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Guy Garvey says he looked back to his “rock n’ roll years” when writing parts of his new album Audio Vertigo, drawing on “destructive,” “tumultuous,” and “toxic” relationships from his past for inspiration.

Elbow’s lead singer tells Sky News: “Nobody wants to hear about how proud of my second hand Toyota RAV4 I am. It’s like I’m going to have to write about some of the more rock n’ roll years”.

Pic: PA
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Pic: PA

Suffering for your art is a well-known trope, and having just turned 50 and with two and a half decades in the industry, Garvey knows well that “reflections on mistakes are so much more fun to listen to”.

His past pains have clearly done the trick, with their 10th studio LP earning the Mercury, Brit and Ivor Novello award-winning band – made up of Garvey, Pete Turner and Craig and Mark Potter – their fourth official number one album.

It also topped the vinyl album chart and was the most-purchased physical LP of the past seven days in independent UK record shops.

Garvey calls their achievement “amazing,” adding: “I never used to worry about such things. This time it feels different. I really wanted to make it.”

So how did he go about digging out what he dubs his “celebration of misadventures”?

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Garvey explains: “I’m in a very, very happy marriage. So, I’ve drawn on some perhaps more tumultuous relationships from the past.

“There’s two songs in particular, The Picture and Poker Face, that I’ve kind of put a few things together, not just my relationships, but [also] toxic relationships that people close to me have had.

“And it’s I suppose it’s a little observation slash parable, the toxic relationship, because I think sometimes two people can be wonderful people, it’s just that chemistry brings the worst out in each other.

“It’s the closest to the brink of madness I’ve ever been, I think, to be in a destructive relationship. And thankfully, it’s been many, many years. But it’s good. It’s fertile ground for song writing, all of that.”

‘It’s been pretty frantic’

Garvey has been happily married to actress Rachel Stirling – daughter of acting icon Diana Rigg – for eight years, and the couple share one son, Jack.

(L-R) Garvey and his wife Rachel Stirling in 2021. Pic: Reuters
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(L-R) Garvey and his wife Rachel Stirling in 2021. Pic: Reuters

Garvey’s written about “the gentle highs and lows of domesticity” in some of his past work, and as all those juggling family life with work will concede, it’s almost impossible to keep the two worlds from colliding at points.

An angst-inducing schedule clash that proves the point is the fact Stirling’s new play, The Divine Mrs S, opened on the same day Elbow’s record came out.

Garvey admits, “it’s been pretty frantic,” adding, “Jack’s been passed from pillar to post a little bit between the two of us.

“We made sure that one of us is home at all times. But, that’s also down to the rest of Elbow being gentleman about it. There’s been quite a few rehearsals where I’ve been on tape”.

Matching sequinned dressing gowns?

Balking somewhat at being labelled a celebrity couple (Garvey laughingly shrugs it off, saying “I’ve never actually heard somebody describe us as a showbiz family,”) he says they are definitely not the types to be wearing “matching sequinned dressing gowns”.

He also acknowledges the very real change of gear needed within any relationship when kids come into the equation.

Garvey says: “It’s one of the decisions we made when we said, ‘Shall we have a family?’ I mean, Rachel said, ‘Shall we have a family?’

“I took some convincing. She was very convincing.

“But a lot of it was like, ‘Well, what about work?’ And the phrase was, ‘We’ll make it work’, you know?

“And of course, the priority is the lad’s happiness and well-being. And he’s actually inspired so much of the work we both do. And he’s really proud of us both already at seven.”

One song on the album, From The River, he describes as “a love letter to my son” and “our aspirations for him”.

‘Gnarly, grimy and from the heart’

With the album noted as a departure from the band’s normal style, Garvey says they decided to move away from “reflectively writing about the worries of the world,” and to offer “something a bit more fun”.

Elbow receive their Official Number 1 Album Award for Audio Vertigo. Pic: Official Charts
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Elbow receive their official number one album award for Audio Vertigo. Pic: Official Charts

Met with praise from critics, it’s been hailed “landmark” (Mojo) and their best since their 2008 Mercury Prize-winning album The Seldom Seen Kid (NME) – so does Garvey read his own press?

He admits: “Yes, against my better judgement, I do.”

He describes the collection as “gnarly, confrontational, a bit from the heart and a bit grimy, in the old sense of the word”.

With streaming now the go-to way to listen to music, has Elbow changed the way they put out their music in response?

“Streaming is marvellous… All the world’s music in your pocket… But as I said in my deposition to the Select Committee a couple of years ago on the economics of streaming, the money isn’t getting to the artist and that’s wrong…

“At the minute, it’s loaded way too heavily in favour of the business model, [but] the business model must change to protect music. Spotify are guilty. And I am guilty of having a Spotify account.”

‘Albums aren’t going anywhere’

And in a week that Sheryl Crow described making albums as a “waste of time and money” because people do not listen to them in full, does Garvey think she might have a point?

Pic: PA
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The band with their Mercury Prize in 2008. Pic: PA

“We stubbornly stick to the fact that we’re an album band and have been from the beginning,” Garvey says.

“For some outfits, the finished product is a show. For us, it’s an album”.

He goes on: “I want to be changed by a listening experience. I want my musicians to take me by the hand, album to album, and lead me creatively to where they’re going next. You can’t do that in playlists and individual songs”.

He says his old family car still has a CD player so he’s bought all the records he owns on CD, and he plays them in the back of the car on the school run, and gives him the CD sleeve of tracks to read on the way.

Garvey is adamant that reports of the death of the album are greatly exaggerated: “The album as an art form isn’t going anywhere. Everybody thought the book was going to disappear on account of digital technology. It hasn’t and it won’t, and neither will the album.”

‘We’re under real threat’

As for a recent study which found song lyrics have become angrier over last 40 years, Garvey is not surprised.

Elbow Pic: Peter Neill
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Elbow. Pic: Peter Neill

Never afraid of getting political, Garvey explains: “All art tends to reflect the society it’s made in. It’s also a litmus test of its health as well. I think we’re under a real threat. The rise of autocratic government is terrifying…

“I can understand why language is getting angry, absolutely. For every issue to become partisan, it’s just so wrong. It shouldn’t be partisan to object to mass slaughter.

“And also, if Putin’s not stopped, he’s a green light for all the rest of the world’s dictators, and then we’re really in trouble.”

Touring and Glastonbury

In May, the band will embark on a huge UK arena tour, performing in Brighton (which is already sold out), London, Birmingham, Glasgow, Leeds, Nottingham, and the new Co-op Live Arena in Manchester.

In a pleasing piece of symmetry, Garvey’s mum worked for Co-op supermarket when she was a girl, to which Garvey says, “Yeah, Shirley was very proud when she found out.”

Elbow performing at Glastonbury Festival in 2017. Pic: PA
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Elbow performing at Glastonbury Festival in 2017. Pic: PA

They have played at Glastonbury around 10 times according to Garvey, with at least four of those appearances on the coveted Pyramid Stage.

He says the band have “no plans so far” to perform there this year, but adds: “If we don’t play this year, hopefully they’ll invite us next year…

“Culturally, it’s the best music festival in the world. And in terms of our history with it, [Elbow’s] timeline is pinned out by our Glastonbury performances.”

He also says there’s “something really special about this year’s line-up,” which for the first time features two women in the top slots.

The annual controversy around who is (and isn’t) on the bill – perhaps most notably in 2008 when hip hop star Jay-Z’s performance divided festival fans – is a “testimony” Garvey says “to how popular” the event is.

He explains: “Two female headliners, that’s amazing. There’s always a new frontier. There’s always a new thing to consider. And I’ll always trust the Eavis family [Michael and his daughter Emily who run the Worthy Farm event] to deliver us a party that the world envies year on year”.

So, with a number one album, and a wife working evenings for the foreseeable future, what’s he up to this Easter?

Garvey says with a wide smile that he’s visiting friends with his son, where they plan “to have a massive Easter egg hunt and drink too much wine”.

Like Glastonbury – Garvey knows how to kick back, have fun – and of course – keep putting out music that will resonate for years to come.

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Upskirted, assaulted, accused of faking their music skills: Why female DJs need to be ‘bulletproof’

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Upskirted, assaulted, accused of faking their music skills: Why female DJs need to be 'bulletproof'

To see Koven’s Katie Boyle perform live is beyond impressive. Hailing from Luton, she is one of the most influential women in drum ‘n’ bass today, an artist who pioneered the art of singing live while DJing. 

Although she’s now been doing it for 12 years, her vast knowledge doesn’t silence the trolls online.

“There is a real bad misogyny online against women,” she says of the industry, with plenty of critics refusing to “believe they’re doing what they say they’re doing, and that’s been quite a hard thing to combat”.

Koven is a duo. In the studio, Boyle collaborates with producer Max Rowat; live, she performs and mixes alone. They have just released their second album, Moments In Everglow.

Koven's Katie Boyle
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Koven (L-R): Max Rowat and Katie Boyle

While both Boyle and Rowat are equally involved in making tracks, a minority of very vocal fans still refuse to accept she does anything other than sing.

“I will always be accused of the male half doing more on anything to do with technology,” says Boyle. “The amount of comments [I get] to say, ‘she didn’t make this’. No explanation as to why they think that it is, just purely because [I’m] a woman, which is just mad.”

Koven (L-R): Max Rowat and Katie Boyle. Pic: Koven
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Koven’s Katie Boyle says she has had some ‘awful incidences’

While Boyle loves performing live, there are moments, she admits, where being one of the few women on the scene can feel unsafe.

“I’ve had some awful incidences,” she says. “I had someone run on stage and completely grab me, hand down my top, down my trousers, while I was on the stage, which is crazy because you think that’s happening in front of an audience. I mean, this guy literally had to be plied off me.

“That was when I did think, ‘I need to bring someone with me to most places’. I didn’t feel safe travelling around by myself.”

‘You get trolled for everything’

DJ Paulette. Pic: Paulette
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DJ Paulette. Pic: Paulette

Sadly, Boyle isn’t alone. Over a 30-year career, DJ Paulette has scaled the heights of dance music fame, playing throughout Europe, with a residency back in the day at Manchester’s Hacienda.

“Let’s just say I have two towels on my rider and it’s not just because I sweat a lot,” she jokes, miming a whack for those around her.

“I’ve spent time in DJ booths where I’ve had a skirt on and people have been taking pictures up my skirt. People think upskirting is a joke… and I got fed up with it.” Wearing shorts, she says, she still ended with “people with their hands all over me”. Now, she sticks to trousers. “But we shouldn’t have to alter the way we look for the environment that we work in.”

She admits, in order to stick it out, she’s had to bulletproof herself. “You get trolled for everything, for the way you look – if you put on weight, if you’ve lost weight.”

Not only is the discourse towards female DJs different online, she says, she has also been repeatedly told by those working in the industry that because she’s a woman, she has a sell-by date.

“I went for dinner with three guys… one of them said to me, ‘you know Paulette there is no promoter or organiser who is ever going to employ a black female DJ with grey hair’, and they all laughed.

“That was them saying to me that my career was over, and I was in my 40s. At the time, I felt crushed… I think it really does take women who have a real steel will to make their way through.”

‘I will not stop talking about it’

DJ Jaguar at the International Music Summit in Ibiza. Pic: Ben Levi Suhling
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DJ Jaguar at the International Music Summit in Ibiza. Pic: Ben Levi Suhling

As the great and the good of the dance world gather in Ibiza for the industry’s annual International Music Summit, with dance music more popular than ever there is of course much to party about.

But for BBC Radio 1 broadcaster and DJ Jaguar, one of this year’s summit’s cohosts, some serious conversations also need to be had.

“You can get off the plane and look at the billboards around Ibiza and it’s basically white men – David Guetta, Calvin Harris, and they are incredible artists in their own right – but the women headliners, there’s barely any visibility of them, it’s awful.”

She adds: “I will not stop talking about it because it is the reality.”

Trolling and safety are also big concerns. “You’re in these green rooms, there’s a lot of people there, drinking and doing other things… and I’ve walked into green rooms where I felt incredibly uncomfortable, especially when I was a bit younger. I was on my own, it’s like 2am, and you have to watch yourself.”

Male DJs don’t have the same stories

International Music Summit in Ibiza
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The International Music Summit in Ibiza

She says she has female friends who have had drinks spiked when they were DJing. But her male friends? “They don’t have the same stories to tell me.”

Creamfields, arguably the UK’s biggest dance festival, is emblematic of the gender imbalance. It remains one of the least representative festivals in terms of female artists, with last year’s line-up more than 80% male.

Read more from Sky News:
Why gaming still has a women problem
‘There is no HR department in the music industry’

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Laila MacKenzie, founder of Lady Of The House, a community that supports and tries to encourage more women into dance music, says the talent pipeline problem isn’t helped by the current discourse online.

“There is a real damaging factor how people can be really nasty online and really nasty in the media and how that actually may discourage and demotivate women from stepping forward into their talent,” she says.

In reality, for so many women working within dance music, the trolling can be so unpleasant that it’s drowning out the good.

“There is so much positivity and so many lovely and supportive people,” says Boyle. “But unfortunately it feels like the negative and the toxic energy is just louder sometimes.”

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Kim Kardashian’s Paris robbery trial: Everything you need to know

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Kim Kardashian's Paris robbery trial: Everything you need to know

In October 2016, Kim Kardashian was robbed at gunpoint – with jewellery worth millions of dollars stolen during the audacious heist in Paris.

It was the biggest robbery of an individual in France for more than 20 years – and made front pages around the world.

Now, almost a decade on, the case is finally coming to court.

Why has it taken so long? Will Kardashian give evidence? And who exactly are the “grandpa robbers” facing trial?

Here’s everything you need to know.

Pic: Rex Features
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Kardashian at the Siran Presentation on the day of the robbery. Pic: Rex Features

What happened?

Two years after Kardashian and rapper Kanye West tied the knot in an ostentatious week-long celebration spanning Paris and Florence, the Kardashian-West clan were back in the French capital for Paris Fashion Week.

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Her then husband had returned to the US to pick up his Saint Pablo tour – but Kardashian, along with her sister Kourtney and various members of their entourage, remained in Paris, staying in an exclusive set of apartments so discreet they’ve been dubbed the No Address Hotel.

Nestled on Tronchet Street, just a stone’s throw from Place de l’Opéra, and close to the fashionable Avenue Montaigne, the Hotel de Pourtalès is popular with A-list stars staying in the French capital.

A stay in the Sky Penthouse, the suite occupied by Kardashian, will currently set you back about £13,000 a night.

Kardashian was staying at the Hotel de Pourtales
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Kardashian was staying at the Hotel de Pourtales

On the evening of 3 October, after attending a fashion show with her sister, Kardashian remained in the apartment alone while the rest of her convoy – including her bodyguard Pascal Duvier – went out for the night.

At about 2.30am, three armed men wearing ski masks and dressed as police forced their way into the apartment block – and according to investigators, they threatened the concierge at gunpoint.

Two of them are alleged to have forced the concierge to lead them to Kardashian’s suite. He later told police they yelled at him: “Where’s the rapper’s wife?”

Kardashian said she had been “dozing” on her bed when the men then entered her room.

She has said she believes her social media posts provided the alleged robbers with “a window of opportunity”.

“I was Snapchatting that I was home, and that everyone was going out,” she said in the months after the incident.

The Keeping Up With The Kardashians star vividly described the attack in a police report, as reported in the French weekly paper Le Journal du Dimanche.

“They grabbed me and took me into the hallway. They tied me up with plastic cables and taped my hands, then they put tape over my mouth and my legs.”

She said they pointed a gun at her, asking specifically for her ring and also for money.

Police guard the entrance to the building where Kim has been staying
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Police guard the entrance to the Hotel de Pourtalès the day after the robbery

Kardashian says they carried her into the bathroom and put her in the bathtub. She said she was wearing only a bathrobe at the time.

She had initially thought the robbers “were terrorists who had come to kidnap me”, according to a French police report taken in New York three months after the robbery.

Kardashian told officers: “I thought I was going to die.”

According to police, the robbers – who left the room after grabbing their haul, escaped on bicycles with items estimated to be worth about $10m (£7.5m), including a $4m (£3m) 18.88-carat diamond engagement ring from West.

After they had left, Kardashian said she escaped her restraints and went to find help. After speaking to detectives, she immediately returned to the US on a private jet and later hired a completely new security team.

Kim Kardashian shows off a ring on Instagram
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Kardashian shows off her $4m ring on Instagram

What was stolen?

As well as her engagement ring, Kardashian said the thieves took her large Louis Vuitton jewellery box, which she said contained “everything I owned”.

In police reports given to the French authorities at about 4.30am on the night of the alleged robbery, Kardashian listed these items as having been stolen:

• Two diamond Cartier bracelets
• A gold and diamond Jacob necklace
• Diamond earrings by Lauren Schwartz
• Yanina earrings
• Three gold Jacob necklaces
• Little bracelets, jewels and rings
• A Lauren Schwartz diamond necklace
• A necklace with six little diamonds
• A necklace with Saint spelt out in diamonds
• A cross-shaped diamond-encrusted Jacob cross
• A yellow gold Rolex watch
• Two yellow gold rings
• An iPhone 6 and a BlackBerry

Police recovered only the diamond-encrusted cross that was dropped by the robbers while leaving.

It’s likely the gold in the haul was melted down and resold, while the diamond engagement ring that is now so associated with the robbery would be far too recognisable to sell on the open market.

Kardashian at the Siran Presentation on the day of the robbery. Pic: Rex Features
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Kardashian at the Siran Presentation on the day of the robbery. Pic: Rex Features

What will happen in court?

The hearing will begin at the Court of Appeal of Paris – the largest appeals court in France – on 28 April and is scheduled to last a month.

It will consist of a presiding judge, two professional assessors, and six main jurors.

The hearing involves more than 2,000 documents and there are four civil parties.

Kardashian at the Balenciaga show on the day of the robbery. Pic: Rex Features
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Kardashian at the Balenciaga show on the day of the robbery. Pic: Rex Features

Who is being tried?

There were initially 12 defendants in the case, but one person has died and another has a medical condition that prevents their involvement. This means 10 people – nine men and one woman – are standing trial.

Five of them, who were all aged between 60 and 72 at the time of the incident, face armed robbery and kidnapping charges. They are:

• Yunice Abbas
• Aomar Ait Khedache
• Harminv Ait Khedache
• Didier Dubreucq
• Marc-Alexandre Boyer

Abbas, 72, has admitted his participation in the robbery. In 2021, he published a book about the robbery, titled I Kidnapped Kim Kardashian. In 2021, a court ruled he would not benefit financially from the book.

Aomar Ait Khedache, 69, known to French crime reporters as “Old Omar”, has also admitted participating in the heist but denies the prosecution’s accusation that he was the ringleader.

The remaining five defendants are charged with complicity in the heist or the unauthorised possession of a weapon. They are:

• Florus Heroui
• Gary Mader
• Christiane Glotin
• François Delaporte
• Marc Boyer

Among those, Mader was a VIP greeter who worked for the car company Kardashian used in Paris, and Heroui was a bar manager who allegedly passed on information about Kardashian’s movements.

With many of the accused now ageing and with various serious health conditions, and some having spent time in jail following their arrest, all are currently free under judicial supervision.

If found guilty, those accused of the more serious crimes could face 10 years to life imprisonment.

Pic: Rex Features
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Kardashian at the Off-White show three days before the robbery. Pic: Rex Features

Will Kardashian give evidence?

Yes.

Lawyer Michael Rhodes said Kardashian has “tremendous appreciation and admiration for the French judicial system” and “wishes for the trial to proceed in an orderly fashion in accordance with French law and with respect for all parties to the case”.

A trainee lawyer herself, Kardashian has become a high-profile criminal justice advocate in the US in recent years.

(R-L)Kanye West, Kim Kardashian, Kourtney Kardashian, Kris Jenner. Pic: Rex Features
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(R-L) Kanye West, Kim Kardashian, Kourtney Kardashian, Kris Jenner in the front row three days before the robbery. Pic: Rex Features

Why has it taken so long to come to court?

There was initially a manhunt after the robbery, with French police under pressure to prove that Paris’s security was not in question.

Just the year before in 2015, the capital had been shaken by terrorist attacks by Islamic militants, in which 130 people were killed, including 90 at a music event at the Bataclan theatre.

French police initially arrested 17 people in the Kardashian case in January 2017 – three months after the robbery – assisted by DNA traces found on plastic bands used to tie her wrists. Twelve people were later charged.

It was ordered to be sent to trial in 2021 – at a time when limited court proceedings were happening due to multiple COVID lockdowns, and France was holding its largest ever criminal trial over the November 2015 terror attacks.

Kardashian at the Givenchy show on the day of the robbery. Pic: Rex Features
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Kardashian at the Givenchy show on the day of the robbery. Pic: Rex Features

What has Kardashian said about the incident?

Kardashian has described the robbery as a “life-changing” moment. She took three weeks away from filming her reality TV show Keeping Up With the Kardashians, and took a three-month break from social media.

In a March 2017 episode titled Paris, Kardashian first spoke publicly about her ordeal.

She described first hearing a noise in her apartment, and calling out, thinking it was her sister and assistant: “At that moment when there wasn’t an answer, my heart started to get really tense. Like, you know, your stomach just kind of like, knots up and you’re like, ‘OK, what’s going on?’ I knew something wasn’t quite right.”

She went on: “They asked for money. I said, ‘I don’t have any money’. They dragged me out to the hallway on top of the stairs. That’s when I saw the gun, clear as day. I was looking at the gun, looking down back at the stairs. I was like, I have a split second in my mind to make this quick decision.

“Either they’re going to shoot me in the back or if I make it [down the stairs] and the elevator does not open in time or the stairs are locked, there’s no way out.”

Three months later, she told a Forbes Power Women’s Summit she had changed her approach to posting on social media: “They had followed my moves on social media, and they knew my every move and what I had.”

She added: “It was definitely a huge, huge, huge lesson for me to not show off some of the things that I have. It was a huge lesson to me to not show off where I go.

“It’s just changed my whole life, but I think for the better.”

West and Kardashian at the Off-White show three days before the robbery. Pic: Rex Features
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West and Kardashian at the Off-White show three days before the robbery. Pic: Rex Features

In October 2020, Kardashian told US interviewer David Letterman she feared she would be raped and murdered during the heist, and that her sister had been at the forefront of her mind during the incident.

Speaking on My Next Guest Needs No Introduction, Kardashian said: “I kept on thinking about Kourtney, I kept on thinking she’s going to come home and I’m going to be dead in the room and she’s going to be traumatised for the rest of her life if she sees me… I thought that was my fate.”

When speaking to French police about the impact the robbery had had on her three months after it, Kardashian said: “I think that my perception of jewellery now is that I am not as attached to it as I used to be. I don’t have the same feeling about it. In fact, I even think that it has become a bit of a burden to have the responsibility of such expensive jewels.

“There is nothing of sentimental value to compare with the act of going home and finding one’s children and one’s family.”

She went on to describe Paris as “not the right place” for her, and didn’t return to the French capital for two years following the robbery.

Kardashian has since said in a 2023 episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians that she did not purchase any jewellery in the seven years following the robbery, kept no jewellery at her home and only wore items that are either borrowed or fake.

She said the realisation that material items don’t matter has made her “a completely different person in the best way”.

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The Magic Circle’s first female member fooled them into believing she was a man – how did she do it?

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The Magic Circle's first female member fooled them into believing she was a man - how did she do it?

How did one woman fool the most famous magic society on the planet?

Back in 1991, Sophie Lloyd pulled off the ultimate illusion, tricking the Magic Circle into thinking she was a man.

But over 30 years after being unceremoniously kicked out, the Circle has tracked down the former actress to apologise and reinstate her membership.

She told Sky News how returning feels like the society has “made good on something that was wrong”.

Sophie Lloyd, who tricked the Magic Circle into believing she was a man
Image:
Sophie Lloyd, who tricked the Magic Circle into believing she was a man

How did she infiltrate that exclusive group that nowadays counts the likes of David Copperfield and Dynamo as members?

In March of that year, she took her entry exam posing as a teenage boy, creating an alter-ego called Raymond Lloyd.

“I’d played a boy before,” she explained, but “it took months of preparation” to secretly infiltrate the Circle’s ranks half a year before it would officially vote to let women in.

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“Really, going back 30 years, men’s clubs were like, you know, just something you accepted.”

The men-only rule had been in place since the Circle was formed in 1905. The thinking behind it being that women just couldn’t keep secrets.

Aware of the frustration of female magicians at the time, Lloyd felt she was up for the challenge of proving women could be as good at magic as the men.

The idea was, in fact, born out of a double act, thought up by a successful magician called Jenny Winstanley who’d wanted to join herself but wasn’t allowed.

She recognised the hoax would probably only work with a much younger woman posing as a teenage boy, and met Lloyd through an acting class.

Sophie Lloyd as teenage magician Raymond Lloyd. Pic: Sophie Lloyd
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Sophie Lloyd as teenage magician Raymond Lloyd. Pic: Sophie Lloyd

Lloyd said: “We had to have a wig made… the main thing was my face, I had plumpers made on a brace to bring his jawline down.”

To hide her feminine hands, she did the magic in gloves, which she says “was so hard to do, especially sleight of hand.”

The biggest test came when she was invited for a drink with her examiner, where she had to fake having laryngitis.

“After the exam, which was 20 minutes, he invited Jenny and I – she played my manager – and I sat there for one hour and three quarters and had to say ‘sorry, I’ve got a bad voice’.”

Raymond Lloyd passed the test, and his membership certificate was sent through to Sophie.

Then, in October of the same year, when whispers started circulating that the society was going to open its membership to both sexes, she and Jenny decided to reveal all. It didn’t go down well.

Read more:
Jelly Roll seeks pardon from criminal past
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Rather than praise her performance, members were incandescent about the deception and, somewhat ironically, Raymond Lloyd was kicked out just before women members were let in.

Lloyd said: “We got a letter… Jenny was hurt… she was snubbed by people she actually knew, that was hurtful. However, things have really changed now…”

Three decades later the Magic Circle put out a nationwide appeal stating they wanted to apologise and Lloyd was recently tracked down in Spain.

While Jenny Winstanley died 20 years ago in a car crash, as well as Sophie receiving her certificate on Thursday, her mentor’s contribution to magic is being recognised at the special show that’s being held in both their honour at the Magic Circle.

Lloyd says: “Jenny was a wonderful, passionate person. She would have loved to be here. It’s for her really.”

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