Let's call the whole thing off

When Rupert Murdoch married Jerry Hall, the media tycoon declared himself the "luckiest man in the world". Then six years later, out of the blue, he wanted a divorce. Friends, and apparently even the supermodel herself, are baffled. So what went wrong?

- WILLIAM LANGLEY

When media tycoon Rupert Murdoch married ex-supermodel Jerry Hall, the event was befitting of a man who both sells the news and makes it. Posing before a huge crowd of photographers on the steps of Spencer House, a historic mansion in central London, the happy couple kissed, smiled and appeared completely oblivious to the astonishment felt by almost everyone who knew them.

Beyond the Murdoch family, no one had been warned of Rupert's plans, and even Jerry's closest London friends, including actress Joan Collins and fashion photographer David Bailey, were caught completely cold-footed. Still, there was no doubting the affection between them: "I am the happiest AND luckiest man in the world," tweeted Rupert, before the couple winged away to a luxurious honeymoon in the South of France.

Six years on the Murdochs have sprung another grand surprise on the world. This time with a high-speed divorce on the grounds of "irreconcilable differences". Just as there were few advance signs of the pair falling in love, so there were almost no indications of it all going wrong.

The break-up, announced in early June, was shocking in its suddenness. Almost everyone who had previously seen the pair together spoke of the affection they showed each other, and the happiness they seemed to have found. Last year, for Rupert's 90th birthday, Jerry, 66, threw him an all-star party at New York's swanky Tavern on the Green restaurant, where the tables were packed with celebrities, fellow business tycoons and much of Rupert's family. The New York Times reported that "Ms Hall doted on Mr Murdoch throughout the festivities." And it was for Jerry - whose four grown-up children live in England - that Rupert splashed out $20 million on Holmwood House, an exquisite Georgian pile set in prime Oxfordshire countryside.