In the realms of the rich

It  is sometimes hard for one to feel much in the way of empathy for the fabulously rich.

Certainly a sense of jealousy gets in the way, as does a quiet feeling they should give at least half of their money away to charity to make the world a better place.

Or just give it to me.

Maybe even more than half.

But then maybe you see something in them that makes you think perhaps - perhaps - they are not all bad.

Take, for instance, Nathaniel Charles Jacob Rothschild, 4th Baron Rothschild, OM, GBE, FBA, British investment banker and member of the prominent Rothschild banking family.

He is, for a start, a big arts philanthropist.

Also, he has had built the wonderful Flint House, a modernist marvel in the grounds of Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire, England.

Look it up on Google. It is something stunning.

As we discover these things on The Wonderful World of Gordon Watson, we journey into the strange world of the super-rich and the outstandingly expensive trifles they spend their money on.

Nathaniel Charles Jacob Rothschild, 4th Baron Rothschild, OM, GBE, FBA - let's just call him Lord Rothschild - is the first target of Gordon Watson as he tries to drum up a tidy profit by selling art and antiques.

Mr Watson - let's just call him Gordon - is, we are told, one of the leading authorities on 20th-century design, furniture, objects and lighting.

As the rather posh presenter tells us in the show due to broadcast on Prime next Tuesday at 7.30pm, ``for the country's super-wealthy, there's only one man to turn to when it comes to good taste''.

She's talking about Gordon, of course.

Gordon is no shrinking violet when it comes to selling his talents, telling us he has ``a defined, and some would say refined'' sense of taste.

He heads off to see Lord Rothschild at his insane country estate, a massive pile packed to the gunwales with highly decorative 18th-century stuff that hangs off walls and darkly clutters every room.

Gordon is a man, of course, of the 20th and maybe even 21st century, and he quickly notices Lord Rothschild also has a smattering of more unusual and contemporary works.

When the pair pop down to the Flint House, he notices the modernist epic filled with what is more traditional furniture.

He suggests something ``more edgy'' might suit better, and a partnership, and some wheeling and dealing, appears to be in the offing.

So starts a series that follows our new friend Gordon offering unfettered (although everyone surely must have agreed to ignore the camera crew) access into his business buying and selling across the globe.

 - by Charles Loughrey

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