Dan

DAN Osborne has lashed out at online trolls in a rant over negative comments as he “steps up” amid his split from wife Jacqueline Jossa.

The former TOWIE star, 35, took to Instagram stories today to address the trolls as he had a few choice words for them.

While sitting in his car, he began: “Hello people, just a little rant from me. So this is gonna have to go over two videos.

“I posted a picture of me and my kids, obviously posted the picture of me and my girls when we went to London, had a beautiful time and the same happened when I posted with Ted as well when I took him to Bruno Mars.

“I find myself having to delete negative comments from people on pictures of me and my kids.

“I don’t understand why anyone should have to do that, and also I do appreciate the nice comments of course.

FINE FIT FOR DAN

Dan Osborne makes secret US trip to visit bikini model after Jossa split

JAC’D IT IN

Reason Jac Jossa cut ties with Dan Osborne after she confronted ex over model

“There are people who say thing like, ‘well done for stepping up’ or being a good dad or whatever. I don’t ever want praise for that because I think that’s what every man should do for their kids.”

The Celebrity Big Brother star continued: “I also don’t understand why anyone should have to delete any comments on any picture.

“All of us are different, all of us are cracking on with our own lives, doing our own thing, we’re all from different thoughts and different beliefs.

“There should never be any negative comments. When you look at the people who leave these negative comments, you look on it, these people are not f***ing normal.

“They look like their auditioning for The Hills Have Eyes movie, they look like their probably married to their own brothers or sisters, they’re not normal people.

“Someone has to say it, I don’t like to be judgemental but you’re not normal.

“And if you do view yourself as normal and you are one that trolls people and leaves negative comments, then I promise you you’re not normal.

“You need to take a long hard look at yourself, you’re f***ing weird, just be nice or don’t say nothing.”

Dan concluded his rant by telling his viewers he felt better “after letting it off my chest” and thanked his true supporters.

He’s dad to daughters Ella, 11, and Mia, eight, with now ex-wife Jacqueline.

Dan is also dad to son Teddy, 12, from a previous relationship.

The Sun exclusively revealed in March that Dan and EastEnders star Jacqueline had split after 13 years together.

A source close to Dan told The Sun at the time: “Everyone knows they’ve had their troubles, but after spending some time apart this year, they’ve decided to make the split permanent.

“Their two daughters are their main priority.”

Our insider revealed: “After all Jac’s been through, she’s finally had enough. They’ve been living separate lives all this year and she’s over it.

“There’s only so many times she can put herself through living in limbo and taking him back.

“She has mentally checked out and Dan has panicked.

“He’s worried the grass isn’t greener and has had the shock of his life that he’s pushed Jac too far this time.”

Just days ago, The Sun revealed that Dan was moving on with fitness model Etila Santiago after he made a secret trip to Miami to visit her.

It comes after Essex lad Dan kept in touch with Brazilian Etila, 33, after a holiday romance in May.

And insiders claim the news has ruffled estranged wife Jacqueline’s feathers as the 33 year-old EastEnders star watches him enjoy a new lease of life with a stunning model.

A source close to Jac and Dan told The Sun: “Jacqueline is trying to focus on work and the girls, but it’s hard not to notice that Dan seems to have moved on so quickly.”

In 2007, for the first time in recorded history, more humans were living in urban spaces than rural ones. The animal kingdom has followed suit. In our cities, we are surrounded by synanthropes — wild animals that have adapted to human-modified environments and have learned to thrive in them — yet most of us are unaware of the biodiversity of this urban wildlife and how it functions along a parallel track with its human brethren.

Dan Werb’s latest book “Our Wild Familiars” explains how these “soil churners … epidemic vectors and ecosystem partners” have a crucial role to play in the future sustainability of our communities. I talked to Werb about coyotes, the health benefits of birdsong and seagulls with junk-food issues.

✍️ Author Chat

You are an epidemiologist.

I was trained as a social epidemiologist — somebody who can look at how societal factors influence the health of populations. I study how society determines who lives and dies, who is sick and who is healthy.

I’m wondering if it was your interest in Zoonotic viruses that led you to this subject?

The last book I wrote was called “The Invisible Siege.” It is an overview of the history of coronavirus science, starting in the ‘80s, braided with the much longer history of the coronavirus family. And it ends with this scientist who is describing being in northern Thailand and moving through Myanmar and Yunnan Province in China in the ‘90s. And he stumbles upon this exotic animal market near the Shan Autonomous state, which is an ethnic enclave in northern Myanmar that’s been at war with the junta there forever. And this market’s got cloud leopard skins, civets and every crazy, exotic animal that you can imagine. And they were all being sent directly into China. And it’s exactly this kind of trafficking that is carrying all these viruses, like this superhighway of exotic animals into urban areas.

But not all urban animals are vectors for disease. In fact, we have fostered very cushy urban environments for many different species. Pigeons, for example, who don’t have to fly in cities because they have no natural predators.

Chris Shell, a coyote expert from Altadena that I interviewed, pointed out that pigeons do have to worry about predators now, because there are red tail hawks and coyotes and other creatures. Our urban ecosystems are becoming more complex. There are some biologists that are describing our time right now in North America as the great urban shift. They’ve done modeling exercises showing that over the next few decades there are literally going to be thousands of species moving into urban areas. They’re increasingly going to be mega-fauna, much larger animals.

Why is that happening?

We’re seeing the continuing acceleration of the transformation of wild spaces into human modified spaces. But it’s also because of extreme weather events. If you look at the horrible fires that occurred in Los Angeles last year, one of the things that happened was hundreds of thousands, even millions, of animals had to flee those areas that were on fire, and they fled into urban areas. What do urban areas provide? Constant sources of freshwater, continual sources of food waste, and other prey. You’ve got climate change happening, and that’s causing this real shift of animals moving into different places.

Dan Werb, author of “Our Wild Familiars,” a new book about wild animals who’ve managed to survive in human communities.

(Joseph Fuda)

What about a less traditional metropolitan space, like L.A. County, which is a hodgepodge of so many different kinds of topography and terrain.

L.A. is super fascinating because lot size isn’t directly related to income. It’s very much more heterogeneous and variable, even within neighborhoods. The wealthier a neighborhood is, the higher the biodiversity is going to be, because we’re going to have larger lots, more green space, fewer fences, things like that.

We have a complicated relationship with coyotes in L.A., especially those of us who have lost pets to them. But according to your book, we have trapped them in our cities.

Coyotes need to have pathways that allow them to move in and out cities. As it is now, they move into urban environments looking for food and water, and they can’t get out. They get trapped in cities, and conflict happens. Like black bears in suburbs across large parts of North America that dig into people’s garbage.

And bears and other animals eating, say, fast food leftovers is a nutritional disaster as well.

It’s like an ecological trap. They see no reason why they would leave, even though staying is actually more dangerous for them. And there are all kinds of ecological traps across cities that manifest in different ways. One that I always think about is seagulls at the seashore that have evolved over tens of millions of years to be able to hunt fish and shellfish. And the fish are right there, yet they’re eating french fries because it’s slightly less work.

You mention the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing that spans the 101 freeway in Agoura Hills, the first animal crossing of its kind in America, as a potential solution to this problem.

I think it’s great. One hopes there will be more projects like that undertaken in other cities around the world.

We’ve discussed all the rotten things that are going on with animals in cities. Why is it a wonderful thing that animals have come into our cities and our lives?

If we hear birdsong, we’re less stressed. If we hear additional birdsong, it multiplies the stress-relieving effect. Being close to animals is biologically beneficial for us. It’s really about connection. I look at AI, and there’s this kind of sense that an AI chat bot can decrease loneliness. But it’s just an echo chamber. I think a true connection is bridging some kind of divide in the way that you think or perceive the world. And in that sense, being aware of an animal who is aware of you takes you out of yourself in a way that I think is really, really special.

This Q&A was edited for length and clarity.

📰 The Week(s) in Books

Book jacket for “You Won’t Get Free of It: Stories of Mothers and Daughters” by Rachel Aviv

(Los Angeles Times illustration; book jacket from Knopf)

The ostensible topic of Rachel Aviv’s new essay collection, “You Won’t Get Free of It,” is mothers and daughters, but according to Julia M. Klein, Aviv’s sparkling, sharp-eyed pieces “involve the slipperiness of truth and the crushing inadequacy of our mental-health system and social safety net.”

“Cool Machine,” the final volume of Colson Whitehead’s Harlem trilogy, is an “American epic disguised as a heist novel,” writes Leigh Haber. “Whether or not New York is your jam, or a place you have escaped from or to, Whitehead’s Harlem Trilogy is destined to live on as an American classic.”

Whitney Friedlander profiles Jessica Knoll, one of America’s most successful authors of sexy thrillers that “depict the absolute worst things one person could do to another — but in such a sensational, tongue-prickling-sour-candy kind of way that her books come off as devilishly evil beach reads.”

Finally, Dan Tana’s book about his legendary, eponymously-named restaurant in West Hollywood, “Everybody Came to Tana’s,” has been posthumously published. Sixty-two years after the restaurant’s opening, it’s still a tough reservation to snag. “In a town that’s always trying to be something that it’s not, it’s not trying to be anything,” his daughter Katerina tells Maddie Connors. “Dan Tana’s is longevity in the midst of ephemera.”

📖 Bookstore Faves

The Philosophical Research Society is a Los Angeles Historic Cultural Monument in Los Feliz.

(Philosophical Research Society)

There is nothing else in L.A. like the Philosophical Research Society. The nonprofit was founded by scholar Manly Hall in 1934 as a place for the curious to explore wisdom, philosophy, mysticism and mythology across all cultures. Its visually striking Mayan Revival Los Feliz campus, a Los Angeles Historic Cultural Monument, features an auditorium, a gallery and a library of 30,000 volumes. The PRS bookshop is its own gem, a well-curated miscellany of books for spiritual seeking and enlightenment.

In a joint email exchange, PRS staffers dama, Jarrett Schaefer, Kelly Carmena and Amanda Brass explain what makes the store a sui generis experience.

How does the bookshop tie in thematically with the Philosophical Research Society?

The PRS Bookstore is a reflection of all that we do here at PRS. It is an extension of the library created by Manly Hall where you will find foundational texts in alchemy, mythology, philosophy, astrology, and art. You will also find a selection of books based on themes explored in our talks and screenings and from recommendations made by the team at PRS.

It’s a very well-curated inventory of new and secondhand books — I assume you’re very careful about what you stock on the shelves.

We select works that are meaningful to us and hope that they will resonate with everyone too. We highlight works by mystics and visionaries. In our staff recommendations section, you’ll find titles like Ben Caldwell and Robeson Taj Frazier’s “Kaos Theory,” art books by Penny Slinger, Betye Saar and Remedios Varo, Yoko Ono’s “Grapefruit,” “Red Tarot” by Christopher Marmolejo, “The Bhagavad Gita,” and “Time, Myth & Matter” by LD Deutsch. We also feature items from local artists like Moss Candles, Black Willow Jewelry, and perfume by Syd Botanica. Our secondhand books are donation-only and are a kaleidoscopic bag of surprises.

The Philosophical Research Society features an auditorium, a gallery, a library of 30,000 volumes and a bookshop.

(Philosophical Research Society)

What book genres tend to sell well?

Esoteric art, mythology, tarot and divinatory practices, ancient philosophy, and hermeticism are all popular subjects. The top-selling book every year is Manly Hall’s seminal work “The Secret Teachings of All Ages,” which is an encyclopedic outline of symbolic philosophy. The used astrology books and children’s books are quite popular too.

Do you have author events?

We’ve hosted book talks with Mark Mothersbaugh, Michelle Coltrane, Mitch Horowitz and Susan Orlean. We regularly co-present events with publishers like Hat & Beard Press, Angel City Press, the Library of Esoterica, Sky Press, Ouroboros Press and Bibliomancers. There are also monthly events that are centered around the bookstore: The Manly Hall Book Club, Astro Study Group, Surrealist Study Group, Tarot Salon and an Esoteric Game Night.

Philosophical Research Society is at 3910 Los Feliz Blvd. in Los Angeles.

(Please note: The Times may earn a commission through links to Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookstores.)

THE Only Way Is Essex stars Dan Edgar and Chloe Lewis have been spotted together for the very first time – following a year-long secret romance.

Dan, 36, reportedly reconnected with former co-star Chloe, 35, at Georgia Kousolou and Tommy Mallet‘s second wedding in Majorca.

The pair stepped out together at Tonic Terrace in Bournemouth and posed for the camera.

The venue posted on Instagram: “Amazing to have @chloelewis91 & @danedgar pop in and see us on Saturday night 🤍

“Hope you enjoyed your cocktails and come back and see us soon!”

Speaking on his new girlfriend Chloe, who was on the show between 2015 and 2019, Dan said previously: “She’s very understanding and very grown up as a person anyway.

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“She’s done the show before and she’s understanding of how it all works.”

It comes as Dan and Chloe previously soft-launched their romance back in May.

Dan shared a slew of images on Instagram and captioned them: “A very different few days in ibiza mixed with a first look at some newness we have coming from the brand. Recharged and ready to go.”

In what appeared to be their first interaction on social media, Chloe replied with a sweet heart hands emoji beneath Dan’s post.

Fans were then thrilled when Dan liked her post and flocked to comment.

One wrote: “Love this love you 2.”

Another said: “Finally, a confirmation.”

A third added: “Love Chloe and Dan together. @chloelewis91 is stunning, and seems like such a kind person too.”

The story of Dan Tana’s, in many ways, is the story of Los Angeles.

In 1980, Dan Tana’s burst into flames. At the time, the Tana family was vacationing on a remote Yugoslav island when a telegram arrived: “The restaurant burned down. Call me, Pearl,” recalls Katerina Tana, one of Dan Tana’s daughters.

Dan Tana flew back to Los Angeles, expecting charred remains. Instead, he found handwritten signs taped to the restaurant’s door: “Rebuild it. This is our home. Don’t change a thing,” recounts Katerina.

News of the fire reached musician Linda Ronstadt, who swore that Dan Tana’s served the best plate of spaghetti in the world. The rock star became the immigrant-run restaurant’s unlikely patron saint, calling on her relationship with then-Gov. Jerry Brown to help clear the way for its reopening. Just six weeks after the fire, Dan Tana’s welcomed customers again, even without a roof.

“They open up the restaurant with no roof on it. There’s no air conditioning unit. It was the hottest day,” says Katerina.

Oddly, the fire ushered in a new era for Dan Tana’s — a rebirth, even. Like Los Angeles, the restaurant endured by reinventing itself. “In a weird way, he rebuilt better than he ever could have, because if the restaurant hadn’t burned down, it might not have lasted this long,” Katerina says.

Stories like these fill the pages of “Everybody Came to Tana’s,” the late restaurateur’s memoir, which chronicles the outlandish journey that carried a young immigrant from communist then-Yugoslavia to the helm of one of Los Angeles’ most adored dining institutions. Dan Tana died last year at age 90, but his legacy lives on — inside the restaurant and now in his own words.

On a summer afternoon, his daughters, Gabrielle and Katerina, sit at the Sunset Marquis bar, recounting their father’s remarkable life — particularly his championing of soccer and his contributions to the sport. With the World Cup now unfolding across Los Angeles, the sisters say they can’t help but feel his presence. “One of his big wishes was to be here for this year’s World Cup. That’s why I know he’s here,” Gabrielle Tana says. “He was very instrumental in L.A. getting the World Cup. Our father was constantly helping connect people,” says Katerina.

In the final years of his life, Tana became determined to tell that story, working with writers in Serbia and eventually a ghostwriter, Todd Gold, who requested no credit; the resulting memoir feels wholly told in Tana’s voice. “Our father, for years, was talking about how he wanted to tell his story,” says Gabrielle. “He was always pinching himself about the life that he had — the stories, the adventures, and his luck.”

Tana had an unusual path to becoming the restaurant owner of the renowned Hollywood red-sauce hideout. Born in present-day Serbia, Tana’s early life was marked by political oppression under Communist rule. His father, a restaurateur, spent years as a political prisoner.

Gabrielle and Katerina Tana with their dad at Dan Tana’s, circa 2001.

(Suzette Van Bylevelt)

“When you live in a country where political powers are constantly in play, when you own a restaurant, you’re the person who’s hosting somebody who’s having a dangerous conversation,” explains Katerina. From an early age, Dan Tana’s mother made Dan promise not to end up in the restaurant business.

Instead, Dan Tana became a soccer star, touring Europe with Red Star Belgrade before eventually escaping to Belgium — a decision that would set him on the unbelievable path to Canada and then Los Angeles, where he would serve a stint managing a nightclub called Peppermint West and even launch a modest acting career with the help of Natalie Wood.

The chapters follow the restaurant’s improbable success, offering extraordinary anecdotes, such as how a Yugoslavian immigrant happened to open a red-booth, comfort-food Italian restaurant. The answer? Hiring Mussolini’s private chef. “It was one of two chef options that he was given by his partners: Dan Reeves and Clarence Dan Martin, who funded the soccer league. [Dan Reeves] also bought the restaurant,” says Katerina.

Beyond dispatches from his red-and-white-checkered tablecloth joint and name-dropping, Dan Tana’s memoir outlines his significant contributions to soccer. Throughout his life, he maintained deep ties to the international soccer community, supporting Red Star Belgrade long after he retired from the sport. “He became an evangelist for the game because he thought it was a game that this country would appreciate,” says Katerina. “Football was always the biggest love of his life.”

Craig Susser, left in black, has been greeting patrons at Dan Tana’s for decades.

(Stephen Osman / Los Angeles Times)

Last November, when England faced off with Serbia for the World Cup qualifying games, the stadium held a moment of silence for Dan Tana’s passing. “There were people within the game who really wanted to acknowledge his contribution to the game,” says Katerina.

“A good restaurant has a good bar, and a good bar has ghosts,” reads the introduction. For Dan Tana’s, as far as ghosts go, they comprise a who’s who of Hollywood royalty. Johnny Carson once called it his favorite restaurant. Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Marilyn Monroe and other A-list stars were known to haunt the bar.

Even with its reputation as a watering hole for Hollywood’s biggest names, Dan Tana refused to pander to celebrities. “Everybody was treated the same. He never wanted the restaurant to be full of celebrities. He wanted to make sure that there were doctors, lawyers and teachers,” Gabrielle says. “He was almost a democratic socialist in that way.”

A revealing anecdote from the early pages of the book: Tana turned away Barbara Sinatra’s offer to buy out the restaurant for a night for Frank Sinatra’s birthday at $25,000. Tana refused. It wouldn’t be fair to his regulars. Frank Sinatra never set foot in the restaurant again.

Sonja Perencevic and Dan Tana attend the restaurant’s 50th anniversary party in Los Angeles in 2014.

(Alberto E. Rodriguez / Getty Images)

In many ways, Tana was one of Hollywood’s quiet power brokers, earning influence through humility and respect rather than status. In 1972, mysterious mafia members came into the restaurant to ask Tana to procure early-screening tickets for “The Godfather.” Naturally, Tana obliged. The mafia returned to report they loved the now-classic film.

The proximity to the Troubadour also made the restaurant a hangout for up-and-coming names in rock music. “He fed so many of those musicians. He wouldn’t charge them. These were kids that had nothing,” says Gabrielle. She recounts a night when musicians from the Troubadour celebrated the end of the Vietnam War at Dan Tana’s; the event went undocumented, lost to history.

Rock stars aside, the place is a writer’s joint too. Eve Babitz — who was a close friend of 93-year-old Deanne Mencher, who still makes the cheesecakes at Dan Tana’s — was known for socializing at the restaurant. “If you got hungry, you had to walk over to Dan Tana’s. Tana’s was delicious and evil — all that garlic,” Babitz once wrote in her semi-autobiographical novel, “L.A. Woman.” Screenwriters, journalists and famed L.A. writers Joan Didion and John Gregory Dunne were also known to frequent the restaurant.

In fact, Gabrielle and Katerina attribute the restaurant’s early colossal success to a Los Angeles Times review. It was 1966, and the restaurant was struggling. Art Ryon, a columnist at The Times, happened to stop at the restaurant before a screening at the Writers Guild of America and ordered mushrooms. “The L.A. Times made the restaurant,” Katerina says. “The next day there’s a line around the block, and my father has no idea what happened.” Tana was informed that he received a rave five-star review in The Times. Success soon followed.

Chicken Parmesan from Dan Tana’s.

(Jakob Layman)

The next generation of Hollywood — including comedy stars like Adam Sandler, Ben Stiller and Chris Rock — has continued the tradition. “SNL” cast member James Austin Johnson expresses his fondness for the restaurant. He discovered the restaurant after hearing Ed Begley Jr. rhapsodize about it. “The first intrigue is finding out who Dan Tana is,” says Johnson. “It has a West Hollywood mystique, like Chateau Marmont — like when Hollywood, the place and the business were all the same.”

Johnson loves restaurants that feel preserved in time. “It’s the idea that you can build something right the first time and then preserve it, so that people can be a part of your good idea when it happens,” says Austin Johnson.

Gabrielle and Katerina credit the enduring appeal of Dan Tana’s to its persistent lack of pretentiousness. The atmosphere evokes a Sinatra-era simplicity. “I think celebrities felt safe. They weren’t photographed, and they would be left alone,” says Gabrielle. The restaurant has kept its dim pink lights, which Gabrielle notes, “made everybody look good.”

The food has also remained consistent, with large portions and comfort food. “It’s not fancy, but it’s the best chicken Parmesan,” says Gabrielle. Over the decades, Dan Tana was approached about expanding the restaurant and opening second locations. He always refused, the restaurant’s humility always mirroring the man behind it. The restaurant, which felt like an anomaly, could not be replicated. “He always said: if I knew what I did right, I would do it again,” says Katerina.

Dan Tana’s originality continues to capture the city’s attention, its legacy now preserved in a memoir and carried on by its new owners, Mihajlo and Sonja Perenčević, who were friends of Dan Tana. Within its pages, the reader becomes one of Dan Tana’s beloved ghosts. “In a town that’s always trying to be something that’s not, it’s not trying to be anything,” says Katerina. “Dan Tana’s is longevity in the midst of ephemera.”

Connors is a culture journalist in L.A. She covers books, food, entertainment and offbeat Los Angeles. She’s currently at work on a book of essays about tourism in all its forms.

Dan Snow has revealed the unusual thing he tells his three children when they ask him a difficult question about the future.

Historian and documentary-maker Dan Snow has highlighted the challenges faced by many parents as he revealed the difficulties of raising children in a deeply troubled world. In a new interview, he has revealed how he does his utmost to protect his children from the “grotesque” reality of threats such as climate change and nuclear war.

Dan, whose parents were both television journalists and who has countless family ties to the intertwined worlds of news and politics, has confessed that he routinely “lies” to his three children about what lies ahead.

“The biggest, most depressing lie I’ve told my children,” he tells The Times, “is that the world is well-run and the risk of nuclear war and climate change is being dealt with by experts.”

Yet in reality, the celebrated TV historian says, we are all “on a highway to catastrophic civilisational collapse,” while he does his best to reassure his son and two daughters that the adults have everything firmly in hand.

He admits: “The kids look at me and go, ‘Is everything OK? This is all fine, right?’ and I say, ‘Yes.'”

As Christopher Nolan’s epic retelling of Homer’s Odyssey hits cinemas, Dan is retracing the journey of Odysseus’s return from the siege of Troy in a two-part documentary series streaming on his History Hit platform this month before airing on Channel 5 this Thursday, July 16.

While his journalist parents were always fixated on the latest breaking news, Dan says he was far more drawn to “the substructural factors, the longer history behind those moments.”

This passion led him to produce a string of acclaimed historical documentaries, spanning everything from the Battle of El Alamein to China’s Terracotta Army. His family’s most significant historical legacy is, without doubt, his great-great-grandfather David Lloyd George, the only Welshman ever to serve as Prime Minister.

Lloyd George is renowned both for steering the nation through the First World War and for a private life that was dogged by scandal.

Dan reveals he became captivated by his celebrated relative’s story: “I found it inspiring that he was raised by his uncle, a cobbler, and got into grammar school; then university, then politics. He was the first and only Welsh-speaking prime minister, the first from a working-class background,” he says.

Yet there’s no profound emotional bond, he adds: “He was a serial philanderer and ultimately disappeared off down to Surrey with his second wife, so my side of the family are the ones who got left behind.”

Dan has, naturally, produced a documentary film in which he delves into the turbulent, ambition-fuelled life of his great-great-grandfather.

It charts how the PM built his reputation as a groundbreaking social reformer and the “man who won the war”.

He argues that Lloyd George was “the first man in history to become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom without money, without connections, without royal blood in his veins or whatever else. He was the first of a new kind of politician.

“What’s weird,” Dan adds, “is that it didn’t happen after Britain’s period of imperial rule and dominance. It happened right in the middle of it.

“At the absolute moment of greatest influence and power over the world, you had a man in charge of Britain who had risen from a humble background.”

For a certain swath of millennials, Dan Finnerty’s rendition of Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of The Heart” in the frat comedy “Old School” is its definitive performance.

In the 2003 film, the Dan Band’s sweaty, inappropriately exuberant version of the ’80s power ballad upstages Will Ferrell’s wedding. The scene forever changed the lyrics of Tyler’s hit to something much more profane, but no less yearning.

After Tyler’s death at 75, Finnerty (who played a similar role in “The Hangover,” among many other comedies) reflected on his sideways journey into Tyler’s career, and how one quick scene on a two-decade-old comedy still endures.

You’ve had a pretty unique relationship to Bonnie Tyler’s music, how are you feeling after she passed?

It’s definitely sad. Everybody is texting me. I never met her, but what an impact she had on me. I grew up right when “Total Eclipse” came out in the ’80s, and it was such a huge song at the time. It had never left my head. I was always just belting that song out because it’s so epic, from Jim Steinman’s writing to Bonnie’s performance.

Why does that moment from “Old School” still endure? It arrived at the last cusp of the DVD era before culture transitioned into the internet and streaming video.

Without YouTube and the internet, you really had to grab pop culture moments from your memory. That’s definitely one of the reasons why pulling it out seemed obscure when we did “Old School.” People were like, “Oh my God, yes, I love this f— song.” Which is so different now because everything’s at your fingertips, so you can’t really rely on like pulling back some nostalgia moment because it’s always around anyway now with the internet. But people were reacting as much to me dropping the f-bombs as the nostalgia of the song, and rediscovering it and realizing that the song kicks ass and never stops kicking it.

Was the song already in your repertoire when you filmed “Old School?”

I was doing my show with the Dan Band in Los Angeles, and [director] Todd Phillips ended up coming to one of the performances. I met him afterwards, and he was like, “There’s actually a wedding scene in this movie. What song would you sing at a wedding?” I had just started working on a medley of “Total Eclipse,” and I think at the time I was going to do “Holding Out for a Hero,” but then I just merged it with “Private Dancer,” and he was like, “Oh my God, I love it.” The following Monday, he called and he’s like, “Can you put that together?”

The bit works because you totally commit to the song’s hugeness, and the profanity slips by like it’s spontaneous. You can tell you love the song on the merits.

I had never done it before. But Todd had seen my show, and when we went to do the first take, I didn’t think I was allowed to swear. But I obviously was swearing during my live show in all my little medleys. He came running up and he’s like, “Are you gonna swear like you do in the show?” I’m like, “Am I allowed to?” And he’s like, “Yeah.” So I’m like, “Buckle the f— up.”

But basically, what I was doing was honestly trying to match Bonnie’s commitment at the level she did with her voice, which is what I loved about all of her performances and Jim Steinman’s music. It’s just over-the-top commitment and drama. The swearing was just me being like, “How can I bump this up one notch when they’ve already just nailed it?”

Did you ever hear from either of them about what they thought about the film?

I’d tried to get Bonnie to do a duet of “Total Eclipse,” and I reached her management. He was like, “Well, Bonnie’s willing to do the song as long as there’s no profanity because she’s not a profane person.” I was like, “Well, neither the f— am I. I was an altar boy.” It didn’t end up working out, because I knew if I did the song without the swearing, people would be like, “What the f—?” But later, met Jim Steinman. I mentioned it to Steinman, and he was like, “Oh, I wish they called me because I can make Bonnie do anything, she’d love the swearing,” which killed me.

You did kind of alter her song forever for a certain generation.

I was just picturing them both hating how I bastardized their song. So when I finally met Steinman, he was like, “No, no, no! I f—ing loved it. In fact, I’ve always thought of all those epic booms, the Kurzweil, all the big hits in ‘Total Eclipse,’ those were musical f—s.”

Mostly I wanted to just find Bonnie and apologize to her for all the drunk guys I have pictured over the years at her concert screaming “F—” ever since that movie.

That song became your biggest hit as a comedian. How’d it change your life?

It got funnier the older we got. When I would do “Total Eclipse” right after “Old School” came out, it would get the biggest reaction. There was one set early on at the Playboy Mansion, we were hired to play some party there. There were just a bunch of drunk guys at the mansion and a couple Playboy bunnies that were contractually hired to walk around and wave. They’re like, “Play ‘Total Eclipse,’” and so I did. Then they’re like, “Play it again.” I’m like, “OK.” Then “Play it again.” I was like, “Here we go, give them what they want.” It was the least amount of work I had to do for a song that was pre-loved from a moment in a movie.

God, I hope she knew how much I loved her and apologize for all the drunk guys that had probably f-bombed the hell out of her concerts.

Before that song, people were like, “Do you have a flier for your next show?” I’m like, “For what?” But once “Old School” happened, suddenly a record label was like, “We want to do a live album.” I’m like, “Who’s gonna buy it?” But my manager is like, “Don’t say s— like that. There’s a record label that wants to make an album with you, dumbass.”

The whole thing has just been a surprise, but it’s been a good one. We’re playing this festival in Canada next weekend, and God, that song’s going to be such a big moment.

JUNEAU, Alaska — A man with the same name and party affiliation as Alaska Republican U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan is eligible to challenge the senator in the August primary, a judge ruled Friday.

Superior Court Judge Thomas Matthews’ ruling overturns a June 15 decision by Division of Elections Director Carol Beecher to disqualify the challenger and keep him off the primary ballot. Matthews’ ruling can be appealed to the state Supreme Court.

Attorneys for the state have said Tuesday is the deadline for a final ruling so that ballots for the Aug. 18 primary can be printed.

The judge ruled that the Division of Elections decision to exclude Dan J. Sullivan because his candidacy was not “in good faith” was not based on the Constitution, Alaska law or the division’s own regulations. The retired teacher from the small fishing community of Petersburg filed to challenge the incumbent.

“Instead, the decision was based upon a new, previously unstated, ‘good faith’ criteria,” the judge wrote.

Attorneys for the state did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Friday’s ruling. Jeffrey Robinson, Dan J. Sullivan’s attorney, said in an email he expects the division to appeal the ruling and couldn’t comment until the Alaska Supreme Court rules on the case.

The controversy over the two Dan Sullivans has underscored the stakes involved in the incumbent’s reelection campaign. The Alaska race is one of about half a dozen U.S. Senate races expected to be highly competitive in the fall, and the seat is one Democrats are trying to flip in their efforts to regain the majority.

The senator and allies, including the National Republican Senatorial Committee, have condemned the challenger’s efforts to join the race, arguing his presence could confuse voters. Under Alaska’s election system, the top four candidates from the primary, regardless of party, move on to the ranked-choice November general election.

The senator has accused the challenger Sullivan of working with Democrats and the campaign of Democratic former U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola — who is considered the senator’s main opponent — to cause confusion and boost Peltola’s chances. Peltola’s campaign and state Democrats have denied the allegation, as has the challenger.

Sen. Sullivan and Peltola are the highest-profile candidates in the crowded race and the only ones to report raising any money.

Beecher has said she determined the challenger Sullivan is not eligible to run because his candidacy was not filed in good faith and instead was done with an intent to confuse voters. She said he had registered to vote as Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. and, in conjunction with his candidacy, changed his party affiliation to Republican.

She also cited similarities between his campaign website and the senator’s, and his work with a consultant whose clients have included some Democrats. She did not mention finding any evidence of alleged coordination.

In arguing to keep the challenger disqualified, attorneys for the state disputed suggestions that the ballot could be designed in a way to reduce voter confusion over two candidates with the same name and party running for the same office.

“The Constitution does not require States to place a sham candidate on the ballot and then attempt to mitigate the damage through design choices,” Rachel Witty, an attorney with the Alaska Department of Law, and outside attorneys Christopher Murray and Michael Francisco wrote in court filings.

Attorneys for the challenger Sullivan argued that the Constitution lays out three exclusive qualifications for the Senate — age, citizenship and residency. They said Beecher lacked the legal authority to boot their client off the ballot.

The challenger Sullivan has said that sharing a name and party affiliation with the incumbent gave him “an instant megaphone.” But the 69-year-old retired teacher and former U.S. Forest Service employee said he had considered a run for some time and had grown frustrated with the senator.

He initially was certified on the state’s candidate list as Dan J. Sullivan, with the senator listed as Dan S. Sullivan and identified as the incumbent.

Bohrer writes for the Associated Press.

JUNEAU, Alaska — A man with the same name and party affiliation as Alaska Republican U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan on Monday challenged a decision by a top state elections official to disqualify his candidacy and remove him from the August primary ballot.

A court filing, on behalf of the challenger Sullivan by his attorneys, said the decision by Division of Elections Director Carol Beecher disqualifying him violates state and federal law. It asks that he be placed on the ballot. Sullivan, a retired teacher from the small fishing community of Petersburg, has maintained that he’s a qualified candidate for U.S. Senate and that election officials lacked a legal basis to boot him from the ballot.

The U.S. Constitution lays out three exclusive qualifications for the Senate, addressing age, citizenship and residency, his attorneys wrote.

“Nothing in Alaska law regulates in any way the private motivations that draw individuals to declare or campaign for office,” the filing by attorneys Jeffrey Robinson, Bryn Pallesen and Zoe Eisberg states.

Sullivan’s entrance into the race, days before the June 1 filing deadline, drew condemnation from Sen. Sullivan and the National Republican Senatorial Committee. They called the challenger a sham candidate and alleged he was working with Democrats to boost Democratic former U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola’s chances in the race. Peltola’s campaign and state Democrats have denied the allegation, as has the challenger.

Sen. Sullivan and Peltola are the highest-profile contenders in a race with more than a dozen candidates. It’s one of the most prominent U.S. Senate races in this year’s midterm elections — one both parties consider crucial to their efforts to control the chamber.

Steve Kirch, a spokesperson for the division, said the agency had no comment and does not discuss “ongoing reviews, investigations or related proceedings.” Beecher has previously noted that ballots are due to be printed on Sunday.

Alaska Department of Law spokesperson Sam Curtis said the agency will defend the division’s finding and looked forward to a swift ruling from the court.

On June 15, a week after Republican Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom announced an investigation into the challenger Sullivan’s run, Beecher disqualified him. She concluded that his declaration of candidacy “was not filed in order to declare an actual good-faith candidacy for the office of United States Senator, but was instead filed with a purpose to confuse or mislead and to thereby compromise the ballot’s fairness or neutrality.”

In announcing an investigation, Dahlstrom cited “credible allegations” that Sullivan declared his candidacy “in coordination with another candidate and campaign” with an intent to confuse and “manipulate” voters. But in removing the challenger from the ballot, Beecher did not mention finding any evidence of alleged coordination with Peltola or Democratic Party officials.

The challenger Sullivan, when asked in an interview with the Associated Press earlier this month if he’d had any contact with Peltola’s campaign, responded ”zero, none, zilch.”

Beecher said she based her decision on factors including that he had registered to vote as Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. and in conjunction with his candidacy changed his party affiliation to Republican. She cited similarities between his campaign website and the senator’s, and his work with a consultant whose clients have included some Democrats.

The form congressional candidates in Alaska complete asks them how they would like to be referred to on the ballot and their preferred party affiliation.

Beecher said she acted in line with a regulation that says a candidate’s name may not appear on a ballot with academic or professional titles or “in a manner that is confusing or misleading to voters or compromises the fairness or neutrality of the ballot.”

In response to questions from Democratic state Rep. Andrew Gray, legislative attorney Andrew Dunmire last week said the regulation cited by Beecher does not forbid placing Sullivan’s name on the ballot. He said the elections division could comply with it by designing the ballot in a way that allows voters to distinguish between both Sullivans.

It’s a position echoed by the attorneys for the challenger Sullivan.

The challenger initially had been certified and listed on the state’s candidate list as Dan J. Sullivan. The senator was listed as Dan S. Sullivan and denoted as the incumbent.

Alaska has open primaries in which the top four vote-getters, regardless of party affiliation, advance to the ranked-choice general election.

Bohrer writes for the Associated Press.

In 2024, Evans sacrificed the 500 ranking points he had won at the Washington Open the previous year to partner fellow Briton Andy Murray for his final tournament at the Paris Olympics.

The pair lost in the quarter-finals in what was the last match of Murray’s illustrious career.

“Representing Great Britain in both Davis Cup and the Olympics remains the greatest honour of my career and something I will cherish for the rest of my life,” added Evans, who played 28 Davis Cup ties for Great Britain.

Evans, who was suspended for a year after testing positive for cocaine in 2017, thanked his family for their “unwavering support through every high and low”.

“I’m looking forward to finishing on a high… and giving everything I have one last time,” he said.

Wimbledon starts on 29 June, although Evans would have to go through qualifying or receive a wildcard to play in the main draw.

He has failed to advance through qualifying at the past three Grand Slams, while he received a wildcard for last year’s Wimbledon.

The tournament’s wildcard committee will meet on Tuesday to decide which players they would like to invite into the main draw.

EASTENDERS star Jacqueline Jossa confronted estranged husband Dan Osborne over his holiday romance with a stunning Brazilian bikini model.

The 33-year-old actress challenged ex-Towie star Dan, 34, about his relationship with fitness influencer Etila Santiago after he arrived back from his US trip with a pal last week.

The Sun on Sunday can reveal that Dan has grown close to the model, 33, after bonding with her over fitness and their mutual support of Arsenal — and has vowed to see her again soon.

But Jacqueline, who plays Lauren Branning on the BBC1 soap, was alerted to the rendezvous after she and her pals noticed Dan and Etila posting matching sunset and poolside photos on social media.

It comes after Jacqueline and Dan, who have two daughters, Ella, 11, and Mia, seven, split in March after 13 years together. Dan is living in a separate home.

A source said: “Dan started chatting to Etila on Instagram before his trip to Miami as he saw they both had a passion for fitness.

“They met up a few times during his trip and really hit it off, spending a lot of time together hanging out and chatting. He fell in love with the city and is hoping to go out and visit Etila again.

“However, Jac’s mates notified her about Dan’s movements having suspected who he was with online. So when he was back in the UK, she asked him about it.

“It’s obviously very sensitive as they are co-parenting, but Dan is a single man now. Jac is upset as she still feels there’s a chance her and Dan could rekindle their marriage.”

Etila, who used to compete in bikini bodybuilding competitions, recently broke her engagement with bodybuilder fiance Tyler Manion.

After his trip to Miami, fitness enthusiast Dan shared several photos of himself topless on Instagram.

He wrote in the caption: “Happiness is found in 3 things: Letting go of what was. Enjoying what is. And having faith in what will be.”

Jac and Dan met at an awards ceremony in 2013 and tied the knot at a Cheshire manor house in 2017.

Dan also has an 11-year-old son with his ex, Megan Tomlin.

After Mia’s birth in 2018, Jacqueline posted: “I couldn’t ask for a better family, filled with strong women! My girls are my absolute world and I can’t actually get over how lucky I am.”

But her marriage has been rocked by cheating allegations against Dan.

The former Celebrity Big Brother star was suspected of having a fling with Love Islander Gabby Allen in April 2018, after they were seen cosying up on a yacht in Marbella.

A month later, it was reported that a then-pregnant Jacqueline had confronted a mystery girl over allegedly having sex with Dan just months after their wedding.

Dan was accused in September 2018 of having a threesome with Celebrity Big Brother model Chloe Ayling and US reality TV star Natalie Nunn, which he denied.

Six months later, he was snapped kissing Love Island star Alexandra Cane.

Later in 2019, Jacqueline threatened to leave I’m A Celebrity after campmate Myles Stephenson told her he believed Dan had cheated on her with his ex, Gabby.

She told producers she did not want to continue without talking to Dan and she was allowed to leave temporarily to send him a voicemail and receive one back.

She then walked out on Dan in 2020 after she confronted him over a flirty message to Gabby, who apparently did not respond.

Dan confessed to having made “mistakes”.

He said: “I’ve done things I shouldn’t have done.”

Dan and Jacqueline’s representatives were asked to comment.

DAN Osborne has shared a cryptic post about “letting go of what was” in what appears to be a nod to his split from wife Jacqueline Jossa.

The Sun revealed in March how the couple have decided to part ways after 13 years, during which they welcomed two children and weathered several cheating scandals.

Now, two months on, Dan has shared a post about how to find “happiness”, seemingly alluding to “letting go” of his relationship.

The former Towie star, 34, shared a number of beach snaps to Instagram, including several of himself topless.

He wrote alongside the carousel: “Happiness is found in 3 things: – Letting go of what was. – Enjoying what is. – And having faith in what will be.”

Dan’s collection of pictures showed him enjoying time on the beach during a trip to Miami.

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He dubbed the US city “my favourite place” on his Instagram Stories, with Dan seemingly enjoying a boys’ trip out there.

During the trip, Dan admitted he wasn’t keen to come back home in another thinly-veiled nod at his split.

Earlier this week, alongside a picture of Miami Beach boulevard, he said: “I can’t tell you how much I don’t want to go back to reality”.

We first reported in March how EastEnders actress Jacqueline, 33, and former Towie star Dan,, had called time on their relationship after 13 years. 

The couple had been plagued by various split rumours in the months leading to the revelation as well as having had a very rocky marriage in the years leading up to the final decision.

Their marriage has been rocked by multiple cheating allegations against Dan, who admitted in 2020: “I’ve made mistakes.”

However, having given their relationship multiple chances, friends claim Jac has accepted it is doomed after living separate lives for months.

A source close to Dan told The Sun: “Everyone knows they’ve had their troubles, but after spending some time apart this year, they’ve decided to make the split permanent.

“Their two daughters are their main priority.”

It’s claimed former Towie star Dan moved out permanently in February into the house he was said to have bought behind Jac’s back in 2024.