the times | Friday August 7 2020 1GT 3
times
DOWN
Whoopi
Goldberg
2
DOWN
Celebrity
summer
1
TV & RADIO7-DAY
GUIDEpage 19Judi
Dench
Me and
WillRumer The singer who went
from to NashvilleHerne HillSaturday August 8 2020My lifelong love
of ShakespeareAs we wend our way into August, it
is time to ask an important question:
which celebrities are having the worst
summer? Who has managed to take
our quotidian experience of sticky
heat, local lockdowns and economic
gloom — then raise us with their own
niche, personal hells?
Meghan and Harry are having an
eggy month. The publication of the
book Finding Freedom — a biography
designed to tell their side of the story,
although they say that they did not
contribute to it — hasn’t, perhaps, had
the effect the couple would have liked.
It essentially takes 90,000 words to
explain that, basically, working for
one’s grandma is tricky.
The orange-faced reality star Katie
Price is also having yet another
terrible summer. Last month she
announced that her new
puppy, Rolo, had died.
Price, who was made
bankrupt last year, had
already broken both
ankles while “jumping
off a wall at a theme
park”, which isn’t a
ride I was previously
aware of.
Sadly, Rolo isn’t
Price’s first Dead
Pet Rodeo —
as Peta noted in
an official
statement, “at
least three
dogs — and
one horse —
have died on
[Price’s] watch in the
last few years.” Price’s
alsatian, Sparkle, died
about six months ago
when he was hit by a
car; another dog,
Queenie, died in 2018
after being hit by a pizza
delivery van. The horse
met a similar death in yet
another crash. But this
week Price broke her
unlucky streak of pets versus cars
when ten-week-old Rolo died not in a
traffic accident, but by getting stuck in
an electric armchair.
The alarming nature of the
puppy’s death was made worse by
people on social media initially
reporting that he had died “in an
electric chair”, thus momentarily
raising the spectre of Price having
introduced capital punishment to her
“Mucky Mansion”, and her French
bulldog wailing, “I’m not ready to
meet the Big Guy yet!” while nuns
prayed in a vigil outside. Either way,
it’s all very bad optics.
However, with last week marking
the final statements in his libel trial
against The Sun, it is, almost certainly,
Johnny Depp who wins the award for
Worst Celebrity Summer 2020.
It has been like an Olympics of
bad allegations, including the 200m
freestyle drug-taking, a relay race of
accusations and counter-accusations
between him and Amber Heard, his
ex-wife, and some manner of
shot put event involving
pooing in the bed.
In the closing hours of
evidence, however, one
accusation topped them
all: Heard claiming
that Depp walked
around the house
urinating, trying
to “write my
name on the
walls and
carpet” of their
house in pee. If
true, this would
mean that Depp
has now put the
“graphic” into
“autographs”.
Who would ever
ask Depp to “sign
here” without putting
on protective clothing
first? Or at least, putting
up an umbrella?
Still, there are three
more weeks of summer
left to play for! Who
knows which celebrity
might have topped all these
contenders before
September comes into
view, writing “I am
autumn” with its own
urine? It’s all the rage now.After Black Lives Matter, the
world is engaged in the needful
and continuing reassessment of
just how widespread and deeply
buried racism is. Policies,
statues, language, careers
— all are being re-
examined as we come
to terms with just how
pernicious prejudice is.
However, while
I’m not one to tinkle
on a progress parade,
there have been
some claims about
historical racism
that call out for a
pinch of “Oh, really?”
For instance, in an
interview with Deadline Whoopi
Goldberg suggested that the 1990
film Ghost, in which she starred, had
its success “stunted” by racism. For,
despite taking $505 million at the box
office, Ghost did not spawn any
sequels or TV spin-offs, as did rival
films such as Star Wars. “We were a
very mixed cast — and it makes you
wonder 30 years later, was it
because we were a mixed cast
that nobody wanted to
celebrate it?” Goldberg said.
I mean, I don’t discount it.
I hear what Goldberg is
saying. But I can’t help but
notice that the primary
stumbling block in
there being a sequel
or spin-off to Ghost
was that the plot
involves the male
romantic lead,
played by Patrick
Swayze, being dead,
thus making his
“further adventures”
a bit tricky.Visual art
the public. Overlooking the
Thames in Buckinghamshire,
it has been a home to dukes and
earls for more than 300 years.
Cliveden, Maidenhead
(nationaltrust.org.uk/cliveden)Cliveden
A collection of 19th-century
sculpture populates the grounds
of the National Trust’s estate,
whose gardens, woodland and
main car park have reopened toFilm
for a century. Brandon Trost’s
tale is touching as well as funny.
The film is adapted by the
author and Saturday Night Live
gag writer Simon Rich from his
own drolly satirical New Yorker
story Sell Out. See review, page 7.
In cinemasAn American Pickle
A comedy about the fish-out-of-
water exploits of a bamboozled
Jewish New Yorker from 1919
called Herschel Greenbaum
(Seth Rogen, right), who
wakes up in a vastly different
environment after being pickledExhibition
Liverpool and on the Wirral
that have never been on public
display before.
Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
(liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/
whatson), tomorrow and SundayLinda McCartney
A big retrospective of her
photography, with more than
200 images, ranging from
depictions of the music scene of
the 1960s to family life with
Paul. The exhibition will include
a selection of scenes captured inTheatre
installation, with no actors
performing live. Instead the
words of Juliet Stevenson, right,
are piped through to a small
audience through headphones.
Donmar Warehouse, London
WC2 (donmarwarehouse.com),
today, Sat and SunBlindness
It’s the indoor theatre show that
the government regulations
can’t stop... because Simon
Stephens’s adaptation of José
Saramago’s novel is a soundOpera
McGovern, left with Mafi, star
in the romantic comedy,
updated to the present day.
Stuart Stratford conducts
a (suitably distanced) ensemble.
Edinburgh International
Festival on YouTube, tomorrow
and SundayThe Telephone
Instead of live opera at the
Edinburgh Festival comes
this fresh production of
Menotti’s two-hander, filmed
at the King’s Theatre and
presented by Scottish Opera.
Soraya Mafi and JonathanComedy
featuring Hal Cruttenden,
Angela Barnes and Stephen
Grant. The Warren Outdoors,
Brighton (warrenfestival.co.uk),
tomorrow and SundayJimmy Carr
Socially distanced filth from the
one-liner merchant at this new
outdoor venue, which also hosts
a mixed-bill comedy nightThe hot list
Your guide to the weekend
In Saturday Review tomorrow
th
k
Will and Me: Judi Dench on
her lifelong love of Shakespeare