international news _ 11th April, 2006
Paul Oakenfold's Neighbourhood Threat
Text by Jonty Skrufff (Skrufff.com)
Superstar DJ Paul Oakenfold revealed this week that he's seriously unhappy about living side by side with Tony Blair, because of both his noisy neighbour legislation and predeliction for playing the electric guitar.
"I've got a house in Connaught Square (Bayswater) and he bought the one next door," Oakey told Time Out, "But it's so expensive I've had to rent it out."
The world's most popular DJ (and richest, according to the Sunday Times Rich List of 2003) said he'd been regularly harassed by noise abatement officials at his last home in Notting Hill though said he's yet to hear the PM blasting out power chords, somewhat to his dismay.
"I tell you, if I had, I'd have banged on the wall and got my own back for that poxy noise bill he introduced," said Oakey, "Unfortunately he's never lived there, I'm told he wants it for when he leaves government."
Oakey's neighbour from Hell problems began in 2004 when the Blair's bought the identical next door house for 3.6million pounds (4.8million euros) prompting the Guardian to predict that 'guitar-playing Tony Blair can look forward to jamming sessions with next door neighbour Paul Oakenfold'. Within a year, however, the Standard published a piece headlined 'Blair Blight Hits Connaught Square', suggesting houses in the Square could have lost as much as 350,000 pounds (470,000 euros).
Ironically, Connaught Square is thought to be the burial ground for the headless body of Britain's first puritanical leader Oliver Cromwell, who's corpse was disinterred, beheaded and dumped in an anonymous burial bit in the Square, which in the 17th century was one of London's key execution grounds.
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