Not surprisingly, the various international launch parties attracted a host of celebrity mothers with Hollywood actress Liv Tyler even throwing her own party in the line's honour.

Still, the latest nod paid to the designer was rather ? to say the least ? unexpected.

We hear that Carla Bruni-Sarkozy ? wife of French President Nicolas Sarkozy and new muse of Woody Allen ? has eagerly snapped up items from the modestly-priced collection.

Of course, the move in itself is not surprising; ( Read more... )
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Whereas the character from Greek mythology relied upon wax and feathers to propel him through the air, Mr Rossy preferred a four-cylinder jet pack and carbon-fibre wings. And to the relief of those watching on 24-hour news channels, his dramatic fall into the Strait of Gibraltar did not result in his death.

The 50-year-old fell into the sea 15 minutes after leaping out of an aircraft above Tangier in Morocco. He had aimed to reach Atlantera in southern Spain 23 miles ( Read more... )
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Already preparing their celluloid onslaught ahead of next year's General Election, the Conservative Party has begun advertising for actors to play the part of voters in their forthcoming television adverts.

Among the roles to be filled, are those of "the sort of girl who wears lots of rings and has chipped nail polish" ? whatever will the Turnip Taliban say? ? and the "honest, hardworking welder who has worked for the same company for 20 years... think Billy Elliot's dad" (immortalised ( Read more... )
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Even if he's not acting in it, if you look at the credits he makes the cupcakes or something." Law had indeed been involved in six films released during the previous year, with leading roles in four of them. And Sean Penn chastised Rock, insisting Law was one of Hollywood's finest actors. Which may be true, but in his leading roles (think Alfie, Sleuth, The Holiday) Law has hardly shone. Nor have the films where he received top billing performed as hoped at the box office. ( Read more... )
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"Because of the recession, this year has involved even more travelling than usual," he says, sipping a Coke in the steel-and-glass lobby bar that is central to the hotel's new look. "In difficult times the inclination is to bunker down, but that is when you most need to be out there saying: let's keep going, we can do this."

Since Mr Cosslett moved to IHG from Cadbury in 2005, his main task has been to knock a highly federated series of national businesses into the centralised, fast-growing ( Read more... )
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People tell me that I was quite a laid-back child and went with the flow but that's not how I remember it. I didn't like St Peter's Street School in Marlow very much. I was quite heavily dyslexic; it was not until I was 10 or 11 that this was picked up. The street went down to the river and the slipway where they launched cabin cruisers; I remember going on a school outing and looking across the river and seeing the weir.

I was at Holy Trinity Juniors for two years and ( Read more... )
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Ross, 48, one of the best-paid figures in British broadcasting, was treating himself after he was presented with a music industry award for the exposure he has given to new artists.

He was handed his Music Industry Trusts (MITs) gong by pop star George Michael at a ceremony last night in central London.

The artwork was from a series of five self-portraits Bowie produced for his 1995 album Outside.

Earlier in the evening a message of congratulations sent ( Read more... )
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The 34-year-old Oscar-winning actress was not at London's High Court for the settlement of her action against Associated Newspapers.

Her solicitor, Rachel Atkins, told Mr Justice Eady that she had sued over an article entitled "Should Kate Winslet win an Oscar for the world's most irritating actress?", which appeared in the Daily Mail in January.

Ms Atkins said the story, which was accompanied by several naked photographs of the actress in various films, was offensive ( Read more... )
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The French intellectual was regarded as having reshaped the field of anthropology, introducing the concept of structuralism, which seeks the common patterns of behaviour and thought, especially myths, in a wide range of human societies. Defined as the search for underlying patterns in all forms of human activity, structuralism compared the formal relationships among elements in any given system.

During his six-decade career, Levi-Strauss wrote works hailed as literary and anthropological ( Read more... )
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Nicky Byrne Snr died yesterday in Dublin and it is believed he died of a heart attack in his workplace. It's understood he was in his early 60s.

The tragic news came after the Westlife singer paid tribute to Fifth Avenue's Beverly O'Sullivan (28) who was killed in a car crash in India on Monday.

On his Twitter page, Nicky (31) wrote that he was "in shock" about the "horrible news". However, hours later, he himself was grieving the loss of his father. ( Read more... )
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His American record company has had him on the phone to journalists from as far as Finland before TimeOut rings through. Apparently the new album I Told You I Was Freaky is a hit over there.

"That's quite a surprise to me," McKenzie says. He doesn't know a lot about the Finnish music scene but has heard they are more into metal.

"I think in between their death metal songs they are dropping a little bit of, yeah, Too Many Dicks on The Dancefloor," ( Read more... )
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Chidi Benjamin Uzomah Jr. entered the plea through an attorney. A court commissioner ordered Uzomah to stay 500 meters away from Seacrest if he is released from jail on US$150,000 bail.

Los Angeles police arrested Uzomah at the E! Entertainment Television headquarters in Los Angeles on Friday. A request for a civil restraining order stated he was carrying a knife at the time.

Uzomah appeared in street clothes during Tuesday's hearing and agreed to ( Read more... )
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The Old Etonian and ex-SAS soldier was pardoned earlier this week after being jailed over a bungled coup in Equatorial Guinea and returned to the UK on Wednesday in a private jet.

Mr Mann met for the first time his young son who was born after he left the UK. He did not have a chance to see Arthur before being captured on a runway in Harare, Zimbabwe, in March 2004 and jailed for his part in the plot to topple Equatorial Guinea's government and install opposition leader ( Read more... )
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I am at the annual ceremony at St Paul's Cathedral, where the Lord Mayor of London and members of the City of London Corporation and livery companies lay wreaths and plant poppies, as their tribute to the Royal British Legion and the armed forces. The City is one of the armed forces' greatest supporters, so it's a great pleasure to thank them on behalf of the British Legion, of which I am national president. We are also lucky with the weather! Afterwards, I go to see how work was progressing on ( Read more... )
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When brave David, himself no more than a welterweight, stepped out to face Goliath he was already a member of King Saul's court, but it was his nonchalant dispatching of a nine-and-a-half-foot Philistine that marked his arrival in the big time. Women sang about him, he commanded armies and, before long, his irrepressible popularity landed him on the throne of the kingdom of Israel.

Like his namesake, Britain's fourth world heavyweight champion, David Haye (6ft 3in and ( Read more... )
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Widely accomplished in horticulture and needlework, the lighthouse keeper?s daughter's travels in pursuit of rare birds had taken her to the furthest reaches of every continent, often sleeping under canvas in defiance of the advancing years.

So it was with her love of music ? a passion which would see her journey to New York well into old age for performances at her favourite opera house.

She died in her adopted city of Edinburgh in August this year ( Read more... )
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New rules will be introduced to ban rogue agencies from taking upfront fees from aspiring celebrities.

Business Minister Pat McFadden said people with "stars in their eyes" were often exploited under the current system.

"Unfortunately there are some rogue agencies that prey on models and entertainers who have stars in their eyes," he said.

"Last year we introduced a cooling off period for up-front fees, but we are still receiving ( Read more... )
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The former heavyweight boxing champion and the photographer Tony Echevarria, 50, want to press charges against each other.

Echevarria claims Tyson struck him once, said a police spokesman at Los Angeles International Airport. The photographer fell and was treated for a cut to his forehead at a hospital. Police were checking to see if there was surveillance video of the incident.

"I've heard people were following him into the men's room and trying to take his picture there," said Tyson's ( Read more... )
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Cocker was back in his home city of Sheffield to receive an honorary doctorate from Sheffield Hallam University, where he studied when it was known as a polytechnic.

He told the assembled graduates at City Hall, who were also there to collect certificates, that he was honoured to receive the award.

He said: "I'm called a doctor now. Don't worry, I won't open a surgery.

"But I guess if you are a songwriter maybe I could have some kind ( Read more... )
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The supermodel was ordered to pay a ransom of $100,000 [£61,000] to prevent the picture, which had been taken by a former nanny during a game of "cops and robbers", being made public, according to court documents filed in Los Angeles.

Eddie Kayalar, a German male model, was charged on Thursday with repeatedly threatening to sell the image to tabloid news organisations. He stole it during a brief relationship with the couple's ex-employee, who has not been named.

Mr Kayalar allegedly ( Read more... )
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