Victoria Wood’s devastated brother Chris Foote Wood, 75, yesterday (Wed) paid tribute to his sister following her death at the age of 62.
The author, broadcaster and former local politician, who himself lost his wife to cancer in 2013, described her as of the “brightest talents of our generation.”
“It is a great shock, particularly as I am the eldest of the four children of Stanley and Helen Wood, and Victoria the youngest, 13 years younger than me.
“But more than that I feel that Victoria‘s death has robbed us of one of the brightest talents of our generation.
Victoria Wood pictured at Buckingham Palace after receiving a Most Excellent order of the British Empire for services to Entertainment. See SWNS story SWWOOD; Comedian Victoria Wood has died aged 62 after a short battle with cancer.
“It wasn’t just that Victoria was hugely talented in so many different fields, she was also outstanding in her tremendous, single-minded drive and determination to pursue her chosen career.
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“Success did not come easily to Victoria, and it was only after years of struggle that she achieved her well-deserved national acclaim.
“I am hugely proud of what my sister has done so successfully in different fields of entertainment.
Victoria Wood, May 1974. See SWNS story SWWOOD; Comedian Victoria Wood has died aged 62 after a short battle with cancer.Victoria Wood, May 1974. See SWNS story SWWOOD; Comedian Victoria Wood has died aged 62 after a short battle with cancer.
“It has been a privilege to have her as a sister, and particularly to have been able to observe at first hand how she developed her career from the earliest beginnings.
“Victoria‘s two children, my niece Grace and nephew Henry will be absolutely devastated to lose their mother at such a relatively young age.
“Another reason I admire Victoria is that she was determined from the start to give her two children as normal an upbringing as possible and to shield them from unwanted media attention.
“In this she succeeded superbly, aided in every way by her then husband Geoffrey Durham who has continued his close support for their children after he and Victoria divorced in 2002.”
Dustin Lance Black has admitted that he thought he’d go to hell if he fell in love with another man when he was younger.
CREDIT: DFree-bigstock
Oscar winning writer Dustin Lance Black has spoken out about the fear he felt as a young gay man about falling in love with another man.
He revealed that, growing up in a military Mormon household, he feared he would go to hell, get bashed or killed if he fell in love.
He also opened up about the fear, sadness and suicidal thoughts that he had as a younger man as his church heaped negative messages about homosexuality on him.
“I was about 15 years old when I moved to the Bay area. At that point, for eight or nine years, all I’d had were negative messages from the church about going to hell. From the military environment, it’d been made clear that I was definitely somebody to be excluded and, being from the South, that I would bring shame to my family if any body found out.”
“So I thought if I fell in love, I would go to hell, bring shame to my family, be bashed or be killed. That removes the possibility of love from someone’s entire life and replaces it with shame. As a young kid, you start to contemplate solutions for making this living thing shorter, I certainly did, and I know I’m not alone.
“If you look to the LGBT organisations, they’ll tell you that LGBT young people are four times more likely to attempt suicide, and nine times more likely if they come from an unaccepting environment.”
“There were just no hopeful messages.”
“I’d heard about this guy creating a world where it was possibly to be gay. All of a sudden, I realised I’d never heard one thing like that in my entire upbringing,” he remembers.
“That wasn’t an idea that had existed in Texas in the 1980s. I’d never heard that, I’d just seen Rock Hudson on a stretcher, with the message that being gay will make you sick like this.”
However Dustin was able to find hope in his situation when he learned more about the historic gay iconic figure, Harvey Milk.
“I was very lucky to hear the story of Harvey Milk, it was life-saving for me. I wanted to share it in case it helped others, but the story of one gay man isn’t going to do it.”
“Until recently, Hollywood wasn’t there to support a production of easily accessible hero journeys for LGBT people. I think it’s incredibly important for young people who, as they come of age and might start hearing negative messages about who they are, that they also have a history of their forefathers and foremothers that they can draw inspiration from.”
HuffPost UK is turning Loud & Proud. Over the next fortnight, we’ll be celebrating how gay culture has influenced and, in turn, been embraced by all fields of entertainment, inspiring cinema-goers, TV audiences, music-lovers and wider society with its wit, creativity and power of expression.
The gay icon Sharon Osbourne, 63, has revealed that she now regrets not experimenting with other women in the past and thinks everybody is a bit gay.
She revealed her bisexuality during an appearance on the US talk show, The Talk.
“I always think everybody is gay – so am I”
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Although Brixton born Sharon is married to Ozzy Osbourne, she hinted during her interview that she had missed out on experimentation with people of the same sex when she was younger.
“I am not a little bit gay, I am extremely interested in the fact of what I missed out on. But it is too late now.”
Harry Reid is the actor who plays EastEnder‘s Ben Mitchell, son of hard man alcoholic Phil Mitchell.
Here’s 10 thing you probably didn’t know about Harry.
1) Harry Reid, Is He Gay? Despite receiving praise from the gay community on how he portrays Ben Mitchell in EastEnders, Harry Reid is straight in real life. Although it doesn’t look like he has a partner at the moment. He has spoken out that gay actors should be able to play straight roles and vice versa. Speaking about the issue of playing gay characters he said,
“I’ve had some great feedback from the gay community about how I play Ben.
“I’m a straight guy playing a gay role. There is no reason why it can’t work the other way around.
2) Old Blue Eyes: He has blue eyes and stands at 5 foot 10 inches.
3) Fruity? On his spotlight page, (it’s like a huge CV book for actors in the UK) Harry’s voice for voiceover work is described as “fruity”.
4) Educated: He studied at Arts University of Bournemouth and achieved a BA Honours in Acting in 2013.
5) Early Success: A short time after leaving uni Harry landed the role of Ben Mitchell on one of the most popular soaps in Britain. It was his first major role.
6) 90’s Boy: He was born in June, 1992
7) Footy Mad: He’s an avid football fan and supports Arsenal.
8) Ben’s Miserable To Play: He has said that playing Ben Mitchell has made him miserable causing him to suffer headaches. Harry revealed on Good Morning Britain:
“Ben is a very deep character. He has so many layers. He drains me. I come out of work with a headache because I spend the whole day being grumpy and miserable.
“There is a complex element to him, which makes him exciting to play.”
9) Gay Champion: Harry hit out at homophobes after his gay kisses on the soap revealing that he was “upset” when numerous users on Twitter shared their outrage at the man on man action. He shared a picture of Ronnie Kray and said,
“I only want to ask one question. Would you of called Ronnie Kray disgusting? #whatwouldronniesay [sic].
“Note: I’m not biting, it just needed pointing out;)”
10) Nude? Are we ever likely to see Harry naked? Unlikely but he hasn’t ruled out stripping off if the part he was playing required it for the role…
Ben, who is the son of hard man Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) has been trying to keep his love affair under wraps from the rest of the square. However all is revealed next week when the pair share a full on smooch in the Queen Vic.
The kiss, it seems, is too much for alcoholic Phil, who storms out of the pub in disgust.
Speaking about the actor’s impending departure a spokesperson for the soap said,
‘We can confirm Jonny will be leaving the show later this year. We wish him all the best for the future.’
Nick Celino is not just the guy with the extraordinarily volumised hair… No this dude has a sass level we’ve not seen since Vanessa Feltz was bedding people left, right and centre on The Big Breakfast
Nightclub and G-A-Y owner Jeremy Joseph has opened up about why he couldn’t enjoy Madonna’s performance at G-A-Y because he wanted it to be perfect for the Queen of Pop.
You have to give it to Joe McElderry, there is nothing he won’t do to keep in shape.
As these pictures prove Joe McElderry is serious about keeping fit as he takes a dip in the freezing sea after a 3 mile run.
CREDIT: Joe McElderry / Instagram
CREDIT: Joe McElderry / Instagram
Joe McElderry is showing he has what it takes to get his fitness to the next level. This morning he released a video which showed himself and a friend running into the freezing sea – at the end of a 3 mile run.
The clips show him running into the sea, submersing himself and then quickly making an escape from the icy water.
A few days ago he also posted a picture of another challenge that he and his co-stars of Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat try before a show – 100 burpees – they must be mad!
Now we don’t usually run much theatre preview content here at THEGAYUK, but when this little promo hit our desks we only thought of you…
Dear Reader… Just feast your eyes on this promo for a brand new show called Devilish. It’s a new British musical with music by BB Cooper, and book and lyrics by Chris Burgess starring Alex Green (the guy in the photo) as Angel.
Once Angel has savoured the delights of Clapham North, London, he decides he wants to become a human. And thus starts his odyssey through a metropolitan mire of corruption.
Cute and innocent, he is lured into appearing on a ‘Freak Idol’ TV show and is lusted after by fans everywhere.
We can’t imagine why <insert horny devil face>
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It was inspired by John Ruskin’s comment that an angel appearing on earth would be shot on sight. H.G Wells wrote a novel called ‘The Wonderful Visit’ based on this observation, but now a new team of writers offer their musical take on this premise.
James Franco was 38 yesterday and to celebrate the “a little bit gay” film star’s birthday we’ve looked through his hottest Instagram moments.
James Franco is the king of Instagram. He really lets you into his life and isn’t afraid to expose various aspects of his personality – which is why he’s basically f8cking hot.
