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Henry Rowley couldn’t be more honest about enjoying the recognition that comes with going viral.

“I really do love it,” he says. “Partly because I’m a vain ****!”

The 25-year-old was a standout performer at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe, a prospect which not long ago would probably have made him laugh more than one of his own jokes.

No longer a mere marketing executive after finding fame on TikTok, the comic’s growing collection of skits and impressions – each personifying parts of pop culture and society we can all relate to or poke fun at – have seen him amass more than 1.3 million followers.

“It was pretty cool,” he says of the first video that really took off.

“Each time you hit a milestone of numbers it’s so surreal, the fact so many people have seen your video.

“But I think also I was keeping in mind that a lot of people probably don’t find it funny or even find it annoying, it’s just the nature of comedy, especially online.”

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Fringe comics tell favourite jokes

Growing up ‘posh’

Since he shared his first video last year, Rowley has developed a cast of his own characters to go along with the countless celebrity impressions and film parodies.

There’s Minty and Hugo, “the music guy at afters” and “the walking ick”, the husky-voiced posh girl Delicatessen.

None of his clips are more popular than those sometimes self-deprecating riffs on Britain’s upper class, speaking in tones that would embarrass even Jack Whitehall and Boris Johnson.

And at this most wonderful time of year, when Love Actually is as inescapable as mince pies and turkey, he’s certainly not letting his Hugh Grant and Keira Knightley impressions go to waste.

“I’d grown up in Leicester being the posh one of my friends, and always sort of taken the p*** out of it,” he says.

“Then suddenly I was in Bristol University surrounded by these posh kids and the minute they heard I was from Leicester they saw me as this little street urchin. I’m really not! So a lot of it is based on friends I made there, and sometimes even myself.”

Rowley doesn’t take any negative feedback to heart – any comedian who does probably isn’t long for the circuit, although putting all your material online certainly makes you an easy target.

Those who aren’t keen “normally just hate me from afar”, he says. “Which I’m OK with!”

Hugh Grant and Martine McCutcheon in Love Actually Pic: Peter Mountain/Universal/Dna/Working Title/Kobal/Shutterstock
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Love Actually’s Hugh Grant is a regular source of inspiration. Pic: Peter Mountain/Universal/Dna/Working Title/Kobal/Shutterstock

A simple formula

With his videos attracting 69.1 million likes on TikTok, earning him fans all around the world, it’s safe to say he has mostly found himself an enthusiastic audience.

While few are safe to embed in a family-friendly news article, each clip strives to be relatable in some way.

As someone who had the misfortune of enduring the entire Twilight saga this year, his recreation of what it’s like to watch them is painfully accurate.

The unremarkable selfie-style framing and sharp runtimes also suit the platform perfectly.

When Rowley’s fans see him out and about, he can’t help but enjoy hearing about how much they enjoy his work.

“It’s such a nice interaction meeting someone, finding out they find you funny or enjoy what you’re doing,” he says.

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But there’s no real formula to his success, he insists.

Well, no formula beyond doing something he loves – and he’s now making a living out of it.

“If you don’t enjoy making the videos or don’t like the end product, what’s the point in doing it?” he says.

“People always say to me, ‘why do you always laugh at your own jokes?’ And I say ‘because I find them hilarious. If I didn’t then I wouldn’t say them.'”

Well, that and he’s a vain so-and-so.

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Rapper Ghetts charged after man killed in hit-and-run

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Rapper Ghetts charged after man killed in hit-and-run

The rapper Ghetts has been charged after a man was killed in a hit-and-run in northeast London.

The musician, whose real name is Justin Clarke-Samuel, was charged with causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

He allegedly failed to stop after hitting a 20-year-old man in Ilford last Saturday, the Met Police said.

The 41-year-old appeared at Stratford Magistrates’ Court on Monday – the same day the man died in hospital.

The indictment is expected to change from causing serious injury to causing death by dangerous driving at the next hearing.

Ghetts was remanded into custody and is due to appear at Barkingside Magistrates’ Court on 27 October.

The police are appealing for witnesses to the crash to come forward.

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Ghetts is a grime rapper who played at Glastonbury last year and has collaborated with Ed Sheeran, Stormzy and Skepta.

He also had a role in the Netflix drama Supacell.

Last year, he received the Mobo Pioneer Award for his significant contribution to British black culture.

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‘People want you to stay in your lane’: Reese Witherspoon on her ‘deeply personal’ decision to write a novel

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'People want you to stay in your lane': Reese Witherspoon on her 'deeply personal' decision to write a novel

It is “pretty surreal”, Academy Award winner Reese Witherspoon admits, finding herself at the top of The New York Times bestsellers list.

When I meet the actress alongside her co-writer, best-selling author Harlan Coben, overnight the pair have learned that their thriller is now at number one.

He jokes: “I was texting her last night and saying you’ll now have to call yourself number one bestselling novelist, forget about Oscar winner!”

Reese Witherspoon and Harlan Coben told Katie Spencer about their novel Gone Before Goodbye
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Reese Witherspoon and Harlan Coben told Katie Spencer about their novel Gone Before Goodbye

As one of the most successful authors in the world, Coben has sold over 80 million books to date, while for Witherspoon this is new ground.

Not content with running a hugely successful production company responsible for a string of hits, as well as one of the most successful book clubs in the world, she explains she felt compelled to give writing a try.

“People want you to stay in your lane… as a creative person I think it’s impossible to just choose one kind of life.

“Creativity is infinite and who I was as a creative person when I was 20 is very different from the person I am now at 49.”

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Gone Before Goodbye, a thriller about a talented surgeon who finds herself caught up in a deadly conspiracy, is the result of Witherspoon daring to put her head above the parapet.

Witherspoon says she felt compelled to give writing a try
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Witherspoon says she felt compelled to give writing a try

Coben admits he was “a little wary” at first.

“I don’t co-write novels but when she made the pitch and started talking about it, I was like ‘dang that’s good, we can do something with that’.”

While countless celebrities work with ghostwriters, Coben says: “I said to her from day one ‘it’s only going to be you and me in here… no third person in here, I don’t do that’. So every word you [read] comes from Reese and me.”

Coben has sold over 80 million books to date, while for Witherspoon this is new ground
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Coben has sold over 80 million books to date, while for Witherspoon this is new ground

Witherspoon explains: “He was like ‘if we’re going to do this, it’s going to have to be at a really high level because people going to expect a lot, so our bar was really high.”

“I said to her, in the beginning, novels are like a sausage,” Coben laughs. “You might like the final taste, but you don’t want to see how it was made and Reese got to see the full sausage getting made here.”

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When it came to writing, Coben says they “fell into a rhythm right away”, working together in three-hour stints, “back and forth with a yellow legal pad – what about this? What about that?”

Coben says they 'fell into a rhythm right away'
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Coben says they ‘fell into a rhythm right away’

Witherspoon says it “feels really deeply personal” to have their work now in print.

“Usually, as an actor, I walk into other people’s worlds and it’s already set up… but this was creating the whole world with Harlan and just from beginning to end feels very personal.”

While the story seems an obvious fit for being adapted to the screen, perhaps with a certain blonde actress in the leading role, Coben says that was never their intention.

“The biggest, biggest mistake novelists make when you write a book is to say ‘this would make a really great movie’. A book is a book, a movie is a movie, and we both focused on wanting this to be just a great reading experience.”

Given that their collaboration is already selling in big numbers, will the pair team up again to write a second?

Witherspoon says: “Let’s just see what people think of this one first.”

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Kim Kardashian diagnosed with brain aneurysm

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Kim Kardashian diagnosed with brain aneurysm

Kim Kardashian has revealed that she has been diagnosed with a brain aneurysm.

  • Footage from the latest season of The Kardashians shows the reality TV star going for an imaging scan.

The 45-year-old appears to suggest her small aneurysm may have stemmed from stress.

Brain aneurysms are relatively common, with data suggesting they affect about one in every 50 people.

In many cases, patients may be unaware that they have one – as they tend to cause few symptoms when unruptured.

Brain aneurysms are common but often go undiagnosed. iStock file pic
Image:
Brain aneurysms are common but often go undiagnosed. iStock file pic

Should an unruptured aneurysm grow to a larger size, it can cause headaches, balance problems and speech issues.

Those that burst are extremely dangerous and can prove fatal in some circumstances.

While aneurysms can emerge throughout the body, they are most typically found in the aorta, which carries blood out of the heart.

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Research suggests brain aneurysms are most common in adults between the ages of 30 and 60 – with women disproportionately affected.

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Associate professor of neurology Dr Laura Stein told Sky’s US partner NBC News: ” The most well-described risk factors include a predisposition [family history of aneurysm], high blood pressure, cigarette smoking and inflammation.”

She went on to explain that most fatal ruptured aneurysms are in the brain, killing about one in three patients.

“When it’s a blood vessel that’s in the head and it bleeds, there’s a much higher risk of having a very bad problem just because the brain is enclosed in a fixed space,” Dr Stein added.

Low-risk aneurysms are monitored by doctors for growth or abnormalities, and there are a series of potential treatment options for those considered dangerous.

Elsewhere in The Kardashians clip, Kim admitted that her ex-husband Kanye West will be in her life “no matter what” because of the four kids they share together.

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