'Sex party' house used for King's Speech scenes up for sale

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/jul/29/sex-party-house-kings-speech-sale

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A central London mansion, used for scenes in the Oscar-winning film The King's Speech and infamous for hosting sex parties, is to go on sale for an expected £30m price tag, according to the Telegraph.

The dilapidated six-story, 24-bedroom mansion, known for its distinctive peeling wallpaper, was revealed as a site for porn shoots and hedonistic events in the run-up to the 2011 Academy awards, where Tom Hooper's film carried all before it. Used extensively for scenes at the home of Australian speech therapist Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush), who sets out to help Colin Firth's King George VI overcome a stammer, it is being sold by owner Edward Davenport to pay off legal debts. The dining room at the property, 33 Portland Place, doubled as Logue's consulting room.

Davenport, a self-styled lord, owes £14m after being convicted of fraud in 2011. A court heard how he promised businesses huge loans for corporate projects which never materialised, despite taking money from clients in the form of "due diligence" and deposit fees.

Davenport reportedly bought the house from the Sierra Leone government for just £50,000 in 1999. The property, which boasts the capital's only fully hydraulic, removable wall, also featured in a famous Kate Moss advert for Agent Provocateur and was used in Amy Winehouse's video for her song Rehab. Its swimming pool is rumoured to have once been filled entirely with Cognac, allowing guests to row their way across a room full of booze.

Davenport told the Telegraph: "This place wasn't really related to the offences … so it's all a bit unfair that I'm being forced to sell. Quite shockingly unfair, actually."

However the serious fraud office has ruled the property was partly bought, renovated and maintained using the proceeds of crime, so the 48-year-old must pay up. Davenport, also known as "Fast Eddie", completed his seven-year jail sentence for fraud in May.