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How Elton John’s daily phone calls helped save life of fellow Brit star | Music | Entertainment

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Big-hearted Elton John made a phone call every day for a whole year to help Squeeze guitarist Chris Difford beat the bottle, the Cool For Cats hitmaker has revealed. The New Wave musician, now 70, expressed his amazement that no matter where megastar Elton was in the world, he never failed to make the essential call, having agreed to become Chris’s sponsor to help him conquer his deadly drink and drug addiction.

And now “26 years sober” Chris has told of how Elton’s daily calls saved his life – and he can still message the Piano Man whenever he feels the ‘Black Dog’ of depression looming. He said: “I’m surrounded by really lovely people that can give me that kind of love, and Elton’s one of those people. He’s the sort of person you can ring up on any time of the day or night and just say, you know, ‘I’m feeling pretty shabby about this’. He will just kick you off the pitch, you know, just tell you to ‘wake you go up and go on with it’.

“He was my sponsor for the first year of my sober life and it’s amazing to think that a man as busy as him can take the time to call me every day from wherever he is in the world. It’s extraordinary.”

The Sussex-based guitarist and lyricist found fame on both sides of the Atlantic as Squeeze exploded on the charts in the late 70s, with critics branding him and songwriting partner Glenn Tilbrook as the “heirs to Lennon and McCartney’s throne” as the band notched up three top five hits with Cool for Cats, Up the Junction and Labelled With Love.

His life’s turning point came in 1973 when he took 50p from his mother’s purse and placed an advert in a shop window appealing for a guitarist to join his band. “As it happens, I had no band. I also said I had a pending record deal and a tour lined up. I had neither deal nor tour,” he now admits.

The only person to respond was Glenn Tilbrook, a shy but talented guitarist who would go on to become Chris’s closest collaborator over the next 40-plus years.

He now admits to living the rock’n’roll life to the full, blowing thousands on Concorde flights, lavish hotels, designer clothes and endless sports cars. However, his spending addiction led to him being declared insolvent for three years in the 1990s.

At the same time he developed a severe drug and alcohol dependency which left him broken and suicidal. But with the crucial help from Elton John, Chris went into rehab, sobered up and embarked on a new career, firstly managing the young pop group The Strypes and then his boyhood idol Bryan Ferry, while continuing to perform with the latest incarnation of Squeeze.

Talking to Gary Davies’ Sounds of the 80s Podcast on BBC Sounds Chris says that he has been to Alcoholics Anonymous and rehab “a couple of times” and has no desire to return to his bad old ways.

He added: “I’m 26 years sober now and it doesn’t really bother me, I mean, we were at the biggest weekend festival recently and there was a lot of people drinking backstage and they were having a great time, you know, but I can’t. I would only say that if it had been me, I would still be drinking three days afterwards and I would be taking all sorts of things to sort of make myself feel good – but I can’t do that anymore. I just wouldn’t be right, you know. I’ve had dark moments, but I never go in that direction.”



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Fortnite down – Server maintenance start time and matchmaking for update 35.10 | Gaming | Entertainment

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Fortnite developer Epic Games is about to add new content to the game, although it’s not all good news.

According to Epic Games, Fortnite update 35.10 is coming to PS5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PC, Nintendo Switch and Android on May 16. It adds new Star Wars content as part of the Galactic Battle event.

Unfortunately, however, the good news ends there, because the new content won’t be available until server maintenance comes to an end.

Fortnite will be taken offline at 9am BST UK time, while matchmaking is disabled shortly beforehand.

READ MORE: Fortnite update 35.10 release date, maintenance time, Chewbacca, General Grievous, more

The news was announced by Epic Games on X (formerly Twitter), alongside a confirmation of the server downtime.

“Insert Wookiee growl,” reads a Fortnite post. “Downtime for v35.10 begins at 4 AM ET with matchmaking ending shortly beforehand.”

For UK fans, this means that Fortnite will be taken offline in full at 9am BST, while matchmaking will be disabled at 8.30am UK time.

Epic hasn’t revealed exactly when downtime will come to an end, but maintenance typically lasts for 2-3 hours.

This means Fortnite and all companion game modes should be back online from 11am BST UK time at the earliest.

Daily Express will update this article with all the latest developments, so keep checking back for confirmation about the Fortnite server maintenance.

The new update will add new Star Wars material to the game, including Wookies like Chewbaca and his Bowcaster.

“Chewbacca’s ETA is May 15, and he’s bringing his Wookiee Bowcaster to the loot pool to aid the rebels,” Epic continues. “You’ll also find the powerful CA-87 Jawa Scatter Blaster in Chests around the Island — new to Fortnite!”

Elsewhere, General Grievous should be available to unlock from the Battle Pass.

Needless to say, new skins will also join the item shop, including a new Mandalorian variant. 



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Elvis Presley’s facelifts, webbed toes and dyed hair details disclosed by family | Music | Entertainment

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It’s not uncommon for celebrities to have plastic surgery, but did you know that Elvis Presley, who would have been 90 this year, had work done?

Fans may consider The King to have been naturally handsome enough but that didn’t stop him. Those who knew him personally in his private life have opened up on the incredible truth.

Danny Smith, who grew up at Graceland and is the son of The King’s cousin Billy, previously said on his YouTube channel Memphis Mafia Kid: “Elvis had…I guess you could say facelift procedure done to his face and his eyes. I was talking to Mom and Dad about this the other night and verified it. And that actually he had [it] done in Memphis and they actually went with him. So he did have a few things done. I mean, in my opinion, I don’t see how something that is almost perfect needs to be messed with. He didn’t need anything in my opinion.”

Danny’s father Billy, the last surviving original Memphis Mafia member said previously of The King’s facelifts: “He thought it made him look better and that he needed it. Elvis always tried to improve his looks.” The star’s cousin shared how the music icon had caps on his teeth installed and moles removed. And it turns out he had had at least two facelifts; one in 1957 and the other in 1975.

On the first facelift in 1957, Billy said: “To me, it wasn’t a facelift. Elvis did not like the flare in his nose at that time, how wide it was. So he decided to have it trimmed down and that’s what they did…which made him look…god! I don’t know how you can look any better, but he did.”

As for Elvis dying his hair jet black, he added: “The reason being someone told him his eyes were so blue and all that, [so] if he had dark hair it would make his eyes stand out.” This was confirmed by The King’s ex-girlfriend Linda Thompson, who lived with him at Graceland from 1972-6.

Speaking previously with Reel Talker, Linda said: “[He would use] hair spray and hair dye. He was more a natural blonde, a dirty blonde. He died his hair black for drama.” As for the rumour about webbed toes, she admitted: “He had twin toes, which meant that his second toe from the big toe and the third toe were conjoined up to what would be the knuckle. And I used to tease him a lot about having webbed toes! So he had twin toes. That’s something most people don’t know.”



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Top 10 directors of all time and Steven Spielberg doesn’t make the cut | Films | Entertainment

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With so many incredible directors out there, it’s hard to pick a favourite. There are your living legends Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese, directors with a specific style or genre like Tim Burton and Wes Anderson and then blockbuster directors like Christopher Nolan and Quentin Tarantino.

Female directors are accounting for some of the most successful and creative films in the industry. Greta Gerwig who turned from acting to directing, is making waves with her features including Barbie, Ladybird and Little Women. Sofia Coppola is also an iconic director who started out in acting, with works including Lost in Translation, Priscilla and The Virgin Suicides. Forbes has listed its greatest directors of all time – has your favourite made the list? Here are the top 10 directors of all time as selected by Forbes.

10. Chantal Akerman

Best known for her films Jeanne Dielman, News from Home (1976) and Je Tu Il Elle (1974), Belgian Feminist avant-garde filmmaker Chantal Akerman has been helmed as a “directors’ director” due to her influence on cinema. She is responsible not only for films but also art exhibitions, various documentaries and also short films. She topped the BFIs Sight and Sound list in 2022 for her film Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles.

9. Federico Fellini

Federico Fellini was nominated for 17 Oscars and won a record four in the Best Foreign Language Film category. He is best known for works including La Dolce Vita (1960), 8½ (1963) and Roma (1972). Prior to his 50-year career Fellini dropped out of law school and began working in radio. He later became involved with the neorealist Italian film movement, but is best known for his art films that followed this era.

8. Satyajit Ray

Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray is widely known for The Apu Trilogy (1955–1959), The Music Room (1958) and the Goopy–Bagha trilogy. Hiswork had also been inspired bythe Italian neorealist movement but he crafted a style of his own through his use of traditional Indian music, meticulous editing and using actors from a diverse range of backgrounds. Francis Ford Coppola and Christopher Nolan have cited Ray as an influence to their work.

7. Stanley Kubrick

Stanley Kubrick is a renowned filmmaker with a huge legacy including A Clockwork Orange (1971), Eyes Wide Shut (1999) and 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). He was notorious forbeing difficult to work with as a director. Kubrick won very few awards for his work but was nominated for 13 Oscars. However, despite this, he has inspired many directors to follow suit in his directing style, especially when it comes to camerawork and framing.

6. Wong Kar-wai

Hong Kong-based filmmaker Wong Kar-wai is best known for films is best known for his films Chungking Express (1994), Happy Together (1997) and In the Mood for Love (2000), but he got his start in TV. He has influenced many other directors including Quentin Tarantino, and this was due to his tendancy to create often feature broken narrative structures, use of bold saturation, pop music and step-printing, a process which alters film rates.

5. Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock has been labelled as the “Master of Suspense” and directed mroe than 50 films in his decades-long career. His legacy is however largely tainted due to his treatment of female leads. He is best known for Rebecca (1940), which earned him his first of five Academy Award nominations for Best Director, alongside Suspicion (1941) and Dial M for Murder (1954).

4. Jean-Luc Godard

The Swiss-born director Jean-Luc Godard was a pillar of French New Wave cinema. His filmography includes Breathless (1960), Contempt (1963) and Masculin Féminin (1966). He was famous for giving his actors free reign to explore their performances and was known to begin filming with unfinished scripts. Godard liked to play with narrative, continuity, sound and camerawork in many of his works especially jump cuts.

3. Frank Capra

Frank Capra’s films largely captured the idealism of what America could be in the 1930s and 1940s. He began working in silent comedies but his best known works include You Can’t Take It with You (1938), It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939). He emigrating to America from Sicily at five years old and went on to win five Oscars and earn lifetime achievement awards from the American Film Institute and the Directors Guild of America in his career.

2. Billy Wilder

Billy Wilder started his career writing scripts in Germany. Austrian born, many of Wilder’s family members were killed by the Nazis. After he left Germany in the 1930s, Wilder has cemeted himself as one of Hollywood‘s greats by the 1940s. Someof his most well-known works include Sunset Boulevard (1950), Sabrina (1954) and Some Like It Hot (1959). He was nominated for 21 Oscars, and won six, including two for Best Director.

1. Akira Kurosawa

Most famous for Seven Samurai, across a 60-year career Kurosawa worked across genres on books, TV and theatre as well. As well as classic samurai fare, he gainged recognition for noirish dramas like Drunken Angel (1948), period pieces like Rashomon (1950) and riveting crime flicks like High and Low (1963). He helped to popularise Japanese films in the West and many other notable directors described him favourably. Kurosawa started working for Photo Chemical Laboratories (which later became Japan’s Toho Studios) in 1936 at the age of 25.



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