Why was Coronation Street star Jack P. Shepherd attacked in Asda?
The 37-year-old actor - who has played David Platt in the ITV soap since 2000 - recalled going shopping with his mum Janet when they were accosted by an "old" lady, who was unimpressed by his soap alter ego, prompting his parent to intervene when she lashed out.
Jack told his Coronation Street co-star Ben Price, 54, and his former soap colleague Colson Smith, 27, on the latest episode of their On the Sofa podcast: "I was recognised by an old woman in the freezer section. I was with my mum doing the big shop.
"And [the woman] started to hit me with a handbag.
"Before saying anything. She was so furious to see me.
"I was just cheeky. So I'd have been 12.
"[The woman] full on really beat me with a bag.
"My mum went up [to the woman]. I think my mum kind of like half laughed it off and went, 'It's not real.'"
Elsewhere in the podcast, Jack remembered he once faked being a Co-Op worker so police could stop die-hard Coronation Street fans from mobbing him.
The soap star switched on the Christmas Lights in the West Yorkshire town of Kippax, and thousands of people turned up to see him kick off the festive celebrations
Once the lights had been switched on, Jack recalled a "siege" of people rushing towards him, and he had to seek refuge in a nearby Co-Op supermarket.
He said: "There was a sea of people [that] turned up to see a young David Platt. I must have been about 13, 14, something like that. Really young.
"And I turned on their Christmas lights, and there was a siege.
"They all started to head towards [me] and tried to climb on the stage.
"They tried to get on, and I had to be escorted into the Co-Op.
"[The Co-Op staff] had to lock the doors of the Co-Op. All the Co-Op workers were in there, and we couldn't get out because they surrounded the building.
"I couldn't get out and go through the crowds because there were too many [fans]."
Worried that Jack's safety was at risk, police escorted him out of Kippax.
He dressed up as a Co-Op worker and hid his face to avoid being seen by a rush of fans, but his disguise did not work.
Jack revealed: "Honestly, [there were] too many [fans]. We had to then get a police escort out of Kippax.
"The police were called because I was a small child.
"And police escorts had to arrive on motorbikes, and they had to put blue lights on, blue light me out.
"I had the hat and I had the t-shirt.
"I was going out, I was going out through the crowds, keeping my head down [as a] Co-Op worker. And I got into the car.
"And I handed the hat back to one of the Co-Op workers.
"And then [all the fans] turned like zombies. And they all went, 'He's there!' And they all ran towards me.
"And I dived in the car. And the police had to blue light me out [of Kippax].
"And I remember physically watching the police on the bikes, and they were kicking people back. They were literally kicking people back."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
42 minutes ago
- Yahoo
OPINION - We need to do more to make the rich feel at home in London (yes, really)
Leafing through the programme at the theatre on Saturday night, the eyes were drawn as they usually are, to the section at the back where they list the benefactors. As ever, it was a question of seeing how many of them were familiar. But on this occasion, there was an added twist: how will the same rollcall appear in a few years' hence, will there still be the usual suspects or will there be new ones or indeed, will it be anything like as voluminous? Because rich folks matter. We need them, London needs them. Without their presence and support, their love and affection, swathes of our society will suffer. It is easy to mock, to take them for granted, to say they don't count, that they don't contribute anything. In which case, look around you. Yes, restaurants may be emptier, limousine services will suffer along with concierge services and private schools. Bless. Likewise, the posh estate agencies, florists and so forth. But they are real businesses providing real jobs. Still, widen your gaze further, to those buildings that dominate the skyline, to the companies that occupy the grand offices, to the deals that make the business sections, to the stock market. Now range a bit wider, to take in the charities, arts and the community projects. Who do you think pays for them, where do you think the money comes from? Not from the government, some does but nowhere near enough, not from us because we don't have the cash. It's from the billionaires and multi-millionaires, that's who. That's right, from the very people this government and those on the left are driving away; people that London must persuade to return and if they've not been, to come here to live, to employ, to spend, to invest, to donate. We're killing the golden goose that made London what it is – a great world city, the greatest. It's utter folly what is occurring and all in the name of ideological dogma. Of course, many of us are right to resent the non-doms, the foreigners who settle in the UK, usually in London, and pay a flat fee in return for paying next to nothing in tax. We wish we could be like them and have all their wealth and not have HMRC grab its hefty wedge. Of course we do, we're human. They should pay their fair share like everyone else, then we will be happy and there will more for public services, the Exchequer will be fatter. Except it won't be. Because those people are not like us, like everyone else; they have no roots here, no loyalty and today, thanks to tech and better transport, they can choose to reside and to work wherever they wish. And they can, they will, they are. There is no shortage of takers – other countries are lining up to compete for their favour and for their money. This is the point that those who argue for the imposition of a wealth tax on top of the other charges heaped on the richer end of the spectrum fail to address. Why, just when Britain is so intent on penalising them, are others so keen to have them? These are not only places that have a fixation about luxury and elitism but democratic nations and their cities, politicians and officials, who know what they bring and understand what is being lost. London's loss is their gain. Figures abound for how many have gone. Picking them apart is not difficult. Unfortunately, that is the extent of the argument – pooh-poohing and sneering. It may be a few thousand, it could be several thousand. That is not where we should be focused. If we accept, we desire rich people to relocate to the UK, to London, then we must address how to incentivise them to do so. It is not sufficient to dither as Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves are doing, to send conflicting signals of slapping on levies one moment and rowing back the next. Like any relationship, this depends on the underlying strength and emotion. Promising to review, to reform steps you have already made will not wash. The damage is done. The UK and London have to prove and convince the feeling is deep and true. We must show we mean it and stick to it. Not easily achievable when you're a Starmer or Reeves or Sir Sadiq Khan. Going out on a limb for a cohort that goes against much of what you stand for, who your core supporters loathe, is not in your nature, you're unlikely to convince. Somehow you have to find a way. A firm, unalloyed declaration would help – of the sort that Peter Mandelson, now our ambassador to Washington, gave for a previous Labour administration when he said it was 'intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich'. Ally that with concrete measures, including the full restoration of non-dom status and the abolition of the changes to inheritance tax relief for business owners. They would definitely improve the mood and provide concrete evidence it is more than empty words. Perhaps not VAT on fee-paying schools. That was an early measure for this government and a manifesto pledge, it would be too inflammatory to scrap. Tinkering here and there will not do it. One mistake is to imagine that all rich relocators search for is a favourable tax regime. They don't. They are also seeking something a lot broader and less tangible. They wish to feel safe and secure, to walk down Knightsbridge and not be threatened with a knife for their Rolex, to believe in London's historic, relaxed reputation without having to hire private security patrols for what are the most part, public streets, because the police either don't want to know or lack the resources. There is nothing we can do about the weather. London will always lose out to Greece and Italy, two sunny locations with friendly tax rules that right now are competing hard for the world's rich. It's never been important; we've more than compensated in other respects. That is what we must rediscover, and quickly. Chris Blackhurst is a writer, author, columnist and former editor of The Independent
Yahoo
42 minutes ago
- Yahoo
‘My daughter Zoe is not a terrorist. Why has she spent a year in prison?'
Zoe Rogers has not been charged with a terrorist offence. on Saturday, she marked a year in detention without trial inside HMP Bronzefield, a high-security prison in Surrey. Rogers, 21, was arrested during a Palestine Action raid on a site run by Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit in Filton, near Bristol, last August. 'My daughter is not a terrorist,' said her mother, Clare Hinchcliffe. 'They charged them with violent disorder, criminal damage and aggravated burglary,' she added, referring to her daughter and her co-defendants, who are collectively known as the Filton 24. Palestine Action had not yet been banned as a terrorist organisation – a move that has seen more than 700 people arrested for public displays of alleged support for the group since 5 July, when it was proscribed under the Terrorism Act 2000. Shy and autistic, Rogers is one of two dozen defendants in that case who have been denied bail. She has pleaded not guilty. Hinchcliffe, a senior campaigner for the London Cycling Campaign, said her daughter had been questioned by counter-terrorism police for five days and that she and others had faced 'the full force of the counter-terror police against them', adding: 'That has been absolutely terrifying.' The Crown Prosecution Service said that it would be seeking to argue that the alleged offences had 'a terrorist connection'. Under legislation drawn up in 2020 in response to two Islamist knife attacks, a terrorist connection is an aggravating factor, meaning that it could be applied by a judge when sentencing. The allegations in the case have been seen as a key part of the decision to proscribe Palestine Action and have contributed to the secrecy in the government's repeated defence of the ban, with ministers attempting to distinguish the issue from the broader right to protest and from deepening public outrage at what is happening in Gaza. Central to efforts to shore up the ban are as yet unproven accusations of violence against individuals. The attack on the Filton factory allegedly involved a ram-raid, using a decommissioned prison van to breach a loading bay. Samuel Corner, 23, faces charges of grievous bodily harm, and two counts of actual bodily harm involving injuries to two police officers. The charges are the only significant acts of violence against a person in the group's 356 actions since it was established in 2020. Corner has pleaded not guilty. Hinchcliffe said she had been angered by what she viewed as the Home Office attempting to cloud matters with smears against the defendants. The first officers who knocked on Hinchcliffe's door in Southgate, north London, last August explained that her daughter had been arrested and they had a warrant to search her room. 'When I got over the shock of having four police officers standing on my doorstep early one morning, they told me she was under arrest in Bristol police station. I asked when I could speak to her and they said it was usually after 24 hours.' That night, Rogers, who was then 20 and had secured a place to study interdisciplinary problem solving at university, was rearrested by counter-terrorism officers. It would be another five days before she saw her mother. 'It was very emotional, seeing her through two layers of security glass because I was in a box and she was in a box. She was with two others, flanked by officers. I'm so proud of her. She was sitting between the other two. The other two looked very distressed and she was looking strong. She was holding their hands.' Their lawyer saw no legal reason Rogers would not be granted bail and her grandparents had offered a large amount of money in surety, but it was denied. Hinchcliffe said: 'But then the judge decides: 'No, I'm refusing bail' – something about the risk of reoffending – and within seconds they were being led out of the room and I just felt viscerally like she was being ripped from my arms.' After almost two weeks, mother and daughter finally managed their first phone call, Hinchcliffe said. 'I guess the feeling was relief to have finally spoken to her, relief that she sounded kind of OK, and anger – why was she in prison? Those first few weeks, I was just in shock.' She added: 'I had a Fitbit at the time. My resting heart rate was constantly higher than it used to be. I was kind of in fight-or-flight mode. I remember just lying down and trying to sleep and my heart pounding. You've got this kind of irrational sense of: 'I have to go and save her and I can't.'' Soon after, the house was raided by a dozen counter-terrorism officers. 'They were trying to be discreet but that's a bit hard with 12 officers in forensic aprons and gloves going in and out. My neighbours just thought someone had been murdered.' She said they seized a laptop belonging to her younger daughter, Ffion, as well as her classics homework. Hinchcliffe, a devout Christian, said her minister was among the hundreds of protesters arrested just over a week ago for holding signs in support of Palestine Action. 'It's been surreal. I think it's great to see how ridiculous a government's being made to look by all these brave people who are prepared to face arrest.' She said that in the weeks after Hamas's surprise attack on Israel in October 2023, her daughter had started attending marches. Hinchcliffe remembers, too, when Rogers began to lose hope after months of protests as the bombing and aid blockades continued in Gaza. 'It's the deaths of the children that she cannot bear. She decided she was going to write all the names of the children who'd been killed so far and their ages on this big bedsheet. And she never wrote a single name. She just couldn't face it. 'She just became overwhelmed. She didn't go to the march, she didn't leave her bedroom the whole weekend. I think that was the point when she decided: the marches aren't working; our government's not listening.' Standing in her daughter's undisturbed bedroom, Hinchcliffe unfurled a black screenprint that showed the text of a poem Rogers, who faces trial in November, wrote from prison. 'When they ask why,' she wrote, 'I tell them about the children…I tell them about the boy found carrying his brother's body inside his bloody backpack. I tell them about the girl whose hanging corpse ended at the knees. I tell them about the father holding up his headless toddler.' The final line reads: 'It was love, not hate, that called me.'
Washington Post
44 minutes ago
- Washington Post
Meet the actor with Down syndrome who wants to run for president of Chile
SANTIAGO, Chile — Sebastián Solorza is already a familiar face to many Chileans, having starred in a popular Netflix series and won national acting awards. Now, the 43-year-old actor with Down syndrome wants to enter the race for president in Chile's national election this year. Solorza is racing against the clock to gather 35,000 signatures by Aug. 18, a requirement for him to run as an independent candidate. He positions himself as a 'point of balance' between the far right and the far left — a fierce ideological battle that dominates Chile's political scene . 'I listen with my heart,' Solorza told The Associated Press, adding that his condition allows him to offer a softer communication style. Should he enter the electoral race, his platform will focus on greater inclusion, improved healthcare and education, and enhanced security — a main concern of citizens who have been grappling with an unprecedented crisis of violence in recent years. Chile will choose its new president on Nov. 16, with the campaign so far defined by the mutual attacks between the two main contestants: The far-right José Antonio Kast, who lost to current leftist president Gabriel Boric in 2021, and Jeannette Jara, the ruling coalition's communist nominee . With three months remaining until the election, polls show Kast and Jara vying for the top two spots. This scenario suggests they would face each other in a second-round runoff on Dec. 14. Solorza argues that his candidacy offers a middle ground between political extremes, while working toward a 'more inclusive country.' 'I've spent my entire life breaking down prejudices, as an actor, as a worker and as a citizen,' he said last month when announcing his plans to run as an independent candidate. 'We all deserve the same opportunities.' The actor hopes his candidacy will give greater visibility to people with Down syndrome and other disabilities. While it's unlikely he will secure the necessary support to run for president — he has collected a little over 600 of the 35,000 signatures required — he sees his political foray as a success. Solorza keeps a tight schedule, balancing an acting career with a day job at a construction company. In his limited free time, he spends time visiting Congress, talking with members of the Parliament and meeting with constituents to promote his campaign. On the streets of Huechuraba, a quiet and green neighborhood in the northern part of Chile's capital, Solorza is often greeted by supporters, fans, and workers from restaurants and cafés where he is a regular. Always smiling, he walks slowly, making time for anyone who wants a photo or a brief chat. In Valparaíso — a coastal town about 100 kilometers (62 miles) from Santiago, where the Congress is based — Chileans show up to the Parliament to express their support. 'Good luck with the signatures,' one supporter said last week. 'Let it be the people who ultimately decide our future.' Solorza's political aspirations open the door to 'raise the voices of people with Down syndrome' and help to 'demystify myths and prejudices still present in society,' said Carolina Gallardo, director of the Chilean nonprofit Down Up Foundation, which offers support and community for families raising children with Down syndrome. The attempt at a political debut is just the latest in a long line of barriers Solorza has overcome. He was born and raised in the 1980s, a time with far less knowledge about Down syndrome than today . His mother, Jenny Solorza, recalls his early years as 'very dark,' because doctors never provided a clear diagnosis for their son, leading them to search for information on their own. 'We wanted to do our best and always encouraged him with music,' she said. As a result, 'Sebastián has a very broad musical culture, and that's what he grew up with.' Solorza attended special schools where he developed his passion for the arts, fueled by music, rather than focusing on traditional academics. At 18, he received a scholarship to join a theater school and began performing regularly on stage and appearing in popular TV talk shows. He later rose to national fame for his leading role as Tomy in the Chilean thriller 'Chromosome 21.' The series, which follows a detective trying to determine if a young man found at a murder scene is a witness or a suspect, ranked second on Netflix in Chile just two days after its release in 2022. The part earned Solorza the Best New Actor award at the 2023 Caleuche Awards, one of the most important ceremonies in the Chilean film industry. Despite social media criticism that he lacks preparedness and political experience to run for office, he insists he will not be deterred. 'I know my candidacy would be uncomfortable for many,' he said. 'But I am here to support minorities.' ____ Follow AP's coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at
