Category Entertainment News

The Royal Family’s Christmas celebration is always a big deal, and it seems like King Charles will be hosting it this year.

The Firm has had a turbulent past year, and this is the first time the royals have gathered together en masse after the King and the Princess of Wales were both diagnosed with cancer within days of each other.

Prince William made a hint earlier this week about how big the festivities are going to be. He told guests at a party that he would be celebrating the big day with about 45 relatives. The King traveled to Sandringham last month to see how his Norfolk home is being made up for the big day. This is where the royals traditionally celebrate the big day.

The King is already embracing the Christmas season and getting into the spirit, according to a royal insider at the time. Staff members who saw him this week commented on his cheerful and healthy appearance.

Prince Harry, the King’s separated son, Meghan Markle, and their children Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, are among the royals who are not expected to attend the grand bash, though. According to a source close to the couple, it was revealed earlier this month that they would not be visiting the UK for Christmas because they had not received an invitation to the couple’s annual gathering at Sandringham. However, who is supposed to attend the big day? Here we take a look…

Of course, the two main guests will be the King, who is hosting his third Christmas at Sandringham since taking the throne, and Queen Camilla. Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis, their three children, will join them in addition to the Prince and Princess of Wales. The King is “delighted” that William and Kate and their three have been confirmed for Christmas, according to royal sources who have previously told the Mirror.

Also expected are Edward and Sophie, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, and their two children Lady Louise Windsor, 21, and James, the Earl of Wessex, who turns 17 next week. Along with her husband Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence, the King’s trusted lieutenant Princess Anne is expected. Prince Andrew, the King’s troubled brother, and his ex-wife Fergie are expected, according to sources who believe the King has underlined his desire to unite the family, particularly during the Christmas holiday.

The King’s nieces and nephews as well as their families are among the guests. Therefore, it is anticipated that Zara and Mike Tindall, their three children, Mia, Lena, and Lucas, as well as Peter Phillips and his two daughters, and possibly Harriet Sperling, his new girlfriend, have been invited.

Expected guests include the expecting princess Beatrice, her husband Edo, daughter Sienna, princess Eugenie, Jack Brooksbank, and their young sons Ernest and August. Meanwhile, in a royal first, it has been hinted that Queen Camilla’s family will also be on hand to join the celebrations.

Tom Parker Bowles, Camilla’s son, confirmed in an interview that his mother had requested that he and his family also attend this year’s royal gathering. This would include visits to Tom, Lola, Lola, and Freddie, Camilla’s daughter Laura, Harry’s wife, and their three children, Eliza, Gus, and Louis.

Other royals, including the King’s cousin Sarah Chatto, Princess Margaret’s daughter, her husband Daniel, and Samuel and Arthur’s sons, are expected to make up the rest of the guest list.

Margaret’s son Earl Snowdon is also likely to have been invited alongside his children Lady Margarita Armstrong-Jones and Charles, Viscount Linley. The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, and Lady Gabriella Windsor, among others, are potential royals.

For plenty of families, board games and party games are a key part of the Christmas period, perfect for filling the hours between eating, opening presents… and more eating. However, it can be challenging to find one that everyone will enjoy, especially if you’re playing with people of all ages, but we think this Amazon bestseller will be a hit without a doubt.

It’s Bananas! The Monkey Tail Game, which costs £21.99, is currently Amazon’s second-most gifted floor game on the site. It has received more than 4, 000 five-star reviews, with customers expressing their delight in particular at the fact that it was enjoyed by players of all ages, from toddlers to grandparents. It has also gone viral on TikTok, collecting 350 million views.

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The premise of It’s Bananas! is simple, silly and promises lots of laughs, players must strap on an inflatable monkey tail, spin the spinner, then crouch down to pick up cardboard monkeys.

Although it’s obvious that kids will enjoy this game (the box says it’s appropriate for children six and up), they also find it to be popular with adults (especially after a few glasses of Bucks Fizz)!

For the family to play at parties, I purchased this. Kids and adults love it, especially once the adults have had a drink”, one Amazon customer commented. With this game, we entered some compromising positions!

“We played this game at Christmas, it was hilarious, easy to put together”, another agreed. “I thought it was a little overpriced, but the laughs we had were worth it.”

“Bought for Christmas family games because it’s so funny to see people of all ages playing this,” Surprised we didn’t suffer a broken hip! Although a third person did add that “Not played since – I would imagine the cardboard hoops can easily be broken hence the 4 stars,” the third person wrote, “so much fun.”

A few customers, however, remarked that the quality of the game might mean that it may not last for many years, with one writing, “I thought it was quite expensive for the quality of it. There’s not much to it, but we all enjoyed it so was worth it in the end”.

If you’re looking for a game with a bit more longevity (and easier on the knees), we also like Tension, currently £13 down from £17.99, a naming game that’s surprisingly tricker than it sounds.

Debenhams also has a number of classic games, including Guess Who and The 1% Club The Board Game for $29, and a lot of them.

Just a few days until the Strictly Come Dancing final, with rumors about who will win the glitterball trophy this year still unfinished.

The BBC show’s most recent series’ grand finale comes on Saturday. Comedian Chris McCausland, 47, JLS ‘ JB Gill, 38, actor Sarah Hadland, 53, and Love Island star Tasha Ghouri, 26, will compete to be crowned the winner.

Ahead of their performances, bookmaker Coral has named Chris the odds-on favourite to win. The bookmaker adds that those odds suggest he has a 95% chance of winning the final and that he has been given odds of 1-20 to win.

Coral’s John Hill has suggested that it is a “one-horse race” for the glitterball trophy, saying: “]Chris] is the shortest price any contestant has been going into a Strictly final. We think it is a one-horse race, as it has been for quite some time”.

JB is currently tied for second place in the betting to win the trophy, with odds of 14-1. Sarah, a former Miranda cast member, has a 25-1 win chance, and Tasha, a reality TV star, has a 33-1 win chance.

Frontrunner Chris, who is the first blind contestant to compete on Strictly, is partnered with professional dancer Dianne Buswell, 35, on the show. Only two other celebs in this year’s competition have participated in a dance-off. Sarah, who’s partnered with Vito Coppola, 32, is the other.

JB, who is now partnered with Lauren Oakley, 33, survived a dance-off in the fifth week of the competition, when he was still partnered with Amy Dowden, 34. Whilst Tasha and her dance partner Aljaž Škorjanec, 34, instead avoided being eliminated as part of a dance-off just last weekend.

However, Tasha is the only leader out of the four runners-up, scoring JB just behind her for the group’s second highest score. Sarah has topped the leaderboard twice, whilst Chris has not, as of yet, done so.

Speaking about his time on Strictly recently, Chris said: “I wouldn’t change anything about it”. Ahead of the final, he added that he now “can’t remember” life before taking part in the show, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary.

He said: “It’s the maddest experience of time in that the training days, they drag, because it’s just relentless. However, Saturdays happen so quickly. Usually when you do something like this you say, hasn’t the time flown? But I can’t remember my life before Strictly. This is all I’ve ever done, in fact, to put it mildly.

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In a rare sighting, the solitary star has been spotted in Los Angeles.

The Friends icon, 57, who played Joey Tribbiani in the smash-hit series from 1994 to 2004, was seen out shopping for groceries at Ralph’s store in Encino, Los Angeles, rocking a grey beard and sporting a burgundy Carhartt jacket, jeans and a Mercedes Benz cap.

30 years after starring in the hit movie Joey, a lovable New Yorker, Joey, the actor announced a significant career change. The actor is now reportedly a part-owner of RPM Motorcars, which is based in the Sherman Oaks neighborhood after a lengthy break from the limelight.

The dealership offers ‘ high quality, exotic, luxury, and sport cars for everyone ‘ and have ‘ an array of exotic cars ranging from Porsche, Audi, Mercedes, Ferrari and more ‘ according to its website. According to the Mail, Matt has part-owned the company since October 2020, according to business documents filed in Delaware.

The star’s daughter Marina, 20, was also frequently spotted at the dealership in recent weeks, according to the publication, adding that the family-run business is family-run. Marina is LeBlanc’s only child with ex-wife Melissa McKnight, to whom he was married from 2003 to 2006.

After losing four of his closest friends, Matt has faced challenges. The former Top Gear host was devastated when his co-star, Matthew Perry, passed away last year after being discovered unconscious in a hot tub as a result of a drug overdose.

Matt has maintained a low profile since the tragedy, posting data-content-type=”section-topic” data-link-tracking=”InArticle|Link” href=”https://www.mirror.co.uk/all-about/instagram”>Instagram photos of his recently deceased coworkers, including James Michael Tyler, a former Friends actor best known for playing Gunther, a Central Perk employee.

Another friend the star has lost is Top Gear contributor, Sabine Schmitz. The German racing driver, who had “an extremely persistent cancer,” passed away in March 2021.

Since 2004, Sabine had first appeared on the television program Top Gear and had been a well-known member of the presenting team and gang. Despite her illness, she still flew to London to see the series’ premiere in January 2020. Her final appearance on the BBC series occurred during its 28th season.

Matt, who was close to Sabine’s and co-starred in numerous episodes of the show with her, later admitted to being devastated by her passing. He shared a photo of himself with a former coworker on social media and wrote, “Taken far too soon.” I’ll always remember her smile because she was so brilliant. RIP my friend”.

When American rally driver Ken Block was killed in a freak snowmobile accident in January 2023, the actor was in for a new Top Gear tragedy.

When his snowmobile flipped and fell on top of him at his ranch in Utah, killing him, Block, who appeared alongside Matt on a 2016 episode of the show, was driving up a steep slope.

Matt and Block had a memorable Top Gear episode where they staged a fake wedding at St. Paul’s Cathedral while dressed up in a jazzed Ford Mustang. In a moving Instagram tribute, the actor later admitted his friend, a veteran stunt-driver, was “taken too soon” in a touching post.

Matt’s reps have been contacted by The Mirror to comment on this story.

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In an effort to raise awareness of cancer, actor Craig Russell has made light of the symptoms that led to his diagnosis of a brain tumor. The 47-year-old, who played Marc Antony in Netflix’s African Queens: Cleopatra, said it all started with ‘intense headaches’, and a ‘shooting pain’ across the back of his skull two years ago.

He’d suffered from migraines for several years, but this felt different, and was accompanied by a strange ‘whooshing’ sound. Speaking with the Telegraph, the father-of-two explained: “I was increasingly forgetful, and becoming more and more clumsy.

“[My wife] Kate was concerned that it could be early onset dementia, though I’m only 47. ” With Christmas just around the corner, Craig and Kate initially tried to continue life as usual, but his symptoms only continued.

Beyond headaches, Craig also made several frighteningly forgetful mistakes. He once believed he was trapped inside their spare room and unsure of where to leave, but he later remembered the door was directly in his face.

He frequently lost himself while traveling, whether it was by making incorrect turns at roundabouts or trying to remember how to return to his room. When confiding in friends, he was told it might be ‘something viral’, anxiety-related or even dehydration.

So, he upped the breathing techniques, cold showers and water consumption in an attempt to tackle this. Although Craig eventually confided in his wife, who advised him to see a doctor, this seemed to work for a while.

In a previous conversation with Brain Tumour Research, he said, “I told the GP everything that had been happening, suggesting I might have had anxiety or perhaps a virus.” She observed that I was going blind in my left eye when she examined my vision.

I was in my mid-forties when I realized that this was a sign of aging, so I was referred for a CT scan because I had never needed glasses. In February of this year, Craig was finally given a low-grade meningioma diagnosis.

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According to reports, doctors informed Craig that his tumor had probably spread over “15 years” and was now causing the skull to protrude. Thankfully, this was soon removed in a six-and-a-half-hour surgery, but even 18 months on he is still recovering from the ordeal.

He’s still grappling with migraines, brain fog and, just recently, he collapsed after bumping his head. But, he told the Telegraph: “I’m amazed by my own recovery, and especially by the fact that my eyesight is now perfect again. “

According to the NHS, brain tumor symptoms frequently depend on the location of the affected area. However, common symptoms include:

• Persistently feeling sick (nausea), being sick (vomiting) and drowsiness
• Seizures (fits)
• Vision or speech problems
• On the other side of the body, progressive weakness or paralysis.
• Headaches
• Mental or behavioural changes, such as memory problems or changes in personality

See a doctor if you experience these symptoms, especially if the headache feels different from what you typically get, or if the headaches are getting worse, according to the advice.

“You may not have a brain tumour, but these types of symptoms should be checked. If the GP is unable to rule out a more probable cause of your symptoms, they may refer you to a neurosurgeon who specializes in brain and nervous system for further evaluation and testing, such as a brain scan. “

Slade star Noddy Holder, 78, has given a major update about his fight with cancer – and it’s good news.

The gifted singer revealed his diagnosis of oesophageal cancer in October of last year, but he made a decision to keep it a secret because he had to deal with it in private. This morning, he broke his silence while speaking on BBC Breakfast, and gave some welcome news about his progress.

Noddy’s brightly patterned hoodie and gold loafers gave off hints of his musical career, despite still appearing to be a glam rocker on the set. “I’m okay. I’m on a level playing field, I’m doing alright”, he shared when asked how he was. Host Naga Munchetty responded: “Good, well the reason I ask is five years ago – very different story…” and made sure to greet Noddy’s wife, Suzan Price, who was sat next to him on the sofa.

Noddy said, “I was given six months to live after being diagnosed with oesophagus cancer five years ago. And luckily for me, I went to The Christie]hospital] in Manchester and they gave me this heavy bout of chemo, which is very targeted”.

He added: “They hadn’t tried it on – it had had some success – but they hadn’t tried it on anyone over 60 at the time. They asked me if I’d give it a try, and I was 72 at that point. And luckily for me, I’m still here! Five years later. So they are now giving it to older people.

Noddy previously provided more information about the brand-new chemotherapy he’d been receiving while on Radio 2. “It was abrupt.” I lost all my hair”, he revealed.

“It was about eight stone,” I said. So every cloud. I’ve just had a scan last week and everything’s on an even keel at the moment, so I hope it carries on that way. I’m fit, fit, fit… but I’m fit for nothing”.

Suzan has also spoken out about Noddy’s experiences, after he chose to break his silence in order to raise awareness of the disease. She described his diagnosis in her book, “We coped with it the only way we could, by hunkering down, sticking together, and doing everything we could to survive it.”

After revealing his diagnosis, Noddy himself provided more details during his first TV appearance. He discussed the decision to try chemo and the moment he was given his life expectancy in an interview with Jeremy Vine on October 5th, 2017. Noddy said: “I went to the Christie hospital in Manchester, and I said ‘ Is it six months? Is that the end of the line? ‘”

Suzan was terrorized “to death” by a brief indolence that he accepted and proceeded with the trial. Noddy stated that he wanted to “give it a go” for his final six months, but that he didn’t want to be ill for them.

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