horrible

SPENDING the afternoon at a shopping centre is pretty much my seven-year-old son’s worst nightmare when it comes to activities.

Unless, of course, that shopping centre used to be a massive nuclear power station, which now houses some of the country’s most expensive flats and sits on the River Thames.

Battersea Power Station is a masterclass in how to turn an empty site into a prime tourist destination after its multi-billion pound regeneration.

The site reopened in 2022 and by 2024 it was named one of the world’s best places to visit by National Geographic.

As a local – I live 25 minutes drive away – it is now one of my favourite places to bring my child.

Despite its large number of luxury shops such as Calvin Klein and Chanel and high-end restaurants, it also has masses of free and cheap activities for kids in the school holidays, seasonal family events and one-of-a-kind attractions.

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This summer, Horrible Histories has launched its first live museum show at The Pharaohs’ Gold exhibition in the immersive NEON venue.

It features more than 180 priceless, 3,000-year-old artifacts from Cairo’s Egyptian Museum, including the coffin of Ramses The Great.

What truly brought it to life was the Horrible Histories show, where an actor portraying Pharaoh Ramses took us through the exhibition, telling us fascinating stories.

It’s not the cheapest, at £37.50 for adults and £17.50 for children, but it doubles up as a theatre experience and never have I seen my son so engaged at a museum.

Equally engaging is Electric Summer, a retro-style fairground on the riverside garden in front of the power station, from now until the end of August.

There were free games like splat the rat and giant chess, along with paid-for activities like dodgems and petanque.

Our favourite by far was the roller rink, which hosts everything from silent discos to kids’ specials for the £12 tickets.

During our session, my son and the other kids got a whole hour’s skating lesson from the wonderful staff.

As we were visiting in the summer holidays, we were also able to take advantage of the kids-eat-free offers at various restaurants.

This meant my mum and I were able to have a slap-up meal at Gordon Ramsey’s Bread Street Kitchen & Bar for just £22 each for a two-course set menu, while my son got “the best burger ever” and a banging sticky toffee pudding, for free.

Of course, if you can’t make it during the summer holidays, there is still plenty going on for kids.

The Chimney Lift is a recent Tripadvisor Travellers’ Choice Award winner that takes you 109 metres up to the top of one of the towers for 360-degree views of the capital.

Then there’s the Lego store with free play areas, and the world’s first standalone Transformers store.

A five-minute walk away is Battersea Park, with a huge outdoor playground, Go Ape and Battersea Park Children’s Zoo.

You could spend three whole days in a 500m radius and not get bored.

Not bad for a venue that just 16 years ago was voted “Britain’s second worst eyesore”.

Tom Segura is finally addressing the news that he and Christina Pazsitzky are divorcing.

In July, news broke that the comedy power couple were calling it quits after nearly two decades of marriage, and last week Pazsitzky shared her feelings on the matter during an episode of “Your Mom’s House,” the wildly successful comedy podcast the two launched together in 2010. On Wednesday — a week after Pazsitzky’s episode dropped — Segura stepped in to host the show and share his side of the story.

“My first podcast here in a while,” Segura began the episode, guest co-hosted by fellow comedian Ryan Sickler. “I know that a lot of people obviously heard the news and saw last week’s episode where Christina hosted.”

Segura said although he doesn’t feel like he needs to say much on the matter, it did bother him that fans called him out with jabs like, “I can’t believe you would make her go address this alone.” Segura said that assumption couldn’t be further from the truth and that the former couple had been recording separate episodes since they split earlier this year.

“Everything that people know is not new to us,” he said. “It’s been many, many months.”

Last week, Pazsitzky cried during what she dubbed the “divorce episode” of “Your Mom’s House” and told guest co-host Duncan Trussell that the pair tried to work it out for several years for the sake of their children and family. “We gave it all we could, but we just couldn’t work things out,” she said. “We are no longer a couple.”

Segura said Pazsitzky’s episode happened to be the first after TMZ caught wind that the pair had split, so she addressed it first. “It was never like, ‘Hey, you go handle this.’ It was just the the timing … and we both decided to record separately.”

Segura said the split had been a long and horrible experience. “It’s, emotionally, a roller coaster. Your emotions change often many times in a day. If anyone’s ever been through it, you don’t feel the same all the time, and it’s really tough on you. Like personally, it’s really tough.

“Having it be public is awful,” he continued, adding that the former couple hoped to keep the high-profile split private. “It’s a private matter.”

Segura continued that he’s not the type of guy who’s an “open book” with his personal life, and that he understands the public’s interest in their divorce, whether they are trolls or heartbroken fans. “I totally get it,” he said. “I also wanted to reiterate that we’re not combative. We talk every day. I support Christina and everything she does. She supports me, and our focus, as you would imagine, is just on our children. We’re just trying to provide the best life we can for them, and we’re trying to take care of them.”

The comedian, who has previously used his marriage as source material in his stand-up comedy, told listeners that he wouldn’t be doing interviews, podcasts or press about the split and planned to focus on his work and co-parenting with Pazsitzky. “This is me addressing what it is and how it’s been, and it’s been terrible. And I don’t feel like I need to keep talking about this. … As disappointing as it is, it is what it is.”