EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Author bans Andrew's pal Lady V from book launch
Now I hear the launch party – following its exclusive serialisation in the Daily Mail – is causing ructions of its own.
Tonight, Lownie is due to celebrate the publication of Entitled: The Rise And Fall Of The House Of York with a party at The London Library in St James's Square. The author has, however, felt the need to ban one of the capital's most prominent socialites, Lady Victoria Hervey.
Veteran public-relations man Brian Basham is invited to the bash and wanted to bring his friend Lady Victoria, 48, sister of the Marquess of Bristol, as his plus-one.
But when he politely asked Lownie if this would be acceptable, the author made it clear that she would be turned away at the door of the library, the former haunt of Charles Dickens, Virginia Woolf, Charles Darwin and Ian Fleming.
'Look forward to seeing you, but she's barred,' Lownie told Basham. He is understood to have taken exception to unflattering comments she made on GB News about his book.
Lady Victoria has been an outspoken defender of Prince Andrew and his friend Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving 20 years in a US jail for enticement of minors and sex-trafficking under-age girls.
She claims she had to flee the US as a result.
'It all started getting scary when I got involved with a documentary about Ghislaine,' she told me in 2023. 'I pretended to be on a whistleblower's side
to get evidence to support Ghislaine. I have been working undercover and it's dangerous.
'The powers that be over there know all about me, I even thought I was being followed. I was glad to get back to the UK. I just want this to be over and stop looking over my shoulder.
'I am in touch with Prince Andrew, but I can't discuss him.'
Cool Anita! Single, sexy Rani rules the Proms
Woman's Hour host Anita Rani painted the Royal Albert Hall red with the 'dress of her dreams' this week as she presented a BBC Proms concert.
The Countryfile star, 47, turned up at the London landmark wearing this striking red couture dress designed by Asar.
Rani, who presented the return to the Proms of sitar virtuoso Anoushka Shankar, has been enjoying life since the end of her 14-year marriage to tech executive Bhupi Rehal in 2023. She says: 'I'm single. I'm child-free, I'm in my mid-40s, and I have never felt better, sexier, more powerful.'
Romance was anything but elementary for Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch. The Harrow-educated actor, 49, is married to theatre director and playwright Sophie Hunter, 47, but admits she might have given up hope that he would ever make the first move. Describing his lack of confidence around women, he says:'I took 17½ years to get round to doing something. I was a tongue-tied public schoolboy. But I figured it out and put it to her that we could be more than friends.' They now have three children.
Famed for her opulent lifestyle, Mariah Carey has developed a taste for a simple British classic – fish and chips. The singer, who was in Brighton recently showing off her five-octave range as the headline act at the Pride festival, reveals: 'I just didn't know what to eat. I was like, OK, let's just do fish and chips. And it was actually really good.' There are limits, however. 'I don't like vinegar with it,' the 56-year-old says. As for mushy peas? 'I hadn't noticed that...' Curry sauce? 'I don't like curry.'
Synth-pop pioneer Thomas Dolby, 66, who invented the Nokia ringtone, admits his mother tried to rig the Top 40 for him. After he told her the top-selling singles were determined by a survey of record shops, she took matters into her own hands. He adds: 'At her store in Cambridge, when I had a single, she'd buy 20.' Let's hope this won't invalidate the Top 20 spot of Dolby's 1984 hit Hyperactive!
BUCKINGHAM Palace may be undergoing a ten-year, £369million renovation – but will that be enough for Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen? The foppish former Changing Rooms presenter says the monarch's home is 'like a rather downat-heel golf resort'. Llewelyn-Bowen, 60, adds: 'Buckingham Palace has that dowdy feel to it. It should be a bit more splendiferous than it actually is. 'I did some flooring there, years ago, before I was famous, and Prince Philip hated it. I told him when I met him, 'You probably don't know this, but years ago I designed these floors.' 'And he looked down and went, 'Hmm, never liked them.''
How self-conscious Ore scooped Strictly by a hair
BBC star Ore Oduba has revealed the desperate efforts he made to cover up the fact that he was going bald while competing on Strictly Come Dancing.
'Hiding my hair loss during Strictly was hard but absolutely necessary,' declares Ore, 39, who treated himself with a hair-loss spray before resorting to tablets, which, worryingly, have potential side-effects including infertility and impotence. 'I'd visit my trusted barber every Friday so my hairline was tight and tidy.'
Recalling the moment his 2016 Strictly victory was announced, the presenter, who has two children with ex-wife Portia, pictured, says: 'My mind fully emptied from the shock. But I had the wherewithal to know not to touch my hair when I had my head in my hands!'
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Telegraph
6 minutes ago
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Police arrest 13 at Palestine Action protest in Norwich
Police arrested 13 people after Palestine Action activists launched a protest in Norwich on Saturday. A crowd of 100 people waved Palestine flags and held up placards that read 'Stop the genocide in Gaza' and 'Free Palestine' outside City Hall shortly after 1pm. Norfolk Constabulary made the arrests, all on suspicion of expressing support for a proscribed organisation. Five were taken into custody for questioning and eight were de-arrested pending further investigation. Another protester had a sign seized but was not arrested, the force said. Some of those who were arrested refused to move and had to be carried away by officers. Supt Wes Hornigold said: 'We will always work to facilitate peaceful protest and protect the democratic right to assembly, However, the actions of this group were unlawful. 'Our officers' role is to prevent disorder, damage and disruption in the local community and they will use their powers to do this. Any breaches of the law will be dealt with.' Defend Our Juries, which organised the protest, had told participants to bring a blank placard and pen so they could write 'I oppose genocide' and 'I support Palestine Action'. Meanwhile, pro-Palestine protesters chanted 'RAF shame on you' as they held a demonstration outside RAF High Wycombe, Bucks, calling for an embargo on selling arms to Israel. A large Palestine flag was erected in front of a replica Second World War Hurricane fighter plane outside the entrance to the air base, with organisers bussing in protesters from High Wycombe railway station. Hundreds of people have been arrested for expressing support for Palestine Action since it was proscribed as a terror group in July. The Metropolitan Police has arrested more than 700, including 522 in a single protest outside the Houses of Parliament last week. Among them was Moazzam Begg, the former Guantanamo Bay detainee. The mass arrests came during a rally by activists seeking to test whether the ban would be enforced, with the hope there would be too many protesters to detain. Anyone found guilty of supporting or gathering support for a proscribed organisation faces a maximum of six months' imprisonment and a £5,000 fine. Stephen Parkinson, the Director of Public Prosecutions, said 60 people would be prosecuted for the offence and that 'many more can be expected in the next few weeks'. Supporters of Palestine Action have described the ban as a 'gross abuse of power' that stifles expressions of support. The group was proscribed after activists allegedly broke into RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire and vandalised two military aircraft, causing £7m of damage. A High Court hearing is set to take place in November challenging the group's ban as a terror organisation.
Times
6 minutes ago
- Times
Catherine Zeta-Jones: ‘This is a new chapter'
'T here was never any question that I was going to be in showbusiness,' says Catherine Zeta-Jones, the girl who left Wales aged nine to appear on the West End stage in Annie, who won an Oscar for her appearance as a high-kicking murderess in the film Chicago and a Tony for her turn in A Little Night Music on Broadway. We are talking over Zoom, Zeta-Jones lavishly glamorous in a vintage YSL shirt, a gold and diamond Cartier watch, fat diamond studs in her ears, full make-up and a huge arrangement of orchids as a backdrop. But the razzle-dazzle is all part of the performance — because then she smiles and lifts up her leg to show me her off-duty white fluffy slippers (she has been dancing since she was four and remains impressively limber). 'I am actually in my sweatpants,' she says. 'I've been on set since 6am.' Now 55, Zeta-Jones is enjoying a professional renaissance. 'It's a new chapter. It's what I have been craving. Variety.' Her new projects are certainly varied. She is currently in Bilbao making the Amazon series Kill Jackie, in which she portrays a former cocaine kingpin turned art dealer whose past foes are out to murder her. 'I'm playing a Welsh woman, speaking in my own accent for the first time. It's really empowering, as an actor it frees me up,' she says. I ask if she's had to ramp up the Welsh; she has lived in America for the past three decades and has been married to the American actor Michael Douglas for almost 25 years. Her accent is a peculiar melange — in one sentence she pronounces 'route' three different ways. 'No, it just comes back, all the nuances,' she insists, reeling off some Welsh lingo. She is also in a forthcoming indie film with Natalie Portman called The Gallerist — 'a lovely little jewel of a part,' she says. But the most high-profile of Zeta-Jones's latest projects is Tim Burton's Wednesday, in which she plays Morticia Addams opposite Jenna Ortega as the titular goth anti-heroine, whose deadpan nihilism has become a cultural phenomenon. The first series, which came out in 2022, is the most-viewed English language show on Netflix. Zeta-Jones's appearance in that season was brief but impactful; she perfectly conjured Morticia's smouldering hauteur and otherworldly amorality. 'When Tim called me about the first season, before I even saw a script, I said, 'I'm in.' To play Morticia Addams in Tim Burton's world … It was just magic.' Burton, it seems, was equally spellbound. 'I've been a fan of hers for a long time,' he says over the phone. 'It's the Addams family, so it's usually pretty over the top, but we also wanted to give it an emotional resonance and Catherine's just very good at doing that, delivering something heightened, but also tapping into those real emotions.' There is ample opportunity for this in the second series, in which Morticia's character has been expanded. 'Tim really wanted to incorporate the family into the show,' Zeta-Jones says. So Morticia and Gomez Addams (played by Luis Guzmán) have relocated to Nevermore Academy to help plan a gala and keep an eye on their children; mysteries are multiplying, macabre beasts are being unleashed and Thing's loyalties are being tested — even when acting opposite a disembodied hand, Zeta-Jones's Morticia is compelling. As in the first series, there are plenty of devilish pranks and gory murders, but the most high stakes moments are those in which mother and daughter enter into emotional combat. 'That is the crucial dynamic,' Burton explains. In one scene Morticia and Wednesday have a night-time duel, fencing foils flashing (Zeta-Jones fans will be reminded of the famous fight scene in her breakout role opposite Antonio Banderas in The Mask of Zorro in 1998). 'I got to bend into the comedy and the emotion, the vulnerability,' Zeta-Jones says. 'Morticia is like all of us. We're strong, but we're vulnerable.' And she has nothing but praise for her co-star Ortega. 'When we first met I didn't know who she was. It took me one moment on set to work out who she was going to be. It was very clear that she was a phenomenon. I mean, forget the show, just her as a young woman, as an actress, the way she is. She has a smart head on her shoulders.' Leather Trench coat, £12,332, Gabriela Hearst. Shoes, £635, Aquazurra. White gold and diamond earrings, pendant and ring (left hand), prices on application, and ring (right hand), £8,600, De Beers. White gold and diamond necklace, £144,000, and ring (right hand), £45,500, Boucheron JAMES D KELLY Shirt, £350, Ami Paris. Coat, £1,295, Joseph. Yellow gold and diamond necklace, £25,100, and white gold and diamond ring, £3,840, Messika. Rose gold and diamond bracelet, £54,800, Chaumet. Panthère de Cartier yellow gold and diamond watch, £49,700, and yellow gold ring, £2,410, Cartier JAMES D KELLY Top, £1,215, Etro. Jacket, £2,700, and skirt, £1,590, Stella McCartney. Silver earrings, £139, and cuff, £199, Jewells. Gold and silver ring set, £200, Demarson JAMES D KELLY Ortega's trajectory, a child actress who was launched to stardom, aged 20, via her role in Wednesday, mirrors that of Zeta-Jones. She was 21 when she appeared in the The Darling Buds of May, a bucolic vision of 1950s England, in which she played the ravishing Mariette, captivating the country the moment she appeared on screen — it was one of the most-watched TV shows in the UK at the time. 'I went to sleep on a Sunday night, when I woke up, everybody knew who I was,' she says. • Wednesday series 2 review: Jenna Ortega's a gothic hoot But really, Catherine Zeta-Jones was always a star. She was raised in Mumbles, a seaside town in Swansea. Her mother was a seamstress and her father worked in a sweet factory, which he eventually bought, following a £100,000 win on the bingo, the money also helped to fund dancing lessons for Zeta-Jones. 'It feels like a very precocious thing, and I don't know where it comes from, but I'd say it out loud, 'I want to be on the stage.' I was a bit of a prodigy,' she says. She would come to London, queue for auditions and, if she was rejected, change her leotard, put her hair up in a ponytail and try again. Her hero was Elizabeth Taylor. 'To me she represented Hollywood. And there was also the Welsh connection with Richard Burton, the scandal of their love, the craziness, it was part of my upbringing. Right after I finished Annie at the Victoria Palace, she was in The Little Foxes at the same theatre. So, one matinee, I stood outside the stage door with a bunch of daffodils. I waited and I waited for her to come, and when she arrived I remember saying to her, 'Would you take your sunglasses off, so I can see your violet eyes?' And she said, 'It's way too early in the morning for that.' I didn't care, she took my daffodils and gave me a beautiful hug.' There have been extraordinary strokes of luck in Zeta-Jones's life, and not just the bingo win. When she was 17 she was in the chorus of 42nd Street, at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, and the second understudy for the lead role of Peggy Sawyer. The night she was called upon to play the part the producer, David Merrick, was in the audience and was so impressed that he gave it to her. The French director Philippe de Broca saw her in 42nd Street and cast her in his film Les 1001 Nuits. It wasn't a particularly successful film, but it was seen by the producers of The Darling Buds of May. 'There is luck, yes,' she says. 'But I always think that you create your luck. If I hadn't been prepared and ready to go, David Merrick wouldn't have promoted me.' Clockwise from top left: as Velma Kelly in Chicago; with David Jason in The Darling Buds of May; with Jenna Ortega, Isaac Ordonez and Luis Guzmán in series two of Wednesday; with Dennis Quaid in the thriller Traffic After The Darling Buds of May, Zeta-Jones became disenchanted with the relentless gorgeous girlfriend roles that she was offered. 'I don't consider myself a great beauty,' she says. 'I always thought of myself as attractive and interesting, but never a great beauty.' She moved to America to reinvent herself and got a part in the CBS mini-series Titanic. Again this wasn't hugely successful, but it was seen by Steven Spielberg, who was producing The Mask of Zorro at the time, and suggested her for the female lead. It was this role that really elevated Zeta-Jones to international stardom, and was also seen by Michael Douglas, whose head was turned by her charisma. Soon after they were both attending the Deauville Film Festival and he arranged to have a drink with her. During their meeting he said to her: 'I am going to be the father of your children.' Zeta-Jones was not initially charmed, but eventually fell for him and they were married in a million-dollar New York wedding in 2000. Their children, Dylan and Carys, were born in 2000 and 2003 respectively; the Douglases retreating from New York to Bermuda to raise their family. 'The city in the summertime is too hot, so Michael took me to the Hamptons and I was like, 'same people in shorts'. The social calendar is exhausting. So Michael took me to Bermuda because his mother was Bermudian and I thought, 'I love this.' It's an hour and a half in a plane. It's a British colony, there were pictures of the Queen when I went to the bank. So we bought a house there and stayed for ten years.' Douglas is himself Hollywood royalty — his father was Kirk Douglas, the actor who played Spartacus and who died in 2020 aged 103. 'He was a flirty little thing,' Zeta-Jones says. 'He was wonderful and he was very fond of me, as I was of him. I miss him. They [Kirk and his wife, Anne] left a philanthropic legacy that was way beyond movies.' Kirk Douglas donated most of his money — which was estimated at over $60 million — to his charitable foundation, and left nothing to Michael. But the Douglases are not doing so badly themselves. They have four homes, two in New York, one in Canada and one in Spain. 'I know it sounds very jet set, and I love to surround myself with beauty but it's not excessive, it's very comfortable,' Zeta-Jones says. Zeta-Jones with Michael Douglas and their daughter, Carys, at the Cannes Film Festival, 2023 DANIELE VENTURELLI/WIREIMAGE As a couple they like to spend time in their home in Spain, away from their public-facing lives. It can be challenging, she admits, when big stars are a couple. 'Two celebrities together make ten. It's just the way it is. There's two versions of the story and there's two make-believes,' she says. 'We don't listen to the crap that is written about us, that's the main thing. And we respect our space, we're independent spirits. We are very similar; we were born on the same day, 25 years apart. We're not afraid to be verbal, to express ourselves. I wear everything on my sleeve and so does he, which is good.' Douglas has recently announced that, now aged 80, he has no real intentions of acting again and that he just likes 'to watch my wife work'. 'Michael has definitely earned the chance to slow down,' Zeta-Jones says. 'But I never say never. He's his father's son and loves to work — let's just say, 'retirement' is a flexible concept.' They both agree, however, that he will be playing a lot of golf. Whereas one of Zeta-Jones's favourite ways to relax is homemaking, specifically organising — and stocking — her numerous wardrobes. 'I go to all the vintage stores in Paris. I buy things that you are probably never going to wear, like a gorgeous cape, just great pieces. I am loving classic Yves Saint Laurent at the moment. I get excited about evening dresses. For me, a pair of jeans is a pair of jeans. Spending £200 on a white T-shirt? Nah. But when it comes to couture, beautiful beading, the artistry … I love the theatre of fashion.' She's got Carys, 22, hooked too. 'She loves my closet. I have probably the biggest Fendi Baguette bag collection, and she's just found more in my mum's house. I've got everything from denim to pearl to sequins. Carla Fendi used to give them to me all the time, right when they were hot potatoes.' Top, £195, Me+Em. Trousers, £410, Max Mara. Yellow gold and diamond Tiffany Knot necklace, £37,200, yellow gold Elsa Peretti Bone cuff, £23,300, yellow gold Tiffany T bracelet, £7,525, and yellow gold Tiffany Knot bracelet, £8,375, Tiffany & Co JAMES D KELLY Shirt, price on application, Michael Kors. Jacket, £3,017, and trousers, £1,165, Givenchy. Bra, £260, Eres. Clash de Cartier yellow gold earrings, £4,400, and matching ring (right hand), £2,410, Trinity white, rose and yellow gold and diamond necklace, £6,950, and matching ring (left hand), £11,200, Cartier JAMES D KELLY Zeta-Jones is an intriguing mix. There is something inherently regal about her, from her self-presentation to her demeanour. She is old Hollywood. But she can also be funny, a bit naughty even — which is when her Welsh accent comes out. When I ask where she and her husband keep their Oscars, she says 'mine is in the country house in New York, Michael's is in the apartment in New York. We keep them apart, just in case, you know, there isn't like hanky-panky going on there.' She also remains driven and ambitious, but her competitive streak is now largely limited to games of Yahtzee with the family. 'I have had such a great and varied career,' she says. 'I've worked with great directors, great actors. Everything now is a bonus.' Wednesday season two, part one is streaming on Netflix now. Part two premieres on September 3 Styling Marian Nachmia. Hair Maranda Widlund. Make-up Brett Freedman. Local production Town Productions. Thanks to the Corinthia London hotel Love TV? Discover the best shows on Netflix, the best Prime Video TV shows, the best Disney+ shows , the best Apple TV+ shows, the best shows on BBC iPlayer, the best shows on Sky and Now, the best shows on ITVX, the best shows on Channel 4 streaming, the best shows on Paramount+ and our favourite hidden gem TV shows. Don't forget to check our critics' choices to watch and browse our comprehensive TV guide
BBC News
6 minutes ago
- BBC News
Restaurant in Gloucester loses licence after illegal worker fine
A Chinese restaurant previously fined £135,000 for employing three illegal workers has now been banned from selling White Horse in Longford, near Gloucester, was visited by Home Office inspectors in August last year. They found three workers from Indonesia who had no right to work in the Home Office handed the £135,000 civil penalty to the owner's company R&R (Gloucester) and called for the restaurant's council-issued licence to be of a licence review hearing on Thursday held by Tewkesbury Borough Council, owner Lee Yap Kheang said the business would "without doubt" have to close if it could not sell alcohol. Mr Kheang told councillors the restaurant now employed five workers from the local community, adding: "We cannot survive without the profit revenue from alcohol sales as the economic climate for restaurants is so tough now."He said he had worked very hard to build a village restaurant against all odds – including repeated floods."People rely upon me and the village is my home and its residents, my deeply valued friends," he to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the council's licensing sub-committee nevertheless voted to revoke the restaurant's licence."We hope this decision makes it clear that serious breaches won't be ignored," a council spokesperson said. 'No pay' Home Office inspectors had initially visited the restaurant after being told in a tip-off that Mr Kheang had been employing illegal workers for no pay, in return for food and accommodation at the told the inspector the workers helped out only occasionally with minor tasks such as washing dishes and tidying the garden."When questioned about right to work checks, Kheang admitted to seeing the letters about claiming asylum but did not conduct any checks," a Home Office report stated."He further admits, 'I know they are not allowed to work.'"Mr Kheang now has a right to appeal regarding the restaurant's licence.
