Kate Winslet Launches Bold New Design Project

She is, as cinematic history records, a strong swimmer – which was just as well in the Titanic role which made her name, when, in one scene which might well be the stuff of nightmares, she was 'weighted down, 12ft underwater', locking her into a fixed position, before being required to kick her way to the surface.

So it is perhaps understandable that , who summarised her Oscar-nominated performance as 'an ordeal', has opted for one particularly emphatic alteration at her 18th-century farmhouse close to the West Sussex coast.

The award-winning actress, 50, who's married to Sir 's nephew, Edward Abel Smith, is replacing its basement pool with a gym – the right sort of arena for one of her favourite forms of exercise, 'a really great power yoga on a Sunday', as she's described it. 

The farmhouse's underground changing room will remain as it is, but Winslet is intent on making numerous other improvements, including the installation of a new glass door to the sauna, introducing new steps down to the basement, converting a family bathroom into an en-suite bedroom and demolishing both a kitchen wall and a playroom which was built a decade ago for her three children.

She's also replacing two second-floor windows which have rotted badly – not that Kate's unfamiliar with the ravages of salt water. She's previously built a 500ft sea wall to protect the farmhouse – bought for £3.25million in 2013 – from flooding at high tide.

But, lest anyone's tempted to conclude that Winslet's developed hydrophobia, it should be pointed out that, over the years, she's added an outdoor pool and pool house, plus those other contemporary essentials – an outdoor kitchen, barbecue and wood-burning stove. And Kate, I'm assured, remains a devotee both of her local sailing club – and outdoor swimming.

Looks like it's a boy for Princess Bea's style guru

Stylist Olivia Buckingham, who helped transform into one of the best-dressed , has kept the identity of the father of her first child, whom she's expecting aged 43, a secret.

Yet she's been more open about signalling that the child will be a boy, as suggested by the sea of blue at her baby shower in London this week.

'I'm still feeling all the feels from the most amazing baby shower,' wrote Olivia online alongside this picture she shared of her and her pal Alice Naylor-Leyland, who designed the party's tablescape.

Known for her volatile love life and verve of her literary output, Charlotte Raven displayed a self-awareness that few possess when, suffering from the Huntington's disease which would end her life, she drew up her will in 2021.

Now published, 15 months after her death aged 55, it stipulates her £1million estate go to her husband, Tom Sheahan – 'if I am still married to him'.

Raven, for whom Julie Burchill left her first husband, Cosmo Landesman, seemed destined to divorce Sheahan, with whom she had two children. The couple, who lived together, were granted a decree nisi – but never, it transpires, a decree absolute. And so remained married…

Real Housewife Amanda, 57, has a pop at music stardom

She's known for having the longest legs in Belgravia, but Real Housewives of London star Amanda Cronin is now

As of today the socialite, 57, is launching her career as a pop star with the release of her debut single Back To Paddington, a line fans will recognise from her barbed exchanges with fellow socialite Juliet Angus on the series.

Amanda tells me: 'It went viral on TikTok and a big producer [whose] wife I knew said, 'I think I can write a song for you, are you interested?' I'm hoping it'll be a summer hit.'

While Cronin (left) hopes the track makes an impact on the charts, she's already proud to have got this far.

'I'm flying the flag for women over 50 and showing that you can reinvent yourself and do things that you haven't tried before,' she says.

Colin Firth's ex-wife Livia has made a plea to the fashion elite to rebel against the Met Gala next Monday. The eco-activist, 56, has called on stars to protest at this year's event because it's backed by divisive Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.

'This year feels more dystopian than ever,' Livia declared online. 'To all the fashion designers who are going to go, to all the celebrities… who will have the courage to stand on the red carpet and make a statement? Who will have the courage to use that platform to denounce what is going on? You tell me. All eyes on you.'

Trinny takes on trolls

With more than 1.5million followers online, Trinny Woodall is no stranger to trolls – but instead of hitting mute, she's choosing to confront them.

The beauty mogul, 62, tells me at The Trouble Club at Ladbroke Hall in London: 'I never used to comment when someone left a message which wasn't great. But now when someone leaves a message, I say, 'Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but maybe you want to ask yourself, why do you have to leave a message like this, what's going on with you, why do you need to lash out and is there anything I can help you with?'

Devil's in the detail for Meryl Streep

Meryl Streep has never written a screenplay but that didn't stop her from showing the pros how it's done on The Devil Wears Prada 2, where she .

Her co-star, Tracie Thoms, who plays Lily – best friend of Anne Hathaway's character Andy Sachs – tells me: 'I did a table read with Meryl Streep and I know there's things in the script that she changed.

'She was so clear about who Miranda Priestly was.

'The things she was saying were so right that the screenwriters felt embarrassed – the writers were like, 'Of course, why didn't we think of that?'