Heathrow’s security too intimate for Spall’s wife
Timothy Spall picked up a New york Film Critics Circle Best actor award this week for his role in mr turner, in which he plays the 19th- century landscape painter, and is tipped for an oscar nomination.
So let’s hope his wife, Shane, who accompanied him, has a more rewarding experience when she flies over for the academy awards in los angeles in February.
For mrs Spall has revealed her shock at being subjected to the ‘ most intimate’ body search by heathrow security en route to america.
‘Fingers touching lady places that would be called sexual impropriety in the street,’ she complains.
transatlantic passengers have faced more aggressive searches and lengthier delays at airports since the summer, which has led to increasing complaints about intrusive body checks.
in July, american writer lisa Simeone accused security officials at heathrow of carrying out ‘vigorous’ personal searches that felt ‘more like a physical assault’.
She said: ‘When i last came through here, it was a cursory pat- down — they hardly touched you. this time, it seems they are being a lot more aggressive and really groping people.’
thank goodness returning to Blighty via JKF airport was more pleasant for mrs Spall. ‘No hands on me bits and do-dahs,’ she says.
her husband has not had the best of luck when it comes to travelling abroad. he was about to attend the Cannes Film Festival in 1996 when he collapsed. he was rushed to hospital and diagnosed with a type of cancer that left it likely in-flight changes in pressure would have caused a fatal brain haemorrhage.
Shane disclosed that while they were packing for the trip, he collapsed when he took a turn. Spall, who was promoting the mike leigh film Secrets and lies, was suffering from acute myeloid leukaemia.
‘one minute i’m getting a dress to wear on the Croisette at Cannes, the next tim is told he needs to go to hospital,’ Shane said.
‘if tim had got on that plane he would probably have haemorrhaged.’ the star has since been in remission.
TAKE THAT: III (Polydor)
Verdict: Not so three and easy
WHEN Jason Orange announced he was leaving Take That in September, it wasn’t seen as a serious blow to the pop veterans — by the critics, at least.
Orange was, after all, the quiet man of the group. He hardly ever sang lead vocals and originally owed his place in the line-up largely to his spectacular back-flips and break-dancing skill.
But his exit has altered the band’s character. A trio built on sturdy survivors Gary Barlow, Mark Owen and Howard Donald seemed to lack bite and a sprinkling of gang-like stardust.
So, unsurprisingly, there is an air of backs-to-the-wall defiance about the group’s seventh album.
Bandleader Barlow has stressed that III (and that’s ‘three’ rather than ‘ill’) is not a retirement record. It certainly contains lots of fuzzy platitudes about picking yourself up, spreading your wings, letting the sun in and staying strong for that long road ahead.
It is also, in places, an upbeat reiteration of Take That’s singalong credentials, drawing on the dizzy disco-pop that made their name in the Nineties.
With dance producer Stuart Price supplying clattering Euro-rhythms, there is plenty of feelgood pop here. Alongside the album’s one big ballad, there are several songs that nod towards the glimmering, euphoric choruses of Coldplay and Keane.
The album opens with a throwback. Buoyant current single These Days could have been lifted straight from the band’s 1992 debut album, Take That And Party, with all three members, backed by funky guitar, coming together in harmony.
‘Take me back to where it all began,’ they plead. Given the recent upheaval, you can’t blame them for dreaming. There is nostalgia elsewhere, too: Portrait is an ultra-traditional pop number; Lovelife, with Owen on lead, is ridiculously catchy.
But, while last year’s reflective solo album, Since I Saw You Last, found Barlow baring his soul, his words here are decidedly woolly, with Orange’s departure addressed just once.
‘You should know I never wanted this to change,’ advises Gary on Freeze, before adding: ‘Just freeze, so we don’t have to start again.’
Surprises are few. I Like It is one — a stomping, glitter-rock eruption worthy of prog-rockers Muse. Meanwhile, Donald gets only song to showcase his voice — the slight Give You My Love, but leaves the other big lines to Gary and Mark.
Barlow’s big moment arrives late on. But compared with the heights he reached on Back For Good and Rule The World, piano ballad Flaws is a disappointing love song. ‘I have so many flaws / If you take me, they’re yours.’ And they say romance is dead.
Despite its flashes of dancefloor delirium, III lies closer in spirit to 2006’s Beautiful World and 2008’s The Circus than 2010’s Progress. Then again, Progress benefited from the fleeting return of Robbie Williams, who brought a degree of unhinged mayhem to the party. Without pop’s court jester — and his absence is felt more keenly than Jason’s here — Take That are polished and precise but also predictable.
All is not lost. The band this week hinted that Williams and Orange will eventually come back to the fold.
But fans will have to wait for the group’s 25th anniversary in 2017 until the original quintet relights the fire.