tribute

BBC Breakfast announced the death of acclaimed playwright Tom Stoppard at age 88, sharing tributes from King Charles and Queen Camilla

BBC Breakfast was paused as today’s presenter delivered devastating news of a death just minutes into the programme.

During Sunday’s (November 30) episode of the beloved breakfast show, hosts Rachel Burden and Ben Boulos were back on our screens delivering the day’s top headlines from Britain and around the world.

But mere moments into the broadcast, Rachel broke the news of Tom Stoppard‘s passing as she disclosed that the Royal Family were amongst the first to honour his memory.

The cherished playwright, who scooped an Oscar and a Golden Globe for Shakespeare In Love, was 88-years-old when he passed away.

Addressing audiences at home, Rachel announced: “The King and Queen have led tributes to the playwright Tom Stoppard, who has died at the age 88.”, reports the Express.

“They have described him as a ‘dear friend who wore his genius lightly’. Among the awards was an Oscar for the screenplay for the film Shakespeare in Love.”

The programme then switched to a dedicated tribute segment for the legend as entertainment correspondent Guy Lambert reflected on Tom’s extraordinary career.

Returning to the studio, Rachel noted: “Tributes have been pouring in to celebrate the life of Sir Tom Stoppard.”

Just before sharing the King and Queen’s complete statement, the television host remarked: “King Charles and Queen Camilla called him a dear friend.”

United Agents released a statement at the time, expressing: “We are deeply saddened to announce that our beloved client and friend, Tom Stoppard, has died peacefully at home in Dorset, surrounded by his family.

“He will be remembered for his works, for their brilliance and humanity, and for his wit, his irreverence, his generosity of spirit and his profound love of the English language. It was an honour to work with Tom and to know him.”

King Charles paid tribute, stating: “My wife and I are deeply saddened to learn of the death of one of our greatest writers, Sir Tom Stoppard. A dear friend who wore his genius lightly, he could, and did, turn his pen to any subject, challenging, moving and inspiring his audiences, borne from his own personal history.

“We send our most heartfelt sympathy to his beloved family. Let us all take comfort in his immortal line: ‘Look on every exit as being an entrance somewhere else’.”

Sir Tom’s illustrious career in entertainment spanned over six decades, during which he bagged numerous Tony and Olivier awards, as well as the Golden Globe and Academy Award alongside Marc Norman for their 1998 screenplay Shakespeare In Love – featuring fellow Oscar-winner Gwyneth Paltrow.

BBC Breakfast is broadcast daily from 6am on BBC One and iPlayer.

LIAM Payne’s sister has paid an emotional tribute on the anniversary of the late star’s funeral.

Pop star Liam tragically died after falling from a third-floor hotel balcony in Buenos Aires in October last year.

Ruth posted an emotional tribute to her brother, one year on from his funeral – with an early image of the siblings together.

Alongside the post, Ruth wrote: “A year ago today, the hardest goodbye I’ll ever have, a funeral I should never have had to plan and every day since, I should have never had to live without him.

“Missing him now is part of breathing, it doesn’t get easier, that’s just a lie to make it feel better: Infinite love, infinite loss.”

Ruth’s post comes after she shared another tribute on the one year anniversary of Liam’s death.

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In an open letter to him, a devastated Ruth wrote: “I underestimated grief, woah, did I underestimate it. I am paralysed by it daily.

“I thought I had felt it before but I know the losses before you were just intense sadness, you are the loss of my life, the one person who l will miss at every single occasion in my life.

“I’d taken for granted that my little brother would be there through life. 

“You shouldn’t have died.”

Ruth also revealed she’s been having a recurring nightmare that places her in Liam’s hotel room moments before his death on that fateful night.

She said, in it, Liam “can’t hear me screaming for you, my brain is locked on your last minutes on this earth, the unaccounted minutes, the minutes I will never have the answers to, the minutes that changed everything.”

Such is the loss, Ruth said that the life of the Payne family has been “extinguished” and is “impossible to mend”.

She continued: “You died which is something that happened, but your absence is something that happens to me everyday before I even open my eyes.”

In gut-wrenching paragraphs she details how she’d love to spend just five more minutes with him and the things she would tell him, from catching up on plans, to listening to the birds and swapping jokes.

Liam’s Last Days

By Scarlet Howes

SEPTEMBER 20: Liam and his girlfriend, Kate Cassidy, arrive in Argentina for a five-day holiday.

OCTOBER 2: The star goes to see ex-bandmate Niall Horan while he is on tour, telling fans on Snapchat: “It’s been a while since me and Niall have spoken. We’ve got a lot to talk about.”

OCTOBER 12: Kate flies back home to Florida after two weeks away, leaving Liam in Argentina.

She tells her followers on TikTok: “Love South America, but I hate staying in one place for too long and we were supposed to be there for five days, turned into two weeks and I was just like, ‘I need to go home’.”

OCTOBER 13: Liam checks into the CasaSur Palermo Hotel alone three days before he died. He was reportedly asked to leave his previous hotel.

OCTOBER 15: Hours before his death, he spends some time with Aldana Serrano, 31, and Lucila Goitea, 27, who arrived at the hotel at about 11.30am local time and left at 4pm, just one hour before he died.

At about 5pm, Liam is said to have been arguing over money with a mystery woman in the lobby, before falling 45ft and landing in the inner courtyard of the hotel.

Ending her letter to Liam, she asks people to remember that there is a family at the heart of the story who have lost someone very dear to them.

She says: “Whilst I am still on my knees struggling to regain balance since my world burned down and every time I try to take a step, something comes and sets fire to all the progress I thought I had made in my mind, in trying to understand where or why Liam isn’t here helping me through this.

“Everyone only seems interested in the public side of this, some sadly seem more interested in the fame they can gain off this, but on the human side people need to remember when they speak, there is a son without his Dad, parents without their child and I am lost without my brother.

“Love always Liam, in every lifetime.”

Liam died shortly after 5pm on October 16, 2024 when he fell from his hotel balcony.

Liam, who was the dad of seven-year-old Bear, shared a post on Snapchat only minutes before his death and showed him and his girlfriend Kate Cassidy looking into a mirror.

The singer-songwriter was staying at Hotel CasaSur in the neighbourhood of Palermo.

Liam had flown to Argentina with girlfriend Kate Cassidy for a five-day holiday, to see his ex-1D bandmate Niall Horan in concert.

Liam extended the trip but Kate returned home to the US.

It is claimed Liam then turned to drink and drugs.

An autopsy confirmed he died from multiple trauma and internal and external bleeding.

A toxicology report revealed alcohol, cocaine and an antidepressant, which would have left him severely impaired.

Ezequiel David Pereyra — who is awaiting trial for allegedly selling the singer cocaine — recently spoke out for the first time from jail.

Pereyra, 22 — locked up in Marcos Paz jail two hours from the capital — claims hotel bosses turned a blind eye to all of Liam’s drug use in October 2024.

He said: “They had him in an isolated bunker and let him do anything he wanted including drugs in the room, and in public areas of the hotel.

“Bosses said he was making them too much money — triple the money.

“But I think the biggest mistake was not calling an ambulance when Payne passed out in the lobby.

“If the hotel had acted differently Liam could have been saved.

“They lifted him by his arms and legs and carried him to the room via the elevator. He should have been kept where he was and an ambulance called.

“But because that day they had many foreign guests checking in they decided to take him to the room in the condition he was in.

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“After that they called police instead of an ambulance. They made the call only after leaving him in the room alone. By the time they were making the call it was already too late.

“What happened was very sad. Liam’s death was truly tragic and could have been prevented.”

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.

And I have heard whispers that it is for her track Elizabeth Taylor, which features on her chart-topping record The Life Of A Showgirl.

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.

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“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.

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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.

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CRUZ BECKHAM has hinted that he is hoping to work with Beatles legend Sir Paul McCartney.

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.

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.

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.

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“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.

CLETO Escobedo III’s cause of death has been revealed just days after Jimmy Kimmel announced the tragic news.

The Jimmy Kimmel Live! house band leader died at the age of 59 on Tuesday.

Now, his death certificate, seen by TMZ, reveals his cause of death was cardiogenic shock – a condition where the heart is unable to pump enough blood around the body.

But it further detailed other underlying health issues that contributed to his death.

It listed Vasodilatory shock (dangerously low blood pressure), disseminated intravascular coagulation (blood clots leading to organ damage) and alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver (advanced liver disease).

Other conditions including sepsis, chronic kidney disease, and pneumonia were also noted as underlying issues.

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Jimmy Kimmel confirmed the news of his death in a heartbreaking post on Instagram.

“Early this morning, we lost a great friend, father, son, musician and man, my longtime bandleader Cleto Escobedo III,” he wrote.

“To say that we are heartbroken is an understatement. Cleto and I have been inseparable since I was nine years old.

“The fact that we got to work together every day is a dream neither of us could ever have imagined would come true.

“Cherish your friends and please keep Cleto’s wife, children and parents in your prayers.”

The pair who grew up together in Las Vegas then worked together on Jimmy Kimmel Live! since its launch in 2003.

Now, the television host is honoring his childhood friend and beloved colleague by launching two fundraisers.

“Cleto was always kind and eager to help others,” he wrote on Instagram on Friday.

“As we mourn his loss, we have started two fundraisers to celebrate his life and give back.”

He shared links to one for the UCLA Medical Center where Cleto received “incredible care” in his final days.

The other is to raise money for The Animal Foundation based in Las Vegas to “honor his love of animals”.

Kimmel canceled his shows on Wednesday and Thursday saying the whole team is “devastated”.

Cleto had been absent from the show for a number of months before his death after he became ill.

CLETO Escobedo III, the saxophonist and leader of the house band on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, has died at age 59.

Host Jimmy Kimmel announced the death Tuesday in a heartfelt Instagram post, calling Escobedo “a great friend, father, son, musician and man.”

Kimmel, 57, wrote: “Early this morning, we lost a great friend, father, son, musician and man, my longtime bandleader Cleto Escobedo III.

“To say that we are heartbroken is an understatement. Cleto and I have been inseparable since I was nine years old.

“The fact that we got to work together every day is a dream neither of us could ever have imagined would come true,” he continued.

Kimmel ended his message with a plea to “cherish your friends” and to keep Escobedo’s family “in your prayers.”

Escobedo had led Jimmy Kimmel Live!’s house band since the show’s debut in 2003, performing alongside Kimmel nightly for more than two decades.

Escobedo’s cause of death has not been released.

He had been quietly absent from the show for months before his death.

Variety reported that Jimmy Kimmel Live! canceled its taping last Thursday due to Escobedo’s condition.

The musician fronted Cleto and the Cletones on the ABC late-night show since its 2003 premiere.

His father, Cleto Escobedo Jr., also plays in the band, which performs during the show’s tapings in Los Angeles.

Before joining Kimmel on television, Escobedo toured with Paula Abdul, Marc Anthony, and Earth, Wind & Fire.

Kimmel and Escobedo’s friendship stretched back decades to their childhood in Las Vegas, where they grew up across the street from each other and stayed close through college and adulthood.

In a 2015 interview with ABC, Kimmel recalled pushing for Escobedo to lead his band.

“Of course I wanted great musicians, but I wanted somebody I had chemistry with,” Kimmel said.

“And there’s nobody in my life I have better chemistry with than him.”

Escobedo once reflected on that loyalty in a 2014 interview with the San Fernando Sun.

He said: “Jimmy is very loyal to his friends.

“He didn’t have to ask me; I would have understood if he had hired some famous guy to be his musical director.

“But he trusted me, and I don’t take it for granted.”

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He added: “For me, as the father of young children, this is the perfect job. I can do other things if I want.

“But I want to stay here as long as they will have me. I will always stay by Jimmy’s side.”

RAPPER Young Bleed has tragically died aged 51 after suffering a brain aneurysm.

The star, whose real name was Glenn Clifton Jr, sadly passed away on Saturday, his son confirmed.

He had been rushed to hospital in the days leading up to his death after collapsing in Las Vegas.

Young Bleed rose to fame in the 90s with the hit “How You Do That” and went on to release nine studio albums.

The rap icon’s son, Ty’Gee Ramon Clifton, confirmed the tragic news with an Instagram video captioned: “RIP to the biggest legend I know.”

Addressing fans in the clip, he said: “As of November 1st, my dad gained his wings.

“This is a tough topic for me – not sure how it’s going to go. But I am here to clear up a lot of false narratives.”

He added: “I know with him being a legend worldwide, all lot of people were concerned for him, they wasn’t sure what they heard.

“So I’m here to confirm as his oldest child that he has gained his wings.

“My dad was 51 years out when this happened to him… The My dad didn’t have no real health issues, these are just chapters in life.

“I hope after this video that people that are going through grieving moments find peace in this video.

“My dad like most as you get in [older] in age take had high blood pressure. He would take his medicines… Once he collapsed he did pass from the aneurysm, the bleed to the brain.”

The late rapper’s mother has also set up a GoFundMe page to help cover the cost of medical and funeral expenses. 

She had started the page when he had been hospitalized and admitted it was ‘completely unexpected and has turned our world upside down.’

Young Bleed was born on June 6, 1974, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and his passion for music was sparked at nine-years-old.

He shot to fame in the 90s and worked with fellow rappers C-Loc, Max Minelli, J-Von, and J-Von’s younger brother Chris Hamilton.

They created the group Concentration Camp in 1995 and his song with C-Loc How You Do That was released two years later, seeing him rise within the industry.

The song peaked at No. 1 on Billboard’s R&B and Hip Hop album charts the following year.