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Hollywood star Jamie Dornan was taken to hospital after a brush with poisonous caterpillars during a golfing holiday in Portugal last year, according to a friend who also needed treatment.

The actor, from Northern Ireland, was on holiday with a group including journalist and former showbiz editor Gordon Smart, who recounted the story during an appearance on The Good, The Bad And The Unexpected podcast.

He said that both he and Dornan fell ill while on the golf course after drinking alcohol including wine and espresso martinis the previous day.

Smart said he was the first to notice symptoms, including tingling in his left arm and hand, so he went into a medical centre and left his three friends behind, secretly fearing he might be having a heart attack.

He was told his heart rate was 210 beats per minute, he said – a normal resting heart rate should be between 60 to 100 beats per minute, according to the British Heart Foundation – and was put in an Uber to hospital.

“Got an Uber, collapsed and woke up in a hospital bed, attached to a machine, with a doctor saying, ‘what on earth have you been doing, young man?'”

‘That’s not a good sign’

The doctor asked Smart to give details of the drinks he had had the day before, he said – at which point he apparently saw Dornan being rolled past on a hospital bed, too.

“I thought, that’s not a good sign, that he’s in the same state as me,” Smart said. “At which point they left me in the room to calm down for a second.”

He said he phoned his father, a doctor, who told him he might have caffeine poisoning after drinking six espresso martinis on top of the other alcohol they had consumed.

“I had to sort of ride it out,” Smart said. “It was a pretty scary time.”

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After they were both discharged, Dornan said he had begun feeling numbness in his limbs not long after Smart left the group.

About a week later, Smart said he received a phone call from the doctor who had looked after them.

“He said, look, espresso martinis aside, at any stage did you come in contact with caterpillars on the golf course?” Smart said, adding that the doctor sent him a link to a Portuguese newspaper article about processionary caterpillars.

“It turns out that there are caterpillars on golf courses in the south of Portugal that have been killing people’s dogs and given men in their 40s heart attacks.”

Caterpillars contain a toxic protein

The pair had apparently come into contact with a hairy processionary caterpillar, said Smart.

“I’d been very lucky to come out of that one alive. So there’s my story. The good news is it wasn’t a caffeine overdose, it wasn’t a hangover. It was a poisonous, toxic caterpillar.”

Dornan also survived the ordeal – and apparently even agreed to a selfie with staff at the hospital, Smart said.

“Don’t ask Hollywood stars for a selfie when you think they’ve just had a heart attack,” Smart joked at the end of the tale. “That was brutal, wasn’t it? He did it as well. Good guy, good guy. He did the picture.”

Processionary caterpillars are covered in hairs and move in groups, hence their name, following chemical and tactile signals on trees or the ground to find and consume leaves, the Natural History Museum says.

“This gives them safety in numbers, and their defence is boosted further by their covering of fine hairs,” the museum says on its website. “Known as setae, they contain a toxic protein known as thaumetopoein which can cause rashes, irritation and breathing difficulties in humans and animals.”

Dornan, best known for the Fifty Shades Of Grey films, as well as Belfast and A Private War, and TV series including The Fall and The Tourist, is yet to comment about the incident.

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Man arrested for alleged sexual assault ‘on set of EastEnders’

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Man arrested for alleged sexual assault 'on set of EastEnders'

A man has been arrested on suspicion of assault and sexual assault – which reportedly took place on the set of EastEnders.

The alleged incident happened on the set of the BBC soap at Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire, according to The Sun newspaper.

Hertfordshire Police confirmed a man in his 50s was arrested after the report in Eldon Avenue, Borehamwood, on 7 May.

The man is accused of sexual assault and common assault in relation to two victims, the force said.

The suspect is on bail while inquiries continue, police added.

EastEnders said in a statement: “While we would never comment on individuals, EastEnders has on-site security and well-established procedures in place to safeguard the safety and welfare of everyone who works on the show.”

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BST Hyde Park’s final day cancelled as Jeff Lynne’s ELO pulls out of headline slot

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BST Hyde Park's final day cancelled as Jeff Lynne's ELO pulls out of headline slot

BST Hyde Park festival has cancelled its final night after Jeff Lynne’s Electric Light Orchestra pulled out of the headline slot.

Lynne, 77, was due to play alongside his band on Sunday but has been forced to withdraw from the event following a “systemic infection”.

The London show was supposed to be a “final goodbye” from ELO following their farewell US tour.

Organisers said on Saturday that Lynne was “heartbroken” at being unable to perform.

A statement read: “Jeff has been battling a systemic infection and is currently in the care of a team of doctors who have advised him that performing is simply not possible at this time nor will he be able to reschedule.

“The legacy of the band and his longtime fans are foremost in Jeff’s mind today – and while he is so sorry that he cannot perform, he knows that he must focus on his health and rehabilitation at this time.”

They later confirmed the whole of Sunday’s event would be cancelled.

“Ticket holders will be refunded and contacted directly by their ticket agent with further details,” another statement said.

Stevie Wonder played the festival on Saturday – now its final event of 2025.

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US rock band The Doobie Brothers and blues rock singer Steve Winwood were among those who had been due to perform to before ELO’s headline performance.

The cancellation comes after the band, best known for their hit Mr Blue Sky, pulled out of a performance due to take place at Manchester’s Co-Op Live Arena on Thursday.

ELO was formed in Birmingham in 1970 by Lynne, multi-instrumentalist Roy Wood and drummer Bev Bevan.

They first split in 1986, before frontman Lynne resurrected the band in 2014.

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Donald Trump threatens to revoke Rosie O’Donnell’s US citizenship

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Donald Trump threatens to revoke Rosie O'Donnell's US citizenship

Donald Trump has said he is considering “taking away” the US citizenship of actress and comedian Rosie O’Donnell, despite a Supreme Court ruling that expressly prohibits a government from doing so.

In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, the US president said: “Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship.”

He also labelled O’Donnell, who has moved to Ireland, as a “threat to humanity” and said she should “remain in the wonderful country of Ireland, if they want her”.

O’Donnell responded on Instagram by posting a photograph of Mr Trump with Jeffrey Epstein.

“You are everything that is wrong with America and I’m everything you hate about what’s still right with it,” she wrote in the caption.

“I’m not yours to silence. I never was.”

Rosie O'Donnell arrives at the ELLE Women in Hollywood celebration on Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
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Rosie O’Donnell moved to Ireland after Donald Trump secured a second term. Pic: AP

O’Donnell moved to Ireland with her 12-year-old son in January after Mr Trump had secured a second term.

She has said she’s in the process of obtaining Irish citizenship based on family lineage and that she would only return to the US “when it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America”.

O’Donnell and the US president have criticised each other publicly for years, in an often-bitter back-and-forth that predates Mr Trump’s move into politics.

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This is just the latest threat by the president to revoke the citizenship of someone he has disagreed with, most recently his former ally Elon Musk.

But the two situations are different as while Musk was born in South Africa, O’Donnell was born in the US and has a constitutional right to American citizenship.

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Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, said the Supreme Court ruled in a 1967 case that the fourteenth amendment of the constitution prevents the government from taking away citizenship.

“The president has no authority to take away the citizenship of a native-born US citizen,” he added.

“In short, we are nation founded on the principle that the people choose the government; the government cannot choose the people.”

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