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Inside the house where you can swing from room to room

<p>Dubbed ‘Disney World for adults’ by the selling agent, the owners of this interesting resort style home have dropped the price by AUD $946,400 (USD$700,000) in hopes someone will finally buy the property after a long 18 months on the market.</p> <p>Real estate agent Colleen Henninger of City Center Realty recently re-listed the unusual family home on real estate site Zillow, where it gained huge interest thanks to its design.</p> <p>It’s a fusion between African safari, American wild west, Tarzan's lair and a ride at a Disney resort.</p> <p>For AUD $1.6 million (USD $1.2 million ), the home could be all yours. The outside of this two-storey home features timber and rock walls, while inside you will find massive exposed timber beams, corrugated iron walls and wrought iron walkways connecting the rooms, which are separated by a massive internal void.</p> <p>A life-sized carved timber elephant is on display in the downstairs living room, while a statue of a pirate guards the upstairs area.</p> <p>There is also an elevated stage complete with drum kit and ropes to swing from end to end if you’re feeling like something different.</p> <p>The three-bedroom, three bathroom home in the Los Angeles suburb of Lakewood, California, first hit the market in October 2020, with an asking price of USD $1.9 million (AUD $2.57 million). However, after failing to sell and a brief stint as a rental on Airbnb where it was leasing for USD $730 per night, the owners have decided to drop the asking price.</p> <p>Henninger, who is a friend of the owners, says there had been a great deal of interest in the home, but the majority of those who inspected the property just wanted to look and had no intention of buying.</p> <p>"It's a great house. It's like Disney World," she said. "It was built with fun in mind.</p> <p>It's a unique home and it's going to need a unique buyer. You go in and you either love it or hate it. It needs someone who wants to entertain guests and have fun."</p> <p>Of course if you do get bored, the home is within driving distance to Disneyland Resort, Anaheim which is a short 20 kilometres away.</p> <p><em>Images: Domain</em></p>

Real Estate

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Squash and a squeeze: Inside the skinny home under 2m wide

<p>This charming two-storey, town-centre home in the British locale Dorchester, Dorset, has been listed for sale.</p> <p>The very reasonable asking price of just £175,000 ($305,000) will get you two bedrooms, one bathroom and a dual commercial and residental application – such a bargain.</p> <p>But, as the old saying would have it – if it seems too good to be true, it probably is, and with that being said this exceedingly cheap residence does come with a rather significant caveat.</p> <p>At its tightest, the home is an uncomfortably slender 1.7 metres wide, which would feel like quite a tight squeeze, regardless of any interior designing tricks.</p> <p>Judging from the photos, the slim space hasn't even been adorned with any smart fixtures or fittings to make the most out of its five feet and eight inches.</p> <p>The tiniest part of the home is reserved to just the main bedroom, however, whereas the rest of the residence is wider, measuring a humble three metres across.</p> <p>There's also an arresting rooftop balcony on offer, which provides quaint aspects of neighbouring rooftops and treelines.</p> <p>The total living space in this tiny home is equivalent to 46-square-metres, which is roughly what you'd expect in an average one-bedroom apartment.</p> <p>Buyers who suffer from claustrophobia should probably avoid it, though you’d be snapping up quite the bargain.</p> <p><em>Images: Domain</em></p>

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Madonna flips The Weeknd's former LA estate

<p>Music icon Madonna has successfully flipped this Los Angeles-area mansion for a huge profit.</p> <p>The ‘Material Girl’ singer has listed her 3-acre Hidden Hills home for $25.9 million (A$36 million) just one year after buying it from R&amp;B star The Weeknd.</p> <p>That’s $6.7 million (A$9.3m) more than the $19.3 million (A$26.8m) the 63-year-old pop queen paid for the approximately 12,000-square-foot estate, which she bought from the singer in April 2021.</p> <p>This time around, however, the house may actually sell at the steep asking price, thanks to the addition of a new gym and dance studio in the property’s barn.</p> <p>The home features a saltwater pool, a basketball court, a 10-person spa, an indoor-outdoor bar, a formal dining room with a fireplace, a wine cellar, a five-car auto gallery, a home theatre and a two-bedroom, two-bathroom guesthouse with a full kitchen.</p> <p>It also has plenty of room for guests, boasting nine bedrooms and eleven bathrooms throughout the main house and separate guesthouse. All seven of the main residence’s bedrooms have ensuite baths.</p> <p>The interesting compound is also very well hidden, accessed via an “olive-tree lined drive &amp; storybook bridge”.</p> <p>The grounds are located on a “sun-drenched hillside” brimming with redwood trees in the gated Hidden Hills community, which is known for its many current and former famous residents.</p> <p><em>Images: Domain</em></p>

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Famous mansion from Scarface hits the market

<p>The mansion that played the prominent role of Tony Montana's home in the 1983 classic Scarface is on the market for $55 million ($USD 39.995 million).</p> <p>Named El Fureidis – which means 'tropical paradise' – the estate is the home Tony bought in the movie after he offed Frank Lopez and became the cocaine kingpin of Miami. It's also where Tony, played by Al Pacino, ultimately meets his violent end.</p> <p>Designed by renowned turn-of-the-century architect Bertram Goodhue, the gorgeous 10-acre grounds feature layered gardens, specimen trees, fountains and pools to give grandeur and romance.</p> <p>Goodhue's design, which pairs a classic Roman villa with Persian water gardens, has hosted world-renowned celebrities and thought leaders, with the likes of Einstein, Churchill and JFK having spent time at the elegant estate.</p> <p>The seven-bedroom, 6.5-plus bathroom stunner was last bought in 2015, for a third of its then-asking price.</p> <p>After languishing on the market for a year, the elaborate estate's $USD 35 million hopes were dashed, and the price was dropped to $USD 12.26 million.</p> <p>At the time the buyer, investment banker Pradeep Yohanne Gupta, stated the home's cinematic association was merely "a data point," according to WSJ.</p> <p>The home underwent a multimillion dollar renovation since the iconic Oliver Stone film, although none of the interiors from the film were shot here. The refurb modernised the living spaces and kitchen, while retaining many of the original fixtures.</p> <p>Remaining luxurious details include a main 'conversation room' in "a Byzantine-style alcove crowned with an 18-foot-high central dome that is decorated with a floral hand painted, gold and blue design in 24k gold-leaf modelled after the church of St. John Lateran in Rome," according to the former listing.</p> <p>The formal dining room features a barrel ceiling "painted in 24k gold leaf and depicting a scene of Alexander the Great conquering Persepolis by Henry Wadsworth Moore," with the artist's original signature on the artwork.</p> <p>There are also views of the Pacific Ocean and even the Channel Islands from the estate.</p> <p>The area is known for its A-list residents. Santa Barbara County is home to the likes of Oprah, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, and Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi, to name a few.</p> <p><em>Image: Domain</em></p>

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12 things you never knew about the ‘Happy Birthday’ song

<p><strong>The Happy Birthday song's original lyrics were different</strong></p> <p>“Happy Birthday to You” was originally composed in 1893 as “Good Morning to All” by Patty Smith Hill, a kindergarten teacher and principal in Louisville, Kentucky, and her oldest sister, Mildred Jane Hill, a pianist and composer. Its lyrics went like this:</p> <p>Good morning to you,</p> <p>Good morning to you,</p> <p>Good morning, dear children,</p> <p>Good morning to all.</p> <p><strong>The Happy Birthday song had a deeper meaning</strong></p> <p><span>The song was part of a larger project of the sisters to create simple music that catered to children’s limited abilities. </span></p> <p><span>They workshopped songs on Patty’s class so that “even the youngest children could learn with perfect ease,” with Patty writing the words and Mildred setting them to melodies. </span></p> <p><span>They published “Good Morning to All” (GMTA) in their 1893 book, </span><em>Song Stories for the Kindergarten</em><span>. </span></p> <p><span>Just like us, the sisters loved simple, shareable sentiments.</span></p> <p><strong>The origins of the song's birthday lyrics are unclear </strong></p> <p><span>It’s unclear where the birthday lyrics originated, but they appeared with the GMTA tune (unbeknownst to the Hill sisters) first in a piano manufacturer’s 1912 songbook, then in the Hall &amp; McCreary Company’s <em>The Golden Book of Favorite Songs</em> in 1915 and in Robert H. Coleman’s Harvest Hymns in 1924, eight years after Mildred’s death. </span></p> <p><span>After The Birthday Song cropped up in the 1931 Broadway musical <em>The Band Wagon</em> and, two years later, the musical <em>As Thousands Cheer</em>, Patty and Mildred’s sister Jessica took legal action. </span></p> <p><span>In 1934 and 1935, with the Hill family’s blessing, the Clayton F. Summy Co. published and copyrighted all six versions of “Happy Birthday to You” (HBTY), crediting Mildred and Patty as the authors.</span></p> <p><strong>According to some scholars, the Happy Birthday song's tune may be derivative of other 19th-century works</strong></p> <p><span>Scholars have drawn comparisons between GMTA and piano company founder Horace Waters’ “Happy Greetings to All” (1858), as well as “Good Night to All” (1858), “A Happy New Year to All” (1875), and others.</span></p> <p><strong>Legal battles raged over the Happy Birthday song's ownership</strong></p> <p><span>For years, legal battles raged over the Hill sisters’ ownership of the Birthday Song and whether or not it should be in the public domain. </span></p> <p><span>A 2013 class-action lawsuit initiated by a New York filmmaker challenged the song’s copyright and demanded that the current copyright owner return all previous royalties it had collected for HBTY. </span></p> <p><span>In May 2015, US District Judge George King was still hearing arguments for Good Morning to You Productions Corp vs Warner/Cahppell Music.  </span></p> <p><span>In February 2016, Warner Music finally ended the long-fought battle when it paid US$14 million to put “Happy Birthday” into the public domain. </span></p> <p><span>In June of the same year, judge approved it.</span></p> <p><strong>Before Warner's 2016 settlement, you couldn't sing HBTY in a movie without paying a royalty</strong></p> <p>The Clayton Summy Co eventually became Birchtree Ltd, which Warner/Chappell Music (Warner Music Group’s music publishing division) acquired in 1988 for US$25 million.</p> <p>Before 2016, the company pulled in about US$2 million in licensing fees every year just from that song.</p> <p>Movies and television shows typically avoided using the song, but have sprung for it in special cases: while directing <em>Hoop Dreams</em> (1994), documentarian Steve James shelled out US$5000 to include a poignant 18th birthday party scene, using the Happy Birthday song.</p> <p><strong>The Happy Birthday song was the first-ever singing telegram</strong></p> <p><span>The Happy Birthday song was used in the first-ever singing telegram when George P. Oslin, the Western Union executive who pioneered the festive greeting, sent one (sung by operator Lucille Lipps) to cherished entertainer Rudy Vallée on his birthday in July 1933. </span></p> <p><span>Western Union discontinued its singing telegrams in 2006, but relaunched them in 2011 as an e-mail service through which you could have musicians like Snoop Dogg and Timbaland serenade your loved ones.</span></p> <p><strong>Singing the Happy Birthday song may actually make birthday cake taste better</strong></p> <p><span>According to a study by researchers from Harvard University and the University of Minnesota, indulging in a ritual before eating heightens our enjoyment of the food and helps us savour it.</span></p> <p><strong>It's probably the most-sung English song in the world</strong></p> <p><span>The Happy Birthday song is arguably the most frequently-sung English song in the world, giving “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow” and “Auld Lang Syne” a run for their money.</span></p> <p><strong>There are a few other songs that sound a bit similar</strong></p> <p><span>Igor Stravinsky’s “Greeting Prelude”, a 45-second orchestral piece that he composed for conductor Pierre Monteux’s 80th birthday in 1955, might sound a bit familiar: though it deconstructs the song’s notes and leapfrogs across octaves, the spirit and melody of the Happy Birthday song ring through loud and clear. </span></p> <p><span>Aaron Copland’s “Happy Anniversary” is also based on the tune, and was played when President Nixon presented the Medal of Freedom to Philadelphia Orchestra conductor Eugene Ormandy.</span></p> <p><strong>June 27th is the 'birthday' of the Happy Birthday song</strong></p> <p><span>The anniversary of GMTA’s composition is widely celebrated as June 27, Mildred Hill’s birthday. </span></p> <p><span>Mildred, who would be 158 this year, shares her special day with Helen Keller, Ross Perot and Vera Wang.</span></p> <p><strong>The song's writers were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame</strong></p> <p><span>Mildred and Patty Smith were honoured posthumously at the 1996 Songwriters Hall of Fame award and induction ceremony with the Towering Song Award, which celebrates songs with lasting cultural impact.</span></p> <p><em>Image credit: Shutterstock</em></p> <p><em>This article first appeared in <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.readersdigest.co.nz/culture/12-things-you-never-knew-about-the-happy-birthday-song?pages=1" target="_blank">Reader's Digest</a>.</em></p>

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Harry and Meghan secretly purchased domain names for Lilibet before birth

<p>A spokesperson for Prince Harry and Meghan have confirmed that the couple purchased the internet domain names "Lilibet Diana" and "Lili Diana" before their daughter's name was approved by Queen Elizabeth.</p> <p>A spokesman for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex said they had purchased a "significant" number of domain names covering the different baby names they were soldiering, The Telegraph reports.</p> <p>After the admission, questions are being raised as to whether the couple asked for the Queen's approval for naming their child Lilibet, the monarch's own childhood nickname.</p> <p>The registering of several domain names suggest the couple had a Plan B if the Queen had not approved the name Lilibet Diana.</p> <p>The domain name lilibetdiana.com was registered in the US on June 4, The Telegraph reports.</p> <p>June 4 was the day baby Lilibet was born and two days before the announcement was made public.</p> <p>The domain name lilidiana.com was registered several days earlier on May 31 - indicating the baby girl’s name was well and truly settled on before her birth.</p> <p>It’s likely the domain names were bought to stop others from cashing in on the baby’s name, or to launch a foundation in her name later on.</p> <p>“Of course, as is often customary with public figures, a significant number of any potential names that were considered were purchased by their team to protect against the exploitation of the name once it was chosen and publicly shared," the spokesperson said.</p> <p>Lilbet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor was born at 11:40 am local time on June 4.</p>

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