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Wales Online
10-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Wales Online
Britain's Got Talent's Amanda Holden booed as she says 'I'm not going to be very popular'
Britain's Got Talent's Amanda Holden booed as she says 'I'm not going to be very popular' Amanda Holden was not impressed during the live semi-finals of Britain's Got Talent Amanda was booed loudly by the live audience (Image: ITV ) Within minutes of the live semi-final of Britain's Got Talent getting underway, judge Amanda Holden found herself being booed over comments she made. Amanda said: "I'm not going to be very popular" before discussing the first act. Bravely performing first was dance duo Harry and Lewis, from the Wirral and Manchester, who have danced together since they were children. Despite receiving positive comments from fellow judges Bruno Tonioli and Alesha Dixon, Amanda quickly brought the mood down. Saying "I'm not going to be very popular" and "thank God for the production", Amanda did not mince her words. For the latest TV and showbiz gossip sign up to our newsletter . She said: "I don't think it was enough, I just don't feel like that was a step up from your first audition." She was drowned out by the loud boos from the live audience while speaking. While Simon Cowell said this performance was better than their audition, he did question how much Harry and Lewis wanted to win. Separately, Amanda recently made a stunning admission about the current state of her marriage, claiming that her husband "judges" her for one thing. Article continues below The TV stalwart also batted off claims that her spouse, record producer Chris Hughes, is "jealous" of her friendship with comedian Alan Carr, with whom she has hosted several shows. Appearing on the Life's A Beach podcast, both Amanda and Alan were talking about life behind the scenes filming their hit BBC series Amanda and Alan's Italian Job, and its spin-off Spanish Job. But when the conversation turned to their friendship, Amanda jokingly claimed her husband "judged" her for her drinking and rubbished suggestions he is "jealous" because she gives Alan "way more" attention. Such is her closeness to "good friend" Alan that Amanda claimed fans stop either of them on the streets to be asked why either of them are not seen walking together. She said: "Everyone stops us for it more than anything. And when I'm not with you, they're like, 'Where's Alan?'" Alan replied: "I know. They say, 'Where's Amanda?' When I went to South Africa, 'Where's Amanda?'" After Amanda jokingly said: "Well, my husband Chris doesn't get a look-in," Alan asked: "To be honest, is he jealous of me?" The pair laughed for a few seconds before Amanda firmly answered: "No. He loves you as much as me. I think he's jealous because I give you way more. I'm nicer to you." Article continues below Alan then said: "We're always on the phone, though, aren't we? And having a little gossip and everything." To which Amanda dropped her tongue–in-cheek bombshell: "You don't judge my drinking habits. My husband does. Anyway..." The conversation then swiftly moved on to their forthcoming third series, tentatively titled Amanda and Alan's Greek Job, which Alan revealed would be set in Corfu. You can read more, here.
Wall Street Journal
08-05-2025
- Wall Street Journal
Fiction: ‘The Remembered Soldier' by Anjet Daanje
They were called les morts vivants, or the living dead. These were survivors of the battlefields of World War I who were so severely shell-shocked that they no longer knew who they were. Some were catatonic, some schizophrenic. In rare cases, they suffered from post-traumatic retrograde amnesia, an inability to remember any of their past, and if their identity tags had gone missing they would have been rendered anonymous. The men were housed in asylums. Their photos were advertised in newspapers and desperately scrutinized by the countless parents and widows whose loved ones had gone missing at the front. The most famous case was that of a man known as Anthelme Mangin, who was claimed by upward of 20 families. A custody dispute continued into the late 1930s, almost until the end of Mangin's damaged life. The Dutch writer Anjet Daanje has borrowed loosely from the Mangin case for her big, powerful drama of love and memory, 'The Remembered Soldier.' The Flemish-speaking soldier of this novel is called Noon Merckem, because in 1917 he was discovered around midday, wandering around a battlefield near Merckem, a village in the Flanders region of Belgium (he appears to have been involved in the Battle of Passchendaele). Since the end of the war, he has lived in the Guislain Asylum in Ghent, alone and with no idea of who he used to be. But in 1922 Julienne Coppens, a Belgian woman responding to an advertisement, recognizes him as her missing husband. He is, she says, Amand Stephaan Coppens, the proprietor of a photography studio and the father of two. Amand, as he must now get used to being called, leaves the asylum with Julienne, and Ms. Daanje progresses patiently through the stages of their acclimation. Initially he resides in their home as a guest, anxious and uncomfortable. Julienne is standoffish as well, assailed by longings but fearful of scaring Amand away. Gradually they begin to work side by side in the photography studio. Proximity softens their doubts and an intimacy blooms. For Amand, who cannot remember their earlier married life, this is a newlywed's passion, and the novel revels in the excitement of his 'puppy love.' The rub is that, in his dreams, Amand's memories are slowly returning, but they are not of Julienne—they are nightmares of battlefield slaughter that he cannot reconcile with his newfound domestic happiness. Here 'The Remembered Soldier' begins to explore the gray area between performance and reality. Amand and Julienne embrace the roles of the joyful couple reunited by the hand of providence while papering over Amand's panic attacks and strange, dissociative episodes. As word spreads of his homecoming and Amand plays the part of 'the miracle man' returned from the dead, he feels surprised by 'how easily his life can be reshaped into an inspiring story, correct in every factual detail, yet a lie from beginning to end.'
