The Max Factor with Max Clifford
Above: Max Clifford returns to his boyhood home
Above: Max, with his brothers and partner Jo, visit the current residents of his old childhood home
Above: Max with Dr Amar and Barbara at the Villa Tiberio restaurant in Marbella
Above: An emotional reunion as Kenny Richey is greeted by his mother on his return home
Home Sweet Home
I found myself back at Hardy Road, South Wimbledon, last week, at the little terraced house I grew up in. BBC TV’s The One Show filmed what was, for me, an emotional visit to the house I spent the first 21 years of my life in and hadn’t seen for 43 years.
I lived there with Mum (Lily), Dad (Frank), my older sister (Eleanor) and older brothers (Bernard and Harold). My parents rented the house, although dad was given the chance of buying it for £400. Nowadays, it would cost around £499,000.
I invited my brothers to join me for the visit and Bernard produced a rent book revealing that mum and dad had paid 18 shillings (what today would be 80p) per week for the modest three bedroom property, complete with outside tin bath and toilet.
As you would imagine, memories came flooding back; the hours I spent as a little boy hiding under the dining table so I could stay up longer listening to the radio; watching and hearing Dad playing beautiful pieces of classical music on our three-quarter length piano in our front room, and the teasing that went on, inevitably leading to my mum giggling and shaking uncontrollably.
It was a house full of love and laughter, even though times were hard and money always very scarce.
A new lease of life on the costa
It's amazing to hear the wider ramifications of the Rhys Daniels charity golf weekend that I started in Spain seven years ago.
For example, a chance meeting at the charity’s gala dinner in Marbella has turned into a life changing experience for former Claygate resident Barbara Hodges.
Barbara, who suffered from polio as a child, met top cosmetic surgeon Dr Roger Amar at the event on the Spanish coast in 2003.
I have known Roger for many years. He has treated many famous stars and is often referred to as the cosmetic surgeon to cosmetic surgeons, because of the work he has performed on the wives and girlfriends of many of his colleagues.
Barbara, 53, had developed post polio syndrome as an adult, a condition that causes the muscles in the body to waste. Barbara’s right calf had become painfully thin, making walking and other everyday activities very difficult for her.
So Dr Amar offered to try his pioneering FAMI technique on Barbara’s leg. Normally used as an anti-ageing treatment, FAMI (Facial Autograft Muscle Injection) uses the patient’s own stem cells harvested from fat on the lower part of the body and reinjects them into the muscles of the face, creating a truly amazing and lasting rejuvenating effect.
Dr Amar was convinced that this technique would help to rebuild the muscles of Barbara’s leg and he arranged for her to fly out again to his Marbella clinic for the treatment a few weeks later.
Suffice to say, the results have been staggering. Over the last five years, Barbara’s leg has continued to improve in shape and strength as the injected stem cells naturally rejuvenate themselves.
In fact, Barbara was so impressed with the results that she decided to return to Dr Amar in 2005 to have the FAMI treatment on her face. She has since taken up body building with her (much younger) boyfriend!
Five years on, I met up with Dr Amar and Barbara at the Villa Tiberio restaurant in Marbella where Barbara now lives, and as you can see from Barbara’s smile, she’s thrilled at her new lease of life!
Justice at last for Kenny Richey
It’s nearly two years since I was first contacted by friends and family of Kenny Richey who returned to Scotland recently after spending 21 years on death row in Ohio, America.
Those that contacted me explained that his sentence for allegedly starting a house fire, in which a young girl tragically died, was a complete travesty of justice.
I looked into the case, spoke to many people involved with the trial at the time, and then to people at Amnesty International who had for many years campaigned for Kenny’s release.
Having heard so much evidence, including the fact that the little girl herself had previously started three fires in the house, I decided to get involved with Kenny’s fight for a re-trial, free of charge. To highlight the glaring mistakes in the prosecution case, I helped organise a media campaign, both here and in America.
In 1994, Kenny was within an hour of being executed on the electric chair, having already phoned his mother to bid her a final farewell. Then a few weeks ago, just before Christmas, Kenny and his family got the news that he had been hoping and praying for all this time.
The Ohio court, where he was originally convicted, decided their verdict was wrong and the state prosecutors accepted he was NOT guilty of arson and murder.
However, Kenny will not be receiving any financial compensation for this horrendous 21 year miscarriage of justice, so I have fixed a few media deals to help him adjust to his new found freedom.
- Max has kindly donated his fee for this month’s column to the White Lodge Centre in Chertsey. For more details, visit www.whitelodgecentre.co.uk
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