Watching the helicopter footage of an ambulance crew arriving, crowds of curious onlookers gathering and the World’s media clamouring for the best vantage point, it was all too easy to think of this as some kind of clandestine peek into Michael Jackson’s home at his most vulnerable. Jacko seems all the more vulnerable when we consider that the Beverly Hills mansion, in which he lived out his last moments, wasn’t actually his home. Jackson had been living a self imposed exile from his famous residence, the Neverland Ranch, for many years. The pressure of spiralling debt and its association with child molestation court cases had, understandably, taken the sparkle off his fairytale refuge.
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With the first green shoots of recovery starting to peek through, we can begin to dream about life after the credit crunch. Obviously, it would be foolhardy to think that things had returned to the buoyant boom-time that we enjoyed pre-crunch; unemployment continues to rise, house prices are still down and interest rates remain on hold. However, as the global economy starts to improve, that barometer of public opinion and lasting budgetary indicator, the Premiership football club, is a continuing beacon of resilience.
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Once upon a time, following a protracted divorce from her sweet Prince Andrew in 1996, the fair Duchess of York found herself up to her tiara in debt. In an effort to pay off her £4m arrears, Sarah Fergusson became a spokesperson for Wedgewood china and WeightWatchers in America.
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As one of the hottest acting properties in Hollywood, Nicolas Cage is reputedly assured of £10m a movie. He won the best actor Oscar in 1996 for his role in Leaving Las Vegas but now the star is set to be Leaving Somerset as unpaid tax claims in the US are in the millions of dollars. Cage has been working his way through his extensive property portfolio, selling off a number of homes in the US as well as in the UK. The latest to emerge on the market is Midford Castle, Nic’s ace of clubs shaped, mock-gothic folly in Somerset.
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