Salman Rushdie says he had a dream about being attacked days before stabbing

Published

9 months ago

April 15, 2024

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Sir Salman Rushdie has said he had a dream of a man trying to stab him days before he was attacked in 2022.

The author was stabbed several times during the attack, and suffered life-changing injuries including the loss of his right eye, moments before he was due to give a lecture at the Chautauqua Institution in New York state.

In his first major TV interview since the attack, the 76-year-old told Anderson Cooper on CBS programme 60 Minutes he did not want to attend the talk after dreaming of a man bearing down on him with a spear in an “amphitheatre” days before the event.

“I woke up and I was quite shaken,” he said.

“I said to my wife, Eliza, ‘You know I don’t want to go’ – because of the dream. And then I thought, ‘Don’t be silly, it’s a dream’.”

In 1989 Iran’s then leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for his death after the publication of his book The Satanic Verses, which many Muslims consider blasphemous.

The Indian-born British author, who said he had about “half a dozen serious assassination attempts” on his life, was due to speak about free speech before he was attacked.

“It felt like something coming out of the distant past and trying to drag me back in time, if you like, back into that distant past, in order to kill me,” he said.

“I think he was just slashing. It was the half minute of intimacy between life and death. I was watching it [blood] spread and then thinking I was probably dying. It was quite matter of fact.

“I’ve not had a revelation except there is no revelation to be had.”

‘What’s the lucky part?’

He continued: “One of the surgeons who had saved my life said to me: ‘First you were really unlucky and then you were really lucky’.

“I said, ‘What’s the lucky part?’ and he said, ‘Well, the lucky part is that the man who attacked you had no idea how to kill a man with a knife’.”

Sir Salman has now written about the attack in his new book, Knife: Meditations After An Attempted Murder, which is due to be published later this month.

He said he was initially reluctant to write the memoir: “It was the last thing I wanted to do.

“The only thing anyone knew about me was this death threat, but I had to write this, to focus on the elephant in the room.

“It then became a book I really wanted to write. Language is a way of breaking open the world. I don’t have any other weapons.”

A ‘squat missile’

In the book Sir Salman does not name his alleged attacker – Hadi Matar, a 24-year-old man from New Jersey, who has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial.

“I don’t want his name in my book and I don’t want him in my life,” he said. “We had 27 seconds together [during the attack], I don’t want to give him any more of my time.”

Reading from the book, he described how he saw a “murderous shape rushing towards” him like a “squat missile”.

On 21 April Sir Salman will discuss his book and the attack as part of a series of events for the Southbank Centre’s Spring Literature and Spoken Word Season.

Sir Salman began his writing career in the early 1970s and won the Booker Prize in 1981 for his novel Midnight’s Children, about the birth of modern India.

Entertainment

Jenny Eclair says she ‘can’t compete’ with ‘terrible’ AI Michael Parkinson podcast

Published

3 hours ago

January 13, 2025

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Jenny Eclair says she 'can't compete' with 'terrible' AI Michael Parkinson podcast

The first episode of a podcast hosted by AI replicating Sir Michael Parkinson has been released – and comedian and podcaster Jenny Eclair has branded it a “terrible, terrible idea”.

The podcast Virtually Parkinson sees AI technology synthetically recreate the late presenter’s voice and style to interview real-life celebrities.

Known for his interviews with the world’s biggest stars, Parkinson died in 2023 aged 88, following a brief illness.

The first episode released on Monday saw the Parkinson AI speak to R&B singer Jason Derulo, who was answering questions about his upbringing, fatherhood and fracturing part of his neck.

Eclair, who co-hosts the podcast Older and Wider with Judith Holder, said it made her “furious”.

Speaking about the podcast on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, Eclair, 64, said: “I’m furious, because there are living people like me who’ve still got mortgages, I’ve just actually mostly got rid of mine.

“But there’s not enough room. I know he was dearly loved and that sort of thing but there’s loads of back catalogue content that people can help themselves to.

“This is a terrible, terrible idea, we’re all fighting over the same space you know, the podcasts and the telly, and everybody’s desperately trying to say ‘me over here, please listen to my stuff’.

“I’ve got a podcast and I don’t think I can compete with Michael Parkinson, even when he’s not living and breathing.”

Virtually Parkinson’s producers Deep Fusion Films, who created the show with the support and involvement of Parkinson’s family and estate, said: “Jenny’s comments are precisely why the podcast was created, AI is a subject which people have strong opinions about, but is AI as scary as people think it is?

“Is it really coming for people’s jobs? Virtually Parkinson exists to explore the relationship between AI and humans, it simply couldn’t do that without having an AI host, so this is not a case of an AI replacing a human job.

“In fact, the podcast is launched at a time when the creative sector has been hit very hard and many find themselves out of work and Virtually Parkinson has created 15 jobs, which otherwise wouldn’t have existed.”

‘A tribute to my dad’

It was Parkinson’s son, Mike Parkinson, who reached out to the company with the idea of creating the podcast as a way to preserve his father’s legacy, calling it “a tribute to my dad”.

Deep Fusion was already using AI technology – dubbed “Squawk” – to allow live humans to speak with voices from the past.

When Mike Parkinson reached out, Deep Fusion drew from a back catalogue of more than 2,000 of his father’s interviews to recreate his voice and interview technique.

The company also expanded to create the project, hiring a new head of creative AI, an AI prompt engineer, researchers, guest bookers, podcast producers, and a sound engineer.

When the podcast was first announced last year, Mike Parkinson said: “I want audiences to marvel at the technology, the cleverness and cheekiness of the concept, but mostly I want them to remember just how good he was at interviewing and enjoy the nostalgia and happy memories.

“Through this platform, his legacy can continue, entertaining a new generation of fans.”

Podcast comes as government embraces AI future

The show’s launch has coincided with the government’s pledge to “mainline AI into the veins” of the UK, claiming that if AI is “fully embraced”, it could bring £47bn to the economy every year.

Announcing his goals to make the UK “the world leader” in AI, prime minister Sir Keir Starmer said: “Artificial Intelligence will drive incredible change in our country. From teachers personalising lessons, to supporting small businesses with their record-keeping, to speeding up planning applications, it has the potential to transform the lives of working people.

“But the AI industry needs a government that is on their side, one that won’t sit back and let opportunities slip through its fingers. And in a world of fierce competition, we cannot stand by. We must move fast and take action to win the global race.”

Entertainment

Dancing On Ice dedicated to The Vivienne as vigil held in Liverpool to remember drag queen

Published

9 hours ago

January 13, 2025

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Dancing On Ice dedicated to The Vivienne as vigil held in Liverpool to remember drag queen

RuPaul’s Drag Race star The Vivienne was remembered at a vigil in their home city of Liverpool on Sunday night.

James Lee Williams, originally from Colwyn Bay in North Wales, died on 5 January aged 32.

Hundreds of fans and friends of The Vivienne gathered at Liverpool‘s St George’s Hall.

Buildings across the city were lit up in green to commemorate the drag queen and their role as the Wicked Witch of the West in the Wizard Of Oz musical.

Fellow drag queen Danny Beard said the vigil was “a celebration of someone who touched the lives of so many”.

“The Vivienne was one of the world’s most recognisable drag queens, a proper world class entertainer,” they added.

“And above all a shining beacon in all of our lives and especially for the LGBT community.”

Since The Vivienne first rose to prominence in 2019, they appeared on a number of TV programmes, including Blankety Blank over the Christmas period.

The first episode in the series of Dancing On Ice on Sunday night also featured a tribute to The Vivienne, who competed on the 2023 series.

Presenter Holly Willoughby said many would have been “saddened by the tragic news”.

“They were a huge part of our show, making it all the way to the final in 2023,” she added.

“They will be very sorely missed and our thoughts are with The Vivienne’s loved ones at this time. So sad.”

In a tribute released after Mr Williams’s death, a Dancing On Ice spokesperson said they were “deeply saddened” by the news.

They said Mr Williams had made “TV history through their groundbreaking and spellbinding skating partnership”, becoming the first drag act to reach the Dancing On Ice final.

Entertainment

The Wanted star Max George recalls moment he wrote will from hospital bed before heart surgery

Published

10 hours ago

January 13, 2025

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The Wanted star Max George recalls moment he wrote will from hospital bed before heart surgery

The Wanted star Max George has told of the moment he wrote his will from a hospital bed, as he was convinced he “was going to die”.

In December, George revealed he had to undergo urgent heart surgery after being diagnosed with a block.

In an interview with The Sun, his first since he underwent the lifesaving surgery, the 36-year-old described the moment when he thought he would die.

He said: “If I could go from being absolutely on top of the world to being told ‘the bottom part of your heart isn’t working’, I kept thinking in my head, ‘Well, what if the top half stops working overnight?'”

“That first night I wrote a will, I thought I was going to die,” the 36-year-old musician added.

On the night of 13 December, George said his heart rate and blood pressure dropped, “I felt like I was dying,” he said.

He had a pacemaker fitted by doctors during the surgery, but the former Strictly Come Dancing star said he made a will on his phone fearing the worst.

Before the surgery, George said his thoughts turned to his partner, British actress Maisie Smith, and his family who he feared he’d leave behind.

He shared updates on social media throughout the process.

While the procedure was complicated by collapsed veins caused by the condition, the surgery was successful and he returned home before Christmas.

He described his pacemaker as “the best Christmas present”.

Tom Parker, who also rose to fame in the 2010s with the boy band along with George, died at the age of 33 after being diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour.