Shamans on private jets, $100,000 scented candles, and 27-hour work days: Inside the life of a billionaire estate manager

The Batman movies are thoroughly misleading for one important reason. It’s not the main character’s nocturnal habit of kneecapping petty crooks that stretches credulity — but the roles and responsibilities of his butler sidekick. In the recent trilogy, Alfred, played by Michael Caine, is seen performing the duties of chef, chauffeur, cleaner, nanny, therapist, life coach, executive assistant, travel agent, property developer, IT troubleshooter, private doctor, PR agent, international smuggler and criminal underworld expert. This elderly man does all of these highly-skilled tasks on his own, 24 hours a day, without rest. And they say Christopher Nolan’s superhero films were grittily authentic.