Scottish comedian Janey Godley has died a month after she moved to a hospice for end-of-life care, her agent has said.
The 63-year-old, who found viral fame with her dubbed imitations of Nicola Sturgeon’s COVID-19 news briefings during the pandemic, had announced last month that she was receiving end-of-life care for terminal cancer.
“It is with great sadness that we announce the death of our client Doctor Janey Godley on 2nd November,” her agent said on Saturday.
“Janey died peacefully in the wonderful Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice in Glasgow surrounded by her loved ones. She will be hugely missed by her family, friends and her many fans.
“She will be remembered for her legendary voice overs of Nicola Sturgeon during the pandemic, her hilarious and outspoken comedy, but most of all for just being ‘Janey’.”
‘We got her longer because of all the support’
Her daughter comedian Ashley Storrie announced the news on social media, writing: “We got her longer because of all of the support and the love in the world.”
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She said in a short video: “I believe in my heart of hearts that she felt every bit of love you sent to her. And I think it kept her going.
“I think genuinely we got her longer because of all of the support and the love in the world. But that’s it over now. So, thank you once again and bye.”
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She also revealed Godley had been awarded an honorary degree from the University Of Glasgow.
Ms Sturgeon, the former first minister, wrote on X: “Janey Godley truly was a force of nature, and one of the funniest people I have ever known.
“I was able to visit her in the hospice a couple of weeks ago and though she was fragile, she still had me in stitches.”
She added: “A bond was forged between us in the darkest days of COVID when her famous voiceovers of my daily briefings went viral. In the toughest of times, she made people laugh – and that was precious.
She did more that (sic) that though. In managing to project the serious public health messages of my briefings to a much wider audience than I would have managed alone, she helped save lives.”
Paying tribute, Scottish First Minister John Swinney wrote on X: “Very sorry to hear of the death of Janey Godley.
“She brought joy and laughter on many occasions when we needed it most. My condolences to her family. May she Rest in Peace.”
That infamous Trump sign
In September, Godley cancelled her autumn tour titled Why Is She Still Here? due to her stage four ovarian cancer, which had been treated over the last few years, but had returned with added complications.
At the time, Godley said it was “devastating” to be facing the end of her life, adding “but we all come to an end sometime”.
She also joked: “I don’t know how long I’ve got left before anybody asks. I’m not a TikTok.”
In 2016, Godley went viral after protesting at Donald Trump’s Turnberry golf resort with her infamous “unwelcome” sign (Godley’s sign used slightly spicier language).
She then went on to gain attention during COVID times, voicing videos of Ms Sturgeon’s health briefings and became friends with the former first minister.
Overcoming adversity
Born into poverty in the East End of Glasgow in 1961 to alcoholic parents, Godley left school aged 16 with no qualifications.
She revealed both she and her sister had been abused by an uncle as a child, for which he served a two-year sentence.
After 15 years running a pub with her husband during the 1980s and 1990s, she began her stand-up career in 1994, going on to co-present BBC Radio 4’s Loose Ends, as well as fronting BBC Radio 4 series The C Bomb.
She also appeared on shows including Have I Got News For You, the Scottish soap opera River City, and crime drama Traces.
Never shying away from joking about the darker side of life, in 2023, she won the inaugural Sir Billy Connolly Spirit of Glasgow Award at the Glasgow International Comedy Festival.
Godley wrote her debut novel in 2022, a murder mystery titled Nothing Left Unsaid set in 1970s Glasgow. Warmly received, celebrity fans included TV chef Nigella Lawson who said it was so good, she read it in two sittings.
A fierce supporter of Scottish independence, Godley was also a vocal advocate of transgender rights, she continued campaigning on behalf of the LGBTQ+ community up until her death.
She leaves behind her husband of 44 years, Sean Storrie, and her daughter.
Richard Perry, a hitmaking record producer who worked with Carly Simon, Rod Stewart, Ringo Starr and the Beatles, has died aged 82.
Perry, a recipient of a Grammys Trustee Award in 2015, died on Tuesday at a Los Angeles hospital after suffering cardiac arrest, friend Daphna Kastner said.
“He maximised his time here,” said Ms Kastner, who called him a “father friend” and said he was godfather to her son.
“He was generous, fun, sweet and made the world a better place. The world is a little less sweeter without him here. But it’s a little bit sweeter in heaven.”
Perry, who dated celebrities such as Jane Fonda and Elizabeth Taylor, was widely known as a “musician’s producer”.
Singers turned to him for a variety of reasons, including to try to update their sound, as in Barbra Streisand’s case, or to revive their career, like for Fats Domino.
“Richard had a knack for matching the right song to the right artist,” Streisand wrote in her 2023 memoir, My Name is Barbra.
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Starr’s album Ringo, released in 1973, would prove the drummer was a commercial force in his own right.
The album featured work from the other three Beatles as well as contributions from Harry Nilsson, Billy Preston, Steve Cropper, Martha Reeves and all five members of The Band.
It reached No. 2 on Billboard and sold more than 1m copies.
Hit singles included the chart toppers Photograph, co-written by Starr and George Harrison, and a remake of the 1950s favourite You’re Sixteen.
I’m the Greatest was another memorable track on the album as, thanks to Perry’s help, Starr, Lennon and Harrison came together for a near-total Beatles reunion just three years after the band’s break-up.
Perry was briefly married to the actor Rebecca Broussard.
Soap star Helen Worth is set to make her final appearance on Coronation Street on Christmas Day, after more than 50 years.
Worth, 73, made her first appearance as Gail Platt on 29 July 1974 and has been at the heart of several major storylines over the years.
She said in June that her golden anniversary year “felt like the perfect time to leave the show”, having made the decision to quit at the start of the year.
“I have been truly blessed to have been given the most incredible scripts week in week out, and to have worked with fantastic actors, directors and a brilliant crew,” she said when her exit was announced.
“The past 50 years have flown by and I don’t think the fact that I am leaving has quite sunk in yet.”
Her storylines have included her turbulent relationships with her children Nick (Ben Price), Sarah (Tina O’Brien) and David (Jack P Shepherd) and mother Audrey (Sue Nicholls).
Gail has had five husbands over the years, with her exit storyline focused on whether she will make it down the aisle with a sixth in the form of Jesse Chadwick (John Thompson).
In the Christmas Eve episode, her serial killer former husband Richard Hillman (Brian Capron) returned from the dead after more than 20 years.
In the dream sequence, Hillman urged Gail not to go ahead with her wedding.
The storyline planned initially for Gail’s exit, which would have seen Sean Wilson reprise his role as Martin Platt, had to be re-written after the 59-year-old unexpectedly left the show for “personal reasons”.
The actor later claimed he was axed by soap bosses after a historic assault allegation emerged, which he denies.
He was later told that after a police investigation, no further action would be taken.
At the time of Worth’s announcement, Coronation Street executive producer Iain MacLeod said she is a “legend” and “icon”.
“Gail has given us countless hours of entertainment but it should also be said that Helen herself is a consummate professional and a thoroughly good egg,” he said.
“Everyone connected to the show will miss having her around the place just as much as the viewers will miss having her on their screens and we wish her all the very best for the future.”
Gail’s final appearance on Coronation Street airs at 7pm on ITV 1 on Christmas Day.
Alec Baldwin will not appear again in court for involuntary manslaughter over a fatal shooting on the set of Rust after New Mexico prosecutors dropped their appeal.
The trial against him earlier this year collapsed after just three days over testimony that prosecutors had withheld potential evidence from the defence.
Baldwin was holding a gun which went off on the set in New Mexico in 2021, killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza.
The 66-year-old, an actor and co-producer on the film, denied ever pulling the trigger and said he had been directed to aim it at a camera.
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2:43
From July: Baldwin case dismissed by judge
After the trial had ended, special prosecutor Kari Morrissey filed an appeal and claimed the case was “improperly dismissed” by Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer.
The state’s district attorney’s office said on Monday that while it still strongly disagreed with the judge’s decision, it “did not intend to exhaustively pursue the appeal”.
Local prosecutors added: “As a result, the State’s efforts to continue to litigate the case in a fair and comprehensive manner have been met with multiple barriers that have compromised its ability to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law.”
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Baldwin’s lawyers Luke Nikas and Alex Spiro said the decision “is the final vindication of what Alec Baldwin and his attorneys have said from the beginning – this was an unspeakable tragedy but Alec Baldwin committed no crime”.
It means Judge Marlowe Sommer’s original ruling – that the case accusing Baldwin of involuntary manslaughter has been dismissed and cannot be filed again – stands.
The case collapsed when Baldwin’s defence team learnt the Santa Fe sheriff’s office had taken possession of live rounds as potential evidence on the same day the film’s armourer, Hannah Gutierrez, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter.
Investigators did not list these live rounds in the Rust file and they were not disclosed to defence lawyers, prompting a motion to dismiss the case.
After Mr Spiro claimed evidence had been concealed on day three of the trial, Ms Morrissey called herself as a witness and said the ammunition was not connected to the case.
In a bizarre moment, Mr Spiro put it to Ms Morrissey during questioning that she simply did not “like Mr Baldwin very much”.
After she replied “that is absolutely untrue” and praised his acting and politics, Mr Spiro told the court that she had referred to the actor as a “c*********” and an “arrogant p****” to witnesses. She said she did not recall this.
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2:48
From July: Watch extraodinary moment in Baldwin case
Dismissing the trial, Judge Marlowe Sommer found the prosecution’s conduct on the live rounds was “highly prejudicial” to Baldwin and there was “no way for the court to right this wrong”.