Stephen Mulhern’s £1M Butlin’s Magic Show Canceled Amid Tough Year
Stephen Mulhern’s ‘£1million Butlin’s magic show has been scrapped’ amid the presenter’s year from hell. The TV…
Blinded when he was 12 years old, Andrea Bocelli faced more challenges than most on his rise to become one of the best loved performers on the planet – supported by friends, family and his wife.
But it seems the couple are not adored by all – and certainly not by the firm that used to manage Bocelli’s stellar career.
Indeed, I can disclose that, so badly has the relationship soured, Quest Management (UK) has initiated a High Court action against the Italian tenor, 66, who performed at King Charles’s coronation concert.
Bocelli – who has sold more than 90million records and been garlanded with innumerable awards, including a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame – was managed by Quest for ‘many years’, according to legal documents from the company.
These state that an agreement was made between them and the opera star in 2018, then extended in March 2022 and March 2023, continuing until last month, when Bocelli’s wife Veronica allegedly ended it by email on April 20.
Quest says that the ‘wrongful purported termination’ has caused it ‘very substantial loss and damage’ – losses the company claims it ‘will continue to suffer’. As a result, it is seeking unlimited damages from Bocelli, as well as costs.
Andrea Bocelli pictured with his wife Veronica in 2023. She allegedly ended her husband’s spell being managed by Quest Management (UK) by email on April 20
The firm has initiated a High Court action against the Italian tenor, 66, who performed at King Charles’s coronation concert (pictured)
The singer has previously described Veronica, 25 years his junior, as the love of his life, saying she is ‘the electric current that energises everything and makes it all work in perfect harmony’.
Despite an apparent lack of harmony with Quest, its sister company, Quest Artist Management, continues to display Bocelli’s photograph on its website, in a sequence that also includes Sir Paul McCartney and Bocelli’s younger son from his first marriage, Matteo.
A spokesman for Bocelli declines to comment, while Quest refrains from adding to the details in its High Court claim.
Let’s hope matters can be resolved without an aria of anguish, even if it is Time To Say Goodbye.
It isn’t over until Antigoni sings
Her mother, the TV presenter Tonia Buxton, has been called ‘the face of Greek food’.
And now Love Island star Antigoni hopes to become the face of Cyprus – at next year’s Eurovision Song Contest.
The pop singer, 29, tells me at the launch party for Harry’s King’s Cross restaurant in London: ‘I’m starting a campaign to represent Cyprus. I’m Greek Cypriot and I’m proud of my roots.’
Antigoni entered Love Island in 2022. She competed to represent Greece at Eurovision a year later but wasn’t chosen.
Love Island star Antigoni, pictured with her mother Tonia Buxton in 2024, hopes to become the face of Cyprus – at next year’s Eurovision Song Contest
The smart set’s talking about…Earl flogging heirlooms as the Lords faces uncertainty
His father, the 8th Earl of Arran, helped pass the act that eventually decriminalised homosexuality.
But Arthur Desmond Colquhoun Gore has concluded that there’s no future for another minority – his fellow hereditary peers.
The 9th Earl is, I can disclose, flogging not only the robes worn by his grandparents at the coronations of George VI and Queen Elizabeth, but also the family coronet.
And going under the hammer next Tuesday at auctioneer Dreweatts in Newbury, Berkshire, they have already attracted bids for more than the £1,100 estimate.
What would his father, known as ‘Boofy’, have made of it all?
Once asked why the bill to decriminalise homosexuality had succeeded whereas his attempt to outlaw the hunting of badgers had failed, the 8th Earl of Arran famously replied: ‘Not many badgers in the House of Lords.’
The 9th Earl of Arran Arthur Desmond Colquhoun Gore (pictured) is flogging not only the robes worn by his grandparents at the coronations of George VI and Queen Elizabeth, but also the family coronet
Ecclestone heiress gives up mega-mansion sale
Petra Ecclestone and her husband Sam Palmer are well practised in the art of the luxury property flip.
Their LA mansion was recently put on the market for £31.5million, with Sam explaining that they enjoy ‘doing projects’ – buying, redesigning, and selling high-end homes.
But the couple’s six-year attempt to offload one of London’s most expensive residences has ended in a quiet retreat.
I can reveal that they have now taken their £175million Chelsea mega-mansion off the market, having failed to tempt a suitably deep-pocketed buyer. ‘This house is not for sale,’ Sam confirms.
‘We have had multiple offers over the years – £100million-plus – but it has been so hard for us to let go of this home.
‘With planning permission now, you can no longer replicate this house. That is why it’s so special.’
The Grade II-listed property, which was originally two separate houses, was bought by the younger daughter of Formula 1 billionaire Bernie Ecclestone in 2011 for just under £60million with her then-husband, James Stunt.
Petra Ecclestone and her husband Sam Palmer pictured in 2019. Their six-year attempt to offload one of London’s most expensive residences has ended in a quiet retreat
Moss is DJ pal’s maid of honour … and cocktails
This should be a lively wedding: DJ Fat Tony is due to exchange vows on Saturday afternoon, with a very colourful best man and maid of honour.
Tony, 59, will have Culture Club singer Boy George at his right hand as he marries creative director Stavros Agapiou.
Meanwhile, Kate Moss ‘is going to have a big role and will be maid of honour’, a friend tells me. ‘It means the world to Tony that Kate will be on hand to play her part on the day.’
The supermodel, 51, has been pals with Tony since 1993, when he was the resident DJ at club Fred’s in Soho.
He has previously said of their friendship: ‘She’ll always be one of my best friends – she’s an incredible person.
‘I loved her from the moment I met her. I used to make Long Island iced teas and she’d get so p***ed I’d tuck her under the desk downstairs [in the club] to have a sleep, and go down every now and again to give her a little kick to check she was all right.’
Also making an appearance on Saturday, Kylie Minogue is due to perform at the reception.
DJ Fat Tony is due to exchange vows on Saturday afternoon, with Kate Moss as maid of honour (pictured: the pair in 2022)
Nicole’s a hit for Dame Pat
Nominated for her first Tony Award for her performance as Norma Desmond in Jamie Lloyd’s production of Sunset Boulevard, Nicole Scherzinger is getting ready for her close-up.
I hear Dame Pat McGrath, hailed as the world’s most influential make-up artist, has offered to prepare the former Pussycat Dolls star, 46, for the ceremony.
‘She was deeply impressed by Nicole’s performance,’ an associate says.
Can’t beat ’em? Celia joins Garrick
Never afraid to plough her own furrow, actress Celia Imrie has made history in London’s clubland.
I can disclose that The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel star has become the first woman to be elected a member of the Garrick.
Imrie, 72, joins fellow actresses Dames Judi Dench and Sian Phillips, who were fast-tracked without a vote into the venerable Covent Garden institution in the wake of the men-only rule being jettisoned last summer.
Olivier Award-winning Imrie, who has starred in films including Calendar Girls and Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace, hit the headlines when it was disclosed that she had reached an agreement with a male friend for him to father a child with her and then give up parental responsibility.
It was later revealed the man in question was her fellow actor Benjamin Whitrow, who died in 2017 aged 80.
Their son, Angus, now 30, played ‘Creepy Jake’ in the hit comedy Fleabag.
Celia Imrie, pictured in April, has become the first woman to be elected a member of the Garrick Club
(Very) modern manners
While the new young cast has just been unveiled for her forthcoming Harry Potter TV series, JK Rowling has other pressing concerns.
‘What’s the best vape?’ the author, who has long battled a nicotine habit, inquires online.
‘Asking for someone whose rubbish vape is on the blink. I’m not selling them to children, just asking.’
Recently photographed smoking a cigar to celebrate the Supreme Court ruling a woman is defined by biological sex, Rowling – who has relied on nicotine gum in the past – clarifies: ‘Not disposables, I hate them.’
Four divorces down, actress Jane Seymour now reveals she’s back on friendly terms with the two fathers of her children.
Despite painful splits from third and fourth spouses David Flynn and James Keach – both had affairs and businessman Flynn’s financial dealings left her bankrupt in the 1990s – the mother of four confirms: ‘Miraculously, we’re all friends now. We all get along really well. You decide, for the sake of the children.’
Jane Seymour pictured in May. She has revealed she’s back on friendly terms with the two fathers of her children
As James Corden showed off his fuller figure on a superyacht in Portofino this week, his Gavin And Stacey co-creator Ruth Jones made an impassioned defence of rotund romantics.
Asked about larger characters such as Nessa and Smithy, played by her and Corden in the BBC sitcom, she says: ‘That’s what real life is. We wrote Nessa and Smithy’s story and made them such great characters because you don’t get people like that represented [on TV].
‘You assume people like that don’t have great sex, are not romantic and are not great fun to be with.’
The rivalry between David Cameron and Boris Johnson goes back as far as their days at Eton and Oxford.
So it was good to see them make a collective £5,000 at a BrainWaves charity fundraiser for young people. One auction lot was a game of tennis with Dave; the other a dinner for two with Boris.
