BRITISH WRITER ANTHONY HADEN-GUEST WAS RECENTLY DISTRAUGHT AFTER HE DISCOVERED HIS £660,000 ART COLLECTION AND ALL HIS BELONGINGS HAD BEEN SOLD OFF IN NEW YORK BECAUSE HE WAS LATE PAYING A BILL FOR LESS THAN £1,000. THE 73 YEAR OLD SOCIALITE BROTHER IN LAW OF HOLLYWOOD ACTRESS JAMIE LEE CURTIS PUT HIS POSSESSIONS INTO STORAGE WHEN HE MOVED BACK TO LONDON TWO YEARS AGO. BUT WHEN HE RETURNED TO MANHATTAN, HE WAS TOLD THE STORAGE COMPANY SOLD EVERYTHING HE OWNED BECAUSE HE HADN'T KEPT UP TO DATE ON HIS MONTHLY PAYMENTS. 'PAPERS, BOOKS, ART, FURNITURE, CLOTHES, THIRTY YEARS OF EVERYTHING', HE SAID. 'I HAVE BEEN KIDNAPPED. I HAVE BEEN STABBED 50 TIMES IN MY APARTMENT. BUT THIS IS THE WORST THING THAT HAS HAPPENED TO ME. AND THERE IS AN AROMA HERE THAT ISN'T LILIES OF THE VALLEY', HE ADDED. HE SAID HIS VALUABLE ART COLLECTION OF MORE THAN 100 WORKS INCLUDED PIECES BY AMERICAN PAINTERS DAVID SALLE AND DONALD BAECHLER AND BARBADOS-BORN CONTEMPORARY ARTIST ASHLEY BICKERTON. HADEN-GUEST, A LEGENDARY BON VIVANT WHO REPORTEDLY INSPIRED THE CYNICAL PETER FALLOW CHARACTER IN THE TOM WOLFE NOVEL 'BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES', ADMITTED HE OWED THE COMPANY, PUBLIC STORAGE, ABOUT £900. BUT HE INSISTED: 'A COUPLE OF MONTHS BEFORE, MY LAWYER HAD ASKED THEM TO GIVE ME DETAILS SO I COULD WIRE THEM MONTHLY PAYMENTS. THEY REFUSED. I CALLED THEM TO SAY I WOULD SETTLE WHEN I GOT BACK TO NEW YORK. ALL OF THE CONTENTS OF THE WRITER'S RENTED STORAGE SPACE IN QUEENS, NEW YORK, WERE SOLD TO A SINGLE BUYER. BUT HADEN-GUEST HASN'T GIVEN UP HOPE OF GETTING THEM BACK. 'I HAVE A TERRIFIC LAWYER AND THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING', HE ADDED. A SPOKESPERSON FOR THE STORAGE COMPANY WAS UNAVAILABLE FOR COMMENT. THE WRITER, CARTOONIST AND ART CRITIC IS THE SON OF ARISTOCRAT PETER HADEN-GUEST, A UNITED NATIONS DIPLOMAT WHO BECAME THE 4th BARON HADEN-GUEST.
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