Fifteen years ago today, a medical emergency occurred which would result in a seismic shock felt around the world - particularly for one family far closer to home.
On the morning of June 25, 2009, in a sprawling white mansion in the plush Beverly Hills suburb of Holmby Hills, the singer Michael Jackson \- an international household name - was struggling to sleep. Before the day was out, he would be dead.
Jackson had spent the previous day at the Staples Centre in downtown Los Angeles rehearsing for a string of 50 sold-out shows to mark his return as a live performer. All would be taking place at Greenwich’s O2 Arena.
The show, billed as his final performances in London, would run from July 2009 into March 2010 - and he’d rented a suitably grand manor house in Chislehurst in which to stay during the period.
Foxbury Manor, located at the end of the quiet, tree-lined Kemnal Road, and the jewel in its crown, was the perfect refuge for the superstar - a place to relax in peace from the intense media and fan scrutiny his return to the stage and extended stay in London would have generated.
Less than a 30-minute drive from the O2 Arena, the property on the private road was ringed with fortified fences, surrounded by acres of its own land and tall trees.
“We consider ourselves with one foot in the urban and one in the rural,” says local historian, author and member of the Kemnal Road Residents’ Association, Tony Allen. “Speaking for myself, I certainly consider us more as Kent than London.”
Foxbury Manor had once been home to wealthy banking merchants when it was first built in the late 19th century - changing hands over the years from a private home to a missionary and then becoming a training centre.
But, in 2001, according to Zoopla, it was sold for £2.94m to businessman Osman ‘Ozzie’ Ertosun. The 57-year-old had made his fortune through a chain of care homes - Excelcare - which he established in the late 1980s and which he remains CEO of to this day.
Adds Mr Allen, a former chair of the Chislehurst Society: “He converted it back into a private home and did a lot of work to make it really nice.”
Today it features nine bedrooms, six reception rooms, eight bathrooms and an indoor pool and spa complex. Expect that original price to have multiplied many times over as a result.
Michael Jackson had announced the run of shows at a press conference at the O2 on March 5, 2009 - saying the shows were his “final curtain call”.
There was speculation at the time the star had paid a visit to the property around the time of the announcement. Neighbours aren’t so sure. Regardless if it was him - or, more likely his management team, a deal was struck to take over Foxbury Manor from early July 2009 until his marathon, record-breaking run of shows were over.
Believe the hype and the rental cost the Jackson empire around £1m.
Osman Ertosun and his family penned a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) - a legal document forbidding them from revealing any details of the deal.
When KentOnline approached him, he claimed he is still tied to it and remained unable to speak on the matter.
But we do know it came as something of a surprise to his neighbours.
Explains Tony Allen: “The first we heard of it was through the national newspapers.
“By the time we found out, the family were just about ready to move. So we very quickly realised this was real and wasn’t just a rumour.
“At first, people were excited. Then it suddenly dawned on everyone what the arrangements would be.
“Would he be helicopting in from the O2? Would we have the clattering of helicopter blades late at night or in the early hours after his concerts? Would there be a convoy of cars? What would the security be like?
“All of a sudden, people realised this was quite serious for what is a private road.
At first, people were excited…then there was the fear it would all become a bit of a circus’
“There was a fear it was going to become a bit of a circus.
“So there were concerns and if we could do anything about it. But it wasn't a planning issue - it was a perfectly legal transaction between the owner of the property and Jackson's company.
“It was a weird time because the emotions were all over the place.
“Some people were thrilled to bits at having a celebrity like Michael Jackson in our midst and shaking him by the hand as he walked down the street - as if,” he laughs, “but after a short period of time, I think people realised it was going to be more of a burden than a benefit.”
For Michael Jackson, the self-styled King of Pop, the This Is It tour was designed to elevate him back to his position as an all-conquering, all-dancing, all-singing megastar - the title he had held throughout the 1980s and 1990s with his phenomenally successful Off The Wall, Thriller, Bad and Dangerous albums.
But the gruelling rehearsal regime was taking its toll on the 50-year-old. He’d not toured since 1997 and the intervening years had been dogged by well-publicised allegations and financial problems caused by not tempering his spending as his commercial clout had declined.
Yet the appetite to see him perform live once again had not diminished. Some one million tickets for the O2 shows had been shifted at record speeds - generating sufficient monies to ease Jackson’s bank balance to the tune of tens of millions of pounds.
Millions more were in the offing if the shows, promoted by AEG Live, proved he still had that on-stage pizzazz which had made him one of the world’s most bankable stars. It was speculated further residencies in other major cities around the world were planned.
But after struggling to sleep the night before, he turned to his personal doctor - Conrad Murray - for medication to allow him to sleep. After various drugs failed to provide the rest the performer needed, a dose of propofol - a powerful sedative normally used as an anaesthesia - was administered, apparently at Jackson’s request. He had long battled an addiction to painkillers.
However, shortly after noon on June 25 following the injection, Jackson became unresponsive and his pulse weak. Desperate attempts were made to revive him - including CPR. Emergency services were called.
He had gone into full cardiac arrest. It is believed he died before being put into an ambulance and rushed to a Los Angeles hospital.
Meanwhile, news began to break around the world that Michael Jackson was in a bad way. The excitement around his shows had been building for weeks. At around 2.30pm US time on June 25, 2009 - 10.30pm UK time - he was pronounced dead. Such was the intense global interest in the news, many major news sites buckled under the weight of traffic.
“It was only a couple of weeks after we found out about him moving here that he died,” recalls Tony Allen.
“Then we were thinking 'oh my God, imagine if he had actually moved here and died here'. It would become some sort of shrine to the man. All sorts of people would want to come and see where he died and that would be longer lasting than if he'd just come and stayed here.”
Some mixed relief, perhaps, for the neighbours in Kemnal Road - but for fans his death was shocking and completely unexpected.
An enormous multi-million pound money-making venture had not just been stopped in its tracks, but completely derailed - forever.
At Foxbury Manor, however, the family had already moved out as part of the lease deal struck with Jackson’s people.
More so, Jackson’s team had moved furniture out, and redecorated many of the rooms in a style to which the singer had specified.
Believe the newspaper stories at the time and that included drafting in interior designers to work their magic and theming one of the bedrooms in the style of Star Wars for one of the superstar’s children.
“The property was empty for the best part of a year - with the exception of a housekeeper and a gardener,” says Mr Allen, who has written two books on the local history of the area.
They'd signed the agreement before he'd died, so it was a valid agreement. It wasn't annulled because of his death
“The family had to leave - they had a signed agreement. They got their money and there were lots of internal decorations as Jackson wanted it a particular way. The furniture was all out.
“But they'd signed the agreement before he'd died, so it was a valid agreement. It wasn't annulled because of his death.
“I don't know how much it was. It was quite a lot - they were handsomely paid. And they'd moved the family to another place.
“As far as the family were concerned, why would they want to move back in and unravel all that?”
Paying out on a rental that wasn’t, ultimately, needed would prove to be the least of AEG Live’s problems.
The company had banked heavily on the shows. Some $10m had already been paid to Jackson and production costs alone toppled $30m. Plus, all those tickets had to be refunded (although fans were also given the chance to exchange them for a ‘souvenir’ ticket).
However, the This Is It tour was still heavily monetised even after the star’s death. A film of the rehearsals - a somewhat morbid opportunity to see Jackson performing in his final weeks - was heavily marketed, along with CDs and a host of related paraphernalia.
Legal battles between AEG, its insurers and the Jackson family would rage through the courts in the US for years.
A high-profile case brought against Conrad Murray would also garner many, many headlines worldwide.
He was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter for administering the drug that killed the star. He was sentenced to four years in jail and released after two years for good behaviour.
The residents of Kemnal Road, on the other hand, may always be left wondering just what might have been.
