Tom Daley says he and Dustin Lance Black 'align very well' despite their age gap
Tom Daley says he and Dustin Lance Black 'align very well' despite their age gap
The 31-year-old retired Olympian has been married to Hollywood director Dustin, 50, since 2017 and when asked if the age gap feels as if it "gets smaller" with each passing year
(Image: Getty Images )
Tom Daley and Dustin Lance Black "align very well" despite their age gap.
The 31-year-old retired Olympian has been married to Hollywood director Dustin, 50, since 2017 and when asked if the age gap feels as if it "gets smaller" with each passing year, he insisted that it does.
He said: "One hundred percent. It's funny because the people that know us know that I'm the more mature person that kinds of runs the show in the house.
"As we get older, I think we both align very well on what we want to achieve.
"We're both really big dreamers. I think that was the biggest thing for us, that we're both so supportive of each other. We don't limit the other person's dreams. We really make each other feel like we can achieve whatever we set our minds to."
The British-born sports star and American Dustin - who are parents to Robbie Ray, six, and two-year-old Phoenix - recently moved to LA and Tom explained that there were a "number of reasons " behind their decision to relocate.
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He said: "There were a number of reasons, honestly. Part of it was the fact that Lance moved to the U.K. for me to be able to do my diving for the longest time. He moved away from his business and his work. 'Now it's his turn' kind of vibe."
Tom - who began his career as a child - announced his retirement from diving after he won Silver at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, and admitted that it still fees "weird" to have been away from the water for so long.
He said: "I watch all the diving competitions.
"There's still part of me that's like, 'Oh, I could do that.' You know what I mean? Like, 'I could do it better than them. What are they doing? Come on. Is that really all they got?' There's still a part of me that's a bit like, 'Oof.'.
However, Tom was then asked if there was any sort of comeback on the cards for him and he insisted that would not be the case.
He said: "No, we're done!"
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But Tom will support his children if they ever want to follow in his footsteps, although he insisted that he will never "push them" to do so.
He said: "If they want to start diving, they can tell me they want to start diving.
"But I'm never going to push anything on them that they don't want to do. So, if they showed interest in it. Robbie doesn't really show interest in that side of things. Whereas Phoenix is slightly more of a second child. Daredevil, crazy. You know, the feral child. There's slightly more interest!"
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The Herald Scotland
21 minutes ago
- The Herald Scotland
The Edinburgh concert venue rock bands cannot play in summer
The Ross Bandstand has been a permanent feature of Princes Street Gardens since 1877, yet its stage is almost always empty and the gates to its concrete spectator bowl rarely unlocked. Tightened restrictions on staging events in the gardens, a dramatic increase in the cost of putting on open-air concerts and the current condition of the bandstand are all said to have led to a dramatic decline in its use in recent years. Recently approved new curbs introduced by the city council for the summer festival period state that they will only allow free,' low-impact' events to be staged at the bandstand. Experts say this amounts to a ban on the all-ticket pop and rock concerts that have packed out the gardens on summer nights as far back as the early 1990s. Previous acts to appear during the summer include Franz Ferdinand, Belle and Sebastian, Orbital, Nick Cave, BB King, Tony Bennett, Bryan Ferry, Steve Earle, Joan Baez, The Waterboys, James and The Flaming Lips. 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Norman Springford's vision won the backing of the city council, which agreed to support an international design competition which was eventually won by a team led by an American architectural practice. Roddy Smith is chief executive of the city centre business group Essential Edinburgh. (Image: Colin Mearns) However, concerns began to emerge over the level of development that would be needed in the gardens to deliver the £25 million project, which attracted opposition from heritage organisations, including Historic Environment Scotland and the Cockburn Association, before it was quietly shelved by the council during the Covid pandemic. Although some basic infrastructure improvements have been carried out within the bandstand over the last decade, the venue has largely remained the same since it was built in 1935. 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'But the only way we could make them work was to do a run of shows because of all the infrastructure that we put in. We effectively put a stage over the bandstand, which costs a lot of money to do. 'The council used to count the run of concerts we did as one event, which was great as it allowed us to put on multiple nights.' Roddy Smith, chief executive of city centre business group Essential Edinburgh, admitted the future use of the bandstand is a divisive issue in the city, but insisted it was not acceptable for the facility to sit locked up for all but a handful of events. He told The Herald: 'There is a lot of conjecture and argument in the city about what the Ross Bandstand needs to be going forward. 'It is an old, pretty ugly-looking structure which has seen better days, there is no doubt about that. The issue is what we do about it. 'There needs to be a real conversation about what we can do to improve things and turn it into a real community amenity that everybody can enjoy and which can be upscaled for the odd event. 'It should become a far more open space, with a lot more greenery, that visitors and residents of the city can use all the time, not just for five or six events a year.' Al Thomson, director of Unique Events, said a revamp of the Ross Bandstand arena was around 20 years overdue. He pointed to the success of a revamp of Kelvingrove Bandstand, which was relaunched in 2014, five years after the west end venue was closed down due to its poor condition. He said: 'We would not be having this discussion now if that work had been done. We would have a performance space that is fit for purpose. 'Most cosmopolitan European cities have functional outdoor spaces for performance and art. You only have to look at the Kelvingrove. There wasn't a radical change and it's a smaller space, but you only have to look at how it is used now. 'Thankfully there was some work carried out at the Ross Bandstand to upgrade things a few years ago, but it is still really lacking in terms of how it could be and what it could be used for. 'The big issue with the gardens now is access. For an event like Hogmanay, when we are building infrastructure of scale we are really limited in terms of what vehicles we can actually bring into the gardens, which impacts on costs, as it takes longer to build anything. You also have the rail network right next to the bandstand. 'The most recent bandstand redevelopment project was looking at how to make it easier to bring in that kind of infrastructure, which would have saved time, impact and money had it gone ahead.' The Cockburn Association, the city's most influential heritage watchdog, insists it recognises the 'historical significance' of the bandstand and would fully support a refurbishment, as long as the venue is only used for 'low impact activities". It has stepped up its opposition to the gardens being used as 'a major performance hub,' citing concerns over the impact of large-scale events on public access to the gardens and its landscape". Mr Ellis said: 'The council has come under a lot of pressure to change things from some of the residents who live in the area. They don't like the park being used for events and want it to be their back garden. 'The fact is these are Victorian pleasure gardens which were created for public enjoyment and entertainment. They were not built for the pleasure of rich people.' Edinburgh-based broadcaster Vic Galloway said: 'I really like the Ross Bandstand and wish there were more concerts and events in there during the year. 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'We take a lot of what we do as a city for granted in terms of the scale of events that we are lucky enough to have on our doorstep and the variety of culture we have that is accessible to it all. But it is getting harder and harder every year to deliver that in the city centre. 'To do these concerts now and make them financially viable when you have to bring in all the additional infrastructure is really difficult for anyone to make work. 'The only way to make it add up would be through an extended programme. Unfortunately, I don't think it is going to happen again anytime soon. 'There are a lot of parties and organisations that are very vocal about large-scale events taking place in the city.' A recent consultation carried out by the city council found majority support for using the gardens for a 'major event' in August, however, there was far more support for smaller-scale 'low impact' events being staged there in the summer. 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24 minutes ago
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Rhyl Journal
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