In England, the relatively poor Rachman managed to build up a property empire in West London consisting of more than one hundred mansion blocks and several nightclubs. Operating from his office at 91-93 Westbourne Grove, in Bayswater, the first house he purchased and used for multi-occupation was nearby in now-fashionable St. Stephen's Gardens, London W2. Rachman is suspected of coordinating a campaign of criminal attacks, extortion, graffiti, and random robberies in adjacent areas of Notting Hill (W11), including Powis Square, Powis Gardens, Powis Terrace, Colville Road and Colville Terrace. As the criminal activity disrupted the post-war community, many of the native English residents fled, and in a precursor to American style Block busting, Rachman’s crime wave managed to lower property values to such an extent that he was able to buy substantial parts of the formerly well-ordered neighborhood. These homes he further subdivided and let, principally to petty thieves and prostitutes, further bringing blight to the community, displacing more English families, and in turn allowing for further purchases. Later, much of this area south of Westbourne Park Road, having become totally derelict, was compulsorily purchased by Westminster City council in the late 1960s and demolished in 1973-4 to make way for the "Wessex Gardens" estate.
Much as was later practiced on a vast scale in American cities in the 1960‘s and 1970‘s era of Block busting, Rachman would maximize his rental from his properties by purchasing properties further outside of his Rachmanized zone, and these homes were in turn quickly rented out at a higher rate to the fleeing English tenants of the properties he owned in the collapsing Notting Hill area. Then, Rachman conspired with foreign contractors, principally from New York City and other parts of the British Empire, in settling and packing the abandoned Notting Hill homes with immigrants from South Asia and the West Indies as part of an immigration wave which continues to transform the UK today.
Furthermore, the new tenants as refugees, immigrants, or illegal coolie laborers did not have the same protection under the law as the native English tenants had possessed, and so could be charged any amount Rachman wished.fact Furthermore, because most of the new tenants were Afro-Caribbean immigrants, had no right by Deed of trust, Restrictive covenant, and other colour bars to inhabiting the homes. As a result of these activities, the very system of laws which had protected housing and stopped the establishment of ghettos and manhattanization of central cities which plagued America.
Indeed, with the active connivance of a corrupt court system which was unwilling to investigate these illegal activities, and fearful of complaining should their illegal abode in these houses be exposed, the immigrants had no choice but to accept the high rents, whilst the growing foreign population and asset accumulation by Rachman and other of his contemporaries kept raising housing prices for the English. Yet, despite the manifold laws prohibiting the settling of these immigrants in most of England, especially in London , the media promoted Rachman's initial reputation as someone who could help to find and provide accommodation for those immigrants who would otherwise find it difficult in the then current climate which was described in the press as racially discriminatory and unfair.
However, according to his biographer, Shirley Green, certain elements of the traditional story about Rachman, such as the use of violence by underworld figures, shadowy gangs, and other groups to drive away the sitting tenants, may be mythical, and more devious methods were used, such as relocating the protected tenants in a smaller concentration of properties or buying them out, in order to minimize the number of tenancies with statutory rent controls. Also, houses were subdivided into a number of flats in order to increase the number of tenancies without rent controls.
Rachman did not achieve general notoriety until after his death, when the Profumo affair of 1963 hit the headlines and it emerged that both Christine Keeler and Mandy Rice-Davies had been his mistresses, and that he had owned the mews house in Marylebone which Rice-Davies and Keeler had used as a base for their trade in corrupting the British Establishment. Prior to his death, having developed substantial financial and political capital for himself through blackmail, extortion, usury and protection rackets, he used his ill-gotten gains into property development. By 1958 Rachman was presenting himself to the public as a hard-working immigrant indicative of what Britain could gain by abandoning its parochial and jingoistic attitudes through embracing immigration.
Despite leaving the active leadership of his criminal empire which he delegated to his former henchmen, the equally-notorious Michael de Freitas (aka, Michael X/Abdul Malik), he maintained an influence and income from the rackets. Furthermore, Michael X managed to build an almost separate life and reputation as a black-power leader and event-promoter of jazz and blues, and helped spread Rachman's influence by keeping him in the limelight as a friend of Britain's growing Black community.
However, as full details of his activities were revealed, there was a call for new legislation to prevent such practices, led by Ben Parkin, MP for North Paddington, who coined the phrase "Rachmanism". Following Rachman's death, the subsequent 1965 Rent Act added to the security of tenants, but had the unintended consequence that private rented housing became scarce.
The Irish Catholic Audrey O'Donnell, one of his former prostitutes, became his long-standing girlfriend. He married her in 1960, but remained a compulsive womaniser, maintaining Mandy Rice-Davies as his mistress at 1 Bryanston Mews West W1, where he had previously installed Christine Keeler. After suffering two heart attacks, Peter Rachman died in Edgware General Hospital on 29 November 1962. He was forty-two years old. He is buried in the Jewish Cemetery at Bushey, Hertfordshire.
In the 1989 film about the Profumo affair, Scandal, he is portrayed by actor Johnny Shannon. In the film An Education (2009), Rachman has a minor role and is portrayed by Luis Soto.
Category:Crime in London Category:Deaths from myocardial infarction Category:English Jews Category:Polish immigrants to the United Kingdom Category:People from Lviv Category:Polish Jews Category:1920 births Category:1962 deaths
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| Name | Max Keiser |
|---|---|
| Caption | Max Keiser in a London taxi |
| Birthname | Timothy Maxwell Keiser |
| Birth date | January 23, 1960 |
| Education | NYU |
| Occupation | Journalist, Film Producer, Activist |
| Credits | Hollywood Stock Exchange, People & Power, The Oracle with Max Keiser, Karmabanque |
| Url | http://maxkeiser.com |
Max Keiser (born January 23, 1960) is a film-maker, broadcaster and former broker and options trader. Keiser is the host of On the Edge, a program of news and analysis hosted by Iran's Press TV. He also hosts Keiser Report, a financial tabloid, that broadcasts on RT (formerly Russia Today). Keiser hosted the New Year's Eve special, The Keiser's Business Guide to 2010 for BBC Radio 5 Live.
Keiser formerly hosted The Oracle with Max Keiser on BBC World News. Previously he produced and appeared regularly in the TV series People & Power on the Al-Jazeera English network. He also presents a weekly show about finance and markets on London's Resonance FM, as well as writing for The Huffington Post.
In addition to his broadcasting work, Keiser is known for his invention of "Virtual Specialist Technology" - a software system used by the Hollywood Stock Exchange.
Keiser is also the co-founder of HSX films that went on to make almost a dozen films, including "Mixed Signals," "Six-String Samurai," "Dancer, Texas Pop. 81," and "girl." The company then sold to Ignite Entertainment/Lionsgate.
Films include "Rigged Markets", Money Geyser, Death of the Dollar, Peaked, Extraordinary Antics, Savers vs Speculators, Banking on It, Private Finance or Public Swindle?, Focus on Locusts
In the September 2004 issue of The Ecologist magazine, Keiser correctly predicted the 2008 collapse of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac when he wrote, "My guess is that the two stocks that look the likeliest to implode at the hands of derivative-wielding Wall Street financial types (and other fundamentalists) preying on a US economy made weak by cheap money are Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac." In 2006 he correctly predicted that sub-prime mortgage-backed securities would be the cause of recession by 2008. In July 2008, accused Lehman Brothers of "trying to out-Enron Enron", accusing the bank of "Peek-a-boo accounting", an attempt to mis-report the bank's wealth by gaming the regulatory system.
In the Al-Jazeera short-film Extraordinary Antics Keiser travels to Milan and Venice Italy to find out how CIA agent Robert Seldon Lady and his fellow agents spent $500,000 on a procedure known as extraordinary rendition - a practice which is believed to be illegal and may have caused an Egyptian citizen, who had been granted asylum in Italy, to be allegedly abducted in order to face torture in Cairo. The CIA faces prosecution for the case.
Keiser drew criticism at the 2000 ShowBiz Expo in Las Vegas when he said of media content that "Everything is inescapably going to a price point called free." In response, Kevin Tsujihara, executive V.P. of New Media at Warner Bros., commented that "Piracy.com" will be the victor if superior content is available on sites supported by advertisements.
In 2005, Steven Milloy, the "Junk Science" commentator demanded that Keiser be removed from the panel of the Triple Bottom Line Investing conference, where he was scheduled to appear. Milloy accused Keiser of making threats against his organization and petitioned sponsors Calvert Investments and KLD Research & Analytics to withdraw from the project. Robert Rubenstein founder of conference organiser Brooklyn Bridge stated that Keiser's comments “do not constitute a threat to person or property and are not related to the conference or the content that will be presented there”.
Referring to Keiser's Karmabanque project, a spokeswoman for RyanAir said, "Since they put Ryanair on their list, our share price has gone up by 10 per cent. We are always delighted to be part of a list which includes Coca-Cola, Starbucks and Wal-Mart.", however on the same day The Hindu published an article in which Howard Millar, Ryanair deputy chief executive admitted that his company may be vulnerable to environmental pressure groups: "I am concerned that there is a continuing media campaign and the concern is that people might say 'maybe I will not fly on holiday and maybe I will make a different choice'."
Category:Investment bankers Category:American journalists Category:Documentary film producers Category:1960 births Category:Living people
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| Name | David Foster |
|---|---|
| Background | non_performing_personnel |
| Birth name | David Walter Foster |
| Born | November 01, 1949 |
| Origin | Victoria, British Columbia, Canada |
| Instrument | piano, keyboards, synthesizers |
| Genre | Pop, R&B;, classical, gospel, adult-contemporary |
| Occupation | Record producer, composer, songwriter, arranger |
| Years active | 1971–present |
| Label | Reprise Records/143 Records, Atlantic |
| Associated acts | See Artists Produced |
| Url | davidfoster.com |
He has produced debut albums for The Corrs, Michael Bublé, Renee Olstead, Josh Groban which were released under his own record label, 143 Records, and distributed through Warner Music. Foster helped launch Kevin Sharp's career after the two met through the Make-A-Wish Foundation and he produced David Hayes singing a song by composed by Ed Scheid and Laramy Smith title "Friend".
In 1985, Rolling Stone magazine named Foster the "master of ... bombastic pop kitsch." That year, Foster composed the score for the film St. Elmo's Fire, including "Love Theme from St. Elmo's Fire" which hit #15 in US pop charts (with a remake of a song titled "For just a moment" as voices by A. Holland and D. Gerrad). Another song from the film, "St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion)", recorded by John Parr hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on September 7, 1985. The following years, Foster continued turning out occasional film scores, including the Michael J. Fox comedy The Secret of My Success and the Jodie Foster-Mark Harmon drama Stealing Home, both of which spawned soundtrack albums with prominent Foster-penned contributions. He collaborated with then-wife Linda Thompson on the song "I Have Nothing", sung by Whitney Houston in the 1992 film The Bodyguard. The couple were nominated for a Grammy Award and an Academy Award for Best Song for the song.
In 1995 Foster signed a deal with Warner Brothers that enabled him to set up his own boutique label, 143 Records, as a joint venture with Warner. Foster gave the responsibility for running the label to then manager Brian Avnet.
He recently collaborated with American Idol finalist Michael Johns on the re-write of his popular 80's hit "St Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion)."
In early 1992, the national television station RCTI, David Foster came to Indonesia for the TV show David Foster's Twilight Orchestra
Foster's home life was featured in a Fox staged reality TV show called The Princes of Malibu, in which he attempts to force his two spoiled stepsons, Brandon and Brody Jenner (the children of Thompson and Olympian Bruce Jenner), to straighten their lives up and earn their own way.
In late April 2005, Foster appeared as a special guest on both American Idol (as a mentor) and Nashville Star (as a judge) two weeks apart. He was also a judge on Celebrity Duets, a FOX TV show, and appeared on Star Tomorrow, where auditions were held in Los Angeles and New York for undiscovered talent. It aired only one [July 31, 2006] episode on NBC.
In July 2006, Foster made a brief appearance on The View as Star Jones's vocal coach. In August 2006, he was the musical director for JCPenney Jam
In September 2008, singer Charice joined Foster on Oprah with Celine Dion via satellite; and later on October 31, he and Andrea Bocelli appeared on Oprah again together, where he stated that Bocelli was his "favorite singer on the planet".
In December 2008, Foster was featured in a PBS special titled Hitman David Foster & Friends, a concert featuring live performances by Foster and numerous other performers. Foster was also featured in Under the Desert Sky in 2006, Vivere Live in Tuscany in 2007, and the My Christmas Special, in 2009, Andrea Bocelli's three latest PBS Specials. Bocelli also performed during Foster's Hitman special.
In late 2009, he also appeared on a number of TV shows to promote Bocelli's My Christmas album, which he produced, including The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Tonight Show, The Dr. Phil Show, The Early Show and Fox & Friends. He also made a number of appearances in 2010 with Filipino singer Charice, to promote her album.
Foster has been married three times, has five biological daughters, an ex-stepdaughter, and two ex-stepsons. His first marriage was to singer/writer B.J. Cook. She already had a daughter Tamre Winger, and together B.J. Cook and Foster had one daughter, Amy Foster (b. July 29, 1973), a songwriter who has collaborated with classic artists in the 2000s such as Andrea Bocelli, Michael Bublé, and Josh Groban.
His second wife was former model Rebecca Dyer. They had three daughters: Sara Foster (b. August 24, 1981), Erin Foster (b. August 24, 1983), and Jordan Foster (b. September 1986). As of May 2008, Sara was engaged to tennis player Tommy Haas, and on November 14, 2010, Haas and Foster welcomed a baby girl in Santa Monica, CA. Foster revealed on the show that he also had a daughter, Allison Jones (b. April 6, 1970), from a previous relationship.
Foster married third wife Linda Thompson on June 27, 1991, and the two became a songwriting team, collaborating on several songs including "I Have Nothing" sung by Whitney Houston in The Bodyguard and "Grown-Up Christmas List". Thompson filed for divorce Monday July 11, 2005, the day after her short-lived reality series, The Princes of Malibu premiered. Foster is currently dating dutch model Yolanda Hadid. She is the former wife of real estate developer Mohamed Hadid and has three children.
Foster's sister, producer Jaymes Foster, is the mother of Clay Aiken's son Parker Foster Aiken.
In 1992, David Foster was driving on the Pacific Coast Highway when his car struck actor Ben Vereen, who had been on the road because he had crashed his car and was in a daze. Despite being thrown 90 feet, Vereen survived. Vereen also went on record to say that it probably saved his life: he had a serious drinking problem caused by the death of his daughter.
On the May 11, 2010 episode of Oprah, Foster revealed that Charice gave him a letter asking him to be her godfather, and he accepted.
On December 27, 2010 it was announced via facebook that Foster and girlfriend Yolanda Hadid are now engaged.
Foster has won 15 Grammy Awards (three for producer of the year) and has been nominated a total of 44 times. He has been nominated three times for an Academy Award for Best Song and won the 1999 Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song for the song “The Prayer” (sung by Andrea Bocelli and Celine Dion) from the film Quest for Camelot. He has been named BMI's "Songwriter of the Year". In June 2010, he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Category:Canadian expatriate musicians in the United States Category:Canadian pop musicians Category:Canadian record producers Category:Fellows of the Royal Conservatory of Music Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Golden Globe Award winning musicians Category:Canadian Music Hall of Fame inductees Category:Canadian humanitarians Category:Emmy Award winners Category:Members of the Order of British Columbia Category:Officers of the Order of Canada Category:People from Victoria, British Columbia Category:1949 births Category:Living people
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