What’s the patriarch of a booming publishing empire such as Playboy to do when he has to queue at the airport and his favourite female companions are seated three rows behind? He buys a private plane, of course — and we’re not talking about a Cessna 172. Nope, in the birth of the hugely exciting Jet Age, Playboy kingpin Hugh Hefner has bought a Douglas DC-9 airliner for use at his (and several significant others’) convenience. While mere mortals — the likes of Elvis and Sonny and Cher — make do with the folding sleeper chairs, on-board discotheque and cinema, and a generous female cabin crew (complete with rabbit ears and bushy tails), we imagine the proverbial magic happens in Hef’s personal boudoir, complete with a Tasmanian opossum fur-covered waterbed. After all, it’s wise to arrive at your destination suitably rested…

We were saddened to hear that Hugh Hefner, the founder of Playboy magazine, has passed away at the age of 91.

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