Russell Brand pleads not guilty to charges of rape and sexual assault in London court
LONDON — Actor and comedian Russell Brand pleaded not guilty in a London court Friday to rape and sexual assault charges involving four women dating back more than 25 years.
Brand, who turns 50 next week, denied two counts of rape, two counts of sexual assault and one count of indecent assault.
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Yahoo
26 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Billy Williams, Oscar-winning British cinematographer whose credits included Gandhi and Women in Love
Billy Williams, who has died aged 95, was one of the leading British cinematographers across four decades, winning an Oscar for his work on Richard Attenborough's Gandhi (1982). Exactly a year earlier he had missed out by a hair's breadth on scooping an Academy Award for the autumnal geriatric drama On Golden Pond (1981), starring Henry and Jane Fonda and Katharine Hepburn. But in April 1983 Williams received the gold statuette – shared with Ronnie Taylor – as one of the eight Oscars garnered by that epic film. It was the culmination of a long and often painful collaboration that for Williams had begun three years earlier when, in a short telegram reply to Attenborough's request for him to join the creative team on Gandhi, he wrote: 'Dear Dickie. Yes. Love Billy.' Williams enjoyed telling the a story of informing Katharine Hepburn that 'Richard Attenborough would like me to shoot Gandhi for him,' to which the actress replied: 'I think he's already dead, Billy.' The production, which was shot over six months, was fraught with logistical problems during filming in India – from the endless dust which unless swiftly checked would form like cement on the camera equipment, to problems obtaining official permission to shoot inside various key government buildings. Then, six weeks into filming, Williams slipped a disc and had to fly back to the UK. With his blessing, his duties were handed over to Ronnie Taylor, who had worked as a camera operator on two of Attenborough's earlier films. Taylor filmed for a month before Williams returned – only to suffer another slipped disc a month later, replaced once more by Taylor. By the time the production returned for its final weeks in the UK, Williams had recovered and completed the film, which included shooting in Staines Town Hall, doubling for the court house in Ahmedabad where Gandhi's 'Great Trial' had taken place in 1922, and at the Institute of Directors building in Pall Mall for a key interior sequence begun months earlier on the long steps leading up to the old Viceroy's House (now the presidential palace) in New Delhi. Williams had earned his first Oscar nomination a decade earlier for an altogether more intimate drama, Ken Russell's Women in Love (1970), featuring the much talked-about nude wrestling scene between Alan Bates and Oliver Reed. 'Photographically, it was the best opportunity I've ever had in terms of what the script was offering,' Williams recalled. 'It had every kind of challenge. Apart from the usual day and night interiors and exteriors, there was candlelight, snow scenes, dusk and dawn, and that nude wrestling scene. Bates and Reed agreed to be fully nude for one day only, on a closed set. After that they'd only do waist-upwards scenes.' Billy Williams was born on June 3 1929 in Walthamstow, east London. His father, also Billy, was one of Britain's great pioneering cameramen, who shot the surrender of the German Fleet at Scapa Flow, covered the trailblazing Cape Town-to-Cairo truck expedition, and was the first man to film from the summit of Mt Kilimanjaro. When young Billy left school at 14 he was offered a choice of jobs: working in a city brokerage for one of his mother's in-laws, or as an assistant to his father. There was no contest. After working some years for Billy Snr, he broke away and joined British Transport Films, before moving into commercials when all attempts at graduating to features failed. Working on ads with successful film directors like John Schlesinger, Ken Russell and Ted Kotcheff paid off when Williams managed to make it into long-form drama with Russell on the spy thriller The Billion Dollar Brain (1967), the second sequel to The Ipcress File, then on Women in Love. The Schlesinger connection also paid dividends handsomely in 1971 with Sunday Bloody Sunday, a daring – for its day – and intimate drama of homosexual love, which earned Williams one of his four Bafta nominations. Williams continued to shoot films, including the award-winning Western, The Eagle's Wing (1979) and Dreamchild (1985). He retired after Driftwood (1997). During and after his career as a cinematographer, he taught cinematography at workshops in the US, Germany, Ireland and Hungary, and in the UK at the National Film & Television School in Beaconsfield. One of his regular teaching colleagues was another great cinematographer, the Hungarian-American Vilmos Zsigmond. When Zsigmond declared himself unavailable to shoot On Golden Pond, co-starring Henry Fonda, Jane Fonda and Katharine Hepburn, he paved the way for Williams to notch up one of his most memorable international credits. 'Around that time,' he recalled, 'Vilmos was very much into flashing the film to soften the image, and using various filters to take the contrast away. The director Mark Rydell was very keen I should do something like that, too. I wasn't, though, because I didn't like the idea of the film looking too chocolate-boxy, too soft and sentimental. I thought the actors [Henry Fonda was 76 playing 80, Hepburn 72] should look their age.' Eventually, he managed to persuade Rydell to do away with filters altogether, apart from a 'very fine black net on the extreme close-ups of Hepburn and Jane Fonda'. Henry Fonda and Hepburn went on to win Academy Awards for their performances, in Fonda's case posthumously. Williams's other notable contributions to cinema history included shooting the atmospheric 11-minute opening sequence in Iraq for The Exorcist (1973). Tall and distinguished-looking, he was perhaps unique among cinematographers in appearing front-of-camera in major Hollywood movies – first, as a British vice-consul shot down by Sean Connery's North African Berber tribesmen in John Milius's period adventure The Wind and the Lion (1975), and then as an expert witness in Suspect (1987), Peter Yates's courtroom thriller starring Cher and Liam Neeson. He served as president of the British Society of Cinematographers from 1977 to 1979 and was appointed OBE in 2009. Billy Williams and his wife Anne had four daughters. Billy Williams, born June 3 1929, died May 20 2025 Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Yahoo
34 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Biggest lottery win in UK history up for grabs in £208m EuroMillions draw
A UK ticket-holder could win the biggest lottery prize the country has ever seen tonight if they match the numbers in Friday's EuroMillions draw. The jackpot has rolled over again to an estimated £208 million after Tuesday's £199 million draw, which would also have been a record-breaking amount, had no winners. The jackpot on Friday would be the largest prize the UK has seen, National Lottery operator Allwyn said. Andy Carter, senior winners' adviser at Allwyn, said: 'We are now on the verge of potentially creating the biggest National Lottery winner this country has ever seen – making a single UK winner instantly richer than the likes of Adele and Dua Lipa while also landing them at the number one spot on The National Lottery's biggest wins list.' Here are the 10 biggest UK lottery wins to date – all from EuroMillions draws – and what some of the winners did with their fortunes. Anonymous, £195,707,000 A UK ticket-holder scooped a EuroMillions jackpot of £195 million on July 19 2022. Joe and Jess Thwaite, £184,262,899.10 Joe and Jess Thwaite, from Gloucester, scooped a then record-breaking £184,262,899 with a Lucky Dip ticket for the draw on May 10 2022. At the time, Joe was a communications sales engineer, and Jess ran a hairdressing salon with her sister. Anonymous, £177,033,699.20 A UK ticket-holder became the third biggest National Lottery winner of all time after receiving a £177 million jackpot. The single-ticket holder, who chose to remain anonymous, came forward to claim the EuroMillions jackpot after the draw on November 26 2024. The winner became immediately wealthier than popstar Dua Lipa, who is worth an estimated £104 million, and Michael Buble, worth around £63 million. Anonymous, £171,815,297.80 A UK ticket-holder scooped £171,815,297.80 in the September 23 2022 draw – at the time the country's third biggest National Lottery win. Anonymous, £170,221,000 The fifth biggest winner of the National Lottery to date scooped £170 million in 2019 after matching all the numbers in a Must Be Won draw on October 8. Colin and Chris Weir, £161,653,000 Colin and Chris Weir, from Largs, North Ayrshire, bagged their historic winnings on July 12 2011, making them the biggest UK winners at the time. Colin used £2.5 million of his fortune to invest in his beloved Partick Thistle Football Club, which led to one of the stands at the stadium being named after him. He later acquired a 55% shareholding in the club, which was to be passed into the hands of the local community upon his death. He died in December 2019, aged 71. The couple also set up the Weir Charitable Trust in 2013 and donated £1 million to the Scottish independence referendum in 2014. They divorced in the same year of Colin's death. Adrian and Gillian Bayford, £148,656,000 Adrian and Gillian won 190 million euros in a EuroMillions draw on August 10, 2012, which came to just over £148 million. The couple bought a Grade II-listed estate in Cambridgeshire, complete with cinema and billiards room, but it was sold in 2021, some years after the pair divorced. Anonymous, £123,458,008 The seventh biggest National Lottery winner won a Superdraw rollover jackpot on June 11 2019, and decided not to go public with their success. Anonymous, £122,550,350 After nine rollovers, one lucky anonymous ticket-holder bagged more than £122 million in April 2021. Anonymous, £121,328,187 Another of the UK's top 10 lottery winners found their fortune through a Superdraw jackpot rollover, this time in April 2018.
News24
35 minutes ago
- News24
Another Diddy ex testifies to ‘obligation' in coerced, choreographed sexual encounters
A key witness, 'Jane,' has provided graphic testimony in the federal trial of Sean 'Diddy' Combs, alleging coercive sexual encounters. Combs allegedly orchestrated disturbing acts involving multiple women, with testimony also backing claims made by ex-girlfriend Casandra Ventura. The trial has featured intense courtroom moments, including accusations of witness manipulation by Combs and shocking allegations from witnesses about violent and exploitative behaviour. A key witness took the stand in the federal trial of Sean 'Diddy' Combs Thursday, giving graphic detail of choreographed sexual encounters with the music mogul that were allegedly coercive, testimony that's core to the prosecution's case. The woman, who is speaking in court under the pseudonym Jane, began delivering testimony that is expected to last for days and which so far mirrors descriptions provided by another marquee witness against Combs, his ex-girlfriend Casandra 'Cassie' Ventura. Combs, 55, faces upwards of life in prison if convicted of racketeering and sex trafficking crimes. Both Jane and Ventura are key witnesses to the latter charges. Jane took the stand after some courtroom drama: the judge threatened to remove Combs after he was 'looking at jurors and nodding vigorously' while a different witness testified. Calling Combs's behaviour 'absolutely unacceptable,' Judge Arun Subramanian said, 'It cannot happen again.' READ | 'Sometimes I scream in my sleep': Witness claims Diddy dangled her from 17th-story balcony Communications between a defendant and a jury are strictly prohibited. The court had been hearing testimony from Bryana Bongolan, a friend of Ventura's who had alleged that Combs dangled her from a 17th-story balcony before throwing her against furniture. Combs's gestures to the jury took place as Bongolan was under tense questioning from his defence team, who sought to cast her as an unreliable witness who abused drugs. 'Hotel nights' Jane's testimony was highly anticipated: she began by detailing how she had met Combs through a friend who was dating him at the time. But he came on strongly to Jane, she said, and when her friend got engaged to someone else, she began seeing Combs romantically. Their relationship began in earnest during a whirlwind five-day date at a Miami hotel, she said, describing Combs - as many others during the trial have - as 'larger than life.' READ MORE | Hush money bombshell: Hotel worker testifies Diddy paid to bury Cassie assault video 'I was pretty head over heels for Sean,' she told jurors. Several heady months followed, including a romantic trip to Turks and Caicos and the Bahamas in February 2021. She said Combs first gave her illicit drugs on that trip. When the vacation ended, he wired her $10 000 because she had been unable to work - at the time, she was creating content for brands on social media - and was a single mother. Jane silently collected herself and held her face in a tissue as she described how her blissful early days with Combs took a sharp turn in May 2021 when he began talking about his fantasies of seeing her with other men. She acquiesced because she wanted to make Combs happy, she said, and to her surprise, he arranged for another man she dubbed Don to meet them at a hotel that very night. AFP Jane thought the experience was a one-time thing, but she said instead, it became 'a door I was unable to shut.' The 'hotel nights' became a regular feature of their relationship, Jane told jurors, even when she said she didn't want it. 'He was just dismissive,' she said, saying that approximately 90 percent of their relationship became a pattern of her having sex with other men under Combs's direction. Full-time job Jane's descriptions of the 'hotel nights' - her provocative attire that Combs requested, red mood lighting, heavy drug use and copious baby oil - closely tracked with the testimony that Ventura gave on the stand of what she called 'freak-offs.' Jane said that the amount of time she spent getting ready for hotel nights with Combs, which he demanded at a moment's notice and sometimes flew her to, meant she did not work. Money from Combs and child support from her previous relationship were essentially her only income, she said. That testimony echoed Ventura's, who had said her freak-offs with Combs came to feel like a full-time job. Combs put Jane up in a home in Los Angeles for $10 000 a month, she said, and when she spoke against hotel nights, he would bring up that point. ALSO READ | 'You post the great times': Witness asked to defend Instagram posts in Sean Combs trial 'My feeling of obligation really started to stem from the fact that my partner was paying my rent,' she said. Jane told jurors their relationship continued up until Combs's arrest in September 2024. Prosecutors say he ran a criminal enterprise of high-ranking employees and bodyguards who enforced his power with illicit acts, including kidnapping, bribery and arson. Along with Ventura and Jane, witnesses have included former employees of Bad Boy Enterprises, Combs's company. Jane's testimony will continue on Friday. The trial is expected to last at least another month.
