The abbey is alive with the sound of music
The Downton Downbeats? Elizabeth McGovern, one of the main actors in Downton Abbey, told the Daily Telegraph in London that somebody had the “fun idea” of cast members forming a band. They would play the odd gig to raise money for charity.
It’s almost inevitable: McGovern (who plays Lady Cora) is a singersongwriter with her own band, Sadie and the Hotheads. Michelle
Dockery (Lady Mary) plays a mean guitar, had jazz-singer training and has performed with the Hotheads. And Allen Leech (Tom, the former chauffeur) was in a band called the Fluid Druids at university.
The New York Post says rather archly that Nigella Lawson, the British TV chef who dumped her rich hubby after he grabbed her by the throat in a restaurant, is now getting “emotional support” from TV cooking celeb Anthony Bour
dain. The two are co-stars of a TV food show, The Taste.
Nigella is staying at the Chateau Marmont in L.A., the paper says, and “crying on the shoulder” of Bourdain. Nameless Insider told the Post that “Anthony has really taken her under his wing and is looking after her.”
After a few breathless paragraphs of this stuff, the paper finally adds that “we’re told (the) friendship is strictly platonic.” It better be: Bourdain’s wife, Ottavia, is a mixed martial arts fighter.
He’s 57. Nigella is 53.
Sting, who’s been through the fame mill, tells The Guardian that he fears Justin Bieber is in “free fall” and “I just hope he survives it because a lot of people don’t.
“If I could give any advice to young musicians,” Sting went on, “it would be this: Just try and enjoy it because that truly explosive bit doesn’t last forever.”
He’s 61. Justin is 19.
Today’s conversation starter: Sir
Tony Robinson, a veteran British actor who has had his share of roles requiring women’s clothing over the years, says in a Reader’s Digest interview that all men should try it.
“Every man — particularly redblooded heterosexuals — should spend two years in a dress, rather like going on military service. It’s just such a different way of thinking about and negotiating the world. It didn’t make me wish to take male lovers, but I had such fun … thinking that I was the most glamorous girl in the world.”
He was talking about his early days in musical theatre, but he was also often in drag as Baldrick in Blackadder. If you’ve never seen that show, I feel sorry for you.
He’s 67.
Spotlight couple: Selena Gomez’s latest is one George Shelley, who’s in a newish boy band called Union J.
The London edition of the giveaway paper Metro says Selena flew George and his three bandmates to her gig in Portugal the other night, and called them onstage.
The Sun adds the news that she and George chased the other lads out of their hotel room at 2 a.m.
He’s 20. She’s 21.