Category: 5. Entertainment

Oasis led a joyous, rousing evening of anthems on the first of two nights at Dublin’s Croke Park as part of their Live ’25 reunion tour.

Tens of thousands of fans descended on the capital to see the ’90s Britpop superstars’ first gig in Ireland since 2009.

“Liam and Noel Gallagher knocked it out of Croke Park on a barnstorming, air-punching, controversy-proof night that transcends nostalgia and delivers a whopping dose of catharsis,” writes Laura Slattery in her review of the gig.

Oasis did not have to do very much to unlock the fervent support of their tribe.

As he accepted one of this year’s top Television Academy honors, star Conan O’Brien admitted that the award came at an unusual time. Speaking on Saturday to the audience at the Television Academy Hall of Fame, O’Brien noted that at this moment, “there’s a lot of fear about the future of television, and rightfully so. The life we’ve all known for almost 80 years is undergoing seismic change.”

But, he told the audience gathered at the J.W. Marriot Hotel in downtown’s LA Live district, “this might just be my nature. I choose not to mourn what is lost, because I think in the most essential way, what we have is not changing at all. Streaming changes the pipeline, but the connection, the talent, the ideas that come into our homes… I think it’s the focus. We have proof here tonight.”

O’Brien pointed to the success of recent series “Abbott Elementary,” “Hacks” and “I Think You Should Leave With Tim Robinson” as a sign that there may still be creative opportunties in Hollywood. Said the comedian: “It’s all electrifying a new generation of viewers. Yes, late night television, as we have known it since around 1950, is going to disappear. But those voices are not going anywhere. People like Stephen Colbert are too talented and too essential to go away.”

And that’s where O’Brien addressed the state of his long-time late night stomping grounds. O’Brien, of course, spent nearly 30 years in the daypart, via “Late Night With Conan O’Brien,” “The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien” and “Conan.” “I’ve dabbled in other things, but that’s where I’ve lived,” he said. “And for those of you under 40, late night television was a service designed to distract college students until science would perfect the internet and online pornography. Boy, did they get that right.”

Then, he added about Colbert: “Stephen is going to evolve and shine brighter than ever in a new format that he controls completely. So, technology can do whatever they want. It can make television a pill. It can make television shows a high protein, chewable, vanilla flavored capsule with added fiber. It still won’t matter, if the stories are good, if the performances are honest and inspired, if the people making it are brave and of goodwill.”

As for the TV Academy Hall of Fame award, which he shared with Viola Davis, Henry Winkler, Ryan Murphy, Mike Post and Don Mischer, O’Brien added, “This is the honor of a lifetime. It means everything to me. I’m stunned to be in this company. I don’t think I deserve it, but I’ll take it. And my grandfather always said, take what you can and ask for more. And I’m going to do that tonight.”

Also at the Hall of Fame, Murphy touched on the struggles of the moment, as the nation marches further toward fascism and stripping away the rights of all: “I always thought one thing: That if you fought hard and pushed these noisy and vibrant characters to the system, that would that would clear brush,” he said, “and you would make a path for others to follow behind with this flag planting. That land would be claimed, never to be overgrown and hidden again. And now, oddly, in this year of my Hall of Fame Award, I find that I am wrong. And all the things that I’ve dedicated my career to — all of the fights, all the groundbreaking things — are in danger, shockingly, of going away.

“I had a dream long ago, of getting into my profession’s Hall of Fame, so that I could pronounce that I did it,” he added. “I did the thing, and now I can just coast and be all about the money. But a new, darker age that I think none of us suspected has dawned. And so, I am pivoting to continue the good fight, which is to create more work featuring the disenfranchised and the ignored and the marginalized groups.”

While ‘War 2’, starring Hrithik Roshan and Jr NTR, was among the most awaited films of the year, the buzz has taken a surprising turn. Beyond the mixed critical reviews and divided audience reactions, an insider from Yash Raj Films’ own Spy Universe has openly expressed disappointment. Rajvir Ashar, assistant director of ‘Pathaan’, took to Instagram to share his frustration, calling the film a “colossal disappointment” and the “weakest film” in the franchise. He pointed out that the film lacked emotional depth. He also mentioned that it failed to maintain engagement, especially in its second half. “The most anticipated day turned out to be a colossal disappointment,” Ashar wrote, echoing what many fans also felt after watching the film.

A tale of two halves

The criticism primarily revolves around the film’s execution. Ashar described the first half as “mid,” but it was the overlong and emotionally flat second half that really let him down. Despite high-octane action sequences and star power, ‘War 2’ didn’t resonate with him on an emotional level. The complete note reads, “This one was just a heartbreaking experience for me. I was rooting for this film and all it did was upset me to no degree! A mid first half is followed by a deplorable and overlong second. Neither did it have enough highs nor was it successful in resonating with me emotionally! The most ‘anticipated’ day turned out to be a ‘colossal’ disappointment. Weakest film of the universe!”.”

Box office numbers tell another story

Yet, while insiders and critics voice concerns, the film is managing to make a mark commercially. After an underwhelming opening, majorly due to ‘Coolie’ buzz, ‘War 2’ saw growth on Independence Day, particularly with its Hindi version performing strongly. According to Sacnilk, the film earned Rs 33 crore net on its third day, taking its three-day total to Rs 142.35 crore in India. In doing so, it has already surpassed the lifetime collection of Salman Khan’s ‘Sikandar’, which wrapped up at Rs 110 crore.

The first single I bought
(White Man) in Hammersmith Palais by the Clash, from a record shop in the Hitchin arcade.

The song I inexplicably know every lyric to
I enjoyed rote-learning at school, so I learn lyrics off by heart. I particularly like Ella Fitzgerald’s version of But Not for Me by George and Ira Gershwin: “I never want to hear from any cheerful Pollyannas / Who tell you fate supplies a mate / It’s all bananas.”

The best song to play at a party
Prisencolinensinainciusol by Adriano Celentano is an absolute banger and gloriously daft. Celentano sings in mock English. The video features some excellent dancing.

The song I can no longer listen to
I used to love them for their politics and integrity, but I can no longer listen to the punk bands I loved as a teenager: X-Ray Spex, Sham 69, Stiff Little Fingers, Chelsea, Angelic Upstarts and Crisis.

The song I secretly like, but tell everyone I hate
When I talk about my love of dance music, I quickly qualify it by mentioning someone credible like Bootsy Collins or Marlena Shaw. But what I really love is the cheesy disco, like Feel So Real by Steve Arrington.

The song I stream the most
Travelling by train from one gig to the next, I’ll listen on my headphones to Lone Star State of Mind by Nanci Griffith, Outkast’s Morris Brown, Clock Factory by Sabres of Paradise and Stone by Prince Alla to help the miles disappear.

The song I do at karaoke
I’m not one for karaoke, but I love singing around the flat. When my son Billy was four, he would reply matter-of-factly to the Blue Nile’s Tinseltown in the Rain. “Do I love you?” “Yes.” “Will we always be happy-go-lucky?” “Yes.”

The song that makes me cry
Judee Sill’s version of 500 Miles: “Not a shirt on my back, not a penny to my name / Lord I can’t go back home this a-way.”

The song that gets me up in the morning
Listening to music is the last thing I want to do before the children wake up. That golden silence from 5-7am is when I get to read or write. Once they’re up, the playlist includes Archie, Marry Me by Alvvays, which is joyful and sunny.

The song I want played at my funeral
Gallipoli (Solo Piano Version) by Astrid Williamson.

The song that changed my life
After I moved to London in my early 20s, I complained to my girlfriend at the time that I was spending all my evenings on my own, even though we were going out. I quoted I Know It’s Over by the Smiths: “And if you’re so funny, then why are you on your own tonight?” She chucked me right there and then. So I guess that song changed my life – or at least cleared things up.

Rob Newman: Where the Wild Things Were tours to 1 February; tour starts Norwich. His new novel, Intelligence, is out in early 2026.

Sometimes, life surprises us in the most unexpected ways, like stumbling upon a hidden note in an old book, finding a childhood toy hidden away in the box, or discovering a long-lost letter behind a wall. These little moments remind us that the world still holds mystery, and even ordinary places can hide extraordinary stories. But what if one of these finds is about a century old?Something similar was found by a scuba lady who was following her daily routine.

What exactly happened?

For Jennifer Dowker, a regular day cleaning the underside of her glass‑bottomed boat turned extraordinary. As she dived into the Cheboygan River in Michigan, having years of diving experience below, she noticed an old green bottle resting on the riverbed about 10 feet underwater.According to a CNN report, “At first I thought it was just a cool bottle,” Dowker said. “When I picked it up … I could read the word ‘this’ in the paper.”—and thought, “‘Holy Smokes! We’ve got a message in a bottle here. Cool!’”. The bottle was about two‑thirds full of water and still held part of its cork, though the seal had naturally deteriorated over time.

Scuba diver finds a 99 year old pen note (Photo: Nautical North Family Adventures)

Once back on board, she gently retrieved the note using a small tool, careful to preserve it, and was stunned to discover a nearly century‑old message. It was dated November 1926 and read: “Will the person who finds this bottle return this paper to George Morrow, Cheboygan, Michigan, and tell where it was found?”Dowker posted photos of her find on her company’s Facebook page named Nautical North Family Adventures,captioning it as, “Any Morrows out there know a George Morrow that would’ve written this circa 1926? COOLEST night diving EVER.”. She expected a handful of responses, but the post exploded overnight, going viral with over 100,000 shares and thousands of comments.

Scuba diver finds a 99 year old pen note (Photo: Nautical North Family Adventures)

The writer of a near-century note was identified!

Then one Father’s Day, Dowker received a call from Michele Primeau, George Morrow’s daughter. Though she isn’t on Facebook, she had been contacted by a stranger who’d seen the post. Primeau recognized her father’s handwriting immediately, even though the letter was penned nearly two decades before she was born.While Dowker initially intended to return the bottle and note, Primeau asked her to keep it. She wanted the memory to live on and for Dowker to display the artifact in her boat’s office. Then, Dowker framed both the bottle and the note in a shadowbox, adding a photo of George Morrow at that age

Princess Tiaamii Crystal Esther Andre is no stranger to TV. She made her debut in the reality show Katie & Peter: The Baby Diaries which documented the first six weeks of her life. Her first two years were chronicled in subsequent reality shows, until her parents, the model and entrepreneur Katie Price and the singer Peter Andre, split up in 2009. Andre continued to make regular appearances on her parents’ solo reality shows.

Now that she has come of age, 18-year-old Andre has her own four-part reality show, The Princess Diaries, on ITV2. As you would expect, it has already made headlines. While her father is a regular on the show, her mother is not. As I approach the cafe in Surrey where we are meeting, the Sun and the Mirror publish stories saying that Price is devastated not to have been invited to Andre’s 18th birthday party or to have been included in the show, adding that her daughter is “too scared” to tell the truth about the family rift. So, business as usual.

Andre is here today with her manager, Marie-Claire Giddings – another echo from the past. When Peter and Price were making reality shows together, their manager, Claire Powell, was omnipresent. After their bitter divorce, Powell continued to manage Peter. Neither she nor Peter talk to Price today. Giddings works for Powell.

I tell Andre that we have met before. She looks surprised. No wonder. Andre was eight months old at the time and I was interviewing her mother. There is a symmetry to their lives that astonishes Andre. Price, then known as Jordan, was queen of the Page 3 slot in the Sun by 18. “As I started building my own career, Mum said it’s crazy that I was your age when I started doing these things. I was like: really! I was shocked.” About her doing topless modelling at such a young age? “No, that she was so successful at that age.”

Andre says she probably wouldn’t do topless modelling herself. “That’s not as popular nowadays and it just doesn’t appeal to me. But I have nothing against anyone who does it, obviously.” She orders a hot chocolate.

Price became a hugely successful brand. By the time we met in 2007, she had lines in makeup, books, bras – you name it – and was worth an estimated £30m, although she was subsequently declared bankrupt twice (in 2019 and 2024). Andre says in her show that few people are aware of her own ambitions to be a successful businesswoman.

I show her the headline from the 2007 piece I wrote about her mum: “Who wants to be a billionaire?”

“No way! That’s crazy.” Would the same headline be appropriate for her? “Would I want to be a billionaire? Well, that’s my aim!”

“You just want to be successful,” Giddings corrects her.

“Yeah, I just want to be successful and be able to provide for my future and my family when I have one,” Andre says.

She sips her drink thoughtfully. Then she has a brainwave. “I want to take a picture of my hot chocolate,” she says. Will it be Instagrammed? She shakes her head. “No, this will be Snapchatted.” Giddings laughs. “This is literally my life,” she says apologetically. “So don’t feel insulted!”

Did Andre always want to star in her own reality show? “I always loved being in front of a camera.” She thinks back to when she was a toddler on TV. “I’d come in the room and …” She tilts her head to the side, in modelling mode. “I loved the entertainment. When I was asked to do my own, I was sceptical because of my age, but, yes, I’ve also always wanted to do it.”

As well as the obvious similarities, there are also huge differences between Andre and her mother. While Price is a funny, reckless, potty-mouthed force of nature, Andre is more like her father – polite, respectful, more reserved. I ask if she ever fancied being a doctor, like her father’s wife, her stepmother Emily MacDonagh, who is also prominent in the show. “No, the doctor path was never for me.” She went to a private school in Surrey and left to study beauty at 16.

Were you swotty at school? “What does that mean?” Did you work hard? “Oh, yes, in the subjects I liked, I was good. I left after GCSEs.” Did you pass them? “Yes,” Giddings answers on her behalf. Andre says: “I passed three of them. Music, fashion and English language. I like creative writing. I’m quite good at waffling.”

Perhaps Andre was destined for a life in reality TV. Yet she says she is self-conscious. In the show, she says she always thought her nose was too big and her lips too thin and that she “hated” the way she looked. Whereas surgery was the answer for her mother, makeup is Andre’s solution. “You can change anything with makeup,” she says. “Now, I feel a lot more confident.”

What made her so self-conscious? “Social media,” she says instantly. “When I was younger, I got comments about my appearance.” If this was Price, she would tell you every detail. But not Andre. She simply smiles and asserts herself. “I don’t let the comments get in the way of anything.”

In The Princess Diaries, we see her showing her father some of the comments. When she tells him that one man has posted about her “finally being legal”, he is furious. But that is simply the generational difference, she says. “Dad grew up with TV. Social media, TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat weren’t around then. Those comments are everyday, normalised, so they don’t really shock me.”

In Andre’s world, you live and die by social media. As an “influencer”, you are nothing without it, however hurtful it can be. I tell her that, as an old git, I have never quite understood what it is to be an influencer; I ask if she can explain. “I guess it’s someone who influences people to do stuff. I influence younger people with what I post.” Does she influence what they wear and buy? “Yeah. My content is very organic, though – very real. Make up stories, which is what I do.”

Giddings, a former tabloid journalist, rushes to the rescue. “Makeup! Not as in ‘making up stories’. I didn’t want you to think she’s sitting there busy making up stories.”

Does she get paid to promote stuff? “Yes. I don’t get paid for normal posts. I like to post for my audience out of choice, not because I’m getting paid for it. But then there are branded posts or PR posts that I would get paid for.”

Giddings: “But it’s only brands that she’s using already.”

Andre: “I would never promote a brand that I don’t like or don’t have an interest in.” Are you making a good living out of it? “Yeah.” Are you wealthy? “Well, you could say so!” How much do you earn in a year? “I can’t tell you that, sorry.”

The most important brand is, of course, Andre herself. She prides herself on being natural (no fillers, no Botox), but stresses that it’s neither a political nor a permanent position. When she was training as a beautician, it was an area of interest. “I would have loved to have done that as a job,” she says. “I was going to go into aesthetics, doing other people’s fillers and stuff, ’cos the way it works interests me. But personally I don’t think I will get any, just because my audience is so young. I want to be an inspiration for them. You should love yourself for you and not have to change yourself.”

Has her mother, who has had numerous surgical augmentations and reductions, advised her on this? “Yeah. Mum said: ‘Don’t ever get anything done to yourself. You’re so beautiful the way you are.’ I found that interesting because I get told I look a lot like her at a young age. She’ll say to me: ‘In that picture, you look just like me when I was younger.’” Does she think Price regrets all her surgery? “No. There are pictures that I’ve seen of her before [surgery] and I was like: ‘You look so beautiful then,’ and she’s like: ‘No!’ She doesn’t see it. So I don’t think she does regret it.’”

In her show, Andre says she wishes her childhood had been happier, but she doesn’t go into details. Today, I ask if she can explain a bit more. Instead, she chooses to explain a bit less, telling me that she has so many happy memories from childhood – holidays, riding horses, having fun with her siblings. You sense she wants to give just enough to satisfy reality TV, but not so much that she ransacks her privacy.

I ask again about the unhappiness. “Oh!” she says. Giddings prompts her. “You talk about South Africa in the show.”

“Oh yeah, we got hijacked in South Africa when I was 10 and [her brother] Junior was 12. I was terrified. We were filming for a show with mum and her best friend.” It does sound terrifying. They were surrounded by six gunmen and her mother was sexually assaulted. “It’s one of the worst things I’ve experienced in my life. You don’t think of anything else apart from trying to survive it. The police said it was a miracle that we all survived.”

It still affects her. “I get scared of the dark and driving at night-time, ’cos that’s when it happened. I get random flashbacks. If I’m driving at night, I’m like: ‘Oh my God, just get me home.’ I don’t even look behind me.”

There are other sources of unhappiness that she prefers not to go into: her parents splitting up; Price’s separation from her third husband, Kieran Hayler, the father of two of Andre’s siblings. She had been close to Hayler, but now they don’t see each other. Many of Price’s reality shows were set in the aptly named Mucky Mansion, a nine-bedroom property in Sussex formerly owned by Price. Did Andre like living there? “No. It was a really scary house. A lot went on there. So I didn’t really like it.” Again, she doesn’t go into details. “I guess when you have bad experiences somewhere you don’t like the place.”

A few years ago, Price experienced severe depression and became suicidal. In 2021, she had a terrible car crash while under the influence of alcohol and drugs. By this point, Andre and Junior had been living with their father full-time for three years. “There was a period of time when me and Junior actually had to live with my dad,” she says, referring to a 2019 family court order made public this week by her father. (In response, a spokesperson for Price said she was “at peace with the situation”.)

Andre says Price is in a much better place; she moves between their homes depending on how she feels. “Dad’s house is a lot quieter, a lot more peaceful, a lot more organised. Whereas my mum’s house is much more just do what you want.” Does she prefer discipline or chaos? “I love being in the middle. I love the two different houses, because if I fancy a bit more chaotic and busy I’ll go to Mum’s and if I fancy more relaxed I’ll go to Dad’s.”

Has her father been a stabilising influence? She looks at Giddings anxiously. “This is going to come across really bad, isn’t it?” she asks. “Like, it’s talking about how Mum’s a mess and Dad is stable, d’you know what I mean?” It’s touching how protective she is of Price. She turns back to me. “Right now, Mum is completely different to how she was four years ago. If we’re talking about the past, yes, my dad was more stable and Mum is naturally more crazy than my dad.”

“Not crazy!” Giddings corrects. “Out there!”

“If you saw her now, she’s way different,” Andre says.

She talks about how close she is to all seven of her siblings, giving a special mention to Theo and Millie, the eldest of Peter and MacDonagh’s children, who are born entertainers, she says. Has she learned a lot from growing up with Harvey, Price’s eldest child, who is severely disabled and a reality star in his own right? Her eyes light up. “Yes, 100%. You learn patience. Ways of communicating. How to deal with his outbursts. How to calm him down. And as much as he is hard work, he is the funniest person I know.” I ask if he is still into trains. “He loves trains. He loves frogs. He loves rainbows. And food.”

“Well, you’ve got that in common,” Giddings says.

I mention the stories that have just been published online, saying Price is upset with Andre. The thing is, Andre says, there will generally be some truth in the tabloid tales, but it won’t be the truth. Take the reality show. While it’s true that Price wasn’t filmed for it, we do hear mother and daughter chatting lovingly on the phone. “There’s been a lot of articles about ‘Princess doesn’t want her mum in the show’,” she says. Why was that decision made? “There was actually no decision, really. But because I’m living with Dad at the moment, he was in it more.” Well, that and the fact that her management team is also Andre’s management team. “It was never true that I said I didn’t want her in it,” she insists.

As for the idea of Peter Andre and Price being in it together, that never would have happened. “They don’t like each other,” she says, simply. Which takes us to Birthdaygate. Yes, it’s true that Price wasn’t invited to the party Princess had with Peter’s family, but that was never on the cards. “It would be quite strange for my mum and dad to be in it at the same time, just because that’s never been the case in my life since they split up.’’ The reality is she would usually spend part of her birthday with each parent, she says. “The problem is the media like to twist the knife,” she says.

Ah, but this time it isn’t the media twisting the knife, Giddings says. “It was your mum that put that story out there.”

“Yeah,” Andre says, searching for a diplomatic response. “Which is … interesting.”

“That was Kate that said all of that about her and her family not being invited,” Giddings continues.

Why don’t you just ring your mum and ask her what she is playing at, I suggest. No, she says, it’s not worth it. “Mum can be annoyed about something and then we send each other a message and we’re fine.”

Blimey, I say, it’s not easy having parents is it? “No,” she says. “Especially divorced parents.”

Andre hopes her reality show is the gateway to a successful business career. She says she understands the positives and the pitfalls. “No matter what I do in my life, I’ll get compared to my mum. I guess it’s always going to be a headline.” And now it’s up to Andre to show the world whether that has been her fortune or misfortune.

The Princess Diaries is on ITVX now

A painting by a forgotten French Impressionist artist whose career was cut short because of her disapproving husband has gone on display in Liverpool.

The work by Marie Bracquemond, which depicts a woman fishing for crayfish with children playing in the background, is being showcased at the Walker Art Gallery.

It is estimated that La pêche aux écrevisses was painted between 1870 and 1880 by Bracquemond, who died in 1916.

Kate O’Donoghue, a curator at National Museums Liverpool, said Bracquemond was “one of only three women who exhibited in the original Impressionist exhibitions”.

Bracquemond, born in 1840, began to display her work at the prestigious Paris Salon as a teenager before meeting her painter and engraver husband Félix Bracquemond while in a job as a copyist at the Louvre.

Her work was later influenced by Impressionism, an art movement that began in France in the second half of the 19th Century and was led by artists like Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

The style of painting involved the use of vibrant colours, light and scenes of everyday life, and was a rejection of the traditional rules of painting taught in academies.

Bracquemond exhibited her work in the Impressionist exhibitions of 1879, 1880, and 1886, but her husband “strongly disapproved” of her shift in style, a gallery spokeswoman said.

Overlooked and overshadowed by her male peers, Bracquemond’s promising career was “cut short due to her husband’s disapproval”, said Ms O’Donoghue.

Later she was described by an art critic in 1894 as one of the three great ladies, or “les trois grandes dames” of Impressionism, alongside alongside Mary Cassatt and Berthe Morisot.

The Walker Gallery’s collection of Impressionist works also includes pieces by Monet, Degas, Henri Matisse and Paul Cézanne.

BBC

CISCO

‘Creating awareness’

Ana Crusis

‘Jersey needs to reinvent’

A man calling himself the Road Rage Cowboy has reached Cornwall as part of his travels around the coast of Britain to raise money for charity

Marius Anderson, from Keith in Scotland, worked with his friend Martin Gill to renovate a red Massey Ferguson 35x tractor to raise the charitable funds.

He said he always thought about going around the coast on a motorcycle and “maybe raise some money”, but, “it would’ve not really had much kudos by comparison with something a wee bit madder”.

The journey began on 22 July at Highland Tractors on the Black Isle and, on Tuesday, Mr Anderson and the tractor reached Land’s End.

Mr Anderson said the Devon and Cornwall Coast was “certainly beautiful, very busy but what I didn’t really take into account was the steepness of your hills”.

“That wasn’t really expected but the tractor has coped fine with them.”

He added he particularly enjoyed visiting Mevagissey.

“I managed to get into there and got down into the harbour without anyone chasing me for parking in the harbour. I just love it. Pretty little town.”

He also visited some second cousins in Cornwall and said “that will be a revisit again if I come back”.

The charities Mr Anderson has chosen to raise money for are close to his heart.

He explained the number one charity was Cancer Research as he had lost his “very best friend” to pancreatic cancer.

“There was always some seed planted in my a head a little bit about maybe giving something back,” he said.

He also chose to raise money for Sane, a mental health charity, as a family member had taken their own life.

“It was a real shock to the family,” he explained.

He said My Name’5 Doddie Foundation, which supports those with Motor Neurone Disease, was chosen because Mr Gill’s wife had a relative “that she watched slowly passing with motor neurone, and that was very keen to her heart to have that one on the back of the box and support it.”

The Royal Scottish Agricultural Benevolent Institution and Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution were chosen to support the farming community.

He said they had not put a figure on how much they wanted to raise.

“Whatever is raised is raised at the end of the day, no matter how much or how little, it all helps.”

Dan Tana, the unforgettable restaurateur behind the iconic West Hollywood spot Dan Tana’s, has passed away at the age of 90, leaving behind a legacy as rich and comforting as his famous chicken parm, Variety reported. Born as Dobrivoje Tanasijević near Belgrade, Serbia, Dan Tana began his life journey as a professional soccer player, weaving in and out of Canada’s leagues. Then he shifted gears, tried his hand at acting, and even appeared in The Enemy Below in 1957. Eventually, he found his calling, in hospitality, starting as a dishwasher at Villa Capri and later maître d’ at La Scala.In 1964, Dan Tana took over a humble burger joint on Santa Monica Boulevard and transformed it into Dan Tana’s, a cozy Italian-American gem serving hearty classics like chicken Parmesan. He envisioned it as a late-night hideaway, because back then, if you wanted decent pasta after midnight, your only option was a diner.Slowly but surely, it caught fire, especially after Richard Burton became a regular. Soon enough, stars like Johnny Carson, Elizabeth Taylor, John Wayne, Kirk Douglas, and the Rat Pack were all elbows-deep in fettuccine. The lore says Vega$ even named its main character, “Dan Tanna,” after the man himself.What made Dan Tana’s magic wasn’t the fanciest menu, it was the vibe. Wooden booths, red-and-white-checkered tablecloths, and green neon glows, it felt like the L.A. you didn’t know existed anymore. As some classics shut their doors in the city, Dan Tana’s held on, staying just the same. Patrons could vanish for years and come back, and the same bartender would remember their favorite drink.On August 16, 2025, the restaurant posted a simple, heartfelt tribute: “The great Dan Tana has passed on. We all know that he created a very magical place. Our beloved little yellow house will forever feel his presence. “Dan started out working for La Scala and The Villa Capri in the 1950s. It was working for those classic eateries that encouraged him to open his own! And he did just that. He was always proud of where he came from and what he accomplished, a former soccer star from Yugoslavia.”“Dan had wonderful stories about Marilyn Monroe, Joe DiMaggio, James Dean, Frank Sinatra, and Sammy Davis. In fact Robert Urich’s character was named after Dan Tana on the classic TV show, “Vega$.”“Today Dan Tana’s is owned by his dear friend Sonja Perencevic who’s kept it exactly the same since 1964.“This man is a legend, and as you know a legend never dies.”Dan Tana’s journey, soccer, acting, and then creating a home for stars, reads like a good screenplay. But the real screen magic happened in that dining room, where storytelling happened one table at a time.