Since Steve Wright was found dead at his London flat last month there has been an outpouring of grief for the much-loved broadcaster.
This has, apparently, annoyed his fellow BBC presenter Nicky Campbell, who questions the eulogising of Wright, who was 69.
Campbell, 62, concedes that the DJ, who had a heart bypass operation shortly after being axed from his Radio 2 afternoon slot, was a ‘great person’ and ‘really likeable’.
However, he goes on to say: ‘What kind of irks me, and I’ve got this from other people I’ve known who I felt were fantastic people and who have died, and all of a sudden everyone in a sense dehumanises them and says, ‘Oh, they were perfect in every way’, ‘They floated across the water’, and all that stuff.’
Steven Wright (left) and Nicky Campbell pictured together
Campbell, 62, concedes that the DJ, who had a heart bypass operation shortly after being axed from his Radio 2 afternoon slot, was a ‘great person’ and ‘really likeable’
Wright (pictured), who divorced actress Cyndi Robinson in 1999, had an unhealthy lifestyle
Speaking to Gabby Logan on The Mid.Point podcast, he adds: ‘It dehumanises them.
‘I feel like saying, ‘No. Steve was complex. He could be brittle and anxious.’
At this point in their conversation, Logan, who is also a BBC presenter, immediately changes the subject, not allowing Campbell to elaborate on his comments. Wright’s friend Mark Wells, the former controller of ITV entertainment, said it had been a ‘bolt from the blue’ when the popular DJ was axed from his long-running Radio 2 slot in 2022.
The show’s ratings had not dropped, plus it ‘felt as good as ever’ and he ‘was just shocked at the way it was handled, which I think was brutal’, Wells said.
Despite this, Wright stayed loyal to the BBC and turned down big-money offers from a commercial rival. He still enjoyed hosting Sunday Love Songs and Pick Of The Pops on the station, Wells added.
Wright, who divorced actress Cyndi Robinson in 1999, had an unhealthy lifestyle, said his brother Laurence.
Turner prize! Sophie shows off new beau
Just months ago, she seemed destined for a toxic divorce, initiating legal action against American singer Joe Jonas, with whom she has two young daughters.
But Sophie Turner, 28, radiated contentment as she headed to the Louis Vuitton after-party at Paris Fashion Week. The Game Of Thrones star clutched a Louis Vuitton bag which, a fashionista assures me, bears a price tag of £4,600.
Close at hand was Sophie’s new man, Perry Pearson, 29, heir to his father Viscount Cowdray’s title — and 16,000 West Sussex acres, part of the £220 million family fortune.
Sophie Turner and New Boyfriend Peregrine Pearson leaving the Louis Vuitton after show at Maxim’s in Paris
Hollywood star Arnold Schwarzenegger admits he prevented his children sleeping in because he believes we all need some pain.
‘For my children, I say to them, “What are you doing in bed at seven o’clock in the morning?” Arnie says.
‘We have to tell this to our kids. There is no sleeping in. Forget this, “I want to be comfortable today”.
‘Let’s just struggle a little bit. It’s fun when you shoot after a certain goal and you struggle and you go through pain.
Arnold Schwarzenegger said that he has ‘no tolerance’ for laziness
‘So many people today want to be comfortable. You rest, you rust. And so I never rest, I just keep going.
‘I have no tolerance for laziness.’
Triple vision at Westminster, where a new peer, Lord Cameron of Lochiel, chief of the Cameron clan, was introduced to the Upper House.
His two supporters in the ermine-robed ceremony were Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton and Crossbencher Lord Cameron of Dillington.
Pity the parliamentary post- room staff who will have to make sure all those Camerons don’t receive one another’s letters.
Kaya inspired by pals’ scary mums
Kaya Scodelario, who plays a drug lord’s daughter in Guy Ritchie’s new Netflix drama series The Gentlemen, has a confession to make about her character, Susie Glass.
‘I did base her on my friends’ mums, because a few of my friends have dodgy families,’ she tells me at the world premiere at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.
The actress, 31, who grew up in a council flat in North London, adds: ‘Their dads are, like, the geezers, and the mums were the ones that I was scared of — they know exactly what’s going on, they don’t have to say too much, they look immaculate but are terrifying.’
Scodelario, who wore a black strapless Sabina Bilenko Couture lace gown, adds: ‘What I loved about [her character] is I very rarely get to portray women that are really at the top of their game.’
Kaya Scodelario (pictured) grew up in a council flat in North London
Britain’s premier baronet, Sir Edward Dashwood, has been living up to his name.
He narrowly avoided a driving ban after being caught speeding for the third time in ten months.
Sir Edward, 59, whose forebear founded the notorious Hellfire Club, was caught on a camera in his Toyota Land Cruiser at Penryn in Cornwall in January. He was driving at 41 mph on a 30 mph road.
JPs considered imposing a disqualification but he told magistrates in Bodmin that he drives equipment on land at West Wycombe Park, his ancestral home in Buckinghamshire.
He said: ‘From a business side, it is absolutely fundamental to have a licence.’
He was given four more points, making a total of ten, and fined £1,022 with costs.
The Great British Bake Off presenter Noel Fielding is not sweet on Heston Blumenthal’s cooking.
‘I went to a pop up restaurant at Heston’s once and it was 18 courses,’ he says of the chef’s celebrated tasting menu.
‘I was done after three. I was so angry. I went through such a series of emotions, I think I cried at one point. It was like torture.
‘Me and my friend were going, “Oh, no, please no more.”
Noel Fielding (pictured) was not impressed by Heston’s cooking
‘There were, like, four desserts and at that point you were so full and you hated yourself.
‘He’d ruined me ‘cos I really don’t like feeling full.’
She is one of our most celebrated actresses, but Kate Winslet seemingly failed to captivate Stephen Frears, who was directing her in TV series The Regime.
During filming, in which the Oscar winner, 48, plays the leader of a fictitious European country, Frears fell asleep.
When Winslet called out to ask if the first take was ‘all right’, she received no response. Frears, 82, reports the New York Times, was ‘silent, with his eyes closed, his head back’.
Kate Winslet (left) and Michaela Coel attend the NET-A-PORTER Incredible Women’s Dinner in partnership
Medical jealousy near the top of the honours system is being blamed for the lack of a knighthood for one of the country’s most remarkable doctors.
The late Betty Boothroyd, much-loved Speaker of the House of Commons, campaigned for a long time to get a ‘K’ for David Nott, the church-going, London-based Welsh surgeon who organises emergency medical care in disaster zones.
Baroness Boothroyd was so impressed by him that she left money in her will to the David Nott Foundation and his children took part in her memorial service. Queen Elizabeth became an admirer of his work, too. And yet, despite being recognised abroad, and despite saving countless lives, he remains ‘Mr’ Nott.
A senior Privy Counsellor who has taken on Betty’s campaign for Nott to be made ‘Sir David’ tells me: ‘Our recommendation keeps rising almost to the top of the system and then hitting an obstacle which can only be described as medical jealousy. It is utterly pathetic.’
The late Dame Betty Boothroyd (pictured) former Speaker of the House of Commons
