(Rocky De-Ville, Feb 2010)

After viewing these pics of Rocky, of whom I am so proud, scroll down to my BIO.

♫  ♫ ♪ ♬ ♪  ♩ (Rocky on his drums, Feb 2008) ♫  ♫ ♪ ♬ ♪  ♩

Pictures taken Feb 28th 2010

                       ~ Gwydir Castle Courtyard view, and lit up at night.~

{Scroll down for more details on my beginnings and to read the excerpt of the first chapter of my Autobiography. More chapters in the 'book' section, and more to be added later.}

           SYNOPSIS of my Autobiography.        

     How many people have had such a brilliantly bad and good life as I have? None I would wager! From a Colonial family, baronets on my father’s side, with an ancestral castle. My very beautiful mother was the daughter of a Polynesian Princess. Growing up with stories of grandeur and servants. (I have had housekeeper's and domestic staff, to care for me too, but I always wanted my own black mama, to personally look after me, and I still hope for this.) Then a manic type of LIFE happened!

     I lived the kind of life that might have driven some people crazy. Filled with non-stop action, emotions, trauma, disasters, physical and mental abuse, illnesses, emergency operations, serious illnesses, (and not only mine) guilt, grief, loss, being blamed for things I never did, but sometimes had to lay claim to.

     I moved house one hundred and eighteen times. (ALL the addresses have been listed and there is a story attached to each one.) I found it necessary to move home every two or three weeks, the reasons mostly, were to avoid men who stalked me once they knew me, and when I became somewhat of a celebrity.  I also unwittingly became involved with the Soho Mafia when I was twenty-one years of age and amongst being privy to protection rackets, witnessed murder. Circumstances lead to my being homeless with a three year old daughter, and on marrying a new husband became pregnant, only to find out he was a vicious criminal, I needed to escape from, whilst being pregnant with his child.

     My incredible life has been filled with grief, loss, highs and excitement, disasters, mental and physical pain with many escapes!  In the process, I became a celebrity in show-business, and once met Prince Charles and Lady Di face to face (on their side of the red carpet.)

     I have experienced many supernatural encounters and undergone an enforced exorcism performed by my Doctor and Pentecostal ministers who said I was possessed by the devil.  The story appeared on the front page of, ‘The News of the World’ newspaper, June 4th 1978.  I have enjoyed popularity from being on-stage for years, but have also been a hermit and agoraphobic.

     I survived with my life on many occasions when I should have died.  I actually saw my guardian angel, when he saved my sister and myself, whilst travelling in my car on a UK Motorway.  Another car ordeal on the motorway, with a friend was a near miss, when something in the engine blew up and I struggled to keep control.  Some years later, not long after my mother died, I miraculously survived a car crash that took two and a half hours for me to be cut out of.  That should have killed or at least paralysed me.  I was also blown up in a gas explosion, to only mention a few of my dangerous mishaps.

     Each choice was a total gamble, consisting of decisions between the worst of situations.  Futile attempts in trying to keep my two daughters, then the constant search for them, were the most painful situations. for me.   Many risks did not pay off and I lived on the edge constantly.  I became an adrenaline junkie. But, I never completely lost hope or my love of entertaining people. Neither did I become bitter or paint everyone with the same brush.  However, it would have been beneficial on many occasions, if I had done just that.

     I was involved with some terrible people, but also met all types of kind-hearted and decent folk. My accomplishments along the way have been many, but the main one was surviving the life I led, and walking my unusual path for so many years without going insane.  Also, it is very strange that I do not look anywhere near my age.  I look twenty or more years younger and am truly unique.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

First, there were the five husband's.

     My first husband Ken, was also my first boyfriend.  At the age of eighteen, I did not know anything about boyfriends and at nineteen tied myself down way too early with marriage.

     The second was a vicious karate black-belt and alcoholic, Gavvy.  Who became the father of my second child. He probably did me the most damage for he was the reason I lost my two small daughters, one as a newborn.  His true nature was hidden from me until the day we were married.  I then unsuccessfully tried to leave him the day after, when on our honeymoon.  Two days later he phoned to say he would cut my legs off when he arrived back at my home, which had now become the marital home.  It was the beginning of a short period of absolute hell.

     Next there was a powerful, astute businessman, Bob, who was also a witch and healer.

     Because of his beliefs, we had a 'hand-fasting,' which is a witches wedding as well as having the civil one. He was multi-talented (not in the musical sense) and could turn his hand to anything.  This talent helped him amass over £2.5 million in properties, with my help enabling this to be possible.  He seemed very charming and kind. During this marriage I suffered many strange illnesses...

     They included almost daily Migraines, and severe IBS.  I also suffered dreadfully with symptoms similar to arsenic poisoning.  I am still trying to get these poisons out of my system, all these years later, and still suffer the affects.  My health became so bad I was unable to fully comprehend all his business dealings and the benefits at the time.  I did not even know how many properties he had acquired.  I demanded he leave.  Remarkably, within three months after separating from him, I became healthier.

     Then, the fourth time, I married a recovering alcoholic, self-confessed ‘assassin.’ ‘Paul Bruce,’ who wrote the worldwide best selling book, ‘The Nemesis File.’ An autobiography about his life and his assassinations whilst being in the British Army in one of their ‘S.A.S. Execution Squads.’ He had almost conquered the need to destroy himself, but his self-destruct button turned itself on again.  The nature of an alcoholic can never be hidden for long...

     I found he was not able to hide his coldness once married to me.  Much later and to my detriment, he caused much hurt and also conned me out of a great deal of my remaining money.  I helped him keep his own home on, where he kept his rare collections.  Only after marriage, did I realize the qualities  and warmth I believed to be in him, were not there at all. In reality, he was a cold, uncommunicative, unaffectionate, uncaring, un-supportive and calculating brute.

     After I threw him out of my house, he threatened to turn up inside my house.  He said that as I had tried suicide in the past, it would be easy to make it look like that again.  He said I could not escape as his comrades in the S.A.S. would know about the contract out on me.  His threats were most frightening, and I had to barricade myself in, for three months over Christmas 2003.  Then I left the country with the help and rescue of my Chicagoan fifth husband.

~2005~

     The fifth. Now we come also to my closest friend, who I finally found on the internet. Because of him, I decided to turn my back on all I knew in the UK, and leave many of my material possessions behind.  I gambled on a totally fresh new life, by leaving the UK. I came to live with Rocky, a Chicagoan. (We have since married and moved near Nashville, Tennessee.  Although we have a very large home in TN, we still spend time in Chicago, which we greatly love.)

     Rocky has an MBA in Business Studies gained at the University of Chicago and is one good-looking young looking, extremely strong, weightlifter.  A Chief Financial Controller, in a billion dollar, top consulting company.  I introduced him to the drums and we found he has a natural ability and is very musically talented. 

     After the life I've lived it is not easy for me to 'give' myself as I'm such a free spirit.  But, to have such a great, trusted friend and partner who has so much in common with me, is all that I need.  I am the same to him, making this my best and hopefully permanent, relationship.

                                                   ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Then there were also the six common-law-husbands.

     The first one, Nick, the son of a heart consultant, (from Swindon) became the father of my first daughter, Donna.  But, I nearly lost her at birth when it seemed she was dying, and  later trouble started between Nick and I.  We were no longer able to communicate, and many fights occurred.  I had to leave him when my daughter was fourteen months old.

     The second man, John Marney, was a kind person who I stayed with for two and a half years.  He had been the best friend of a married man I unwittingly fell for, not knowing the truth that he lived with a wife and six children.  Eventually, John and I argued over his not being able to look after my daughter and myself properly.  He was a divorcee still paying for his previous family.

      Third, was Parky, (Tony Parke) who gambled heavily and drank all the ‘Guinness’s placed in front of him, whilst still being an incredible Pool player.  He was unable to financially add anything to our security, and due to my having to pay many of his debts regularly, I often left him.  But, he followed me from one town to another.  Sixteen times I moved away, but each time he persuaded me to take him back.  He eventually got murdered in an argument over me, when he finally quit gambling and was about to buy us a house with his saved up winnings.  He was helped by someone on the inside of the horse racing business. It was a woman I knew casually, Pat, a jockey, who worked at a famous Lambourne horse riding stable, that killed him with a knife straight into his heart.

     Fourth, was David Roberts, a man who was both a ‘fur-dyer’ by trade and professional drummer.  He encouraged me to be a musician in his band where I played guitar and sang.  We went on to form many different styles of bands, but after two years we had almost daily volatile arguments, mainly over his liking for football and television. He did not like my friendship with other musicians in the bands.  After I left him for the second time, he married my eighteen year old sister, Mandy.  Sadly for me, on having her third and fourth children she told me that my kind of life was disruptive to her, as she had a home to run. This broke my heart as Mandy and I were always so close and her being fifteen years younger than me, was almost like my own daughter.

     Fifth, was Tony Kay, an extremely creative and talented multi-instrumentalist musician, singer and songwriter.  Also, an artist and author.  He was friendly with the band ‘Pink Floyd’ and played socially with them, when we lived around the corner from them in Stroud Green.  His guitar style is the same as Dave Gilmour, their lead guitarist.  Tony's mother, Mary, had been manager to the famous UK comedian Tommy Cooper for eighteen years, and it was her who was with him on the night he died on stage, in front of a huge audience and millions of television viewers.  Tony is a wonderful spiritual person and is still a great friend of mine to this day.

     Sixth, was a lovely gentleman named Lambo, just eighteen months older than I.  He was a millionaire architect, with a nine-bedroom mansion in Sunningdale, near Ascot, in the UK.  This is where the Queen races her horses at one of the biggest equestrian events of the year.  Lambo looked after me for five years, and did so much to promote my show business career.  He had great faith in me and loved to show me off at top London clubs, like ‘The Sportsman’s Club,’ Park Lane. ‘Les Ambassadeurs’ club and ‘Morton’s’ which is part-owned by Michael Caine.  I met many celebrities of the time and other millionaires, some becoming our friends.

     There was a surprise meeting with Lady Di and Prince Charles, when they visited the Hammersmith Palais, London, after it’s renovation as Lambo had been working on the new design as an architect there.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

     My tiny Pomeranian, Ching, two & a half lbs in weight, came over with me from the UK in April 2004. After six months and at the age of fourteen years, she succumbed to kidney problems.  I have Ching back in a ‘freeze-dried’ form.  She looks almost life-like and at least I have what is remaining of her.  But, still grief-stricken, three months on, I acquired two tiny Show Poms, ‘Seva’ and ‘Tiko.’ I had to let one go, as  it was difficult to train them together.  Now Tiko has my Californian friend, Caylan, as a doting mother who treats Tiko, as I do Seva.  In 2008, we could not resist the human-type face of our little ' Monkee,' another tiny Pom we had to buy. Monkee and Seva have their own  individual, mesh-sided handbag which they love to travel in.

     Hopefully, this family will be forever, as we all are so good together and the business is beginning to thrive. I now see a chance for good health and will soon have all I require from life. I see success and happiness at last, as I am about to be hugely launched as an author, singer, songwriter, & performer, in 2009/10. Publishing, marketing songs and books through my company, registered in June 2004, in Chicago, United States of America.

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{Excerpt from the book.} 

THE CONFLICTS AND STRUGGLES, of ‘Donni-Jay De-Ville.’

Chapter One.

    I was born on the Twenty-First of July, at The Towers, in ‘Millionaires Row,’ Bishops Avenue,  one of the most affluent areas in North London. Near Hampstead. It is now known as 'Billionaires Row,' The house belonged to ‘Gracie Fields,’ one of the UK’s top singers around at the time.

   My late mother was part Polynesian, part British and of royal birth, her mother was actually a  real princess, but this caused embarrassment for her, especially, now that she lived in England. Mother always had great dignity possessing a powerful presence which everyone recognized. We all knew she was an heiress, but Mum told me many stories of her past, which were not shared with the rest of the family. Her mother, a Polynesian Princess, married to a British man, was crippled by my mother's birth, which caused great psychological problems.  At three years of age, mother was given an Ayiah to raise her and be her nanny, when her parents placed both of them in a convent, for Mum to be taught by strict Irish nuns.

   When mother turned eighteen, the Ayah's job was completed and a painful parting of the ways ensued They were now to pursue their own separate lives.  Mum went on to train as a nurse, and whilst still in training, she lost both her parents.  Her mother died of a long-standing illness, and her father died of a broken heart one week later.

   Mother's wealthy parents had relocated to India soon after her birth, but during the Indian Uprising of 1947, she was forced to leave the country.  I listened as she described how people were attacked,and of one occasion when a man was knifed and died in front of her. (Strangely, this exact re-enactment happened to me later, when I was in Soho, London.) The Uprising was a very frightening time, and all who stayed would have had to take Indian nationality.  The India mother knew, governed by the British, had changed dramatically.  It was no longer possible to live the luxury lifestyle she had grown accustomed to, and mother wanted out, quickly.

   There had been involvement with a man, John, who owned many movie houses, until meeting my father at a nurses dance.  He was a pilot and a boxing champion in the Royal Air Force, who also was a multi-instrumentalist in an RAF swing band, called; 'The Blue Rockets.' My father found out about John and threatened him to stay away from my mother who often reminisced about John to me, and wondering if she made a mistake in not marrying him.  When the Uprising occurred, just after the death of her parents, mother was so alone and scared of the situation, that she became engaged to my father.  His family, lwere Colonials, Papa working directly for the British Government.  They needed to leave India as soon as possible, which they did.  Mother eventually decided to join my father and his Colonial parents, who had travelled and arrived in England, to live in a large house in North London.

   Unfortunately, the Uprising and Mum’s leaving was prior to her twenty-first birthday, when she would have reached an age to collect her inheritance. Her uncle had kept the money in trust for her, but subsequently disappeared with it at that time. Now, living in London, she was shocked to find everyone did not have servants, nor the kind of wealth they had all been used to. Also, she thought that television reports were propaganda about India, when she saw on the screen, the squalidness and Indians who lived in poverty.  She had not been in these areas and so never saw that side of India.  Mother was now forced to find a trade to help support herself, while my father worked as an engineer and became a toolmaker.  She became a dressmaker, later on becoming a nurse again.

   Mother discovered the dressmaking skill when my father's brother, Mervyn secured her a job in this trade.  My uncle had been a medic in the Forces as he refused to use a gun and would not kill anyone, not even in self defence.  He, like all of Granny's children, is an accomplished musician and singer.  Mervyn is also one of the kindest people I know.  I loved to hear him play keyboards and sing.  He was likened to Sir Cliff Richard, of great UK fame in looks and for his voice.  A cherished memory is of the time he made a beautiful party dress for me. It was Christmas and he made one for my cousin, Lindy Benson also. But, mine was far prettier in bright shimmery ice blue and I still remember how good I felt wearing it. Lindy went on to be a Page 3 model and actress. To The Devil A Daughter - by Dennis Wheatley, was one of her films, and she was also the bride, in a 'Boy George,' music video.

   My mother taught me to read and write, by the age of four. I could read aloud from newspapers, write letters and keep diaries.  I loved to write stories and make little books to sell when I started school.  I believed that made me a REAL writer!

   The books portrayed my thoughts and insights into adult behaviour.  I knew they did not completely understand the things I said or the way my mind worked.   Mostly, they only 'pretended' to understand.   I also wrote about incidents that happened around me, or to me.

   From the time of my birth until I was eight years old, the whole family lived with my grandparents. Granny spent the most time with me.  We sat together in her room for hours, while I listened enthralled to stories of her past Colonial life.  Granny and my Grandpapa, affectionately known to us all as ‘Papa,’ had lived in India in a huge house with acres of grounds.  There were separate quarters for the many servants and three chefs.

   Papa worked with the British Government, as a high official with the Great Indian Railway. They lived in their mansion along with their four children.  They also entertained a great deal and had 'social events' which Granny used to call 'balls.' Everyone wore either ball gowns or dinner suits.  I was fascinated as Granny described the dresses she wore.  Granny, part Scottish, was of Catalan, Spanish descent and Papa had come from Wales.

   Our ancestor, Sir John Wynn, owned ‘Gwydir Castle,’ in Llanrwst, North Wales, which is in the Conway valley, with Snowdonia behind it. Dating back to the close of the Sixteenth Century, when its deer park alone, occupied 36,000 acres.

   Papa changed our name from ‘Wynn,’ the Welsh spelling of it, to ‘Winn.’ He added his middle name of ‘Eden’ and our family became the 'Eden-Winn’s.' We were evidently fighting with the other half of the family, called the ‘Burgess’ Wynn’s.  There is much to say on this topic but, it is all too historical for me, although I am researching hugely into it all now, with a professional researcher.  I heard that the castle had been handed over to the Preservation Society, with some of my ancestors still living in the back.  My Uncle Merv has visited there and signed the guest book.  I wish I had listened to the stories Papa told me back then more carefully.  I do remember him saying that Sir John Wynn was the black sheep of the family.

Five years ago, 1999, our castle was bought and renovated by Judy and Peter Welford.  Judy wrote a book about ‘Gwydir Castle, called, ‘Castles in the Air.’ I have this book and feel very drawn to the place.  It feels as if I’ve lived there before, in a past life.  After seeing the photos in Judy's book and on the internet, I remembered dreaming in the past, about being in and around this castle.  The dining room with it's fine panelling and carving looked very familiar to me.  Almost as if I had spent many times there.

My ancestral castle home, is known as the most haunted castle in Wales, UK.

One day I hope go go back and stay overnight, and at least sign the guest book, in my maiden name. I wonder if anyone, especially the infamous Sir John Wynn, will come back to see me? I am not new to seeing ghosts, but in a setting like the castle, it may be a tad scary! But, hey, he is a relative of mine, even if reputed to be a wicked man.  And, what of the fortune left by Sir John Wynn?  His direct next of kin did not see any of it.  I wonder what I'll be able to turn up by the time the researching reaches it's culmination.

There is approximately fifty-five billion dollars unclaimed.  Well worth a bit of research on my part I think.

Back to my Grandparents ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

     My Granny and Papa had a Rolls Royce car, with a chauffeur.  Papa even had his own personal train. They lived an amazing lifestyle until Papa lost his high position during the Uprising.  At that point, he had to take his family out of India in a great hurry, and only able to take part of their money with them. 

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CLICK here for Chapter Two.{CHILDHOOD AND SIBLINGS} Continued in my book....
                                                

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