Jab for the Dalai Lama
The Dalai Lama, the 85-year-old Tibetan spiritual leader, has been administered with the first shot of the coronavirus vaccine at a hospital in India.
After receiving the injection, he urged people to come forward, be brave and get vaccinated in order to prevent further serious health problems.
Actor Mark Strong says the absence of a father when he was growing up has helped make him “i n c r ed i b l y independent”.
The 57-year-old – known for roles in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, the Kingsman films and BBC TV series Our Friends in the North – said a lack of an “authoritarian f igure” meant he had to learn important life lessons on his own.
On BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs today, Strong reveals how his Austrian mother came to London to work as an au pair in the early 60s and met his father, an Italian who has played no part in his life.
The Olivier Award winner – who was born Marco Giuseppe Salussolia – told show host Lauren Laverne good things had emerged from the lack of father figure.
He said: “He left when I was a baby so I didn’t have an awful lot to do with him.
“I’m not sure where he is now. The thing perhaps we have in common is that neither of us seem to have needed each other particularly, which is sad but helped make me incredibly independent.”
During his childhood in Islington, north London, people in the community helped care for him. He said: “My mother had two jobs – in a rag trade factory and at a bar – so I spent a lot of time with neighbours.”
His mus i ca l p i ck s included Police & Thieves by The Clash, a live version of Are You Lonesome Tonight? by Elvis Presley and Heroes, sung in German by David Bowie, who he said was his “idol”.
Pussycat Doll Jessica Sutta is expecting her first child.
Jessica, 38, and drummer husband Mikey Marquart, are due to welcome a baby boy in May.
Talking about the baby’s name, she said: “He feels like an MJ to me, but he could be a Mikey, a Jesse, a Zion, or maybe he’ll make up his own name when he gets older.”
Paloma Faith has revealed how lockdown led to her dream family.
The star was on the brink of giving up in her bid for a second child after five failed rounds of IVF.
But then lockdown arrived – and last month she welcomed her second daughter with partner Leyman Lahcine.
Paloma, 39, said: “I feel like you know for yourself what your boundaries are and I actual ly knew I ’ d had enough after three goes.
“Then lockdown happened and I thought, ‘What else am I going to do? I’ll have another go’ – and it worked.”
She revealed, though, that
she struggled to come to terms with the pregnancy and birth – after her first labour was so tough it was as if she had been “to the gates of hell”.
Paloma said: “My last birth was so wild. Everything went wrong – she was early, it was a big b***** mess, on many levels.
Because the last time we had problems, then because of the traumatic birth I had, I was sort of carved up a bit.”
The star’s oldest daughter – who is being raised gender neutral – was born in 2016. A desire for a second child meant more rounds of IVF.
And after committing to one last try, Paloma turned to work to distract herself from the stress of juggling treatment while looking after a four-year- old – and managed to record her fifth album, Infinite Things, during the first lockdown.
Of IVF, she said: “It’s a little bit stressful thinking, ‘ Will it or won’t it work?’ But I feel really lucky I’ve got the career I’ve got because I’m always busy.”