
No CCTV on William Blake's pleasant pastures seen
Philip Hoare's article made me wish someone would revive Adrian Mitchell's musical Tyger, performed by the National Theatre in the early 70s. The music alone deserves a wider audience.Cecil HeatleyBromley, London
I so feel for John Crace's grief over the loss of Herbie (Digested week, 30 May). It took us eight years to contemplate getting our next dog and so on until our current pooch. But, if you're a dog person, you've just got to get that next one.Jeanette HamiltonBuxton, Derbyshire
Re 'unwanted Americanisms' (Letters, 3 June), I bet there is no respectable Shakespearean ancestry for my pet hate: 'train station'. And I do hope that I have used the colon correctly.Lynda MountfordSt Albans
'You may not use foreign words,' say the instructions for the Word Wheel puzzle in the print edition. The nine-letter solution for 4 June: imbroglio. This is a scherzo, right?Canon Robert TitleyLondon
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Daily Mail
8 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Princess Andre's 'deep connection' to stepmother Emily: Star 'respects and admires' doctor who has created a 'happy home' - as their bond is revealed after 'unhappy childhood'
Princess Andre has an incredibly close bond to her stepmother Emily who has created a 'safe and happy' home for her since coming into her life as a child. The daughter of Katie Price and Peter Andre, 18, who recently starred in her own fly on the wall show - The Princess Diaries, spoke about the relationship on the show. The close look at Princess' home life which aired last week on BBC1 showed several sweet scenes between the budding star and her stepmother. Influencer Princess revealed that she often turns to Emily for romantic advice, while insiders insisted she was also a 'shoulder to cry on' for the teen. They came in stark contrast to an emotional moment where Princess admitted she had an 'unhappy childhood' and 'saw things kids shouldn't' - and is still recovering from her mother's 'dark times'. A source told the Sun: 'Emily gives Princess stability and a lot of love, but Princess knows she can never praise Emily or share stories about her life at home with Katie. And that's very difficult when you love someone so much. Princess probably feels she's forced to hold back.' Princess met Emily when she was just three year's old and had begun dating her father following the breakdown of his marriage to her mum Katie. The NHS doctor slipped near seamlessly into the role of caregiver to Peter's two young children as well as juggling her university commitments. The source added: 'Emily was so young when she became a stepmum to Princess and, as she gets older, Princess has even more respect and admiration for her,' the source continued. 'She understands how it must have been hard for Emily, but she never showed it, and it's become even clearer to Princess how special Emily is.' They added that the home she provided for Princess and her brother Junior, as well as the three children she shares with Pete, is 'safe and happy'. Now Princess is becoming an adult they can apparently talk about anything including work and career as well as her personal life. Last year in an interview, Princess praised Emily, saying, :'She's the perfect stepmother. I couldn't have asked for better'. The series follows Princess's life as she turns 18 and tries to find her place in the world - and it is also notably when she is mourning the loss of her two-year relationship. They came in stark contrast to an emotional moment where Princess admitted she had an 'unhappy childhood' and 'saw things kids shouldn't' - and is still recovering from her mother's 'dark times' Speaking about who she turns to, Princess says: 'Ems gives the best advice - I feel like if I'm ever in a situation I don't want to talk to dad about, I'll speak to Ems about it.' Peter's second wife Emily is the mother of his three youngest children; Amelia, 11, Theo, nine, and Arabella, 13 months. In the show, Princess admits that she is not yet ready to move on from her relationship with her former boyfriend, whose name has not been made publicly available. Princess tells Emily that she can't currently 'picture' herself with anyone else and feels 'lost and confused' after the split. She says: 'I don't think I'm really ready to move on. Another relationship does not interest me right now. 'Me and the ex are still in touch. We're friends but there's still a lot of love there.' In response to this Emily, a doctor, tells the teenager that she does not have to move on immediately and that it will likely do her good to spend some time by herself. She advised: 'It's important to have time to yourself, to find out who you are as well. 'It's not the right time for you, you can't be bothered at the moment. If the right person comes along, you'll be bothered. 'You've got a lot to give to someone else. You're a big catch.' The revelation comes after Princess admitted she 'saw things kids shouldn't' during her childhood - and is still recovering from her mother's 'dark times'. The 18-year-old has for the first time laid bare the impact of her parents' tumultuous divorce. Speaking during episode one of her ITV show, which aired on Sunday night, she told viewers: 'I had so much on my plate at such a young age.' Princess also described the impact her mother's subsequent chaotic romances and lifestyle had on her growing up. She told how Katie fell into a 'dark' place following her 2018 split from third husband Kieran Hayler - who she shares Bunny, 10, and Jett, 11, with - after she discovered he had been unfaithful throughout their marriage. Katie herself has previously admitted to attempting suicide and relying on drugs and alcohol as a coping mechanism at the time, and now Princess has told how it affected her. Princess revealed on the show how she has a counsellor and previously 'couldn't just go to my dad' due to her parents, who split in 2009, 'not liking each other'. 'She [Katie] is so unpredictable and she lives life and doesn't care,' said Princess. 'I love that, I'd love that mindset of I don't care because deep down I do, I'll get to bed and cry about it.' Elsewhere on the show, Princess attended Boohoo's Martinis At Sundown summer party in London with Emily in tow for support. Princess has already signed big money deals with clothing and beauty brands including being an ambassador for high street chain Superdrug, Studio London, Morphe and Revolution. But television executives have been so impressed with the teenager that it looks set to be the start of her television career and clearly don't want her controversial mother to muddy her chances at becoming a household name. Emily recently revealed how she and her husband Peter have different parenting styles, telling new! magazine: 'Pete definitely worries more, whereas I'll think of it, deal with it and it's done. 'I understand why he worries, but I feel like if you don't teach them not to do something, as soon as you remove that barrier, they'll just do it anyway. 'He would have stair gates absolutely everywhere if he could, so we've compromised! I have put a stair gate in the door that goes out of the kitchen because Arabella can get to the stairs otherwise. 'The shape of our stairs means we can't put a gate at the bottom. It drives everybody nuts, and we all end up climbing over it because no one can ever open it. 'To me, that's fine, though, because I want her to be safe.' Emily and Peter - who got married at Mamhead House and Castle in Devon, South West England, in July 2015 - have finally caved and recently gave their eldest child Amelia a mobile phone, but with strict guidelines given how 'dangerous' social media and the internet can be for children.


The Review Geek
10 minutes ago
- The Review Geek
Stalking Samantha: 13 Years of Terror Review – One woman's thirteen-year nightmare
Season 1 Episode Guide Episode 1 Episode 2 Episode 3 Nearly a third of women and one-sixth of men will experience stalking at some point in their lives. This means millions of people across the world carry the uncomfortable trauma of being watched, followed and harassed. To make matters worse, only 1.4% of reported case (at least in the UK) end in conviction. Stalking and harassment is a growing and ever-present (for lack of a better word) societal problem. This troubling backdrop forms the crux of Hulu's latest docu-series, Stalking Samantha: 13 Years of Terror. As the title may allude, this documentary centers on a young woman called Samantha, who winds up terrified, harassed and eventually kidnapped by an unhinged guy called Christopher. Initially presenting himself as a socially awkward recluse at school, Christopher went out of his way to stalk and harass Samantha over the years, growing ever-bolder and more uncomfortable as time goes on. All of this eventually leads to the worst possible outcome. For Samantha, she manages to get closure for her story, but for many others that's not the case. The three episodes here document Samantha's harrowing ordeal, with the first giving a background into Samantha and Christopher's past, how they crossed paths and the beginning of the stalking. It starts as a bit of a joke between Samantha and her friends as Christopher persistently messages. Unfortunately, there's nothing funny about his behaviour, as it slowly gets worse. The second episode is where Samantha's kidnapping comes into view, and she goes into shocking detail about how she was grabbed in the middle of the night, bundled in her own car and taken to a secluded bunker. Eventually, this story culminates into the third and final chapter, where we see the mounting evidence against Christopher come to the foreground, as well as a couple of surprise inclusions. One of those includes the surprise of another woman who was stalked and harassed by Christopher, called Kelli. Her inclusion is necessary for this story but it's also oddly edited into the story. She only has a few words to say and she shows up midway through episode 3, almost like an afterthought despite how important she is to the backstory and mindset of Christopher's actions. We also don't really see anything of Christopher's family outside of a few recorded phone calls with his mother. However, this is very much a documentary designed to give Samantha a voice to tell her story, and in that respect, the show succeeds. On that same note though, I can't help but feel the docuseries missed a trick by not expanding out to the widespread problem of stalking in society, how damaging that can be to someone's life, and the ongoing struggles that this legally presents to different courts. Even just some legal understanding over how restraining orders aren't always dished out or how hard it is to prove stalking would have helped give this documentary a bit more weight. Stalking Samantha is nicely paced though and at only 3 episodes, there's enough here to prevent this one from dragging its heels. The story itself features a ton of evidence and a lot of archival footage, blending in with re-enactment scenes blurred and done tastefully so it never feels exploitative. There are also videos from police interviews, CCTVs outside the bunker and police cams from raiding Christopher's house. All of this works well to flesh out more of the story, and the reveals hit that much harder as a result. Ultimately, Stalking Samantha plays out as a cautionary tale, retelling one woman's awful ordeal and how, despite justice being served, she may never heal from the scars Christopher has left.


Telegraph
11 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Guy Ritchie has footpath diverted around his airfield
Guy Ritchie has had a public footpath that has been in place for more than 130 years diverted around his land. The Hollywood film director changed the direction of the path, which crossed the grass runway at Compton Abbas Airfield in Dorset, which he bought in October 2022. While it is believed the footpath has been in existence since 1888 without any problems or accidents, Ritchie's Ashcombe Estates claimed the diversion was needed on safety grounds. The new path goes around the edge of the airfield and runway and is 1,640ft longer than the established route. Ritchie, 56, requested the change in March, and it has now been officially certified as a legal route. Compton Abbas parish council initially objected to the proposal, arguing it would negatively affect public enjoyment of a long-standing right of way. It said the previous route had good all round visibility and took about four minutes to walk, whereas the new path was more than double the distance. Dorset council unanimously voted to approve the order at a meeting in March and sent it to the Secretary of State for a final decision. The parish council then withdrew its objection, meaning the decision could be rubber-stamped. The airfield is near Ashcombe House, the country estate on the Dorset-Hampshire border, which Ritchie previously shared with Madonna until they divorced in 2008. The celebrity couple had previously tried to prevent access to a large part of their 1,370-acre estate after claiming it had been wrongly classified as 'open country' in 2004. A public inquiry ruled that the public had no access to 15 out of the 17 pockets of land, but two tracts, which amounted to nearly half the disputed area, should be open to the public. The ruling meant walkers would not be able to go within sight of the couple's home. The Ramblers Association said at the time that it was 'delighted that half of the land contested at the public inquiry has been classed as open country'. Ritchie and Jacqui, his second wife, split their time between their London home and Ashcombe. Since buying the airfield, Ritchie has renovated it and started offering Spitfire flight experiences, turning it into a visitor destination with events held throughout the year. He recently opened Lore of the Sky, a smokehouse restaurant, at the site. The changes coincided with the relocation of the test area for aircraft, which is now further away from any public path. The flying community is said to be 'very supportive' of the changes. A spokesman for Dorset council told the BBC: 'The decision at the strategic and technical planning committee was to refer the confirmation of the order to the Secretary of State, this was because we had an objection. 'However, after the meeting, the objection was formally withdrawn and therefore Dorset council was able to confirm the order itself.'