daughter

Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla’s resignation comes amid an investigation into her role in luring South Africans to fight for Russia in war on Ukraine.

A daughter of former South African President Jacob Zuma has resigned from parliament amid allegations that she lured 17 men to fight as mercenaries in Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla’s resignation on Friday comes after police said she was under investigation for her alleged role in luring South Africans to Russia. The police announcement came after a group of men aged 20 to 39 ended up on the front lines of the conflict in Ukraine.

Zuma-Sambudla had served as a member of parliament since June 2024 for uMkhonto weSizwe (MK), an opposition party created by her father in 2023 following his expulsion from South Africa’s then-governing African National Congress.

“The national officials have accepted comrade Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla’s decision to resign and support her efforts to ensure that these young South Africans are brought back safely to their families,” the MK Party’s national chairperson, Nkosinathi Nhleko, told a news conference.

MK officials said Zuma-Sambudla’s resignation was voluntary and that her departure from the National Assembly and all other public roles was effective immediately.

The MK’s Nhleko also said that the party was not involved in luring the men to Russia and that Zuma-Sambudla’s resignation was not an admission of guilt, but added that MK would help support the families of the men stranded in Ukraine.

Zuma-Sambudla was present at the news conference but did not speak, and has not publicly responded to the accusations from her half-sister.

South Africa’s government said earlier this month that 17 of its citizens were stuck in Ukraine’s Donbas region after being tricked into fighting for mercenary forces under the pretext of lucrative employment contracts.

Then, last weekend, police said they would investigate Zuma-Sambudla after her half-sister made a formal request for the probe into her and two other people.

According to police, an affidavit submitted by Zuma-Sambudla’s half-sister, Nkosazana Bonganini Zuma-Mncube, alleged that Zuma-Sambudla and two other people tricked the South Africans into fighting by promising to provide them with security training in Russia. The identities of the other two people were unclear.

The affidavit alleges the South Africans were handed over to a Russian mercenary group and forced to fight in the conflict. It also says that eight of the 17 men were members of Zuma-Sambudla’s and Zuma-Mncube’s extended family.

South African presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya told Al Jazeera that the government had received “distress calls” from the group caught up in the Ukraine war, and authorities were “working ever so quietly” at all levels “to secure their safe return”.

“But also, there is an investigation that is ongoing, that’s looking at how they were recruited, who was involved, and what were they promised?” Magwenya said.

On Thursday, Jordan became the latest country to rebuke Russia for recruiting its citizens to fight, following the killing of two Jordanian nationals.

While Jordan did not specifically reference Russia’s war on Ukraine, the Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it would “take all available measures” to end the further recruitment of Jordanians, and called for Moscow to terminate the contracts of its currently enlisted citizens.

Ukraine says Moscow has recruited at least 18,000 foreign fighters from 128 countries, according to figures shared by Ukrainian Brigadier General Dmytro Usov, who also said that almost 3,400 foreigners have died fighting for Russia.

Michael Appel, reporting for Al Jazeera from Johannesburg, said Zuma-Sambudla is seen as a divisive political figure in South Africa, and is already facing “serious charges” related to unrest in South Africa in 2021 that led to the deaths of hundreds of people.

She has denied any wrongdoing in that case and has pleaded not guilty to inciting violence through social media posts.

Fuzzy Zoeller, a two-time major champion and one of golf’s most gregarious characters whose career was tainted by a racially insensitive joke about Tiger Woods, has died, according to a longtime colleague. He was 74.

A cause of death was not immediately available. Brian Naugle, the tournament director of the Insperity Invitational in Houston, said Zoeller’s daughter called him Thursday with the news.

Zoeller was the last player to win the Masters on his first attempt, a three-man playoff in 1979. He famously waved a white towel at Winged Foot in 1984 when he thought Greg Norman had beat him, only to defeat Norman in an 18-hole playoff the next day.

But it was the 1997 Masters that changed his popularity.

Woods was on his way to a watershed moment in golf with the most dominant victory in Augusta National history. Zoeller had finished his round and had a drink in hand under the oak tree by the clubhouse when he was stopped by CNN and asked for his thoughts on the 21-year-old Woods on his way to the most dominant win ever at Augusta National.

“That little boy is driving well and he’s putting well. He’s doing everything it takes to win. So, you know what you guys do when he gets in here? You pat him on the back and say congratulations and enjoy it and tell him not to serve fried chicken next year. Got it?” Zoeller said.

He smiled and snapped his fingers, and as he was walking away he turned and said, “Or collard greens or whatever the hell they serve.”

That moment haunted him the rest of his career.

Zoeller apologized. Woods was traveling and it took two weeks for him to comment as the controversy festered. Zoeller later said he received death threats for years.

Writing for Golf Digest in 2008, he said it was “the worst thing I’ve gone through in my entire life.”

“If people wanted me to feel the same hurt I projected on others, I’m here to tell you they got their way,” Zoeller wrote. “I’ve cried many times. I’ve apologized countless times for words said in jest that just aren’t a reflection of who I am. I have hundreds of friends, including people of color, who will attest to that.

“Still, I’ve come to terms with the fact that this incident will never, ever go away.”

It marred a career filled with two famous major titles, eight other PGA Tour titles and a Senior PGA Championship among his two PGA Tour Champions titles.

More than winning was how he went about it. Zoeller played fast and still had an easygoing way , often whistling between shots.

He made his Masters debut in 1979 and got into a three-way playoff when Ed Sneed bogeyed the last three holes. Zoeller defeated Sneed and Tom Watson with a birdie on the second playoff hole, flinging his putter high in the air.

“I’ve never been to heaven, and thinking back on my life, I probably won’t get a chance to go,” Zoeller once said. “I guess winning the Masters is as close as I’m going to get.”

Zoeller was locked in a duel with Norman at Winged Foot in the 1984, playing in the group behind and watching Norman make putt after putt. So when he saw Norman make a 40-footer on the 18th, he assumed it was for birdie and began waving a white towel in a moment of sportsmanship.

Only later did he realize it was for par, and Zoeller made par to force a playoff. Zoeller beat him by eight shots in the 18-hole playoff (67-75). Zoeller’s lone regret was giving the towel to a kid after he finished in regulation.

“If you happen to see a grungy white towel hanging around, get it for me, will you?” he once said.

He was born Frank Urban Zoeller Jr. in New Albany, Ind. Zoeller said his father was known only as “Fuzzy” and he was given the same name. He played at a junior college in Florida before joining the powerful Houston team before turning pro.

His wife, Diane, died in 2021. Zoeller has three children, including daughter Gretchen, with whom he used to play in the PNC Championship. Zoeller was awarded the Bob Jones Award by the USGA in 1985, the organization’s highest honor given for distinguished sportsmanship.

Ferguson writes for the Associated Press.

SHARON Osbourne made her first red carpet appearance since husband Ozzy’s death last night, as she attended a London event with daughter Kelly. 

Ozzy sadly passed away aged 76 on July 22, with the cause of death later revealed to be a cardiac arrest. 

Last night Sharon, 73, and Kelly, 41, stepped out for a party at Japanese restaurant Aki London. 

The mother and daughter duo put on a glitzy display, with music manager Sharon stunning in a sequined floor-length red dress. 

Meanwhile Kelly opted for a halter-neck baby pink number studded with rhinestones. 

Kelly has been supporting her mother through their loss, previously revealing she slept in her parents’ bed for two months after Ozzy passed away.

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In a special episode of their family podcast titled Remembering Ozzy, Sharon confessed she “hates” going to bed at night.

Kelly said: “I mean, I slept with you for the first two months so that you weren’t on your own.

“But then I felt like you needed some space.”

She then confessed how her daily routine had been altered and admitted: “I wake up and for the first three seconds I feel normal.

“And then I remember everything.

“Mornings are the hardest for me. What is the morning?

“Because it happened in the morning. And I used to spend most of my time with Dad in the morning.”

Kelly then told how she still cries such a lot since Ozzy’s death.

She added: “It’s just all I seem to find myself doing these days because I miss him so much.”

Sharon and Ozzy’s son Jack, 40, is currently taking part in I’m a Celebrity and recently left fans concerned as he ended up in tears while discussing Ozzy.

During a discussion with Eddie Kadi, Jack was asked what he missed most about Ozzy.

As he attempted to answer the question, Jack became overcome with emotion as he tried to compose himself.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to bring it out like that,” Eddie expressed as Jack said: “No it’s fine.”

“I haven’t experienced what you’ve experienced,” he told the grief-stricken star before asking him: “What do you miss most about your pops?”

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Again, Jack was unable to answer the question as he held his face into his hands and sobbed.

He finally expressed: “Just his energy. He had this force, so hard to describe. But he had this energy.”

Tatiana Schlossberg, granddaughter of slain President John F. Kennedy, is battling a rare form of leukemia and may have less than a year to live.

In an essay published Saturday in the New Yorker, the 35-year-old environmental journalist wrote her illness was discovered in May 2024 after she gave birth to her daughter. She was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia with a rare mutation known as Inversion 3 and has undergone several treatments, including chemotherapy and bone marrow transplants.

Schlossberg is a daughter of former U.S. Ambassador Caroline Kennedy, the former president’s daughter, and Edwin Schlossberg. They live in New York.

In her essay, Schlossberg acknowledged that her terminal illness adds to a string of tragedies that has befallen the famous political family. Her grandfather was assassinated in Dallas in 1963. Nearly five years later, his brother, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, was fatally shot in Los Angeles after giving a victory speech at the Ambassador Hotel following his California presidential primary win. Her uncle, John F. Kennedy Jr., died in 1999 when his small plane crashed.

“For my whole life, I have tried to be good, to be a good student and a good sister and a good daughter, and to protect my mother and never make her upset or angry,” Schlossberg wrote.

“Now I have added a new tragedy to her life, to our family’s life, and there’s nothing I can do to stop it.”

She wrote her diagnosis was stunning. She had just turned 34, didn’t feel sick and was physically active, including swimming a mile one day before she gave birth to her second child at Columbia-Presbyterian hospital in New York.

After the delivery, her doctor became alarmed by her high white blood cell count.

At first, medical professionals figured the test result might be tied to her pregnancy. However, doctors soon concluded she had myeloid leukemia, a condition mostly observed in older patients. She ended up spending weeks in the hospital.

“Every doctor I saw asked me if I had spent a lot of time at Ground Zero, given how common blood cancers are among first responders,” Schlossberg wrote. “I was in New York on 9/11, in the sixth grade, but I didn’t visit the site until years later.”

She has endured various treatments. Her older sister, Rose, was one of her bone marrow donors.

In the article, Schlossberg mentioned the Kennedy family’s dilemma over controversial positions taken by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., her mother’s cousin. Schlossberg wrote that while she was in the hospital in mid-2024, Kennedy suspended his long-shot campaign for president to throw his weight behind then-Republican candidate President Trump.

Trump went on to name Kennedy to his Cabinet as secretary of the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, which oversees the Food and Drug Administration, National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In one of his early moves, Trump demanded a cut in government money to Columbia University, which employs her husband, George Moran.

“Doctors and scientists at Columbia, including George, didn’t know if they would be able to continue their research, or even have jobs,” she wrote. “Suddenly, the health-care system on which I relied felt strained, shaky.”

On Saturday, her brother Jack Schlossberg, who recently announced his bid for Congress in a New York district, shared on Instagram a link to her New Yorker essay, “A Battle with My Blood.”

He added: “Life is short — let it rip.”

In his riveting book “The Insider: Malcolm Cowley and the Triumph of American Literature,” veteran book editor Gerald Howard makes a strong claim for Cowley as a crucial catalyst for the efflorescence of American fiction in the years following World War I. He’s not wrong: Working as a critic, author, essayist and editor, Cowley often provided a lone voice in the wilderness for neglected masters.

As consulting editor for publishing house Viking Press in the ‘40s, Cowley resuscitated William Faulkner’s career at a time when most of his books were out of print. Cowley also ushered in Jack Kerouac’s seminal novel of the Beat Generation, “On the Road,” working for seven years to get it published and finally succeeding in doing so in 1957.

For this week’s newsletter, I spoke with Howard about Faulkner, Kerouac and the death of criticism.

✍️ Author Chat

Your book details Cowley’s seven–year odyssey to get Kerouac’s “On the Road” published in 1957 and point out that, contrary to Kerouac’s criticisms regarding the editing, Cowley, in fact, had nothing to do with changes that straightened out his prose.

Cowley took a lot of crap from the Kerouac crowd because Kerouac, in a drunken moment, blamed all his troubles with Viking on Cowley when Cowley was innocent. The Kerouac scholars and biographers don’t quite grasp that a good part of the editing job was assigned to other folks at Viking. They added all those commas in the manuscript that Kerouac was so upset about. Cowley was not an advocate of making big changes to the book; he thought Kerouac’s voice was so vital, so fresh.

Perhaps Cowley’s greatest contribution to 20th century American literature is his rehabilitation of Faulkner’s career at a time when all of his books were out of print. In 1944, he was down and out; six years later, he won the Nobel Prize. Cowley had a lot to do with that.

There was something going on in Europe at the time that was somewhat disconnected from what was going on in the United States. Faulkner’s reputation in France in particular was very high; Andre Gide and Sartre were admirers. But in the United States, Faulkner didn’t sell, he had a very mixed reputation, and he was not well understood. Cowley’s first intention was to write a very long essay about Faulkner’s work, which was serialized in various publications, and then to assemble “The Portable Faulkner” for Viking, which sold well. So the ground was prepared by Cowley.

Critics are “so central to a useful, fruitful culture. I myself don’t particularly care to live in a culture that doesn’t have them,” veteran editor Gerald Howard tells The Times.

(Penguin Random House)

What’s remarkable is the catholicity of Cowley’s taste. He studied Racine at Harvard, but then recognizes the greatness of a disparate group of writers: Faulkner, John Cheever, Kerouac, Ken Kesey, all of whom he shepherds into print.

He didn’t have a program or a thesis. He had taste. He was just a pure creature of literature, immensely versatile and conversant with everything that seemed to matter in the literary universe. Up until the ‘60s, he had his radar up and running. He didn’t believe in a fixed canon.

Cowley was an editor of the New Republic from 1929 to 1944, a small-circulation magazine with outsized influence, featuring critics like Edmund Wilson that generated the cultural conversation. Critics have no such sway anymore. Do you feel there has been something lost from that diminishment of the individual critical voice?

We can let all the online measurements determine the things that people like and allow those things to rise to the surface. But I think the role of the critic is to sort through a vast amount of material to find the things that are really valuable, really interesting. Not just books, of course — also movies, art, music. They’re so central to a useful, fruitful culture. I myself don’t particularly care to live in a culture that doesn’t have them.

Is a maverick editor like Malcolm Cowley possible now?

Probably not. The world that he moved in was a closed world. There wasn’t a lot of room for people who were not white, male and heterosexual. It’s disappointing that he was not more interested in African American literature. He should have been. There are plenty of those people around that he knew. And just appreciating Ralph Ellison was not enough.

(This Q&A was edited for length and clarity.)

📰 The Week(s) in Books

(Los Angeles Times photo illustration; Cover by Macmillan)

Robert Allen Papinchak was enthralled by Margaret Atwood’s memoir, “Book of Lives,” in which the author of “A Handmaid’s Tale” unpacks “the challenging symbiotic relationship between life and art.”

You may have seen the Netflix series about the “OneTaste” sex cult, but that’s not even the half of it, according to Ellen Huet’s book “Empire of Orgasm,” which Julia M. Klein calls a “deeply troubling” narrative of coercion and financial ruin.

Bad Religion guitarist and overall punk legend Brian Baker has a new book of photographs called “The Road,” and Josh Chesler chatted with him about it: “I think I have a knack for being at the right place at the right time.”

Photographer Annie Leibowitz has dropped a “stunning” new book of pictures called “Annie Leibowitz: Women,” according to Meredith Maran.

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Arcana has served the L.A. market for over 40 years, currently occupying space in the Helms Bakery building in Culver City.

(Joshua White)

Given the vicissitudes of the retail book market, it’s a minor miracle that Arcana: Books on the Arts has survived 41 years. Arcana, which since 2012 has occupied space in the Helms Bakery building in Culver City after a long run at the Third Street Promenade, is the best art bookstore in L.A., offering a vast selection spanning photography, painting, fashion, graphic design and much more. I spoke with owner Lee Kaplan about what is hot in his store right now.

What books are selling right now?

We are closing in on the Holidays, so lots of great new titles are showing up daily. A small selection of those which are selling well include “Bruce Weber. My Education,” “Kerry James Marshall: The Histories,” “William Eggleston: The Last Dyes” and “Jane Birkin: Icon of Style.”

Is there any particular kind of book that tends to do well for you?

Perennials tend to be more comprehensive, hardbound volumes of well-known artists such as Edward Ruscha, Andy Warhol, John Baldessari and Jean-Michel Basquiat; photographers Robert Frank, Todd Hido, William Eggleston, Ed Templeton; architects Frank Gehry, Herzog & De Meuron, Johnston Marklee, and Fashion brands like Comme des Garcons, Supreme, Dior, etc. That noted, we sell a lot of inexpensive zines by creators few have heard of, yet.

Arcana has survived a lot of the ups and downs of the retail book business. What do you think is the secret to your longevity?

Moving to a large, beautifully designed space in Culver City’s Helms Bakery in 2012 (after decades on Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade) turned out to be a fortunate decision. We have room for scores of thousands of books that we have amassed over the years situated in a lively, artistic and design-conscious neighborhood.

Given the internet, why do people still value looking at art in books?

These are two vastly different experiences, and for me, there is no substitute for holding a book as a tangible, tactile object. Thankfully, there are still many, many visitors daily that seem to feel the same.

Arcana: Books on the Arts is at 8675 Washington Blvd. in Culver City.

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

Diane Ladd’s cause of death has come to light, weeks after the three-time Oscar-nominated “Rambling Rose” and “Wild at Heart” star died at age 89.

The actor died of “acute on chronic hypoxic respiratory failure,” according to her death certificate obtained by People. The Cleveland Clinic says the condition is a result of insufficient oxygen in a person’s blood and is commonly caused by heart and lung conditions.

The death certificate reportedly notes that Ladd had the latter. Two years before her death, Ladd was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a disease wherein “lung tissue becomes damaged and scarred,” according to the Mayo Clinic. Esophageal dysmotility —disorders that affect the esophagus’ ability to move food and liquid to a person’s stomach — also contributed to Ladd’s death, People reported.

Ladd was cremated on Nov. 10, a week after her death, the death certificate reportedly said.

Laura Dern, Ladd’s daughter with prolific Oscar-nominated actor Bruce Dern, announced her mother’s death Nov. 3: “My amazing hero and my profound gift of a mother, Diane Ladd, passed with me beside her this morning, at her home in Ojai.”

“She was the greatest daughter, mother, grandmother, actress, artist and empathetic spirit that only dreams could have seemingly created,” Dern, Oscar-winning star of “Marriage Story,” said in her statement. “We were blessed to have her.”

Bruce Dern, the first of Ladd’s three husbands, praised his ex-wife for her work on- and off-screen, including her longtime tenure as a Screen Actors Guild board member.

“She was a great teammate to her fellow actors. She was funny, clever, gracious,” he said. “But most importantly to me, she was a wonderful mother to our incredible wunderkind daughter. And for that I will be forever grateful to her.”

Mississippi native Ladd was an enduring talent whose screen career included more than 200 movie and TV credits from the 1960s to the 2020s, and multiple Emmy and Oscar nominations. Famously, she appeared in director Martin Scorsese and writer Robert Getchell’s 1974 feature “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore,” originating the role of snarky roadside-diner waitress Florence Jean “Flo” Castleberry.

When Ladd was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis in 2023, she was told she might have only six months to live. This inspired Laura Dern to take her mother out for strolls along Santa Monica, sparking intimate conversations that would become fodder for their joint book, “Honey, Baby, Mine,” released in April 2023.

“All the deep listening filled us with love,” Ladd told People amid the book’s release. “And it was very healing.”

A NEPO baby daughter of a Hollywood legend looked stunning in her racy TikTok video, as she stripped down to a corset and stockings.

The rising star, 25, is following in her dad’s footsteps into the world of film – but can you guess who her famous father is?

Did you guess the nepo baby in question is Hollywood director Martin Scorsese’s daughter Francesca?

The 25-year-old is the iconic filmmaker’s youngest daughter, who he had when he was 56 with his third wife Helen Morris.

The 82-year-old director also has two other daughters, Cathy, 58, and Domenica, 49, from his previous marriages.

Francesca is known for her sexy TikToks and recently shared one of herself strutting through the streets in a yellow corset, that she was almost bursting out of.

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She finished off her eye-popping look with sexy stockings.

Francesca, who has previously revealed “grew up on film sets”, graduated from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, which is also her father’s college.

Following in her dad’s film director footsteps, she released her own picture, Fish Out of Water, in June 2023.

She has also flexed her acting chops and played Britney Orton in HBO‘s We Are Who We Are and appeared in several of her dad’s movies including The Departed, The Aviator and Boardwalk Empire.

Speaking about her famous father’s influence on her career, Francesca said: “He is the best teacher, guide, just overall mentor.

“Also, he’s literally my best friend. I tell him everything.”

Martin also previously reflected on his relationship with his youngest daughter.

Speaking to SiriusXM last year, the director said that after he met his now-wife Helen, they were “gifted with this pregnancy.”

“It was extraordinary and by that point, I was 56 and it was a different perspective on life,” he told host James Corden.

“It suddenly became the most important thing, her and this little one that was coming.

“We didn’t know whether it was a girl or boy and then in the middle of the night, five weeks early.”

Reflecting on being a dad, now he is getting older, he added: “I’m 80 now, so you only have a certain amount of time left.

“That time has got to mean something.”

MICHELLE Keegan has shared rare photos of her baby girl Palma as the mother and daughter duo twin in matching Christmas pyjamas.

The actress, 38, took to her Instagram stories today to post an adorable snap of her and her daughter both wearing the same white nightwear adorned with Christmas trees, mountains and a snow home.

Michelle rested her face into Palma’s as they enjoyed a cuddle and spent some quality time together.

The former Coronation Street star wrote: “Matching with my girl,” alongside a white heart emoji.

In another story, she uploaded a collage of snaps with Palma’s little toes coming out her adorable pyjamas.

As well as a link for customers to purchase the sets from her Very collection, she penned: “Matching family PJs.

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“They come in all sizes for adults, children and babies, they’re honestly so cosy. Palma loves hers.”

Michelle and husband Mark Wright welcomed Palma into the world on March 6 this year.

They announced the happy news with a black and white photo of their baby swaddled in a crochet blanket.

The couple shared: “Together we have a new love to share. Our little girl. Palma Elizabeth Wright, 06.03.25.”

Michelle isn’t the only one sharing adorable pictures with Palma as doting dad Mark also recently took to Instagram to share a sweet snap.

Last month, Mark posted a picture of his little girl on a playdate with pal Olly Murs’ daughter Madison.

The little girls were seen donning similar pale patterned baby-grows with a stray pink sock having been discarded by one of the tots.

Little Palma turned her face towards her tiny pal Madison, who is Olly’s firstborn and arrived in April 2024, before putting her hand on her shoulder.

Meanwhile their parents were seen smiling as they were watching over them like a hawk.

One fan was quick to post: “Awwww that is adorable. So lovely they can play together whilst growing up.”

Another responded: “Nah but this is mega cute! I hope they have the best friendship like you guys.”

A third put: “Aww so cute best friends for life,” while a fourth gushed: “Oh cuteeeeee!!!”

Mark and Michelle have kept their firstborn largely out of the spotlight, hiding her face from social media snaps to maintain her privacy.

Despite her new role as a mum, Michelle has no plans of slowing down her acting career as it reaches new heights.

The Sun recently revealed that US screen star Reese Witherspoon is keen for Michelle to play the lead in a big-budget movie adaptation of her new novel.

Oscar-winner Reese, 49, wrote crime thriller Gone Before Goodbye with American author Harlan Coben, who was behind Michelle’s Netflix hit show Fool Me Once.

Harlan introduced the women to each other at the launch of the book at the ­London Literature Festival, held at the capital’s Festival Hall last weekend.

A source said: “Harlan has been singing Michelle’s praises to Reese and she was keen to meet her. They got on really well and it was clear Reese was really taken with Michelle.

“The plan is to turn the book into a film and Michelle is their first choice to take on the role of the lead character, Maggie McCabe.

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“She is a combat surgeon and Michelle previously played an Army medic in Our Girl on the BBC, so it’s a role they know she could take on with style.

“It’s early days but Harlan and Reese think Michelle is tailor-made for this role and would love her to come on board when the time is right.”

VICTORIA Beckham looked amazing in a sheer dress while joining Tana Ramsay on daughter Holly’s hen do.

Daughter of Gordon Ramsay, Holly, 25, is engaged to Olympian Adam Peaty, and the pair will say I Do later this year.

But before their big wedding, Holly has been enjoying a bachelorette shindig at Soho Farmhouse.

In attendance at the swanky event, which looked to be chic yet fun, was fashion designer Victoria Beckham.

Victoria shared a photo of herself and Holly sitting down beside one another.

The bride-to-be was seen donning a diamante-covered white minidress and a veil.

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Meanwhile, Victoria looked chic in an all-black sheer dress.

‘GIRLS NIGHT’ BACHELORETTE PARTY

“Girls night,” Victoria penned.

In the other snap Victoria shared, she was seen with Tana and Holly as the trio beamed for the camera.

“Yep… I have a microphone,” she teased.

Holly’s mum, and Gordon Ramsay‘s wife Tana, could be seen donning a black sparkly dress with tights.

Holly rocked some silk pyjamas in a white hue with black edging and a veil.

And Victoria gave fans a closer look at her chic black dress as she held a microphone.

Victoria’s dress had a shirt-style neckline which was open, and a completely sheer skirt.

The trio beamed besides one another as they held microphones and seemingly did a bit of karaoke.

HOLLY’S HUSBAND TO BE

Holly got engaged to Adam in September 2024, when they were in Dubai on a sun-soaked trip together.

They then threw a swanky engagement bash to celebrate with their family and friends.

Adam, who won a medal at the Paris Olympics last summer, first met Holly when her younger sister Tilly was competing alongside on Strictly in 2021.

The happy couple then went Instagram official in June 2023, and the following year they revealed they were getting married.

In a chat with OK! Magazine that came out in July 2024, Holly was asked about whether she’s keen to have a child after her one-year-old brother Jesse was welcomed into the world.

Holly responded with: “Oh my goodness – I’ve only just got a boyfriend!”

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When asked whether her famous dad ever gives her boyfriend pep talks, Holly told the magazine: “Totally different areas. One’s a chef, one’s in a pool.

“Obviously, they’re both high performance (men) – they both bond over that, but they prefer to talk about cars, to be honest.”

On Aug. 12, 2022, Salman Rushdie was stabbed 15 times just as he was about to give a public lecture at the Chautauqua Institution in New York. Gravely wounded, Rushdie lost sight in his right eye. The following spring, he published “Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder,” which became a bestseller. His new book, “The Eleventh Hour: A Quintet of Stories,” is his first work of fiction since the attack that nearly killed him.

A showcase for his dynamic range, the book careens from social critique to ghost stories and dream-like fables. On a recent Zoom call, the writer discussed the consolations of fiction, Franz Kafka and the moral rot of the gilded class.

✍️ Author Chat

This is the first fiction you’ve written since “Knife.” How did you get that part of your creative brain going again?

I’m so happy to have fiction to talk about again! The attack kind of stopped the fiction juices from flowing. It’s as if my mind wouldn’t look back into the world of the imagination. But the moment I finished “Knife,” even before it came out, I was suddenly thinking about fiction again. It was as if by magic, I had to somehow sweep that subject away — out of the front of my mind, into the back of my mind — in order to let other stuff come in.

So you’re thrilled to be writing fiction again.

Yes. Memoir was never a form that attracted me. I don’t particularly want to write about myself.

Were all the stories in the new book written after the knife attack?

The two stores which bookend the collection were written earlier, although I did revise them. The first story I wrote for the book was “Late,” which is the first ghost story I’ve ever written.

“The Eleventh Hour: A Quintet of Stories” by Salman Rushdie.

(Random House)

That is actually astonishing to me. You have had elements of the supernatural and fantasy in your fiction, but not specifically a ghost story?

I’ve had that, but I haven’t had a ghost as a hero. And I must say, it became incredibly enjoyable to write.

I’d always wanted to write something arising out of my time at Cambridge, but I’d never really found a story. Then I had this idea of an encounter between this older academic and this young Indian woman who made friends because of their mutual love of India. When I sat down to write it, I found myself killing him. It took me completely by surprise. And the story became something else entirely.

There is in a few of these stories the character of the old don, the wizened, sage academic. Were these characters based on gray eminences you may have encountered at Cambridge?

I was lucky that my time at King’s College overlapped just a little bit with the great E.M. Forster. He was almost 90 and I was 19, but he was very approachable. He liked students to approach him and have a conversation. He would sometimes come and sit in the student common room with a little glass of beer and a little kind of flat cap. And when he discovered that I had a background in India, he became extra chatty because India had, of course, been unbelievably important to him in his life.

“Oklahoma” is perhaps the most dream-like story in the collection, about a young man searching for an older man, a famous writer, who has disappeared. It’s a dense piece, with a distinct Kafka influence.

There was an extraordinary exhibition at the Morgan Library here in Manhattan, of the manuscripts of Kafka. They had “The Trial,” “The Castle” and “Amerika,” an unfinished novel whose original title was “The Man Who Disappeared.” And that stuck with me. So I found myself writing a story in which Kafka makes a guest appearance, but it’s basically in the end about two men who disappear. “Oklahoma” is taken from “Amerika,” but Kafka never set foot in America, of course. It’s an Oklahoma of the mind and spirit, the place where you find satisfaction and fulfillment.

In “The Musician of Kahani,” about a marriage between a middle-class pianist and wealthy playboy, it feels like you are describing this new class of what you refer to as the “rich-rich,” the new vulgarian wealthy class. In the past, rich people were associated with glamour, but now it feels like a kind of boorish narcissism.

Yes, in the past, there was a kind of Gatsby-level glamour attached to the wealthy. One of the things that used to be the case in India after independence is that Gandhian ideas were very prominent. Indian weddings tended to be quite modest affairs. There was a Gandhian idea that you don’t flaunt your wealth. Well, that’s gone out the window, right? All the Gandhian notions are very much out of favor in India now. This has resulted in fantastically flamboyant weddings. And when you get to this level of the ultra-rich, there is a kind of surrealism on display.

Do you read much contemporary fiction?

I’m a huge admirer of Toni Morrison, if that’s contemporary enough. I’m also very keen on James McBride, especially “The Good Lord Bird” and “The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store,” for the range, the detail and the comedy in his writing, which is profound. I read two 700 page books this summer: Kiran Desai’s “The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny” — which took her 19 years to write and I think is a kind of masterpiece — and Nicholas Boggs’ biography of James Baldwin, which I loved.

(This Q&A has been edited for length and clarity.)

📰 The Week(s) in Books

“She comes across as preaching to her peers rather than seeking converts,” Hamilton Cain writes of Smith’s new book.

(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Patti Smith’s new memoir, “Bread of Angels,” is “mesmerizing,” Leigh Haber writes for The Times. The book “deepens the mystery of who this iconic artist is and where her singular vision originated.”

Susan Straight’s new novel “Sacrament,” about a clutch of ICU nurses battling COVID in a San Bernardino hospital, “broadens the reader’s understanding of community beyond flesh-and-blood friends, family and neighbors,” according to Merdith Maran. “The love and care that flow within her community of characters draws the reader into their bright, tight circle, making the characters’ loved ones and troubles feel like the reader’s own.”

Robert Dowling’s new biography of actor and playwright Sam Shepard “expertly untangles the history of a man who contained multitudes,” writes Mark Athitakis.

Hamilton Cain has mixed emotions about Zadie Smith’s new collection of essays, “Dead and Alive,” writing that “the book’s finest pieces wrangle, in elegant prose, with humanity’s contradictions,” but “the weaker ones indulge in name-dropping, footnotes and op-ed invective.”

📖 Bookstore Faves

Zibby’s Bookshop is on Montana Avenue in Santa Monica.

(Courtesy of Zibby Media)

In the two years since Zibby Owens opened Zibby’s Bookshop, the Santa Monica store has become a vital hub for booklovers on the Westside who are drawn to the quaint, well-curated selection of books and the numerous events that take place throughout the year. I asked Zibby’s store manager Kartina Leno to tell us what book buyers are scooping up.

What’s selling right now?

Our customers are loving memoirs. “They All Came to Barneys” by Gene Pressman and “I Regret Almost Everything” by Keith McNally are flying off our shelves. By far the biggest fiction seller all year has been “The Wedding People” by Allison Espach. It’s smart, funny, and has a beautiful message.

How does the store foster a community of readers?

Our author events are such a place of community and comradeship to our customers. We have anywhere from three to five per week, and they feel like such a safe and welcoming space. We also offer a once-a-month book club that meets in person and also sees a great turnout. We have people who’ve been coming now for almost three years!

What genres have readers excited right now?

Our customers love a good cozy mystery and we’re still selling tons of “The Thursday Murder Club” by Richard Osman and “Everyone in My Family has Killed Someone” by Benjamin Stevenson. The romantasy bug has also been going around, so we make sure to have plenty of copies of Sarah J. Maas in stock.

Zibby’s Bookshop is at 1113 Montana Ave. in Santa Monica.

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

Get ready for Troy High to again be a girls’ basketball team to watch.

Kevin Kiernan, the winningest girls’ coach in state history with 900 career wins, according to CalHiSports, has come out of retirement for a second stint at Troy, where he coached for 11 years before heading over to Mater Dei for an 18-year run as girls’ coach and later athletic director. He’s also coached at Westminster La Quinta as well as boys’ basketball and was women’s coach at Cypress College.

Kiernan served as athletic director at Mater Dei last season. Two issues that he dealt with — an injured hip and throat surgery to help his voice — have been taken care of.

“Voice is great,” said Kiernan, whose daughter, Kaidyn, is a junior on the team.

That’s bad news for opponents, players and maybe some officials.

His experience alone should be beneficial to Troy, which is scheduled to be in eight tournaments and showcases. There’s only one returning player, Allyson Tan, but plenty of freshmen and sophomores, which is challenging but invigorating for Kiernan, known as a great teacher of the game.

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email [email protected].

Dodgers pitcher Alex Vesia and his wife, Kayla, announced on Instagram on Friday that their baby daughter, Sterling, died on Oct. 26 — a tragic loss that caused Vesia to miss the Dodgers’ appearance in the World Series last week.

“Our little angel, we love you forever & you’re with us always,” the Vesias wrote. “There are no words to describe the pain we’re going through but we hold her in our hearts and cherish every second we had with her.”

The Vesias had been expecting the birth of Sterling, their first child, during the Dodgers’ postseason run. Her death came during the World Series, forcing Vesia to step away from the club.

The day before Game 1 of the World Series, the Dodgers publicly announced Vesia was not with the team because of a “deeply personal family matter.” The Dodgers left him off their World Series roster, as well as the family medical emergency list, so as not to pressure him into feeling he needed to return.

“This is so much bigger than baseball,” Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said at the time. “And for us, it was doing whatever small part we could to just 100% be supportive.”

The Dodgers’ bullpen honored Vesia in Game 3 of the World Series, with each reliever writing his No. 51 on the sides of their caps for the rest of the series. The Toronto Blue Jays’ relievers did the same in Games 6 and 7, a gesture several Dodgers publicly recognized and deeply appreciated.

“I think it really speaks to the brotherhood of athletes, major league baseball players,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts ahead of Game 7. “Baseball is what we do, but it’s not who we are. And for these guys to recognize Alex and what he and Kayla have gone through — ‘heartbreaking’ is not even a good enough descriptor.”

“For those guys to do that, it’s incredible,” outfielder Kiké Hernández added. “They’re trying to win a World Series, but they understand that this is — life is bigger than baseball, and baseball’s just a game. For them to do that with the stakes where we’re at, hats off to them, and I want them to know that we appreciate ‘em.”

The Vesias also thanked the Dodgers, Blue Jays and baseball fans for their support.

“Our baseball family showed up for us and we wouldn’t be able to do this without them,” they wrote. “We have seen ALL your messages, comments and posts. It’s brought us so much comfort.”

Vesia was a key part of the Dodgers’ bullpen in both the regular season (when he had a 3.02 ERA in a career-high 68 appearances) and the first three rounds of the playoffs (when he allowed just two runs in seven outings).

On Thursday, the Dodgers picked up Vesia’s $3.65-million option for next season, avoiding arbitration before what will be his final year before reaching free agency.

Renate Reinsve is the new face of Scandinavia: depression with a smile. Standing 5 feet 10 with open, friendly features, the Norwegian talent has a grin that makes her appear at once like an endearing everywoman and a large, unpredictable child. Reinsve zoomed to international acclaim with her Cannes-winning performance in Joachim Trier’s 2021 “The Worst Person in the World,” a dramedy tailor-made to her lanky, likable style of self-loathing. Now, Trier has written his muse another showcase, “Sentimental Value,” where Reinsve plays an emotionally avoidant theater actor who bounces along in pretty much the same bittersweet key.

“Sentimental Value” gets misty about a few things — families, filmmaking, real estate — all while circling a handsome Oslo house where the Borg clan has lived for four generations. It’s a dream home with red trim on the window frames and pink roses in the yard. Yet, sisters Nora (Reinsve) and Agnes (Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas) aren’t fighting to keep it, perhaps due to memories of their parents’ hostile divorce or maybe because they don’t want to deal with their estranged father, Gustav (Stellan Skarsgård, wonderful), who grew up there himself and still owns the place, even though he’s moved to Sweden.

Trier opens the film with a symbolically laden camera pan across Oslo that ends on a cemetery. He wants to make sure we understand that while Norway looks idyllic to outsiders jealous that all four Scandinavian countries rank among the globe’s happiest, it can still be as gloomy as during the era of Henrik Ibsen.

More impressively, Trier shifts to a fabulous, time-bending historical montage of the house itself over the century-plus it’s belonged to the Borgs. There’s a crack in it that seems to represent the fissures in the family, the flaws in their facade. Over these images, Reinsve’s Nora recites a 6th-grade school essay she wrote about her deep identification with her childhood home. Having grown up to become terrified of intimacy, today she’s more like a detached garage.

Nora and Agnes were young when their father, a modestly well-regarded art-house filmmaker, decamped to a different country. At a retrospective of his work, Gustav refers to his crew as his “family,” which would irritate his kids if they’d bothered to attend. Agnes, a former child actor, might note that she, too, deserves some credit. Played in her youth by the compelling Ida Atlanta Kyllingmark Giertsen, Agnes was fantastic in the final shot of Gustav’s masterpiece and Trier takes a teasingly long time to suggest why she retired from the business decades ago, while her older sister keeps hammering at it.

Gustav hasn’t made a picture in 15 years. He’s in that liminal state of renown that I’m guessing Trier has encountered many times: a faded director who’s burned through his money and clout, but still keeps a tuxedo just in case he makes it back to Cannes. Like Reinsve’s Nora, Gustav acts younger than his age and is at his most charming in small doses, particularly with strangers. Trier and his longtime co-writer Eskil Vogt have made him a tad delusional, someone who wouldn’t instantly recognize his graying reflection in a mirror. Sitting down at a cafe with Nora, Gustav jokes that the waitress thinks that they’re a couple on a date. (She almost certainly doesn’t.)

But the tension between Gustav and Nora is real, if blurry. He’s invited her to coffee not as father and daughter, but as a has-been angling to cast Nora as the lead of his next film, which he claims he’s written for her. His script climaxes with a nod to the day his own mother, Karin (Vilde Søyland), died by suicide in their house back when he was just a towheaded boy of 7. Furthering the sickly mojo, Gustav wants to stage his version of the hanging in the very room where it happened.

His awkward pitch is a terrific scene. Gustav and Nora are stiff with each other, both anxious to prove they don’t need the other’s help. But Trier suggests, somewhat mystically, that Gustav has an insight into his daughter’s gloom that making the movie will help them understand. Both would rather express themselves through art than confess how they feel.

When Gustav offers his daughter career advice, it comes off like an insult. She’s miffed when her dad claims his small indie would be her big break. Doesn’t he know she’d be doing him the favor? She’s the lead of Oslo’s National Theatre with enough of a social media following to get the film financed. (With 10 production companies listed in the credits of this very film, Trier himself could probably calculate Nora’s worth to the krone.)

But Gustav also has a lucky encounter with a dewy Hollywood starlet named Rachel (Elle Fanning) who sees him as an old-world bulldog who can give her resume some class. Frustrated by her coterie of assistants glued to their cellphones, Rachel gazes at him with the glowy admiration he can’t get from his own girls. Their dynamic proves to be just as complex as if they were blood-related. If Rachel makes his film, she’ll become a combo platter of his mother, his daughter, his protégée and his cash cow. Nora merely merits the financing for a low-budget Euro drama; Rachel can make it a major Netflix production (something “Sentimental Value” most adamantly is not).

It takes money to make a movie. Trier’s itchiness to get into that unsentimental fact isn’t fully scratched. He seems very aware that the audience for his kind of niche hit wants to sniffle at delicate emotions. When Gustav’s longtime producer Michael (Jesper Christensen) advises him to keep making films “his way” — as in antiquated — or when Gustav takes a swipe at Nora’s career as “old plays for old people,” the frustration in those lines, those doubts whether to stay the course or chase modernity, makes you curious if Trier himself is feeling a bit hemmed in.

There’s a crack running through “Sentimental Value” too. A third of it wants to be a feisty industry satire, but the rest believes there’s prestige value in tugging on the heartstrings. The title seems to be as much about that as anything.

I’ve got no evidence for Trier’s restlessness other than an observation that “Sentimental Value” is most vibrant when the dialogue is snide and the visuals are snappy. There’s a stunning image of Gustav, Nora and Agnes’ faces melting together that doesn’t match a single other frame of the movie, but I’m awful glad cinematographer Kasper Tuxen Andersen got it in there.

The film never quite settles on a theme, shifting from the relationship between Nora and Agnes, Nora and Gustav, and Gustav and Rachel like a gambler spreading their bets, hoping one of those moments will earn a tear. Nora herself gets lost in the shuffle. Is she jealous of her father’s attention to Rachel? Does she care about her married lover who pops up to expose her issues? Does she even like acting?

Reinsve’s skyrocketing career is Trier’s most successful wager and he gives her enough crying scenes to earn an Oscar nomination. Skarsgård is certainly getting one too. But Fanning delivers the best performance in the film. She’s not only hiding depression under a smile, she’s layering Rachel’s megawatt charisma under her eagerness to please, allowing her insecurity at being Gustav’s second pick to poke through in rehearsals where she’s almost — but not quite — up to the task.

Rachel could have been some Hollywood cliché, but Fanning keeps us rooting for this golden girl who hopes she’ll be taken seriously by playing a Nordic depressive. Eventually, she slaps on a silly Norwegian accent in desperation and wills herself to cry in character. And when she does, Fanning has calibrated her sobs to have a hint of hamminess. It’s a marvelous detail that makes this whole type of movie look a little forced.

THE apple doesn’t fall far from the tree for Heidi Klum and her daughter Leni.

The German-born supermodel, 53, posed with her 21-year-old to show off lingerie brand Intermissi’s latest collection.

The mother and daughter duo wore long sleeve pyjama tops and pants from the new range.

Back in 2023, Heidi and Leni caused controversy for posing in lingerie together.

Heidi wore a lacy nude bra and matching panties while Leni donned a fuchsia version in the snaps.

At the time, Heidi was 50 and Leni was 19.

HEIDI-WEEN

Heidi Klum drops NSFW clue about highly-anticipated Halloween costume

RED HOT

Heidi Klum rocks see-through lingerie as she stands against Las Vegas hotel window

Earlier this year, Project Runway star Heidi told People: “A lot of people are like, ‘Oh, I don’t know about mom and daughter doing this together’.

“But for us? I’m proud of my daughter. She’s fine with me like that.

“She’s fine with me like that.

“I’ve always been very open with my body.

“When I’m suntanning in the backyard, I might not have a top on.

“I’m European… my kids don’t know me any other way.”

Many believe Leni is a “nepo baby” because she was born into riches and has gone on to follow in her mother’s modeling footsteps.

Her biological father, Flavio Briatore, is a big name in Italy, leading various sporting teams into championships.

She’s also the adoptive daughter of singing superstar, Seal.

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Political stars often rise and fall but few have had a more dramatic trajectory than Dick Cheney in his home state of Wyoming.

Hours after Cheney died Tuesday at 84, the state lowered flags at the Republican governor’s order. Some politicians in the state offered at times measured praise of the former vice president.

But among a large majority of voters in Wyoming, Cheney has been persona non grata for more than five years now, his reputation brought down amid President Trump’s withering politics.

Trump has criticized Cheney for the drawn-out and costly Iraq war, and his daughter, former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, for saying Trump should never be allowed back in the White House after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

This resonated with many residents, including Jeanine Stebbing, of Cheyenne, whose last straw was the idea that Trump shouldn’t be reelected.

“There was no open-mindedness. Nothing about how, ‘We understand that our neighbors here are supportive of Trump.’ Just the idea that we were all stupid, is what it felt like,” Stebbing said Tuesday.

The final blow for the Cheney family in Wyoming came in 2022, when Trump supported ranching attorney Harriet Hageman to oppose Liz Cheney for a fourth term as the state’s U.S. representative.

Hageman got two-thirds of the vote in the Republican primary, a decisive win in a state with so few Democrats that the general election is considered inconsequential for major races.

Trump’s biggest gripe, ultimately, was that Liz Cheney voted to impeach him, then co-led the congressional investigation into his role in the attack. In Wyoming, a prevailing belief was Liz Cheney seemed more focused on taking down Trump than on representing the state.

“I was very disappointed that, you know, somebody who came from this state would be so adamantly blind to anything other than what she wanted to do. And he joined in as well,” Stebbing said.

Not even Dick Cheney’s endorsement of his daughter over Hageman — and of Kamala Harris over Trump last year — made a difference, as Trump’s appeal in Wyoming only grew. Trump won Wyoming by more than any other state in 2016, 2020 and 2024, the year of his biggest margin in the state.

Some expressed sadness that George W. Bush’s vice president would not be remembered well by so many in the state.

“On the 16th anniversary of my own father’s death today, I can appreciate a father who stood by his daughter, which he did loyally and truthfully,” said Republican state Sen. Tara Nethercott, who is Senate majority floor leader. “He stood by his daughter during those difficult times.”

Nethercott wouldn’t speculate if Liz Cheney might yet have a political future. Wyoming’s support of Trump “speaks volumes,” she said.

Liz Cheney has continued to live in Jackson Hole, near her parents, while traveling back and forth to Charlottesville to teach at the University of Virginia Center for Politics.

For Brian Farmer — who, like Dick Cheney, grew up in Casper and went to the University of Wyoming — Cheney’s legacy will be his service to the state, no matter where people stand on issues.

“He was always somebody whose path I looked at, sought to follow. Very quiet, soft-spoken at times, Very bombastic and loud at others,” said Farmer, executive director of the Wyoming School Boards Association.

Cheney had a 30-year career in politics, from serving as President Gerald Ford’s young chief of staff to representing Wyoming in Congress in the 1980s. He rose to a top GOP leadership role in Congress — one his daughter, too, would later fill — before being named President George H.W. Bush’s defense secretary.

After his time in office, the CEO of oilfield services company Halliburton kept active in state politics, voicing support and even stumping for Republican candidates.

And yet Cheney was so low-key and unassuming, his mere presence was the whole point — not the nice things he had to say, for example, about former Gov. Jim Geringer, who handily won reelection in 1998.

“You talk about people walking into a room and commanding it. That man did it without even speaking a word,” said state Rep. Landon Brown, a Cheyenne Republican who met him several times including at University of Wyoming football games.

“He’s going to be sincerely missed in this state,” he said. “Maybe not by everybody.”

Gruver writes for the Associated Press.

Gabby Logan has been a mainstay of the BBC Sport presenting team for many years, but she was given a reality check by her daughter when she tried to push her into certain sports

Few individuals could be better suited to front BBC Sport than self-proclaimed sports fanatic Gabby Logan.

Gabby, who competed for Wales in rhythmic gymnastics at the 1990 Commonwealth Games, has remained a familiar face for decades through her contributions to ITV and BBC, presenting World Cups, Olympic Games, Six Nations and countless other sporting occasions.

Following Gary Lineker’s exit from the corporation’s premier football programme, Match of the Day, she has joined the presenting roster tipped to succeed him. However, Gabby was decisively “put in her place” by her daughter Lois when she tried to guide her towards the sports she herself was most passionate about.

She explained to The Telegraph: “I always used to say to Lois, when she first got into horses at the age of nine: ‘Oh, if you played golf, I would play with you every night. If you played tennis, I’d play with you all the time.’

“And she’s like: ‘Mummy, those are your dreams, not mine.’ So I was very much put in my place… I used to tell Clare Balding that I’d had her love child.”

Gabby’s Clare Balding reference proved rather fitting.

Now aged 20, Lois works as a show jumper and recently took part in her first horse race as a jockey.

Lois’s twin brother Reuben has also inherited the family’s athletic streak, featuring as a back-row forward for Sale Sharks.

As a mum, Gabby admits she finds it challenging watching both her children pursue physically demanding and potentially dangerous sports. “They’ve not made it easy for me, have they?” she quipped.

“Or for Kenny, in terms of a nice, sedate sport – something a little less frenetic and potentially fraught with danger.

“Still, for me it was important that they had a passion and did something they wanted to do in life, and they both love sport.”

Reuben may have regretted his choice to go into professional rugby on one particular occasion, though.

One of his regular gym sessions at the club turned into a toe-curlingly embarrassing experience when one of his mum’s podcasts was played over the PA system.

It happened to be the episode in which Gabby, 50, was discussing changes in her sex life since her husband – former rugby international Kenny Logan – had his prostate removed following a cancer diagnosis in 2022.

Gabby has been outspoken about reconnecting with intimacy after menopause. She told The Sun: “Taking HRT saw my libido returning. I started with a very small dose of oestrogen and testosterone gels, and progesterone in tablet form. I noticed massive changes within a few weeks. It was a lovely feeling – like myself again.

“My libido came back within about a week. I felt a massive improvement there, and that was important to me and also to Kenny. Once I was on HRT and my libido returned, our sex life was back on track – even to the extent of having daytime sex. There are plus points to becoming empty nesters!”

Diane Ladd, the Oscar-nominated actor who received acclaim for her work in films including “Rambling Rose,” “Wild at Heart” and “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore,” has died. She was 89.

Oscar winner Laura Dern, Ladd’s daughter with Oscar-nominated actor Bruce Dern, announced her mother’s death in a statement shared Monday. “My amazing hero and my profound gift of a mother, Diane Ladd, passed with me beside her this morning, at her home in Ojai,” Dern wrote. A cause of death was not revealed.

“She was the greatest daughter, mother, grandmother, actress, artist and empathetic spirit that only dreams could have seemingly created,” “Marriage Story” star Dern said in her statement. “We were blessed to have her.”

This is a developing story and will be updated.