Barclays has gone to court in an attempt to seize the £3.6m country home of the polo playing playboy Baron Strange of Knockin — also known as Rhodri Philipps.

Philipps was in court in Chichester last Wednesday, trying to stop the bank’s attempts to repossess the home counties pile he shares with his wife. The case was suspended until next month.

It is the latest chapter in the baron’s colourful career. He has already been bankrupted in Britain, and in Germany he spent a year in jail — convicted of 'jeopardising' the finances of an engineering group.

Sunday Times