As thousands of people flock to their phones to ask Is Keith Lemon gay when straight or bisexual whenever he appears on TV. They are also keen to know whether he’s partnered or married, but first, we should put it out there that Keith Lemon is a character, not a real person. He’s the brainchild of actor Leigh Francis.
But no, to answer your question, Keith Lemon – or rather Leigh Francis isn’t gay and identifies as straight. Leigh is actually married to a woman. The comedian and presenter is married to Jill Carter, a beauty therapist. Together the pair have two children together. They live in North London.
Who is Keith Lemon?
Leigh admitted that the character of Keith Lemon is loosely based on a friend, whose name is also Keith Lemon…
The character’s first appearance was in 2000 during a show called Whatever I Want. The show also showcased Leigh’s two other characters Avid Merrion and The Bear.
In terms of sexuality, the character Keith Lemon hasn’t yet identified as gay or bi but has long been described as camp and flamboyant by the UK’s press. His fake tan, bleached hair have all added to speculation about the character’s sexuality.
Keith Lemon currently fronts three shows for ITV, his long-running game/magazine show formatted Celebrity Juice and Through The Keyhole.
In 2015 ITV 2 started airing The Keith Lemon Sketch Show.
Leigh Francis is in his mid to late 40s he was born on 30th April 1973.
And if you’re wondering why Keith also has bandages around his hand the story has changed, from a Kangaroo attack to just being a prop to help Leigh remember to stay in character. However, there are other suggestions that the bandage covers up an explicit tattoo.
Bullying takes many forms: Name-calling, making negative comments on your work, making someone feel worthless, physical abuse are just some examples.
So we’ve put some tips together to help anyone out there who might be being bullied. It doesn’t matter if you’re being bullied at school, college, university, work or home.
Remember if you are being bullied remember it’s not your fault.
Write Everything Down
Free-Photos / Pixabay
Keep a log of every incident; write down the date, time, location, what happened, what they said and any witnesses that were around.
Tell Someone
Tell someone in authority and ask them what they intend to do about it. Tell them any fears you have about reprisals from the bully.
Someone you trust, like a family member or a friend can also be useful. It means that you’re not dealing with the problem on your own; a problem shared is a problem halved.
Don’t try to deal with it and your feelings about it all on your own. Get some support. Consider counselling for some additional support around your feelings.
Know Your Rights
All educational settings have anti-bullying policies. Some employers have these as well. Even if your employer doesn’t they will have Equality & Diversity Policies as well as other relevant policies. Read them.
There will also be procedures for investigating and dealing with bullying – so have a look at these as well.
Know your rights. Nobody has a right to bully another. Make authority figures aware that you know you’re rights.
Don’t Let It Get To You
Try to not let the things the bully says or does get to you. Bullies bully for a variety of reasons, but it’s always about their issues, not yours.
Don’t let the bully see that they are getting to you. To do this, try to give them no reaction or smile. You know that phrase: Smile – it confuses people.
Walk With Confidence
Use your body language to make you look larger. Stand with your legs apart, your back straight and your chest pushed out slightly. Have your arms slightly away from your body and loose by your sides. Head up as you walk looking straight ahead. This does take a bit of practice but try practising in front of a full-length mirror. Believe it or not, this is how most bullies walk.
When we see someone walk like this, especially a bully, we do the opposite with our body language. We make ourselves as small as possible including hunching our back, pulling our arms in close and looking down at the ground. Try to remember to keep this confident body language, even when you see the bully.
The only time to avoid using body language to make you look larger is in the event of a physical assault. In that case, have your side to the perpetrator, as this will give them less of a target. In the event of a physical assault, get yourself out of the situation as soon as you can and to a place of safety.
Remember nobody has the right to be violent towards you; likewise, you don’t have the right to be violent towards anyone else. All physical assaults should be reported to the Police.
If the bully is sending you messages, texts, images and videos, keep them all. Don’t respond to any messages and make good use of privacy settings. Block/Ignore the bully and report them to the social media provider. If the messages get particularly abusive report them to the Police (this is why you need to keep all the messages as evidence).
Take Sensible Steps To Keep Yourself Safe
Keep yourself safe by carrying a mobile phone, personal attack alarm and being aware of your surroundings. Never walk home on your own and always try to stay with someone when travelling around the setting where you come into contact with the bully.
Involve The Police
Any violence or physical assault should be reported to the Police.
If the bullying is homophobic or racist in nature you can report it to the Police as a hate crime. Hate crime also covers bullying that is related to disability religion, ethnicity or transgender identify. Find out more about hate crimes on the True Vision website.
Come up with Good Coping Strategies
We all have different coping strategies. Some good ones are: taking up sports or martial arts (these are particularly empowering and you learn to defend yourself as well), talking to people, expressing how you feel creatively (e.g. writing, music, drawing, making movies, etc.). All of these activities also raise your confidence and self-esteem – something that bullies try to damage or destroy.
Avoid Drugs & Alcohol as a Coping Strategy
(C) BIGSTOCK
There is research that links drugs and alcohol misuse to bullying as a coping strategy. Avoid using drugs or alcohol to cope with the bullying. It might make you forget or feel happier in the very short term (for the night), but the next day the bullying often seems a much bigger problem.
Know that It Gets Better
Bullying is a massive issue. Many people get bullied. Remember that the situation you’re in now won’t last forever. There will be a time that the bullying will stop.
Avoid Becoming The Bully
There’s some research that shows that some people who have been bullied, later become bullies. Don’t let it happen, you’re better than that! Remember how it felt to be bullied. If you’re in a position to safely stand up to a bully that’s bullying someone else – do.
During the summer of 2018, THEGAYUK was fortunate enough to be given the keys to Toyota GB’s homage to Tamiya’s Hilux Bruiser for a week. It was a sad day when they came to collect it.
Shortly afterwards there was word on the street that model giant, Tamiya, was going to release a new radio controlled model based on that very Hilux Extra Cab model. And to really get the excitement up, they displayed it with stickers identical to the one Toyota GB had made.
This new model wasn’t to be based on the original Hilux Bruiser 3 speed chassis and as a result, it has made it more affordable to every enthusiast by basing it on the tried and tested CC-01 chassis.
Tried and tested, this chassis certainly is. It has been around for 25 years! That in itself sounds insane and yet there is still plenty of life in this chassis. It has seen 28 changes in body shell though some have been re-released.
Sometimes, if it’s not broken, don’t fix it and that really is something you won’t be doing with the CC-01 chassis. They don’t break. I used to run one year ago with the Subaru Brat body on it. So without further ado let’s quickly look at the chassis and its build.
It’s simple with a few surprises. Not all the screws are the same and within the first few instructions, you’ll notice that the front diff has smaller screws. Here is a useful tip for you. If you plan on using it off road, try stuffing the front diff with blu-tac. It will lock the diff up but allow some movement, sort of like a very limited slip diff. It helps when off-roading.
The rear diff comes with the option of locking it with 2 useful inserts. The rest of the chassis is pure off-roader in design. The rear has the ability to carry out to scale articulation with a live rear axle while the front is suspended by wishbones and all is damped by oil filled shock absorbers.
With a proper off-roader like this old faithful, it isn’t about speed. The CC-01 was never about speed. It’s all about torque with power to climb and crawl along. With that in mind, you will want to make sure you waterproof the radio gear.
The chassis is tough, rugged and never goes wrong. Even cleaning and maintenance are quick and easy. I could go on about what to do with the chassis for maximum off-road fun, but I’ll leave that up to you to discover. It’s truly will sort of go where you point it.
And now to the best part. The body shell. For years, Tamiya shells were intricate pieces of craftsmanship. Suddenly they started issuing stickers in place of paints for lights and door handles on their polycarbonate shells. It made bodybuilding quicker without the painstaking wait for bits to dry. Even the stickers were pre-cut. To me, that always felt a shame.
Thankfully, the shell for the Hilux Bruiser does have light inserts for the front and rears and the kit comes with a basic front and rear light kit. And there is more too. Masking. The extra cab needs masking up for the application of pearl white so this shell is turning into an intricate one after all that is worthy of extra attention.
What I choose to do however was paint it metallic blue. Tamiya recommends a solid blue colour. Having been up close and personal with the real thing, I can tell you that it is a sparkling metallic blue in colour. So there was no way I was going to paint it solid blue.
As for the stickers, they look daunting. There are plenty of them and all have to be cut out. This was a joy for me and should be for you too. It’s intricate and makes building the model more intricate while developing those modelling skills. I must add that I did get sticker fatigue with this but that only extended the joy of the body to another day. Saying that it took over a week to build the body. A WEEK! The chassis was built within hours!
There is the need to also buy some black paint too for the load bed area and radiator grill. None of this comes in a sticker. The rear light units need to be painted along with the mirrors. So this shell really did turn into a feast for the modeller like a gift that kept giving. And for that, I’d like to thank Tamiya.
