Blue Road: The Edna O'Brien Story: Trailer, certificate and where to watch
2024
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Times
19 minutes ago
- Times
June Wilkinson obituary: 1950s model and actress
As a child June Wilkinson knew that she wanted to go on stage and dreamt of becoming a ballerina until, as she later recalled, 'my breasts got too big'. Disappointed as she was that she was never going to dance with the Royal Ballet, she asked her dance teacher if she had other options. An audition was organised for her at London's Windmill Theatre and by the age of 15, in 1955, she was appearing topless in the venue's celebrated revue. It was the start of a career path that may have been considered orthodox at the time but which now seems unenlightened, to say the least. By the age of 18 she had made her first nude appearance in Playboy after being spotted by Hugh Hefner during a promotional tour of the United States. The magazine billed her as 'The Bosom' and she swiftly became one of the most photographed young women in America. During 1960 she appeared in Playboy no fewer than five times, by which time she had made her film debut, causing the magazine to give her pictures the headline: 'The Bosom Revisits Playboy'. In truth, her movie appearance had been brief and uncredited in Russ Meyer's 1959 directorial debut The Immoral Mr Teas. Meyer had encountered her when he had photographed her for Playboy and persuaded her to display her by now famous breasts through a window in one scene. It led to further film roles, including in the 1960 horror-and-voodoo romp Macumba Love. The promotion for the film claimed that her measurements were '44-20-36' although Wilkinson later admitted that it was an exaggeration and her real figure measured 40-22-35. If modern mores hold that the way she was marketed was exploitative and sexist, Wilkinson herself had no problem with it. 'I know that some well-endowed women don't like it when they meet a man and he just focuses on their big breasts,' she said. 'But it never bothered me. Why should I get mad? I've been blessed. People went, 'Wow!' and I enjoyed it.' The word 'voluptuous', the IMDb movie website notes, was an understatement when describing her 'va-va-voom contours that rivalled Jayne Mansfield during the heyday of the pneumatic blonde bombshell' and unsurprisingly she attracted the attention of some of the world's most eligible men. Among them was Elvis Presley, whom she met in 1958, when he was filming King Creole at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles. She ended up in his bedroom on the tenth floor of the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills. 'He starts to try to make love to me and I said, 'Oh I'm really sorry, I'm a virgin',' she remembered. 'So when he found out I was a virgin he picked up his guitar and sat on his bed and sang to me for about two hours.' Others she dated included Mickey Rooney, Paul Anka and George Harrison before her 1972 marriage to Dan Pastorini, an American football quarterback for the Houston Oilers, who was nine years her junior. The couple appeared together in the 1974 film The Florida Connection but Pastorini objected to her posing for men's magazines. She gave up taking her clothes off until her husband went and posed for a spread in Playgirl without telling her. 'I'm too liberated for that baloney and what's good for you is good for me, so our deal was off from then on,' she said and extracted her revenge. 'When he asked me what I thought of his layout, I said it was no big deal!' They divorced in 1982 and she is survived by their daughter, Brahna. In her late fifties and as uninhibited as ever, she posed nude again for Playboy in a 1997 feature titled 'The Best of Glamour Girls: Then and Now'. Two years later Playboy ranked her No 30 on its list of the '100 Sexiest Stars of the 20th Century'. She never remarried, but in later life noted that 'sex doesn't have to stop when you reach 60. If you're worried about performance, remember doing it one time well is a lot better than doing it 14 times badly.' June Wilkinson was born in 1940 in Eastbourne, East Sussex, the daughter of a window cleaner and a mother who took in sewing to pay for her daughter's lessons at the Sussex School of Dancing, where she trained in homemade ballet shoes. She made her first appearance on stage in Cinderella at Eastbourne's Devonshire Park Theatre when she was 12, but her ambitions to be a ballet dancer ended when she 'woke up on my 14th birthday and there were my breasts'. Although her film career soon petered out, she maintained a glamorous presence on TV as foil to Spike Jones and as the villainous Evelina in two episodes of Batman. On the live stage she appeared in sex comedies with titles such as Three in a Bedroom and The Ninety-Day Mistress and in the show Pajama Tops, which briefly ran on Broadway. In later years she ran a chain of fitness centres in Canada and hosted shows on cable TV, including The Directors in which she interviewed film-makers, and a show about the history of fashion titled Glamour's First 5,000 Years. June Wilkinson, actress and pin-up, was born on March 27, 1940. She died of undisclosed causes on July 21, 2025, aged 85
The Sun
19 minutes ago
- The Sun
Horoscope today, August 22, 2025: Daily star sign guide from Mystic Meg
OUR much-loved astrologer Meg sadly died in 2023 but her column will be kept alive by her friend and protégée Maggie Innes. Read on to see what's written in the stars for you today. ♈ ARIES March 21 to April 20 The sun focuses on the positives in your career, and so should you. Even if a dream is taking longer than you expect, it can still happen – meanwhile, enjoy the journey you are on, and the opportunities that every day can bring. In love terms, too, what you have now can be all you need, when you choose to see it that way. 2 ♉ TAURUS April 21 to May 21 A new ray of creative light shines through your chart – highlighting a unique skill you may never have rated. This is your moment to take everything you can do, and start building it up into something special. A family-minded moon reminds you feelings do not need to be obvious to be real – look a little closer. Get all the latest Taurus horoscope new s including your weekly and monthly predictions ♊ GEMINI May 22 to June 21 The right home for your heart might not quite match what your head expects – but you can be happy. Acceptance is high in your chart, so show you value love exactly as it is. How far a conversation has strayed off course might concern you, but it still says so much that's worth hearing, and acting on. Get all the latest Gemini horoscope news including your weekly and monthly predictions ♋ CANCER June 22 to July 22 An open-air meeting can lift any sense of restrictions – and get to the result you need faster. So don't be bound by what everyone else assumes to be the 'right way' to live, or love. Cash calculations can get derailed when too many emotions are involved – ask a calm friend to help you out. Get all the latest Cancer horoscope news including your weekly and monthly predictions ♌ LEO July 23 to August 23 Pluto's take on connections might be unexpected – and it can make you work harder to get a deal done or a decision shared. But in the end, you can sense this was so worthwhile. If you feel a friend or partner is putting too much distance between you, say something and act, rather than stay silent and hope. ♍ VIRGO August 24 to September 22 As confidence rises with the sun, so does your inner courage – no challenge is too great for you today. But choose wisely, and marshal your energy well. Scoring points, or stoking rivalry, is not a good use of this. In love? Mars' heat is so strong, and attraction is irresistible. Single? Mistakes make you human. Get all the latest Virgo horoscope news including your weekly and monthly predictions ♎ LIBRA September 23 to October 23 You have X-ray vision when it comes to other's motives today – and you can see through pretence of all kinds. So conversations can get back on the right, shared, level that gets results. If you start the day single, someone who loves to quote from a favourite TV show can be quite the catch. ♏ SCORPIO October 24 to November 22 To have good friends, first be a good friend – today you get at least one chance to step up and offer your time, skills or care to someone who matters. Try to take it. But it's important, too, to care for yourself – and this can include making space in a schedule just to 'be'. The moon's eye for The Next Big Thing is so sharp. Get all the latest Scorpio horoscope news including your weekly and monthly predictions ♐ SAGITTARIUS November 23 to December 21 With the sun at the top of your chart your enthusiasm flows – even for ideas that might have felt they were fading. Your task is to choose a good team around you, even if this means letting familiar faces go. When the time is right, you will do the right thing. Five o'clock can be your key prize-spotting time. Get all the latest Sagittarius horoscope news including your weekly and monthly predictions ♑ CAPRICORN December 22 to January 20 Words or pictures from someone's sunshine break carry a message – from a location in your destiny, to a promise that will not be broken now. When you accept the challenge, you can step back into the light. You can't change others, but you can change yourself – perhaps by taking a stronger dating line. Get all the latest Capricorn horoscope news including your weekly and monthly predictions 2 ♒ AQUARIUS January 21 to February 18 You have a unique ability to see who you need in your life, and why. This can spark identity switches, but if you have confidence they are right, they can work for you. Your sign's unsettled side can be hard to handle – but go with it and let yourself express disappointment or frustration. What's next can be outstanding. Get all the latest Aquarius horoscope news including your weekly and monthly predictions ♓ PISCES February 19 to March 20 Your chart sees the best in everyone – and believes in success. So recent doubts simply slide away. In love, when you visualise the future you want, your dreams can turn real almost overnight. If you are single, a fun-loving Gemini can surprise you every day in every way. Luck wears a deep, rich shade of red.
Daily Mail
19 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
'An electrifying, visceral storyteller': The best Literary Fiction out now: NIGHT OF THE LIVING REZ by Morgan Talty, OPT OUT by Carolina Setterwall, THE COURSE OF THE HEART by M. John Harrison
THE COURSE OF THE HEART by M. John Harrison (Serpent's Tail £10.99, 288pp) Although known primarily for his acclaimed fantasy and science-fiction novels, Harrison has shown little regard for genre in his 40-plus-year career. This disturbing novel, first published in 1992 and now reissued, combines realism with horror and dream logic; parodies convoluted historical narratives and centres on an arcane rite that is never revealed. What is certain is the fallout: 20 years on from the ritual, the novel's unnamed narrator is brought back into the orbit of fellow participants Pam and Lucas, the former crippled by epilepsy and hallucinations, the latter pursued (he believes) by a dwarf. However, it's the moving, desperate efforts the two make to connect with Pam in her torment, increased by a terminal cancer diagnosis, that make the greatest impression. OPT OUT by Carolina Setterwall (Bloomsbury Circus £16.99, 384pp) Opt Out is available now from the Mail Bookshop Swedish novelist Setterwall's autobiographical debut, Let's Hope For The Best, earned comparisons with Karl Ove Knausgaard for its rendering of raw grief and the texture of life. There's an undramatic focus on the mundane in Opt Out too, with the novel spanning the years following a couple's decision to divorce. Businessman John and airline worker Mary have been good together for 13 years – or so John thinks. But having successfully navigated their children's toddlerhoods, Mary now wants something more. It's John, however, who is able to move on, while Mary struggles to negotiate ageing, find purpose and define her role as a mother on new terms. Written in unshowy prose, it's not exactly thrilling, but as we alternate between the couple's perspectives the cumulative effect of their journeys becomes quietly affecting. NIGHT OF THE LIVING REZ by Morgan Talty (And Other Stories £14.99, 100pp) Night of the Living Rez is available now from the Mail Bookshop That's 'rez' as in Native American reservation, which is the setting for Talty's award-winning loosely linked stories (he is himself a citizen of the Penobscot Indian Nation). The macabre and farcical opener, Burn, gives a good flavour – on the way to score some pot, drifter Dee finds his friend Fellis caught in a snowdrift, trapped by his frozen hair. 'I never thought I'd scalp a fellow tribal member,' he dryly observes, having concluded there's no option but to sever Fellis's braid. Other stories take us back to Dee's childhood where he tries to parse the adults around him: his mother; his methadone-addicted pregnant sister; his demented grandmother seeking to avenge a past wrong. Death is never far away, and trauma a standard inheritance, but the action is infused with an antic spirit and Talty is an electrifying, visceral storyteller.
