Latest news with #RayWinstone
BBC News
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Robert Elms on three decades of meeting Listed Londoners
Since he began presenting on BBC Radio London more than 30 years ago, Robert Elms has run his weekly Listed Londoner feature, where a notable Londoner answers 15 questions that cover everything from favourite city haunts to pet hates. As it is launched on BBC Sounds, Elms reflects on what he has learned from three decades of interviews. For over 30 years, making somebody a Listed Londoner has been the highest honour that the Robert Elms show can is a weekly feature taking up 45 minutes of live radio, where chosen subjects are gently probed about their lives and careers before being subjected to the same set of 15 questions about London. The title comes from the list of questions, which was written down by me before the first-ever show and has remained unchanged to this day - a survey of all that is positive and a little of the negative, the highs and lows of life, work and culture in the capital. Those selected to join the esteemed ranks of Listed Londoners must have made some kind of positive contribution to the city we share. Sometimes they are famous; actors, artists, writers, sportspeople… but other times not, and it could be a firefighter or a nurse, a police officer, an architect or a they all share a love of London and almost always their answers provide an insight into the minutiae of everyday life in the metropolis as well as a glimpse into their individual soul. Listen to Listed Londoner episodes on BBC Sounds:Lily AllenRay WinstoneIan WrightTwiggy They do not have to have been born here and many have come from far and wide to make this city their home - I've always said being a Londoner is a choice you make; being made a Listed Londoner is an honour you receive regardless of your roots. Some of the most passionate Listed Londoners are those who have settled here later on in life, precisely because they fell in love with this place and love telling us what they adore about their adopted that I have been presenting the show for over three decades and there has been a Listed Londoner almost every week, something like 1,500 people have faced the famous 15, but no two interviewees have ever come up with the same set of answers. We all have our own personal London. Certain tropes do though crop up regularly: the view from Waterloo Bridge as best view (I now make them be specific, time of day, time of year, which side, which direction); Sherlock Holmes as favourite fictional Londoner; and the Walkie Talkie as least favourite building have all appeared multiple then each week there are surprises and novelties; it is especially insightful when small, quirky, independent local places appear. Over the years the response to the Listed Londoner questions has also been a great barometer of changing tastes and opinions. The Barbican, where I live, used to frequently appear as a most-hated building [development], now it's more likely to be a favourite South Bank has also switched from negative to positive as we reappraise brutalism. South London has undoubtedly increased dramatically in popularity, and those who live over the water are particularly passionate about their manor. But many fewer people now cite a car journey as their worst ever, because using cars to get around is increasingly uncommon. Certain things never change though; Hampstead Heath is perennially popular, Soho has lasting appeal and getting stuck on the Tube is not much fun. The weekly Listed Londoner spot has lasted so long and been so popular because it highlights both the things we all share - the communality of big city life - but also that which is unique and overriding message from the huge variety of characters who have been Listed Londoners over the years, is that this is, despite its challenges, problems and frustrations, a fantastic and enriching place to call home. London can exhaust you, but you can never exhaust London - and there is always a fascinating new Listed Londoner to listen to.
Daily Mail
04-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Eamonn Holmes calls out pop star he 'hated' after surprise meet in dressing room that left him bloodied
Eamonn Holmes revealed a secret feud he had with a pop star in a conversation on live TV. An unearthed video from the daily programme back in 2024 saw the presenter, 65, sit alongside co-host Ellie Costello and Paul Coyte. In the clip, Eamonn opened up about how he used to dislike Donny Osmond when he was a child. He recalled an incident where he met the singer while he was having a nose bleed. Eamonn said: 'I have never had a nose bleed in my life, except I did once. It was pouring like a tap... over Donny. 'It was pouring like a tap and Donny was presenting a programme called, I think it was called the Pyramid Game and he came into my dressing room and I was bleeding and panicking like mad into the sink. 'And I got this rub on the head and he said, 'Hey buddy, don't worry'.' Eamonn then demonstrated with Ellie what Donny did before adding: 'Basically he says to me, 'This happens to me all the time,' he was probably fibbing but anyway he made me feel very good and I felt bad because when I was 14, I hated him.' The trio laughed and Ellie commented: 'And he turned out to be really nice.' It comes as Eamonn recently did not hold back his thoughts on his former colleagues in the TV industry as he branded them 'false'. The GB News star was joined by co-presenter Paul and tough guy actor Ray Winstone on the latest episode of his podcast Things We Like. During an open conversation, Ray spoke about his time living in Los Angeles and how the artificial buzz of Hollywood ultimately drove him back to the UK. He said: 'I couldn't live in LA, it's constant,' adding: 'Even the guy who puts petrol in your car works in the industry. It's like every two minutes, it's all they want to talk about. 'We talk about birds and football and boxing, you know, they talk about movies. Hollywood and Los Angeles are wonderful places when you're doing alright, but when you're not.' Eamonn jumped in to express his dislike for the fake relationships he has found in the entertainment industry. The presenter said in a mocking tone: 'I don't like this character, I don't like so and so, I like that person, I didn't get on with them'.' He went on: 'That's what the business is based on. I mean, I'm like you [Ray]. I get myself into trouble because if I don't like someone, they'll know I don't like them.' He recalled an incident where he met the singer while he was having a nose bleed Eamonn then demonstrated with Ellie what Donny did before adding: 'Basically he says to me, 'This happens to me all the time,' he was probably fibbing but anyway he made me feel very good and I felt bad because when I was 14 I hated him.' 'And there are so many horrible people that you end up with. People say: ''Oh, he's lovely, he's fantastic',' he added. Sharing his candid views on celebrity genuineness, he said: 'If they say to me: 'What's that Ray Winstone like?' 'I'll say he is lovely and he is fantastic and people will believe me because I wouldn't say it if you weren't, but so many are just false, false, false.' While all three men agreed on the issue, they stopped short of naming anyone directly connected to their views.
Times
29-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
Hurrah, budgie smugglers are back! I wear mine supertight
Budgie smugglers are back! So says The New York Times, only it prudishly calls them 'swim briefs'. But whichever, the fact is, for some of us — well, me and Ray Winstone in Sexy Beast, anyway — wearing smugs never went away. Here's why. When do you wear swimming trunks, eh? Well, first and foremost, to state the obvious, for swimming. And for proper swimming, such as I do, you want tight and skimpy. I don't swim often enough or well enough to merit a pair of competition-standard 'jammers', the longer version of smugglers favoured by the likes of Adam Peaty. But I'm sufficiently serious about hydrodynamics to not want to thrash up and down the lido in baggy board shorts, the pockets all inside out and bulging with trapped air. Score one for smugs. The other main activity you do while wearing swimming trunks is you don't have sufficient privacy to go naked, like I do on my roof, observed only by passing 747s circling east London before heading upriver to Heathrow, then you want as little covering material as is necessary to not get arrested. You want to maximise the tanning area, right? And minimise the tan line? I see guys sunbathing in shorts, sometimes quite long shorts, and I think, 'Lightweight.' Go hard or go home. I draw the line at a thong, though. Bit too close to sumo wrestler for comfort. Plus, as an 11-year-old, I was traumatised by the sight of an elderly Frenchman on a beach in Corsica wearing nothing but a lime-green thong, skinny mahogany buttocks sagging down for all to see. It was not a good look, especially as the front of the thong, the pouch, was made of mesh. Dirty old goat. Third, counterintuitively given their name (you might call it the Budgie Paradox), smugglers are actually less revealing of what must not be revealed than their looser, more voluminous competitors. Fair enough, the genital outline is undeniably defined, with little left to the imagination. And yet, thanks to this very smuggler snugness, you are in no danger of what I learnt from Friends the Americans call 'showing brain'. Basically, your goolies aren't going to suddenly squirm free of captivity and burst out into the fresh air to frighten people, not when held in the rigorous containment provided by the Tom Daley-style micro-trunks I favour. So, while they might be more suggestive, smugglers do as promised and hide the contraband, never bringing it up on deck to shout at customs, 'It's a fair cop! Where do I pay the duty?' Obviously, you've got to monitor the state of your elastic. Growing up, we had a dear family friend we'd visit every summer in Cambridge. Having spent most of his life in the tropics, this chap — a natural eccentric to start with — had become more than a little disinhibited. Punting on the Cam, he wore smugglers so loose they qualified more as a loincloth. Each time this chap pushed off the riverbed with his, ahem, pole, first one testicle, then the other, would swing rhythmically into view. Push, left testicle, push, right testicle, like a pendulum. It was mesmeric. No one seemed to mind. They were less puritanical times, the Seventies. On that same holiday to Corsica, 1976, the one where I encountered the lime-green mesh thong, I also discovered women sunbathing topless. That remained the norm around the Mediterranean — well, the European bit of the Mediterranean — until the early Nineties. If you'd asked me then, I'd have predicted that by 2025, on a hot day, never mind the beach, we'd probably all be coming to the office or going shopping naked, or at a minimum in just shoes and pants. That was before I realised social progress doesn't move in a straight line, but in peaks and troughs. And also before I realised that coming to the office in just your knickers is not in fact the stuff of social progress, but individual nightmares. Oh yes, we have these taboos for a reason. Years ago, at an especially dull Labour Party conference in Blackpool, I bunked off to go for a swim at a swanky golf hotel in the suburbs. Lacking a costume, but with a pair of tight black underpants to hand, I risked wearing them. All went well until, showering poolside, in full view of a dozen ancient golf widows, I looked down to see my penis hanging impudently through the flies of my improvised trunks. Not good. A dangerously quick 180 to restore modesty, followed by a hasty exit, and, still damp, a retreat to the railway station to get the hell out of town. I learnt my lesson. On the road, some colleagues keep their golf clubs in the car boot in the hope of a cheeky nine holes post-deadline. Others pack their trainers and gym kit. I always travel with a pair of emergency smugs. They take up remarkably little room.
Daily Mail
27-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Leslie Ash, 65, shows off her taut visage as she reunites with Phil Daniels, 66, at Quadrophenia event - 45 years after filming cult classic
Quadrophenia stars Leslie Ash and Phil Daniels looked delighted to be in each other's company again as they reunited 45 years after filming the cult classic. The actors, aged 65 and 66 respectively, looked in great spirits as they posed on the red carpet at a ballet adaptation of the 1979 British drama at Sadler's Wells in London. Leslie looked more youthful than ever in the snaps, while casually clad in a black polo neck jumper and trousers teamed with white trainers. The Men Behaving Badly star was aided by the use of a pink walking stick, two decades after contracting an MSSA superbug that nearly left her unable to walk. By her side was Phil, who sported a brown T-shirt and navy blazers with tinted shades. The duo were impressed by the production, calling the cast 'fantastic'. Quadrophenia, which was set amid the real-life drama of mods and rockers fighting on Brighton beach in 1964, also starred the likes of Sting and Ray Winstone. The cult classic was based on the eponymous 1972 double-album by The Who. While it was one of his most famous roles, Phil previously confessed he could barely remember filming the drama. He said: 'All I can remember about the film is working really hard. We shot it all in six weeks and we did the end first. 'It was quite interesting and it's kind of a nice way of doing a film where you do the end first, so at least you know where you've got to go with the character.' However, in 2010, Phil confessed that he is constantly asked about his sex scene with Leslie, quipping: ' If I had a pound for every time someone asked me exactly how intimate, I'd be a very rich man.' Writing for the Mail, he continued: 'I can see it coming a mile off, although people think they're being subtle. 'Since no system of automatic remuneration exists for this routine conversational exchange, I would like to take this opportunity to say once and for all: It didn't happen.' He added: 'That scene looks good on the screen but I remember it being quite awkward - Leslie really didn't want to do it. 'The problem with Leslie and me --well, it wasn't a problem, because it worked really well in the film - was that I was very raw and young at that time, whereas she already had a boyfriend who was a lot older than her and drove a Porsche. 'I couldn't compete even though obviously I wanted to because she was pretty. 'And while me having the sense that I was not in her league was good for Quadrophenia, it wasn't so good for me. 'Especially as I'd seen her jealous boyfriend hanging around the set a few times - not exactly giving me the evil eye, but almost. It wasn't my fault, was it? But you know what boyfriends are like, especially those who are going out with actresses. 'It wasn't just the boyfriend issue. The whole scene was tricky for Leslie and director Franc Roddam had to coax her into it by saying, 'Get in there for the old wallbanger.' 'You wouldn't generally do too many rehearsals before a scene like that so we were very new to each other. 'It was meant to be a closed set, but there's always someone who shouldn't be there - one of the crew trying every means possible to get a glimpse of the action. 'Excepting the occasional setbuilder with a wandering eye, Roddam was good at keeping people at arm's length. 'I never got The Who's Roger Daltrey coming up and telling me how to do it. Well, we did have a bit of a chat one day while sitting on a couple of deckchairs in Brighton, but that was fine by me.'
The Sun
19-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Eamonn Holmes hits out at ‘horrible' celebrities on TV and admits ‘there are so many false' stars
EAMONN Holmes has hit out at 'horrible' celebrities and admitted 'there are so many false' stars. The GB News presenter, 65, hosts podcast Things We Like with Eamonn and Paul, alongside Paul Coyte. 3 3 While speaking to guest Ray Winstone, Eamonn opened up on inner-workings in the industry. He said: "If I don't like someone, they'll know I don't like them. "And there's so many horrible people that you end up... people say, "He's lovely, he's fantastic". "They'll say to me, 'What's that Ray Winstone like?' and I'll say, 'He is lovely, he is fantastic'. "People won't believe me because I wouldn't say if you weren't. "There are so many who are just false, false, false." Tensions boiled over in 2019 when Schofe cut off Ruth while she was in the middle of a live link, teasing what was coming up on Loose Women. The incident ultimately led to Ruth making a complaint over his behaviour to ITV. Emotional moment Eamonn Holmes fights back tears on his podcast Previously speaking about it, Eamonn said: "Phillip is renowned for snubbing people. "He's very passive-aggressive. It's up to Ruth to say how she felt, but I was feeling hurt for her. No one would have snubbed me like that. "I have a good Belfast street fighter in me… I would be direct. I don't go for presenters who think they have a special privilege or aura or influence." Earlier this year, Eamonn posed with Anthea Turner after ending their bitter 10-year feud. The Northern Irishman affectionately placed a hand over Anthea's shoulder. Eamonn captioned the snap: 'We're the same age @antheaturner and I and have had careers of similar length but my paper round must have been harder than hers! Top Girl.' This reunion came more than two decades after their infamous fallout. 3
