SHE sang about the Hollywood icon on her new album – and now it seems Taylor Swift could pay homage to Elizabeth Taylor’s British roots by filming the music video here.
Hitmaker Tay is flying to the UK next week for a top-secret shoot.
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Taylor Swift is heading to the UK for a top secret music video shootCredit: GettyThe music video is for her track Elizabeth Taylor, which features on The Life Of A ShowgirlCredit: Getty – Contributor
Sixties acting legend Elizabeth — famous for her roles in Cleopatra and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? — was born in 1932 in Hampstead, North London, where there is a plaque, right, on her childhood home. She moved to LA with her family when she was seven.
A source said: “Taylor is super excited to be back in London filming for her new music video.
‘Luxurious and feminine’
“Elizabeth Taylor is a British icon and Taylor wants to pay homage by shooting scenes in the capital.
“Taylor has always written about her love for London, and the video will capture different locations around the city.”
Actress Elizabeth, who died aged 79 in 2011, was married eight times, including twice to British acting legend Richard Burton, and was often portrayed as searching for lasting love.
Speaking about the track for the official release party of her latest album, Taylor said: “It has got to do with fame, attention, love, notoriety, anxiety that this isn’t going to be forever — and how heartbroken would you be then?
“I wanted to tell a story that referenced some of the cool things about her life, but that are also parallel to mine.
“I used details from her life, but the feelings of what it kind of conveys are things I’ve absolutely experienced time and time again.
“The production of this is something that I’m so proud of because it’s luxurious and feminine and then goes really hard and tough in the chorus.
“It’s just one of my favourite songs.”
The track has gone viral on TikTok thanks to a remix with Backstreet Boys’ 1997 banger Everybody (Backstreet’s (Back).
Sounds like Taylor’s fans will be in for a treat.
IT’S ALL GREEK TO JACK
HE plays a sinister nanny in the new Prime Video series, Malice – but comic Jack Whitehall has revealed that he also needed to brush up on his cooking skills for the role in the thriller.
He said of his character Adam Healey: “This guy was meant to be quite slick and intelligent. He was meant to be able to make cocktails and be able to cook, so all of these things I had to do so much prep for.”
Speaking on Waitrose’s Dish podcast, Jack added: “I had to train to make a couple of different dishes.
“And one of the things, because a lot of it was shot in Greece, I had to learn how to prepare an octopus.
“They arranged for me to go and meet this chef in this restaurant in Greece who unfortunately didn’t speak any English.
“So when I arrived, he’d got the wrong end of the stick and thought I needed to learn how to bash the octopus – I wanted to learn how to fillet the octopus.
“He kept grabbing these octopuses and whacking them down.
“I was, like, ‘No, no, no, no. I need to learn how to prepare an octopus’.”
Sounds like poor old Jack was really thrown in at the deep end.
RED-HOT MILLIE’S IN GOOD NICK
Millie Bobby Brown stunned in tiny hot pants and Santa hat in a shoot for Florence By MillsCredit: instagram/milliebobbybrown
MILLIE BOBBY BROWN gave fans her Christmas presence by draping herself across a fireplace.
The Stranger Things star dazzled in tiny hot pants, a crop top, fur-trimmed boots and an oversized Santa hat in the shoot for fashion and beauty label Florence By Mills.
Sharing a snap of Millie on Instagram, the brand wrote: “Elf on the shelf? Try Mill on the sill.”
It will be Millie’s first Christmas as a mum after she and hubby Jake Bongiovi adopted a daughter this year. Looks like she’ll sleigh it.
AN AMAISING STAGE TALENT
HAVING risen to fame as Tiffany Butcher on BBC soap EastEnders, Maisie Smith has now proved she is a stage star following her dazzling turn as Marge Sherwood in a theatre adaptation of The Talented Mr Ripley.
The Crown star Ed McVey plays con artist Tom Ripley who becomes infatuated by the wealthy Dickie Greenleaf (Bruce Herbelin-Earle) and steals his identity.
Maisie swaps her native Essex accent for a cool New York twang in the role of Marge, who is Dickie’s on-off girlfriend.
For more than two hours, Ed has the audience under his spell as he flips between his bumbling self and the cool and handsome Dickie.
Now Mr Ripley must convince bosses that this play deserves a spot on London’s West End.
The wannabe pop star and son of David and Victoria Beckham said he would love to collab with Macca, who he was introduced to when he was a kid.
Cruz Beckham has hinted that he wants to work on music with Sir Paul McCartneyCredit: GettyCruz was introduced to the Beatles legend as a childCredit: AP
Chatting to me at London’s Winter Wonderland, Cruz revealed: “There are so many people I would love to collaborate with.
“Paul McCartney – he’s such a legend. I’ve always been a huge fan – I met Paul when I was little.
“John Lennon is also a hero of mine.”
He added: “There’s more music coming out next year. Hopefully an album when the record label will let me.”
Cruz officially launched his music career last month by releasing singles Lick The Toad and Optics – the latter an explicit pop track about drugs and sex.
It includes the lyrics: “Take a thousand selfies in your bed while I trip in mine. I love me some mushrooms and good head.”
Cruz has also teamed up with The Kooks frontman Luke Pritchard to work on some songs.
Earlier this year, Luke said: “He’s naturally going to come under criticism because of who his parents are. He’s aware of that.
“It was great when he said, ‘Jesus was a nepo baby too’. I thought that was quite a funny response.”
Meanwhile, Cruz was spotted kissing his girlfriend, songwriter Jackie Apostel at Winter Wonderland on Thursday.
They went Instagram official last year after they were first seen hanging out at Glastonbury in Somerset.
Cruz is clearly going to be a busy boy in the coming months, but hopefully baby Becks and Macca can Come Together at some point.
FAYE: MY WORK IS MY LOVE
STEPS singer Faye Tozer is now dedicating her life to her career after splitting from her husband of 16 years.
The Tragedy hitmaker is thought to have parted from IT specialist Mick Smith in May.
Asked if she has time for romance, Faye said: “I don’t know . . . my work is my love.”
Faye, who turned 50 this week, said she was pleased to still be working.
Speaking on the red carpet for Elf: The Musical in London, she added: “I feel really privileged that I’m here and strong.”
TELLY etiquette guru William Hanson said he declined to appear on BBC’s Celebrity Traitors after show bosses approached him earlier this year.
The final was watched by 12 million fans earlier this month, with comic ALAN CARR crowned the winner.
At Richmond Theatre, William told me: “They didn’t sell it brilliantly to me.
“They were, like, ‘There is no hair and make-up, if you are in it, you have to film for 12 days, you need 406 different outfits, you are in the Travelodge by Inverness Airport and it is a 40-minute drive and the fee is rubbish.
“I thought, I don’t know if I really want to do this.” William was a bit of a traitor after all.
This week who I would…
SNOG: ABBA Voyage launches its festive winter bar at the arena in Newham, East London.
MARRY: I LOVE Jamaica concert at Koko in north London on Thursday, raising funds for hurricane recovery.
AVOID: PALS sharing snaps taken during sunny November holidays. We’re not at all jealous.
Edison International Chief Executive Pedro Pizarro said Wednesday that the utility expects the first Eaton fire victims who have agreed not to sue the utility to get their settlement offers later this month.
In an interview, Pizarro said that the utility decided to create the program to pay victims before the fire investigation was complete to get money to them more quickly and because it has become more apparent that the company’s equipment ignited the inferno that killed 19 people.
“There is no other clear probable cause at this point,” he said.
More than 6,000 homes and other properties were destroyed in the Jan. 7 fire that started under an Edison transmission tower in Eaton Canyon. The flames damaged an additional 700 to 800 homes, according to Edison.
Those homes, as well as more than 11,000 others that were damaged by smoke and ash, are eligible for compensation under Edison’s plan. To receive the money, the victims must agree not to sue Edison for the fire.
So far 580 people have applied for compensation, Pizarro said.
He said that if the person accepts the company’s offer, they would be paid within 30 days. “We’ve staffed it to move very quickly.” he said.
Pizarro said the utility is expecting to swiftly be reimbursed for the amounts it pays to victims by a state wildfire fund that Gov. Gavin Newsom and lawmakers created to keep utilities from bankruptcy if their equipment sparks a catastrophic fire.
The first $1 billion in damage costs will be covered by an insurance policy paid for by the utility’s electric customers.
In April, Pizarro said that a leading theory of the fire’s cause was that a century-old transmission line, not used since 1971, reenergized through a process called induction and sparked the fire.
Induction is when magnetic fields created by a nearby live line cause a dormant line to electrify. The unused line runs parallel to other energized high-voltage transmission wires running through Eaton Canyon.
Asked why Edison did not turn off those transmission lines on Jan. 7, Pizarro said in the interview that the company’s protocol at the time, which analyzes wind speed and other risk factors, did not call for a preventive shutoff.
He said the Los Angeles County Fire department and Cal Fire are continuing their investigation into the official cause of the fire.
“We’ve given them everything they’ve asked for,” he said.
At the same time, he said, Edison and lawyers for victims who have filed lawsuits are working jointly on a separate investigation that is gathering detailed information on the fire’s cause.
Pizarro said that he and the company have pledged to be transparent about details of the fire’s cause.
“As significant material things come out we will make that known,” he said.
“I need to go to the supermarket in Pasadena or Altadena and be able to look people in the eye,” Pizarro said. “We want to do the right thing for our community.”
DUA Lipa helped music boost the UK economy to the tune of £8billion last year.
The singer — whose hits include New Rules and Levitating — was one of the industry’s biggest money-makers as its contribution to the country’s coffers leapt by five per cent.
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New Rules singer DUA Lipa helped music boost the UK economy to the tune of £8billion last yearCredit: Instagram/ sofia malamuteThere was more good news for the economy, thanks to Charli XCX’s global success with album BratCredit: GettyTours from Taylor Swift, above, Liam Gallagher, and Bruce Springsteen also drove the figuresCredit: AFP
She saw album Radical Optimism debut at No1 in the charts, while dates in Singapore, Japan and Malaysia took export revenues to a new high of £4.8billion.
The findings are in UK Music’s annual economic report This Is Music 2025.
It said the industry employs 220,000 people here, but warned growth was slowing down after taking off immediately after the pandemic.
UK Music’s Chief Executive Tom Kiehl welcomed the figures but issued warning signs amid the challenges faced by the sector.
He said: “In recent years UK Music has reported that the music industry has enjoyed double-digit annual growth.
“That growth has now halved indicates a levelling off of the immediate post-pandemic boost that we experienced, as well as other underlying issues set out in this report.
“This points to the need for urgent action. If problems are not addressed then future growth cannot be guaranteed.”
She shared a snap of her with sister Rina at River Plate’s match against rivals Boco Juniors after two gigs at the Buenos Aires stadium.
Take That were also big earners, helping to boost the economyCredit: GettyDua, left, on tour in Argentina, shared a snap of her with sister Rina at River Plate’s match against rivals Boco Juniors after two gigs at the Buenos Aires stadiumCredit: Instagram
Taylor Swift fans ‘screamed’ on Sunday evening’s results show after learning that Vicky Pattison will be dancing next week to the pop star’s latest single – The Fate of Ophelia
Jessica Clarke Digital Reporter
21:00, 02 Nov 2025
Taylor Swift fans are already looking forward to next week’s Strictly(Image: Getty Images for The Recording Academy)
After finding out that she was safe from the dreaded dance off, reality star Vicky Pattison was told what her dance and song choice would be for next week. Taylor Swift fans couldn’t contain their excitement on Sunday evening’s Strictly Come Dancing results show after learning that Vicky, 37, will be dancing next week to Taylor Swift’s latest single – The Fate of Ophelia.
Professional partner Kai Widdrington started dancing as a small clip of the song played and sent Swifties into a frenzy online. One person took to X, formally known as Twitter, and wrote: “Arrgghhh not @VickyPattison dancing to The Fate of Ophelia, I screamed Strictly…doing Taylor Swift…and it’s a race weekend, I may just burst with excitement”.
Another fan penned: “Omg Vicky and Kai are dancing to Ophelia next week. My life for a month has been dominated by life and of a Showgirl”, while a third chimed in: “As a Swiftie. I’m Super excited to see that Vicky and Kai are dancing to The Fate of Ophelia next week!! Let’s see this be an iconic performance”.
The track The Fate of Ophelia is the lead single off the album The Life Of A Showgirl which was released last month and features multiple references to her relationship with Travis Kelce.
She references a “megaphone”, a hint at the fact he reached out to her by screaming it out into the world on his podcast, rather than going through the usual ways.
Speaking about the new album, she said: “One thing about this album that I think is really exciting is that oftentimes when I make a record there’s like a lag time between when I made it and when it enters the world.
“Like for example, my last album, Tortured Post Department, by the time that album came out, I was in a completely different point in my life. With this one I would say that this album is a complete and total snapshot of what my life looks like right now.”
It comes after Vicky burst into tears on Saturday night’s Strictly after she performed the American Smooth with professional partner Kai. The dance, which was set to Bonnie Tyler’s Total Eclipse of the Heart, saw Vicky dressed as a white witch on theme for Halloween Week.
The dance went well and she received praise across the board from judges Craig Revel Horwood, Anton Du Beke, Motsi Mabuse and Shirley Ballas, eventually scoring 31 for her efforts and even a standing ovation.
Not only was Vicky pleased her hard work was paying off but she was left in utter shock when Motsi predicted that she will make the final.
Motsi said: “A few weeks ago, I couldn’t believe that you’d open our show. I loved the character play in the beginning, you did it so, so well. So for me, you are a contender for the final. Honestly. And I just want you to finish everything, make everything nice and clean.”
Motsi’s comment was met with cheers from the audience, and Vicky promptly broke down in tears of joy. Rushing over to be interviewed by Claudia Winkleman, her tears continued as she said: “I hated going first! Honestly, I loved this dance this week because for once I had a foundation to build on. I wasn’t just starting from scratch and feeling so inadequate. I was just desperate to prove that I have improved.”
