Connect with us

Published

on

Girls Aloud have said they will reunite for a UK and Ireland tour next year to ‘celebrate’ bandmate Sarah Harding.

The band, made up of Cheryl, Nicola, Kimberley and Nadine, made the announcement on their 21st anniversary after weeks of speculation.

The performances will be dedicated to Harding two years after her death from breast cancer.

However, the band were quick to dispel rumours they will be releasing new music for the tour.

Instead, it will be a “celebration of Girls Aloud’s rich back catalogue” including songs like The Promise, Love Machine and Biology.

Speaking about the upcoming tour, Cheryl said: “We all started talking about the possibility of doing something to celebrate Girls Aloud’s 20-year anniversary a few years ago.

“The anniversary seemed like an obvious thing that we would celebrate. But when Sarah fell ill all priorities changed. She passed away a year before the anniversary and it just didn’t feel right, it felt too soon.

“It’s the right time to celebrate Sarah, it’s the right time to celebrate the band and the right time to celebrate the fact we can still do this 21 years later. That’s a big honour in lots of ways.”

In a video posted on X, formerly Twitter, each individual member is seen in a car travelling through grid-locked traffic while a medley of some of the band’s most popular songs plays over the top.

The girls then meet under a drive-in cinema screen playing clips of their old tours.

“We can’t wait to sing & dance with you again,” a statement alongside the video read.

The tour is set to take place in May to June next year, starting in Dublin and stopping in Manchester, London, Cardiff, Glasgow and Liverpool.

Fans immediately reacted to the video announcement with one X user writing: “Oh My God, this is the best news ever I’m so happy,” and another adding: “Best news ever!!!!! I still can’t believe it”.

The girl band first found fame in the early 2000s after being created through the ITV talent show Popstars: The Rivals.

Read more entertainment news:
Actress fired from Scream 7 over Israel-Gaza posts
The world of the Squid Game reality TV show
King hands honorary MBEs to K-popstars

Claiming the title of most successful girl group of the noughties, the band have sold in excess of five million albums in the UK and still hold the Guinness World Record for their 20 consecutive UK Top 10 singles.

The song Sound Of The Underground topped the 2002 Christmas chart, and the band nabbed the Brit Award for Best Single for The Promise.

The group then went on a hiatus between 2009 and 2012 before finally splitting the following year.

Girls Aloud perform on the Graham Norton show filmed at the London Studios in London in 2012
Image:
Girls Aloud performing in 2012

In 2012, they briefly came back together for a 10-year anniversary tour, with their last show taking place in March 2013.

Last year the girls again reunited for a charity gala event for The Christie NHS Foundation Trust and Cancer Research UK as part of The Sarah Harding Breast Cancer Appeal.

The band have raised more than £1m for breast cancer charities in the past year.

Tickets for the 2024 tour will go on pre-sale on 29 November at 9am, with the general sale taking place at 1 December at 9am.

Continue Reading

Entertainment

Paul Gallagher, older brother of Oasis stars Noel and Liam, is charged with offences including rape

Published

on

By

Paul Gallagher, older brother of Oasis stars Noel and Liam, is charged with offences including rape

Paul Gallagher, the older brother of Oasis stars Noel and Liam, has been charged with multiple offences including rape.

The Metropolitan Police said Gallagher, 59, of East Finchley, north London, has been charged with rape, coercive and controlling behaviour, three counts of sexual assault, three counts of intentional strangulation, two counts of making a threat to kill and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

The offences are reported to have taken place between 2022 and 2024. The charges follow an investigation which began last year, the force added in a statement.

A woman is being supported by specially-trained officers, the statement continued.

Paul Gallagher, who is about one year older than Noel and seven years older than Liam, has never been involved in Oasis.

He is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 27 August.

Continue Reading

Entertainment

Gregg Wallace speaks out after MasterChef sacking

Published

on

By

Gregg Wallace speaks out after MasterChef sacking

Gregg Wallace has spoken about his sacking from MasterChef after inappropriate behaviour while working for the BBC – but insisted he is “not a groper, a sex pest or a flasher”.

Wallace, 60, has apologised after a report, commissioned by the cooking show’s production company Banijay UK, found 45 out of 83 allegations were substantiated.

In an interview with The Sun, he said: “I know I have said things that offended people… I understand that now – and to anyone I have hurt, I am so sorry.

“I don’t expect anyone to have any sympathy with me but I don’t think I am a wrong ‘un.”

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

BBC reputation damaged by ‘serious errors’

MasterChef co-host John Torode also had an allegation that he used an “extremely offensive racist term” upheld, as part of the same investigation.

Torode, who insisted he had “absolutely no recollection” of the alleged incident, has not had his contract for the show renewed.

Wallace has now defended Torode, saying: “I’ve known John for 30 years and he is not a racist.

More on Bbc

“There is no way that man is a ­racist. No way. And my sympathies go out to John because I don’t want anybody to go through what I’ve been through.”

Former MasterChef presenters John Torode and Gregg Wallace. File pic: PA
Image:
Gregg Wallace has defended his former MasterChef co-host John Torode (left). File pic: PA

At one point, Wallace became tearful during the interview when describing the impact of the investigation on his family.

“I have seen myself written about in the same sentence as Jimmy Savile and Huw Edwards, paedophiles and sex offenders. That is just so, so horrific.”

In respect to the specific allegation of unwanted touching, Wallace denied groping a woman and said that, while he was attempting to flirt with her, he did believe the contact it was consensual.

“She gave me her phone number. I considered that to be intimacy. It was 15 years ago. Me, drunk, at a party, with my hand on a girl’s bum,” he said.

He also accepted he had briefly appeared with a sock on his private parts in front of four colleagues in MasterChef studio. But he said his is not a flasher, and people were either “amused or bemused” but not distressed.

Read more from Sky News:
Actor Micheal Ward charged with rape
Jazz singer Dame Cleo Laine dies
BBC reveals highest-earning stars

On the broader allegations about using inappropriate language, Wallace accepted the criticism and suggested that some of his conduct could be explained by his autism and his background.

“I know I am odd. I know I struggle to read people. I know people find me weird. Autism is a… registered disability. Just because you can’t see it doesn’t mean it’s not real.”

He also blamed his former career: “I’m a greengrocer from Peckham. I thrived in Covent Garden’s fruit and veg market. In that environment that is jovial and crude. It is learned behaviour.”

Wallace told the newspaper he is now scared to appear in public: “I go out now in a disguise – a baseball cap and sunglasses, I don’t want people to see me. I’m scared.”

On Wednesday, the BBC confirmed a series of MasterChef filmed last year, before allegations against presenters Gregg Wallace and John Torode were upheld, will still be broadcast.

Continue Reading

Entertainment

Company at heart of Coldplay viral video releases tongue-in-cheek clip – with a big twist

Published

on

By

Company at heart of Coldplay viral video releases tongue-in-cheek clip - with a big twist

The company at the centre of a viral video at a Coldplay concert has released a tongue-in-cheek clip on social media – featuring Gwyneth Paltrow as a “temporary spokesperson”.

Astronomer was thrust into the spotlight after two of the tech firm’s senior executives were filmed embracing on a kiss cam during a gig in Boston.

Andy Byron subsequently resigned as chief executive officer – while the woman in the video, Kristin Cabot, stepped down as chief people officer a few days later.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Tech boss resigns after viral Coldplay concert video

Paltrow, who used to be married to Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, is seen sitting at a desk in the new video uploaded to X – and begins by thanking the public for their interest in Astronomer.

She adds: “I’ve been hired on a very temporary basis to speak on behalf of the 300-plus employees at Astronomer.

“Astronomer has gotten a lot of questions over the last few days – and they wanted me to answer the most common ones.”

A question is then typed out on the screen that reads: “OMG, what the actual…”

More from Ents & Arts

Before the final word appears, the video cuts back to Paltrow, who goes on to promote some of the services Astronomer offers.

In a subtle nod to the countless column inches the company has attracted, Paltrow adds: “We’ve been thrilled so many people have a newfound interest in data workflow automation.”

Another question then pops up on screen, which begins to type out: “How is your social media team holding up?”

But before the sentence fully appears, Paltrow abruptly interrupts by declaring that Astronomer has spaces at an upcoming conference in September.

Astronomer

“We’ll now be returning to what we do best: delivering game-changing results for our customers,” she adds at the end of the video.

The marketing stunt is a sign that Astronomer is trying to put a positive spin on the scandal, which sparked feverish speculation online.

After Mr Byron resigned, the company had said in a statement: “Astronomer is committed to the values and culture that have guided us since our founding.

“Our leaders are expected to set the standard in both conduct and accountability, and recently, that standard was not met.”

Woman hides her face

Pete DeJoy, who has taken over as interim CEO, admitted on Monday that the company has faced an “unusual and surreal” amount of attention in recent days.

On LinkedIn, he wrote: “While I would never have wished for it to happen like this, Astronomer is now a household name.”

Continue Reading

Trending