[ad_1]
Celebrity chef Raymond Blanc believes King Charles has all the right ingredients to be a great monarch — and has spilled the beans on a long-standing friendship which first blossomed over a shared passion for gardening.
Blanc, culinary director of Eurostar’s premier business class, is preparing to make a TV show about royal gardens this spring, even hopes the monarch might appear in it, as they will be filming at Highgrove.
The 72-year-old said: ‘I am a French republican — not a royalist. I can’t be! It’s not in my DNA. But Charles will be a good King, 100 per cent.’
He said the King’s long wait to ascend the throne meant he had become very knowledgeable about the environment, agriculture and food sustainability.
‘I was so saddened that he couldn’t go to Cop27,’ he said. ‘He would have been among the best speakers because his knowledge is so deep, and he believes in it.’
Prince Charles at The National Heritage Garden, where he was given a tour by Raymond Blanc at Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons
‘When he visited, it was a horrible day — it was as you say in England, raining cats and dogs,’ Blanc recalled
He adds: ‘When he speaks about food, he knows so much. My God, he is a natural! He is completely in love with that seed that you plant in that soil to grow a healthy plant. He knows his stuff.’ The pair first met back in 2014, when Blanc was invited to speak at Highgrove and (rather daringly) told Charles that his gardens lacked personality.
Three months later, Charles asked to come and see Blanc’s gardens at Le Manoir aux Quat Saisons, which include an orchard filled with rare varieties of British apple trees.
‘When he visited, it was a horrible day — it was as you say in England, raining cats and dogs,’ Blanc recalled. ‘He loved my gardens. But I realised to my horror that he was holding his own umbrella and me, I had a gardener holding mine! Anyway, we had a laugh about it. He has great humour.
‘And then we planted an apple tree together. His was better than mine. But I have learnt how to lose in England, so I said: ‘OK Sir, well done.’ ‘
When Blanc’s mother died two years ago, he received a letter from Charles. ‘It was really lovely. The fact he could take a bit of time. It was very thoughtful of him.
‘He is a good man. There is a lot of wisdom now. We all do our own mistakes growing up, but he is going to be a good King.’
Gina’s quit her charity role, so will Matt leave political jungle?
Gina Coladangelo, Matt Hancock’s girlfriend, has just stepped into the spotlight in Australia.
She will be on hand to greet him whenever he is evicted from I’m A Celebrity — joining Zara Phillips and Chris Moyles’s partner Tiffany Austin at the Marriott hotel in Surfers Paradise, on Queensland’s Gold Coast.
However it can be revealed that Coladangelo, 45, didn’t need to take leave from work to be there, because she has quit her job in marketing and communications for a charity, after spending less than two months in the role.
Records at Companies House show that she joined UK Youth as a director on September 22 and quit on November 2, shortly after Hancock’s controversial TV appearance was announced.
The news is sure to lead to speculation that the couple are planning a media career outside of politics, and that Hancock may leave his role as an MP.
Coladangelo, 45, didn’t need to take leave from work to be there, because she has quit her job in marketing and communications for a charity, after spending less than two months in the role
The affair ended Hancock’s 15-year marriage to wife Martha. They have three children. He said in the jungle: ‘It was really tough. I messed up, and I ‘fessed up’
Some suggest they are hoping to launch themselves as a high-profile media pair and pick up work in television and radio. The disgraced former Health Secretary is being paid a reported £400,000 to appear in I’m A Celebrity . . . Get Me Out of Here, dwarfing his £84,000 a year salary from Westminster.
He resigned from his ministerial post in June last year after he was caught breaching social distancing rules by kissing Coladangelo, an old friend from university, in his ministerial office.
At the time, she was employed as the communications director for Oliver Bonas, the firm founded by her husband, but also working part-time with Hancock at the Department of Health. She left both jobs after news of the affair emerged.
The daughter of a millionaire businessman, she had a successful career in PR and lobbying after completing a degree in PPE (philosophy, politics and economics) at Oxford University.
The affair ended Hancock’s 15-year marriage to wife Martha. They have three children. He said in the jungle: ‘It was really tough. I messed up, and I ‘fessed up. I resigned and it’s no excuse, but I fell in love, right? That also had a lot of other consequences, obviously.’
His fellow campmate Babatunde Aleshe, 34, replied: ‘You didn’t just ‘fall in love’. You were grabbing booty, bruv!’
Hancock added that the best thing about being kicked out would be ‘seeing her on the bridge’.
The charity declined to say why Coladangelo left, or whose decision it was for her to leave the unpaid post.
Critics are furious that Hancock has turned his back on his work just as an inquiry into the handling of the pandemic by the Government gets underway. He has been stripped of the government whip as a result.
Hold me closer, tiny dance shoes
Viewers were divided. One wrote: ‘Has Shirley been killing elves under her desk and stealing their shoes? I’m so confused’
Shirley Ballas astonished viewers of Strictly Come Dancing a couple of weeks ago when she whipped out a miniature pair of shoes to demonstrate proper footwork to contestant Will Mellor.
Later in that show she produced a tiny pair of women’s shoes to demonstrate a point to Fleur East.
Viewers were divided. One wrote: ‘Has Shirley been killing elves under her desk and stealing their shoes? I’m so confused.’
I ran into Shirley this week and can offer reassurance that no elves were harmed in the making of the show. She told me: ‘No they are not children’s shoes — they were custom made just for me. I had the idea that it would be a good way to explain things.’ She said she had been keeping them under her desk since the show began, and only pulled them out when she felt they were needed.
So will we see them again? ‘Oh, you might!’ she says, ‘I have them with me every week.’
From clown school to gritty, real life drama
British actress Angela Yeoh gives a moving performance as Rowena Chiu, Harvey Weinstein’s former assistant, in the film She Said, about the women who brought the film mogul down — and the journalists who told their story.
Yeoh landed the role after Chiu told filmmakers she wanted to be portrayed by a British Asian actress and ‘not an American actress putting on an accent’.
Yeoh landed the role after Chiu told filmmakers she wanted to be portrayed by a British Asian actress and ‘not an American actress putting on an accent’
The two women met before filming and have become friends off screen, attending all three of the film’s premieres together. Yeoh said: ‘I really cared about getting it right and we have come to support each other on the journey to getting this story on the screen.’
She came to acting via an unusual route, having started out as a journalist.
She also spent a couple of years studying at ‘clown school’ with French master of the art Philippe Gaulier — who also taught Emma Thompson, Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter.
I’m told Gaulier described one of the above talents as ‘very boring’ — I’ll leave it to readers to guess who that might have been.
Yeoh, who was raised in London and Australia, will next be seen in a sci-fi Apple TV series, Wool.
She Said opens in cinemas next Friday.
Addams family sidekick keeping his hand in
The TV show Wednesday, directed by Tim Burton, gives Thing a major role
A girl’s best friend? Not diamonds, but a sentient severed hand — in the world of Wednesday Addams, at least. The TV show Wednesday, directed by Tim Burton, gives Thing a major role. He’s dropped off at boarding school by Morticia and Gomez, who want him to keep tabs on their daughter. Instead he becomes her sidekick.
Thing is played by magician Victor Dorobantu in his first acting role — although everything but his hand was encased in a blue suit, so he could be edited out in post production. Actress Jenna Ortega (right), who plays Wednesday, said: ‘Thing is her best friend. He’s the unsung hero of the show, honestly. We had Victor on set at pretty much all times. When he wasn’t there, they had a suitcase full of severed hands set in these different positions. We’d be like: ‘Oh, we want the flimsy one today.’ Or: ‘We want the stoic one.’ ‘
The show premieres on Netflix on November 23.
Dr Who snapped up by Disney
The show, it can be revealed, is currently filming at new studios in Cardiff, with the new Doctor, Ncuti Gatwa
Dr Who fans are waiting with some trepidation to see what changes will be made, after the BBC inked a huge deal with Disney.
The show, which it can be revealed is currently filming at new studios in Cardiff, with the new Doctor, Ncuti Gatwa (who takes over after David Tennant’s stint as the time lord) will see its budget soar from £3 million an episode, to up to £10 million.
Which could mean a host of A-list guest stars. Neil Patrick Harris will appear in the forthcoming Christmas special, and Sir Anthony Hopkins has been dropping hints on Instagram that he might be about to step into the Tardis. Russell T. Davies is back in charge and Disney will also launch a number of spin-offs, as they have done with Star Wars and Marvel, to expand the franchise’s impact, especially in America.
Not even an appearance by the genius that is Vic Reeves has been able to save quirky BBC2 comedy The Mind Of Herbert Clunkerdunk.
The show, nominated for a BAFTA in 2019 and starring Spencer Jones as wannabe stand-up Clunkerdunk, has been ditched after two series. Jones, who also wrote the show, may not have helped his cause by breaking the fourth wall in the final scene of the second series, saying to the audience: ‘Don’t watch this! It’s just a stupid comedy show. Get yourself out there and immerse yourself in another culture, such as theatre.’
His role as Del Boy Trotter has assured actor David Jason of a hallowed place in British TV history, but he worries that the shadow of Del Boy may have eclipsed his other acting achievements. Sir David, 82, said: ‘I won a BAFTA for Best Actor for my role in Channel 4 drama Porterhouse Blue! But that — along with pretty much everything else apart from Only Fools And Horses — barely gets a mention these days. I’m very proud of that show but it means Del Boy has become a bit of a cross to bear.’
Call it synchronicity, but this week both Sting and his former bandmate Stewart Copeland announced UK gigs starting next year. Copeland will be bringing his Police Deranged For Orchestra show to the London Coliseum in April, while Sting’s My Songs tour will play festivals in the UK in June.
Sting and Copeland formed The Police along with Andy Summers and the band sold more than 60 million records worldwide before splitting. A reunion tour in 2007 and 2008 was a huge financial success, but there’s no appetite to do it again.
Drummer Copeland said in 2019: ‘The issue is that although we’re very proud of the music we made, and very proud of the impact of the band, it was very difficult. We know that when we go in that rehearsal room together we’re going to start screaming at each other again, and I’d rather laugh.’
No tears from Paul Hollywood’s former wife Alex following the news that The Great British Bake Off host has proposed to pub landlady Melissa Spalding.
Alex was devastated when Hollywood, having dallied with chef Marcela Valladolid, struck up a romance with barmaid Summer Monteys-Fullam — 30 years his junior — in 2017, and their marriage ended. That romance didn’t last. But it seems he thinks he and Spalding may go the distance.
In a social media post in February, Alex said she was delighted to be single again, writing: ‘My own marriage was too over-seasoned with extra-marital affairs for my taste, and so I opted out and chose the single menu instead. It wasn’t easy and it took some getting used to.’
[ad_2]
Source link
