Turbulent lives filled with emotional angst appear to be the norm for female country and western singers. Tammy Wynette’s broken life is highlighted in a new miniseries which takes a journey through her tumultuous third marriage with alcoholic and abusive country artist George Jones. Her father died when she was nine months old and she … Read more
Robert Downey Jr has been remarkably forgiving of his counter-culture film director father in a ‘sad and affectionate’ home-movie portrait about to air on Netflix, which only finished after senior died of Parkinsons aged 80. Robert Downey Sr was addicted to drugs and alcohol and introduced junior to marijuana when he was six years … Read more
The East India Company formed in the final years of Queen Elizabeth 1’s reign grew into a formidable enterprise which seized control of large parts of the Indian subcontinent, colonised parts of Southeast Asia and Hong Kong. At its peak, it was the largest corporation in the world and had its own army of 260,000 … Read more
Prince William looks fit to explode as his much punted Boston Earthshot trip is knocked sideways by the furore over unbelievably crass questions from a close Royal intimate at a London charity function. Lady Susan Hussey, a former lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth, managed to make one black invitee feel as if she didn’t belong after … Read more
Christine McVie, singer and songwriter of the stratospherically successful, 100 million record-selling Fleetwood Mac, behind hits including Little Lies, Everywhere, Don’t Stop, Say You Love Me, and Songbird, has died at the age of 79. She stayed for two decades through an era of wild excess, heavy cocaine addiction and romantic tangles as she married … Read more
The world is going to hell in a handbasket – the worst it has ever been – is a frequent cry of every generation so it is illuminating to consider the gin-sodden, violent, addiction-addled times of Georgian England in the 18th Century. Jane Austen glossed over the dark side and left the impression of an … Read more
Elon Musk has dented his super-genius, miracle-maker reputation to turn into a blundering Don Quixote who by gross misjudgement may sink Twitter altogether. Since he took over a month ago the platform has dropped two-thirds of its workforce; lost half of its top hundred advertisers; seen the introduction and abrupt cancellation of a subscription-payment scheme; … Read more
Ghislaine Maxwell appears to be lurching from one catastrophe to the next with reports that her appeal against her 20-year jail sentence for sex trafficking will collapse after her estranged husband has refused to pay her legal fees. Scott Borgerson apparently controls her fortune after she transferred £20 million into a trust fund before her … Read more
George Takei of Star Trek renown is bringing his musical Allegiance to London, inspired by his childhood as a Japanese intern after Pearl Harbour in 1941 which he says remains the defining experience of his life. He has kept his profile high as a LGBTQ+/anti-racist campaigner with a huge social media following and a best-selling … Read more
As Nancy Pelosi exits stage left having been the first woman elected Speaker of the US House of Representatives, she has endorsed as her successor Hakeem Jefferies who could become the first person of colour to lead a political party in either chamber of Congress. Born 4 August 1970 in New York with a … Read more