SEBASTIAN SHAKESPEARE: Alexander Lebedev takes the biscuit as he launches his own bakery


He enlisted in the KGB in his 20s, acquired a bank in his 30s and a British newspaper in his 40s.

Now Russian billionaire Alexander Lebedev’s career has taken another astonishing twist.

Alongside his partner, former model Elena Perminova, he has, I can disclose, become a baker and biscuit-maker — and the couple are launching their products next month in Britain.

He enlisted in the KGB in his 20s, acquired a bank in his 30s and a British newspaper in his 40s. Now Russian billionaire Alexander Lebedev’s career has taken another astonishing twist

Improbable though it sounds, baking runs in Lebedev’s blood. 

‘Alexander Lebedev’s great-grand-father was a baker from Nizhny Novgorod, so he feels he is reigniting a family tradition,’ one of his spokesmen tells me.

But it’s fair to say that no bakery in Tsarist Russia ever quite matched the sophistication of what emerges from the Len & Grechka bakery, as the couple’s Russian company is called.

Alongside his partner, former model Elena Perminova, he has, I can disclose, become a baker and biscuit-maker — and the couple are launching their products next month in Britain

Alongside his partner, former model Elena Perminova, he has, I can disclose, become a baker and biscuit-maker — and the couple are launching their products next month in Britain

Its loaves include organic, gluten-free quinoa, and organic, gluten-free turmeric, while its biscuits are of a Fortnum & Mason level of indulgence, such as organic, gluten-free ‘tiger’ chocolate chip cookies.

‘Every mother will understand the difficulty of hunting not just for healthy but also for really delicious food,’ Elena, 33, tells me.

She explains it took her and Lebedev almost two years to bake the perfect gluten-free bread, in the process establishing Russia’s very first gluten-free bakery with more than 40 different products on the shelf.

‘With Len & Grechka, we want to offer a greater choice for British people to make informed decisions about the nutrients they put in their bodies,’ adds Elena. 

‘If we can get people to switch from nutrient-devoid white bread to our buckwheat, it would be a beautiful thing.’

A bag of eight chocolate chip cookies costs £3.30, while a loaf of gluten-free buckwheat and linseed sprouted sliced bread is £5.15 — in Whole Foods and Planet Organic stores in London next month.

Bring on the revolution.

‘Castaway’ Kirsty and her luxury island item

Overseeing the finishing touches to the club last week was Soho House founder Nick Jones and his wife Kirsty Young

Overseeing the finishing touches to the club last week was Soho House founder Nick Jones and his wife Kirsty Young

Welcome to the newest outpost of Soho House, in the Caribbean, which is due to open later this year in Canouan, an island in the Grenadines.

Overseeing the finishing touches to the club last week was Soho House founder Nick Jones and his wife Kirsty Young (pictured), former presenter of Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs.

As host of the show, Kirsty would ask her ‘castaway’ guests what luxury items they’d take to a desert island, while discussing the reasons for their choices — all useful ideas for how to furnish her dream Soho House with more than the bare necessities. 

‘It’s the island billionaires go to get away from millionaires,’ I’m told.

Broadcaster Kirsty last year joined the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s charitable foundation as a director: perhaps Meghan and Harry will get preferential rates at the island hideaway!

Welcome to the newest outpost of Soho House, in the Caribbean, which is due to open later this year in Canouan, an island in the Grenadines

Welcome to the newest outpost of Soho House, in the Caribbean, which is due to open later this year in Canouan, an island in the Grenadines

What are the most beautiful words in the English language? According to Stephen Fry, they are ‘please, help me’. 

The celebrated broadcaster, who has spoken publicly about his bipolar disorder, remarks: ‘There’s an episode of Star Trek and Captain Kirk says, ‘Bones, someone out there is saying the most beautiful words in the galaxy.’ And you think they’re going to be ‘I love you’ or something. To which Bones [Leonard ‘Bones’ McCoy] asks, ‘What are they?’, and Kirk says, ‘Please, help me’. I thought that is amazing, that’s beautiful…’

Designer Celia Birtwell was surrounded last night by more than 25 images of herself at the opening of the artist's show at the National Portrait Gallery

Designer Celia Birtwell was surrounded last night by more than 25 images of herself at the opening of the artist’s show at the National Portrait Gallery

Celia’s life in Hockneys

A muse for David Hockney for over 50 years, the designer Celia Birtwell was surrounded last night by more than 25 images of herself at the opening of the artist’s show at the National Portrait Gallery.

‘It’s like a kaleidoscope of my life, seeing all these different pictures,’ said Celia (left). ‘We speak almost every week, even while he is in France.

‘We’ve always just clicked. Is there anyone better company and who has changed our view of the world?’

The opening of Drawing From Life was a rare sighting of the 82-year-old Hockney — in flat cap, red tie, green cardigan, white spectacles and sky-blue jacket — who spent most of the evening on a small balcony having a cigarette or three.

Hey Jude, Sadie can put son Rudy in the picture

When asked if he would help his children get into the film industry, Hollywood star Jude Law declared: ‘No nepotism — that is rule No 1. They will have to work for their own.’

But his ex-wife, Sadie Frost, is taking a different approach.

The model turned film producer has brought their 17-year-old son, Rudy, onto the set of her new documentary about fashion designer Mary Quant, aka the queen of the mini-skirt.

‘He’s coming for work experience,’ explains Sadie.

Since leaving school, their daughter Iris, 19, has taken to modelling, while son Rafferty, 23, has himself become an actor and will star as Oliver Twist in a forthcoming screen adaptation of the Dickens classic.

Socialite Amanda Eliasch has hung a ‘Don’t extradite Assange’ banner outside her Cheyne Walk home — which she bought in 2010 after receiving a chunk of her ex’s £400 million fortune in her divorce settlement.

‘I voted for Boris Johnson and I cannot understand why the Government is not paying attention to the plight of Julian Assange,’ she tells me. 

‘Democracy does not exist if there is no freedom of speech.’ 

Lady Melissa Percy is celebrating after giving birth to her first child, a daughter named Bluebell Rose

Lady Melissa Percy is celebrating after giving birth to her first child, a daughter named Bluebell Rose

Hogwarts heiress has a little lass

The Duke of Northumberland’s daughter, Lady Melissa Percy, is celebrating after giving birth to her first child, a daughter named Bluebell Rose.

Missy, 32, who grew up at family seat Alnwick Castle, where the Harry Potter films were shot, moved to the U.S. to live with her American billionaire financier boyfriend, Remy Trafelet, 49, and tied the knot with him in December. 

She was previously married to Prince William’s pal, Thomas van Straubenzee.

‘Bluebell Rose Trafelet arrived two weeks early in New York,’ Missy tells me. 

‘Everyone is overjoyed at her safe arrival and she’s happy and healthy. My parents are with me and my siblings are also visiting.’

Let’s hope Remy, who has three children from a previous relationship, changes a nappy or two.