Coming next. It's all over now,from Mandy Smith to Shirley Bassey and singing for my supper on the beach!

CHAPTER: 12 (PART 2)

The Mandy Smith Story Part Two.......




To say I wasn’t scared by the threat from one of ‘The firms’ Henchman would be a lie! I was left shaking in my boots wondering that maybe this is much bigger and more dangerous than I thought at first. I went back inside the hotel and thought it best not to mention the threats fearful that the waiting journalist would write about it. I could just see the headlines; ‘Boland gets threatened by the Rolling Stones etc’. I was sure that would make things a lot worse so I just made my excuses that I was tired and made my way to my room. To be honest I was terrified and seriously thought that I would leave UK as soon as possible.

Early next morning and having slept very little, a car picked up Mandy and myself at the hotel to take us to Holborn studios were a team on makeup, hairdressers and stylists were waiting to prepare Mandy for her first ever modelling job. The session went very well, to say Mandy took to it like a fish out of water wouldn’t be an exaggeration, in fact she looked liked she’s been doing this for years. (See photo) The newspaper was very satisfied as were the photographer and all those who attended the session.
It seemed where ever you looked Mandy’s face was plastered everywhere making headlines in practical every newspaper covering her arrival at Gatwick. Before leaving Holborn studios I received another call from a national newspaper asking to meet me as they wanted to negotiate a fee for a photo session and interview with Mandy. So after the car dropped us back at the Hotel I took a taxi to meet the journalist and again a fee was agreed which also included a move to the Savoy Hotel. This was all incredible, a few days ago I was at home in Marbella now I was in London been wined and dined by journalists and now moving into the Savoy Hotel. You wouldn’t believe it if you had read it in a book, on the other hand you ARE reading it!

Before we moved into the Savoy, Mandy accompanied by her mother attended a police station saying she wasn’t going to lodge a complaint against Wyman. I’m sure a huge sigh of relief came from the Stones camp and their lawyers. Perhaps now the firm would withdraw their threat for me to leave UK? Anyway as much as a coward that I am all this was just to good to be missed . I was staying!


I must say the Savoy was unbelievable, for any of you who haven’t had the opportunity to stay there, please put it on your bucket list of to do’s before you die. Again the conditions for the photo shoot were the same as the first shoot, that there would be no fee if another tabloid got a shot of Mandy before they published their story. One of MY conditions was that Mandy would NOT talk about her time with Wyman. Mandy was incredible during the shoot , she was a natural and the camera loved her. That particular session lasted well into the evening and by the time we got back to the hotel and had something to eat we were all ready for bed. The next morning all the newspapers were delivered to my room and what I saw made me sit up boltlike. There on the front pages of The Daily Express, The Sun, The Mirror was a photo of Keith and Mandy at Stringfellow’s LAST NIGHT!!!

I couldn’t believe it. This was sure to see our fee cancelled after all I had agreed no other paper would run what’s called a ‘today’ photo until they published. I was furious as I entered Mandy and Keith’s room throwing down the papers on the bed demanding an explanation! I was even annoyed with Keith as he knew the score and had promised to keep Mandy in hiding until publication . All they could do was giggle like a couple of kids, mind you that’s all they were. They explained that once I’d gone to bed they at sneaked out of the hotel for a few drinks and somehow ended up in Stringfellow’s. Somehow I smoothed the newspaper over and we got our fee. But I did learn that more control needed to be taken over Mandy. So I called Patsy, Mandy’s Mum, and suggested that from now on Mandy must stay at home and that she should keep an eye on her. Thankfully Mandy and her mum agreed knowing I was only doing this for her own good.


I too needed somewhere to stay and run this crazy show from so I rented the top half of a house at the end of Kings Road. The

Mandy Smith Story continued to run and the demand from magazines now asking for photos and interviews was mind boggling. I found myself being wined and dined by editors and TV executives almost daily, all wanting their pound of flesh from Mandy. One TV show I remember doing was a New Years Eve TV special staring Jules Holland, it was a send up of the then popular TV show Come Dancing co-hosted by popular comedian Ruby Wax (photo). It was I suppose the precursor to Holand’s hugely successful annual BBC’s Hogmanay Show. It was a great night, everyone wanted to meet Mandy. On one occasion Ruby Wax came over to Mandy asking her what was it she had that she (Ruby) didn’t have? Mandy just looked at Ruby and replied; “Age dear!” We were sat next to a young man who began to tell us that he was hoping one day to get his own TV chat show, he was Jonathan Ross!


I decided very early on that I should explore the possibilities of Mandy making a record. I called John Reeds office in Soho. John was managing some of the biggest recording stars at the time including Elton John. I thought, because Mandy’s name was absolutely everywhere, that at least he would see me. An appointment was made for me to meet Reed, which in itself was exciting. I remember sitting in his outer office waiting to be beckoned in by the great man himself but after an hour an assistant suggested I was wasting my time and that Reed wasn’t going to turn up. He handed me a piece of paper with the name and telephone number of a Pete Waterman scribbled on it. He advised me to call him as he had just started a new record label and perhaps he might be interested in Mandy. I was not a very happy man to say the least. When I got home I decided that I would call the Waterman chap and see if he might be interested in talking to me about Mandy so I called the number. I remember that how impressed that he had a telephone in his car. I introduced myself and mentioned Mandy etc. He told me that he couldn’t believe that I had called as he had just been with Pete Burn’s (lead singer of Dead and Alive) who was enthusing over Mandy saying she looked so like a young Bardot and he should consider a remake of the song Terry by Twinkle as it was about a motor bike accident and Mandy could pose for a photo on a motorbike like the iconic photo of Bardot for the cover.

Pete sounded very excited and although it was approaching midnight he asked me to jump into a cab and join him at his studios in at the Borough just off London Bridge. I wasted no time and it wasn’t long before I was sitting with Pete having coffee trying to negotiate a record deal for Mandy. Pete pointed out he had NO money for an advance but would offer a higher percentage on record sales , odd I thought at the time as he, nor I , knew if Mandy could sing or not! I instantly liked Pete Waterman finding his enthusiasm contagious. His label PWL was beginning to have some success, one of his acts, Bananarama were just braking America with a cover version on ‘Venus’ and Dead or Alive’s had a hit with You Spin Me Around. He explained about his partners Mike Stock and Mat Aitken and told me he was trying to build a hit factory out of thin air. I signed Mandy to PWL.
Mandy was beside herself with excitement when I told her that I had signed a record deal for her. Mandy schedule was still very busy filled mostly with interviews, photo sessions etc so our appointment for the recording with Mike and Mat could only be done over a weekend. I remember sitting outside the recording studio waiting for Mandy to come out feeling like a parent at the dentist who’s kid was inside having a tooth extracted. It felt like hours when Mandy finally came out accompanied by Mike and Mat all smiles saying she was brilliant!
A couple of days later I returned to the studios to hear the finished song. I didn’t like it, not that Mandy could sing she sounded great but I felt the song sounded dated and ask could Mike and Mat not write an original song for her? After some gentle persuasion from myself and Pete they agreed and wrote a wonderful song called: I Just Can’t Wait. (see Video below)

The front cover of Mandy's first single I Just Can't Wait. Photo by Brian Aris



From that moment on Mandy’s career reached a whole new level. It was nonstop record promotions. I launched the record on the then Stringfellow owned massive Hippodrome Club in Leicester Squire (formally the Talk of The Town, coincidently the last time I had been there was to see Bruce Forsyth’s cabaret show, little did I know years later I would be launching Mandy in this very same spot!) Again it was a huge success and as it was Mandy first live performance it seemed the world press turned out to record the event (below you’ll see a cover photo of Mandy on Bravo magazine in the outfit that was designed and made by Vivian Westwood especially for this occasion)
Almost daily we found ourselves at Gatwick Airport at some unearthly hour of the morning taking off for one country or another to appear on their versions of Top Of The Pops (see photo of Mandy on TV in Germany) . It was then that we suffered out first real set back in when Pete Waterman called to deliver the bad news that the BBC announced that they had banned Mandy’s record and the only excuse they gave that they didn’t think the standard was good enough. So I decided to ignore UK and tackle the European market especial the German where the market was even bigger than that UK. I achieved almost the impossible by negotiating with Bravo, the biggest selling music magazine in Europe, to put Mandy on the front cover, it was to be the first time in this famous magazines history to put someone on the cover that hadn’t yet scored a hit record!!

The Germans loved Mandy and her record eventually made the German the top of the German charts.
My phone was going crazy, every evening when I returned to my home it would take half an hour just to listen to my messages. One evening there was message from Peter Stringfellow’s office inviting me to join Peter for dinner at his club Stringfellow’s the following evening. I couldn’t believe it, here was the undisputed king of London night life inviting little old me for dinner! In many ways, going back to my years in clubs, Peter Stringfellow was somewhat a hero of mine and to receive this invitation was so surreal for me.


It was my first time in Stringfellow’s and here I was sitting at the owners table having dinner, drinking champion with the big boss man, this was madness! Pete told me he was about to open a new Stringfellow’s in New York and wanted to fly myself and Mandy as his special guests for the opening party, that we would be flown out by Concord and given a suit at the Plaza, I just couldn’t believe what i was hearing nor could wait to call Mandy and tell her the good news. I excused myself from the table and called her immediately. She just shrieked with joy.
Peter and I seemed to have hit it off and we started to meet up quite a lot, most of our conversation was focused on the up and coming trip to America. I remember one particular night we were having dinner in Stringfellow when Peter suggested we

should go onto Tramp club for a few more drinks before we call it a night. Tramp is one of London’s trendiest clubs were people like Rod Stewart, Mick Jagger and many famous movie and sports stars were members. I tried to explain that Tramp was the place I wanted to be seen, it was one of Bill Wyman’s favourite night spots, in fact Mandy used to tell me that Bill had dinner there most nights and the last person I needed to see right now was the Rolling Stone, but Peter insisted. Johnny Gold was in partnership with Oscar Lehman in Tramp, Oscar was married to Jackie Collins, Johnny came up to meet greet Peter but you could tell he was shocked to see me, Bill was not only his close friend but also happened to be in the club that night for dinner. We were ushered away from the dining room where Bill and friends were eating so to avoid any trouble. Somehow the press were tipped off and were waiting outside the club when Peter and myself left the club. All they kept asking me was did I speak to Wyman, or was there any trouble. Peter who had a few drinks on him told them Wyman was too frightened to face Boland (Photo: The report of my night at Tramp when Wyman was also dinning there)


One day I had a call from Vanity Fair one of Americas leading magazines requesting a photo shoot with Mandy which coincidently was to be scheduled the day before we flew to New York for the launch of Peter Stringfellow’s new club . This again was fantastic news and was arranged that it would be shot by Andrew Macpherson at an extraordinary hotel called 11 Cadogan Gardens. This shoot was to stand out in my memory for a number of reasons. It was the Jewish holiest day of the year, the Day of Atonement, the Yom Kippur. On this day Jews throughout the world took part in a very strict fast that started the evening before, a fast that didn’t even allow a glass of water, a day when one stayed in synagogue all day. So here I was spending the day interspersed with the visits to the hotel seeing how Mandy was and how the shoot was going. It was felt like a tossup between the Almighty and Mandy Smith! I remember being starving and watching the crew enjoying sandwiches and ice cold Perrier water! Eventually when the fast was over and I got by to my house, no sooner was I in the door than I started to play the days messages. One of them was from Bettina Brown in New York to call her urgently; another message was from Peter Stringfellow saying he was looking forward to seeing us at the airport the next day for our flight to New York. I called Bettina first as it sounded urgent. She thanked me for the shoot and told me that Joe McKenna, the stylist, said that it went very well. Before I had time to thank her she dropped a bombshell saying she was sorry but cancelling using it in Vanity Fair! I just sat down not believing what I was hearing, she went on to tell me that she was informed from Joe that Mandy was flying to New York the following day as guest of Stringfellow and that she believed all the tabloid papers and gossip columns would be full of

Mandy’s arrival in the US. She explained that Vanity Fair liked to break new faces onto the market and believed the publicity of Mandy’s visit to Stringfellow’s would become a spoiler in advance to Vanity’s publication. Again she stressed the photographs were exceptional and added that if I wanted the photos and article to go ahead I needed to cancel Mandy’s pending trip to New York! I was dumbfounded. What was I to do? I thanked Bettina and told her I’d call back. I then made one of the moist difficult phone calls I had ever made, I called Peter, no sooner had he answered than he started spilling out what was going to happen on our arrival in New York. I could tell how excited he was. He went on to tell me that he had arranged a news conference at the Plaza and that ALL the press had said they would be there, he also told me that a number of TV stations were sending crews etc. Out of nowhere I heard myself saying: “We’re not coming” you could have cut the silence with a knife. It felt like a long couple of minutes before Peter nervously laughed “Your joking of course?” I told him my dilemma with Vanity Fair and added I could have lied saying that Mandy was sick and couldn’t travel, but I wanted to be truthful with him. He just slammed down the phone (we didn’t speak for years after that) as it turned out the Vanity Fair spread was a great success and led to a film offer by Oscar De Laurentiis Films for Mandy to star in their new movie Date With An Angele. For reasons that I will not go into now we had to turn this offer down and the lead role went to Phoebe Cates.


As Mandy’s work was increasing and the pressure getting greater I noticed that Mandy was beginning to find it hard to cope, remembering how young she was I didn’t blame her, she was suffering boats of tiredness and I could see an eating disorder developing, it was very worrying, Mandy didn’t know it but I was beginning to feel guilty, all Mandy thought was I was only interested in making money. We hardly had a day off, It was none stop touring and seemed our lives were spent in either photographic, TV studios or airplanes, I hardly got back to Marbella to see Wendy and the kids. That is until one day when I had a call offering a photo session for a magazine called Fitness allowing me to chose anywhere in the sun for the shoot. I immediately chose Marbella.
It was great get back home after months of being away. As soon as the local magazines and newspapers heard we were in town they all wanted photo’s with Mandy (Photo: Spain’s popular Lookout Magazine cover) . The photographer on the Marbella shoot was John Kelly who was once married to the stunning model Vivien Neves, the first British woman to pose nude in a tabloid newspaper when the Sun launched page three glamour pages in 1970. Vivien was tragically struck down with MS at the age of 30. Just before we left the villa for the days photo shoot I got a call from a journalist friend asking if I was in Marbella with Fitness Magazine warning me to be careful as it was published by Northern and Shell who also so published some of UK top shelf sex magazines. I insisted John Kelly signed an agreement that the photographs could ONLY be used in Fitness and nowhere else without my prior consent. He signed the paper and the session went ahead.

Months after returning to UK I noticed that Northern and Shell hadn’t paid the Marbella fee f, so I called them up to enquire about the delay. After being put through to the accounts department they asked me if I could come up and see them. At the time I had an assistant, Carola Davis, working with me so we both hoped into a taxi to take us to Northern and Shells head office which was situated somewhere in London’s dockland. The building was a standalone glass pyramid. I remember how hard it was raining that day, you could hardly see your hand in front of you. I was somewhat curious as to why the accounts dept wanted to see me personally and why they didn’t just ask whatever they wanted to know on the phone. When I announced to the receptionist why we were there and the dept we had come to see, she seemed to be expecting me and asked us politely to take a seat that someone would come down to see me. It wasn’t long before a woman asked myself and Carola to accompany her into the lift that brought us straight to what looked like a set from a movie, a enormous office which had all glass walls overlooking the Thames. I was even more confused as to why I had been summoned there after all this was just a simple matter of settling an outstanding account. After a few minutes later a trolley was rolled in with china tea cups and carefully cut sandwiches. Just as I was to take a mouthful of tea a larger than life character puffing on an even large cigar entered the office followed by a gentleman carrying a load of folders under his arm. The first gentleman introduced himself as Richard Desmond, now publisher of the Daily Express , OK! Magazine and chairman of Northern and Shell, the other man was seemingly his accountant. Mr Desmond sat opposed me and Carola and took out a load of photographs of Mandy taken in Marbella and flung them down on the coffee table saying: “You can have them, we don’t want them!” I politely replied that these are his property that the contract I signed had no get out clause. He seemed not in the slightest interested and went on to say that he wanted some risqué photographs of Mandy( It was put a lot more crudely than that) and that he was willing to pay a huge fee If I could persuade her to agree. I explained that I was disgusted by his offer and refused point blank to have any part in his dirty plan, insisting he pays me for the work already done. Without a word he picked up the phone and asked security to throw Carola and myself out of the building and NOT to get us a cab and with that he got up and walked out. In no time at all we were frogmarched out of the building onto the street in front of N&S miles from any form of transport and getting drenched to the skin. I don’t think I ever got paid in the end, but I do know that any time I relate this story to anyone in the media world they always tell me they’re not surprised as this was typical of the type of behaviour Richard Desmond was capable of!. We have never spoken since then.

Another memorable occasion was when we were invited to Ireland for Mandy to appear on RTE’’s Noël Campbell Sharps TV special. This was an experimental idea by RTE to give well known celebrates the opportunity of hosting a TV show. Noël was an old friend and married to one of Irelands foremost fashion photographers. She was also a very successful business woman who had a reputation for not taking prisoners. Noël had called me in London and asked what hotel Mandy and I would like stay whilst over for the show, much to her surprise I chose the ailing Gresham Hotel on Dublin’s O’Connell Street. The Gresham had seen better years but I had some great memories of the hotel when it was one of the leading hotels in Dublin. It was where, as a kid I stood outside hoping to get a glance of Cliff Richard or waiting for hours on the street when the Beatles had stayed there. If you had read and earlier chapter of My Story you might remember it was at the Gresham that I caused a strike by replacing live music with disco. I remember my parents telling me that a full size bungalow sat on top of the hotel and stars like Liz Taylor, Rex Harrison etc stayed there, so that really is why I wanted to stay at the hotel and more precisely in that bungalow. It was an extraordinary experience to arrive at my home town’s Dublin Airport, a place I had flown into many times to be either greeted by my mother or sisters but on this occasion with Mandy we were yet again greeted by hoards of photographers and again a limo was waiting for us to take to the Gresham.
It’s true there is a full size bungalow on top of the hotel, 3 bedrooms, fully functional kitchen, a large living room and even a roof garden. Soon after we arrived Noël phoned to invite us join her and her gusts for lunch at the Mirabeau one of Dublin’s most famous restaurants. When we got there it was teaming with press who went crazy once Mandy stepped out of the limo. At the lunch the party included some of the guest who had also flown in for this evenings show were including well known Daily Mail columnist the late Nigel Dempster and the sometime star of the TV soap Dallas and Bond girl in Never Say Never Again Barbara Carreras. (see photo)

The front of the restaurant was teeming with paparazzi all desperate to get a photo of Mandy after all she was now one of the most famous teenagers in the world and had just been voted one of the most beautiful woman in UK. One thing about Mandy that always impressed me was how she could just switch from a really bad mood to an unrecognisable happy mood. Mandy was, on top of everything, a great actress.
During the lunch I began to feel uneasy, there was something about Barbara Carreras I didn’t like, she seemed to keep fighting for centre stage, every time Mandy was mentioned she tried to change the subject,. One thing’s for sure she just didn’t like the fuss been made over Mandy, I felt she was very jealous of her youth and beauty. Mandy was also beginning to feel it so we excused ourselves and left saying we’d see them later at the TV studio. When we got back to the hotel Mandy said she wanted to have a rest whilst I called up the director Paul Cusack (son of the famous actor Cyril Cusack and brother of Sinead married to Jeremy Irons) Paul seemed distant for some reason and when I informed him that I would stay backstage with Mandy until she was called on set he sort of hummed and hawed saying that Mandy wouldn’t actually be called as a guest she would in fact b sitting in the audience. At first I was speechless before I exploded: “WHAT? Are you trying to tell me that you flew Mandy, possible the most famous teenager in the world, over from UK to simply sit in the audience?” He said this was not his decision. “I know whose fucking decision it was!” I yelled down the phone; ”it’s that aging washed out Hollywood nobody influencing Noël" I was preside myself with anger: “You can tell her to stick her show where the sun don’t shine!” I slammed the phone down and started pacing the suit until I calmed down. It didn’t take long before I came up with a plan. I called down to reception to enquire was there many press hanging about, they told me there was dozens waiting for Mandy to come down. I asked for canopies to be prepared for at least thirty, to send them up with a full functional bar and barmen. Next I needed to break the news to Mandy explain why I had cancelled her appearance on the show. Rather than be upset she was delighted. I then told her about the plan explaining that the suit would shortly be full of press and when I call her out of the bedroom she is to look heartbroken. I then called down to reception and gave them the green light to invite the press up the suit. Within 5 minutes the room was heaving with pressmen all enjoying free drinks and canopies, it is faire to say most

were confused as to what was going on but a free drink is a free drink! I announced that I had cancelled Mandy’s appearance saying she was just too hot for RTE to handle; this was the signal that brought Mandy out of her room. She played the part perfectly, still wearing a hotel gown she curled up on the sofa looking like she was about to burst into tears!!! The cameramen went crazy surrounding a very sad looking Mandy each trying to secure the perfect shot for the morning papers. After a few minutes I called a halt to the mayhem and asked my guests to settle down. I turned on the television as it was now time for the Campbell Sharp show and I wanted to know what excuse she was going to make as to why Mandy wasn’t there. Her fist guest was Nigel Dempster no sooner did she welcome him that he started to ask; “Where’s Mandy Smith?” Noël, who had never done a TV show never mind host a live peak hour talk show was flummoxed, she stumbled over some lame excuse but Dempster seeing this, went in for the kill; “ But Noël pray tell where’s Mandy Smith, it’s the only reason I agreed to come on your show?” he kept asking over and over again until the director called for an unscheduled add break. The suit erupted with flashing camera each trying to capture Mandy’s reaction.

Early next day I went down to reception to get all the Sunday papers. My plan had worked exactly as planned for there staring out at me on all the front pages was Mandy Smith. The headlines saying: ‘RTE say Mandy Smith was too HOT to handle’! My decision got Mandy more publicity than any to bit TV show would have got her. Noël and myself have become friends again since.



Mandy's first record 'I Just Can't Wait' written by Stock Aitken and Waterman and recorded at the PWL studios in London (look carefully when Mandy gets out of the car and you will see my cameo role, somewhat like Hitchcock used to do in his moves!)


To be continued.....


Next up Mandy and myself eventually drift apart as her workload gets out of hand . So its back to Marbella and hello Shirley Bassey and singing for my supper on the beach

Coming next; part two of the Mandy Smith Story. Includes my fall out with Peter Stringfellow big time. I'm thrown out of The Daily Express's Richard Desmond's office and told Mandy wasn't welcomed on to an Irish TV show.

CHAPTER 11

FIRST STOP CUBA AND THEN MANDY SMITH




Since I started this journey of writing my memoirs I hadn't really touched on my religious beliefs, except, that is, in the first chapter when I tried to explain what it was like being a Jewish kid brought up in a catholic country. Maybe I would be better off leaving religion and politics out of My Story, it’s suffice to say that I’m a practising Jew, of sorts, I try to attend Saturday service at our synagogue in Marbella, The reason I’m bringing up being Jewish now is because that’s where the next chapter in my life begins..

It was early 1986 whilst attending synagogue that I was introduced to Larry Spence. Larry had recently moved to Marbella from Scotland after marrying the daughter of one of the synagogues elders. We seemed to hit it off almost immediately, must have been our Celtic blood.

Over lunch one day Larry asked me if I was planning anything new? I told him about a large premises that I'd viewed which was

formerly a Marbella cabaret club that had been extensively damaged by a fire some years ago and was now up for rent. It was perfectly positioned on Marbella’s Golden Mile between Puerto Banus and Marbella Town practically opposite the fashionable 5 star Marbella Club Hotel. I explained my idea for a club with live bands as well as disco, something that would be new to Marbella. Larry insisted we go and see it. I made an appointment with the letting agent and the next day we were shown around the burnt shell. Larry immediately could see the potential that I had seen earlier, he told me he'd loved to get involved and that he had some friends back in Glasgow that had just sold their discotheque for a lot of money and coincidentally had asked him to keep his eye open for an opportunity to do something similar in Marbella. They were Mark Goldinger, Harold Ure and Ron McCullough, the club that they had sold was Henry Afrikas one of Glasgow’s most successful discotheques of all time.

That evening Larry called the guys back in Glasgow explaining what he had seen and my ideas for the club. Before you could ask what a Scotsman wears under his kilt all 3 had arrived in Marbella. I arranged for them to view the premises and like myself and Larry they loved the layout and could see the great potential. After spending a morning with lawyers we ended up signing a contract to lease the premises. My next big thing was about to happen!

Ron McCullough, was an award winning interior designer specialising in bar, restaurant and club interiors. He immediately set about concept designing the club. Within 24 hrs he came up with the idea of calling the club Cuba simply because he liked the Cuban flag.

He based the interior design on the flags colours of white furniture set off with red cushions with the walls were painted blue, dozens of Cuban flags hung from the ceilings over the tables and bars. It looked amazing, i'd never seen anything like it, in fact I feel safe in saying Spain had never seen anything like it.

It was Almost 3 months to the day I originally found the premises that Cuba was ready to open. Outrages singer Divine was flown in from New York for the opening night. He was currently riding high in the US and UK charts with a cover of Walk Like A Man People magazine described him as the "Drag Queen of the Century".
The opening party was a sensation.

(Unfortunately This is the only photograph I have showing the Cuban flag design and was taken outside to the left of the main entrance. I think the girl in the photograph was TV stars Des O'Connor's daughter)



One day I was walking through Puerto Banus when I bumped into my old mate Irish rock star Phil Lynott, we hadn’t seen each other for years, he invited me to join him for a drink and it wasn't long before we started reminiscing about the good old days back in Ireland. I eventually got around to talking about Cuba and asked if he would like to make a special guest appearance for old time sake? At first he wasn’t too keen as he said he was on holiday with his Mother Phyllis and daughters (He had just broken up with his wife Caroline the daughter of comedian Leslie Crowther), but by some gentle persuasion and a few more drinks I eventually got him to agree, but he added one important proviso and that was that I got the members of Thin Lizzy over to Marbella to appear with him. This was an exciting challenge for me to stage Phil Lynott at Cuba. So without thinking I agreed. Little did I know what a nightmare that was going to turn out to be!
After days of phone calls etc I eventually tracked all member of the band down. At first they too were also a little apprehensive about coming over as by that stage Thin Lizzy had broken up and I’m not sure they had parted with Phil on the best of terms but again my Irish charm seemed to have worked and all members agreed to fly over.
Two were flying from Paris and one from Dublin, they were scheduled in Malaga at around 5pm on the day of the show. I had sent a car to meet both flights. As there was no mobile phones I had to wait for a call from the driver to inform me of the bad news that the band were on neither of the flights. I told him to wait at the airport and not leave until the last flight got in . I said nothing to Phil who I was having dinner within in his hotel. Around 10’clock I received another arranged call from the driver telling there was still no sign of the missing musician! I instructed him again not to leave the airport until the last flight got in. I still had said nothing to Phil as I was worried he just tell me to forget it and go to bed.
We left the hotel for the club around midnight, on arriving I could see the each side of the Golden Mile was jammed with cars for as far as the eye could see, in fact it was bedlam, so much so that the police were on the road guiding traffic. Even before you entered the club you could feel the buzz it was electric. Phil and I entered direct to the dressing rooms through the back of the club.

I simply had no Idea what I was going to do. I had a packed club, a stage full of instruments and sound technicians standing by to drive the concert, but still no band, on top of that I had no way of communicating with the driver, anyway by this stage the airports were closing! Back in the dressing room Phil started drinking and worse cocaine was everywhere, he also was beginning to get agitated and kept asking. “Were are the fucking band?” By 1:30am the crowed were becoming restless, Phil was getting wasted and started suggesting he would go home. I was now finding it hard to keep calm. By 2am Phil was well greased and getting very angry he was suggesting the he would go out and entertain the crowds himself, this is the last thing I needed for Phil Lynott staggering on the stage making some drunken excuse why Thin Lizzy hadn’t turned up . The crowed, that must have numbered over 600 had started to slow handclap demanding Thin Lizzy. I had to keep going on stage promising that the show would start shortly. Then just as we approached 3am the dressing room door burst opened and in walked three very dishevelled drunk musician who looked a lot worse for wear, Thin Lizzy had arrived. They were efing and blinding about delayed flights and what the fuck they were doing in Marbella etc , Lynott started swearing at them, tempers flared and punches were almost thrown!!! I immediately ran on stage announcing; " Ladies and gentlemen, one of the worlds greatest rock bands.... Thin Lizzy" the crowd went wild when they spotted Phil and the boys take to stage. They opened with their massive no1 hit The Boys are Back In Town and all I could think was ‘Thank G-D they are!’. I can remember no more of that night. I probably passed out on the dressing room floor!! As a sad side note to this story, this was to be Phil Lynott’s last public appearance before he died shortly after by an alleged drug overdose.

Mandy Smith part one

Cuba had got off to a flying start and within a very short space of time had established itself as THE club to be and be seen in through the 1986 summer season. My job was to look after marketing and the management of the club. The boys had flown over Colin Barr one of Glasgow’s trendiest male models and hugely popular with the ladies to work with me on the marketing also from Glasgow Harold’s son Paul and his best friend Keith Daly, who were going to run the bar and floor. We also employed a team of a dozen great looking boys and girls to PR the beaches. Every day an open army style jeep, which was togged out in the Cuba colours, would deliver the crew to the beaches to hand out publicity pamphlets publicising the evenings parties at the club. One of the girls was Keith’s girlfriend called Mandy. I can remember my first impressions of her, she was breathtakingly beautiful with a great fun personality.
We had a brilliant summer, and by the end of the ’86 season Cuba had been an outstanding success. Keith, who it turned out to be a distant cousin of mine, came around to my house one day with Mandy to ask if they could stay for a few days before flying back to Scotland for a break. One evening I was watching TV with Keith whilst Mandy was out with Wendy when out of the blue he dropped the bombshell that Mandy was in fact Rolling Stone Bill Wyman’s girlfriend and she had been since she was 13! I was speechless, Keith went on to tell me that the British press had been trying to legalise the story for sometime but could never find enough proof of the affair. He explained if this had ever got out the aging Rolling Stone would end up in prison! A few nights later I had my friends Pat and Barry Tracy over for a BBQ.

(Photo: This is a very rare photo of Mandy playing with our youngest son Daniel days before her story was to break)

The Tracey’s were freelance journalist from Lamington Spa that we had known for some time and would always look us up when over in Marbella. Mandy and Keith had made plans to go out that evening but changed their minds at the last minute so they could join us for dinner. Whilst we were all in the garden having a pre dinner drink Keith told me Mandy was making a very important phone call and would join us shortly. As we sat down to eat Mandy came running to the table shouting excitedly to Keith “I’ve just told Bill were all over!” Remembering what Keith had told me about the dangers of the Wyman story getting out,I tried to signal to Mandy to be carful what she’s saying as she didn’t know the Tracy’s were journalists but it was too late. Barry started to ask Mandy was she the THE Mandy Smith Bill Wyman girlfriend? Mandy confirmed she was and as much as I tried to shut her up she just continued giving details to Barry and Pat about her affair with Wyman, in fact, they agreed to meet the next day for more revelations . After dinner the Tracy’s left rather promptly I remember thinking at the time. What I didn’t know was that they headed towards the hotel where there was a teletex machine, there was no fax machines in those day, and lodged the whole story with the News of The World. The next day, being a Sunday, the Mandy Smith Story ran over 8 pages including the front page!

My phone started to go crazy non stop from very early on Sunday morning. One of the calls was for Mandy from her very angry mother Patsy Smith demanding to know what the hell was going on and for Mandy to stay exactly where she was as she was on the next flight. As I said it was still early on Sunday morning when I noticed the paparazzi starting to gather at our gate. I just thought this is all pretty exciting stuff and didn’t take the unfolding events very serious. Little did I know that this was about to change my life.
Later that morning a car pulled up our drive, the driver informing us that he was sent to pick up Mandy by her mum, at first Mandy didn’t want to go but after Keith agreed to go with her they left and that was that .

I was sorry to see her go and the press disperse. Excitement over, so I thought.
The next morning I got a call from Keith saying I was to come over to the house, that Mandy, and her mum wanted to talk to me. When I got there I was greeted by a very agitated Patsy Smith who wanted to know if i knew what I done and had I realised how dangerous this situation left Bill in? Also in the house were the Rolling Stones legal team who had also flown over with Patsy, who were also equally forceful in their condemnation of me. Hold on, I thought, surely the mum should of have been more concerned what Bill had done to her daughter rather worrying about what the consequences of his actions would do to him. I was very confused as to why Patsy was so supportive of Bill until she dropped the bombshell that she was in fact Bills twenty one year old son Stephen’s lover!! So Mandy could have been her mums step mum, this was all very bizarre to say the least, I should have just turned around and left but for some reason not only did I not leave but I started to tell Patsy that perhaps this could be wonderful opportunity to launch Mandy into a career of modelling, music whatever?” Patsy was far from happy when Mandy kept pleading with her to allow me to help her become a model. The Stones lawyers went berserk at the suggestion, insisting this just couldn’t happen that anymore bad publicity could end with their client in prison. Patsy now seemed to be ignoring them and called me aside and asked me what I knew about management? I lied and told her I guaranteed that I would turn her daughter into a superstar model within 12 months. I seemed to have hit the right spot with Patsy and much to my surprise Patsy agreed that I should manage Mandy! The Stones legal team started accusing me of jeopardising Bill’s future and that he could end up in prison. All I said was he’s big and rich enough to look after himself.
When we got back to the villa I got on the phone and booked 3 flights back to UK for the next day after all Mandy’s Story was front page news in practically every newspaper in Europe so I thought if there was ever a time to give it a go this was it.
Somehow the Spanish paparazzi got wind of our departure the following afternoon from Malaga airport and when we got to check in the press where over us like a swarm of bees! Although Mandy had experienced this type of carry on before with the Rolling Stones it was all new to me and to be honest very exciting. I was starting to enjoy the ride. When we eventually boarded the plane and waiting for takeoff reality suddenly struck home; what was I going to do when we got to London?

After collecting our cases at Gatwick we made our way out to the main concourse, I still had no plans what I was going to do I only knew that I would stay with my cousin and Mandy and Keith would stay with her sister. As the automatic doors pulled back we got such a shock when we were greeted by the noise and flashes from hundreds of motorised cameras and the lights of TV cameras. The noise was incredible. I remember Mandy shouting that she thought someone very famous must have arrived. It was only after a fraction of a second did I realise that the shouting was for Mandy, all you could hear was shouts of “Mandy, Mandy” from the camera men. We just stood there like rabbits caught in headlights until a couple of kindly policeman came to our rescue by helping us through the crowds of pressmen who by now were pushing microphones in front of Mandy shouting questions; “Did you sleep with Wyman?” or “Did he know what age you were?” it was none stop, in fact it was quite scary. With the help of the police we edged our way towards the exit to try to find a taxi. It was then a woman grabbed hold of us saying she was the beauty editor of a well known daily tabloid, that she had a car waiting outside that would give us a lift. We were more than thankful with the offer and even more delighted when we saw it was a chauffeured limousine

As we made way away from the airport the journalist explained that she would like an exclusive fashion shot of Mandy the next day and was willing to put us up in a 5 star hotel,and pay us a generous fee. 'A fee?' I hadn’t thought of that. “How much?” I asked “How much do you want?” she replied back. I don’t know where I came up with the figure but I said “£7,000!” (Worth £17,000 in today’s money!) She agreed readably, possibly to readably I thought! Without knowing it I was already filling the managerial role! We arrived at the 5 star Kensington Palace Hotel, Mandy and Keith were immediately escort by the newspapers staff to their room and the journalist and myself went to the bar to go over details for the next day’s photo shoot. She explained that it was very important that Mandy shouldn’t be photographed by any other newspaper before her paper had finished the shoot and publish their spread or the fee wouldn't be paid. I agreed to keep Keith and Mandy hidden away until we leave for the photo session the following day. It was then that we heard a lot of noise coming from the hotel foyer. One of the newspapers security guards informed us the whole of the front of the hotel was overrun by press and that we should get out of their immediately. How they knew we were there? I suppose hotel porters earn a few bob tipping off the press when someone famous is staying in the hotel. Within 10 minutes we were back in the limo having checked out of the Kensington Palace on rout for the Swiss Cottage Hotel. By this time we arrived at our new and I hoped our final destination we were all shattered. Mandy and Keith headed to their room. I sat again with the journalist enjoying a much welcomed cup of tea and sandwiches when one of the hotel receptionists came over to say there was a gentleman at the foyer wanting to see me. I excused myself and went out to see what he wanted. The waiting man stood well over 6 ft and was built like a heavyweight boxer all in all a very unpleasant looking man. He asked me could he see me outside for a moment as he had some important news that I should know. I was intrigued, so I agreed. No sooner were we outside the hotel that he aggressively grabbed me by my collar almost lifting me off my feet and told me in no uncertain terms that he worked for ‘the firm’ and told me: "You are to leave fucking London within the next 24 hrs or things could turn very nasty!"

To be continued.....

Part 2 of the Mandy Smith Story will follow shortly including, touring, TV shows, record deals and heartache.

CHAPTER: 10

BACK TO THE HIGH COURT AGAIN!





Prior to taking over Oscars Marbella the nightclub scene was booming that was right up to the time that disco bars took off as told in the laast chapter. My timing couldn't have been worse, Oscars was suffering. I needed something to happen, something big I was running out money fast.

One afternoon I got a call from RTE ( Irish Television) Today Tonight’s production team asking me if I was willing to take part in a TV documentary about Marbella. They explained that the documentary would be in two parts. The first part was going to document respectable Irish businessmen who had now retired and living in Marbella, the second part would be about Irish fugitives living on the Costa’s who were wanted back in Ireland to answer criminal charges. After I was assured that it was the first part of the documentary that I would take part in I readily agreed as I felt this exposure on the national television station would be good and certainly wouldn’t do me any harm.
Unfortunately prior to the time of the Irish TV crew arriving I made the decision not to renew my lease on Oscars.
It seemed whatever I tried I just couldn’t beat off the competition of the disco bars who were now opening all over Puerto Banus. This new phenomenon had also forced Joys, one of Marbella’s most famous discotheques, to also close.


The Irish TV crew finally arrived in Marbella and set up my shooting schedule. Really all I had to do was be filmed talking to camera at some of my favourite Marbella locations. One funny incident happened when we arrived to film on Victor’s Beach, half the dinners spotting the film crew and made a hasty exit. I was told later that most of them were wanted back in UK and that the last thing they wanted was being caught on camera!

It was approximately two months after the TV crew had finished in Marbella that my mum called to say that the Today Tonight program was shown the night before and although she thought I looked wonderful (typical Jewish mother) she wasn’t 100% sure I’d be happy with program but refused to elaborate any further adding that I could make up my own mind when I saw it. She told me she had sent down a video copy with a friend who was arriving in Marbella that day. Almost as soon as I put the phone down my mother’s friend rang at our door and handed me the Video. I’d hardly thanked her before I had loaded the tape into the video player. Today Tonight is a current affairs program somewhat like the format of the BBC’s Panorama. The show is hosted by one of RTE's biggest stars Pat Kenny who opened the show by saying that this evenings program is one of the most anticipated programs in the history of Today Tonight it’s called Life on The Run in The Sun!!!! I felt the blood drain from my face, all I could do was look over at Wendy who looked as shocked as I felt. The program was about Irish fugitives who were wanted in Ireland to face criminal charges! We both sat in silence as the program unfolded I thought, I mean I hoped, my mother had sent me the wrong tape and the one I was in, the one about respectable business men, was still sitting in my mothers house in Dublin! Each one of the stories was accompanied by a ticker tape report of the crime they were wanted for and in one particular sequence one of the fugitives was seen throwing punches at the perusing camera crew!!! When it came to me there was no ticker tape report, there was no indication that I was a criminal but by association the damage was unimaginable this was a total disaster. What’s more I felt that my name would be associated with the very criminals I’ve steered clear of. When the program finally came to an end Wendy and myself just sat there in silence, what had I done? I thought, why did I agree to do this? This will destroy me back in Ireland bringing shame on my family. This was all I could think of as I rang my mother and told her I was devastated. She said she’d be receiving calls all day from newspapers asking her about me being on the run etc she also received many calls of support, one particular call was from one of her patience telling her not to worry that her son also was in prison !!! Practically before I put the receiver down I was on the phone again, this time to my lawyers Gore & Grimes and was put through immediately to John himself, it was as if he was expecting my call. John told me he had seen the program and was horrified by it. He suggest we immediately issue proceedings against RTE for slander. I agreed without hesitation. I had been humiliated and I wanted justice .

Above is the first letter from my lawyers informing RTE that I was going to issue proceedings against them.



The Today Tonight show was screened in May 22nd 1985. I will jump forward now to the case which finally got to court in April 30th 1989. I will then return back to ’85 to pick up My Story in the next chapter.

Wendy and I were accompanied to court by my mother Dr Hazel Boland who was to be also called as a witness. My lawyers had appointed Harry Whelehan as my senior counsel (Whelehan went on to become Ireland's Attorney General and was appointed as President of the High Court) Harry is a formidable gentleman standing over 6ft with a head of shocking red hair with a matching beard. The proceedings finally got underway after the jury was sworn in. The first person called to the witness stand was one of RTE’s Today Tonight’s producers who said when cross examined that he didn’t feel that I was portrayed in any way as a fugitive. Harry continued his cross examination by asking; "Did you not assure Mr Boland that the program was to be broadcast in two parts, that one would be about respectable businessmen living in Marbella and the second about fugitives on the run?" The producer explained that none of the business men, except Mr Boland, agreed to be filmed. Harry snapped back "So you decided to dump Boland in with the fugitives?" He had no answer to that and the embarrassed TV producer stepped down. A screening of the program then followed. Harry Whelehan pointed out that the music used behind my interview; Every Step You Take by Sting, also suggested that I was a fugitive. The track was then played in court with the opening verse: 'Every breath you take. Every move you make. Every bond you break. Every step you take. I'll be watching you'. My mother was called to the stand and said she felt terrible for me when she viewed the program as she knew how it would affect me. She also told how she was hounded by the press wanting to know what it was like knowing her son was a fugitive? She told the story of her patent sympathising with her saying her son was also in prison. Wendy, who just hated every minute of the case and who is generally very shy of publicity was also called as a witness. The hearing lasted over two days. In summing up RTE’s senior counsel told the jury how proud he was to represent the national television station and felt that they should find them not guilty on any point of slander against Boland. Harry Whelehan then slowly and

purposly took to the floor for his turn to sum up. He approached the jury like a tiger stalking its prey; “ My learned colleague has just said how proud he was to represent the national television station of Ireland, well let me tell you the jury how proud I am to represent just one man, one man who is fighting here in court today to simply protect his and his family's good name. This is a David and Goliath case and my client is David. I ask you now to find RTE guilty of slandering Mr Boland and award him according to the law.” The judge then dismissed the jury to deliberate and return with a verdict.

Although it was late on Friday evening and all but the court my case was being heard were finished for the weekend the Four Courts main hall was still packed with journalists, TV crews and members of the public all staying on to hear the verdict. Finally after what felt like hours we were recalled to the court as the jury were ready to deliver their verdict. There was a tremendous rush for seating almost knocking myself, Wendy and my mum over. All I could do was sit there staring at the wall clock behind the judge slowly ticking, I went into a sort of dream like trance, I could see the spokesperson for the jury get to his feet and start delivering the verdict but couldn’t hear what he was saying, my mind had wandered back to a few years ago when I sat in this very court where the outcome was a disaster. All of a sudden I was brought back to reality when a loud cheer went out. I looked at Wendy; “What happened?” I asked her “We’ve won, RTE have been found guilty!” I was speechless. We were almost carried out of court be a sea of supporters with our feet hardly touching the ground. TV and press cameras were everywhere, It seemed that everyone was trying to shake my hand or pat me on my back. I felt very confused not totally grasping what was happening It was only when we were finally helped into the waiting car by the police that I ask Wendy if we had been awarded any money? I nearly collapsed when she told me “ £50,000!” That would be worth £106,000 in today’s money plus RTE have pay ALL the considerable costs. The judge did allow a short time for RTE to appeal but ruled that £25,000 had to be immediately deposited to my bank. I couldn’t believe it, the stress of the past days in court had finally caught up with me and I just covered my head in my hands and burst into tears!

That evening all the television news programs reported our victory with films of Wendy and myself leaving court. The phone in my mother’s house, where we were staying, didn’t stop ringing, it was as if all of Ireland was excited about the win. What I didn’t realise was just how badly Wendy was taking all this publicity. Odd you might think when you consider she models in front of hundreds at fashion shows and adorns the covers of glossy magazines, but when not in the spotlight she is a very private person, she hates walking into parties unless I promise I won't wander off and leave her. It was never easy being married to me and picking up gossip columns reading about some made up rubbish about us. RTE announced that they wouldn’t appeal.


When we arrived at Dublin airport the next day for our departure back to Marbella the airport was heaving with Irish football supporters returning from an International and as soon as they spotted us they started to cheer, more and more people started to join in as we were easly recognised from the front pages of the mornings newspapers. in fact the cheering got so loud that the police escorted us into the VIP lounge to await are departure. Even on the Aer Lingus flight back passengers were coming up to chat with us offering their congratulations. If we had accepted every drink that was offered we would have been drunk for a year!!. The reaction to our win was amazing, I suppose the general public took it to heart, as Harry Whelehan pointed out in his summing up, it was David taking on Goliath and the underdog won. It was unbelievable that we beat Ireland’s National Television station with all its wealth with all its resources.

It was only when we got back to Marbella and had a celebration dinner with friends did I realise just how badly this court case had affected Wendy when she ran out of the restaurant in tears. I ran out after her to ask what was wrong. She said she didn’t want to hear another word about the court case, that it was over and that was the last she wanted to hear about it. All the stress, all the pressure had finally surfaced and Wendy finally cracked. She said that she now he wanted get back to a normal life away from court cases, television cameras and newspapers. A normal life? Being married to me I somehow don’t think so!

To be continued.....

In the next chapter I will return to 1985 when I was involved in the opening of a super club in Marbella and the Mandy Smith story.

Chapter 9: My Story.


A new life, new home, criminals and drugs.


After losing my property court case on the grounds of innocent misrepresentation, and Barbarellas burning down I honestly felt there was a sign from the almighty that my time in Ireland was up and perhaps I should move to pastures new. So after selling Glencarrig and doing a deal with James Hunt in Marbella to take over his discotheque Oscars, I began the process of uprooting the family and moving to Marbella. Wendy thankfully was very supportive of this move as she was partly brought up in Cape Town and was never to keen on the Irish weather anyway. So with three young children a nanny in tow we boarded the plane to Malaga and our new life.

On my last visit to Marbella I found a very nice ground floor 4 bedroom apartment on the beach next to Puerto Banus and felt this would be the perfect start home for our life in the sun. Again Wendy approved of the apartment and didn’t take long to settle in. Meanwhile I had urgent business to do in getting Oscars opened and some much needed funds to top up are every diminishing cash pot. Thankfully I met up with a young man called Daniel Wolf who although from Belgium spoke fluent English and most importunately Spanish and joined me as a right hand man setting up the club. Oscars thankfully was in very good condition and all it really needed was a good clean up etc.

I loved Puerto Banus at night and started to visit it practically every evening to hang out in the Irish owned Patricks 19th hole bar. Although I wasn’t much of a drinker I really wanted to start spreading my name around by making new contacts, after all I was setting out to rebuild my life in a new country, a new home, new friends, new language and a new business. I met many old clients from the Elizabeths days in the port which was comforting away from home. I remember one night vividly; I had rented a white Seat Panda and had driven into the port parking in what was in those days was a large field directly behind the port buildings. As I’ve said I’m not really a drinker, but on this particular evening I had one more than I should have. Making my way back to the car park to drive home I was greeted by dozens of white Seat Pandas and hadn’t a clue which one was mine so I decided to walk back to the apartment thinking I would collect the car the next morning. When I returned it was obvious I was not the only one confused by the rows of white Seat Pandas as there was at least a dozen still left!!! I had to try my keys in each one until I found which my car was.


Most Sundays we would spend the day on Victors Beach. One Sunday Wendy was approached by a woman who said she was member of a

TV commercial film crew who were in Marbella to film a new commercial for Coca Cola, she asked Wendy would she be interested in the principle part. At first we thought it was a wind up but shortly after a contract was hand delivered to our apartment and Wendy ended up starring in the world wide TV commercial for Coca Cola (Photo: The Sunday Peoples write up. I wish I had a copy of the commercial it’s self) .



We were settling into the Marbella life style quickly and enjoying it immensely. The kids also loved the outdoor life, especially the swimming pool and the beach, they also settled into their school. So all in all things were already looking up I hoped. It didn’t take long for me to start meeting and making friends with a whole new Marbella crowed. One of them being an Alan Brooks. Alan had a lovely girlfriend at the time who I introduced to Wendy as both enjoyed playing tennis. Alan approached me one day telling me he was bored doing nothing and could he make an investment in Oscars. I was grateful of the extra cash and after working out a deal we shook hands and I had a new partner. One day whilst Wendy was playing tennis with Alan’s girlfriend he came around for a chat. He told me he needed to let me know something about his past now that we were going to be partners and that was that he was wanted by the police in England for stealing cars. He explained that he owned a car dealership in Blackpool specialising in top end cars like Jaguar and Rang Rover. He sold the cars but never paid British Leyland and simply upped and left UK for good. To say I was shocked would have been an understatement I was left speechless, I had known of a large criminal community who lived in Marbella as there was no extradition agreement at the time between Spain and UK but certainly never wanted to knowingly mix with any of them. After Alan had delivered this shattering news all I thought of was; 1. he’ll steel from me and .2. Oscars will be full of crooks. I immediately told Alan there would be no deal and he could not buy into the club. To say he was furious would be an understatement but I stood by my decision and that was that, my first encounter with a Marbella criminal!!! Incidentally I wasn’t that surprised when I read the headlines a few months ago that read: Notorious drug smuggler, 61, who lived a champagne lifestyle in luxurious Spanish villa is caught bringing £134million of cocaine into Britain on his yacht. I think I made the correct decision?

This was taken on the day of Oscars launch party, take note of my dyed hair colour.


By the time Oscars was ready to open and all the licenses were in place we had been living in Marbella for almost 6 months. I had got to know a lot of expats living in and around Marbella and it wasn’t that difficult to have a full house at Oscars opening party. The place looked wonderful the staff that Daniel employed seemed top class. Now all I needed was to hear those cash registers ringing!!! Everything felt so right I thought. .

As well as Marbella’s reputation of harbouring UK criminals it was also well known for the famous celebrities who lived there, names like Rod Stewart, Sean Connery, arms dealer billionaire Adnan Khashoggi to name but a few. I hadn’t met anyone famous yet until one morning there was a knock of the apartment door, when I opened it I nearly collapsed because there stood in front of me larger than life Bruce Forsyth. I just stood like an idiot with my mouth opened, you must remember at that time he was hosting the BBC television show The Generation Game so he was one of television’s most recognised stars (almost 30 years on Sir Bruce still is one of the most recognised face on British TV. Good on him) . “Sorry to disturb you” he said “but if you have a phone I would be very grateful if you let me use it?” So among the chaos of the children getting ready for school Bruce bloody Forsyth was sitting on my sofa on my bloody telephone!!! After the call Bruce explained that a friend of his had lent him the apartment above us and it had no phone as he had heard our phone ringing and needed to make an urgent call he came down to ask us. I introduced Wendy to Bruce who suggested that the four of us should get together for dinner as Winnie, Bruce’s wife, would love to meet Wendy after he learned that she played tennis. So a friendship was struck up between the Bolands and the Forsyth’s, but not for long unfortunately. (Photo: Bruce and myself at Aloha Tennis courts. Notice my Oscars T-shirt which read 'If you have the balls we have the club.' a play on the fact that Marbella was a very popular golf resort)
We had been out with Bruce and Winnie a few times. Bruce was in Marbella to oversee the decorating of his new apartment and after a month he and Winnie left our apartment block and moved into his own apartment. Invited Wendy and myself for drinks to celebrate the move. One evening we were dinning with the Forsyth’s when I noticed a bandage on across the bridge of his nose. After enquiring what had happened He told me that he had walked into the glass doors leading out to his terrace, (something I’m sure we have all done) The next morning I got a call from a journalist friend of mine who happened to spot me with Bruce last night in the port and enquired about the bandage on his nose. I explained what had happened etc and that was it. But the next day in the Daily Mirror there was a short piece about Bruce’s unfortunate accident with a glass door and added as reported by his good friend Maurice Boland. I had hardly read the article when my phone rang. It was Bruce before I could even say hello he went into one saying if I thought our friendship was a way of getting information about his private life to sell to some rag of a newspaper I was greatly mistaken and that he never wanted to see me again! He slammed down the phone before I could reply. And that folks looked like the end of the Boland, Forsyth’s beautiful friendship! (More to come on this story in a later chapter)


Oscars was now open but doing dreadful business in fact all the discotheques and that was because of the newly found
popularity of Disco bars, most notably Joe’s in Puerto Banus. Let me explain; Prior to the popularity of the disco bars people would stay in the port until 1-1:30 am and then make their way to the clubs to enjoy the music and dancing but now Joes in the port and Willies Salsa in Marbella port were not only pulling the crowds in but keeping them there by providing room to dance and top DJ’s . (Photo:Inside Oscars)

It looked like my timing in opening Oscars was a disaster. We were approaching New Years Eve 1984 when I felt we had a half chance to make a little money. It was a tradition in Spain that clubs, restaurants and now bars would charge a one price and that would include a ‘drink as much as you like’ policy. I asked Daniel to find out what all the other clubs on the Marbella’s Golden Mile (the main road between Puerto Banus and Marbella town) where charging for their New Years Eve party and under cut them. Wendy and I joined friends for dinner at a restaurant in Marbella’s old town’s Orange Square to celebrate New Year’s Eve. After dinner my friends suggested we should all go to Oscars to finish the evening. I was very hesitant, in fact slightly embarrassed, as I didn’t want them to see what was usually a pretty empty club, but I agreed and prayed at least there would be enough people to make it look respectably busy. When we turned onto the road in front of Oscars we were met by what looked like hundreds of cars parked out in front of the club for as far as the eye could see!!!! As well as being relived just couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Oscars was heaving and Daniel and the staff greeted myself, Wendy and our guests with the widest smiles I had ever seen on their faces since opening of the club. It was simply a brilliant night. Maybe now I thought Oscars has taken off at last.

I met with Daniel the next day with a plan. Why not always charge one price and let our clients drink as much as they wanted, after all alcohol was cheep in Spain at that time and felt that most would never drink more than say a bottle. So the next day we launched this idea and thankfully the club began to work for a while at least. As business began to waver again I started introducing all sorts of incentives like Sunday afternoon sessions, worked a few times then it seemed once the sun was shining and that was practically every day on the Costa del Sol the people would rather spend Sunday afternoon on the beach rather than the club. I tried introducing food, that to was more are less a waste of time. Oscars just wasn’t working.
DRUGS: By this time I hated going into work in the evening knowing that Oscars wasn’t working and more than likely empty. I remember one night arriving at the club only to be met by an excited Daniel he told me about a very wealthy Arab who was inside the club drinking. He was known by my staff as a big spender he was also well known as one of Marbella’s richest Arabs. I was brought over and introduced to him and his two female companions. Unfortunately they were the only clients in the club. After about ten minutes he asked me to join him. When I sat down he inquired if there was somewhere private he could use. I suggested my office and asked me to join him. When we entered my office he asked me to lock the door, I reluctantly did as he asked it was then he removed a large plastic bag from his pocket which was full of white powder. Shit drugs!!! He rolled up a 1,000’ peseta note and inhaled the line that he had carefully laid out on my desk; he then laid out another line and called me over handing me the note.

I didn’t know what to do, if I refused he might take it as an insult, so I nervously took the 1,000 Pts rolled note a proceeded to also inhale the large thick line of the white stuff, I remember praying that nothing would happen and It looked like my prayers were being answered as I felt nothing happening. The Arab gentleman then laid out another two very thick lines again he snorted his one and offered me the other line and again I snorted it up like a vacuum cleaner. I just couldn’t believe what i was doing. I remember clearly Jack Cohn warning about one of the dangers of living in Marbella was the popularity of cocaine among the jet set and that I should be doubly carful to stay well clear of any temptation to use the drug. I laughed at the time saying to Jack I’d never seen a drug never mind take one!!! And here I was snorting cocaine. He then got up and left the office. I just sat there wondering what had I done, it was then I felt what I thought were my front teeth disappear and a magical high taking over my body, in fact I felt wonderful!!! I walked out of the office trying to act normal but I couldn’t stop smiling, smiling at nothing. I made my way onto the dance floor and started to dance on my own. My staff just stood laughing knowing exactly what had just taken place behind the shut door of my office. Within half an hour I started to come down from my high but so did the Arab so both of us went back to my office. I couldn’t wait to get more of this white stuff as the buzz was incredible. I don’t know how many lines I took that night but I know they were a great bowel mover and spent some considerable time on the toilet. From that night on the Arab started to visit Oscars regularly brining along with him his friends, I was delighted with the money they were spending, I was also delighted to join them in my office for more incredible highs . I must say Wendy hadn’t got a clue that I was now using cocaine regularly although I was beginning to sneeze rather a lot. One of the noticeable problems I was having was getting to sleep after arriving home from the club at around 7am every morning. I asked one of my new Arab friends had he any suggestions to help me sleep. He suggested I smoke some hashish to relax me. I really didn’t want to go back smoking after taking so long to quit. So he showed me an alternative way of smoking hash. He took a small pin and pushed through the centre of a playing cards, then he cut a small piece of the hash and placed it on the end of the pin. He then put a match to it until it began to smoke. He then placed the glass over the pin so that hash smoke would fill the glass, he then lifted one side of the glass and inhaled the smoke that filled the glass, and that’s what I did every morning when I returned from the club. I would us my bathroom so Wendy and the children wouldn’t see me doing drugs. One morning after yet another night of cocaine highs I was in my bathroom inhaling hash when one of my children started to knock on the door saying “Daddy what are you doing in there?” I just looked up at my reflection in the mirror and remembering Jack Cohen’s warning about staying away from drugs I put down the hash filled glass, walked out of the bathroom kissing my little son on the head as I past and from that day on almost 30 years ago I never touched another drug again!

To be continued....

Next: The TV show that lands me back in Dublin’s high court!

NOTE: ALL CHAPTERS OF 'MY STORY' CAN BE READ BY SCROLLING DOWN

Part 8: My Story.


What the hell is Innocent Misrepresentation?


The year was 1982 and Wendy and I couldn’t have been happier now a sale was agreed on Glencarrig; we had our third son Daniel to complete our family. I asked for and got an 8 week closing date on the sale of the house giving me time to find something for us to live in. To say we were relieved is an understatement. I had three wonderful healthy children, a stunning wife and money soon to be in sitting in my bank account. In fact so happy was I that I decided to throw a big celebration party in Glencarrig as a sort of goodbye to the house we hated so much knowing nothing could go wrong, now that the contracts had been signed and the deposit paid.

It felt that at last my life and my family’s life had turned for the better. I couldn’t have been happier that was until
Wendy recived a call from her father, who was now living back in Cape Town, telling her that her mum was gravely ill and suggested that Wendy should immediate make arrangements to travel to be with her. Her mum sadly passed away shortly after she arrived. (photo: Wendy's mum and dad)




With Wendy away I set about looking for a new property to purchase, this time I wanted to find something well within my budget allowing me surplus for investment etc and with the recession deepening the choice of excellent properties available with heavily reduced asking prices had now become the perfect purchasers market . The 1980s in the Republic of Ireland was one of the state's bleakest times. An extremely irresponsible budget by the majority Fianna Fáil government in 1977, which included abolition of car tax and borrowing to fund current spending, combined with some global economic problems to ruin the Irish economy for most of the 1980s, causing high unemployment and mass emigration. The Charles Haughey and Garret FitzGerald governments made this bad situation much worse with more massive borrowing and tax rates as high as 60% (with one Fine Gael finance minister suggesting people were not being taxed enough). Ireland was being referred to as ‘the sick man of Europe’. So I was doubly delighted that we had sold Glencarrig at such great price.


Four weeks after the house contracts had been signed I had a call from my lawyers asking me to come in to see them as soon as possible. I hadn’t a clue what it was about but I immediately made myself available at their offices in Dublin.

The senior partner John Gore Grimes ushered me into his office and delivered the devastating news that the purchaser didn’t want to go ahead with buying Glencarrig and wanted his deposit returned immediately!!! I was dumbstruck; I felt that I had been just given the news that I had a week to live. Words could never describe how I felt at that moment.. I remember thinking this just cannot be happening; this must be the worst nightmare I’ve ever had, surely I will awake shortly and all of this conversation never happened. Surely he couldn't get out of a contract he had already signed and paid a deposit?. Unfortunately this was no bad dream this was happening there and then in my lawyer’s office. He explained that the purchaser, after signing the contract, did a search on the property and found the new Southern Cross motorway, which was still on the drawing board, would affect part of the paddock area. He also claimed he specifically asked me about the pending motorway and that I told him that it wasn’t going to affect my land and that I also advised him he should at least get his lawyers to check it out. John could see how devastated I was and explained that all is note quite lost and that we should sue him for what’s called in law Specific Performance which translates in law meaning that; it compels a party to execute a contract according to the precise terms agreed upon. Before I had time to think he then landed another hammer blow; that the execution of this recommended action could take up to a year before it gets to court. A YEAR!!! Not only was the bank putting pressure on me but the recession had sent the property market into freefall and I couldn’t even put the house back on the market before the case gets to court. I was now in deep trouble.

I began to think things couldn’t get worse, until that is, one Saturday afternoon.

I was at home watching Ireland playing England rugby international when the phone rang. Anyone who’s experienced financial difficulties will understand what I’m about to say; I hated the phone ringing, I was always fearful it was the bank or someone looking for money I didn’t have, but the weekend at least gave you a rest bite from that worry, I answered the call which was from Barbarellas manager informing me that he had just been called by Dublin Fire Brigade telling him that there was a fire at Barbarellas. I jumped in my car and met him at the club. Barbarellas was destroyed!! Standing there looking around the smouldering club I knew I had lost the Barbarellas and my last source of income!!!



The call came eventually that the court case had been set and that a series of meetings with my appointed senior and junior counsel would take place immediately in the Four Courts law library. Nicholas Kearns was to be my senior counsel. (See photo)

I briefly knew Nicholas and I also knew he had an excellent reputation. The day the case was heard in the high court was one of the most stressful days of my life, something I never wanted to go through again, little did I know that I would be back here in a few years time, but that is a whole different story which I will cover later in an up and coming chapter.
I remember during cross examination the purchaser admitted that he was a conveyance lawyer and that my senior consel asked him why then did he not check before signing a contract re the planned Sothern Cross motorway? After all he was obviously on notice or he would never have asked the question whilst inspecting the property in the first instance. The purchaser replied that he had in fact asked me and that I had told him that to the best of my knowledge that the land was not going to be affected and he should check it out. I felt then that the purchaser was in trouble, being a conveyancing lawyer he SHOULD have checked it out, after all he must have heard of Caveat emptor, ‘Let the buyer be aware’. I believed I now had an excellent chance of winning this case. My lawyers, senior and junior counsels were all also quietly confident, in fact so much so that Nicholas promised that if by any chance I should lose this case he would defend me for free on appeal in the Supreme Court.

The following week was like living on a knife edge. I slept terribly and would wake up on the hour every hour thinking the unimaginable that I would lose the case. Finally the decision day had arrived. As I sat nervously in court surrounded by my legal team the judge handed down his verdict that he was awarding the case to the purchaser and that his deposit plus interest needed to be returned immediately. The court was packed, not only with both sides legal teams but my family and a large press contingent (Photo: Dublin's Four Courts where my case was being heard)

. You could clearly hear a gasp going out when the verdict was delivered. The judge said he was truly sorry that this was that outcome as he had no alternative but to make this decision based on the law of Innocent Misrepresentation. He went on to explain to me by giving an example of what Innocent Misrepresentation means: A man trying to sell his car he knew to be faulty by advising the purchaser to get the car checked out by the AA. The point being that the purchaser of the car would feel confident that the car must be okay as the seller would never have recommended that the AA should check it out. He went on to explain to me; I should never have advised the purchaser, after being asked if the motorway was going to affect my land, to ‘check it out’ I should have simply said ‘I don’t know. This is what’s called ‘Innocent Misrepresentation’!!

Hard to believe that years later my case would become a case study at the University of Dublin's law school stating that I should never have taken this case to court as I had no chance of winning !

I had said ‘things couldn’t have got worse, who was I kidding?’

Early in ’83 I sold Glencarrig for just enough to clear my debt and leaving us with a little to help start all over again. I was now 34 years old with a wife and three young children what to do?
I remember a family member Jack Cohn always enthusiastically talking about a place called Marbella known as the playground for the rich and famous, located in southern Spain on the Mediterranean. Louis Murray also recommended that I should take a trip to check the place out as it was a great favourite with the Irish and possibly a place to think of re-establishing myself. So with nothing to lose except the airfare and a hotel I went out and had a look around. I immediately investigate the nightclub scene only to find out it was booming, clubs like Pepe Moreno and Joys were packed. I liked the atmosphere, the wonderful weather and low prices compared to Dublin, a perfect place I thought to bring up a young family. So I started in earnest to see what the possibilities of starting up a club in Marbella.



I just can’t remember exactly how but I was introduced to the ex Formula 1 champion James Hunt. At the time he owned a discotheque called Oscars and was interested in selling it.(Photo: James Hunt in Oscars with Princess Gunilla von Bismarck and I think it might be Sir Dai Llewellyn)

I was shown around the club by his lawyer and liked it on sight. It was so different than the basement clubs in Dublin. Firstly it was a standalone property, it had magnificent gardens (I was told that the club was originally a chinese restaurant therefore the eastern style gardens) it was all mirrored and brass with marble floors, all so different to anything one would see in Dublin. I loved the place and now the only thing standing between me and my 'next big thing' was a question of; D.I.N.E.R.O I hadn’t got any or very little that is. I felt sure once I reopened the club and brought my expertise into play it be as simple as printing money. A meeting was set up between James and myself which was spent on his luxury yacht eating, drinking and frolicking around in the blue seas of Marbella. After many hours of negotiating he agreed to let me have the club on a 12 month lease agreement with the option to purchase. I was delighted and flew back to Dublin victorious waving the contract which I signed with James Hunt like Neville Chamberlain waving the agreement for peace that he signed with Adolf Hitler.

Pack your bags Wendy were off to live in Marbella.

To be continued.......

NOTE: Please remember that each of these chapters that make up part of My Story are just synopsis and when I get around to it I will complete the stories by adding not only words but some of the photographs that I have received since I started this journey. Thank you.