Latest news with #CelebrityMastermind
Daily Mail
31-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Being a bestselling author is like being a pop star again, says REVEREND RICHARD COLES
The Reverend Richard Coles is an author, radio presenter and Church of England vicar, writes York Membery. The 63-year-old shot to fame in 1986 as half of the pop duo The Communards, who topped the charts with Don't Leave Me This Way – the UK's biggest single of that year. Ordained in 2005, he won BBC Celebrity Mastermind in 2014 and co-presented the BBC Radio 4 show, Saturday Live, for 12 years, stepping down in 2023. In 2022 he published the first of several crime novels, the bestselling Murder Before Evensong, which has been adapted for television and airs this autumn. He lives with his partner, actor Richard Cant, in East Sussex. What did your parents teach you about money? My father Nigel inherited a prosperous family shoe-making business, which had lasted four generations in Northamptonshire, but it vanished on his watch in the 1970s due to cheap imports – so we went from being reasonably well-off to being a bit harder up. My dad would have actually been happier as an academic, despite coming from a long line of hard-nosed businessmen, but a bit of that hard-nosedness has rubbed off on me. My mother Liz was thrifty, in the way that war children were. But my parents splurged on good food and good holidays. My outlook towards money has changed over the years. I was a rampant socialist in my youth but am more of a 'centrist dad' now, as well as being a devout Christian. Have you struggled to make ends meet? Yes, when I first came to London in 1980, aged 18, I spent four or five years on the dole or scratching a living as a busker. So I know what it's like to be completely skint and to even have to go without food at times. That said, I could always 'phone a friend', as it were, so I was never destitute. I've always had a fear of falling into debt, but I've not ended up in the workhouse yet. Have you ever been paid silly money? I went from being on the dole to being a pop star – it was like a lottery win – but overnight success didn't really serve me well. It was all so sudden and unexpected, and I was in my 20s, that I p****d most of it up against the wall – and a lot of it went up my nose or other people's noses. What was the best year of your financial life? The year 1988 was pretty good because by then the royalties were rolling in from The Communards. We sold well around the world [their Never Can Say Goodbye single sold two million copies], though touring was loss-making in those days. I'm probably better off now than ever before. Being a bestselling author is the nearest thing to being a pop star again, and has been very financially rewarding. But this time I'm investing in Isas rather than putting it up my nose. The most expensive thing you bought for fun? A Bosendorfer piano. They are one of the big five piano-makers, and they are very good for those specialising in a German / Austrian classical music repertoire, though a lot of jazz pianists use them too. It's equivalent in value to the car you buy when you have a mid-life crisis. I play it every day. What is your biggest money mistake? I'm the only person who didn't make money on the London property market in the 1980s. I bought an end of terrace Georgian house in Islington for £160,000 at the peak of the property market and sold it at the absolute trough in the early 1990s, just about breaking even. If I'd hung on to it, I'd be sitting very pretty. Best money decision you have made? Taking out a pension when I was in The Communards, though it was really my manager's decision, Lorna Gradden, rather than mine. Some bands might get ripped off by their manager but I was greatly enriched by mine, who set up an extremely favourable pension scheme for me when I was 23, securing guaranteed annuities too, which has made life much easier for me since reaching 60 three years ago. Whenever I meet young people who are starting out in showbusiness I always tell them to start paying into a pension at the earliest opportunity. When you're 25, the idea of being 60 is unimaginable, but it comes, and when it does come you'll be grateful for that pension. I'm not sure I'll ever fully retire, but I'd like to take things a bit quieter when I reach 65. Will you pass down your money or spend it all? I'd like to make sure my partner Richard is financially secure if I pre-decease him, and I'll pass on money to my five nephews and nieces. Of course, they've now got an incentive to murder! I'll also leave money to the charity Parkinson's UK – my father died from the disease – several church charities, and a charity supporting the sub-postmasters until they get the compensation they are owed. Do you own any property? Yes, an 18th century cottage with a couple of bedrooms in a small village in East Sussex, where I have a lot of friends, close to the sea. I'll stay here for as long as I can manage the stairs. The only downside when you buy an old property made of local materials is that you find that you've become a historic buildings curator and you need to get specialist people to fix things. If you were Chancellor what would you do? Invest in infrastructure and get the roads and railways working, to try to arrest that daily crumbling decline that you see wherever you go, because it just stifles growth and prosperity. I know everyone slags off the Chancellor, but I'm glad to see the Government is going to moderate changes to winter fuel payments. What is your number one financial priority? To ensure I've got enough to pay for my care needs, and those of my dependents. A Death On Location, by Rev Richard Coles, is published in hardback on Thursday, priced £22. He is currently touring theatres around the UK with his one-man show (
Daily Mirror
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Tom Kerridge shares secret he's hiding from wife as she'll 'go mental'
Celebrity chef Tom Kerridge is a man of many talents - but there's one thing he's keeping from his wife, Beth, and it's all to do with his love for the band Oasis Celebrity chef Tom Kerridge and his wife Beth have been a couple since their fateful meeting in 1997, when she boldly asked him for £3 to cover the cost of a stripper at his mate's birthday party. Despite facing numerous challenges together, including the gruelling hours spent launching their now-famed eatery The Hand and Flowers in Marlow, there remains one thing Tom refuses to share with his other half. Speaking to The Guardian, Tom, an ardent Oasis fan, expressed his excitement for the band's upcoming reunion concerts later this year but also shared his concerns – particularly one he's keeping under wraps from Beth. He admitted: "I had to pay a huge amount of money for the tickets," confessing only they cost "a lot". He added: "I can't divulge because my wife would go mental. "One, because I had to pay a huge amount of money for the tickets. And two, because it's in September so they might not even be together by then!" While tickets for the iconic Manchester group's eagerly awaited Wembley Stadium gigs were originally set between £75 and £200, they've skyrocketed on resale platforms like StubHub, fetching up to £8,000 for a pair, reports Gloucestershire Live. Not only did Tom secure a Michelin star within a year of opening The Hand and Flowers with Beth, but his deep-seated passion for Oasis also saw him clinch one of his most cherished achievements – being crowned the winner of Celebrity Mastermind. "Oasis was my specialist subject," he revealed to Kate Thornton on her White Wine Question Time podcast. "Two Michelin stars, the first, first pub in the world to ever do it, and Celebrity Mastermind winner!" Tom shared a hilarious anecdote with Kate about the time one of his musical heroes visited his Buckinghamshire pub while keeping his trademark jacket on during the entire meal. "He's a very funny character," Tom said, reminiscing about the visit. "He's very full-on. He came to eat one day in the Hand and Flowers, and not once did he never stop being Liam Gallagher. "He spent the whole lunch with his cagoule on, zipped up to the top. He was drinking espresso martinis right, from the start, all the way through to the end. And when he finished his lunch, he moon-walked into the kitchen to thank all the chefs." The chef didn't hold back his admiration for the rock icon, telling Kate: "He's actually Liam Gallagher but on steroids! He's twice the Liam Gallagher you ever think he's gonna be." Tom added: "For me, Liam Gallagher should be Prime Minister. He's one of the great philosophers of our time. He's my leader."
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
BBC News presenter Clive Myrie awarded Oxford University degree
BBC News presenter Clive Myrie is going to be awarded an honorary University of Oxford degree. The British journalist, newsreader and presenter studied law but chose to pursue journalism and became a trainee at the BBC in the late 80s. Mr Myrie joined BBC network news in 1992 as a correspondent based in London before his first overseas posting to Japan in 1996. He has gone on to cover major global events and report from war zones around the world. READ MORE: Sir Mo Farah to be handed Oxford University honorary degree The University of Oxford. (Image: Newsquest) In 2009, the 60-year-old joined the BBC News Channel as a presenter, and is now one of the lead presenters of the 6pm and 10pm News on BBC 1. He became host of Mastermind and Celebrity Mastermind in 2021 and has received numerous accolades including a number of awards from the Royal Television Society. Mr Myrie also received a Peabody Award in 2017 and the 2018 David Bloom Award. He is a pro chancellor of the University of Bolton and chancellor of the University of the Arts London while also a Fellow of the Royal Television Society. READ MORE: Suffolk dubbed 'the new Cotswolds' by Forbes Missed a copy of the Oxford Mail you wanted? Here's what to do — Oxford Mail (@TheOxfordMail) May 13, 2024 Oxford University announced that Mr Myrie and eight others will receive honorary degrees this year. During the Encaenia ceremony on Wednesday, June 25, degrees will be awarded to Dame Jacinda Arden, Lord Melvyn Bragg, Mr Myrie, Professor Serhii Plokhii, Professor Timothy Snyder, Professor Colm Tóibín, Sir Mo Farah, Professor Robert S Langer and Professor Erwin Neher. Ticket registration will open on the Tuesday, May 6 for staff, congregation, students, Oxford University alumni, retired members of congregation and academic visitors.
Telegraph
03-03-2025
- Sport
- Telegraph
Emotional Steve Parish was ready to erupt – shame BBC did their best to contain him
No question as to what was the most dramatic moment of the weekend: Millwall goalie Liam Roberts attempts to remove Jean-Philippe Mateta's head from Jean-Philippe Mateta's body, Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish charges down from the stands in a rage, Millwall fans chant 'let him die', Parish agrees to be interviewed at half-time by the BBC 's Kelly Somers. How did the TV coverage do? Pitchside, Somers could have let the situation play out more: Parish was clearly livid and there was, briefly, a whiff of cordite about the live interview. What a golden opportunity: to have a gobby and furious chairman talking live during the actual match! With the right poking, the sky was the limit: we might have had a 'ban him from football for life' or an 'if you did that in the high street you'd go to prison', maybe even offering Roberts a full and frank exchange of views about it in the Selhurst car park afterwards. I genuinely feel that Somers might have denied us something to match John Sitton's epoch-defining ' and you can bring your effing dinner' outburst. Parish was ready to pop. Instead, she kept touching him supportively on the arm, like a sympathetic undertaker or a classroom assistant trying to explain why we don't throw the poster paints. Gently but firmly moving him on to new topics, maybe Somers thought she was saving Parish from himself, which is neither her job nor her problem, especially as Parish explicitly said he didn't want to think or talk about anything other than 'the most reckless challenge I have ever seen.' "That is the most reckless challenge on a football pitch I think I've ever seen." Crystal Palace chairman and co-owner Steve Parish has spoken about Millwall keeper Liam Roberts' challenge on Jean-Philippe Mateta. — Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) March 1, 2025 An opportunity missed, albeit well-meaningly. It's always difficult for TV to cover anything involving a player getting badly hurt, and caution is understandable when the live production can't be sure whether to be charging the Millwall goalie as a bloody idiot or charging him with manslaughter. Troy Deeney pointed out that the stricken player's family would be there, 'panicking' and watching their loved one being treated. Given that Deeney has done three months inside for affray, you obviously have to sit up and listen when he has his say about the old ultraviolence. Deeney insight on point I enjoy Deeney as a pundit, he was quite good talking about Eddie Nketiah's positional pros and cons here and all in all seemed on safer ground than when he memorably went on Celebrity Mastermind and managed a grand total of zero correct answers on his specialist subject. That topic, in fairness, was the famously trappy 'The Life and Works of Piero della Francesca, specifically his time spent in Urbino around 1455–1470.' Oh all right, no it wasn't. It was Spiderman films. But only the Sam Raimi ones. Still, a lot to bone up on (that's literally three movies and long ones at that) and the point is that Deeney very much didn't let his head drop and has come back all the stronger for it. On that theme, something seems to have happened to Alex Scott: once such a sparky presence on the BBC, she has lost or mislaid her poise on screen, staring glassily at the camera as if on a hostage video, gurning at the wrong moments, acting as neither glamorous star player nor the selfless water carrier for the others. She didn't inspire confidence here with this handling of what could have turned into a major news story. Perhaps she needs a change of scene. I hope she is OK. Mixed report card, then, for Scott, Somers and Deeney but no doubt it was yet another 'F' for the Millwall supporters. The institution itself boasts 'a club like no other' and it sure is hard to argue with that. It's not rare to hear a 'let him die' chant every now and again, generally further down the pyramid, but it's more often deployed humorously, like when an opponent's amusement-arcade winger is rolling around on the floor trying to win a free-kick or waste time. Not when a player had been kung-fued in the face and, who knows, might even actually die. Jonathan Pearce rightly mentioned it in commentary at the time but it wasn't properly addressed by the coverage. You can certainly argue that sports TV should focus on the sport rather than the controversies and drama around it but all things considered, this was the moment and the story of the weekend and the production could have made more of a genuinely outrageous, water-cooler incident.
BBC News
14-02-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Yvette Fielding 'thrilled' to win Eric Morecambe desk at auction
TV presenter Yvette Fielding has said she is "so honoured" to be the new owner of Eric Morecambe's writing said her husband, Karl Beattie, sat in front of his computer for two days during the recent auction of the comedian's items, to ensure he won the piece of also bought some of Eric's pipes, typewriter and his first ever prop - a wooden lollipop."They came across as two loveable uncles that just made you roar with laughter and you felt so much love towards them, they were so different and wonderful and unique" Fielding said. "Just to be able to have pieces of them is brilliant." A lifetime of showbiz memorabilia and personal items from the comedian's former home in Hertfordshire were sold in January, with singer Robbie Williams making the £20,000 winning bid for the comedy legend's iconic who appeared on Celebrity Mastermind in 2023 with Morecambe and Wise as her specialist subject, said: "As soon as the auctioneer's hammer went down and we realised we'd got the desk, we both jumped up like England had scored in the World Cup and screamed with joy."And then I burst into tears because I was just so thrilled to have something so magnificent and wonderful. "It was like a dream had come true and you actually feel like you've got a bit of Eric in your house." The couple also successfully bid on Morecambe's first prop - a wooden lollipop with a bite out of it, used by a young Eric Morecambe in his routine "Youth Takes a Bow" in about was about the time Morecambe met comedy partner Ernie Wise, aged 14, and despite a wartime separation they formed an enduring had many lean years touring theatres before they broke into TV, appearing on both ITV and the BBC, and by 1977 their Christmas BBC special was watched by 28 million viewers, at a time when there were only three channels in the comedian died of a heart attack aged 58 in 1984 and the contents of his family home were put up for sale after his widow, Joan, died aged 97, in March Fielding said she grew up watching "these two amazing human beings that just made us laugh throughout our childhoods into our teens and beyond"."Especially Eric, there was something very, very special about that man," she said."Even now every Christmas without fail we have to have the Morecambe and Wise show on." "When him and Ernie became huge, he must have sometimes looked at that wooden lollipop and thought 'I had no idea'," Ms Fielding said."It's the same with the desk."I sit at that desk and I have a picture of him sat at the desk, and then his hat to the right and some of his pipes and I just sit there and I say out loud 'go on Eric, give me some inspiration' when I'm writing my books."I'm just so honoured to have his stuff in our house." Listen to the best of BBC Radio Lancashire on BBC Sounds and follow BBC Lancashire on Facebook, X and Instagram and watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer.
