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Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
The Palace has battled to cover it up for decades. But here's the overwhelming evidence Queen Victoria DID take ghillie John Brown as her lover – and they had a child who was spirited away to New Zealand
It's nearly midnight by the time I log on to the Zoom call, but for my interviewee the working day has just ended. As I sit, blinking at my computer screen, a Minnesota kitchen pixelates into view. I'm chatting to a woman called Angela – a bubbly, kind, ornately tattooed hospice worker who I'm hoping might be able to give an answer to one of the biggest mysteries in British history: what is the truth about Queen Victoria 's relationship with her most-trusted servant John Brown? Those who have seen the 1997 movie Mrs Brown – starring Judi Dench as the Queen and Billy Connolly as John – will know that Victoria, widowed, scared and desperately sad, began to see the handsome Scots ghillie as her protector and appointed him 'The Queen's Highland Servant'. For the next 20 years, no one was closer to the Queen. John ran her daily errands and put his life on the line to save her from would-be assassins. He spent hours alone with her every day and in her private house in the Highlands, he had the bedroom next to hers. But were Queen Victoria and John just friends or were they lovers and, more particularly, did they have a child together? As an historian, I've spent years looking into this question and, as the great-great-great-niece of John Brown, one of the last surviving descendants of his brother Hugh and his wife Jessie, I think Angela may be the one person who might be able to answer it. It was a rainy night in October 1863 that changed Victoria's life for ever. Huddled in her carriage on a windswept road outside Balmoral, Queen Victoria was sunk in widow's grief. It was two long years since she had lost her beloved husband, Prince Albert, and though she had spent the day riding the rough paths of Glen Clova with two of her daughters, not even the freshness of Scottish air could raise her spirits. The journey back to Balmoral was proving treacherous: the carriage inched slowly forward, led by a man with a lamp. With a sudden, violent shudder, it lurched to one side. Thrown to the ground face-first, the Queen managed to scramble out of the wreckage, only to find her daughters trapped, unable to free their clothing. Although the horses 'lay as if dead', if they should bolt or attempt to stand, they would pull the wreck on top of the princesses and kill them. Princess Helena, 17, screamed in fear. The man with the lamp raced back, hauling her and Princess Alice, 21, from the wreck, cutting and tearing their voluminous skirts to shreds. He freed the horses, found plaid blankets for the Queen and wrapped her in them, then hunted through the broken beams and wheels to find some claret to calm the princesses' nerves. Finally, he stood guard over their wounded, anxious party, until help from the castle arrived. This man's name was John Brown. John was not unknown to Victoria in 1863. For many years, he had led her pony whenever she was in residence at Balmoral. But it is not hard to imagine that on this night, Victoria – widowed, scared and desperately sad – began to see the handsome Highlander as something else. Not merely her shadow, but also her protector. It was the start of a very different relationship. Their friendship was sometimes tempestuous. John spoke to Victoria in a direct way no other servant would dare to, but was utterly devoted to her. She in turn, referred to the handsome Scottish Highlander as her 'best friend'. As she wrote in a letter to his brother Hugh, when John vehemently proclaimed he would serve her until his death: 'I took and held his dear kind hand and I said I hoped he might long be spared to comfort me… 'Afterwards I told him no one loved him more than I did… and he answered 'nor you – than me… no one loves you more.'' For more than a hundred years, the true nature of their relationship has remained hidden. After Victoria's death in 1901, on the orders of her eldest son, Edward VII, the Palace set about erasing John from the record. Victoria's journals were copied, edited, and the originals destroyed. Those who have attempted to bring John and Victoria's story to light have found themselves blocked, dismissed or ridiculed by powerful forces. As recently as 1987, when the family of James Reid, Victoria's doctor, set out to publish his diaries for the first time – revealing what he had witnessed of Victoria's intimate relationship with John – Princess Margaret personally attempted to halt publication. Jeremy Brock, who wrote the screenplay for the movie Mrs Brown, told me he understood that there was an agreement with John's family not to release any of his papers in the lifetime of the late Queen Mother. So John's descendants were still very much on the royal radar, a century after Victoria's death. Years of researching – and talking to the Brown family – have led me to conclude that Victoria and John did have an intimate relationship. Not only that, but rumours that they secretly married and had a child that was spirited away to be brought up outside the Royal Family may indeed have some foundation. Gossip about the pair began in the summer of 1865, after Victoria requested John be transferred to the Royal Household at Windsor. 'Strange and disagreeable stories are going about London…' wrote Lord Stanley, who served twice as her foreign secretary, in his private diary. 'The Queen has taken a fancy to a certain Scotch servant, by name Brown: will have no one else to wait upon her, makes him drive her out alone in a pony carriage, walk after, or rather with her, gives orders through him to equerries, allows him access to her such as no one else has… 'There is nothing in this, most likely, except a fancy for a good-looking and intelligent dependant: but the thing has become a joke through Windsor, where H.M is talked of as 'Mrs Brown' – and if it lasts the joke will grow into a scandal.' References to the Queen as 'Mrs Brown' clearly insinuated that she and John were in a sexual relationship. Victoria's middle daughters, Helena and Louise, openly spoke of him as 'Mamma's lover'. Lord Stanley assumed it was a joke – but could the princesses simply be acknowledging what everyone else wanted to deny? John had a decade of royal service behind him by the time of the carriage crash, having worked his way up from stable boy to ghillie, guiding the royal visitors on picnics and fishing trips. He was the quintessential outdoorsman, with a keen eye and knowledge of the seasons, the animals and the weather. He spoke with a heavy Aberdeenshire accent and always wore a tartan kilt. When Prince Albert died suddenly of typhoid fever in 1861 – aged only 42 – Victoria was bereft. Their marriage had produced nine children and she was tormented by the loss of Albert's body and his touch. 'My life is without joy, and nothing, nothing can ever bring back one shred of my lost happiness!' she wrote to a friend. 'Oh God, why must it be so? This yearning is such torture! I could go mad from the desire and longing.' It was twelve days after Victoria wrote that letter that her carriage overturned. On the fourth anniversary of Albert's death, in 1865, Victoria took John with her to a service at the Royal Mausoleum at Frogmore. 'I must tell you how touchingly my poor faithful Brown spoke to me yesterday,' she wrote to Vicky, her eldest daughter, who had married the Crown Prince of Prussia and was living in Berlin. 'He was so much affected; he said in his simple, expressive way, with such a tender look of pity while the tears rolled down his cheeks: 'I didn't like to see ye at Frogmore this morning, I felt for ye, to see ye coming there with your daughters and your husband lying there – marriage on one side and death on the other; no, I didn't like to see it… There is no more pleasure for you, poor Queen, and I feel for ye but what can I do though for ye? I could die for ye.'' Scandalous stories about the couple began to swirl around the world. In September 1866, the Swiss paper Gazette de Lausanne published a shocking exposé claiming Victoria, then aged 46, and John had privately married and that she was pregnant. The government was horrified: the reputation of the Queen was the reputation of the empire. A British diplomat in Switzerland complained, which was the most foolish response imaginable: it gave the British Press an excuse to cover the story and it was soon running in newspapers as far afield as Australia. But Victoria carried on regardless. She promoted him and raised his salary to £150 per annum (when the most well-paid male servants in London would have been earning £40-£100). Only the Queen could give him orders. Victoria had refused all official duties since Albert's death, leaving some to question what the point of a monarch was if she were able to abandon her role. The Times called for an end to her seclusion, even suggesting Bertie, her eldest son should ascend to the throne if she would not return. To try to stem the tide of political anger, Victoria was persuaded to attend the State Opening of Parliament in 1866, but did so without the splendour of her ceremonial robes. Instead, she wore her widow's weeds. She refused to read the Queen's Speech, forcing the Lord Chancellor to do so on her behalf. Many people blamed John for Victoria's neglect of her duty. At the opening of Blackfriars Bridge in 1869, angry crowds surged towards Victoria's carriage shouting toward the tartan-clad figure: 'There's John Brown! Pull him out! Turn him out!' But public opinion changed in 1872 when a young Irish rebel, Arthur O'Connor, made an attempt on the Queen's life as she prepared to leave Buckingham Palace. He ran to her carriage window and pointed an ancient pistol at Victoria's shocked face, saying: 'Take that from a Fenian!' John, moving like lightning, hauled him violently from the door and pinned him down. The pistol clattered to the ground. As the news of the attempted assassination exploded across the capital, John was no longer booed or hissed. He was issued with a revolver and from then on slept with it under his pillow. His declaration that 'I could die for ye' was now a reality. As Victoria awarded him a medal, she wrote: 'You will see in this the great anxiety to show more and more what you are to me and as time goes on – this will be more and more seen and known. Everyone hears me say you are my friend and most confidential attendant.' Had they married in secret? A legal English marriage – even a private one – would have required a church, a minister and the reading of banns. But since the medieval period, Scotland had accepted an 'exchange of consent' as marriage. In Scottish law, if Victoria wanted to marry John, privately, there was nothing standing in her way. There is strong evidence that an irregular marriage between John and Victoria did take place. As Victoria's much-loved royal chaplain, the Reverend Norman Macleod, lay dying in 1872, he made an astonishing deathbed confession to his sister, telling her he had married John and Victoria. Whatever the nature of their relationship before 1872, it is clear that year marked a turning point. Victoria had suffered a long illness and John had cared for her, then he had saved her from O'Connor's assassination attempt. John began to wear a plain gold signet ring on the little finger of his left hand. It's not there at any point before early 1872, but it's prominently on display in the photographs and paintings of him from 1873 onwards. Albert had worn a gold signet ring on the little finger of his right hand, which was the usual position. Yet John's, for some reason, sat on his left. Here is where the Victorian obsession with romantic symbolism cannot be underestimated. To wear such a ring on your left hand was to wear it closest to your heart. For John and Victoria, though, there may have been a deeper symbolism. Morganatic marriage – the private marriage of a royal to an ordinary person, which bestowed no rank or recognition, undertaken solely as an expression of love – was also known as a left-handed marriage. If John was only ever a servant, even a close one, why would Victoria care so much for his family, visiting his parents and his brothers? When John's father died, Victoria attended his funeral. This was extraordinary: 'The thing itself is a trifle, but it is noticed that of all the relations and friends whom she lost, she has never attended the funeral of any, and it is not thought decent that the sole exception made should have been in favour of a Highland farmer,' Lord Stanley wrote in his diary. Shortly afterwards, she gave John's widowed mother a cottage on the Balmoral estate. She offered to pay for a return trip for his brother Hugh, who had emigrated to New Zealand: 'I know how your mother would like it and it can easily be done. I have thought about it ever since I saw her cry when she spoke of all her children she had seen and knew within reach and she mentioned Hugh. I hope, darling one, you will do this. Ever your own devoted friend.' In this deeply intimate letter, the only one between them currently known to survive, John was no longer 'Brown' but 'darling one'. One of the more obvious signs that he had begun to take the place of a de facto royal consort is that Victoria now expected her sons Bertie, Affie, Arthur and Leopold to shake John's hand when they visited, as if he were an equal. Victoria drew up a memorandum specifying if she fell ill, John was to care for her. She wanted to make sure if she was at death's door, John could not be barred from her side. As Christmas 1876 approached, so did John's 50th birthday. He was now eight years older than Albert when he died, and had watched and cared for Victoria for most of his life. For Christmas, she gave him a silver teapot, elaborately monogrammed with his initials. To celebrate the New Year, she gave him a card illustrated with a parlour maid holding an envelope in her hands and the words: 'My lips may give a message better of Christmas love than e'en my letter.' How much evidence is required to prove that Victoria and John were more than friends? The house, the family, the cards, the letters, the gifts, the terms of endearment, the mutual declaration of love… As the years went by, Victoria and John's relationship was clear for all to see. Every other man was banned from smoking in her presence. John was not only allowed to do so, but she gave him a beautiful little pipe in a silver monogrammed case. The rules she had set with Albert she happily broke for John. Yet any peace Victoria felt was shattered again in 1882 when a destitute lunatic, Roderick Maclean, drew his pistol and fired two shots at her carriage. John leapt over the back of the carriage to her rescue. 'It is worth being shot at to see how one is loved,' Victoria wrote to her daughter Vicky. A year later, the precious intimacy and companionship that had been built over the course of decades and withstood all opposition was ripped away from her. When two suspect characters were spotted in the environs of Windsor Castle, John went in pursuit. It was a bitterly cold winter and he caught a chill. A few days later, at just 56 years old, he died. Victoria was once again overwhelmed by grief. Just as she had with Albert, Victoria ordered John's hand to be cast and then carved in stone, with his gold signet ring on his finger. To carve a hand, to be able to touch and hold it for the rest of your life when the one you love has left it, seems beautiful and heart-rending. Victoria had also memorialised Albert with a locket holding locks of both their hair – which she later gifted to John. She did the same for her beloved servant upon his death, creating a locket emblazoned with his photograph, hair and the words 'Dear John' for his family. Servants were given gold mourning pins – some with John's head in profile and his initials, others with his photograph – to be worn in his memory. Then, to mark her most intimate feelings, Victoria began to wear his mother's wedding ring – which John had given to her – openly on her own hand. When Victoria died, 18 years later, in 1901 she was buried still wearing that ring. She also requested that a lock of John's hair, one of his pocket handkerchiefs and a photograph of him – along with items belonging to Prince Albert – be buried with her. Trying to trace what really happened between the Queen and her Highland Servant has been a frustrating journey. Much evidence has been deliberately destroyed. For months I chased a rumour that a man called George Hanton might have been Victoria and John's illegitimate son, but it seemed too distant a possibility. Then, unusual aspects of a will connected to Mary Ann, the only child of John's brother Hugh – who moved with his wife Jessie to New Zealand – caught my attention. In short, if various members of Mary Ann's family died, an official at Balmoral was to be given guardianship of her children. Why would that be? John Brown – no more than a servant in royal eyes – was long dead. Why would any member of his family be protected by Balmoral? Could it be that Mary Ann, whose birth was registered soon after Hugh and Jessie's arrival in New Zealand in 1865, was actually Victoria and John's child, sent to the furthest reach of the empire in secret? After much detective work, I had tracked down Angela, one of Hugh and Jessie's last surviving relatives, in the USA. On our late-night Zoom call, she revealed to me the bombshell story that had been passed down her family. 'We were always told that we were the illegitimate line… that there was a big boat trip… and a baby given to the family.' Here was a direct line: John's brother's only child, Mary Ann, who may have been sent out to join him and his wife in New Zealand, named as Victoria and John's daughter by her only surviving descendants. If true, it would make Angela the great-great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria. It may seem outlandish, but I can't discount the possibility – however remarkable – that Victoria had the capacity and ability to disguise a pregnancy in the mid-1860s, give birth, and then keep the baby a secret. Without DNA evidence, of course, we'll never know – and given the secrecy that surrounds this story, that is unlikely to be forthcoming from the Royal Family. But with Victoria, signs and clues, like the two four-leafed clovers she collected and gave to John, which he kept in his scrapbook, tell you all you need to know. In the Victorian language of flowers, which the Queen and her servant would have both understood, the meaning of a four-leafed clover is clear: Be Mine. Queen Victoria: Secret Marriage, Secret Child? is on Channel 4 on July 31.
The Sun
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Sun
BBC radio star to pursue very different career after quitting station and slamming bosses for ‘treating staff like pets'
A VETERAN BBC radio presenter is having a major career change after quitting and accusing the Corporation of "treating staff like pets". Nihal Arthanayake, 54, had worked at the BBC for 23 years and was known for interviewing some of the biggest names in the country from Billy Connolly to Elton John. 3 Now the radio presenter is swapping his broadcasting microphone for a stage one and, this weekend, will make his debut as a stand-up comedian. Nihal didn't leave the Beeb without causing a stir, sharing feedback from another employee who told him that BBC managers treat staff "like pets," he has fired more shots at the Beeb. 'I couldn't be happy there any more,' he told The Times in an interview. 'I do feel that the BBC is in an existential crisis, especially BBC News.' Nihal admitted he would "get myself into trouble" for airing his grievances about the BBC so publicly, but does not think the broadcaster's alleged issues "can be solved with the current leadership." "I don't think they're fit for purpose. BBC News is ultimately at the heart of the BBC's trust — no one's looking at impartiality with [The] Traitors or Strictly Come Dancing," he told the newspaper. "Its trust derives from its ability to communicate truth and hold power to account, and it has been proven beyond reasonable doubt when it comes to the BBC's coverage of Israel and Gaza it has failed to do that.' Nihal shared an image of the newspaper article to his Instagram account where he expanded on his thoughts about his former employer. "I want the BBC to be better. Under the current leadership... I cannot see that happening," his post caption began. "At the weekend someone at 5Live told me how monocultural it still is and how their concerns are either ignored or management call for another meeting, and nothing much happens." TV star slams BBC for treating staff 'like pets' saying 'I'm leaving in September' Nihal's bold claims come about a year after he publicly called out the BBC about the lack of diversity and, in June, declared nothing much had changed in the past 12 months. Nihal said: "So today I walked into the BBC building in Salford and I was struck yet again, not for the first time, just how few black and Asian people work in that building and one thing that people have to understand is that when you walk into an environment where you just don't see anybody that looks like you, that has an effect. "Since I called them out on it, well over a year ago, it seems like ain't a damn thing changed." He captioned it: "I remember calling out BBC North on the lack of diversity in the building I worked in. "I remember speaking to some of the black and Asian people who worked there and I kept hearing how isolating it was for them (not all obviously). "It just struck me again today. "It also reminded why I I'll be leaving in September. Have pondered whether to press 'share' on this, but as I am leaving anyway." A BBC spokesperson said at the time: 'We're sorry if anyone feels this way, as creating an inclusive culture where everyone feels they belong is a big priority for us and we know we have further to go. "Whilst we're proud of the diversity of the BBC, we remain committed to continuing to build a workforce that fully reflects and represents the whole of the UK.' 3
The Herald Scotland
13-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
Fringe show explores 'origin stories' of Connolly and Gray
Writer and performer Alan Bissett will be stepping into the shoes of both Gray and Connolly in a show which will explore their 'origin stories.' Read more: When Billy Met Alasdair will look at the 'incredible challenges' they faced growing up in Glasgow. The one-man show will explore the journeys they made before they met up 'as equals' at The Third Eye Centre in Glasgow when Connolly turned up at the launch of Lanark, the late writer and artist's best-known book, in 1981. A photograph of Billy Connolly and the late Alasdair Gray taken more than 40 years ago has inspired a new Fringe show. (Image: George Oliver) Connolly worked in the shipbuilding industry before deciding to pursue a career as a folk musician several years before focusing on stand-up comedy. Gray, who studied at Glasgow School of Art, taught art in schools, painting murals for religious buildings and work as a scene painter for theatres. He wrote plays for radio, television and the stage while writing his epic novel Lanark. Alan Bissett will be performing the Fringe show When Billy Met Alasdair. (Image: Alasdair Watson) Bissett's show will also imagine the conversation the pair may have had at the launch of Lanark, which runs to more than 550 pages and is said to have taken Gray more than 30 years to complete. The book had been recommended to Bissett, who published his debut novel nearly 25 years ago, when he was trying to get his writing career off the ground. The writer and artist Alasdair Gray will be portrayed in a new Fringe show. (Image: NQ) He told The Herald: 'Billy Connolly and Alasdair Gray have been massive inspirations and influences on me. 'I've always been a Billy Connolly fan. I think everybody in Scotland is. It goes right back to my childhood when the whole family used to watch his videos. Billy Connolly will be portrayed in a new Fringe show, When Billy Met Alasdair. (Image: Glasgow International Comedy Festival) 'People kept telling me that if I wanted to be a writer I had to read Lanark. I was aware that it was a mountain that I had to climb. But once I got to the top the views were incredible. It really was a game-changer for me. 'I think every writer in Scotland can probably say they have been influenced by Alasdair in some way. 'He ploughed his own furrow. There was nobody else like him. He was an absolutely unique talent. 'I think people will be talking about Alasdair Gray in 200 or 300 years in the same way they talk about Robert Burns.' Gray, who died in 2019, became one of Bissett's biggest influences, as the former teacher and labourer built a career writing short stories, novels and plays. The photograph, by George Oliver, from the Lanark book launch was in Gray's personal collection for many years, before it was passed on to the writer Rodge Glass, who worked for Gray as his secretary. Bissett, who became a friend of Glass, was given it as a birthday gift around 10 years ago and put it on display in his living room. He recalled: 'I lived in the west end of Glasgow for around 10 years. You would see his work everywhere. It is very much part of the fabric of the city. "People were aware that he painted, but it was only later in his life that people talked about him as one of the most incredible painters Scotland has ever produced. He is almost more well-known now as an artist that as a writer. "Rodge would tell me all these stories about Alasdair. I used to say to him: 'I can't believe this is your job'. 'I would gaze at the photograph and wonder what Billy and Alasdair talked about. I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall. It was always in my mind. 'Billy and Alasdair were both based in Glasgow. They might have known some of the same people and might have met socially before or after the photograph, but that is the only evidence that they ever met. That has really allowed me to fill in the gaps." Bissett was on a visit to the official Alasdair Gray Archive in Glasgow when he suggested the possibility of a play based on the photograph to its custodian, Sorcha Dallas. The idea became part of a joint project with the Glasgow Comedy Festival to ask writers and performers to create new work in response to Gray's life and work, with the project securing funding as part of the programme of events to mark 850 years since the city Glasgow secured 'burgh status.' Comedy writers and performers Ashley Storrie, Christopher Macarthur-Boyd and Bissett staged 'scratch performances' at the comedy festival and Gray Day, the annual celebration of the writer and artist. They were both staged at Oran Mor, the arts centre in the west end of Glasgow which has a famous ceilidh mural painted by Gray over several years. Bissett said: 'I did a half an hour performance at Gray Day and the comedy festival, but it had a really good response and I felt it would have a been shame to leave it at that. 'I felt there was more in the story if I pulled the thread and that if I extended it I would have a Fringe show. 'I basically tell their origin stories in the play. It is really about their struggles. We think of them as titanic figures, masters of their genres and great success stories. But they faced incredible challenges in order to get there. We kind of forget that. "I wanted to show just how much they both had to go through in order to get to the point where they meet as equals. The whole play builds towards that scene." The Fringe show will also be performed at the Scottish Storytelling Centre, a stone's throw from the Waverley Bar, the historic pub which Connolly previously performed in as a folk singer, along with Gerry Rafferty, Barbara Dickson and The Corries. Connolly is said to have been inspired to become an entertainer by a visit to the Fringe in the early 1960s before immersing himself in the folk music scene in Glasgow and forming the band The Humblebums with Rafferty. Connolly became increasingly well known for his humorous introductions to songs and after The Humblebums broke up in 1971, he was encouraged by Transatlantic Records boss Nat Joseph, who had signed the group, to pursue a career as a solo performer. Connolly's career was transformed the following year by a satirical stage musical inspired by his experiences of the shipbuilding industry, which he wrote with poet, novelist and playwright Tom Buchan for the 1972 Fringe. The Great Northern Welly Boot Show, which Connolly also starred in with actor Bill Paterson, was such a success in Edinburgh that it secured a transfer to the Young Vic in London. Bissett added: 'I'm going to presume that most people will be attracted to the show because of Billy Connolly. 'Loads of people have heard of Alasdair Gray, but they might not have read Lanark or be aware of what he did. I think the show is a really good opportunity to learn all about this really important cultural figure and how important Lanark has been to Scotland.'
The Citizen
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Citizen
How some of your favourite comedians would fix the world
It's one simple question put to them: How would you change the world? Riaad Moosa and other comedians have some ideas on how to solve the world's problems. Picture: Supplied Few people can mount a stage like it's a pony and take the audience for a ride down a healthy dose of satire, funnies and a whole lot of subtext. South Africa, in particular, can boast some of the funniest and most talented comedians in the world. Like Billy Connolly and Andrew Dice Clay, Ricky Gervais and even Jerry Seinfeld, comedians are socio-political commentators who dress up serious perspectives in, well, a joke. This month, some of the country's finest voices will be taking to the stage at the Theatre of Marcellus at Emperor's Palace on the East Rand. Jokers in July is an annual festival with a lineup that promises to warm you up even better than a few litres of Glühwein or a hot water bottle. Tickets are available at Ticketpro. But funny can be serious, and The Citizen checked in with a few of the funnymen who'll be performing at Jokers in July. It's one simple question put to them: How would you change the world? Here's how they'd fix the world Darren Maule The South African edition, top-line stuff: universal basic income, free transportation, and quality food for the elderly and schoolgoers. These are no brainers, and what do you do on day 2 after this is done? I have thought of that too, like having more public holidays. Yeah, only because the more people don't go to work on a public holiday, the less bad it feels to be unemployed. ALSO READ: 'The Rookie' is no amateur of a show Also starting a new Political Party. Nothing gives more hope than the prospect of a new Party coming in to save the day. When a new Party comes around people get excited and filled with hope. They are energized again and then a couple of months later they are disappointed because this party is the same as the previous party just a different color T-shirt. But for a moment there – we were hopeful. My third one, and I have a patent for this, is an electrified polygrapher that you strap onto every politician and the moment they lie: 220 V of electricity flow through their body. There's a double whammy because you replace them with someone under 25 years old. You fix corruption and youth unemployment simultaneously. Laughter can fix anything Eric Jansen As a comedian, with as many jokes and as many shows as possible because where there is laughter, there is peace. Now, as a superhero, well obviously, take out the bad guys and maintain the peace from there. As the president of South Africa, I'd have to sit down with the smartest, wisest, most technical and clever people and devise a plan to help our country in a way that people see and extend our plan to them. But as who I am right now, a person, just by trying to be a good person to someone who needs it, because doing a good deed for someone can cause a snowball effect of goodness to follow, my act of kindness could lead to more acts of kindness down the road, the more of us that are kind to each other, the better state the world could be in. Riaad Mossa The basic problem with the world is that everyone is caught up in the same game of deception, driven by selfishness. The solution, at least in theory, is simple—people just need to tell the truth and be less selfish. Of course, that's far easier said than done. In the end, though, nothing really changes. All that's left is to watch some stand-up comedy. It won't solve anything, but it does make everything feel a little better. Adults must have nap time Ntosh Madlingozi Mandatory nap time for adults. It doesn't look like these leaders out here are getting enough sleep with all the bad decisions they are making at the moment. Politicians must wear superhero capes during serious debates, we need to laugh. Also, a mandatory 60-second laugh break at work to get those endorphins to skyrocket Hans Brummer Well, in a world of fantasy, we could all escape at night to dreams where we practice being kinder and more patient with other people, and as we awake and learn, we try to apply that to our actual lives, but that's kind of a long game. More immediately, and I don't want to sound anti-authoritarian, but a world leader Battle Royale/Hunger games-style reality show would be great entertainment, and it could sort out some stuff. Just saying. Chris Forrest Instead of war, world leaders should settle their conflicts with naked pillow fights. It probably wouldn't solve anything, but at the very least, it would be far more entertaining to watch. Now Read: 'Roger Waters: The Wall' is an epic watch of powerful music
Glasgow Times
24-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Glasgow Times
HUGE new mural being painted in Glasgow city centre
The artwork is being completed in the Merchant City on the massive gable end of the new Social Hub building. Well-known artist Smug has work on walls across the city, including the St Mungo mural on High Street, and features heavily in the city's mural trail. This new behemoth artwork is taking shape and will add to their collection, which specialises in hyper-realistic figures on a massive scale. HUGE new mural being painted in Glasgow city centre (Image: Supplied) READ MORE: 'Superb' new mural of Still Game star appears on busy city centre street READ MORE: Artist behind Billy Connolly mural's mission to get artwork to iconic comedian READ MORE: Mural painted in memory of tragic ex-football starlet 'murdered' in Glasgow home An outline completed so far appears to show a female figure wearing lots of jewellery and holding an old-fashioned style ornate candle and a cocktail glass. The Social Hub commissioned the artwork and spoke with us about the project. Ben McLeod, General Manager at The Social Hub Glasgow, said: 'We've been blown away by the attention the mural's getting — and it's not even finished yet. "It shows just how much people in Glasgow appreciate great street art, and we're proud to be adding to that tradition with a piece by a brilliant local artist. "Street art is a huge part of what makes Glasgow such a vibrant city — especially in this part of town, with Rainbow Street just around the corner on Wilson Street and the iconic Billy Connolly mural across the road on Old Wynd. "The mural should be complete in the next couple of weeks — so keep your eyes peeled.' Smug is having to use special lifting equipment to reach the wall (Image: Supplied) Smug is also known for other multi-storey artworks that add bursts of colour to the cityscape, including one on Mitchell Street depicting a girl with a magnifying glass, amusingly named Honey… I Shrunk the Kids. This new mural is even bigger, it's understood that it could be the biggest mural in Scotland once completed. The 494-room, 20,000-square-metre Social Hub combines hotel, student, and extended-stay accommodation with co-working, event, and community spaces.
