logo
Chewin' the Fat star to be guest of honour at Glasgow event

Chewin' the Fat star to be guest of honour at Glasgow event

Glasgow Times5 days ago
Comic, singer, BAFTA-winning actor and DJ Karen Dunbar will officially "cut the ribbon" at Glasgow Vintage Vehicle Trust's open day on Sunday, July 27.
'I have a love of buses, and Glasgow - and buses in Glasgow,' says Karen, with a laugh.
'I'm always happy to go to community events when I can, and celebrate the culture of our city and the people who help preserve and honour it.'
Karen Dunbar (Image: Karen Dunbar)
A spokesperson for the event said: 'GVVT is stocking up on individual fruit trifles as we prepare to welcome a very special guest to our Family and Community Super Sunday.
'Karen Dunbar, star of legendary Chewin' the Fat, at last has escaped the corner shop and found a friend – more than a thousand of them, in fact, who will attend our sparkling, fun event at Bridgeton Bus Garage.'
Karen's countless on-screen alter egos in the hit sketch show included the lonely shopkeeper, who took a little too much interest in the lives of her customers, in the hope of sharing a fruit trifle or two with them.
The star will kick-start the show at noon, introducing the swinging sound of the Michael Brawley Big Band, supported by Super Sunday newcomers the Jump 'n' Jive Dancers.
Other newbies include Ghostbusters Alba, complete with 12-foot-high Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, Ectomobiles and charity merchandise.
Other highlights will include toy and art stalls and community groups, including Glasgow North East Foodbank who will gratefully accept donations of tins, jars, pasta and more.
(Image: Newsquest)
Darth Vader and his Star Wars troopers return along with the classic Tunnock's van, superb model buses and boats, face painters, Wee Happy Shop and Bus, Clippies Café, and a new museum display.
Visitors can also test their bus driving skills on the SIM1 simulator and their rowing prowess, courtesy of Clydesdale Rowing Club, and of course, browse around more than 130 vintage buses, lorries and fire engines.
The event runs from 11am, with a free vintage bus service running to and from George Square with an added pick-up at Bellgrove Station.
More details are available from the GVVT website.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Review, Karen Pirie, Fake or Fortune, The Couple Next Door
Review, Karen Pirie, Fake or Fortune, The Couple Next Door

The Herald Scotland

time9 hours ago

  • The Herald Scotland

Review, Karen Pirie, Fake or Fortune, The Couple Next Door

Much of the credit for that goes to Lauren Lyle in the title role. Playing Pirie like some sarky granddaughter of Taggart and cousin of Rebus, she dominates every scene she is in. No mean feat when you are up against James Cosmo. Cosmo played an oil tycoon whose daughter and grandson were kidnapped in 1984 and never seen again. Pirie, newly promoted to inspector, was assigned the case. Assisting her, as in the first series, were her secret boyfriend, DS Phil Parhatka, sidekick DC Jason Murray, also known as 'Mint', and Bel the blogger. The series is not above cliche, starting with moodily lit interrogation rooms (would never happen: see 24 Hours in Police Custody). Similarly, Pirie and her superior, DCS Simon Lees (Steve John Shepherd) retain the stereotypically surly maverick and shouty boss relationship. But the writing was tight and slyly funny, the plotting tight as a drum, and every member of the talented cast pulled their weight. The scenes between Sir Brodie and Pirie, the old lion with the still terrifying roar versus a squeak of a lassie, were alone worth another Bafta. In Lyle's more than capable hands, Pirie remains a mystery in her own right. The character is tough yet not above tears, empathetic yet cold, driven but for what reason? Who is she, really? Watch out Pirie, you're in danger of becoming a national treasure. There was a clash between Karen Pirie and The Narrow Road to the Deep North (BBC1, Sunday), but nothing iPlayer couldn't help with. If you are yet to catch up with this adaptation of Richard Flanagan's novel about a young Australian officer imprisoned by the Japanese, I'd urge you to do so quick as you can. On the evidence of the first episode this handsomely shot five-parter could be one of the year's best dramas - and the most harrowing, too. Jacob Elordi and Ciaran Hinds play the younger and older Dorrigo Evans, once a medical student heading off to war, now an ageing writer still imprisoned by the past. The three-stranded tale relies heavily on flashbacks, which would usually interrupt the flow of the story, but not here. The performances are outstanding, with Elordi a star in the making and Hinds, the elder statesman of the piece, his usual subtle self. The scene where he was being interviewed/lectured by a young journalist about the realities of war, was watch through the fingers fare. And of course, looming over everything is what we know is coming when Evans and his squad get to the PoW camp. Fiona Bruce, presenter of Fake or Fortune? (BBC1, Monday) earns between £410,000-£414,999 a year, the same as Nick Robinson but less than Alan Shearer. What's that got to do with a popular primetime docuseries about art, you ask? All will be revealed. The new run of Fake or Fortune? opened with a painting of a pretty summer scene, bought at an art fair for £140 by Barry, a carer. It was unsigned, but when Barry took it out of the frame (top tip), the inscription said it was a portrait of Clementine Churchill by her husband Winston, painted June 1916. With some works by Churchill fetching millions, this had the potential to be 'a right result', as they say in the art biz. But only if Bruce and her co-presenter, the art dealer Philip Mould, could prove its provenance. They made a stylish pair. He was dapper enough to get away with wearing a scarf, Monty Don-style, and Bruce had 'scarfed up' for the occasion with a groovy number of her own. Add a buttery soft biker jacket and jeans and she was good to go. That's the thing with Bruce, the BBC can send her anywhere and she will pass muster. She is this generation's Sue Lawley, posh but not too posh, and able to hold her own whether she is reading the news, anchoring Question Time, or doing lighter fare such as this and Antiques Roadshow. If you ask the high heid yins at the BBC, it takes a very special skill set to do all this, hence Bruce's big bucks salary. But is that actually the case, or could any competent presenter do it? Over tea in a palace, Barry filled Bruce in on his unsuccessful attempts to authenticate the painting. He wasn't taken seriously by the auction houses 'because of the way I speak, the way I dress, I just don't look like the typical art dealer'. I half hoped Bruce would launch a broadside at snooty auctioneers. Instead, she smiled and said: 'It's quite a rarefied world, isn't it, the grand auction houses?' Anyone looking for searing, insightful commentary about the art business would have to try the shop next door. She was much better when they visited the handwriting expert. In a programme that was full of people hedging their bets, Barry finally got a straight answer. He was so shocked he almost cried. Bruce was there instantly with a comforting arm around his shoulder. It could have been awkward or seemed patronising, but instead it was just a lovely human moment. The expert consensus was that only the auction houses could authenticate the painting. The auctioneers, in turn, said it was up to the experts. All the running around had been for nothing, albeit they got a programme out of it. Barry will have to wait for more answers. As for Bruce? I think the jury is still out on that one, too. The Couple Next Door (Channel Monday-Wednesday), a psychological thriller about suburban swingers, played out over six nights. If it was anything like the first series, it was going to be a long haul. But what do you know, all concerned had upped their game. While it was still a heap of weapons-grade silliness, it was a better-acted, better-plotted, better-directed heap of weapons-grade silliness. Instead of traffic cops and yoga instructors the protagonists this time were doctors and nurses. Lottie the heart surgeon (oh, the irony!) was married to Jacob, an anaesthetist. Lottie was so busy with her job and an ailing dad to look after she had to schedule sex with Jacob, a man so dull he could have put his patients spark out with his conversation alone. Lottie couldn't complain though. Life was good, if predictable. Then a nurse named Mia turned up at the hospital and moved in next door. With her heavy European accent and mysterious past, the beautiful Mia intrigued Lottie and flattered Duncan. Smouldering glances over a patient's open chest cavity soon became flirty conversations over glasses of wine, and before you know it our couple had become a throuple and clothes were being torn off all over the shop. The good times on the sofa and in Antwerp hotel rooms could not last, though. Lottie and Duncan's well-ordered life had been turned upside down. Regrets? They had more than a few. The Couple Next Door began life as the hit Dutch series, Nieuwe Buren ('New Neighbours'). Both are filmed in Belgium and the Netherlands, hence the slightly unusual houses on wide open streets that make the place look like America. Written by David Allison (Marcella, Trust Me), this series powered along, fuelled by plot twists that ranged from unlikely to flat-out bonkers. There was far more going on at the hospital than an on-off threesome. Frankly, it was a wonder anyone left the place alive, such was the carry on. Jacob Elordi, left, plays a young medic in The Narrow Road to the Deep North (Image: Curio Pictures/BBC/Sony Pictures Television) Annabel Scholey was a solid centre of credibility as Lottie (even if she did look disconcertingly like Kate, Princess of Wales). Plaudits go again to Hugh Dennis who scrubs up well as a serious actor. There was plenty to question (wouldn't the police be called in to investigate wrongdoing rather than leaving it to hospital administrators to play detective?), and more than a few cliches (particularly in the sex scenes). But if it was noirish nonsense you are after, The Couple Next Door supplied it by the bucket load.

Gail Porter: 'I've been at rock bottom, slept on a bench, it's proof we get through'
Gail Porter: 'I've been at rock bottom, slept on a bench, it's proof we get through'

Daily Record

time9 hours ago

  • Daily Record

Gail Porter: 'I've been at rock bottom, slept on a bench, it's proof we get through'

Presenter Gail Porter shared how she has overcome depression, alopecia and homelessness to find new purpose and joy in life At 54, Gail Porter is reflecting on a life that has taken her from the heights of TV fame to the depths of homelessness and back again. Now, she says, she is finally in a good place. ‌ 'I'm 100% happy,' she tells the Mirror. 'I've got my cat. My daughter's doing brilliantly, she's 22 now, finished uni and is working. I'm working, too, mostly charity stuff, and often for free, but I still worry about the next paid job. After being sectioned and homeless, I feel very lucky. I have great friends.' ‌ The presenter and mental health advocate has never shied away from speaking about her struggles, including the moment in 2011 when she was sectioned under a 28-day order at a psychiatric unit in North London. ‌ 'It was terrifying,' she recalls. 'I was drugged up to my eyeballs, sharing a ward with men convinced they were Jesus, and violent patients. It felt like One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest.' In 2014, she hit rock bottom. With nowhere to go, she sofa-surfed for months before sleeping rough on a bench in Hampstead Heath. ‌ 'I'd applied for library jobs and charity shop shifts. People said, 'You can't do that, you're Gail Porter!' I just wanted someone to give me a chance. Instead, I ended up on a bench thinking I'd had enough.' It was a concerned boyfriend who contacted the police, fearing for her safety. 'Four officers walked up and said, 'Someone's very concerned for your safety. We're taking you to the hospital.' I kicked off. I was furious, but I was desperate,' she says. ‌ Long before those dark days, Porter was a staple of late 90s television, hosting Top of the Pops, The Big Breakfast, and gracing the covers of magazines. But her life began to unravel after she developed alopecia in 2005, losing her hair in clumps. 'Friends said, 'You're beautiful bald,' and for a while, I felt invincible, but work dried up. I got asked to do interviews about being bald, unpaid, because you're talking about an 'illness'. I thought, 'This is going to be a bit s***.'' The alopecia came alongside depression and anorexia. 'I lost everything, my house, my career, my confidence,' she admits. ‌ Today, she is in recovery, both financially and emotionally. After being declared bankrupt in 2017, she found stability through her Bafta-winning 2020 documentary Being Gail Porter, and continues to rent a place in North London. She also campaigns for causes close to her heart. 'It's awful out there,' she says. 'I work with Fair For You to help people pay back loans without crippling interest, and with the Samaritans over the winter, because I know that darkness. Everyone's one missed payday from disaster.' ‌ Despite past romances, including her marriage to Toploader's Dan Hipgrave and a brief fling with The Prodigy's Keith Flint, she has no interest in dating now. 'I don't date. Now, it's all apps and swipes, I can't be bothered. I go to Soho, meet friends, maybe sneak off to a gig, and that's enough.' She remains firm in her belief in self-acceptance. 'I've had dodgy comments, 'Where's your hair? Why no wig?' Sometimes I reply, 'Why didn't you wear better deodorant?' But 95% of people are kind. I love hugs, I get so many lovely hugs.' Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. ‌ Now, she's embracing a new chapter with the launch of her own wig, 'The Gail', part of Amber Jean Rowan's ethical collection. 'People say, 'Gail, you said you'd never wear a wig,' and I went 20 years without one, but now there's a choice. The first time I put on The Gail, my custom wig, I fell in love. It's not about covering anything up, it's self-expression.' With stand-up gigs, cruise ship Q&As, a new memoir in the works, and backing Prince William's Homewards homelessness campaign, Porter's life is full once again. 'I've been at rock bottom, from sleeping on a bench to standing on a cruise stage, it's proof we get through,' she says. 'You don't need therapy if you find your therapy. Mine is a spin class. When I was at my worst, I paid £100 for unlimited classes for two weeks and did two rides a day. My friends say I look so fit and happy. It's my lifeline.' She adds simply: 'I'm not brave. I wake up, put one foot in front of the other, and here I am. That's all anyone can do.'

Dame Cleo Laine, first lady of British jazz, dies aged 97
Dame Cleo Laine, first lady of British jazz, dies aged 97

Metro

time11 hours ago

  • Metro

Dame Cleo Laine, first lady of British jazz, dies aged 97

Dame Cleo Laine, the Grammy-winning jazz singer renowned for her astonishing vocal range, scat singing mastery, and pioneering influence on British jazz, has died at the age of 97. Dame Cleo passed away peacefully, surrounded by family, according to a statement from her children, Jacqui and Alec Dankworth. 'It is with heavy hearts that we share the news of our beloved mother Cleo's passing,' they said. 'She brought so much music and light into the world and into our lives. We ask for privacy as we remember her with love and gratitude.' Over a career spanning eight decades, she became a defining voice of British jazz, admired for her rich contralto tone, adventurous improvisation, and theatrical flair. She shared stages and studios with legends including Duke Ellington, Ray Charles, and Frank Sinatra. She was celebrated not only for her musical brilliance but also for blazing a trail for women and artists of colour in a genre then dominated by American men. Born Clementina Dinah Campbell in 1927 in Southall, west London, to a Jamaican father and English mother, Laine grew up in a musical household and began her working life as a hairdresser and part-time singer. Her breakthrough came in 1951 when she successfully auditioned for saxophonist Johnny Dankworth's band. Their professional collaboration soon blossomed into a lifelong partnership – the couple married in 1958 and remained together until Dankworth's death in 2010. Laine's career highlights included her historic 1973 performance at Carnegie Hall, which cemented her international reputation, and her Grammy win in 1986 for Cleo at Carnegie: The 10th Anniversary Concert. She also made history as the only female performer to be nominated for a Grammy in jazz, classical, and popular music categories. In 1997, she became the first British jazz singer to be made a dame, an honour that reflected her unique contribution to the nation's cultural life. Her accolades included honorary degrees, lifetime achievement awards, and a devoted fanbase that stretched from Soho jazz clubs to the world's grandest concert halls. Beyond the stage, Dame Cleo was deeply committed to music education. With her husband, she founded The Stables music venue and charity in Wavendon in 1970, transforming a converted stable block into a nationally recognised centre for performance and learning. More Trending David Meadowcroft, chairman of The Stables Trust, paid tribute to her legacy: 'Cleo and John's vision was to create a place where music could thrive for all. Her loss is profound, but her passion continues through the lives she inspired.' Artistic director Monica Ferguson added: 'Dame Cleo was a once-in-a-generation talent, but also a warm, generous mentor. Her voice and spirit will echo through these walls for years to come.' Cleo Laine is survived by her two children, both musicians in their own right. Her son Alec is an acclaimed jazz bassist and composer; daughter Jacqui, a singer and former Eurovision entrant. A private funeral will be held, with a public memorial concert planned for later this year to honour a voice – and a woman – that reshaped British jazz forever. Got a story? If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@ calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you. MORE: Hulk Hogan 'lost a lot of weight in final weeks before death' MORE: 70s jazz musician Chuck Mangione dies aged 84 MORE: Hulk Hogan leaves behind legacy as controversial but undeniable WWE icon

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store