TV presenter Jay Blades appears in court via video link charged with rape
Blades, who wore animal-print spectacles, a blue suit and a dark polka-dot tie, was not required to enter pleas during his first appearance.
The defendant found fame on restoration programme The Repair Shop, which he started hosting in 2017.
He stepped back as a presenter last year.
Blades also appeared on Celebrity Masterchef, Celebrity Bake Off and Comic Relief, as well as presenting the BBC's Money For Nothing until 2020.
The defendant, of Claverley in Shropshire, was granted conditional bail to appear at Shrewsbury Crown Court on September 10.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Irish Sun
7 minutes ago
- The Irish Sun
‘I don't think he understood football' – Wayne Rooney hits back at ‘unfair' Tom Brady comments questioning work ethic
ROO ARE YA? 'I don't think he understood football' – Wayne Rooney hits back at 'unfair' Tom Brady comments questioning work ethic WAYNE ROONEY has hit back at Tom Brady's questioning of his "work ethic" at Birmingham City. The American football icon, who became a minority owner of the League One side in August 2023, questioned Rooney's desire during a visit to the club's training ground in November 2023. Advertisement 2 Wayne Rooney had his desire questioned by Tom Brady during his time in charge of Birmingham Credit: REUTERS 2 NFL icon Brady questioned Rooney's 'work ethic' during a visit to the Blues' training ground Credit: PA The seven-time Super Bowl winner claimed he was "a little worried about our head coach's work ethic" in a fly-on-the-wall documentary about his part-ownership of the club. Rooney was left bitterly disappointed by Brady's critique, saying on his BBC podcast: "I think Tom came in once, which was the day before a game where the days are a little bit lighter anyway. "And I don't think he really understood football that well. "But what he does understand is, he's a hard worker, we know that." Advertisement Rooney, who was sacked by the Blues in January 2024 after just 83 days, added: "Football is not NFL – NFL works for three months a year. "Players do need rest as well, so I think he's very unfair, the way he's come out and portrayed that." Despite being irked by Brady's comments, Wazza insists he bears no ill will towards Brady. The 39-year-old said: "Listen, I respect Tom Brady massively. Advertisement SUN VEGAS WELCOME OFFER: GET £50 BONUS WHEN YOU JOIN Wayne Rooney's record-breaking career WAYNE Rooney took the football world by storm when he made his debut for 2002 with Everton. He quickly became the club's youngest-ever goalscorer aged 16 years and 342 days and was named the BBC's Young Sports Personality of the Year. The striker joined Manchester United in 2004 and spent 13 years at Old Trafford. He went on to make 559 appearances for the Red Devils and scored 253 goals. To this day he is still the club's all-time leading goalscorer. Following his spell with United, Rooney returned to Everton for a season. He also spent one-season stints with D.C. United and Derby County at the end of his career. As well as his impressive club career, Rooney is also England's second-highest goalscorer with 53 goals in 120 appearances, behind only Harry Kane. After hanging up his boots, the England icon turned to a career in management. He took charge of Derby County in 2020 and managed to just about save the club from relegation from the Championship at the end of his first season. However, with Derby handed a 21-point deduction the following campaign, he was unable to keep them up again and subsequently left. Then came a 15-month spell in charge of MLS side D.C. United. He failed to impress during his time in Washington and parted ways with the club at the end of the 2023 regular season. Rooney was controversially handed the Birmingham job in October 2023, replacing John Eustace with the club doing well and sixth in the Championship table. However, in 15 games he suffered nine defeats and managed just two wins. He was sacked in January 2024 with Birmingham down in 20th. The club were relegated to League One at the end of the campaign. He returned to management in May with Plymouth Argyle but managed just five wins in 25 games. The United legend now finds himself out of work once again. "He's one of the greatest, if not the greatest athletes of all time and Birmingham do look like they're getting it right now, which is good. "And I think what they have done is got the players out that they needed to get out." Wayne Rooney lands £800k deal to be Match of the Day pundit as he and wife Coleen become British TV's new power couple Rooney took charge of the Blues in October 2023 after the controversial sacking of John Eustace, who had the club sitting pretty in sixth place in the Championship. Advertisement But the Manchester United and England legend, was given the boot after just 15 matches at the St Andrews helm, insists he inherited a sinking ship. He said: "When I went into Birmingham, they were in a mess really. "Hence the fact that the players weren't really the players who could take the club forward. "You had Tony Mowbray, Gary Rowett after me, who also struggled as well."
Irish Examiner
10 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
'I don't want to be Gary Lineker': Kelly Cates on Sky, Match of the Day and social media
Kelly Cates is about to begin the busiest year of her career. That, to be fair, is an estimate, because the football presenter and broadcaster has always been a grafter. From Setanta Sports to Channel 5 there are few places where she has not applied her blend of deep knowledge and emotional warmth, and as of this weekend she will be the face of the BBC's and Sky's coverage of the Premier League. The action gets under way at a second home, Anfield, from where Cates will host Sky's Friday Night Football coverage of Liverpool v Bournemouth. This follows two preview shows for the BBC, and precedes her first shift on Match of the Day. Asked whether her schedule might be daunting, Cates appears almost bemused. 'I've just got busy weekends, but I work in sports so I expect to have busy weekends,' she says. 'It's not as complicated as you think — there's a very fast train to Manchester.' Cates, speaking at Sky's HQ, says she doesn't want to sound cliched but 'it's good to keep doing new things'. Her new roles are a chance to 'keep things fresh'. Having worked in the industry for 27 years, starting with a presenting role on the opening morning of Sky Sports News, 'to get a chance to do something new and still have the live football and have so many live games, it's just really lovely to have that balance'. For many years Cates had to endure questions that her colleagues don't; from being a woman in a man's world to being the daughter of a football legend, Sir Kenny Dalglish. She has long since carved out her own place in sports broadcasting, however, so when she was approached for the role of Match of the Day host, alongside Mark Chapman and Gabby Logan, Sky immediately brokered a deal that would keep her on its roster too. While her male colleagues may get more attention, usually adjacent to some controversy, Cates's less combative approach has helped to shape contemporary coverage of football on TV (and radio). Her more approachable and conversational style is suited to the age of podcasting and long‑form interviews. Gary Lineker hosted Match of the Day for 26 years. 'I think that the tone generally has changed to become more conversational on air, and I think that's probably because that's come from digital,' she says. 'A lot of that was fan-led and a lot of it was just people starting up on their own at the beginning. But I think you can have a conversational tone without having a conversation, and you can still interview somebody while having a conversational tone.' Cates offers another distinction from many of her peers; she is not an avid user of social media. She has no account on X and tends to use Instagram to promote her work rather than share her worldview. 'I haven't ever really used my social media for that, so it isn't something that I'm going to have to change,' she says. 'I think that in a lot of cases, I'm not the best-placed person to talk about some of those issues. And I think there's a tendency to believe that if somebody isn't talking about something they don't care about it. I think it's perfectly possible to care about something and keep quiet and let experts talk about it, which I think is a lot of the time better. I always feel like if I couldn't cope well with being challenged heavily on it, then I shouldn't be putting my opinion out publicly.' That she should be asked about her posting reflects the Gary Lineker-shaped presence in the room. Cates, Chapman and Logan are being asked by the BBC to team up to replace a broadcasting legend, with all the public scrutiny that entails. Cates says she has not spoken to Lineker about the job, but defends his reputation despite his being a 'controversial' figure. 'He hasn't got in touch and I haven't got in touch with him, but not because we're avoiding each other. We just don't know each other that well. I think [Chapman] was saying that Gary said: 'Why would I tell three broadcasters how to do their job?' Which is very lovely of him because he was brilliant at the job. And as much as he was a controversial character at times, any focus group that researched these things would tell you how much he was adored in that role.' On how she will approach following in the footsteps of yet another football legend, Cates is matter of fact. 'I don't want to be Gary. I think there's a temptation to try and be someone else, and I think that you get a job because of yourself. If then you try to be someone else, it can all just get a bit confused. I don't need another thing to think about. I don't need to be sitting there thinking: 'What would Gary do?'' Cates has enough the talent and experience to help her adapt to her new prominence. Britons will see a lot more of her on their screens and she will be watching even more football. Is there any possibility that more could become too much? 'If it was going to happen, it would have kicked in by now,' she says with a smile. — Guardian
Irish Examiner
10 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Jennifer Zamparelli narrates The Rocky Horror Show musical coming to Cork this month: 'It's an absolute riot'
Jennifer Zamparelli wears lots of hats. She's the mother of two children. She's also a radio presenter, TV host of the Irish winter cultural phenomenon Dancing with the Stars, screenwriter, comedy actor, entrepreneur (she co-owns a luxury hair salon) and now she's back treading the boards again in a musical, The Rocky Horror Show, which is touring Irish theatres this month. 'The musical has stood the test of time,' she says. 'It's been going since the 1970s. The creator, Richard O'Brien, also co-wrote the movie, which originally didn't do so well, but it became a cult phenomenon when it played as a late-night picture show. It garnered this huge following, with people dressing up, attracting people who didn't fit in, misfits who felt part of something. It was ahead of its time. 'It's basically about sex and liberation, being who you want to be, and gender fluidity. A bunch of aliens come down to Earth and want to have sex with everyone. When I got the offer for it, I turned to my dad and said 'Do you know what? I might give this one a miss'.' 'But then after doing some research myself, and making him watch a documentary about it, we're both fully invested in it now. It's an absolute riot. It's a lot of fun. It's still, I would say, ahead of its time, and probably needed more now than ever.' Zamparelli plays the narrator, reprising a role performed by the likes of Jack Nicholson, Danny De Vito, and Stephen Fry. 'Big shoes to fill,' she admits. She's reuniting with Jason Donovan for the production. The pair played a married couple in Priscilla, Queen of the Desert for a Dublin run in 2013. She says he has no airs or graces: 'I suppose somebody of that stature who's been on the West End and has done every musical under the sun, you'd think there'd be this persona, but he's not a prima donna. He's down to earth. Very much a family man. He just loves what he does and he's kind. That really helps when you're jumping in as a newbie to a production that's been running for a long time.' For Zamparelli, it's another chance to work with a childhood crush, having been a Neighbours TV soap opera superfan in the late 1980s: 'He might have even been a poster on my wall at one stage. I was running home to watch himself and Charlene get married at half one in the day on BBC. I'll never forget it. The wedding of the century. It's wild — he hasn't changed. He's actually got better looking with age.' Rocky Horror Show: Adam Strong as Frank n Furter. Photo: David Freeman Since leaving down her radio mic in 2024, after a decade as a presenter at RTÉ 2fm, she misses the camaraderie with her colleagues in the studio, the conversations on air — fielding offbeat stories from callers from around the country. Now that she has her 'freedom', she doesn't miss the huge commitment — 'being in the same place, same time, [practically] every single day' for 10 years. One thing Zamparelli won't give up any time soon is her role as the longest-serving Dancing with the Stars host, which she's fronted since 2019, originally with Nicky Byrne and lately with Doireann Garrihy. She loves the thrill of live television, even though the most unexpected things can happen: 'It was [nerve-racking] in the beginning. I suppose as the Sundays go on, it gets easier, but it's never a walk in the park because anything can go wrong. I've been on that stage where the whole system went down, and we had a blackout for seven minutes. But I always think 'what's the worst that can happen?'. 'At this stage, I've been through a lot of shows, but as soon as you get up to the top of those stairs, and you're looking down, and there's a live studio audience, the fear is there. It never, ever goes. I remember falling over a prop. I'm flashing my arse to the nation, but luckily, the camera had come away from me, so it was just the studio audience that got to see that sight. And I had to get through the rest of the show.' 'Covid was wild as well because we didn't know what was happening. We didn't know if we could let them dance together, and that was quite a scary time as well. And sure, look, I've been through a load of presenters as well — we've had Nicky, we've had Doireann. It's all been great. It's an infectious, joyous show to be part of. It's a bit of brightness in the darkness of winter. I start it in the depths of winter. I'm driving in, it's misery and rain. As soon as it's over, we're into spring and it's brighter. It gets me through those dark months.' Zamparelli says she has great regard for the celebrities who take on the challenge, who include the comedian Bernard O'Shea, her old sidekick on breakfast radio and the sitcom they co-wrote and starred in, Bridget & Eamon: 'They're put through their paces. They really work hard. I think anybody who gets through, even week-one, has a lot to be said for them because they've never done that before. It's live, in front of an audience. There's voting, a lot of pressure. I don't know how they do it. And I don't know how we've any more celebrities left in the country, but apparently, we do. So, we're gonna keep doing it until we've got through all of them.' Jennifer Zamparelli is touring The Rocky Horror Show, including Cork Opera House (Tuesday, August 26 – Saturday, August 30). See: A Question of Taste Best recent book you've read: I've just finished the whole Elements series — Water, Earth, Fire, Air — by John Boyne, which is a bit dark, but I do like a bit of darkness when I'm reading. They're all intertwined. I'm not a fast reader, so they're the perfect read for me. I really enjoyed those books. Best recent TV viewing: I tend not to watch much TV until the wintertime, but I did watch the latest White Lotus series. It was really good, but not as good as earlier ones. Best recent film: I wouldn't be a massive Marvel or superhero fan, but I got to go to a screening of The Fantastic Four when I was covering recently for Dave Moore on Today FM. As superhero movie movies go it's up there. It's very good. Best recent play: I went to see Tommy Tiernan in the Abbey Theatre acting in Kevin Barry's The Cave with my mom. She wasn't keen on the first half, but after they did the eulogies, it flew along. I loved it from start to finish. The whole cast was phenomenal. I really enjoyed that. Piece of music you've been listening to lately: My daughter watched Mamma Mia! and the sequel so we're on an Abba absolute freight train, which is going nowhere. We're in the car, and all she wants to do is listen to Abba on a loop. We're demented with Abba at the moment!
