Pooch sniffs out owner’s thigh cancer

Norm backs pal Starmer

LIFESAVER Danielle & Dave

A DOG saved his owner’s life by sniffing out a cancerous tumour.

Danielle King, 34, said her leg was painful and swollen but that she ignored it until Staffordshire bull terrier Dave, seven, forced her to act.

She said: “He wouldn’t leave me alone and whenever I sat down on the sofa to have cuddles with him he would just start sniffing at my thigh and whining.”

Scans revealed a chondrosarcoma bone tumour the size of a rugby ball, which was removed in two operations in August 2017 and January 2019.

Shop assistant Danielle of Basildon, Essex, who is now cancer-free, said: “I owe my life to Dave.

“My dog knew something was up and I acted like everything was fine.”

Zoe Ball & Norman Cook with their son Woody

WHEN Woody Cook told his parents he wanted to be in reality show The Circle they tried to talk him out of it – but eventually they had to admit: “It’s in his genes.”

Norman Cook – better known as DJ Fatboy Slim – and broadcaster Zoe Ball had tried hard to keep their son out of the spotlight as he grew up.

So they were horrified when he said he was going on the Channel 4 show.

Norman, who also has daughter Nelly May Louise, 10, with Zoe, says: “We thought it could be a potentially terrible idea. We didn’t really want him to do it.

“We spent all our lives trying to keep him out of the limelight and trying to protect him. Then the first chance he dives straight into that whole maelstrom that we tried to protect him from. But I suppose it’s in his genes.”

However, he adds, laughing: “We would disown him if he does Love Island.”

Norman, who split with BBC Radio 2 host Zoe in 2016 after 17 years of marriage, said it was “surreal” watching Woody, 19, on the show where he finished

fifth in the hunt for the £70,000 top prize. He said: “As a parent you want your child to be happy and come across well.

“We were nervous about it but he was really cool. The idea of the first time ever not seeing my son for a month was strange but then I watched him every night on the TV instead.”

Woody is now on holiday in New Zealand and hopes to catch up with his dad, 56, when he does a series of DJ gigs in Australia this week. Norman, who is headlining Hi-Tide festival with Madness at Dreamland in Margate, Kent, in July, said he is also trying to offset his carbon when he flies Down Under as part of the fight against climate change. He says: “The fires in Australia have really woken people up to this. This isn’t some crackpot scientist telling you. This really is happening.”

He recently sampled a Greta Thunberg speech in one set. He says: “There were proper goosebumps. The whole crowd was united. I’m very proud to be carrying on the message.”

Tickets at hi-tidefestival.com at 9am on Friday, January 31.

NORMAN COOK ON SON WOODY IN THE CIRCLE

FESTIVAL With Suggs of Madness

LABOUR voter Norman backed old school friend Keir Starmer to win the party leadership.

He said: “Sometimes

‘Oh, I went to school with him,’ means that you were at the same school, but I was actually in his class for five years.

“So we kind of grew NUMBER 10 HIT? Starmer

COOL Woody in The Circle up together. And now he’s a possible future Prime Minister.” He also said he gets “uppity” when Tories use his music and added: “My sister heard one of my songs being used by some Tories in a shopping centre on a Saturday afternoon and she went and unplugged it.”

You want your child to come across well. He was really cool