Latest news with #VinnieJones
BBC News
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Warwickshire's Game Fair set to attract 125,000 visitors
Up to 125,000 people are expected to attend a three-day event at Ragley Hall in Game Fair, which has been running since 1958, features a range of field sports, including shooting and fishing, as well as more than 700 trade Hobson from Ragley Hall said the fair, which includes overnight camping, was one of the estate's biggest events of the also said the show and field sports had "become extremely popular among a newer, younger audience" who want to try new things. The Game Fair, runs between 25 and 27 July and its organisers, Stable Events, said there would be a range of competitions and displays in the main arena, including the Shetland Pony Grand guests at the show this year include broadcaster, farmer and conservationist Jimmy Doherty, mixologist Merlin Griffiths and the former footballer Vinnie Jones. Ragley Hall last hosted The Game Fair in 2023 and rotates between a number of venues, including Blenheim, where it was held last Hobson said the event "celebrates all the traditional things" and also "fits quite nicely with our own values". The 5,600 acre Ragley Hall estate is the home of the 9th Marquess of Hertford and hosts a number of events and festivals throughout the also grows niche crops, farms sheep and keeps game. Follow BBC Coventry & Warwickshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
Daily Mail
16-07-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Vinnie Jones' firm which 'kept him going' following tragic death of beloved wife Tanya and boasted Bradley Cooper and Robbie Williams as customers went bust with £270K debt
A celebrity flooring business Vinnie Jones set up with a childhood pal went bust with £270k worth of debt, it has been revealed. The former footballer and actor, 60, swapped Hollywood for flogging carpets when he started Deacon Jones Fine Flooring Ltd in 2016 with fitter mate Danny Deacon. Vinnie previously shared how the business had 'kept him busy' amid his grief following the tragic death of beloved wife Tanya from cancer in 2019 aged just 53. According to The Sun the company boasted famous customers like of stars Bradley Cooper, Robbie Williams and Ronnie Wood. Vinnie's sporting connections also come in handy since he has also reportedly supplied the likes of cricket star Kevin Pietersen and former Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho with new carpets. But the firm was put into a creditor's voluntary liquidation three years ago after racking up massive losses during Covid. According to its statement of affairs, it owed trade creditors £122,920, the bank £50,000, HMRC £8,121, and the directors £90,182 - including £66,962 which Vinnie put in himself. The firm was finally dissolved on 26 June this year. After paying liquidator fees and other expenses, there was just £19,913 left for creditors - all of which went to the taxman. MailOnline have contacted Vinnie's representatives for comment. Speaking about how the business was vital during the loss of his wife he told Yahoo News in 2023: 'I've got my wooden flooring company, Deacon Jones, which is doing great, so I'm keeping busy. 'I have to go with the flow and accept it will take time to come to terms with my grief. There's no point in fighting it.' When the company was first set up, Vinnie told The Sun about his role as the salesman and to give back to his roots, as he was born in nearby Watford. He told the publication: 'We have super tough carpets and that's where we will use my hard man image'. But the firm was put into a creditor's voluntary liquidation three years ago after racking up massive losses during Covid I'm very proud of my roots and I want to show that. It's important to me to create jobs in the area. I want to give back to the community I came from.' While business partner Danny told Hemel Gazette at the time how Vinnie was very down to earth. 'We were talking about life on the way back to the club and he just said "Let's go into business, 50-50", he explained. 'Vinnie's just as you would expect, hard but fair, absolutely no-nonsense, but very generous.' The former Chelsea star swapped the football pitch for film sets in 1998 when he was cast as a mob enforcer in Guy Ritchie flick Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. He has since graced the silver screen in the likes of Gone in 60 Seconds and X-Men: The Last Stand and most recently's Ritchie's Netflix hit series The Gentleman. Vinnie, who had been married to Tanya for 25 years when she tragically died, Vinnie previously spoke of how he throws himself into work and has sought help from a psychologist to try and not feel like he is ' drowning' in his own despair. '[Grief] is a ghost, it's a blanket. It wraps around you and it pulls you down. You don't know when it's going to happen, why it happens. It just happens,' he told Stuff. 'You've got to try and get your head above water, breathe in as long as you can because you know you're going to be pulled under again. 'You got to give people what they want, or you f*****g drown. It's f*****g exhausting [Sometimes I want to] build a 50 foot wall around to keep everybody out and keep me in... My spirit may be broken inside, but I think I've got enough knowledge and enough experience to cope with it.' The actor previously wrote a book about his experiences, Lost Without You: Loving And Losing Tanya. In 2013, they were both diagnosed with melanoma, the most dangerous form of skin cancer which kills around 2,000 people every year in the UK, and fought it together, getting the all-clear two years later. However, the disease would later return for Tanya. Vinnie has blamed his outdoor lifestyle for the cancer - aggravated by his move to Los Angeles with Tanya to pursue his film career - while he claimed her cancer was triggered by drugs she took since having a heart transplant in her early 20s. The couple met aged 12 before exchanging vows in 1994, with the actor previously admitting on Piers Morgan's Life Stories that he will never remarry. A recovering alcoholic, Vinnie is now a decade sober. He previously described the heartbreaking story of how Tanya learned her cancer had spread to her brain in a phone call at their home in Palm Springs on Christmas Eve while they had 15 or so family members round for Christmas. It was the moment they realised 'it's beat us', he said, but Tanya was determined to have 'the best Christmas ever' so kept it secret from everyone. 'The bravery of her is unfathomable,' Jones added. 'All's she wanted to do was please people.'
Daily Mail
28-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
What happened to Kylie Minogue's toyboy fiance Joshua Sasse? Actor who Vinnie Jones called 'that English k**bhead' after he was accused of cheating on the popstar has settled down in his ex's native Australia after some surprise career moves
For two years he was Kylie Minogue 's hunky toyboy, joining her on red carpets and in her £10million London mansion. Joshua Sasse was just 27 when he fell for the pop superstar, who was 20 years his senior, after she signed up for a guest role in his musical comedy TV series Galavant. Brit hunk Joshua played dashing knight Sir Gary Galavant whilst Kylie turned from pop princess to medieval princess to take on some raunchy scenes with the handsome young actor. But their romance didn't exactly have a fairytale beginning after it was reported that Joshua was still married to his ex Francesca Cini, who he shares a son with, when he met Kylie on set in the summer of 2015. The blossoming romance was an open secret on set though, so much so that even Joshua's co-star Vinnie Jones quipped that the actor had his sights set on Kylie from the start. 'I knew about them before anyone. Joshua was moving into her hotel the night before she came — on purpose,' Vinnie told The Sun. Vinnie would later go on to call Joshua an 'English k**bhead', who shocked co-stars when he romanced the much more famous Kylie. 'All the crew and everybody were like, "Oh no, what is she doing?" She was a long way from home and needed someone with an arm round her,' Vinnie said in a 2022 interview. The actor even claimed that Kylie's sister Dannii Minogue 'thanked me from the family, because I'd told Kylie that he was a bellend.' Despite misgivings from friends and family, Kylie and Joshua's romance moved quickly with the singer gushing about their connection in press interviews for the show throughout 2015. 'I can't actually put into words how happy I am… We just completely fit together. He gets me, I get him,' she told You Magazine. The two were indeed inseparable, with Joshua becoming Kylie's plus one at industry events before moving into her £10 million West London home. In February 2016, just six months after meeting, Joshua popped the question with a besotted Kylie gushing about their wedding plans and how she would take her fiance's surname, pointing out 'Sasse is a great name. Kylie Sasse is a great name.' But a year later and the whirlwind romance came crashing down, as the couple revealed they had called off their engagement. At the time of their separation, it was reported that Kylie had suspected Joshua was cheating on her with Spanish actress Marta Milans, who he has been filming TV series No Tomorrow with in 2016. The rumours were never confirmed but Kylie was open about her heartbreak. Taking to Instagram, the devastated singer thanked her fans for their support as she recovered from the abrupt split, writing: '#lovers… Thank you for all your love and support throughout this recent chapter of my life.' 'Thank you now for your love and understanding with the news that Josh and I have decided to go our separate ways," she added . "We wish only the best for each other as we venture towards new horizons. #thesunalwaysrises.' In 2018, the songstress spoke with Red Magazine about the sudden split, telling the publication she'd had to 'rebuild herself physically and mentally' after the break-up. She even channelled her heartache into music, revealing that her 2018 country inspired album, the first record since 1997 which she co-wrote evey track on, had helped her come to terms with their broken engagement. 'The end of 2016 was not a good time for me. So when I started working on the album in 2017 it was, in many ways, a great escape,' she said at the time. 'I was quite fragile when I started work on it but being able to express myself in the studio made quick work of regaining my sense of self — writing about various aspects of my life, the highs and lows, with a real sense of knowing and of truth.' Whilst Kylie channelled the painful split into her career, Joshua largely retreated from the spotlight. He took time out from acting to pursue other passions, inspired by his poet and adventurer father Dominic Sadde, who died during a trip to Nepal. Josh has a tattoo of the number 37 — his dad's age when he died — as a reminder 'to live life every day because it might end at any moment'. During his post-Kylie hiatus from acting, Joshua worked in a vintage car garage, lived on an island in Greece where he wrote collections of poetry and started a safari company in Zambia with his cousin. When the pandemic hit in 2020, he was published as a poet and dove deeper into his love of the written word, even launching a podcast entitled The Poet's Voice. Not long after the split from Kylie, he settled in his ex's homeland of Australia, at one point opening a cafe and bar. As for his love life, Joshua, now 37, swiftly moved on from Kylie, meeting his Australian wife Louisa in the months after the split before they married in September 2018. The couple tied the knot during a low-key ceremony at Byron Bay's registry office and they now call the area home with their young children Dominic and Delilah. The British-born actor revealed he made the decision to build a property and establish roots Down Under as he prepared to work on several new Australian productions. 'I have signed with an Australian agent and I would love to do some work here,' he told the Herald Sunback in 2022. The star added even though he moved to Australia in 2017 only recently did he begin to feel like a fully fledged Aussie. 'I feel Australian now, these are my roots,' he said. Joshua has returned to acting roles in recent years, starring in Monarch as Luke Roman alongside Susan Sarandon and Anna Friel in 2022. He is also had a lead role in the 2023 Netflix film Love Is in the Air as William., appearing alongside Aussie Deltra Goodrem. Next up is the Britbox series Outrageous, based on Mary Lovell's definitive biography, The Mitford Girls, which started streaming in June. Joshua plays Oswald Mosley amongst an all star cast.
BBC News
27-06-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Ball and Bolton make fans' cut for Sunderland hard men
We asked for your views on former Sunderland player Martin Smith's top-five list of Black Cats hard men after Kevin Ball was handed top are some of your comments:Lee: Bally was solid! Great leader and gent. Played against him in training for an under-16's Sunday League club match (his son was part of it). Five of us couldn't get the ball off him when we were messing around after bothering him to join Kevin Ball was always going to be number one. He tackled someone on the halfway line during the derby with such force the ball hit our own bar! John Kay breaking his leg and paddling off his stretcher, and Gary Bennett's handling of David Speedie are real moments of Sunderland folklore Raw meat Joe Bolton used to leave his bite on many good wingers, and pretty much anyone else that came near Joe Bolton should be in the top five hardest players - a local lad who was left- back from 1972 to 1981. Absolutely as hard as Joe Bolton, left-back who played 300+ times for Sunderland over 10 years from 1972-3 was solid in the tackle and tough player for They were before Martin's time, but Billy Whitehurst and Mick Harford would be in my top five. I can verify what Martin says of Vinnie Jones. I was staying in a hotel in Guildford, at the bar having a pint before dinner when in walks Vinnie Jones. We got chatting and I asked him who was the hardest he had ever faced. Vinnie didn't know that I was a Mackem. He said a guy at Sunderland, Kevin Ball, I just burst out Dave Watson must be on the list. Further back Len Ashurst used to put wingers on the gravel!
Daily Mail
11-06-2025
- Automotive
- Daily Mail
Death of the personalised numberplate: TV star reveals why once-trendy plates are being sold for 80% less
The trend for personalised number plates has attracted celebrities from showbiz to sport and even royalty - while raking in hundreds of millions a year for the DVLA. Yet now the market appears to be stalling, with potential buyers slamming the brakes - and existing owners selling theirs off for 80 percentage points less than before. Public figures have put bespoke imprints on their motors with plates bearing such signifiers as B33 FYS for cricket legend Lord Ian 'Beefy' Botham, 100 VJ for ex-footballer and film star Vinnie Jones and OUT 3N for presenter Denise Van Outen. The Apprentice presenter Lord Sugar has gone with AMS 1 - that is, Alan Michael Sugar - while the late Queen Elizabeth II drove with an 'A7' plate dating back to 1903. Heavyweight boxer and self-styled 'Gypsy King' Tyson Fury went for 88 GK, fellow figher Chris Eubank for 1 KO - as posed upon by his son Chris Eubank Jr - as well as TV and music mogul Simon Cowell for S1 MON and Chris Evans for FAB 1. Meanwhile, Katie Price went for a bright pink car with a plate saying KPII HOT and her daughter Princess for an Audi branded with, well, PRINCESS - while TOWIE celebrity Amy Childs chose AMY 22Y and the late magician Paul Daniels MAGIC. Personalised numberplates have also lured other former footballers such as Match Of The Day pundit Alan Shearer, with AS 9, and fellow ex-England captain Wayne Rooney, nodding to his nickname as well as favoured shirt number with WAZ 8. Yet a former reality TV star has now warned that a once-lucrative movement looks like hitting the buffers, with the value of such plates plunging. James Constantinou, co-founder and CEO owner of nationwide pawnbroker chain Prestige Pawn, has told of a sharp rise in the number of clients keen to cash in on private registration plates. Mr Constantinou, who came to fame on Channel 4 's Posh Pawn, revealed: 'There has been a huge slump in the value of personalised number plates and customers are rushing to my stores to cash in on them. 'Due to financial pressures, the market is awash with people wanting to sell their plates, which were once deemed the ultimate display of wealth. 'They tended to be the last thing the rich buy and the first to sell - now the owners need to raise money and the private plates are the first thing to go.' That would suggest a significant turnaround from recent years when values appeared to be soaring - to the benefit of the Driving and Licensing Licensing Agency. The Mail revealed last October how well financially the government department that issues driving licences and collects road tax was also doing from its other duty of selling personal registrations. Freedom of Information figures showed how the DVLA made £100.2million in 2012-2013 from a combination of personalised registration sales and auctions, cherished plate transfers and assignment fees. Information secured by transport policy and research organisation RAC Foundation found the income from this surged to £260.1million in 2022-23. Some £150.5million of this was from plate sales, which accounted for 58 per cent of the DVLA's personalised registration revenues that year. DVLA EARNINGS FROM SELLING AND MANAGING PERSONALISED PLATES YEAR PERSONALISED PLATE SALES CHERISHED TRANSFER ASSIGNMENT FEES TOTAL 2012-13 £57.1m £29.3m £13.8m £100.2m 2013-14 £64.3m £38.9m £16.2m £119.4m 2014-15 £79.6m £41.1m £19.5m £140.2m 2015-16 £96.7m £43.6m £23.6m £163.9m 2016-17 £110.1m £62.8m £28.7m £201.6m 2017-18 £110.6m £67.2m £28.8m £206.6m 2018-19 £112.4m £66.2m £31.1m £209.7m 2019-20 £114.8m £62.6m £31m £208.4m 2020-21 £170.9m £62m £47.6m £280.5m 2021-22 £181m £76.4m £45.5m £302.9m 2022-23 £150.5m £72.4m £37.2m £260.1m Source: DVLA records obtained by RAC Foundation via FOI request Boxer Chris Eubank Jr is seen here posing above one of his former heavyweight champion Chris Eubank Sr's cars with the personalised plate '1 KO' Yet even these latest figures suggested a decline was under way - after earnings from private plate sales and handling had peaked in 2021-22 at £302.9million. Mr Constantinou has now said: 'Although many personalised plates remain in high demand, they are certainly not a clever investment anymore. 'In the good times early issue numbers particularly with "1" preceding or succeeding limited letters would be in high demand with values commonly between £250 and £500,000. 'But with these buyers now being extremely thin on the ground they are likely to achieve a fraction of these figures - generally values are 20 per cent of the highs seen in the pandemic.' He described personalised number plates as seeming an 'easy investment' during the Covid pandemic, when 'people had a lot more time on their hands and money which they weren't spending on holidays or activities'. He added: 'The prices of the plates skyrocketed but now the value are in freefall.' According to revenue records shared by the DVLA, it has previously earned some £2.09billion from drivers buying and transferring private plates in a decade. The agency has said all money raised is passed to HM Treasury, with a proportion of the revenue retained by the Department of Transport. This would seem to be the ideal personalised number plate for a James Bond fan (stock image) The greats of all time: the top 10 most expensive personalised DVLA plates sold at auction The DVLA currently has about 60million private plate combinations available on its searchable database, with prices starting from £250 including VAT and an £80 assignment fee. The agency also hosts several online private registration plate auctions each year. The DVLA first started selling private number plates in 1989 - and '1 A', changing hands that year for £160,000 still sits in the top 10 priciest sold by the agency. The most expensive of all is '25 O', which reached £400,000, excluding fees and taxes, on 27 November 27 2014. Various firms across the country also allow people to buy and sell private and cherished numberplates, with the industry recently valued at more than £2billion.
