To Catch A Sunbeam

Japanese screens: the finest Japanese painting is on screens, as a growing number of collectors outside this market's usual Japanese and American base is starting to realise. "On a visit to Spinks in London, Aristotle Onassis set his sights on a Japanese screen of such rarity and beauty that today it could not be exported from Japan. He asked that one panel be removed to enable the remainder to be converted into a coffee table for his yacht. Staff winced, and talked Onassis--and themselves--out of the sale." 

RETRO REPORT November, 1988  Byline: Edited by Tony Woolway ALLEGATIONS that Christina Onassis killed herself were rejected yesterday by the vice-president of the family foundation which managed her immense wealth. But Argentinian authorities continued to investigate her death. Miss Onassis, daughter of the late Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, died on Saturday at a Buenos Aires country club apparently of a heart attack. She was 37 years old. A Buenos Aires judge called her death questionable and ordered a post-mortem examination. He said that pills found near her would be analysed. The state news agency ANA reported Ioannis Georgakis, vice-president of the Alexander Onassis Foundation, as saying: "She died of heart failure and we reject these allegations... it seems her heart was too tired to overcome the attack." Her aunt, Mary Onassis, told reporters in Argentina she ruled out suicide because Miss Onassis was happy and content. Miss Onassis, who inherited her fath...

Reading Evening Post  Wednesday 11th October 1978  Poor Jackie O. She married two of the most powerful and charismatic men in the world and loved them both.   She had everything that their wealth could buy. She was - and still is - a woman of immense beauty.   Poor Jackie O, to have had so much and yet so little. For, despite her looks and wealth, she did not have the one thing that countless ordinary wifes have - a husband's fidelity.    Neither husband was faithful to her. John Kennedy's wanderings are legendary, and hurt her bitterly. Onassis's affairs throughout their marriage must have wounded her equally.   "Who says so?" Frank Brady, the author of a new biography of Onassis, whom I spoke to when he was over in this country this month, plugging his book.    Brady, a tall quiet American, spent nearly a year writing the book and months beforehand researching it. He is one of the handful of outsiders ever to have been allowe...

The Political Sale Auction in London (Sotheby's)  ~ Sir Winston's "Garden scene at Breccles" was under auction. It was estimated to have been painted in 1925, and estimated to fetch £25,000 - £30,000.  Note: this was the painting that Churchill had gifted to Ari, and had hung in the Christina.  ~ Cartier 9 ct. gold cigar case with cabouchon clip and an inscription "to Sir Winston Churchill from Aristotle Onassis", estimated to go for £10,000 to £15,000.  Note: the inscription was handwritten, not embossed. 

"An unlikely friendship perhaps, yet Sir Winston Churchill and Aristotle Onassis, seen her touring Rhodes in 1957 with their wives, were fond of each other. Churchill gave the brash Greek millionaire a complete set of his books, and was showered in return with presents which included a gold cigar box etched, "Happy Birthday from Ari". Asked why he spent so much time cruising with Onassis, Churchill answered: "Because nobody else ever asked me". From ONASSIS, An Extravagant Life by Frank Brady. 

Belfast News-Letter - Saturday 27 September 1958 Sir Winston and Lady Churchill who are on a 10-day cruise down the Spanish coast went ashore at Cartagena yesterday.  Sir Winston accompanied his host, Mr Aristotle Onassis, on a sightseeing tour of the city by taxi while Lady Churchill and Mrs Onassis made a brief tour on foot.  

Daily News (London) - Wednesday 16 March 1960 "Is this the secret of one of the world's oddest friendships?"  As the sleep bows of the 1,750 ton yacht Christina slice through the Atlantic swell the chances are that Sir Winston Churchill, brandy glass in hand, yachting cap jaunty on his wispy hair, is addressing his favorite audience.  Sitting, pixie fashion, cross legged and attentive not far away will be Mr Aristotle Onassis, one of the worlds richer tycoons - hanging on to every word. It is a scene that with various settings, has been repeated time after time in the past four years.    Sometimes it is Onassis, the short bouncy Greek with the agile mind and the grin of a 54-year-old street urchin under his thick spectacles who drives down to Chartwell for dinner. More often it is Sir Winston, 85, and the World's Elder Statesman, who flies off with the eagerness of a doting father to stay near Onassis in Monte Carlo or on his yacht.  They appear arm in arm at ai...

Belfast Telegraph - Tuesday 17 February 1959 Sir Winston Churchill will board Aristotle Onassis's luxury yacht Christina on Thursday for a two week Atlantic and Mediterranean cruise, it was announced today. 

Daily Mirror - Tuesday 10 April 1962 He arrived at Nice Airport at the weekend, smiling as everyone fussed around him - and the first thing he did after settling into the back of a chauffeur-driven Rolls-Royce, was to light a huge cigar.  As he drove past, I caught a glimpse of that familiar cherubic smile - Sir Winston Churchill was back to embark on another Mediterranean cruise.  Tonight he is somewhere at sea on board the fabulous yacht Christina, as the guest of his friend, Aristotle Socrates Onassis. They are an oddly assorted pair...Onassis (they call him 'Appy Ari), aged 55, king of the Greek multi-millionaire ship-owners, owner of the Monte Carlo Casino and one of the world's most extravagant hosts.  Churchill (they call him Winnie), aged 87, Knight of the Garter, and one of the greatest ever British statesmen. He is the most famous and sought after guest in the world.  How do those unlikely shipmates spend their time on their frequent cruises together? I exp...

Illustrated London News - Saturday 06 July 1968 "Onassis" by Willi Frischauer This exhilarating work might well have for a subtitle, "or how a fortune can be made in the twentieth century"; actually, of course, one is made in the twentieth century in precisely the same way as it was made in the past, that is to say by a man possessing the brains to light on a new idea, and then having the guts to go through with it in practical application. In the case of Aristotle Socrates Onassis the new idea was the big oil tanker, and this book tells us what manner of man it was who conceived it, and who operates a fleet of craft today. At the same time a certain amount of luck inevitably enters into the story, though it is a measure of the business acumen of Onassis that he has known how to take advantage of it.  It is a dramatic story, and Mr Frischauer tells it very well. It starts with a Greek boy in Asia Minor, who is caught up in a Greco Turkish war, is uprooted in the Tur...

Daily News (London) - Friday 11 March 1960 Sir Winston Churchill was in good health yesterday aboard the Onassis yacht Christina, according to a message received in London.  The Christina is sailing to Las Palmas in the Canary Isles with the weather fair. She will go on to the West Indies later in the cruise. 

Birmingham Daily Post - Thursday 21 August 1958 Sir Winston Churchill and his grandson Winston (aged 17), were luncheon guests of Mr and Mrs Aristotle Onassis, aboard their yacht, Christina, anchored at Monte Carlo yesterday. Sir Winston is on holiday at Lord Beaverbrook's villa near Monte Carlo.