UEFA rejects request for Baddiel and Skinner to perform Three Lions before Euros final

Published

3 years ago

July 10, 2021

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UEFA has rejected a request for Frank Skinner and David Baddiel to perform Three Lions (Football’s Coming Home) on the pitch before the Euro 2020 final.

Skinner claimed the tournament’s organisers said performing the song at Wembley before England play Italy on Sunday would be “too partisan and not fair to the Italians”.

The comedian pointed out that Italian opera star Andrea Bocelli sang Nessun Dorma at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico before Italy took on Turkey in the opening game of Euro 2020.

Skinner told Channel 4 show The Last Leg: “There was a suggestion that we sang (Three Lions) on the pitch before the final on Sunday and UEFA said it was too partisan and not fair to the Italians to have that.

“In the opening game, which was Italy versus Turkey, Andrea Bocelli sang Nessun Dorma before the game.”

In a statement to Sky News, UEFA confirmed a request for Baddiel and Skinner to perform Three Lions on the Wembley pitch was received on Friday but the closing ceremony had “already been finalised”.

“No additional elements can be integrated at this stage due to the very tight countdown schedule and operational complexities ahead of the kick-off,” a UEFA spokesperson said.

UEFA said Three Lions had been chosen as “the fan song” by the FA and it will be played during the players’ warm-up with karaoke graphics on giant screens, “as has been the case for England’s previous matches”.

Baddiel and Skinner will now perform the song with the Lightning Seeds at London’s 229 music venue in front of 200 England fans ahead of the Euros final on Sunday.

Three Lions (Football’s Coming Home) has become an anthem for England supporters since it was first released in 1996.

It is one of the UK’s best-selling singles of all time, according to the Official Charts Company, and has had four spells at number one.

It has zoomed up the charts again this week to number four as the England team seek to win their first major trophy since the famous 1966 World Cup victory.

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Explaining the intended meaning of the song, Baddiel said: “It’s about how we mainly lose but still irrationally believe that this time, hope might triumph over experience.

“It’s about yearning and magical thinking. It’s about the condition of being a football fan. Admittedly people have taken (Football’s Coming Home) to mean all sorts of b******s.”

Ahead of the final, government ministers are reportedly being urged not to declare “it’s coming home” while supporting the England football team because it aggravates foreign nations.

A briefing note from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, seen by PoliticsHome, said the phrase “does not go down well overseas” and might damage a potential UK and Ireland bid to host the 2030 World Cup.

Government sources acknowledged the e-mail and said the song would not be put front and centre of a bid to host the 2030 tournament.

But they added “the song is about us for us, it’s been a long old wait for a final”.

England manager Gareth Southgate has made an appeal to the country’s wartime spirit ahead of their Euro 2020 final, urging supporters to be proud of its achievements both on and off the pitch.

Southgate said the nation has “so much to be proud of” and urged fans to stop “looking at the negatives of our own country”.

“People have tried to invade us and we’ve had the courage to hold that back,” Southgate told The Daily Telegraph.

“You can’t hide that energy in the stadium against Germany was because of that. I never mentioned that to the players, but I know that’s part of what the story was.”

Entertainment

Dua Lipa at Glastonbury: A masterclass from a proper pop star

Published

4 hours ago

June 29, 2024

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Dua Lipa at Glastonbury: A masterclass from a proper pop star

Dua Lipa has set the bar high for this year’s Glastonbury headliners, performing a slick set of hits to an enormous crowd at the festival’s famous Pyramid Stage.

The 28-year-old star told fans she had manifested the moment, but watching her command the stage – hit after hit played, voice soaring, dance moves effortless – it seems her talent was always going to bring her here.

Starting with Training Season, from her latest album Radical Optimism, Lipa kept the energy levels high throughout for tracks including Be The One, Levitating, Hallucinate, One Kiss, Physical, New Rules and Don’t Start Now.

As is Glastonbury tradition, fireworks lit the sky, during and after the set, while several costume changes also added to the sense of occasion – which the singer described as “the maddest night of my life”.

Telling the crowd about manifesting the experience, she also hinted she would be staying on at the festival to enjoy the rest of the weekend (although probably not in a tent, I’m guessing).

“I have written this moment down. I’ve wished for it, I’ve dreamt, I’ve worked so hard in the hopes that maybe one day I’ll get to do it and I can’t believe I’m here,” she said.

“You know when I wrote it down, I was very specific, I said I really wanted to headline the Pyramid stage on a Friday night because then I knew I could party for the next two days in the best place on Earth.

“I’m so grateful, little me would just be beside herself right now.”

Lipa’s performance included Cold Heart, her Sir Elton John collaboration, which saw her greeting delighted fans at the front of the crowd, who had no doubt been there for hours beforehand to save the spot.

She followed another Glastonbury tradition by bringing out a surprise guest – Kevin Parker from Tame Impala, to perform The Less I Know The Better from his band’s 2015 album, Currents – and teased Barbie’s Dance The Night during one of her several costume changes.

The star also showed awareness of the festival audience, with 90s rave imagery on screens and confetti cannons blasting rainbows.

It’s something some big acts can get wrong – to go down in Glastonbury headlining history, it needs to be more than just an extra tour show.

At times, however, the set was so slick, it felt more geared to the TV audience than to the crowd – a couple of songs saw Lipa performing to the camera, back to the audience, for good chunks of time – but when the choreography is this good, it’s captivating to watch wherever you are. It’s a small complaint.

Festival organiser Emily Eavis had said beforehand that Lipa was “born” to headline.

By the time the star had closed the set with Houdini, she had proved her absolutely right.

If Lipa is indeed staying on to enjoy the weekend, she’ll get to see for herself the huge array of brilliant acts on offer.

But as headline sets go, hers will be a hard act to beat – a masterclass from a world-class, proper pop star.

Entertainment

Damon Albarn makes surprise Glastonbury appearance with Bombay Bicycle Club

Published

15 hours ago

June 28, 2024

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Damon Albarn makes surprise Glastonbury appearance with Bombay Bicycle Club

Damon Albarn has made a surprise appearance at Glastonbury – addressing politics and the Israel-Hamas war as he turned up on stage to perform with Bombay Bicycle Club.

The band performed on the Other Stage this afternoon, ahead of artists including Anne-Marie, D-Block Europe and Idles.

Blur and Gorillaz star Albarn features on Bombay Bicycle Club’s 2023 song Heaven, and speculation he would join them had been rife ahead of their Glastonbury set.

They had teased a special guest, without revealing a name, and the @secretglasto Twitter account hinted beforehand that the mystery artist “could make Bombay Bicycle Club’s set go by in a Blur”.

Albarn headlined the festival with Blur in 2009 and again with Gorillaz the following year, as a last-minute replacement for U2 due to frontman Bono injuring his back.

After joining Bombay Bicycle Club at this year’s festival, he spoke on stage about Palestine, the general election, and world politics.

“Three things: you have to show me how you feel about it – are you pro Palestine? Do you feel that’s an unfair war?” he said.

“The importance of voting next week – I don’t blame you for being ambivalent about that but it’s still really important. And thirdly – maybe it’s time we stopped putting octogenarians in charge of the whole world?”

Speaking to Sky News about their collaboration, Bombay Bicycle Club said it had all been unexpected.

“We were never expecting to have him on the record or to be playing a show with him, but… we just kind of asked, and he was really up for it. You don’t ask, you don’t get.”

There wasn’t much time to rehearse, they added, with about an hour to get things right for the live performance. “But, you know, with him, that’s all you need.”

Kasabian, Liam Gallagher, Harry Styles, Kings Of Leon and Pulp are all among the artists rumoured to potentially make surprise appearances on stages around the festival site throughout the weekend.

Bombay Bicycle Club are among the music acts kicking off the first full day of the festival, which will be headlined by Dua Lipa.

Squeeze opened the show early on Friday, with K-pop act Seventeen, Olivia Dean and The Snuts also among the early performers.

Elsewhere, just days after the birth of his fourth child, Joe Wicks led a fitness session – and set his sights on taking his workouts to the Pyramid Stage.

“You don’t often think about a fitness workout being at a music festival but yesterday I did a workout and about 2,000 people turned up and it was amazing,” he told Sky News, ahead of a second session on Friday.

Wicks says people still want to look after themselves at festivals.

“It’s hard sleeping in a tent so if they’re awake, I’ve said, come and join me, start the day right.”

Coldplay will headline tomorrow, while Shania Twain fills the Sunday afternoon “legends slot” and SZA closes the weekend.

Entertainment

Holly Willoughby kidnap plot trial: Gavin Plumb says TV presenter was his ‘celebrity crush’

Published

20 hours ago

June 28, 2024

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Holly Willoughby kidnap plot trial: Gavin Plumb says TV presenter was his 'celebrity crush'

A security guard accused of planning to kidnap, rape and murder Holly Willoughby has told a jury the television presenter was “my celebrity crush”.

An undercover US police officer on Thursday told Chelmsford Crown Court he believed 37-year-old Gavin Plumb posed an “imminent threat” to the former This Morning Host.

Plumb shared a video of his “abduction kit” with the officer, referred to as David Nelson, and said he would use chloroform to snatch Willoughby, 43, from her home to sexually assault her before slitting her throat, the jury has heard.

He alerted UK police who found two bottles of liquid, alongside items including handcuffs, rope, shackles and cable ties, at Plumb’s home in Harlow, Essex – but they were found not to contain the substance.

Plumb denies three charges of soliciting murder and encouraging kidnap and rape between 21 December 2021 and 5 October last year.

Giving evidence for the first time on Friday, he told the jury he spent his life online engaging in “wholesome chat” but also fantasising about having sex with celebrities, including Willoughby, who he had seen on daytime TV after he became housebound, having gained weight and reaching 35.5 stone.

“She was my celebrity crush,” said Plumb, who sat down in a chair to give his evidence, wearing a light grey sweater and dark trousers, after telling the judge he would not be able to stand.

Asked how many times he thought about her a day, Plumb said: “It would depend how many times I would chat about her. Sometimes it would be once, other times it would be four, five, six times.”

But the chats became “darker” from 2021, he said, being questioned by his barrister Sasha Wass KC.

He admitted he found the conversations “exciting” at the time but added: “Looking back at it now it’s massively regrettable because it’s not the sort of chat I would normally participate in.”

Plumb added: “It was kind of like gratification. It was something I knew was never going to happen.”

He told the jury he had bought most of the items in what has been described as an “abduction kit” following a four-month sexual relationship in which he was introduced to “BDSM and rough sex”.

“The whole kit is meant for someone who is consenting,” he said.

Plumb told jurors his weight started to fluctuate from the age of 13, which “really affected my mental health” because he could not play sport and was often put “in the friend zone” with girls.

Plumb said he has only had one serious relationship, which he described as “extremely toxic”, and lasted four-and-a-half years, during which there were “constant arguments” and he was “constantly put down”.

“I don’t want to be in a relationship anymore,” he said.

The court has heard he has two convictions for attempted kidnap from 2006, after trying to abduct two women off the Stansted Express train, later claiming they were members of cabin crew. He had rope and an imitation firearm when he was arrested.

Plumb said he was travelling between car parks where he worked handing out tickets and although he admitted he “had a stewardess fantasy back then” he said he did it “to get out of the relationship”.

He was handed a suspended sentence and in 2008 said he used a box cutter to hold two “shouting and screaming and crying” 16-year-old girls in a warehouse where he worked, taping one of their hands behind her back.

Plumb said he committed the offences to “get away from the relationship”, which ended while he was in jail after he was sentenced to 32 months in prison, serving half, after admitting two charges of false imprisonment.

He told jurors once released he spent 99.9% of his life online, communicating with others about gaming, football and “normal fantasy chat” about having sex with various celebrities, including “briefly” Willoughby, but it was “completely different” to the “dark” material he later shared.

Willoughby, who is not attending the trial and is not a witness, announced in October last year that she was stepping down from This Morning after 14 years on the ITV show, but has since hosted Dancing On Ice 2024, and is due to present a Netflix show.