Accustomed to belting out his hits in huge stadiums, Robbie Williams is making what might be the quietest house renovations ever so as not to further upset his neighbor, Led Zeppelin star Jimmy Page.
The team building Williams’ ‘super basement’ have gone to great lengths to keep the £17.5million mansion in London’s Kensington area virtually noise-free.
Planners gave the green light for the work in May, but Williams workers will have to use “19th-century hand tools” and £50,000 worth of monitoring equipment to ensure levels are barely above a whisper.
Robbie Williams makes what might be the quietest home renovations of all time. He is pictured performing last year
The team building Williams’ ‘super basement’ have gone to great lengths to keep the £17.5million mansion in London’s Kensington area virtually noise-free
It’s to avoid further angering his neighbor, Led Zeppelin star Jimmy Page (pictured above).
Meghan plans to start a Gwynnie-style blog
She has starred in a TV drama series, married a prince and labeled bananas with messages of support for sex workers.
But perhaps nothing has satisfied the Duchess of Sussex more intensely than The Tig, her lifestyle blog, in which she reflected on the full spectrum of human experiences – from hot sauces to self-love.
So her fans will be thrilled to hear that The Tig is one step closer to being resurrected, more than five and a half years after Meghan, as a prelude to becoming a full member of The Firm, posted a “definitive” entry announcing: “It’s time to say goodbye.”
I can reveal that Meghan’s offer to trademark The Tig is “under review” by the US Patent and Trademark Office — over a year after the original application was filed.
Six months ago, this appeared to be in jeopardy when, as I previously reported, the Patent and Trademark Office denied the application on the grounds that the website description was “too broad” – and the filing was unsigned.
This was rectified with the assistance of another attorney, Danielle Weiss.
The revised application carefully delineates five “classes” in which Meghan aspires to brand The Tig: travel, interior design (including “green living”), food preparation (including cooking and recipes), health and “wellness,” and personal relationships (including, quite surprising, fashion and personal lifestyle).
A fee of $1,750 [£1,500] has been paid. It’s the kind of sum that would be found on the back of a typical sofa in Montecito, the California enclave where Meghan and Harry live.
Perhaps Meghan could try applying The Tig brand to her own range of merchandise — perhaps an $18 neon toilet paper set or a $28,500 black leather chair, both on the Christmas list of housemate Gwyneth Paltrow in Montecito.
Swire’s rural nickname
Sir Hugo Swire – whose wife Sasha sparked explosive reactions in David Cameron’s normally low-key set with the release of her delightfully indiscreet memoir, Diary Of An MP’s Wife – has chosen a rural idyll for his title in The Lords.
Sir Hugo, knighted by Boris Johnson of Old Eton, will now be known as Baron Swire of Down Saint Mary in Devon. The clue reminds us of Sasha’s book, which contained embarrassing details of how, while staying at the Camerons’ West Country vacation home, David told her to follow him on a coastal walk because: “The scent you’re wearing affects mine Pheromones, it makes me want to grab you, shove you into the bushes and give you one.’
Eamonn Holmes’ co-host says it was “heartbreaking” to see the pain he endured. The GB News Breakfast host, 62, has been forced to be away from screens until the New Year after falling down the stairs and breaking his shoulder at his home in Surrey. He recently had major surgery on his spine.
“I know how much our audience misses Eamonn, and so do I,” his co-host Isabel Webster tells me. “It was heartbreaking to see him suffer like that. Eamonn’s had such a bad run.’
Jules is the original Irish Man
Jules Irens has become the talk of London society after his girlfriend Caroline Dalmeny, ex-wife of Sotheby’s chairman Lord Dalmeny, took to social media to blast the party host for “uninviting” him from a party like me revealed yesterday.
But the loss will be felt by those who won’t meet it now – at least that’s what I’m assured by an old pal of Irens’ from Marlborough, the Wiltshire boarding school attended by the Duchess of Cambridge.
“Jules is a top man – very bright and hardcore,” a colleague from Old Marlburian tells me. “He joined the Legion [French Foreign Legion] and became a sergeant.’
This brief career step was completely logical. Although born in the West Country to an English father, Iren’s mother was French-speaking Annick Dubot, so he and his sister Camille are bilingual. “After Legion, Jules joined the Gurkhas,” adds his pal, who adds that real-life superhero Irens – “amicably separated” from his wife Nicola – is “now completely undercover”.
Perhaps less after Caroline’s passionate intervention.
TV chef Gino D’Acampo has broken the taboo that no parent should admit to having a favorite child. He has two older sons but prefers his eight-year-old daughter Mia. “People ask me, ‘What’s your favorite recipe?’ ‘ He says. ‘That’s a question I can’t answer, but ask me which is my favorite child. You know, I don’t care. I’ve always loved women.’
The king’s new wreath honors the queen
Memorial Sunday will be even more poignant than usual for King Charles following the death of his mother.
I can inform you that the Queen’s presence will still be felt in Whitehall as the King will lay a newly designed wreath at the Cenotaph which will include her racing colors of purple and gold. “The wreath will be a mix of George VI and Charles designs,” a royal source tells me.
“It will also feature Queen Elizabeth’s racing colors as well as those of the King.”
It’s made by the Poppy Factory in Richmond, south-west London, which has a long history of working with the royal family.
Downton star Raquel Cassidy was left mortified by a reading for a stage role. “I remember auditioning for a [male] Theater director for a woman [character] men had sex with on a pool table,” says the 54-year-old actress, who played Cora’s maid Phyllis Baxter. “I felt humiliated.”
Speaking at the opening gala of the 30th Raindance Film Festival at The Waldorf Hilton, she told me, “I didn’t take this role because I don’t think anyone should be humiliated in that way.”
He’s a former Lib Dem leader who appeared on Strictly, but Vince Cable hasn’t been credited — in his own book. The caption on a photograph in his memoir Partnership and Politics in a Decade Divided incorrectly identifies William Hague as Sir Vince!