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If you’re an upper-class, über-rich Brit, the price of being blessed with such wealth and social standing is that you’re expected to be at least slightly amusing to the general public, offering some combination of doofus, daffy, and scandalous. Crispin Odey does not disappoint.
He was born to old money, but most of it was lost by the time he came of age, so Crispin set out with old fashioned drive (and the help of some very wealthy, old-school backers) to make a new fortune. As a London hedge fund huckster, he has scored big during Europe’s ongoing financial crisis by making socially-useful investments – such as betting that British banks would collapse. They did, ordinary Brits suffered, and Crispin became a billionaire. That’s what hedge fund geniuses do.
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Of course, he now lives in a proper British mansion, but Odey is not satisfied to wallow selfishly in the wealth he raked in from his bets on the misfortunes of the masses. Rather, he is boosting the local economy by hiring architects, artisans, construction crews, and designers to build a very special $250,000 house on his estate. In so doing, he is also boosting the spirit of an entire nation caught in an economic slump – indeed, Crispin has ignited the fiery spirit of populist outrage in Merry Old England.
Why? Because the quarter-million-dollar house he has commissioned is a chicken coop. Yes, a full-scale, stone structure of about 6,000 square feet, designed as a Grecian temple, complete with two-dozen columns and carved flourishes around the roof – all for chickens. Adding to the merriment, a chicken and egg are carved into one wall, with a Latin