A tale of two tweets

It is media mayhem in London as Elizabeth Hurley tweets about her split from Mumbai businessman Arun Nayar. Hurley and Shane Warne got it on at a London hotel not exactly known for discreet dalliances

The saga of Elizabeth Hurley and Shane Warne is basically a tale of two prize tweets that picked the closely watched Bentley Hotel in South Kensington for their alleged two-night affair, which neither has denied.


Arun Nayar with Elizabeth Hurley

It is a bit like doing it in the Taj in Mumbai and "kissing and cuddling" in its lobby and carrying on in the Shamiana - and expecting not to be rumbled.

Canoodling record
It is as though the danger of being caught made the thrill that much more intense for Hurley who does have a record of public canoodling the Bentley, owned by Indian hotelier Joginder Sangar, is popular with celebrities and not a wise choice for indiscreet liaison.

Hurley's empty London residence is not even 10 minutes away.
"Eyes closed and arms wrapped round each other, the unlikely couple were captured on camera in a sensational public clinch which will devastate her devoted husband," reported the News of the World.

Lip lock
Even Mills & Boon could not improve on some of the prose: "While they waited for their coats to be brought to them, Liz pulled Warne towards her in a darkened doorway, cupped his face with her hands and leaned in to lock lips. After releasing from their clinch they gazed into each other's eyes and smiled adoringly."

11-hour romp
Indian Prime Ministeru00a0 Manmohan Singh and Indian president Pratibha Patil who stayed at the deluxe Bentley during their respective official visits to London would be mortified if they discovered that the very establishment (perhaps even the same suite) where they had promoted India's GDP growth had been used by Hurley, 45, and 41-year-old Warne for their marathon "romps" - 11 hours in one go according to the News of the World.

Load of bails
The paper's page one "world exclusive","Hurley heats....With Shane: Caught by the Bails", shamed Hurley to take to Twitter with even greater alacrity than Shashi Tharoor: "For the record, my husband Arun & I separated a few months ago.

Our close family & friends were aware of this." It is entirely possible that her Indian businessman husband, 46, later photographed smoking and listening to music at the couple's Gloucestershire home, learnt that his marriage was over from his wife's Tweet.

Mr Hurley
The cynical will suggest that the couple are the latest victims of "the curse of Hello!" for, according to legend, all those who flaunt their married bliss in the glossy for financial gain - it was Pound 2 million apparently in Hurley's case - also perish by destructive Public Relations.

At Hurley's insistence, Nayar dumped his blameless first wife, Valentina Pedroni, so that he would be free to become, "Mr. Arun Hurley". He also did not protest when at the wedding celebrations in Mehrangarh Fort in 2007, he had to rudely eject his own father, Vinod, from the premises at his bride's bidding because the old man had made the mistake of taking out his camera.

Working class
One consequence of the split will be that there will be fewer appearances by Hurley in Mumbai, especially at charity fundraisers hosted by Gaj Singh, the erstwhile Maharaja of Jodhpur, who may have been impressed by the lady's aristocratic hauteur.

But a biography, Liz Hurley Uncovered, written by Alison Bowyer, an experienced show business journalist, reveals she is, relatively speaking, more Dharavi than Colaba. The book begins: "Her voice is pure cut glass and her vowels that of a 1930s duchess......Elizabeth Hurley both looks and speaks the part of an upper-class girl from the Home Counties.

But the image is an illusion. Weekends in country houses and expensive Swiss finishing schools were not on the agenda for young Elizabeth. Her ancestors had been housemaids in such houses, and home for Liz Hurley was a modest bungalow in Buckskin, a district of Basingstoke new town. And from being educated at a top public school, she attended a sprawling comprehensive along with 1200 other mainly working-class pupils."

English rose
But to be fair, despite her limited acting ability she has used her quintessential English rose looks to build a lucrative "Brand Liz Hurley" which is now in danger of being damaged.

Like many other modern women in Britain, she would probably argue she believes in equality for the sexes: in other words, she should be able to have sex on demand with anyone she chooses providing no one else is hurt. Hence, her hurried claim that as a single woman she was not really cheating.u00a0

She is also justifiably proud she has brought up her son Damien on her own without help from Steve Bing, the American lover who even questioned whether he was really the father, thereby implying she had been sleeping around.

Bed hopping
For Indians slightly baffled by the game of pass the parcel, the couplings and uncouplings are actually quite simple (really?).

Steve Bing had a baby with Liz Hurley who was the long time girlfriend of Hugh Grant who dated Jemima Khan who was married to Imran Khan who faced Shane Warne who had a one night stand (two to be strictly accurate) with Liz Hurley who married Arun Nayar who dumped Valentina Pedroni who accused Liz Hurley of stealing Arun Nayar who is now splitting from Liz Hurley who remains best friends with Hugh Grant who dined even last week with Shane Warne who has parted from Simone Callaghan who has had enough of Shane Warne who also had the hots for Jemima Khan who dumped Hugh Grant who once got into the back of a cab with Divine Brown...Whew. If you did not get that once, try again. Twice and thrice and you may just crack this coupling quiz.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Pratibha Patil who stayed at the deluxe Bentley would be mortified if they discovered that the very establishment (perhaps even the same suite) where they had promoted India's GDP growth had been used by Hurley and Warne for their marathon "romps" ufffd 11 hours in one go according to the News of the World.