Friday March 4 – just another day? Not for Jerry and Rupert!
Rupert Murdoch and Jerry Hall/Jagger made their engagement more official – ie they got married on Friday March 4 2016. For Rupert it is his fourth marriage, and for Jerry her first Britishly official nuptial as her marriage to Mick Jagger was apparently not recognised in UK as she and Mick Jagger married in India. They have four children together – 2 male and 2 female. Jerry Hall is originally from Texas and Rupert Murdoch, Australia. However they are two high profile figures in UK with Murdoch having four children from his first marriage, and two from his third marriage together with mixed race grandchildren to his daughter Elizabeth who had an African first husband but is now on her third husband. Yesterday they had a blessing at St Bride’s a journalists’ church behind Fleet Street (once known as The Street of Shame) and this did in fact incite a number of negative comments from people in the print who were made redundant when Murdoch bought over a stable of papers in the early 80’s and it is almost exactly 30 years since Murdoch sacked 6,000 workers in the print, fired scores of journalists, and relocated the print empire he had taken over to Wapping.
I am related to the Halls and even have crossed over front teeth the same as Jerry Hall as well as the high forehead and glamourous looks and I am a trained media lady. Myself and ex husband worked in Fleet Street and were close to where The Sun was being published in Bouverie Street which used to have huge rolls of paper delivered though their first floor by hoist from Finland. I write and record songs, and work as a journalist/writer. I am a British born lady and have never met Jerry Hall or any of the distant family who carry the same genes but I wish them all the best as relatives of a romantic couple who have everything going for them. Apparently a number of detractors in the newspaper or ex news business who feel that their personal lives have been ruined by the progress of the print trade are not happy with this union. I do sympathise with them as well as with Clare Short Labour MP who led a debate against Page 3 in The House of Commons which lost. Page 3 now however has its girls partially covered but this is years later.
Smashing unions and employing people like Andrew Neil who slept with half Asian prostitute Pamella Bordes who was pursued out of the country to France and was involved in a motor bike accident cannot be popular with everyone. A lot of the pubs and eateries in Fleet Street only host parties who want to reminisce about the good old days when it was busy and papers were selling well.
In any event both parties will not be having babies. They will clearly leave that to their common collection of children, step children and grandchildren. Lets see how they get along – and that will only be coming to our attention if Rupert Murdoch thinks fit to let the press publish it.
Penny Nair Price