LUXURY SHAQ
Fans of American basketball have enormous reverence for Shaquille O’Neal, right, who is universally regarded as one of the greatest players the sport has produced.
Taught by another basketball star, Magic Johnson, O’Neill started his career in the early Nineties in Orlando, Florida, before moving to Los Angeles where he played for the Lakers, later joining other high-profile teams before retiring in 2011. But O’Neill is much more than a former basketball player. He has released several successful rap albums, appeared in a dozen or more films, including Scary Movie 4, and appears frequently on TV.
He also runs a social housing programme that
There are plenty of playthings we all dream of having in a garden. Maybe it’s a pool, mega-shed, fire pit or even a putting green. But this property has the ultimate addition at the bottom of its garden; a tower dating back to the 15th century with links to a murderous king, one of the UK’s most famous civil wars and a film by The Who.
Warblington Castle is all that’s left of a fortified Tudor house built near Havant in Hampshire by the 16th Earl of Warwick who played a leading role in the War of the Roses, and whose son Edward Plantagenet was executed by Henry VIII for treason.
Edward’s sister went buys the homes of financially struggling Floridians about to lose their properties and then sells them back to them, but on much more affordable mortgage deals.
His own home is not for the financially fainthearted. It’s a 12-bedroom lakefront mansion half an hour from Orlando that includes a truck in its lounge, a 6,000 sq ft basketball court and a mirrored garage where he can on to be a lady-in-waiting to Henry’s first wife Catherine of Aragon, only to later also be accused of treason and executed aged 67.
Her home was confiscated just after she had finished building a moat, remains of which can be found near the tower today. The main manor house was flattened during the Civil War and only the tower remains today. It featured in scenes within the 1975 inspect his 17 luxury cars from every angle. And at 325 lbs and 7ft 1in tall, Shaq – as his fans call him – needs plenty of room.
His home is now for sale. The 46-year-old has moved to Atlanta where he works for TV network TNT as a commentator. He’s asking $28 million for his Florida mansion, complete with a dance studio and a 95-ft long swimming pool. More details from toptenreal estatedeals.com rock opera movie Tommy by The Who.
All this history is for sale today at
£2.6 million. The tower, which is Grade II listed and a National Monument, comes with a 17th century house with four acres of gardens and grounds. This has seven bedrooms, a swimming pool and three reception rooms.
More information from Jackson-Stops (01243 273809) or onthemarket.com