GRANDER BY DESIGN

The day that Elvis met The Beatles, above, has gone down as one of the most famous, not to mention awkward, moments in rock and roll history. It was 1965, the Fab Four were in California and had been invited by Elvis’s manager to meet ‘the King’ at his California home, a Regency-style Bel Air mansion in Beverley Hills, Los Angeles.

Elvis’ then wife Priscilla later revealed that the Beatles were ushered into the living room to find Presley watching TV.

After half an hour of little or no conversation, Elvis got up and started playing his guitar at which point an extended jamming session struck up during which the five musicians began having fun.

The Beatles’ wide-eyed encounter with Elvis, pictured below, is not the property’s only claim to fame. Reportedly built in 1955 by movie director Howard Hughes, during the 1970s it was bought by Hollywood socialite Zsa Zsa Gabor, who lived at the mansion until her death in 2016.

During her tenure the house was visited by Ronald Reagan, Elizabeth Taylor and Frank Sinatra, to name a few.

The six-bedroom property’s elegant looks have also attracted movie makers including as a location for the 2012 Oscar-winning film Argo starring Ben Affleck.

1001 Bel Air Road now has planning permission for two development options.

This includes being knocked down and replaced with a modern seven-bedroom

24,000 sq ft two storey residence, or being remodelled.

The estate is for sale at $23.45 million through agent

Coldwell Banker Global

Luxury, Beverly Hills.

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Three years ago viewers of Channel 4’s Grand Designs programme found out what a £120,000 kitchen looked like. It was in a modernist house called Pavello visited by presenter Kevin McCloud, above, during its two-year build.

The 60m-wide property, set within a wooded glade in the West Sussex countryside near in dozens of TV programmes including Star Trek, The Simpsons and The Big Bang Theory.

But how did this extraordinary mind fare in day-to-day life? A glimpse can be seen from a run-in with a neighbour in Cambridge.

Hawking lived in a flat at The Oast House in the district of Pinehurst between 1990 and 2000 and, after moving in with his first wife Elaine Maso, set up a barbecue on its terrace.

He then received several typed complaints about the grill from a well-known academic who lived upstairs, missives that were ignored by Hawking except a final one which asked him ‘don’t you know who I am’.

Hawking had his assistants print a blunt ‘NO’ on the letter which was then returned to the exasperated academic, who later moved out.

The specially-adapted flat where the spat took place, includes three bedrooms, a large reception area, a new kitchen and two new bathrooms.

■ For sale at £665,000 through cheffins.co.uk or call 01223 214214.

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