Rory Bremner: I'm not brave enough to do Nigel Farage in Clacton
Rory Bremner is pacing around a north London pub, miming lines, running material through his busy brain. The veteran impressionist is more often seen on television or heard on radio, a fixture since the days of Thatcher and Major, and on Bremner, Bird and Fortune or I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue. Yet here he is, at a humble Monday night comedy club, looking as if he'd rather be anywhere else — quiet, jittery, terrified.
At about 10pm he bounds on stage and says he has to go soon. 'I've got to rush off and do Kemi Badenoch's leaving party,' he says. 'It's a surprise.' The crowd laugh. A few even cheer. And from then on Bremner relaxes, as he goes on a rollercoaster
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Telegraph
42 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Royal fan tells King he's ‘more handsome in real life than on TV'
The King was offered a 'special discount' on an old watch as he toured an antiques stall at Old Spitalfields Market, in east London, on Thursday. Mobbed by members of the public as he arrived at the historic market in pouring rain, the monarch shook hands with dozens of shoppers and stall holders. Paul Brimmer told the King: 'I sell old watches, come by and I'll give you a really special discount.' He then joked: 'Oh, but you don't carry cash.' He added afterwards: 'I told him he's more handsome in real life than on the telly. He looks really well, doesn't he?' The King dropped into the market as he visited the South by Southwest Festival (SXSW) in Shoreditch. The event, which originated in Austin, Texas, is being held in London for the first time to celebrate creative and tech industries this week. He braved the heavy rain to stroll between festival sites and then over to the market, which was founded in 1682 when Charles II granted a Royal Charter for a market to be held on the site every Thursday and Saturday. Met on arrival by Eric Graham, the market's manager, he pottered around admiring an array of vintage cameras, maps, cutlery and other antiques. He expressed particular interest in a Persian-style lacquered box, telling the stall holder, who did not want to be identified, that he liked it. The King found common ground with Jules, another stall holder, over their shared interest in maps and telescopes. 'He was so lovely,' she said afterwards. 'He asked what I was interested in and I explained about early photography. I also like maps and telescopes, things like that, and he said: 'Yes, so do I.'' Malcolm McFarlan, a stall holder originally from Callander, Scotland, has been selling antiques at the market for around 18 years. 'He asked where they were from and how I'd come to be interested in it,' he said of his brief chat with the monarch. 'I said I was born into it. My parents owned an antiques shop and we lived above it.' As the King moved through the market, he was introduced to a tiny dog called Twiglet and asked one shopper about her green matcha tea drink. He asked Peter Filosidis, a stall holder who sold a vast array of items: 'How do you pack it up at the end of the day?' Mr Filosidis laughed and replied: 'It takes me hours.' The King told him: 'It's a very special profession. I'm stopping all these people from buying anything.' Charles had arrived earlier at SXSW to a performance by The Kingdom Choir at Ely's Yard before being greeted by Angela Rayner, the Deputy Prime Minister, Sir Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, and Eva Omaghomi, the King's former diversity czar who now chairs the festival's advisory council, among others. Earlier in the day, Ms Rayner had delivered a speech about sustainable communities. In the main exhibition space, the King was shown through an immersive art installation centred around sustainability, called Grounding. The video installation uses AI and data to morph landscape images on a loop, and is said to reflect how the natural world is constantly adapting and changing. The King met Damien Roach, the London-based artist, who explained the use of AI and the process of creating the installation. 'Everything you see is synthetic,' he said. 'I wanted to inspire understanding of the delicate and beautiful nature of our planet.' The King, a long-time environmental campaigner, also met speakers involved in a panel session called Love The Earth, which highlights the importance of nature, cultural preservation and indigenous cultures. He then stepped outside into the rain, turning down the offer of a lift in the state Bentley to walk around the corner to Christ Church, Spitalfields, under an umbrella. In the church's crypt, he viewed Beautiful Collisions, an exhibition exploring the contribution of artists from the Caribbean to British Art and Culture. He chatted at length to Grenada-born Denzil Forrester, one of the artists involved, who told the King how he goes to clubs and dance halls, sketching people dancing into the early hours. Mr Forrester explained that he often arrived at 10pm and did not leave until 5am. In response to the artist's drawing until dawn, the King said: 'Are you sure? You should be in bed!' One of Mr Forrester's pieces featured a picture of Haile Selassie, the last Ethiopian emperor, whom the King recalled meeting when he was a child at around eight years old. He said he was 'fascinated' by him and still had a gift he had received from Selassie. Mr Forrester gave the King one of his paintings, called The Congregation, which was inspired by dancers at a reggae event in Truro.
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Brighton Rock by Graham Greene audiobook review – Sam West captures the menace of this modern classic
We are not short of audio versions of Brighton Rock, Graham Greene's classic thriller from 1938 set in the eponymous seaside town. Past narrators have included Jacob Fortune‑Lloyd, Richard Brown and Tom O'Bedlam, and that's before you get to the various radio dramatisations. But few can match this narration from the Howards End actor Samuel West, first recorded in 2011, which captures the menace and seediness that runs through Greene's novel. It tells of 17-year-old Pinkie Brown, a razor-wielding hoodlum who is trying to cover up the murder of a journalist, Charles 'Fred' Hale, killed by his gang in revenge for a story he wrote on Pinkie's now deceased boss, Kite. Pinkie sets about wooing Rose, a naive young waitress who unwittingly saw something that could implicate him in the murder. His plan is to marry her to prevent her testifying against him. But he doesn't bargain for the doggedness of Ida Arnold, a middle-aged lounge singer who smells of 'soap and wine' and who happened to meet Hale on the day he was killed. On learning of his death, Ida refuses to believe the reports that he died of natural causes. She resolves not only to bring his killer to justice but to protect Rose from a terrible fate. Brighton Rock is one of several Greene audiobooks being rereleased this year by Penguin; others include The Quiet American (narrated by Simon Cadell), Travels With My Aunt (Tim Pigott-Smith), The Power and the Glory (Andrew Sachs) and The Heart of the Matter (Michael Kitchen). Available via Penguin Audio, 9hr 10min Normally Weird and Weirdly NormalRobin Ince, Macmillan, 9hr 7minInspired by his ADHD diagnosis, the co-presenter of Radio 4's science comedy The Infinite Monkey Cage investigates neurodiversity and asks: what does it mean to be normal? Read by the author. It's Probably NothingNaga Munchetty, HarperCollins, 11hr 33minMunchetty narrates her memoir-cum-polemic about her struggles with adenomyosis and the enduring problem of medical misogyny.
The Sun
an hour ago
- The Sun
Amanda Holden appears NAKED on radio just days after Ofcom complaints over BGT dress
AMANDA Holden has stunned radio fans after appearing to turn up to work completely naked. The star looked totally nude on the live stream of Heart FM's Breakfast Show - and it even left her co-host Jamie Theakston doing a double take. 5 Amanda 's wardrobe faux pas came just 24 hours after it was revealed both hers and Alesha Dixon 's risqué dresses from the Britain's Got Talent Live Final had sparked Ofcom complaints. Sitting in her DJ hot seat on Thursday morning, Amanda looked across at a monitor for the live stream and admitted: "Good morning, Mr Theakston. "It is 6.30am and I've just caught myself on the camera and don't you think I look naked this morning? Sat behind here?" Stuttering, Jamie replied: "Do you know what... You are wearing clothes, aren't you?" Laughing, Amanda told her co-host: "I just looked and went, 'What? Have I forgotten to put my clothes on?'" With her blonde hair loose around her shoulders, it did look as though Amanda, 54, was in the buff. The only thing visible was a chunky string of pearls around her neck featuring a gold heart. But Amanda was in fact wearing clothes. The glam mum-of-two was pictured outside Global's studios in London after the show had finished in a pale pink strapless dress made of suede. Her figure-hugging frock fell at the knee and Amanda had teamed it with nude court shoes and a matching handbag. Britain's Got Talent fans hit out at judge during live final as they rage 'what is he doing-' She also popped on a pair of sunglasses, despite the wet weather in the capital. The Sun revealed on Wednesday how ITV had been hit with a flurry of complaints following the BGT final. Television watchdog Ofcom received 96 complaints in total about the live finale - with 72 relating to Amanda and Alesha's skin-baring dresses. Amanda chose to wear a long, white gown with dramatic cowl neck for the telly extravaganza - and had just a very skimpy bra underneath. Alesha, meanwhile, wore a sheer floor-length dress that gave fans of the show a good look at her underwear. At the time, one viewer had complained on X: "Love the show, but what a shame that Amanda and Alesha have to dress like they are going to some special nightclub." Another fumed: "Catching up on #BGT and what is Amanda wearing? Not really appropriate for a family show." A third compared Amanda's dress to a "tea towel". The remaining complaints were about language used by Bruno Tonioli and Simon Cowell, the winner of the competition Harry Moulding, and Joseph Charm's act. Amanda is no stranger to baring the flesh and deliberately chooses outfits that show off her incredible figure. Speaking to The Sun at the BGT premiere, she cackled: "I constantly scroll through Instagram when I'm on car journeys and bombard my stylist with loads of ideas. "It's thigh splits and cleavage. "I have a whole 't*t committee' [in the production team] that watches everything [to prevent 'accidents']." 5
