The Week - UK (2022-02-19)

10 NEWS People

THEWEEK19 February 2022

Thepaparazzitakeover

Inhis 30-yearcareer asa

showbizphotographer,Dave

Benettreckonshe hassnapped

every majorcelebrity, from

NelsonMandelatoSharon

Stone, saysCharlotteEdwardes

inTheTimes.He’salso seen

hisindustrychange beyond

recognition. Earlyon, he

photographedOldBaileytrials,

footballmatchesandriots–

butinthe 1990 s,the landscape

shifted.Herecallspickingup a

copyoftheDailyStarin 1 997,

andseeingafront-page

headline:“Deirdreinprison”.

WhowasDeirdre,andwhat

hadshedone?Thepaper,he

discovered,wasleadingon a

storyaboutCoronationStreet.

Andthen,“suddenlytheseguys

werecomingthrough the door

withloads ofmoney intheir

pockets,andwehadnoidea

what theyweredoing”. It

turnedoutthat“the paparazzi

hadarrived.Thepictureeditors

werecallingon theseguys:

showbizwas thenewnews.”

Rooney’slonelybenders

WayneRooney wasonly 16

whenhe made hisPremier

Leaguedebutin 2002;five

months later,he wasplaying

footballforEngland. And

havinggrownupwithhis

family onaLiverpoolcouncil

estate,he wasn’t remotely

preparedfor the worldwide

fame,andtherelentlesspress

scrutiny,thatfollowed. “Ihad

nevereventhoughtaboutthe

othersideofbeingafootball

player,”hetoldOliverHolt in

TheMailonSunday.“Itwas

like beingthrown in

somewherewhereyouare just

notcomfortable.” Unable

toturnto histeammatesfor

support, hestarteddrinking

heavily–oftennotinbarsor

clubs,butwhenhe was at

home, andalone.“Youwould

get acouple ofdaysoff from

footballandIwouldlock

myselfawayanddrinktotry

totakeallthat awayfrommy

mind,” hesays. “It waslike a

binge.Normally,that’s with

agroup ofladsbutthiswas

aself-binge...Iwouldsit in

the houseandfortwodays

Iwouldjustdrink.”

Areluctant revolutionary

RebeccaLucy Taylor –better

knownasthepopsinger Self

Esteem–hasbecome

somethingofapin-upfor

millennialwomen, saysDolly

Alderton inTheSundayTimes.

The35-year-old’s latestalbum

(PrioritisePleasure),withits

bittersweet,funnyandfrank

songsabout everythingfrom

orgasmsto anxiety,won

five-starreviews;and people

havecompared her toFleabag

creatorPhoebeWaller-Bridge.

Butthoughsheiscertainly

forthrightinher viewson

issues suchasgenderequality

andfemale non-conformity,

she isdisheartened thatsheis

consideredrevolutionary, when

allshe isdoinginhersongs is

documentingwhoshe is.“I

shouldn’tbe radical,”shesays.

“I’mnotthatclever.I’m just

tellingyou what lifeis.What

wasFleabagdoing?It was just

awomanenjoyingsex and

beingfunnyandabit ofa

mess.ThefactthatFleabag

wasradical TViskindof

depressing.”

MonicaAli’sdebutnovel,BrickLane,catapultedher to literary

stardom.Tellingthe storyof aBangladeshiteenagerwhoarrives

in Londonto marryaman twiceher age, it was shortlistedfor the

BookerPrizeand madeinto afilm. But the acclaimdidn’tlast. Her

nexttwo novelsreceivedmiddlingreviews;her fourth,UntoldStory

–which imaginedwhatmighthavehappenedif Diana,Princessof

Waleshad fakedher death–was met with“bafflement”,she told

The Big Issue.“I thinkIwas reallynaivein thinkingthat Icouldwrite

aboutwhateverIwanted, like awhite male writercan.”One critic

describedit as a“curiousmarriageof authorand subjectmatter”.

“Peoplewouldask ‘Are you tryingto get awayfromsomething?’

To me the questiontheyreallyseemedto be askingwas ‘Are you

tryingto get awayfrombrownpeople?Are you tryingto get away

fromyourethnicity?’Iunderstandthat it confusedpeoplebut my

mum’swhite,my father’sBengali,Iwas bornin Dhakabut I’ve lived

hereall my life. So, IfeltIwasbeingentirelytrue to whoIam.” The

responsecut her verydeep–leadingto depressionand acomplete

loss of confidence.Now,followingyearsof therapy,she realises

that it had felt like an “obliterationof the self”.“Thisidea that Ihave

to chooseto be one thingor the other–it’sexistential.I’m not one

thingor the other,I’m both.And I’m gladto be both.”

Viewpoint:

Spaceclichés

“Naoko Yamazaki,the second

Japanesewoman in space,remarked

that‘seeing the Earth fromspace’, she

‘was astonished by its beauty–andits

fragility’.Which is all very well,and

all trueno doubt,butalso amassive

cliché. Is there an astronautwhohas

not opined uponthe beautyand

fragility of their homeplanet? It’s not

theirfault: astronautsare engineers

or scientists(orbillionaires) andnot

builtfor eloquentreflection. It’s time

we sent up HilaryMantel or Zadie

Smithor SimonArmitage,and soon.

It won’tbe long before massspace

travelmeansthe‘PlanetEarth”entry

on Tripadvisoris packed with reviews

saying ‘view OKbutterrible food’.”

SathnamSangherain TheTimes

Farewell

CarmenHerrera,

Cuban-American artist,

specialisingingeometric

abstraction,whofound

famein her 80s, died

12 February, aged106.

LucMontagnier,

Frenchvirologist who

co-discoveredHIV and

wonashareof the

2008 NobelPrize, died

8February, aged89.

P.J.O’Rourke,

conservativesatirist

and journalist, died

15 February, aged74.

IvanReitman,director

whoshotto famewith

Ghostbusters,died

12 February, aged75.

Book:TheSixthSenseofAnimalsby MauriceBurton

Luxury:acutlass *Choiceifallowedonlyone record

Castawayof the week

Thisweek’seditionofRadio4’sDesertIslandDiscs

featuredactressanddancerLeslieCaron

1 L’Accordéonisteby Michel Emer, performedby Édith Piaf

2*SimichiamanoMimìby Puccini,performed by MariaCallas

3 Nemequittepas,written and performedby JacquesBrel

4 MissOtisRegretsby ColePorter, performedby Ella Fitzgerald

5 OneforMyBabyfromTheSky’stheLimit,byHarold Arlen and

JohnnyMercer,performedby Fred Astaire

6 RequieminDminor(Introitus)by Mozart, performedby the

ViennaPhilharmonicandthe Vienna Singverein, conductedby

Herbert vonKarajan

7 BurnOn,written and performedby Randy Newman

8 LesFeuillesMortesby Jacques Prévertand Joseph Kosma,

performed by Yves Montand

©YOLANDE

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