Bateman's House

[michelej1]

Why, Christine is forever rubbing elbows with celebrities. Her London flat is next to Kate Bush and she bought her house from Nick Bateman -- whoever the heck he is!

I just started the article at the part about his houses and skipped all of the Big Brother stuff.

From the Daily Mail, August 19, 2000

HEADLINE: The lies and fall of nasty nick;
At public school and in the City, TV's Big Brother reject was always an outsider

BYLINE: Alison Boshoff;Mark Reynolds

MATERIALLY, however, there is little doubt that Bateman is well off. He owns a GBP 250,000 house with no mortgage in Putney, South-West London, and was left GBP 100,000 on his father's death.

Whatever his motivation for taking part in Big Brother, it certainly wasn't for want of the GBP 70,000 prize money.

He will soon be richer still, thanks to numerous media deals which were being sealed by his agent yesterday.

Born Jack Nicholas Bateman on November 5, 1967, his childhood was spent in a magnificent house in Kent.

His father, Jack Robert Bateman, was the epitome of a self-made man. He started out as a window cleaner and became a millionaire. Those who knew him describe him as a rough diamond who made some enemies thanks to an abrasive nature.

Jack was 58 when Nick was born. He and his wife Margaret, then 40, had been married for ten years and had already produced triplets, all girls, and another daughter.

Bateman blamed his family life for much of the cheating and lying which went on when he was in the Big Brother house.

He had to be competitive, he said, because he was one of so many. He had to shout to be heard. He always came second, or third, or even fifth.

In truth, it is hard to view his upbringing as anything other than extremely fortunate. The large family lived in a fabulous six-bedroomed country house in the idyllic village of Wickhambreaux, near Canterbury.

In 1990, two years after his father died, the house was sold for an estimated GBP 1.5mil-lion to Fleetwood Mac singer Christine McVie, who still lives there.

Bateman likes to boast that he and McVie are friends and that she has repeatedly invited him around to the house for dinner.

'He is a liar and that is one of the biggest porkies he has ever told,' said Stuart McNeill, 28, a local resident. 'She doesn't even know who he is. It's laughable. Nick is a total Walter Mitty character and always has been. You can't believe a word he says.' Those who knew the Bateman family say they were close-knit and happy. They were well-liked and regarded as stalwart members of the community.

The children were all privately educated. Bateman went to Woottenly House in the nearby village of Ash.

Sean Sandell, 32, who was at school with him, remembers him as a troubled child. 'The one thing Nick was known for was his tantrums,' he said. 'One day, when he was about seven, he lay down in the driveway of the school facedown, screaming. All the parents who were picking their children up couldn't leave because he was blocking the exit.' Mr Sandell added: 'Nick was very big for his age and picked on the other children. One day I can't remember why now he pinned me up against some railings and squeezed me until I couldn't breathe. He was a funny boy, as in odd.' FARMER Paul Kelsey and his wife Fennella, who grew up with Bateman, have a different story, however.

Mrs Kelsey said: 'He's the best of all of them but he's been getting a very bad press, which is totally unfair.

'He's not like that at all. Nicholas is a really nice, kind and honest chap.

He just wants to win and 'People are seeing the show and thinking it's real life, but it's distorted. You can't see reality from what's caught on camera.

We've watched Big Brother religiously and it's been sad watching our old friend.' An elderly neighbour added: 'It can't have been easy for Nicholas growing up because he was one of the few not to have gone to the small village school, which was almost next door to his house.

'The house was a wonderful place. Jack Bateman moved here in the late 1970s with his wife Maggie, who was several years younger than him. I think everyone liked them, they were a nice family.

'Jack started out from humble beginnings. He worked as a window-cleaner in London and gradually worked his way up to own a large cleaning business with the contracts for several City office blocks.' As the youngest son, and the one who had yet to make his way in the world, Bateman may well have felt that he had a lot to live up to.

The other male siblings, David and John, Jack's sons by a previous marriage, were left nothing in his will because they had been provided for in his lifetime.

It is thought David took over the family business, which had expanded from window-washing to cleaning and decorating.

Bateman used his inheritance to go travelling, taking in India, Australia and the U.S. He travelled through Russia on his own and took a holiday with a girlfriend in Dubai. He became interested in alternative therapies, including reiki massage.

Professionally, he started work on a lowly rung in the City and, despite what he says, never progressed very far.

Although he likes to think of himself as a City gent he was in fact a junior claims broker for Willis Corroon at Lloyds.

He ended up working in Global Property and Casualty where he carried the heavy files around between underwriters. A colleague who worked with him for ten years said in the high-rolling atmosphere of the 1990s Bate-man's love of showing off made him fit right in.

'I knew Nick well socially he would always come to the bar or the pub after work, and was often the centre of attention,' he said.

'He was quite a big drinker, but then everyone is. He liked to knock back Long Island Iced Teas.

IT DID come across in the show that he is dishonest, but that was just him trying to win and that does not surprise me. He is a competitive guy like everyone else.

'What also came across with the stories about the dead wife, and being in the Territorial Army and so on is that he is a bit of a Walter Mitty character. He makes things up.

'His life always has to be more interesting than yours, he always has to have the best stories. If you said to Nick that you had jumped over ten cars at the weekend, he would tell you that by coincidence he had jumped over 15.

'I liked him I think a lot of people found him good company, although not many regarded him as a friend because the stories were disconcerting sometimes. He used to boast about money and women, who seemed to come and go.

'The only thing he really loved, I think, was Fulham Football Club.' There do not seem to have been any serious girlfriends.

In 1995, Bateman joined a dating agency, Dinner Dates. In return for a GBP 135 signing-on fee it offers members the chance to indulge in a whirl of exclusive social events.

Clients, all of whom must be single, attend dinner parties at London's leading hotels, the racing at Royal Ascot, the polo at Cowdray Park or the rowing at Henley Royal Regatta.

Bateman regularly attended dinners in London and enjoyed himself so much he offered to help advertise the service.

Three years ago he was featured on a segment on the TV show Good Morning with Richard and Judy, trying to woo an attractive redhead in a South London restaurant.

'Nick came across as very bright and jolly and I never heard any contrary comments from the ladies,' said Dinner Dates founder Hillie Marshall.

'On a number of occasions he went out for another date with one of the women whom he met at the dinner parties but I don't think anything came of it.' As Bateman made his way in the City, his mother embarked on a career as an interior design consultant.

In 1995 she remarried. She and her new husband, Christopher Power, live in some style in a creeper-clad home near Andover, Hampshire. There are two Jaguars parked at the front, and a Rolls Royce at the back.

Bateman is a regular visitor and regarded warmly by all at family occasions.

Yesterday, however, as the cameras clicked away, he said he had not spoken to a single member of his family since leaving the show.

[Gailh]

Nick Bateman was in the very first series of Big Brother on UK television.

He earned the nickname "Nasty" Nick because of his behaviour. I'm not sure what he did because I didn't watch the programme.

Gail