TV presenter Jay Blades has appeared in court charged with two counts of rape.

The 55-year-old appeared via video link at Telford Magistrates’ Court and spoke only to confirm his name, address and date of birth at the six-minute hearing on Wednesday.

Blades, from Claverley in Shropshire, was granted conditional bail to appear at Shrewsbury Crown Court on 10 September.

He was not required to enter pleas during his first appearance.

The presenter found fame on the furniture restoration programme The Repair Shop after he started presenting in 2017.

A furniture restorer, he was the face of the popular BBC show that featured people having their treasured objects repaired and rejuvenated until he stepped back from presenting the programme last year.

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Blades was also the presenter of the BBC’s Money For Nothing until 2020 and took part in Celebrity Masterchef, Celebrity Bake Off, and Comic Relief.

Yungblud has told Sky News he hopes he can keep Ozzy Osbourne’s “spirit and energy” alive after performing at the metal legend’s final gig.

The singer-songwriter paid tribute to his hero at the premiere of his upcoming documentary, Are You Ready, Boy?, which he admitted had been an “uncomfortable” watch as it shows him at his most vulnerable.

It gives fans a glimpse behind the curtain during the process of recording live tracks from his fourth studio album, Idols, which topped the charts in June.

Just a few weeks later, he was on stage at Back To The Beginning – Ozzy Osbourne‘s “final bow” reunion gig with Black Sabbath, held at Villa Park in Birmingham. The metal pioneer died less than three weeks later.

Yungblud, whose real name is Dom Harrison, performed a cover of Osbourne’s song Changes, and went on to release his version as a single, raising funds for the same charities as the concert.

Afterwards, Ozzy gifted him a cross which he keeps around his neck.

“Ozzy is everything to me, always has been,” he says. “And to be able to go on stage and honour my hero and sing that song to him, without knowing that they were his final days, was everything to me.

“I will try my best to keep that spirit and keep that energy alive. I love that guy. I got to know him personally at the end and I love that family. I’ve got nothing but love, always.”

Now, Harrison is getting ready for the release of Are You Ready, Boy?, which was filmed at the famous Hansa Studios in Berlin, the birthplace of albums including David Bowie’s Heroes and U2’s Achtung Baby!.

Making music and all of his creative output he sees as “life or death”, he says in the film. “I mean, 100%,” he adds while on the red carpet. “I think that’s how I like to play, you know? I mean, red or black, every time.

“I love taking risks and this film is the most vulnerable I think I’ve ever been. It’s pretty uncomfortable for me to watch. I’ve seen it once, I’ll watch it tonight and probably never watch it again…

“I think in this day and age, it’s very easy for us to cut around things and make them palatable and digestible. I wanted to do something that would be raw and uncomfortable, and this is what came out.”

The film comes during an intense period for the star, who has just opened his own music venue and shop in London, and is also planning a world tour and the return of his own festival, Bludfest, in 2026.

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“I think it’s important for [fans] to know who I really am,” he says, of why he wanted to make the film. “I think 30 seconds on an Instagram video doesn’t quite cut it. It’s a fly-on-the-wall documentary… we didn’t have an overarching narrative at the start of it.

“I said, come with me for two weeks, roll the cameras and see what happens.”

The star also spoke about Bludfest, which he launched in 2024. The third event next year will be “bigger and better,” he says.

The festival was set up as he felt prices had become too expensive and he wanted to show it could be done differently.

“I had something to prove,” he says. “I think this festival was important… It made me sick, the price of tickets. And a lot of promoters, I don’t think, took me seriously.

“We made a massive statement and I will continue to do that. I love my community, I love my fanbase. They’re all I care about.”

Are You Ready, Boy? is out in cinemas on August 20 and 24

Jeremy Clarkson has joined a backlash in the Cotswolds after US vice president JD Vance arrived at a picturesque hamlet in the region for his summer holiday.

Mr Vance and his family are staying at Dean Manor, a Grade II-listed country home in the tiny hamlet of Dean, during a trip where they also stayed with the Foreign Secretary David Lammy in Kent and will later travel to Scotland.

Local residents reportedly expressed their frustrations after Mr Vance’s enormous motorcade, consisting of 18 vehicles, caused a lockdown in the countryside on Monday.

People in the Cotswolds faced road closures and security checkpoints overseen by police with sniffer dogs as Mr Vance made his way to Dean Manor on Monday, according to GloucestershireLive.

It came before a “Vance Not Welcome Party” protest was organised by the groups “Everybody Hates Elon” and the “Stop Trump Coalition” in Charlbury, close to where Mr Vance is staying, today.

The demonstrators held banners mocking the US vice president and calling him a “war criminal”, in an apparent reference to America’s support for Israel.

Several protesters held images of a widely shared meme depicting Mr Vance with a bald head. The meme went viral after a Norwegian tourist claimed he was not allowed into the US after immigration agents saw it on his phone.

One protester in Charlbury held a banner reading “JD Vance’s Netflix password is ‘password'”, while another held a sign which said: “JD Vance claps when the plane lands.”

Meanwhile, a van displaying the image of a bald Mr Vance was seen driving through Charlbury.

A large sign outside a property in nearby Chipping Norton read: “Gaza starves, Vance not welcome.”

The demonstrations took place as former Top Gear presenter Clarkson shared an image on Instagram which highlighted how his farm is under a no-fly zone over the Cotswolds areas of Chadlington and Spelsbury.

In an apparent reference to filming for the fifth series of his show Clarkson’s Farm, the 65-year-old wrote: “The JD Vance no fly zone. We are the pin. So on the downside, no drone shots today. On the upside, no annoying light aircraft.”

However, he later sarcastically shared a video of a peaceful Cotswolds scene and wrote: “Utter chaos caused by Vance. How will we ever manage?”

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Kaleb Cooper, a farmer who is Clarkson’s co-star on the Amazon Prime show, said some of his “wheat got wet” after he got stuck behind Mr Vance’s convoy.

He wrote: “I could have easily went on my way and got it in the shed without getting in the way.”

Cooper also joked that if Mr Vance simply “drove around in a VW Polo nobody would know who he was”.

Clarkson’s “Diddly Squat Farm” in Chadlington is around three miles from the hamlet of Dean where Mr Vance is staying.

Well known for being popular with members of the British elite – former UK prime minister David Cameron lives in Dean – the Cotswolds is also becoming increasingly popular with wealthy Americans.

Some of them moved to the region after the election of Donald Trump last year. TV presenter Ellen DeGeneres is among those who has relocated to the area.

Not all of Dean’s residents appreciate its growing popularity. Jonathan Mazower, the head of communications for NGO Survival International, who owns one of Dean’s 15 homes, said he had to speak out against Mr Vance’s presence, adding: “It’s a massive intrusion and it’s not just the fact our lives are disrupted but it’s who he is.”

Vance’s UK tour

The US vice president is expected to host shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick during his holiday – but not Tory leader Kemi Badenoch.

Mr Jenrick has been invited to meet Mr Vance before a drinks event on Tuesday, it is understood.

A Conservative spokesman said the party leader’s team had spoken to Mr Vance’s but that “scheduling” had proved difficult.

Both sides have played down the notion of a snub, the Telegraph reported.

It comes as the US vice president will travel to Scotland later this week in a trip that could see up to 1,000 police officers deployed as part of security efforts.

Sky News understands the Vance family are likely to visit Ayrshire but are not thought to be planning to stay at Mr Trump’s Turnberry resort in the area.

In Kent, Mr Vance said he had a “love” for the UK but joked he had committed a diplomatic faux pas as he began his holiday.

“Unfortunately, the one strain on the special relationship is that all of my kids caught fish, but the foreign secretary did not,” he said.

He also said he doesn’t want the UK to go down a “very dark path” of losing free speech.

Mr Vance described Mr Lammy as a “very, very gracious host”.