Saoirse Ronan and husband Jack Lowden expecting first child
The pair were married in a private ceremony in Edinburgh last summer, with just a handful of close friends present.
Ronan, who is a four-time Oscar nominee, met Lowden in 2018 during the filming of Mary Queen of Scots in which she played Mary and Lowden played Darnley, Mary's second husband.
He has previously described working with Ronan as 'remarkable'.
"The woman is a force of nature, on- and off-screen, and utterly fearless and a brilliant leader as well,' he said.
Ronan gave her reaction to Lowden's comments in an interview with Harper's Bazaar, saying: 'When a person you respect as much as I do him says that, it means more than anyone else's opinion.'
Speaking to British Vogue last year, the 31-year-old said she has 'always wanted' to marry and have children alongside her career.
"I became successful when I was quite young. So it meant that, actually, by the time I found my partner, I'm now at the stage where if it happened, I would like to have a kid,' she said.
"I feel fortunate enough that if I step out of this for a minute, I'm hopefully not giving it up forever. But, yeah, I've always wanted that.'
The couple share a €2.8m home in Islington, north London, with their terrier, Fran.
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In 2020, Ronan was reported to have purchased a two-bedroom waterfront cottage in Ballydehob in west Cork.
The couple produced the 2024 adaptation of The Outrun, which Ronan starred in, describing her husband as 'a lot calmer' than she is as a collaborator.
"He's my voice of reason. But as a duo, we've both been on film sets our whole lives, so we have an appreciation of what we're asking actors to do. We always want them to feel safe,' she told USA Today.
On whether the pair would appear on screens together again, she said: "Jack didn't want to for a long time, but I've now convinced him that's a great idea. I'd really like to do something together on stage.'
The Co Carlow star launched her movie career at a young age and she was just 13 when she picked up her first Oscar nomination in 2008 for Atonement.
Subsequent best actress nominations came for her roles in Brooklyn (2015), Lady Bird (2017) and Little Women (2019).
Her first media appearance was at the age of 10, when she appeared on the late Gerry Ryan's radio show in a bid to win a trip to Florida for her family.
She won the contest with her impression of the Gingerbread Man from Shrek.
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Irish Examiner
10 minutes ago
- Irish Examiner
Actor Gary Busey pleads guilty to sexual offence at horror convention
Actor Gary Busey has pleaded guilty to a sexual offence stemming from an appearance at a 2022 horror convention in New Jersey, according to his representatives and court records. The 81-year-old Buddy Holly star's manager, Ron Sampson, said in an email on Friday that the actor admitted to touching a woman's buttocks 'over clothing during an 8-10 second photo op'. Busey entered a guilty plea to a single count of criminal sexual contact during a virtual hearing in state court in Camden on Thursday. The actor had been accused of inappropriately touching at least three women at the Monster-Mania Convention at the Doubletree Hotel in Cherry Hill, a South Jersey town and suburb of Philadelphia. In my view Mr Busey was 'overcharged' probably based on his star status Organisers of the event acknowledged at the time that an unnamed celebrity guest was 'removed from the convention and instructed not to return' and that affected attendees were encouraged to contact police. Busey had been scheduled as a featured guest for all three days of the event. He was initially charged with two counts of fourth-degree criminal sexual contact, one count of attempted criminal sexual contact and one count of harassment. Busey's lawyer Blair Zwillman confirmed on Friday that the other charges were dropped as part of a plea deal reached with prosecutors. The actor faces up to five years' probation and fines when he is sentenced September 18. 'In my view Mr Busey was 'overcharged' probably based on his star status,' Mr Zwillman said in an email. 'He could have just as easily been charged with the disorderly persons offence of harassment by 'offensive touching'.' Camden County prosecutors did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on Friday. Busey is widely known as a character actor, largely in supporting roles, though he came to attention and was nominated for an Oscar for best actor for playing the title role in the 1978 film The Buddy Holly Story.
The Irish Sun
4 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
Flesh hung like ribbons from bones…ghostly figures collapsed, never to rise – inside horrors of WW2 atomic bomb
IT was the day that changed the world for ever – when the first atomic bomb brought Armageddon to Japan. Oscar-winning 2023 film Oppenheimer tells how the world's most destructive weapon was created. But it does not show the A-bomb being used in action. Advertisement 9 The explosion of the first atom bomb, Little Boy, devastates Hiroshima - instantly killing up to 100,000 people Credit: Getty 9 The bomb that hit Hiroshima, nicknamed Little Boy, was 10ft long and 28inches in diameter and had the explosive force of 20,000 tonnes of TNT Credit: Getty - Contributor 9 Enola Gay on the day of its attack on Hiroshima Credit: Getty Next week marks 80 years since scientist Incredibly, the weapon that could destroy all life has since brought eight decades of peace, through fear of mutual destruction. Here, minute by minute, we detail the story movie viewers did not see – of how US President Harry Truman approved the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, before Japan's Emperor Hirohito surrendered six days later. MONDAY AUG 6, 1945 1.30am (Japan), 2.30am local time: Nine days after US President Harry Truman had warned Japan to surrender or face 'prompt and utter destruction', a US Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber emerges from a top-secret compound at the world's busiest airbase. Advertisement READ MORE WORLD NEWS Lieut-Col Paul Tibbets, 29, is at the controls of the plane, named Enola Gay after his 57-year-old mother, on the Pacific island of Tinian, 1,500 miles from the Japanese mainland. In the hold is only one warhead — a bomb so deadly that it could not be armed in advance in case the plane crashed on the runway, wiping the US base off the face of the Earth . The device, nicknamed Little Boy, is 10ft long and 28inches in diameter and has the Physicist Harold Agnew, who would be flying alongside to monitor the explosion, confessed later: 'That bomb was completely unsafe. If they'd crashed, anything could have happened.' Advertisement Most read in The Sun Exclusive 1.40am: Photographers and film crews surround the Enola Gay, which is lit up by spotlights as her ten-man crew pose for photos. Theodore 'Dutch' Van Kirk, who was on his 59th mission, recalled: 'There were all these people — photographers, newspapermen — everywhere. It looked like a Hollywood premiere.' 1.45am: Heavily overloaded with the five-tonne bomb on board, Enola Gay rumbles down the 1.6mile runway and takes off with 200ft to spare. Inside the eerie abandoned Los Alamos lab where Oppenheimer created the weapon that could wipe out the world Behind are two more planes with nicknames — The Great Artiste, carrying scientific instruments to record the blast, and Necessary Evil, with a camera crew on board to film the explosion and damage. Ahead lies a six-hour flight in a moonless sky . 2.20am: Also on board Enola Gay is US Navy captain William 'Deke' Parsons, 43, who had witnessed the horror of Advertisement Parsons, along with electronics specialist Morris Jeppson, 23, wriggle into the crammed bomb bay to carry out the 11-step process of arming Little Boy. Working by flashlight for 15 minutes, they insert a fuse and four bags of cordite gunpowder that will detonate the bomb, which contains 64kg of highly enriched uranium. 4.15am: Van Kirk would recall: 'That morning, the sunrise was the most beautiful I'd ever seen.' 6.25am: Jeppson returns to the bay to make final adjustments. Little Boy is now fully armed. Advertisement 7.09am: Straight Flush, one of three US weather reconnaissance bombers sent to check out three possible cities to attack, is seen over On the ground, Hiroshima's citizens have heard a rumour that the Americans were saving something for their city because, for the last two months, US planes had been dropping harmless orange bombs, the same size as Little Boy. Oppenheimer had warned that the bomb's shockwave could crush his plane like a giant hand swatting an ant. 7.30am: Over the intercom, Tibbets announces: ' Co-pilot Captain Robert Lewis, 27, writes in his report: 'There will be a short intermission while we bomb our target .' Advertisement 8.10am: Flying at 285mph, Enola Gay reaches 31,000ft. Her crew, now wearing flak jackets and welder's goggles, search for their aiming point, the T-shaped Aioi Bridge in Hiroshima city centre. Akihiro Takahashi, 14, is in the playground of a high school, watching the bomber overhead. 8.15am +16seconds: An alarm sounds as Bombardier Major Thomas Ferebee releases Little Boy, which nosedives towards the earth. Engines screaming, Tibbets turns Enola Gay into a steep diving turn of exactly 159 degrees. Oppenheimer had warned that the bomb's shockwave could crush his plane like a giant hand swatting an ant. Advertisement 8.16am +2seconds: Little Boy explodes at 1,890ft above the ground, creating a fireball of 10,000F — the same as the surface of the sun. The explosion rips through Hiroshima's Communications Hospital. Of 150 doctors in the city, 65 are already dead and most of the rest are wounded. Some 1,654 of 1,780 nurses are also killed or too hurt to work. At the Red Cross Hospital, the city's biggest, only six doctors out of 30 are fit to function. One of them is surgeon Dr Terufumi Sasaki, who is trying to deal with at least 10,000 wounded who descend on the hospital, which has just 600 beds. Advertisement Van Kirk recalls: 'Everybody was waiting for that bomb to go off because there was a real possibility it was going to be a dud.' Despite wearing goggles, the explosion 'was like a photographer's flash going off in your face'. Tail gunner, George 'Bob' Caron screams: 'Here it comes!' Moments later, the shockwave hits them, followed by a huge radioactive cloud that can be seen from 400 miles away. 9 Advertisement 8.17am: As Enola Gay levels off, Tibbets tells his crew: 'Fellows, you have just dropped the The B-29's crew look for Hiroshima. Van Kirk says later: 'You couldn't see it. It was covered in smoke, dust, debris. 'And coming out of it was that mushroom cloud.' Lewis writes in his log: 'Just how many did we kill? My God, what have we done?' Advertisement More than Another 40,000 would succumb to their injuries, while thousands more would suffer death by radiation poisoning. In the devastated city centre, 8,000 children aged 12 and 13, helping clear firebreaks to limit damage from air raids, are vapourised as the fireball engulfs the wooden buildings. Eiko Taoka, 21, is on a tram clutching her year-old son as she hears a screaming noise and the sky goes black. Fragments of glass suddenly appear in the baby's head. He looks up at his mother and smiles. Advertisement That smile will haunt Eiko for the rest of her life. Her little boy will live for three more weeks. Akihiro Takahashi is blown across the playground, his skin on fire. He staggers to the Ota River to cool his burns, jumping into the water just as the huge wall of flame engulfs the city. 10am: Faced with such devastation, Lewis believes the Japanese will have surrendered by the time Enola Gay lands back at Tinian. He signs off his log: 'Everyone got a few catnaps.' Advertisement Akihiro climbs out of the Ota River and finds a school friend, Tokujiro Hatta, who has burnt feet and his muscles are exposed beneath peeled skin. They head slowly home with Tokujiro crawling on his knees and elbows and leaning on Akihiro as he walks on his heels. Thousands of naked, badly burnt people are also shuffling out of the city. Setsuko Nakamura, 13, would recall: 'Some had eyeballs hanging out of their sockets. Strips of flesh hung like ribbons from their bones. Advertisement 'Often, these ghostly figures would collapse in heaps, never to rise again. With a few surviving classmates, I joined the procession, carefully stepping over the dead and dying.' 1.58pm: Enola Gay lands back on Tinian 12 hours and 13 minutes after take-off. In Hiroshima Akihiro spots his great-aunt and uncle walking towards them. He said it was like 'seeing the Buddha in the depths of hell'. Akihiro would survive after months in hospital, but his friend Tokujiro died. In 1980, Akihiro met Enola Gay's pilot Paul Tibbets in Washington DC. 3.05pm: Tibbets is first out of Enola Gay. Waiting for him are 100 men, including General Carl Spaatz, commander of US Strategic Air Forces in the Pacific, who pins the Distinguished Service Cross on Tibbets's chest. Advertisement 9 Lieut-Col Paul Tibbets, 29, is at the controls of the plane, named Enola Gay after his 57-year-old mother Credit: Getty 9 With no sign of surrender, the US prepared to drop 'Fat Man' — a plutonium bomb 40% more powerful than Little Boy Credit: Getty 9 A victim of 'Fat Man', the Nagasaki bomb, is burned beyond recognition 4.20pm: Enola Gay's crew undergo radiation tests plus examinations to see if their eyes have been damaged. All pass. Advertisement 10pm: A party is held on Tinian, while Captain Parsons, Enola Gay's weapons expert, signs documents confirming Little Boy was deployed. Meanwhile, at the Red Cross Hospital in Hiroshima, worn out and wearing glasses taken from a wounded nurse after his specs were lost in the explosion, Dr Sasaki wanders the corridors, binding up the worst wounds. WHEN the Americans do not hear any sign of surrender from Japan, they decide a second, bigger, atomic bomb is needed. This explosive, 'Fat Man', is 40 per cent more powerful than Little Boy. With no electricity, he works by the light of fires still burning outside and candles held by the ten remaining nurses. Patients are dying in their hundreds. The stench of death is overwhelming. Advertisement 11.55am Eastern War Time: President Truman is on USS Augusta, heading home from the Potsdam Conference in Germany where, with British PM Winston Churchill and Japan of the consequences of failure to surrender. He is handed an urgent War Department message: 'Hiroshima was bombed at 7.15pm Washington time August 5 . . . results clear cut, successful in all respects.' Truman shouts: 'This is the greatest thing in history!' The crew cheer and bang their lunch tables. One sailor says: 'Mr President, I guess that means I'll get home sooner now.' TUESDAY, AUGUST 7 WHEN the Americans do not hear any sign of surrender from Japan, they decide a second, bigger, atomic bomb is needed. Advertisement This explosive, 'Fat Man', is 40 per cent more powerful than Little Boy, with a core made of plutonium rather than uranium. THURSDAY, AUGUST 9 2.47am (Japan time): US Air Force B-29 bomber Bockscar, piloted by Major Charles Sweeney, who had been on the Hiroshima mission, sets off from Tinian. The target is the city of Kokura in Japan's west — with Nagasaki as a back-up in case of bad weather . 8.44am: Sweeney's crew arrives above Kokura and finds the city covered in fog. They attempt three bomb runs, but cancel each one at the last moment because they cannot see anything below. Advertisement 10.32am: After 'animated discussions', the crew decides to fly on to the secondary target, Nagasaki, 95 miles south. Nagasaki was only added to the list because US Secretary of War, Henry Stimson, had happy memories of staying 19 years earlier in Kyoto, the original No1 target. Nagasaki was added instead after Stimson insisted: 'I don't want Kyoto bombed.' 10.58am: Arriving at Nagasaki, Bockscar only has enough fuel for one pass over the bustling city, which is also covered in fog. 11am +50seconds: Bombardier Captain Kermit Beahan yells: 'I see a hole!' But the gap in the cloud is above an area several miles away from the point they had planned to drop the bomb. Advertisement 11.01am +13seconds: Beahan shouts: 'Bombs away!' and releases the most powerful atomic bomb ever used in warfare. 11.02am: Fat Man detonates 1,650ft above the harbour city. Sweeney later says this bomb seems 'more intense, more angry' than the one he watched fall on Hiroshima. Everyone within one mile of ground zero is vaporised — at least 40,000 people die instantly. Advertisement About 30,000 more will rapidly die from burns and injuries. Despite Fat Man being more powerful than the Hiroshima weapon — with a core temperature of up to 1.8million F — the death toll is far less. That is because this bomb falls in a valley, and the sides contain some of its spread. Just outside the vaporisation zone, British prisoner of war Geoffrey Sherring is trying to light a cigarette when 'a very, very brilliant and powerful light' fills the sky, 'completely eclipsing the sun'. He will later recall: 'It was the colour of a welding flash, a blue, mostly ultraviolet flash.' Advertisement Geoffrey then feels the 'thundering, rolling, shaking' of the bomb's shockwave. This brings down a wall in the camp, which crushes fellow prisoner Corporal Ronald Shaw. The 25-year-old, from Edmonton, North London , is the first British person to be killed in an atomic bombing. 11.06am: Bockscar's crew decides to head to the US air base at Okinawa because they do not have enough fuel to reach Tinian. Advertisement 11.30am: Japan's Supreme War Council is in the middle of a meeting in Tokyo to discuss a possible conditional surrender when a messenger arrives with Noon: Bockscar begins its descent into Okinawa, with less than one minute of fuel left. Sweeney takes the mic and shouts: 'I'm coming straight in!' He lands and another crew member later recalls: 'A bunch of very jittery people debarked.' Advertisement 4.30pm: Bockscar takes off again and heads for Tinian. The crew switches on Armed Forces Radio hoping to hear of a Japanese surrender, but are disappointed. 9.30pm (Japan time), 10.30pm Tinian time: Touchdown at Tinian, but there is no fanfare and photos for the arrival, unlike the scenes after the Hiroshima mission. However, Tibbets, from the Enola Gay crew, comes out to meet them. Sweeney asks: 'Now what about some beer?' Advertisement Tibbets says: 'Chuck, I'm afraid I have some bad news. The beer ran out.' FRIDAY, AUGUST 10 2am (Japan time): J apanese Emperor Hirohito tells an emergency meeting of Japanese war leaders in Tokyo: 'I cannot bear to see my innocent people suffer any longer.' He says his 'sacred decision' is to surrender, on the condition that he is allowed to remain as head of state. The news is cabled to the US, which rejects the terms and demands unconditional surrender. Advertisement WEDS, AUGUST 15 Noon (Japan time): Japanese radio broadcasts a pre-recorded speech by Emperor Hirohito, announcing unconditional surrender — the first broadcast by any Japanese emperor. In the UK, this will for ever be known as VJ — Victory over Japan — Day. SUNDAY, SEPT 2 9.04am (Japan time): World War Two formally ends when Japanese officials sign the surrender treaty aboard USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. Additional reporting: Eleanor Sprawson 9 US President Harry Truman approved the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 Credit: Getty Advertisement 9 Six days later on August 15 Japan's Emperor Hirohito announced his country's unconditional surrender Credit: PA:Press Association
The Irish Sun
5 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
Strictly Come Dancing signs model Ellie Goldstein as she vows to break barriers for Down syndrome community
STRICTLY Come Dancing bosses have signed model Ellie Goldstein for the new series. Sources said the 23-year-old will be 'thrilled' to be among the stars when the BBC1 ballroom show returns next month. Advertisement 2 Model Ellie Goldstein has signed up for the new series of Strictly and plans to break down barriers Credit: 2 Vogue model Ellie will become the first contestant with Down syndrome to take part in a full Strictly series Credit: Adama Jalloh/British Vogue Essex-born Ellie is the first contestant with Down syndrome to take part in a full Strictly series, after A source said: 'Ellie is thrilled to be taking part in Strictly. She has broken down so many barriers in her career, from modelling for Gucci to being the first model with Down syndrome to appear on the cover of Vogue. "Ellie can't wait to get started on the show and show people what she can do.' She will join stars including former footballer Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, EastEnders actress Balvinder Sopal, ex-rugby star Chris Robshaw and reality TV's Advertisement READ MORE ON STRICTLY Ellie's parents were told she would never be able to walk or talk after she was born with Down syndrome. However she defied the odds, and Ellie says she now 'never stops talking'. She began modelling as a teen and has worked with brands including Victoria's Secret, Adidas and Gucci. In 2023 she became the first model with Down syndrome to grace the cover of British Vogue and was honoured with her own Barbie doll, now sold worldwide. Advertisement Most read in News TV Ellie said: 'I am proving people wrong and I am a role model for people like me. "Doctors said I wouldn't talk but now I never stop talking! You should always believe in yourself.' England rugby legend lined up for Strictly – and pairing with show's sexiest dancer She added: 'Never give up, be who you are and smile all the way.' She will start training with her Strictly pro partner in the coming weeks. Advertisement A source said: 'The BBC love to push boundaries and break stigmas so having Ellie agree to take part is something they are incredibly proud of. "Ellie is a fantastic signing and they think she could go all the way.' Ellie previously told of her love for Strictly, won last year by blind comedian She said: 'My absolute favourite thing in the world is dancing. Advertisement 'One day I would love to be on Strictly Come Dancing. 'I went to watch it being filmed a few weeks ago, but I didn't want to be in the audience, I wanted to be on the dancefloor.' The BBC declined to comment.
