
Beaming Maura Higgins enjoys a boozy London night out with her influencer pal Luke Hamnett
has been busy jetting around the world for shoots and brand trips, but on Tuesday it was time for a boozy night out on home turf.
The I'm A Celeb star hit London with her influencer pal Luke Hamnett, kicking off their night with a four hour dinner and drinks at posh Mayfair restaurant Maine.
The next stop was members' club White City House in west London, where they partied until 1am before leaving arm in arm to tumble into a taxi.
Maura ditched the glam for the fun night out, choosing a casual look of an off-the-shoulder taupe sweater paired with low-rise white jeans.
The beauty looked gorgeous with a slick of deep red lipstick and comfy flat boots completing her low-key chic look.
The pair of Instagram sensations - Maura boasts 4.1m followers whilst Luke has 1.6m - captured their night on camera, filming a jokey video of themselves almost kissing during their lavish dinner.
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The I'm A Celeb star hit London with her influencer pal Luke Hamnett, kicking off their night with a four hour dinner and drinks at posh Mayfair restaurant Maine
Maura and Luke have been inseparable in recent weeks, jetting to Mykonos together for a brand event last week.
Love Island favourite Maura has been throwing herself into work since her starring role on I'm A Celeb rounded off her successful 2024.
In March her 'drunken kiss' with I'm A Celeb campmate Danny Jones hit the headlines.
Maura and Danny, 39, were spotted in a compromising clinch at the Universal Music's BRIT Awards afterparty, after appearing on I'm A Celeb together last year.
The married singer is said to no longer have a 'normal relationship' with his wife Georgia, 38, and while they are still living under the same roof, they now have 'separate lives'.
Both Danny and Maura have generally kept away from public events since the scandal, until her big red carpet return at May's TV BAFTAs, where she kept mum on the kiss.
She wasn't at risk of any awkward reunions with Danny as he reportedly skipped the ceremony to avoid 'putting a foot wrong' with his wife.
Danny previously issued a public apology to Georgia and their seven-year-old son Cooper, admitting he was 'deeply sorry' and vowing to deal with things privately.
Sources previously claimed to MailOnline that despite their efforts, the couple are like 'passing ships' and friends fear their relationship is hanging on by a thread.
A source said: 'Danny and Georgia have been trying to navigate a very difficult time in their marriage and for the best part they have been taking each day as it comes.
'They may be living under the same roof, but they barely see each other and right now are like passing ships.
'Danny is preparing for his summer gigs with McFly, and Georgia has been attending influencer events and collaborating with brands, all while looking after son, Cooper, who regularly features on her Instagram profile.
'But when they're not working, Danny is out on his motorbike or exercising in the gym, and Georgia is either on her own or spending time with family and girlfriends.
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BBC News
21 minutes ago
- BBC News
'They've become extinct, and are we next?': How Jurassic Park made dinosaurs into film stars
In June 1993, Steven Spielberg's adaptation of Michael Crichton's novel brought prehistoric monsters to life. Crichton spoke to the BBC about why dinosaurs continue to fascinate us. One of the most celebrated moments in Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park has two scientists, played by Sam Neill and Laura Dern, staring agasp at a Brachiosaurus towering above them – it's the first time these characters and the audience have glimpsed the colossus in all its onscreen glory. As John Williams's iconic overture swells, a wave of childlike wonder washes over their faces. And ever since the film premiered 32 years ago, on 9 June 1993, audiences have felt a similar awe. The franchise now includes animated television series, comics, video games, and seven major films, including the latest instalment, Jurassic World Rebirth, which is released in July. But it all started with Michael Crichton's bestselling novel, published in 1990. While writing the novel, Crichton visited a museum in the UK which featured a video exhibit on dinosaurs. "Little boys and girls of three [years old] would scream 'Stegosaurus!' and 'Tyrannosaurus!' when they would appear," Crichton told the BBC's The Late Show in 1993. "You wouldn't think they'd know how to pronounce these words, but they do." Since the discovery of the first dinosaur fossils two centuries ago, and the first official scientific naming of a dinosaur – the Megalosaurus – in 1824, our fascination with these titans of the natural world has never really waned. But it has evolved. "We have in every period some [new] aspect of interest, not so much in our own reinterpretation of the dinosaurs from a scientific standpoint, but from a cultural standpoint," said Crichton. In 1854, a number of supposedly life-sized model dinosaurs, sculpted by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins and cast in cement, were displayed in Crystal Palace Park in south London. At this point, Crichton believed, "the underlying issue soon became whether these were evidence that ought to be employed for or against Darwinian evolution, so after the initial interest in dinosaurs as simply large extinct animals, they came to be viewed from the standpoint of their religious significance." By the time Crichton wrote Jurassic Park, however, our view of dinosaurs had moved on, both scientifically and philosophically. The podgy beasts sculpted by Hawkins had been replaced in the imagination by fast, agile, birdlike creatures – and the issue of the dinosaurs' extinction was considered of greater philosophical interest than their creation. "The question that we have when we look at dinosaurs is, 'They've become extinct, and are we next,'" Crichton said. In between these two periods, dinosaurs stomped through cinema history. The first onscreen dinosaur starred in an animated film, Gertie the Dinosaur, in 1914. A classic silent film, The Lost World (1925), boasted stop-motion dinosaurs created by Willis O'Brien, who went on to animate the prehistoric monsters who fought King Kong in 1933. The dinosaurs in King Kong then inspired legendary animator Ray Harryhausen to create his own unique dinosaur hybrid for the film 20,000 Fathoms (1953), a Tyrannosaurus-Brontosaurus mix that rampaged through the streets of New York City. Harryhausen would go on to direct his own prehistoric monster film, One Million Years B.C. (1966), in which Raquel Welch and other fur-clad cave-people came face-to-face with dinosaurs. "We were criticised many times that human beings, particularly cavemen… never lived anywhere near the time of the dinosaur," Harryhausen said on The Late Show. "But that's a licence one has to take for the cinema because you have no drama unless you have people in with the dinosaurs." Breaking box-office records The film of Jurassic Park, with a screenplay co-written by Crichton, brought together people and dinosaurs more believably than ever before. Spielberg used a groundbreaking and earth-shaking combination of computer-generated imagery and practical animatronics for his cautionary tale of a corporation miraculously resurrecting long-extinct species. The corporation's CEO, John Hammond (Richard Attenborough), intends to use the creatures to populate a wildlife amusement park on an island off the coast of Costa Rica. But when the dinosaurs escape their enclosures, a group of scientists learn the hard way that Hammond's plan may have its drawbacks. The film was a blockbuster hit in the summer of 1993, grossing $357 million domestically and $914 million worldwide in its original theatrical run. It shattered box office records, becoming the highest grossing film ever at the time of its release. Jurassic Park "delivers where it counts, in excitement, suspense and the stupendous realization of giant prehistoric reptiles", said Variety's 1993 review. In 2018, it was added to the Library of Congress's National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". More like this:• How a child star saved a Hollywood star from bankruptcy• The film that made Arnold Schwarzenegger a superstar• Hitchcock reveals the secret to his masterpieces None of the sequels or spin-offs has been quite so significant, but all of the films have been Brachiosaurus-sized hits. Spielberg directed The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997), and then Joe Johnston took the reins for Jurassic Park III (2001). That film appeared to be the end of the big-screen series, but eventually Jurassic World (2015) roared into cinemas, beginning another trilogy: at the time, it was the third highest-grossing film ever released. Dinosaurs still instil childlike wonder, it seems, and as long as they do, the Jurassic Park franchise won't remain extinct for long. -- For more stories and never-before-published radio scripts to your inbox, sign up to the In History newsletter, while The Essential List delivers a handpicked selection of features and insights twice a week. For more Culture stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook, X and Instagram.


Times
30 minutes ago
- Times
Business live: Starmer pledges extra £1bn to boost UK tech power
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Speaking to Sir Keir Starmer and Baroness Gustafsson, the minister for investment, at the opening of London Tech Week this morning, Huang said: 'If you're in the world of AI, you do machine-learning. You can't do machine-learning without a machine and so the ability to build these AI supercomputers here in the UK will naturally attract more start-ups.' China and Britain should maintain sustained, stable and healthy development of economic relations, the Chinese vice-premier He Lifeng has told the chancellor Rachel Reeves in London, according to a report on the state-run broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV). He is meeting the chancellor while he is in London for a second round of trade talks with top US officials. The talks come as the Chinese owner of British Steel is in an entrenched stand-off with UK ministers over a compensation claim for more than £1 billion. 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Daily Mail
31 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Hannah Waddingham, 5ft11, was told she was 'too big' to be on camera and says Ted Lasso co-stars told her take her heels off when filming together
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