Latest news with #FawltyTowers
Daily Mirror
12 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Jeremy Clarkson's girlfriend shares shocking picture of plane crash after miracle escape
Jeremy Clarkson's partner, Lisa Hogan, was travelling to London from Spain in the 90s when she had a near-death experience on a plane Jeremy Clarkson's girlfriend, Lisa Hogan, 'amazingly' survived a plane crash and took to social media to share a terrifying picture of the wreckage from 1996. The 51-year-old model had the horrifying experience 29 years ago when the plane came off the runway at RAF Northolt in London and hit a van on the A40. At the time, she was heading into London for a film role when the accident happened. This week, she took to her social media page to share a picture from the wreckage as she recalled the shocking moment that saw no casualties. The picture showed the Spanish Learjet 25 plane split in half after colliding into the van. She was living in Palma, Spain and working on the comedy Fierce Creatures from Monty Python and Fawlty Towers actor John Cleese. "Amazingly, the pilots, van drivers, and I survived. I took another flight the same day. And landed safely," she captioned the post on Instagram. It comes after former Top Gear star Jeremy discussed the couple's record on airplanes. The duo 'walked away from three crashes over the years'. He said to the Sunday Times: "Whenever Lisa and I board an aeroplane, we are usually pretty confident that it will land safely because between us, we've walked away from three crashes over the years. "Both mine involved broken landing gear and were fairly minor, but hers was a proper shunt. She was the only passenger in a Learjet that careered off the end of the runway at Northolt and on to the A40, where it was hit so hard by a van that it split in two. "It's amazing no one was killed, and if you Google the images, you'll see what I mean." He went on to say that the 'law of averages' suggests they wouldn't be involved in any more crashes. Lisa previously told the Irish Independent she thought "everything was fine for a while" when the plane took off from Palma. Lisa said the captain tried to get her to change seats, but she refused to do so. "I insisted on sitting where I was, which was just as well because that was the area where the van came through when we crashed and I would have been killed instantly,' she told the publication, with her refusal to move seats possibly saving her life. A few hours later, she booked another flight and returned to Spain.
Leader Live
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Leader Live
Ronnie Wood urges people to look after wildlife before there is ‘nothing' left
The star joined the Tusk Turtle Trail campaign and designed one of the 16 life-sized turtle sculptures to help raise funds and awareness of endangered marine species. Launched by African wildlife conservation charity Tusk, the installations are positioned at sites across central London including Covent Garden, Carnaby Street and the top of The Shard. The street art can also be found at St James's Market, Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square, with the aim of encouraging passers-by to 'pause, reflect and engage with urgent marine conservation issues'. Wood, 78, is an ambassador of the charity and helped design one of the sculptures, titled The Prodigal, which is in Carnaby Street. He told the PA news agency: 'It was great fun to do the turtles. 'It's wonderful. There's a whole brigade of them. 'If we don't look after the animals now, there'll be nothing for our children to see in the future.' The guitarist added that he hopes the campaign will encourage people to 'appreciate what your surroundings hold and especially the wildlife and the flora and the fauna. You know, look after everything that goes up around us. 'I think the future of Tusk relies on if we can raise enough money with these turtles to keep the whole project going and the whole message going.' The 16 installations will remain until the end of August before going up for auction in mid-October, with the funds supporting Tusk partners' marine conservation projects. The charity led similar campaigns between 2018 and 2023 with rhino, lion and gorilla trails. Other stars who helped design a sculpture for the Tusk Turtle Trail included Irish actor Andrew Scott, Dragons' Den stars Deborah Meaden and Steven Bartlett, artist Hannah Shergold and Fawlty Towers star John Cleese and his wife Jennifer Wade. Cleese told the PA news agency: 'These people like Tusk are doing a great job. 'We got involved because of my wife. 'She is passionate about photography and all sorts of conservation projects, and we got sucked in. The first thing we did was a lion, and then we did a wonderful gorilla.' The comedian added that they named their turtle sculpture Teddy after their cat, who died earlier this year. He said: 'We've christened this little tortoise Teddy to remind us of those happy days.' Wade said: 'Teddy was a really amazing cat, Maine coon, and he was, like, one in a million. And he's really unique. But with turtles and the conservation we don't want one turtle to be one in a million. We want people to realise that all these turtles need to be saved, and there's species, and there's so many things that people can do to help save them. 'In other words, Teddy's unique to us, but we want all the turtles to be Teddies in the world. That's what we feel.' Wade said she and Cleese have been supporting the charity for about five years. She said: 'Tusk is amazing. Also, because it's a smaller conservation, and the people, you feel like it's part of a family, and you feel like you're actually doing some good. We've loved it.' Nick Bubb, chief executive of Tusk, said: 'Marine turtles have navigated our oceans for over 100 million years, yet six out of seven species are now threatened with extinction. From entanglement in fishing gear to plastic pollution and rising sea levels, human activity has decimated turtle populations across the globe. 'The aim of the Tusk Turtle Trail is to inspire collective action to celebrate and protect one of the most ancient and endangered marine species.' Bidding for the sculptures will begin on Monday.
South Wales Guardian
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- South Wales Guardian
Ronnie Wood urges people to look after wildlife before there is ‘nothing' left
The star joined the Tusk Turtle Trail campaign and designed one of the 16 life-sized turtle sculptures to help raise funds and awareness of endangered marine species. Launched by African wildlife conservation charity Tusk, the installations are positioned at sites across central London including Covent Garden, Carnaby Street and the top of The Shard. The street art can also be found at St James's Market, Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square, with the aim of encouraging passers-by to 'pause, reflect and engage with urgent marine conservation issues'. Wood, 78, is an ambassador of the charity and helped design one of the sculptures, titled The Prodigal, which is in Carnaby Street. He told the PA news agency: 'It was great fun to do the turtles. 'It's wonderful. There's a whole brigade of them. 'If we don't look after the animals now, there'll be nothing for our children to see in the future.' The guitarist added that he hopes the campaign will encourage people to 'appreciate what your surroundings hold and especially the wildlife and the flora and the fauna. You know, look after everything that goes up around us. 'I think the future of Tusk relies on if we can raise enough money with these turtles to keep the whole project going and the whole message going.' The 16 installations will remain until the end of August before going up for auction in mid-October, with the funds supporting Tusk partners' marine conservation projects. The charity led similar campaigns between 2018 and 2023 with rhino, lion and gorilla trails. Other stars who helped design a sculpture for the Tusk Turtle Trail included Irish actor Andrew Scott, Dragons' Den stars Deborah Meaden and Steven Bartlett, artist Hannah Shergold and Fawlty Towers star John Cleese and his wife Jennifer Wade. Cleese told the PA news agency: 'These people like Tusk are doing a great job. 'We got involved because of my wife. 'She is passionate about photography and all sorts of conservation projects, and we got sucked in. The first thing we did was a lion, and then we did a wonderful gorilla.' The comedian added that they named their turtle sculpture Teddy after their cat, who died earlier this year. He said: 'We've christened this little tortoise Teddy to remind us of those happy days.' Wade said: 'Teddy was a really amazing cat, Maine coon, and he was, like, one in a million. And he's really unique. But with turtles and the conservation we don't want one turtle to be one in a million. We want people to realise that all these turtles need to be saved, and there's species, and there's so many things that people can do to help save them. 'In other words, Teddy's unique to us, but we want all the turtles to be Teddies in the world. That's what we feel.' Wade said she and Cleese have been supporting the charity for about five years. She said: 'Tusk is amazing. Also, because it's a smaller conservation, and the people, you feel like it's part of a family, and you feel like you're actually doing some good. We've loved it.' Nick Bubb, chief executive of Tusk, said: 'Marine turtles have navigated our oceans for over 100 million years, yet six out of seven species are now threatened with extinction. From entanglement in fishing gear to plastic pollution and rising sea levels, human activity has decimated turtle populations across the globe. 'The aim of the Tusk Turtle Trail is to inspire collective action to celebrate and protect one of the most ancient and endangered marine species.' Bidding for the sculptures will begin on Monday.
Daily Mail
12-07-2025
- Daily Mail
Is Sidmouth God's waiting room or Gen Z heaven? Maddy Fletcher visits the nonagenarian capital of Britain to find out
In the weeks before I went to Sidmouth there were various portents. First, I saw my great-uncle and he told me he had just come back from there. 'Our hotel was like Fawlty Towers,' he said, happily, adding, 'You know, John Betjeman wrote a poem about Sidmouth.' Then I bumped into my friend's dad at dinner. He'd just spent a weekend on the Jurassic Coast and had visited 'the nicest town in East Devon'. 'Was it Sidmouth?' I asked. 'It was!' he replied. He recommended a café on the beach that had good coffee cake. Also, did I know that John Betjeman wrote a poem about it? This year, the ONS said that Sidmouth had the highest proportion of nonagenarians in Britain. Of the town's 5,300-or-so population, 319 people are 90 or older. (That's six per cent, the national average is 0.9 per cent.) The largest age demographic in the area is 60- to 80-year-olds (39 per cent) and the number of people younger than 30 is 842 (16 per cent). I am not 90; I am 28. So, the purpose of my visit was to see how I found Sidmouth as a young person. In brief: could I have a good night out in the town The Times and The Telegraph have called 'God's waiting room'? My boyfriend (who is also not 90 but 33, to be clear) and I arrive in Sidmouth on a Friday morning. We unpack our bags and walk to the seafront, past the local croquet court. It's populated with a few players – in their 70s, I'd say – dressed in neat white kit. You can see the ocean in the background. (When I ask anyone who seems 70-plus – the woman volunteering in the museum, the man picking up his order at the bookshop – what they like about Sidmouth, they all mention the 'sea air'. That, and the general pleasantness.) On the high street, bunting skips between roofs; a bakery named Flapjackery sells gourmet flapjacks; outside a boutique called Forever England, floor-length nightgowns hang on a clothes rail, drifting a little in the wind. I search 'vape shop' on Google Maps – my litmus test for seeing how 'young' an area is – and learn that, in Sidmouth, the nearest establishment the internet thinks might sell vapes is Waitrose. All of the shops are let, bar one: a knackered corner building with a sign advertising 'YRGOLF: 2 state of the art golf simulators and relaxing lounge bar'. Apparently, it's coming 'early 2025!' This is now summer. I ask a woman working in a nearby bakery what the YRGOLF building used to be and she says Carinas Nite Club, the only one in Sidmouth, which shut in 2018. She leads me outside it. 'You can't tell, but it was massive. Tardis-like. There would be hundreds of people inside and queues outside.' A friend of hers, who works in another shop on the street, joins us. 'We're talking about Carinas,' says the baker. The newcomer looks at YRGOLF, sighing. 'We had a lot of fun in Carinas.' They're in their 40s and say they wouldn't go clubbing now anyway. When I ask what young people do for a night out in today's Sidmouth they both reply: 'Go to Exeter.' It's a different, logistical sort of evening. There are buses to Exeter but they leave hourly and the last one is at 11.40pm. The alternative is a £50 taxi. On a council cork board, I see a leaflet for Sidmouth Sea Fest. There isn't much information, only that it's a two-day festival in Connaught Gardens – a public park at the top of a hill. It takes place – and this wasn't planned – on the weekend we are here. I consider this a promising coincidence and decide to go. I don't really know what I expect: maybe a man playing gentle guitar, possibly some morris dancing. As we walk uphill, past big houses and one of the town's 11 care homes, we start to hear music. It's not folky but, rather, electronic and dancey. My boyfriend turns to me, confused. 'It sounds like we're in Ibiza.' The noise gets louder until we enter Connaught Gardens and arrive at the festival. It is, basically, a different planet. The flower beds are illuminated by technicoloured lights; large papier-mâché jellyfish dangle from trees. At the back of the gardens is a stage with a DJ. Around the perimeter, stalls sell food and drink. And in the middle there are loads and loads and loads of young people. We get pints and watch the crowd singing to a remix of Dirty Cash (Money Talks). I panic briefly that maybe this oasis of Gen Zers isn't local. Maybe they're free-spirited types from Exeter who have come for the night. I approach one, wearing a gigantic scrunchie and a low-waisted denim skirt. 'Are you from Sidmouth?' I ask. 'Yeah,' she replies, pointing to a group of her friends. 'We all are!' She introduces me to the festival's organisers, Louise, Coco and Tara, locals in their 40s and 50s who run Sidmouth School of Art, a charity that encourages creativity in the area. They started the festival in 2014 and the whole thing is non-profit. This is, really, the one weekend a year Sidmouth is like this. But look – they nod to all the 20-somethings – there are plenty of young people here, they just need things to do and places to go. 'Now,' they say, 'if you'll excuse us, we need to hang up some jellyfish!' We order more beers and join the dancing, shouting about how surreal this is. At 10pm, because of the council's stipulations, the music ends – but the night isn't done. We follow crowds down the hill and to the sea, along the high street, past Flapjackery and Forever England and the houses full of sleeping people. Everyone stops at a pub called The Black Horse. Inside, it's rammed, with Gen Zers and a karaoke machine and a boy giving a genuinely brilliant performance of Don't Look Back In Anger. When he finishes, a group of at least 15 girls sing That Don't Impress Me Much. My boyfriend and I do a committed duet of She's The One. After, at the bar, I look at all these young people and think about how they're all having such a good time, and how no one will want the pub to close at 12, and how we would all absolutely love it if the nightclub down the road still existed. Earlier that evening at Sea Fest, we had stood at a viewing platform where you could see the cliffs and coast. After a while a boy appeared, young – obviously – and I think drunk and happy. He asked if we were from the area and we said no. He wasn't either, but his uni friend's mum helped organise the festival so he'd come to support. He was from and lived in Manchester. Then – and I promise I am not making this up – he gestured to where the music was playing, then to the sea and the cliffs, and he said, quite sincerely, 'but, honestly, I wish I lived in Sidmouth'.
The Advertiser
10-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Advertiser
John Cleese to show 'different side' in new documentary
John Cleese fans will see a "different side" to the actor for the first-time ever in a new documentary. The Fawlty Towers star, 85, has joked viewers will be able to see him as a "decrepit, addled, nasty old geriatric" in new film John Cleese Packs It In, which will follow the star behind the scenes during his final, 23-date European tour. In the 90-minute documentary, which will be screened in more than 350 cinemas across the UK, Cleese will battle various ailments, encounter chaotic travel and grapple with his own stubborn refusal to stop. Speaking about the documentary, he said: "For the first time, audiences will see a different side to me - not just the dashing, devil-may-care, devastatingly handsome bon viveur, but also the decrepit, addled, nasty old geriatric that my PR team work day and night to hide from the public. "You will see with your own eyes what it's really like for a moribund 85 year old to struggle through a 23-city European tour, desperately trying to squeeze a few laughs from audiences who are clearly disappointed that they've wasted their hard-earned cash on over-priced tickets. "This hatchet job is not just shocking, it's also hilarious, as audiences everywhere laugh, not with me, but at me." The comedy icon - who is also one of the minds behind Monty Python - visits 16 European cities and performs 23 shows across six weeks in the film. John Cleese Packs It In will also feature the star reflecting on his seven-decade career, which began in 1963. John Travers of CinemaLive, distributors of the film in cinemas, said: "We're genuinely excited to be working alongside Medium Sized Fish Productions to share this incredible documentary about John Cleese in cinemas later this year. "We can't wait for audiences to meet the man behind the comedy legend." Cleese is no stranger to cinemas, after appearing in several films throughout his career, including the Oscar-nominated A Fish Called Wanda, and he portrayed Q in 2002 James Bond movie Die Another Day. John Cleese Packs It In is showing in UK cinemas from November 13. John Cleese fans will see a "different side" to the actor for the first-time ever in a new documentary. The Fawlty Towers star, 85, has joked viewers will be able to see him as a "decrepit, addled, nasty old geriatric" in new film John Cleese Packs It In, which will follow the star behind the scenes during his final, 23-date European tour. In the 90-minute documentary, which will be screened in more than 350 cinemas across the UK, Cleese will battle various ailments, encounter chaotic travel and grapple with his own stubborn refusal to stop. Speaking about the documentary, he said: "For the first time, audiences will see a different side to me - not just the dashing, devil-may-care, devastatingly handsome bon viveur, but also the decrepit, addled, nasty old geriatric that my PR team work day and night to hide from the public. "You will see with your own eyes what it's really like for a moribund 85 year old to struggle through a 23-city European tour, desperately trying to squeeze a few laughs from audiences who are clearly disappointed that they've wasted their hard-earned cash on over-priced tickets. "This hatchet job is not just shocking, it's also hilarious, as audiences everywhere laugh, not with me, but at me." The comedy icon - who is also one of the minds behind Monty Python - visits 16 European cities and performs 23 shows across six weeks in the film. John Cleese Packs It In will also feature the star reflecting on his seven-decade career, which began in 1963. John Travers of CinemaLive, distributors of the film in cinemas, said: "We're genuinely excited to be working alongside Medium Sized Fish Productions to share this incredible documentary about John Cleese in cinemas later this year. "We can't wait for audiences to meet the man behind the comedy legend." Cleese is no stranger to cinemas, after appearing in several films throughout his career, including the Oscar-nominated A Fish Called Wanda, and he portrayed Q in 2002 James Bond movie Die Another Day. John Cleese Packs It In is showing in UK cinemas from November 13. John Cleese fans will see a "different side" to the actor for the first-time ever in a new documentary. The Fawlty Towers star, 85, has joked viewers will be able to see him as a "decrepit, addled, nasty old geriatric" in new film John Cleese Packs It In, which will follow the star behind the scenes during his final, 23-date European tour. In the 90-minute documentary, which will be screened in more than 350 cinemas across the UK, Cleese will battle various ailments, encounter chaotic travel and grapple with his own stubborn refusal to stop. Speaking about the documentary, he said: "For the first time, audiences will see a different side to me - not just the dashing, devil-may-care, devastatingly handsome bon viveur, but also the decrepit, addled, nasty old geriatric that my PR team work day and night to hide from the public. "You will see with your own eyes what it's really like for a moribund 85 year old to struggle through a 23-city European tour, desperately trying to squeeze a few laughs from audiences who are clearly disappointed that they've wasted their hard-earned cash on over-priced tickets. "This hatchet job is not just shocking, it's also hilarious, as audiences everywhere laugh, not with me, but at me." The comedy icon - who is also one of the minds behind Monty Python - visits 16 European cities and performs 23 shows across six weeks in the film. John Cleese Packs It In will also feature the star reflecting on his seven-decade career, which began in 1963. John Travers of CinemaLive, distributors of the film in cinemas, said: "We're genuinely excited to be working alongside Medium Sized Fish Productions to share this incredible documentary about John Cleese in cinemas later this year. "We can't wait for audiences to meet the man behind the comedy legend." Cleese is no stranger to cinemas, after appearing in several films throughout his career, including the Oscar-nominated A Fish Called Wanda, and he portrayed Q in 2002 James Bond movie Die Another Day. John Cleese Packs It In is showing in UK cinemas from November 13.
