I love celeb-spotting. Even if it's standing on Mick Jagger's foot
That got me thinking about other celebrity sightings. I don't mean professionally, as an interviewer; I mean as a punter, off duty as it were. I've racked up a fair few. Jimmy Hill, for instance. Although I did also interview Jimmy Hill, now sadly no longer with us, he makes this list because I also once saw him in the street. Or, should I say, dans la rue, in Monflanquin, southwest France, on market day. I remember Jim's skinny white legs poking out from his baggy scoutmaster shorts, the classic Englishman abroad. That must be 20 years ago.
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Times
an hour ago
- Times
Cannes v St Tropez: which is better?
Pitting these two Riviera rivals against each other is more honourable duel than bar-room brawl — you'd be hard-pushed to find more elegant opponents. The names of both have become synonymous with sun-soaked Gallic luxury, and while there are similarities — both destinations, beloved of Hollywood A-listers, offer a good line in beaches, boats and boutiques — there are significant differences which may sway you in favour of one or the other. While both are titans of tourism, their physical size is an obvious point of contrast. Cannes is a city of 75,000 people; St Tropez is a small seaside town with less than 4,000 residents. As a result, high-season crowds are more heavily felt in the latter, where 80,000 visitors a day can swamp the picturesque streets that inspired Matisse, Chagall and their fellow Fauvists. Visit off-season if you want to sense the small fishing village that existed before the jet set came in their superyachts. The candy-coloured old town is undeniably gorgeous, as are many of the bronzed and beautiful visitors, who flock to the beach clubs and chichi restaurants. With few places to park and no railway station, St Tropez is designed for languid, lazy days and sybaritic nights. Cannes, on the other hand, offers not only more action within its environs — from markets and museums to the Lérins Islands in the bay — but is also a better base from which to visit the wider Côte d'Azur, not least because its hotel prices are a little more reasonable. However, the city isn't lacking in glamour, from the beach clubs lining La Croisette promenade to the star-studded film festival, usually held in May. As busy as St Tropez and Cannes may be in high season, the summer months bring swimmable waters, sun-kissed days, night markets and plenty of art and music festivals. And that's without mention of the celebrations around Bastille Day, which arrive with a bang on July 14 as fireworks are launched from beaches along the coast. Our guide sets the two combatants to contest everything from beaches and attractions to hotels and restaurants — en garde! This article contains affiliate links, which may earn us revenue Winner It's a tie … both have fabulous beaches Cannes' main seafront sprawls along the palace hotel-lined La Croisette promenade as one big, golden beach. A handful of spots are public, such as Plage du Palais des Festivals (below the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès, venue for the film festival). But the expensive private beach areas are the places to be seen, especially the plages of the Carlton and Martinez hotels, where champagne flows by the bucketful and A-listers snack on lobster with their feet in the sand. When you need to escape, the down-to-earth Lérins Islands, a short boat hop away, have charming creeks without the crowds, and shaded paths through wild forest. St Tropez, on the other hand, is all about beach parties. It has its share of restful spots — butterscotch-sand Plage des Graniers and pebbly Plage de la Ponche, amid the pastel-coloured houses below the citadel — but it's the beach clubs along Plage de Pampelonne that get the mega-yacht crowd going. Celeb-tastic experiences await along its sands in places such as Le Club 55 (created when Roger Vadim shot And God Created Woman with Brigitte Bardot) and La Réserve à la Plage, where the jet set come to swim, bronze and fine-dine. • Best beaches in Europe Winner St Tropez Cannes' seafront beach clubs are glorious spots for cocktails, especially at sunset, when the skies are striped Gucci pink and orange. But you can't beat its rooftop bars, where your spritz comes with 360-degree Med views and laid-back DJ sounds. You'll find a bustling bar scene in the streets behind the promenade — in trendy wine bars and British-style pubs, where punters spill out on to the pavement — and also in the city's three casinos. But for sheer fun, St Tropez wins hands down — for its posh Pampelonne beach clubs (again), but also for the Vieux Port in the old town, where celebs in flip-flops party on mega-yachts as champagne-fuelled crowds watch on from the terrace of Café Sénéquier. You'll find a more laid-back vibe behind the port, on plane tree-lined Place des Lices, a market square where locals sip bière over a game of pétanque. At sunset, the best spots are at Plage de la Bouillabaisse, where the beach bars have views across the shimmering gulf on to the twinkling lights of nearby Port Grimaud. • Read our full guide to France Winner St Tropez Beyond the Croisette's sea-facing palaces (where the food comes with whopping price tags), some of the loveliest eateries in Cannes are amid the steep, meandering lanes of the old town area of Le Suquet. Here, Provençal food features on most menus on your way up towards the Notre-Dame d'Espérance church — the perfect spot for a post-prandial walk thanks to its panoramic look-out terrace. Be sure to try local specialities such as soupe au pistou (a veggie and bean soup) and daube Provençale (red wine-marinated beef stew). But (as you'd expect in a town of such overt hedonism) St Tropez is possibly even more gourmet, with everything from Michelin-starred restaurants to hip seafood shacks to see and be seen in. It's fortunately not all about the bling, either: the creative dishes on the plates often shine brighter than the stars tucking into them. And many of the highlights — think artful reinterpretations of classic Mediterranean fare — are found in restaurants (such as La Table de la Messardière) beyond the seafront. Don't leave without munching on the town's namesake cake — tarte Tropézienne, a brioche-like delight filled with vanilla cream, created in the town in the Fifties. • Best restaurants in Nice Winner Cannes — by a sliver In most people's minds, the words 'Cannes' and 'hotels' equate to beachfront film-star haunts like the Carlton and the Martinez. But behind the Croisette, in the town centre and north of the train station (towards Le Cannet), there are plenty of lesser-known gems that'll place you in the action, without the price tag. St Tropez is smaller, so doesn't have quite as much choice (hence Cannes winning here). But what it does have are luxurious hidey-holes nestled in the lush hills just above the old town. One such place is La Bastide de Saint Tropez, a peach-coloured manor surrounded by gardens. Back in the centre, the Hôtel de Paris — where some junior suite dwellers can yacht-spot from their windows — famously attracted everyone from Édith Piaf to Clark Gable. Or try country-chic La Ferme d'Augustin — a fraction of the price and very pretty. For Garbo-esque isolation in Cannes, you'll want the hills around the nearby perched village of Mougins, or the rocky seafront just west of central Cannes, in Théoule-sur-Mer. Moroccan-themed Tiara Yaktsa is a secluded standout, with endless clifftop views over the azure sea. For a secluded splurge in St Tropez, bolt down at the super-romantic Château de la Messardière, surrounded by landscaped gardens and umbrella pines. Winner Cannes The seafront is a must-see when you're in Cannes — whether you do it on foot, along the Croisette (via the Allée des Stars, Cannes' handprint-filled answer to the Hollywood Walk of Fame), in a posh hotel in the beach area, or by boat. But it's just a fraction of the offerings: Forville market in the old town drips with fragrant, Provençal delights; fashion boutiques congregate around Rue d'Antibes, and a hike through the panoramic Croix des Gardes hillside takes you into an arboretum of mimosa trees (in peak bloom in February). Or you could sail to Île Sainte-Marguerite, home to the fortress that once held the Man in the Iron Mask and a magical underwater sculpture museum (accessible by snorkelling). When the beach parties get too much, St Tropez does have a few diversions up its sleeve: there's art to see in Musée de l'Annonciade (in a 16th-century chapel filled with the works of 20th-century greats such as Matisse and Signac) and at Maison des Papillons, a quirky butterfly museum amid pastel-painted former fishermen's homes. Wine-tasting abounds on the peninsula, at places such as Château Minuty, a glorious vineyard near the pretty hilltop village of Gassin. For sports, you can try Flyboarding and parasailing off Pampelonne, or hiking along the wild Sentier du Littoral, a spectacular coastal path that glorifies St Tropez's sumptuous natural setting. Cannes It's a very close call but Cannes just pips St Tropez to the post. Swinging in Cannes' favour is its accessibility, both in terms of prices and location. After all, you don't come to this part of France just to stop in one place. You hop around from bar to restaurant, and from boat to party. So having good transport links will certainly help you get from A to B, while every penny saved on hotels will allow you to get more out of the experience. Then there's the fact that Cannes is just so much bigger, absorbing those summer crowds with ease — something that St Tropez often struggles with. If it's any consolation, St Tropez is just a short drive away for those big nights reporting by Oliver Berry and Joanna Booth • Best beaches in France• Best villas in the south of France
Times
an hour ago
- Times
My journey through the French region most famous for its artists
The first art gallery I ever fell in love with was in St Paul de Vence, just inland from a Mediterranean coast as popular with artists as with tourists. The Fondation Maeght is an artwork in itself, built to show off the Maeghts' superb collection of modern art but also luring visitors through the pine-scented gardens with a wacky fountain by Joan Miró or a glimpse of those instantly recognisable elongated Alberto Giacometti figures (£16; I was 18, and I already knew art could be fascinating. But I hadn't realised it could also be fun. Years later, I still love the Maeght — and I consider Provence itself to be the ideal art gallery. There are the startling blues and yellows of the chapel Henri Matisse decorated in Vence (£6; and the mystical paintings of Marc Chagall in Nice (£9; On my last visit this July, I even found a woman's vision embedded in the landscape, but I'll get to that. First, I went to Aix-en-Provence for the long-awaited opening of the country house and studio of the artist that Picasso — another Provence resident — called 'the father of us all': Paul Cézanne. Cézanne (1839-1906) was born and died here, but he didn't stay entirely put. As a young man he followed his childhood friend the writer Émile Zola to Paris where the action was — and where his banker father wasn't. Louis-Auguste Cézanne wasn't an art lover, and the stipend Paul received made the argument a delicate one. One of the most interesting elements of Cézanne 2025, the multi-part celebration of his life which has taken over the city of his birth this year, is this father-son relationship, played out in paint. But it is echoed by another troubled pairing with similar dynamics: Paris and Provence. The reason that this celebration is not Cézanne 2026, which will be the 120th anniversary of his death, is because the capital has pulled rank. But seeing the superb exhibition Cézanne at Jas de Bouffan in Paris defeats the point (until October 12 at Aix's Musée Granet). Here, beneath the Montagne Sainte-Victoire that was his favourite subject, there's the opportunity to experience his entire city as an art gallery. I started where the artist finished: at his last studio, Les Lauves, which has been closed for two years to be spruced up. The space has been left as simple as it would have been, with a wood-burning stove, an easel in the centre and a wall of items — paint-covered tables, pots, skulls — that reappear on his canvases. There is a long, thin vertical slice out of one wall, so that he could get giant canvases out of the building once finished. Light pours in from the north wall, which is almost entirely window, framing the vegetation beyond (tour £8; • The most beautiful places in France It was 45 minutes downhill on foot to Jas de Bouffan, the summer home that Papa Cézanne bought when Paul was 20, now open to the public for the first time. So I walked, which was a mistake: what was once the property's olive groves and vineyards is now the industrialised outskirts of the city, but the contrast, once through the gates, of the shady chestnut-lined avenue, ornamental pond and golden, graciously proportioned house was like a drink of cool water after a hot dusty hike. Here, the refurbishment is a work in progress, and there's no furniture. But in the main salon, the tour guide works an iPad and images bloom across the walls. Louis-Auguste Cézanne had permitted his artistic son to decorate, and there are depictions of landscapes and figures, with pride of place, as if on an altar, given to a painting of a man reading a newspaper: Louis-Auguste. • The best of France The next day, I had lunch — plump, bright yellow courgette flowers and succulent lamb with local tomatoes — at the Hôtel le Pigonnet, a converted 18th-century villa with a view of Montagne Sainte-Victoire painted by Cézanne (mains from £22; Then I took a much nicer walk past the shops, market stalls and occasional fountain on the main boulevard, Cours Mirabeau, to the Musée Granet. Here are the paintings of those pots and tables; here is Louis-Auguste, reading the paper once again (from £16; I followed the artist through his golden city, via small bronze pavement plaques stamped with a C that took me past the hat shop Louis-Auguste owned before he bought his bank and the school where Cézanne and Zola met. For lunch, I stepped into the peaceful courtyard of Gallifet, a modern art gallery with a summer restaurant in a majestic old mansion run by an Anglo-French couple, Nicolas Mazet and Kate Davis (mains from £22; After green beans with peaches and squid with courgettes and fig leaf oil — the delicious ingredients are all local — I toured their exhibition, Echoes of Cézanne, featuring artists influenced by the master, from Nan Goldin to Edmund de Waal (until September 28, £9). Then I drove east, via my beloved Maeght, to an artwork different from Cézanne's in every way except one. E-1027 is an extraordinary villa in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, less than three miles from the Italian border. It was built in 1926 by the designer Eileen Gray and resembles a moored sailboat. Beyond its airy rooms and startlingly clever furniture (corner drawers that slide open outwards, a stool made from a dentist's chair, a corridor that doubles as a bar), the sea unfolds like another artwork (tour £17; And that sense of the surroundings as inspiration is what this modern (and modernist) Irishwoman has in common with Cézanne. If Provence is full of art, no wonder: the region itself is a Caplan was a guest of Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur ( and Relais & Châteaux which has room-only doubles at Villa Gallici from £390 ( In an era of smart but neutrally chic accommodation, this 24-bedroom private villa turned Relais & Châteaux hotel is a revelation, as multicoloured as a parrot — in part, because china birds appear to have alighted on every surface. Outside, there are Greek-style statues and a gently heated pool; inside, anything available to be wallpapered, tasselled or draped in bright fabric has been. It could have been garish, but instead it is delightful, as unforced and charming as the lovely staff. It is also less than 15 minutes' walk from Les Lauves as well as being a ten-minute walk from the centre of town, and if this hillside location is no longer the countryside spot it must once have been, once you're inside the grand gates the city feels very far B&B doubles from £390 ( • France's top holiday villas Just down the road from the Fondation Maeght, one of the world's greatest galleries, this charming all-suite boutique hotel is in three low buildings on a hillside and run by the three Leroy brothers, who are all artists, so there is plenty of art here too. There is subtle good taste everywhere, from the quietly luxurious two-level suites in poured concrete and wood to the breakfast terrace overlooking the pool and the excellent restaurant, lit by bulbs on artfully draped ropes, with its superb wine list. Details B&B doubles from £180 ( This 200-hectare wine estate is about as upmarket as an art hotel can get: buildings by Jean Nouvel, Oscar Niemeyer and Richard Rogers, a Michelin-starred restaurant from Hélène Darroze and grounds dotted with works by the likes of Richard Serra and Louise Bourgeois. The hilltop all-suite hotel, Villa la Coste, has a reception area with spectacular views and more A-list art, but the property also has an auberge offering more affordable accommodation, and there's a pizzeria, a café and a casual terrace café B&B doubles from £780 ( room-only doubles from £180 ( • Best vineyard hotels to visit in France Today, Menton on the Italian border is famous for its lemons, so sweet you can eat the peel, but in the 1890s it was a thriving resort, much of it designed by the Danish architect Hans-Georg Tersling, including this cream and white hotel. With its high ceilings and curved bar, this is accommodation from another era; it's just across the road from the Mediterranean and a ten-minute drive from Villa Room-only doubles from £195 ( Fly or take the train to Marseille, then take the SNCF to Aix-en-Provence, Nice, Roquebrune-Cap-Martin or Menton
Daily Mail
4 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Jo Whiley reveals the iconic star who left her feeling 'tiny and stupid' during an 'unpleasant' interview
Jo Whiley has opened up about the celebrity interview that left her feeling 'tiny and stupid'. Speaking on her Dig It podcast, Jo, 60, said that her confidence took a major knock after an interaction with Eminem and Dr Dre when asked if she had ever been starstruck during an interview. Jo said: 'I remember interviewing Eminem and Dr Dre one time and that was horrible. I'd interviewed Eminem when he was very young and he was very shy and polite. 'He kept calling me "ma'am" all the time and he was really, really sweet and humble. 'Then a couple of years later he came back on the show but with Dr Dre and the fame had happened and he was just this other creature altogether. 'They were just so playful with me - and can I just say they made me feel so tiny and so stupid.' While Jo thought that Eminem, now 52, was 'really sweet and humble' when she first interviewed him, she did not have such a pleasant experience when he was joined by Dr Dre Jo admitted that the interview was overall 'a really unpleasant experience' as she and her co-host Zoe Bell, 46, opened up about being starstruck by celebs. The revelation comes after Jo opened up about battling anxiety at the height of her DJing career in the 90s. She told Woman's Health: 'I remember doing one gig and I was just so scared, I thought I can't go on like this. This is ridiculous. 'It's ruining my life because I'm just such a ball of anxiety. 'But then I realised how happy it was making people when I do these gigs and that was a game changer.' Jo then took the opportunity to speak out against the culture of 'lad mags' - lifestyle magazines from the 90s and early noughties aimed at men and typically featuring a woman also in her underwear. The BBC presenter said: 'There was so much objectification and judgement of women and their bodies. 'It was a ludicrous time to be a woman, but I just kept my head down and weathered the storm.' Jo hasn't just candidly spoken about experiencing anxiety, she has also opened up about battling it during the menopause to Women's Health. Referencing Davina McCall's campaign to get women talking more about the menopause, she said she 'really lost' herself at the time. She said that the gym and fitness are ultimately what got her through that challenging time in her life. Jo said: 'I cried all the time. 'I mean, I cry a lot anyway but I cried all the time. 'I just felt very weak, and going to the gym and getting myself strong has played a really, really big part in helping me be the person I am today. It really saved me.'
