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Barbara Taylor Bradford, the bestselling novelist who wrote A Woman Of Substance, has died at the age of 91.

The Leeds-born author, who sold more than 90 million books, died peacefully at her home on Sunday after a short illness and was “surrounded by loved ones to the very end”, a spokeswoman said.

Taylor Bradford, who was often labelled “the grand dame of blockbusters”, hit the big time when A Woman Of Substance was published in 1979, making her an overnight success.

The story sold millions of copies and traced the journey of Emma Harte from life as a servant in rural Yorkshire to heading a business empire.

The rags to riches story was followed by many other successful books with the author’s works being published in more than 40 languages across 90 countries.

Barbara Taylor Bradford,.
Pic: Caroll Taveras/Bradford Enterprises/PA
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Pic: Caroll Taveras/Bradford Enterprises/PA

Barbara Taylor Bradford on her 21st birthday.
Pic: Bradford Enterprises/PA
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The author on her 21st birthday. Pic: Bradford Enterprises/PA

Charlie Redmayne, chief executive of publisher HarperCollins, said the author was a “natural storyteller”, adding: “Barbara Taylor Bradford was a truly exceptional writer whose first book, the international bestseller A Woman Of Substance, changed the lives of so many who read it – and still does to this day.”

Taylor Bradford, who was made an OBE in 2007 for services to literature, wrote a total of 40 novels during her career – her most recent was The Wonder Of It All, published last year.

Barbara Taylor Bradford.
Pic: Caroll Taveras/Bradford Enterprises/PA
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Pic: Caroll Taveras/Bradford Enterprises/PA

File photo dated 01/06/93 of Barbara Taylor Bradford with her husband Robert at Claridges Hotel, London, during a visit to launch her new blockbuster book "Angels". Bestselling novelist Barbara Taylor Bradford, who wrote A Woman of Substance, has died at the age of 91, it has been announced. Issue date: Monday November 25, 2024.
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Taylor Bradford with her husband Robert in 1993. Pic: PA

Born in May 1933 as the only child of Winston and Freda Taylor, she worked as a typist for the Yorkshire Evening Post before becoming a reporter and then the paper’s first woman’s editor.

At the age of 20, she moved to London and worked in Fleet Street for Woman’s Own and the London Evening News.

She met her husband, American film producer Robert Bradford, in 1961 and they married in London on Christmas Eve in 1963 before moving to New York the following year.

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The couple were married for 55 years until he died from a stroke in 2019.

Following a private funeral in New York, the author will be buried alongside her late husband at the city’s Westchester Hills Cemetery.

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Davina McCall says she has short-term memory problems after brain tumour surgery

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Davina McCall says she has short-term memory problems after brain tumour surgery

Davina McCall has said her short-term memory is “a bit remiss” as she recovers from brain tumour surgery.

Speaking from her bed, the visibly emotional TV presenter posted a short video updating her Instagram followers on her condition, saying it had been a “mad” time.

She expressed an “enormous heartfelt thank you” to people who had messaged her after she revealed this month she had a benign brain tumour, a colloid cyst, which she described as “very rare”.

Looking bright, but with a visibly bruised left eye, McCall said: “My short-term memory is a bit remiss.

“But that is something I can work on, so I’m really happy about that. I’m writing everything down, to keep myself feeling safe.”

She added: “It’s been mad, and it’s just really nice to be back home, I’m on the other side.”

In a message posted with the video, she reiterated her thanks for all the support she has received, adding: “Had a great night’s sleep in my own bed. Have a couple of sleeps during the day which keeps my brain clear… Slowly, slowly…”

When she first shared her diagnosis, she said chances of having it were “three in a million” and that she had discovered it several months previously after a company offered her a health scan in return for giving a menopause talk.

The 57-year-old star said support from her fans had “meant the world”.

She said she was being “brilliantly looked after” by her partner, hairdresser Michael Douglas, and her stepmother, Gabby, who she calls mum.

Becoming tearful, the presenter said: “I’d quickly like to say big up the stepmums. I don’t really say thank you to Gabby enough. She’s been an amazing rock my whole life.”

McCall was estranged from her birth mother, Florence McCall, who died in 2008.

Kate coming out of the Big Brother house in 2002
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McCall with 2002 Big Brother winner Kate Lawler. Pic: Rex Features

With a catch in her voice, McCall went on: “I’ve got a massive dose of vitamin G – I’m just really grateful. I’ve always been really lucky in my life, but I feel unbelievably grateful right now. So, thanks for everything, all of you.

“I’m on the mend, I’m resting and sleeping loads and I feel really good. I’m just very lucky.”

Stars including presenter Alison Hammond, singer Craig David and radio host Zoe Ball quickly shared their delight at the positive update.

McCall rose to fame presenting on MTV in the mid-1990s, and later on Channel 4’s Streetmate, before becoming a household name as the host of Big Brother from 2000 to 2010.

Davina McCall  with her partner Michael Douglas and her daughter Holly Robertson after being made a Member of the Order of the British Empire
Pic: PA
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McCall with her MBE, alongside her partner Michael Douglas and her daughter Holly Robertson. Pic: PA

She’s gone on to present programmes across the networks, the most recent being ITV dating show My Mum, Your Dad.

Last year, McCall was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2023 Birthday Honours for services to broadcasting.

Married twice, McCall has three children, two daughters and a son, with her second husband, presenter Matthew Robertson.

She has lived with Douglas since 2022, and they present a weekly lifestyle podcast together, Making The Cut.

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Adele bids tearful farewell to Las Vegas residency as star admits she doesn’t know when she’ll perform next

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Adele bids tearful farewell to Las Vegas residency as star admits she doesn't know when she'll perform next

Adele has bid a tearful farewell to her Las Vegas residency show, as the Someone Like You star admitted she doesn’t know when she’ll perform again next.

The British singer-songwriter, 36, launched Weekends with Adele at Caesars Palace in November 2022 and performed her 100th show there on Saturday.

Her mammoth run of sell-out shows at the venue, which seats around 4,000 people, has been a success but has taken its toll.

In July, Adele said she would be taking a “big break” from music after her current run of shows.

Videos posted online from her concert on Saturday show the singer getting tearful as she bid Vegas goodbye.

“It’s been wonderful and I will miss it terribly and I will miss you terribly,” she said.

She added: “I don’t know when I next want to perform again.”

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Adele has performed every Friday and Saturday across the residency, with plenty of memorable moments.

One included when she burst into tears after spotting Celine Dion at a performance.

Adele is known to idolise the Canadian singer.

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Speaking at the beginning of September, during a show in Germany, Adele told fans she wouldn’t see them “for an incredibly long time”.

“I just need a rest and I have spent the last seven years building a new life for myself, and I want to live it now,” she added.

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Denzel Washington’s sons talk about family, secrets, identity, and The Piano Lesson

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Denzel Washington's sons talk about family, secrets, identity, and The Piano Lesson

John David Washington says he felt like he had to conceal his desire to act because of the external expectations of him being the child of Denzel and Pauletta Washington.

He tells Sky News it took some time for him to pursue an acting career, choosing football instead to assert his “independence” and create his own “identity” separate from his famous family.

“I’ve been wanting to do this my whole life… but I was hiding it,” he said.

“I had to conceal that passion based on my relationship to the world and more specifically, my folks being in the industry, so I chose ball.

“I loved ball, but I was sort of hiding my love for the arts under a helmet – literally an American football helmet – and so when I wanted to become an actor, when I decided to pursue it, that was a big shock to some people.”

The 40-year-old actor says when he decided to pursue an acting career, he kept the decision quiet.

“Some people didn’t know I was even pursuing it professionally until I got a job,” he said.

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Danielle Deadwyler as Berniece and John David Washington as Boy Willie in The Piano Lesson. Pic: David Lee/ Netflix 2024
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John David with fellow actor Danielle Deadwyler. Pic: David Lee/ Netflix

Since switching to acting, John David has starred in a number of notable roles including the protagonist in Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, Ron Stallworth in BlacKkKlansman and Joshua in The Creator.

He also led the stage revival of the 2022 Tony-nominated play The Piano Lesson on Broadway alongside Samuel L Jackson.

“He [Jackson] originated the role [I play] in 1987 at Yale with Lloyd Richards and August Wilson,” John David said.

“So it was of great importance for us to learn from both he and Michael Potts about August Wilson. It was a great blessing for me, I think, for all of us to have him present on set.”

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The Piano Lesson is the third August Wilson play to be adapted for the screen by Denzel Washington’s production company Mundy Lane Entertainment.

It is part of a pledge made by the Gladiator II actor to make all 10 of the playwright’s works into films.

The Netflix project is directed by another Washington family member, Malcolm, and stars most of the cast from the Broadway revival.

The Piano Lesson (L-R): Actor Ray Fisher, writer-director Malcolm Washington, and his brother and star John David Washington on set. Pic: Katia Washington/ Netflix 2024
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The Piano Lesson is Malcolm Washington’s directorial debut. Pic: Katia Washington/ Netflix

Set in 1936 Pittsburgh in the aftermath of the Great Depression, the film centres on a family heirloom, a piano, that is etched with the carvings of their family history made by their enslaved ancestor.

Malcolm says he started reading the play for the first time during the pandemic and immediately wanted to be involved in the film adaptation.

“I think with this movie, reclamation of story and identity is so central to the theme and it’s something that’s central to my life where I both acknowledge the fertile ground that I was raised on and who I am today.

“That’s what Wining Boy [played by Michael Potts] really is trying to do, he’s trying to build on that legacy, so that’s a story that really resonated with me.”

The filmmaker added: “I take all the gifts that my ancestors laid in front of me, and I’m trying to build something for the next generation to pass down – all of their gifts, plus mine to the next generation and let them build on it.”

John David Washington in The Piano Lesson. Pic: David Lee/Netflix
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Malcolm has dedicated his directorial debut to his mother, Pauletta Washington. Pic: David Lee/Netflix

Malcolm says his goal was to put family at the forefront of the production. By dedicating his feature debut to “Mama”, he is acknowledging the dedication and sacrifices that mothers make for the growth of their families.

“There’s so much pointing to my mother in particular, who inspired this adaptation so much. I see so much of her life in Berniece’s character [played by Danielle Deadwyler] – and that became a guiding light for me in this adaptation,” he said.

“As we made this thing and started reconnecting with our ancestors, my mum became like a kind of representative of them.

“She’s the matriarch of our family. She tells me about my grandparents and great-grandparents and the line that I come from, and I see them in her.

“And when the movie ends, I want people to kind of have that moment of reflection for their own lives. So in dedicating it to her, I was trying to dedicate it to all mums everywhere.”

The Piano Lesson is now available on Netflix.

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