Search

Just another WordPress site

New islanders in love island

Love Island legend is ‘latest contestant to sign up for Dancing On Ice 2024’

by www.mirror.co.uk Leave a Comment

As the days begin to get shorter, the nights fall earlier, and the approach of ITV ’s Dancing On Ice hastens, another name has been added to the link up of celebrities skaters expected to take part in the next season.

And this time, a Love Island legend has been flouted as one to the dozen or so contestants expected to take to the rink come January. Amber Davies was a winner of the ITV2 reality romance show back in 2017 – when she scooped the top prize alongside Kem Cetinay, who himself competed on Dancing On Ice in 2018.

According to reports, 26-year-old Amber will be donning her finest sequins and pulling on her skates to take part in the upcoming sixteenth season of the long-running winter sport reality competition. And the star – who has carved out an impressive career as a West End stage performer – reportedly intends to win the ice skating show.

A source told The Sun: “Amber would be a real coup for the show – she’s an amazing performer, so she’s bound to be a natural on the ice and sure to be one to watch. After Love Island, she had to work really hard to be taken seriously on the stage and she proved any doubters wrong.”

Amber Davies is reportedly joining the cast of Dancing On Ice 2024 (

Image:

WireImage)

Amber’s ex-boyfriend Kem Cetinay competed on Dancing On Ice in 2018 with skating partner Alex Murphy (

Image:

REX/Shutterstock)

The source added: “Amber is a perfectionist, and used to putting in long hours rehearsing for the stage, so she’d definitely have her eye on the prize.” So far, just two celebrities have been officially confirmed for the forthcoming new season.

Professional boxer Ricky Hatton, 44, was the first star to be confirmed for the new season. Discussing his excitement about taking part, he said during an appearance on This Morning : “If I can hold my nerve in the boxing ring, I should be able to hold my nerve in the ice rink.”

Actress, singer & television presenter Claire Sweeney, 52, was the second star to be confirmed for the show. She said: “I’m really looking forward to going to an ice rink with my son and actually being able to skate and not have to use the penguins they give you to help you stay upright!

“I’ve had to wear my boots around the house… I haven’t stepped on the ice yet. I am stepping into the unknown here. I don’t know how I will feel. But I am very excited.”

Claire added: “I’m nervous and excited about doing it.” A string of other stars have been rumoured as taking part in the show – with chart topping singers and reality stars among those tipped to appear on the ice.

Former S Club 7 singer Hannah Spearitt and ex-Little Mix singer Jess Nelson have been linked to the show. While Gogglebox star Stephen Webb and EastEnders actress Shona McGarty – famous for playing Whitney Dean on the BBC soap – have also been linked to the show.

One person who definitely won’t be appearing on the new season is disgraced host Phillip Schofield . His career imploded earlier this year and all links to ITV were brutally cut when he finally confessed to having an “unwise, but not illegal” affair with a much younger male colleague behind the scenes of This Morning and lying about it. He hosted Dancing On Ice alongside Holly Willoughby ever since it was launched in2006.

* Follow Mirror Celebs on Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .

Dress like your favourite celebs thanks to new Celebrity Swap Shop with famous donors

by www.mirror.co.uk Leave a Comment

Stylish Brits now have the opportunity to literally dress like some of their favourite celebs – thanks to a new Celebrity Swap Shop with clothes donated by the likes of Gok Wan, Alison Hammond , and even Heidi Range from Sugababes.

It comes as a poll of 2,000 adults found that Northern cities like Manchester (30%) and Liverpool (18%) are following hot on the heels of London (59%) when it comes to how fashionable people are.

Some of the top traits Northern fashionistas are recognised for include being bold (35%), fearless (28%), daring (28%) and brave (26%) when it comes to their style choices.

This is compared to those in the south of the UK, who are considered conservative (23%) and unsurprising (13%) in the fashion stakes – as well as just a bit boring (12%).

To celebrate Northerners leading the way when it comes to fashion, some of the most iconic northern celebrities have donated their pre-loved garments to Foxy Laundrette’s new swap shop, launched by Foxy Bingo, which also commissioned the research.

Visitors to the event can upcycle or donate their old clothing items and trade them in for new looks, including from the likes of former Love Island contestants, Molly Marsh and Adam Collard .

Gok Wan is one of the iconic celeb fashionistas who has donated some of his old clothes to the event (

Image:

Cover Images)

The research also found that the garments most associated with the North include Puffer jackets (24%) and parka jackets (20%), as well as leggings, all-in-one tracksuits, and Ugg boots (all 20%) – clearly demonstrating that northerners opt for comfort and versatility in their fashion choices.

TV fashion consultant and presenter, Gok Wan, who has donated some of his own wardrobe to the Foxy Laundrette, said: “I’m delighted that people are finally starting to recognise the real fashion capital of the UK.

“The North has delivered some of the most iconic looks of all time, and with the Foxy Laundrette, we’re bringing them to the wonderful people of Hull.

“This research said that over a third of you are waiting for your glow-up moment – so what are you waiting for? Enter in your tired, old clothes, and leave feeling fabulously Foxy-fied!”

As well as looking good, visitors to The Foxy Launderette can do good, as all items of clothing donated will support a local charity.

The Foxy Laundrette will be open this Friday and Saturday (September 29 and 30) in Hull, with free tickets available via Eventbrite .

How Libraries Are Fighting Book Banning

by www.nytimes.com Leave a Comment

Good morning. It’s Thursday. We’ll see what libraries in New York City are doing to fight book banning. We’ll also see what Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas, who has sent buses of migrants to New York, said during a visit to the city.

“The freedom to read is essential to our democracy. It is continuously under attack.”

That line came from a statement issued by the American Library Association — not yesterday or last week, but in 1953.

Still, it seemed unusually timely after last week, when there was a bomb threat to a library in Brooklyn and a report from the American Library Association described a troubling increase in efforts to remove books from libraries nationally.

It was also timely because Banned Books Week begins on Sunday. All three library systems in the city have designated Wednesday as “Freedom to Read Digital Day of Action” and will encourage people to post images of their favorite books online.

Beyond that, the New York Public Library, with branches in Manhattan and the Bronx and on Staten Island, will begin a campaign called “Books for All” that will run through June. The library says it will be the longest anti-censorship effort in its 128 years and will include a “teen banned book club” with unlimited access to some young adult titles that have been challenged or banned.

“We know that stories are powerful and can shape our lives,” said Anthony Marks, the president of the New York Public Library, “but unlike advocates of book banning, we believe that’s a good thing and that free people have the right to choose for themselves.”

The Brooklyn Public Library, which last year began “Books Unbanned” to reach readers in places where restrictions might force books off library shelves and out of classrooms, is starting a podcast called “Borrowed and Banned.” In seven episodes, it will address “the ideological wars Americans are having with their bookshelves,” the library says.

The Queens Public Library will post decals that say “All Books Are Welcome Here” at library entrances and has scheduled online talks with Samira Ahmed and Phil Blinder, two authors whose books have been challenged or banned.

And with 826 National, a nonprofit group that helps children and teenagers improve their writing skills, the New York Public Library is seeking submissions for a teen writing contest. The contest question asks what the freedom to read means. There will be a $500 grand prize, with 20 additional prizes of $250 each.

The incident in Brooklyn began with 911 call on Saturday morning that said an explosive device would go off in the Cortelyou Library in Flatbush, which was scheduled to hold a drag story hour session. About 12 children and their parents were on hand, a spokeswoman for the library said.

The library’s public safety officers and the police evacuated the building, and the police “swept the building and did not find anything,” she said. The librarians moved the event to a bakery and cafe nearby.

The incident prompted Letitia James, the state attorney general, to comment on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter, that “our families go to Drag Story Hours to have fun and get our kids excited about reading.” She said that “terrorizing them with bomb threats is disgusting.”

Dennis Walcott, the president and chief executive of the Queens Public Library, said there have been repeated attempts to disrupt drag story hours “to stop certain voices from being heard.” “I’ve been in the middle of aggressive protests outside our libraries where we’ve had them,” he said, “and then gone inside and experienced the beauty of acceptance as kids and families listen to the stories.”

Nationally, efforts to ban books have moved from school to public libraries in the last year. The American Library Association said that nearly half the book challenges it tracked between January and August of this year involved public libraries, up 16 percent from the same period last year. The library association said there were 19 attempts to restrict access to books in New York State involving 45 titles between January and August. The most challenged title was “Gender Queer: A Memoir,” by Maia Kobabe.

The Brooklyn library’s “Books Unbanned” program continues to offer free library cards. So far 7,000 teens from all 50 states have requested them.

The “Borrowed and Banned” podcast will feature interviews with authors like George M. Johnson, who wrote “All Boys Aren’t Blue,” the second most frequently challenged book in 2022, according to the library association. In a preview of the podcast, he mentioned challenges to writers like Toni Morrison.

“You don’t ban Toni Morrison unless you are trying to prevent people from understanding a very profound truth that they need to understand,” he said.

Weather

Expect a mostly cloudy day, with a high near 65. At night, a chance of showers, with a low of 59.

ALTERNATE-SIDE PARKING

In effect until Saturday (Sukkot).

The latest Metro news

Menendez

Trump

More local news

What the Texas governor said about New York

Mayor Eric Adams has called Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas — who has sent buses of migrants to New York City in the last year — “a madman” whose actions were “morally bankrupt.” Adams has also said the migrant crisis “will destroy New York City.”

Abbott was in New York on Wednesday and made unexpected comments about the city. The migrant influx in New York is “calm and organized,” Abbott said , compared with his own state. “We have crime taking place in ways you don’t see in New York,” he said, without elaborating.

Adams has called Abbott’s tactics in sending migrants to New York “inhumane.” My colleague Claire Fahy writes that Abbott, in an appearance organized by the Manhattan Institute, did not directly address the mayor’s characterization, even as he acknowledged sending 15,800 migrants to New York, about 10 percent of the nearly 120,000 who have arrived in the city in the past 12 months.

But the governor maintained that he was not the problem. “The lead importer of migrants to New York is not Texas,” said Abbott, a Republican. “It’s Joe Biden.”

Adams, for his part, has faulted the White House for not doing more to provide aid to the city and has said the president is “failing” New York City. When Biden was in New York last week for the United Nations General Assembly, he and the mayor did not cross paths. The mayor did not attend a reception hosted by the president at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The White House later announced that would grant a special status to Venezuelan migrants so they could apply for jobs, something the mayor and Gov. Kathy Hochul had been calling for but not the immigration policy change Abbott had in mind.

“There probably could not be a worse strategy, a worse policy than temporary protected status,” Mr. Abbott said. “Temporary protected status leads to permanent magnet status. They’ll be attracting millions and more people to come to this country illegally.”

METROPOLITAN diary

Tender buttons

Dear Diary:

In the 1970s, my side gig was producing handmade cards. In making them, I loved to use rare vintage buttons from Tender Buttons, a world-class shop on East 62nd Street.

In those days, the card buyer for Bloomingdale’s held an open call for budding artists on Thursdays. One day I went.

“OK, honey,” the card buyer said. “Show me what you’ve got.”

With my hands shaking, I held out three cards featuring vintage airplane, tricycle and sailboat buttons from Tender Buttons.

“That’s it — all you’ve got?” the buyer said. “I need a display. Pull yourself together and make a line of 12 designs. I need a dozen each by Monday at noon.”

I stayed awake from Thursday until Monday and delivered 144 cards on time.

— Susan Hamilton

Illustrated by Agnes Lee. Send submissions here and read more Metropolitan Diary here .

Glad we could get together here. See you tomorrow. — J.B.

P.S. Here’s today’s Mini Crossword and Spelling Bee . You can find all our puzzles here .

Bernard Mokam and Ed Shanahan contributed to New York Today. You can reach the team at [email protected].

Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox.

Hundreds attend funeral of Long Island band director killed in bus crash

by www.foxnews.com Leave a Comment

Fox News Flash top headlines for September 28

Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what’s clicking on Foxnews.com.

  • Hundreds of people gathered Thursday for the funeral of Gina Pellettiere, 43, a high school band director who died when a band camp-bound school bus crashed after veering off Interstate 84 on Sept. 21.
  • Pellettiere and Beatrice Ferrari, a 77-year-old retired teacher, were killed in the crash, and dozens of students were injured.
  • Pellettiere’s funeral Mass was held at Our Lady of Lourdes Roman Catholic Church in Massapequa Park, New York, near Long Island’s southern coast, with Monsignor Jim Lisante saying she “packed a lot” into her short life.

A high school band director who died when a bus crashed while carrying students from New York to a band camp in Pennsylvania last week was remembered Thursday as a dedicated teacher with a zest for life.

Gina Pellettiere, who led Farmingdale High School’s marching band for more than a decade, “wasn’t just a good teacher, she was a great teacher,” Rita Padden, the school’s former fine arts director, told mourners at Pellettiere’s funeral in Massapequa Park on Long Island. “You hear from parents all the time: ‘Ms. P was the reason my son loved trumpet or band.’”

Pellettiere, 43, and retired teacher Beatrice Ferrari, 77, were killed on Sept. 21 when the charter bus they were riding in veered off a highway and crashed down an embankment on Interstate 84 in the town of Wawayanda, northwest of New York City .

ALL NEW YORK STUDENTS INJURED IN THURSDAY’S BUS CRASH EXPECTED TO RECOVER, SUPERINTENDENT SAYS

Dozens of students were injured in the crash; officials said four remained hospitalized as of late Wednesday.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the cause of the crash.

Bus seen overturned on side of interstate in New York

A bus carrying high school band students overturned in New York on Sept. 21, leaving at two women dead and several students injured. (WNYW)

Newsday reports that hundreds of students, parents, co-workers and community members attended Pellettiere’s funeral Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes Roman Catholic Church.

DRIVER DIES IN FIERY CRASH WITH NEW YORK SCHOOL BUS RETURNING FROM FIELD TRIP: VIDEO

Monsignor Jim Lisante said Pellettiere “was here to leave the world better than she found it.” Lisante asked, “Did Gina know she would live 43 years? Of course not, but she packed a lot into those years.”

Padden said Pellettiere “lived life to the fullest.”

Pellettiere’s survivors include her parents and the 2-year-old son she was raising as a single mother.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The funeral for Ferrari, a retired social studies teacher who was serving as a chaperone on the band trip, took place Wednesday in Farmingdale and drew hundreds of mourners as well.

Old And New World Value Wines For Fall 2023

by www.forbes.com Leave a Comment

Who doesn’t love a good value when it comes to wine? While trade publications such as the “State of the U.S. Wine Industry” report on the price-conscious purchasing habits of younger consumers—$15 for a bottle is the sweet spot—there’s no reason to relegate these bottles to the young and thrifty. Here are a few that will please drinkers of any age or budget. Added value: they speak of place and many are produced by family wineries with an eye toward sustainability.

OLD WORLD

Château de Fontenille Entre-deux-Mers Blanc 2021 ($15), Bordeaux, France. This blend of 40% Sauvignon Blanc, 20% Sauvignon Gris, 20% Sémillon and 20% Muscadelle is typical for this region between Bordeaux’s two rivers, known for its fresh and racy whites. This one lives up to that reputation with some leanings toward tropical fruits, Meyer lemon, a bit smoothed out by four months on the lees. Round and delicious.

Fat Bastard Pinot Noir 2021 ($14), Pays d’Oc, France. Hailing from Languedoc, this is a medium-to full-bodied and berry- and cherry-forward wine that goes down easy any night of the week. Juicy, simple and a solid choice for a variety of fall fare.

Clean Slate Riesling 2021 ($12), Mosel, Germany. An easy and tasty entry into Riesling from the Mosel Valley (which can be a difficult region for the novice). Slightly off dry, it expresses fresh ripe peach, underscored by some bright spice and mineral notes. Named for the slate soils along the steep riverbank.

Gai’a Monograph Moschofilero 2022 ($13), Peloponnese Greece. Coming from one of Greece’s most respected winemakers, this white from the mainland (he also produces wines on the island of Santorini) shows off its floral aromatics, followed onto the palate by citrus and other orchard fruits such as peach and green apple and a bit of a saline note.

Librandi Cirò Rosso 2021 ($15), Cirò DOC, Italy. One of Calabria’s long-standing wine families, the Librandis are committed to the region’s indigenous grapes. This one, made of 100% Gaglioppo, is an example of how what was once considered a rustic grape can step it up when placed in the right hands. This one is on the lighter side of garnet, juicy and tart; showing cranberry, currants and wild berries. Drink this with a slight chill and drink with anything.

Zenato Pinot Grigio 2022 ($13), delle Venezia, Italy. A Veneto classic that belies what you might think of the oft-maligned grape. Again, in the right hands—this one a renowned producer of Amarone and Valpolicella—a simple wine can be made into something that punches above its weight. This one has plenty of fresh apples, white peaches and citrus in a medium body. Drink on its own or with light fare. I liked it with curried coconut shrimp with hot peppers.

Quinta de Chocopalha Arinto Branco 2020 ($15), Lisboa, Portugal. Portuguese whites bring such pleasure and are truly wines of discovery! This Arinto is sourced from vineyards northwest of Lisbon, vinified in stainless steel vats and aged for five months on the lees, which contributes roundness and a creamy texture. Leans towards the tropical fruits and has a medium body, so enjoy this with lobster, white sauced-dishes and spicy cuisines.

Bodegas Borsao Rosé 2022 ($11), Campo de Borja DO Spain. Made from 100% Garnacha, this pops with late-summer strawberries, tangerine and some ginger-y spice in a straight-forward, slightly darker-hued rose from the northeast, just south of Rioja. Fresh and crisp, it’s a wine for transitioning from summer fare into fall.

NEW WORLD

Tilia Malbec 2021 ($11), Mendoza Argentina. One of the Malbecs that put Argentina on the “by the glass” wine map in many a restaurant. Rich, jammy and juicy redolent of purple flowers and black fruits, this is a round, full-bodied and plush red for fall and into winter.

Yalumba Y Series Viognier 2021 ($15), South Australia. From a historic Australian winemaking family comes this round and medium-weighted viognier. Aromatic as you’d expect with white flowers like honeysuckle, it’s viscous on the palate but without the heaviness you’d find in Condrieu. Elevated by ginger spice and some brisk acidity, this is another good one for spiced Asian cuisines.

Root:1 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserva 2019 ($13), Maipo Valley, Chile. This Cabernet-driven blend (85%), with the rest comprised of Syrah, sees some time in oak, which helps tame the tannins and Cabernet’s signature phenolics. You’ll find plenty of dark berries, black plum and some espresso notes that require a hearty grill or roast. Root:1 is the first winery in Chile to be certified 100% sustainable by Wines of Chile and the first to adopt carbon offset measures.

Villa Maria Private Bin Sauvignon Blanc 2022 ($15), Marlborough, New Zealand. The grapes for this wine are sourced from Marlborough vineyards, so you can expect the signature tangy profile of gooseberry, lime, grapefruit and some tropical fruits. If you’re a fan of this style, this is a step up from the larger commercial offerings that can seem monolithic. Fresh and fun on its own or pair with oysters.