Nelson gets daubed for a second time
Defiant smoker June Brown ‘greatest rebel of all time’ says Enders co-star Phil Daniels
VANDALS Graffiti on statue
A STATUE of Lord Nelson has been vandalised for the second time in three days.
The Grade II-listed monument was first targeted on Saturday, when it was sprayed with a V in a circle.
Yesterday, a large X was daubed over the admiral’s name with the word “DOWN” added to the plinth, in the grounds of Norwich Cathedral.
Nelson is known as a naval hero but he opposed the slave trade being abolished and tried to prevent campaigner William Wilberforce from ending Britain’s involvement in it.
Nannette Youssef, a Norwich Green Party councillor, said her party supported the Black Lives Matter movement but did not condone the graffiti.
She has called for the culprit to come forward.
Phil as Kevin Wicks on EastEnders
PHIL DANIELS ON HIS TIME IN THE MASTERCHEF KITCHEN his language, having admitted favourite word is “b ***** ks” .
It’s all part of the Cockney-geezer style that earned him the lead as Jimmy Cooper in 1979 hit Quadrophenia, as well as roles in Scum, with Ray Winstone, and The Hatton Garden Job with Larry Lamb.
Filmed just before lockdown, Phil spent the post-Masterchef weeks making fancy dinners for himself. He says: “I live on my own so I would have enough for two.
“I sent pictures to my girlfriend. She said, ‘You’ve yet to cook for me’.”
Phil says he’s had a girlfriend “for quite a while”.
His partner of 30 years, record industry executive Jan Stevens, died from pancreatic cancer in 2012, leaving “a great big hole” in his life.
Their daughter Ella Bella Mandela, who was born the day after Nelson Mandela was released from prison 30 years ago, has a two-year-old son and a baby on the way.
Lockdown was hard, but Phil spent his time on his hobbies, writing music and playing guitar.
But it will be hard to match the musical high of June Brown as Dot Glastonbury 2009, when he did his Parklife cameo with Blur in front of 120,000 fans. He says: “That was really powerful. A magical moment.”
Phil, who grew up the youngest of three in King’s Cross, London, says his mum, 97, helped keep him entertained in lockdown. “On a Friday, Mum sings one of the old songs for me and my two sisters on WhatsApp. It’s a Long Way to Tipperary, White Cliffs of Dover, those kind of tunes. It’s quite emotional, but nice.” ■ Watch Celebrity Masterchef on BBC1, 9pm tonight.
HE played a snarling scooter-mad Mod in The Who’s Quadrophenia and rocked Glastonbury twice as a guest of headline Britpop stars Blur.
But actor Phil Daniels says the wildest person he has ever worked with was June Brown – who played chain-smoking EastEnders busy-body Dot Cotton.
Phil, 61, who worked alongside June in Albert Square for two years, says: “June Brown is the greatest rebel of all time.
“Smoking was banned everywhere and she would not have that. She’d smoke where she liked. June’s a law unto herself. She says it as it is. That’s rare. It makes everyone laugh. And good on her.”
June, 93, quit the soap in February, while Phil’s character Kevin Wicks died in a New Year’s Eve car crash in 2007.
Phil is heading back to BBC1 in Celebrity Masterchef, competing to impress John Torode and Gregg Wallace against 19 others, including football legend John Barnes, tennis coach Judy Murray and TV presenter Gethin Jones.
He knew how to make 12 dishes before stepping up to the plate, and says: “I always felt under extreme pressure, that’s the way the programme works.
“It’s designed to put you under extreme pressure and to make you feel like you’ve failed. I was quite hard on myself but I enjoyed it. I played up to it, but it was hard work.
“Having never worked in a kitchen, and having to cook a starter for people is a bit scary. It was a real learning experience but it was fun.” He might have had to mind CULT Quadrophenia role as Mod Jimmy his
Masterchef is designed to put you under extreme pressure. I played up to it