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60 SECONDS: Newton Faulkner


Singer/songwriter Newton Faulkner has scored a Top 20 hit with his single Dream Catch Me and has a Top Ten album in Hand Built By Robots. The dreadlocked crooner has just played an extensive British tour and is on stage at the surfing festival Unleashed in Newquay this weekend.

That’s an unusual name.
It’s my grandad’s name. I was trying to keep my full name under wraps but it got out. Sam is my name, Newton is my grandad’s name, Battenberg is my mum’s maiden name and Faulkner is obviously my dad’s surname. It says on a website that my middle name is Deuteronomy, which isn’t true. That would really push things over the edge.

The album is called Hand Built By Robots. What is your favourite robot?
Optimus Prime. I liked Transformers as a kid – that and Thundercats. I liked Dino-Riders, too, but only one series was made and no one else remembers it.

Who would win in a fight between the Transformers and the Thundercats?
The Transformers would definitely destroy the Thundercats without too much trouble. There are more of them and they’re about ten times the size. The Thundercats only had little swords.

Are you a hippy?
A little bit. The dreads are a bit of a giveaway and I do most of my gigs in my socks – that’s not a good sign. I don’t do it for any hippy reason, though. It’s just because my feet get hot.

Are you going to explore the more rock’n’roll facets of your personality soon?
Sure – as soon as the money comes in. I want to be in rehab by the end of next year.

Do you get bored with doing acoustic gigs? Aren’t they the dullest things on Earth?
It depends who you’re going to see. Acoustic guitars have been given a bad name by… strummers. I’m not mentioning any names. It’s such a versatile instrument. You can mess with the tuning so easily and bend strings, which you can’t do on a lot of other instruments. It doesn’t need to be boring.

You’ve got a Top 20 hit single, so how did you celebrate?
I didn’t. It happened on the day I came off tour. I collapsed quietly somewhere.

When was the last time you got so drunk you threw up?
It’s been a while. I’m not a fan of throwing up. Most people shouldn’t be. I drank two bottles of red wine about a year ago and it really messed me up. I was with someone, though. I didn’t drink them by myself – I’m not an alcoholic.

You’ve supported James Morrison and Paolo Nutini. Is the market big enough for all you singer/songwriter types?
I hate that term. It doesn’t mean anything; it’s the same as ‘indie’ – what does that mean now? Stevie Wonder is a singer/songwriter – he plays and he writes, as does 90 per cent of the industry. It’s meant to mean strummers, though, isn’t it? Mildly depressing music. It doesn’t need to be. I try not to be that. I seem to appeal to the same audiences, though. It’s a strange one. I don’t know what I am. I’m just getting on with it.

You’re doing the Unleashed festival. Are you into all that surfy stuff?
I don’t do it myself but I like the vibes. There are nice people involved. I BMXed for a while but I had an accident. I smashed up my face. I went up a trick box, thinking it was square, and I was about to go down the other side when I realised it wasn’t a square, it was a triangle. It was a 2m drop on the other side and I landed on my face. I needed loads of stitches and nearly lost an eye. That was enough to put me off.

Have you ever had a supernatural experience?
I’ve thought I’ve moved objects with my mind a couple of times but it was probably because the object was moving anyway. Once I put my hand over a snooker ball and it went all the way across the table and into the pocket. It must have been a dodgy table or something. Either that or I’ve got telekinetic powers – which is a bit of a more extreme interpretation.
Share this article What is this? Metro

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Luke Wilson Breaks Down Over Brother Owen's Suicide Attempt
He was in tears...


Luke Wilson has spoken out about his brother's weekend suicide attempt.

In an interview with OK! Magazine, Wilson broke down when confronted with the question of Owen’s future.

''I just don’t know'' he answered in tears.

According to reports, it was Luke who found Owen in his Santa Monica home and dialled 911, after he cut his wrists and took prescription medicine.

Wilson was taken to St John’s Hospital in Santa Monica but was later transferred to Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre, where his condition was declared stable.

Although there has been no official word on the reason behind
Owen’s suicide attempt, reports have been circulating with numerous theories.

It is thought that Owen Wilson’s suicide bid occurred shortly after a “vicious quarrel” with an unidentified friend.

Another report report claims that Wilson suffered from an intense depression and drug addiction after the breakdown of his relationship with ex-girlfriend Kate Hudson in June.

Hudson was photographed locking lips with Punk'd actor Dax Shepard in a local supermarket a day before Wilson was admitted to hospital.

Hudson - who is currently filming in Boston – fled the set of her new movie when news arrived of Wilson’s suicide bid.

''She looked upset,'' a witness told UK newspaper London Lite.

''She was on the phone, pacing back and forth, then her handlers came out and she was ushered into a white SUV.''
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Langham Given 10 Months In Prison


Chris Langham has been sentenced to 10 months in prison for

Sky News reporter Emma Birchley said it was not yet clear whether Langham would appeal against the sentence.

Outside the court, Det Chief Insp Paul Fotheringham of Kent Police said: "This is not about some very old grainy images that have been found on the computer of Mr Langham.

"This is real video of real people, some of them in this country, being abused."

He added: "The judge recognised that people like Mr Langham are fuelling the abuse of children around the world."

Police raided the 58-year-old star's home in November 2005 as part of Operation Ore and seized three computers with files called "Lolita", "incest", "rape", "*****" and "hussy".

There were also videoclips entitled "Kiddy 11-year-old", "13-year-old preteen underage" and "preteen sex education".

Langham, who won a BAFTA for his role in the BBC drama The Thick Of It, admitted looking at child porn.
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But he pleaded not guilty to the charges against him because he said he wanted to make a public declaration that he was not a paedophile.

Instead, he claimed he had been conducting research for the BBC television series Help.

Langham told Maidstone Crown Court in Kent that he and a co-writer had created a paedophile character called Pedro whose catchphrase was "I'm only a minor offender".

He claimed he wanted to explore the way society viewed sex offenders through this character. The episodes, however, were never made.

The jury convicted him of 15 counts of making an indecent photograph of a child between September and November 2005 after a three-week trial which finished last month.

Judge Philip Statman, who remanded Langham in custody until sentencing, said the indecent images of the children were so serious that the "custody threshold had been well and truly passed"
Sky

OJ Simpson questioned over Vegas robbery





Police today questioned former American football star OJ Simpson about a break-in at a Las Vegas casino hotel room, involving sports memorabilia.

The break-in was reported at the Palace Station casino, an ageing property just west of the Las Vegas strip, late last night, police said.

Simpson was released and is believed to be in Las Vegas.

"We don't believe he's going anywhere," a police spokesman said.

Simpson had been scheduled to give a deposition in Miami in a bankruptcy case involving his eldest daughter.

But it was postponed after Simpson told attorneys he would be out of town.

The Palace Station hotel complex includes a 430-room Courtyard hotel and a 21-storey hotel tower with 500 rooms and suites.

The incident coincided with the publication today of the controversial book, If I Did It. The book, about the murder of Simpson's former wife, Nicole, and her friend Ronald Goldman, was cancelled by HarperCollins after a public outcry.

In August 2007, a Florida bankruptcy court awarded the book rights to the Goldman family to partially satisfy an unpaid civil judgment. The title of the book was changed to If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer, and is being published by Beaufort Books.

Comments were added to the original manuscript by the Goldman family, the writer Pablo Fenjves, and the prominent investigative journalist Dominick Dunne. A civil jury found Simpson, an actor and former American football player, financially liable for the deaths of his wife and Mr Goldman in a civil trial. He was acquitted of murder charges in a 1995 criminal trial that transfixed America.

Mr Fenjves said the book's original publisher told him it was a confession. Mr Fenjves writes in a prologue that Judith Regan, then of ReganBooks/HarperCollins, told him: "He wants to confess, and I'm being assured it's a confession. But this is the only way he'll do it."
guardian

60 SECONDS: Jodie Harsh


Drag queen Jodie Harsh hosts London club nights Circus and Foreign and is becoming a cult celebrity in her own right, popping up in fashion magazines and on TV shows. The alter ego of former London College of Fashion student Jay Clarke, 23, Harsh is frequently snapped out on the town with favourite celeb pals Gail Porter and Kelly Osbourne.

How long have you been Jodie Harsh for?
I’ve been doing drag for five years – I was 18 when I first started. Some friends of mine did it and they encouraged me to do it. I like the creativity of it and it gives you licence to misbehave. There are lots of benefits – velvet ropes opening and free drinks. That was great at first but I’m not in it for shallow reasons, I’m not obsessed with getting in places, it’s my career now.

You were quite young, you must have been very self-confident.
I went to stage school from the age of 13 and also went to drama clubs from an early age. This is an extension of that; I’m playing a character. I’ve always been interested in club culture and parties. When I finished stage school, I did my A-levels and then went to the London College of Fashion.

How long does it take you to get ready?
Two hours. I shave my face and if I’m wearing something skimpy, I’ll shave my armpits. I’m lucky that I don’t have a hairy chest and I never show my legs, so I don’t bother shaving them. I shave my eyebrows off too; though I kept them for my graduation picture and for my grandad’s funeral. I’ll shave, have an espresso, lock myself in my room with no music or booze for an hour and do my make-up; make-up is my therapy. I’ll do my eyes, lips and contouring. I’ll already have an outfit selected, then I’ll fix my wig and find accessories.

How many wigs have you got?
I’ve had about 30 but right now I’ve got five. I get them made in Las Vegas and my friend styles them. Dancing and sweating gets them a bit ratty so they’ll only last 15 to 20 wears. I have quite a high wig turnaround.

What’s your favourite item of clothing?
I have a really amazing leather Vivienne Westwood jacket dress and a nice gold, sequined Alexander McQueen jumpsuit. I have my own aesthetic. Other drag queens don’t have the same style as me and most women wouldn’t get away with wearing my clothes. What I do isn’t traditional pub drag and it’s not girly drag. It’s a look that I’ve come up with myself – half clown, half Bratz doll.

I met Madonna once. I told her she was the same age as my mum. I’m not sure how that went down

Are you pals with Jodie Marsh?
I don’t have much to do with her. I picked the name because I thought it was funny. I suppose I’m taking the piss a bit. We text each other occasionally but we don’t go to lunch together. I’m sure she’s upset I’m more famous than her now.

She was recently looking for a husband. Would you have obliged?
No, she’s not my type really. I want to get into TV but I don’t want to go down the reality route. There are people with crazy looks and drag queens in clubs in East London but I’m the first of recent years to push that into the mainstream. I want my own talk show. I want my own perfume. I’m very career focused.

Who would be your dream celebrity to interview?
Madonna, because I’d like to find out how much of a bitch she is in real life and how she’d react to me. I met her at a party at Home once. I asked her if she was Madonna and she said yes and I told her how much I liked the Reinvention tour. I told her she’s the same age as my mum, I’m not sure how well that went down. She was with Demi Moore but I didn’t talk to her because she’s boring.

Who is your least likely famous friend?
I’m really good friends with Gail Porter. She came to my club Circus one night. She’s lovely. I went to lunch with her and my grandmother at The Ivy. Kelly Osbourne is also a good friend. I don’t like talking about celebrity friends, though, it’s what people always ask me about.

What was your last dream about?
I always dream I’m falling off a cliff. Maybe I should see a therapist to find out what it’s all about.
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