Look Who’s back...Pete Townshend has written 10 songs for new album
Firefighter builds his own fire station in his back garden
PETE Townshend says he has written up to 10 possible songs for a new album by The Who.
And he hopes to team up with bandmate Roger Daltrey when lockdown ends.
The legendary rockers were due to tour the UK and America before the pandemic left their gigs cancelled.
Pete said: “I did a year’s sabbatical in 2018 and wrote about 25 songs, only 15 of which I shared with Roger and the record company [for their 2019 album, Who]. Some of those are still floating around. “I do want to make another album. It’s been on my mind a lot.”
But he said he and singer Roger felt burned by their last release – despite its critical acclaim. Pete, 75, told Uncut magazine: “There’s a certain amount of resentment on both sides. Partly on Roger’s side perhaps that we were paid a lot of money for the album and it was all spent making it.
“On my side, the fact that Roger was so actively diffident at first. Now he’s proud of what he did on the record – and so he should be, because he did such a great job.”
Roger, 76, added: “Will there be another Who album? I don’t know. Everybody talks about streaming, but have you seen what artists get from that? It’s a joke.”
FIREFIGHTER Kevin Frances loves his job so much he built himself a miniature fire station in his back garden.
The 49-year-old hero has spent years collecting equipment, photographs and memorabilia that now take pride of place.
The building features a pole, helmets, uniform, badges – and a bar for off-duty “crew”. Kevin said: “I had collected different uniforms through the ages, old pictures, posters and even old toy fire engines. “My wife told me I had to do something with all the memorabilia in the loft so I wanted to put them to good use.
“My parents and I built the whole thing from scratch while I was off sick from work.
“It took us six months and we had to get planning permission for it because it was so big.
“I have been in the fire service since I was 18 and I’ve always loved the history behind it. “It’s been an amazing space to use throughout lockdown. I have two children and we have been able to use it as a get-together space. The bar actually came from an old fire station.” Kevin, from Upper Clatford, Hants, followed his dad Mervyn, 80, into the service. The station the family built has also become a hit with friends whose children play in it.
One special visitor is Alfie Hardy, six, who has a single ventricle heart defect and hypermobility. They have left him spending a large amount of his childhood in hospital.
Kevin said: “I met Alfie’s mother on a first aid course and she mentioned how sick he was and how much he loved fire engines. So I thought it would be nice to let him come down and have a look around. “He played with some of the equipment, slid down the pole and just had a great time.
“He’s really unwell so it felt amazing to be able to offer him this experience.”
DUBAI’S missing princess is “being cared for at home”, according to the country’s royal family.
Princess Latifa, 35, claims she was kidnapped, beaten, and imprisoned after she fled Dubai in 2018.
The UN yesterday revealed it has asked the United Arab Emirates for evidence she is alive. Nothing has been heard from her for six months.
The UAE embassy in London said she “is being cared for at home, supported by her family and medical professionals.
She continues to improve and we are hopeful she will return to public life at the appropriate time”.