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A man who stalked pop star Cheryl has been jailed for 16 weeks after leaving her “terrified”.

The Girls Aloud singer said she feared for her and her child’s safety after Daniel Bannister turned up at her Buckinghamshire home last December.

Bannister was already banned from doing so after being handed a restraining order and a four-month jail sentence last September, after visiting the property twice earlier in 2024 – in January and July.

High Wycombe Magistrates’ Court heard Bannister, who reportedly killed a man in 2012, “can’t stay away” from Cheryl.

The defendant, 50, admitted going to the 41-year-old’s house and ringing the bell at the gate on 10 December.

Cheryl “immediately panicked” when she spotted him outside her property for a third time, and was concerned for her seven-year-old son Bear, the court was told.

Cheryl ‘wants to protect child from harm’

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Speaking about the December visit in a statement to police, the singer said: “I knew this was Daniel because I have had previous incidents where Daniel has come to my property.

“I immediately panicked when I saw Daniel. I feared for my safety and my child’s safety. My son was due back from the cinema and I didn’t want him to see Daniel.

“I was concerned he was looking for a way into the property. I want to protect my child from any harm.”

Daniel Bannister. Pic: PA/Thames Valley Police
Image:
Daniel Bannister. Pic: PA/Thames Valley Police

Liam Payne’s death

The singer’s ex-partner Liam Payne died last October in Buenos Aires, Argentina, after falling from his third-floor hotel balcony.

She described the death of the former One Direction star as “indescribably painful”, as she voiced fears about protecting their son.

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Cheryl and Liam Payne arrive at the Brit Awards at the O2 Arena in London, Britain, February 21, 2018. Pic: Reuters/Eddie Keogh
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Cheryl and her ex-partner Liam Payne in February 2018. Pic: Reuters

On Friday, Bannister was sentenced for two counts of harassment relating to the breach of a restraining order, and one count of attempting to breach a restraining order.

District Judge Arvind Sharma also handed Bannister a new restraining order, banning him from contacting the singer.

Judge Sharma said Bannister knew the star was “very distressed and upset” by what he was doing.

The January 2024 visit

In the January 2024 visit, the court was told Bannister spoke through an intercom system at the gate, claiming he had “come to get Cheryl”.

“He said ‘it’s Daniel, I’ve come to get Cheryl’,” prosecutor Datta Ryan told the court.

“She was terrified and contacted her security guard. She felt violated, terrified and unsafe in her own home.”

The July 2024 visit

In July of the same year, Bannister again called at the house.

The singer was at home with her son when she saw Bannister outside again.

“She called her brother,” Ms Ryan said. “The defendant was standing outside her property and remained there.”

‘I want a glass of wine’

Speaking over the intercom, he said: “I’m really thirsty I just want a glass of wine please,” the court heard.

“The defendant has disregarded the victim and the court,” Ms Ryan said.

“He can’t stay away.”

Speaking about the third visit to her home, Bannister’s lawyer Colin Mackrell said: “He wanted to sort things out to reassure her.”

Bannister, who was described by Mr Mackrell as a “serious musician”, has already served three months in prison, the court heard, and could be released in a matter of weeks.

He killed 48-year-old Rajendra Patel in an attack at a south London YMCA shelter in 2012 and pleaded guilty to manslaughter, the Sun reported.

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Drag queen The Vivienne died after taking ketamine, family says

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Drag queen The Vivienne died after taking ketamine, family says

Drag queen James Lee Williams – known as “The Vivienne”- died after taking ketamine, their family has said.

Williams, who won the first series of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK in 2019 under their drag name, was found dead at the age of 32 at their home in Cheshire on 5 January.

In a statement shared in an Instagram story today, Williams’ manager Simon Jones said the “family and I feel it is important to say how James tragically died”.

Mr Jones continued: “We hope that by us releasing this information, we can raise awareness about the dangers of ongoing ketamine usage and what it can do to your body.

“Ketamine usage is on the rise, particularly amongst young people, and I don’t think the full dangers of the drug are being discussed.”

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Mr Jones added that he and the family are working with mental health and addiction service Adferiad on a campaign to “raise vital awareness and give information on how to get help if you are struggling with ketamine usage”.

Williams reportedly died after suffering a cardiac arrest caused by ketamine – a general anaesthetic that is also used as a recreational drug,

Donna Chaves, from Adferiad, said: “We are incredibly grateful to James’s family for choosing to support and work with us on this campaign.

“Their courage in sharing James’s story will help raise vital awareness of the devastating impact substance use can have. We are seeing a worrying rise in the number of people using ketamine, often unaware of the serious risks it poses to their physical and mental health.

“Addiction can affect anyone, and too many people suffer in silence due to stigma and lack of understanding.

“By opening conversations and challenging misconceptions, we can help prevent further tragedies and support those in need to find hope and recovery.”

An inquest into the death of Williams was opened and adjourned at Cheshire Coroner’s Court in Warrington last month.

The TV personality, who grew up in Colwyn Bay, North Wales, before moving to Liverpool, came third in the 2023 edition of Dancing On Ice.

The star performed as the Wicked Witch of the West in a UK and Ireland tour of The Wizard Of Oz musical and reprised the role in the West End at the Gillian Lynne Theatre last year.

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The Vivienne poses for photographers upon arrival at the premiere of the film 'Wicked' on Monday, Nov. 18, 2024, in London. (Photo by Millie Turner/Invision/AP)
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The Vivienne at the premiere of the film ‘Wicked’ in November 2024. Pic: AP

They were due back on stage this month as the Childcatcher in a tour of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, a role they first played last year.

Their funeral in Bodelwyddan, Denbighshire, North Wales, was attended by RuPaul’s Drag Race UK contestants Tia Kofi and Baga Chipz, along with Steps singer Ian “H” Watkins, TV personality Kim Woodburn and Coronation Street actress Claire Sweeney.

The government is seeking expert advice after illegal use of ketamine surged to record levels.

In the year ending March 2023, an estimated 299,000 people aged 16 to 59 had reported use of the substance, which is controlled as class B, according to the Home Office.

According to the UK national anti-drug advisory service Frank, ketamine reduces sensations in the body which can make users feel dream-like and detached, chilled, relaxed and happy, but also confused and nauseated.

A full inquest into the death of The Vivienne was listed to take place on 30 June.

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Blue Note Jazz Club boss says restrictive licensing laws are killing music after late licence refused

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Blue Note Jazz Club boss says restrictive licensing laws are killing music after late licence refused

The boss of an iconic jazz bar says he’s been left “surprised” and “confused” after his late licence application for a London site was turned down, making him question support for live music in the capital.

Steven Bensusan – president of Blue Note Entertainment Group and son of the original Blue Note Cafe founder Danny Bensusan – told Sky News: “If they’re not giving us a late licence, I can’t imagine how they would be supportive of other smaller venues, which are important for the ecosystem in general.

“For music to survive and continue to thrive and grow, you need the feeder venues. They need the smaller venues, and you need the venues like the Blue Note. It’s important for the music.”

The planned venue at a former gym on St Martin’s Lane, Covent Garden, had been set to become the bar’s flagship European site.

The club had applied to Westminster City Council to remain open until 1am serving alcohol.

However, in February, the Met Police objected to the jazz club’s application over fears it could cause an “uptick in crime”.

Responding to the refusal, Mr Bensusan said: “In every city that we’ve ever opened the club they’ve rolled out the red carpet and really tried to go above and beyond and want us there because they realise that we’re good for the economy.

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“We generate a lot of jobs and we bring not just nightlife but a cultural moment to the city. I’ve never experienced this before.”

Ezra Collective have played at Blue Note venues around the world. Pic: Michael Kusumadjaja
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Ezra Collective have played at Blue Note venues around the world. Pic: Michael Kusumadjaja

‘There seems to be a bigger problem’

Many of the capital’s nightlife venues have been struggling since the pandemic and Brexit, amid the cost of living crisis, rising rents and decreasing footfall.

Mr Bensusan says the rejection of his late licence highlights a bigger issue: “There seems to be a problem in general. A lot of music venues have closed over the years since COVID and they’re not coming back. Many people believe it has to do with a lot of restrictive policies like this.”

While Mr Bensusan has flagged the “more mature and respectful” nature of the jazz audience, police concerns seem to be around guests falling prey to crime rather than perpetrating it.

In their objection, the Met said jazz fans “leaving the venue late at night” could become a target for phone snatchers as well as illegal taxis who “prey on vulnerable, intoxicated lone females”.

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Local residents also urged councillors to limit the venue’s closing time to 11pm, with one saying they feared “inebriated” club visitors, “disorientated by their emergence into the cool night air” would be “immediately vulnerable to the gangs of criminals who already prey on similar groups of people in the Soho area”.

Mr Bensusan says a proposed closing time of 11.30pm would be “impossible”, and would not allow for musicians to play two sets per night.

He said he was also “a little confused” as to why the Blue Note was denied a 1am licence while others in the area had a later licence.

For comparison, Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club just down the road in Soho has a licence up to 3am.

Mr Bensusan has now filed an appeal.

A change.org petition set up by a jazz fan in support of the club has so far attracted over 2,500 signatures.

Robert Glasper performing at Blue Note. Pic: Dervon Dixon
Image:
Robert Glasper performing at Blue Note. Pic: Dervon Dixon

Plans to nurture emerging talent

The Blue Note site in London had proposed a 250-capacity main showroom “featuring legendary artists”, plus a smaller 100-capacity room to showcase emerging artists.

Mr Bensusan told Sky News: “There are so many great UK artists that we want to help build. I think we can do that given the platform that we have, and our ability to tour some of the artists to markets where we are around the world.”

Many UK artists who have played in the Blue Note clubs over the years, including Ezra Collective, Jamie Cullum and Nubya Garcia, have since found international success. Mr Bensusan says he wants “to help that continue to grow”.

He goes on: “Our goal is to focus on the best artists from around the world and give them the platform to play long runs. They’re not just coming to the city for a concert and then leaving. Typically, our runs go between four and six nights a week, for two shows per night.”

The original Blue Note Jazz Cafe opened in 1981 in New York City, and now has nine sister venues around the world including in Tokyo, Shanghai and Milan. A new venue in LA will open this summer.

Mary J Blige performing at Blue Note. Pic: Dervon Dixon
Image:
Mary J Blige performing at Blue Note. Pic: Dervon Dixon

The bigger nightlife picture

A 2024 report from the Night Time Industries Association showed the UK night-time cultural economy was worth £33.3bn, down from £37.2bn in 2019.

The association says that over the past four years, the UK has lost 37% of its clubs, which works out at a rate of around 10 clubs per month.

And last year, City Hall was told by industry representatives that night venues were being pushed to the brink of closure due to issues including strict licensing laws.

In response, London mayor Sadiq Khan has set up a dedicated “nightlife taskforce”, made up of 11 independent industry professionals, to address issues facing the industry.

They will be advised by bodies including the Met Police and Transport For London.

In support of Blue Note’s renewed application, the Music Venue Trust said: “Having a new grassroots music venue in Westminster is extremely important both for a sense of community the venue brings to its local community and also the mental health benefits of being able to attend and enjoy grassroots music and arts.

“Through our engagement with West End Jazz Limited (Blue Note Jazz Club) we have viewed the proposals for the space which contain absolute commitments to grassroots live music programming.”

The next steps as to the future of the club should be known over the coming months.

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KT Tunstall: ‘I was a totally crap pop star… It’s important to kill your idea of what you should be’

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KT Tunstall: 'I was a totally crap pop star... It's important to kill your idea of what you should be'

Twenty years on from her breakout hit Suddenly I See, KT Tunstall is refreshingly candid about her early career: “I was a totally crap pop star,” she tells Sky News.

The Scottish singer-songwriter may have a Brit and Ivor Novello to her name – won the year after she outsold every other female artist in the UK – but she’s not taking any prisoners.

KT Tunstall performing in 2023. Pic: AP Images
Image:
KT Tunstall performing in 2023. Pic: AP Images

“You have an idea of what you should be as an artist, I think it’s really, really important to kill that.”

She goes on: “The whole point of being an artist is that you never know what you’re going to be, and you should never assume that you know.

“I think there’s something much more divine in the kind of growth of yourself as an artist that it’s not your place to know what’s going to be.”

Pic: Pamela Raith Photography
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Emma Flynn plays Cher. Pic: Pamela Raith Photography

Sharing a private thought, she admits: “I don’t think I’ve ever said it out loud, but I have always thought to myself, ‘What if the things that you have done are not the thing that you’re most known for? That there’s something coming’?”

Pic: Pamela Raith Photography
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Emma Flynn plays Cher. Pic: Pamela Raith Photography

Turning 50 next year, Tunstall’s embraced change head on, helping transform 1995 film Clueless for the stage, alongside its creator Amy Heckerling.

Working in Hollywood for four decades and counting, Heckerling, who also directed Fast Times At Ridgemont High and Look Who’s Talking, says “I always felt like the movie, while we were making it, kind of wanted to sing.”

‘It was really time to do something new’

It was a “wild ride” that Tunstall, who says she was “desperate to learn something new,” was keen to be part of.

The Clueless The Musical cast. Pic: Pamela Raith Photography
Image:
The Clueless The Musical cast. Pic: Pamela Raith Photography

Busking as a student before joining bands in her early 20s, Tunstall says: “I’ve been I’ve been doing gigs and touring for a long time, and it was really time to do something new and, and this is just a dream project to do it with.”

With the film’s original soundtrack featuring hits from Radiohead, Coolio, the Lightning Seeds, Supergrass and the Beastie Boys, Tunstall says it was exciting to create songs for the “explosion of genre” that was the 1990s – a time when Nirvana and NSYNC jostled alongside each other in the charts, and the Spice Girls burst onto the worldwide scene.

KT Tunstall turns her hand to writing Clueless The Musical, the film that made Alicia Silverstone a star. Pic: Paramount Pictures/PA
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KT Tunstall has written the music for Clueless The Musical, the 90s film that made Alicia Silverstone a star. Pic: Paramount Pictures/PA

Tunstall’s approach? “Come up with a mega-mix feel, that it’s the cassette tape playing in Cher’s Jeep” and then merge it with the MTV music video visuals catching fire at the time.

‘Enjoy the nostalgia and relax in the theatre’

Emma Flynn, who plays Cher Horowitz in the show, says it’s the role of a lifetime having been a fan of the movie “since I was in the foetal position” and “pretty much off book” from day one.

Flynn says the show offers audiences an escape from some of the stresses of modern-day life.

“Watching people before social media and cell phones, just going to the Valley party and actually having to communicate. I think people enjoy that nostalgia. And I think it allows people to relax in the theatre too.”

And Clueless isn’t the only classic movie getting a musical makeover.

Georgie Buckland (Andy) and Amy Di Bartol in The Devil Wears Prada. Pic: Matt Crockett
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Georgie Buckland as Andy (L) and Amy Di Bartol as Emily (R) in The Devil Wears Prada The Musical. Pic: Matt Crockett

The Devil Wears Prada The Musical brings fashion to the West End, with music by Sir Elton John.

While the Mean Girls Broadway run was such a success, it got turned back into its own movie last year, taking over $100m at the global box office. The musical’s now in the West End, becoming the fastest-selling show in the Dominion Theatre’s history.

Pic: Brinkhoff-Moegenburg
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Mean Girls The Musical cast. Pic: Brinkhoff-Moegenburg

So, what’s the appeal?

The shows already have a ready-made audience of fans, created by the original film.

They’re familiar but different – building on the original narrative, taking well-loved characters and oft-repeated catchphrases – and using song and dance to expand on the movies’ best-known scenes – to the delight of the audience.

Meanwhile, the success of streaming over the last two decades means older films are easy to find and re-watch for a new generation of fans.

There’s the nostalgia factor too – looking back to a movie you loved as a child or teen means it’s already won a special place in your heart, and you’re much more likely to welcome it in for a second time.

Pic: Brinkhoff-Moegenburg
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Charlie Burn (R) plays Cady Heron. Pic: Brinkhoff-Moegenburg

‘The 90s are on fire in popular culture’

And the shows are not just attracting familiar audiences, but fresh ones as well says actress Charlie Burn, who plays Cady Heron in Mean Girls The Musical.

While she says there are certain “anticipatory parts of the show where people know there are iconic lines coming up,” she says there are also “parents with their kids at the stage door, that say, ‘I never knew the musical, I never knew the movie, and I loved it’.”

As for Clueless, Tunstall says it’s a piece of luck that after years of work the musical has come to fruition “when the ’90s are on fire again in popular culture”, adding “a whole new generation of kids are really appreciating the culture of the ’90s, and it just feels really perfect.”

Cher’s futuristic outfit generator may never have become a daily-dressing reality, and a Burn Book in the back of the closet would now be shared via an array of social media putdowns.

But the hefty dollop of nostalgia delivered by such shows is a song and dance welcomed by many across universally challenging times.

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