Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Changing Rooms to save the economy
Finally, some good news for the UK economy. Laurence Llewelyn-bowen
says Changing Rooms is being rebooted at the perfect time to help encourage spending on garish new furnishings.
The interiors market “weathered lockdown well”, he says, and the sh ow ’s “s l i g h t l y eccentric British decorating” is totally in vogue.
“We went into lockdown obsessed with our beige, cookie cutter rooms that were going to look great in an estate agent window,” says Laurence. “We came out of it thinking, ‘I don’t want to see another beige room for as long as I can live’. If you put yourself up a nice wallpaper with plenty of swirling birds and monkeys, palm trees, and tropical flowers, you are in the middle of a storybook.”
Part of the show’s popularity, he explains, was that it arrived during Cool Britannia when: “Things were a l ot more optimism, the economy was ver y strong. The property market was great.”
As the show comes back “bigger and bolder” – and with presenter Davina Mccall at the helm – Laurence says the “volume wi l l b e wel l u p” . S t a r t stockpiling MDF now...
Laurence presents My Lottery Dream Home International, coming soon to Discovery UK. Beyond Productions are looking for lottery winners to take part.
Do you Believe singer Cher is Strong Enough to airlift an elephant? Of course she is. Cher, 74, said being granted permission to move Kaavan – who has spent almost a decade alone in captivity in Pakistan – to a sanctuary in Cambodia is one of the “greatest moments” of her life.
“This is going to be an unpopular opinion,” warns Danny Dyer. And he’s right. The Eastenders actor will upset parents by admitting he’s not a fan of lockdown PE teacher Joe Wicks.
“His heart’s in the right place,” begins Danny. “But everything about him’s just so irritating.
“How could you go for a meal with him, when you know he’s looking at you with the side eye?
“I’ve never met a really fit, healthy man who’s not f***ing irritating.”
Danny admits the source of his gripes could be an obvious one.
“Maybe it’s because I’m jealous of his body,” he supposes. Not enough Spider Man lunges.
Rita Ora
turns 30 today and, helpfully, she’s just launched a range of tequila. So no prizes for guessing how she’ll be celebrating...
But the singer – worth an estimated £20million – says she still has to “fight to have equal pay”.
“We as women are fighting everyday to have equal pay, to have an equal voice, to be able to not be judged, to express our femininity in a way where it doesn’t undermine our power,” she tells Numero
Berlin magazine, out now.