get radiance, there are a lot of good recipes, cooking with in season vegetables , paella, home made curry, global shopping guide, find your health/life balance, what is causing your breast pain and Audrey Tautou tells all about the best things in life.

[This page will get updates as more magazines come out. Thank you.]

This Month's Magazines; Kate Middleton and Getting in Shape Lead.

This is the first of Frost magazine’s new monthly magazine round-up. Here at Frost we are addicted to magazines and our guess is that you like them too, so, here goes….

Vanity Fair has the new Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on the cover. The world has gone crazy for Kate Middleton and there is 16 pages on the new couple, including the interesting fact that Kate has never been to America before and is ‘beyond excited’.

Horrible fact of the month comes from Christopher Hitchen’s column, which is on Pakistan: in Pakistan not only is rape not illegal, it’s a punishment. Mark Shand tells Nick Haslam about the Elephant Family, Stieg Larsson’s girlfriend tells of their life together and there is good articles on Justin Timberlake, Silvio Berlusconi and the Falcons.

Marie Claire (who are in my bad books, as they do not send the subscribers the free gifts that come with the magazine. This month it’s a choice of eyeliner or eye-shadow, last month a Body Shop moisturiser, not nice way to treat those who are most loyal) Jennifer Lawrence is on the cover, and has a very good interview inside where she says that she tells director she won’t lose more weight and was initially scared of fame.

Emily Eavis, daughter of Michael, talks about growing up as part of the world’s greatest music festival, there is lots of fashion and a summer’s sandals piece that I enjoyed, there is a low down on the Russian invasion of Chelsea; lead by Roman Abramovich and Dasha Zhukova, Writer Natasha Green writes about choosing between her husband and her lover and 5 friends, who all went to university and did a performing arts degree, meet up to discuss where they are 10 years later. Marie Claire also have an exclusive interview with Aung San Suu Kyi. Other good article are dating advice you don’t need from your friends, a good piece on Jean Paul Gaultier and a brilliant article on the life of Princess Diana, very apt.

It’s Elle’s body issue, Elle always give there subscribers the free gift, as do RED and Glamour, Rosie Huntington-Whitley is on the cover and interviewed inside, and there is a free vest top my Kate Middleton fav Reiss.

Celia Walden ponders over why we fawn over the famous, the impossibly stylish Ines De La Fressange is in Elle edits, my personal style crush tells us about her philosophy on life, House of Holland are this month’s Style Spy, make up artist Lisa Eldridge gives a peak inside her closet and Debbie Harry tells is what books changed her life. Rob Lowe is interviewed and there are a lot of great articles on how to get in shape and be happy with how you look. Of course, there is also lots of great fashion. Lorraine Candy is temporarily stepping down from the Elle editorship to have her fourth baby.

Tatler has Romola Garai on the cover, she is interviewed inside and talks about her “ordinary body” and her desire for people to find her sexy. Kate Reardon has been the new editor for a few months now and is doing a good job, though I couldn’t find an editor’s letter.

Royal Wedding photographer Hugo Burnand talks about photographing the biggest wedding in decades, there are other articles on the top 10 poshest ghosts, Clive Anderson writes about losing his cool, there is lots of gossip, A very good guide to the Murdoch dynasty, an article on how the rich buy life (a very good read), some property porn as Belvoir Castle is featured by it’s owners the Duke and Duchess of Rutland.

There is also an article on (the last taboo!) woman’s facial hair and how to get rid of it, Alice Temperley also spills on all of her beauty secrets. If you buy it form the news-stand you get a free pair of sunglasses, but Tatler doesn’t give free gifts to it’s subscribers.

Vogue has Vanessa Paradis on the cover, she talks about staying on the move and being comfortable with your body, Stella Tennant models (can you believe she is in her 40’s!)

I really like the article by Carol Woolton on the lost world of legendary balls, including the jewellery that Elizabeth Taylor wore to the 1971 Rothschild Proust Ball, lots on the Royal wedding and who wore what, editor Alexandra Shulman was one of the guests and gives a good account. The rise of folk (as in music) gets a good spread and supermodel Arizona Muse keeps a diary for Vogue.

I also love the inspirational women who feature in Vogue’s Wonder Women piece, scientists and theatre directors alike. There is also an editorial on fashion dynasties, if you love glamour the way I do you will love reading about the Guinnesses, Dellals, Agnellis/Brandolinis and the Jaggers.

Donna Karen also does a wonderful interview and writer Vicky Ward talks about her divorce; “the equivalent of undergoing heart surgery without anesthetic.” There is also a brilliant free beauty supplement with lots of celebrities and models giving their beauty and health routines, tips and hints.

Glamour has a free Benefit beauty product (I got the Benetint) Karl Lagerfield on fashion do’s, celebrity couples you forgot about, how to find a man anywhere, the rise of gold and fame digging men, why is friendship so hard?, how the Glamour staff got their job, a very good, and slightly depressing article on female war reporters; read about the same time I saw Channel 4’s Killing Fields of Sri Lanka, you think women are equal and safe….

There is interviews with the Glamour women of the year awards, including the brilliant Adele, who is on the cover. There is lots of brilliant fashion and beauty, a very good article on why we should all see Bridesmaids by Zoe Williams, there is a number of articles on how to fake tan well and I really enjoyed the piece on Get a Blockbuster body, what Blake Lively, Jennifer Lawrence and Rosie Huntington-Whitley did to get in shape for their films. There is also a good article on the secret to good health in 100 words or less.

So, until next month!