DRAGONS’ Den star Steven Bartlett has given fans a rare look inside his state of the art £150,000 Mercedes van.

The luxury vehicle plays a major part in busy entrepreneur Steven’s logistical plans and is equipped with everything he needs to carry out his work and then some.

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The pricey motor is packed with home comforts, which is just as well given Steven often spends hours at a time on the road.

He said of his trusty Merc: “One of the best investments I made was buying a car – and hiring a full-time driver – and personalising it with everything I need to be productive and to rest.”

Its features include Starlink internet and two further back-up options to keep him online at all times, then there are two TVs, a fridge, coffee machine, a desk, bed Playstation 5, and less glam necessities like plug sockets and cutlery.

All of which comes at an eye-wateringly high cost: £100,000-a-year.

Despite the expensive maintenance fee, Steven insists it is essential to his continued success.

The multi-millionaire has started to share more and more of his daily routine, having previously admitted he can be prone to burnout by taking on so much.

And it’s easy to see how, with his myriad business and projects.

In just one day this week he spoke at three separate high profile events, conducted numerous video calls, considered multiple proposals, researched and reviewed guests and details surrounding his Diary of a CEO podcast and had two separate workouts as well as much more.

He returned home at 11pm, where he was greeted by his beloved pooch, only to tell fans that there was still plenty of reading to be done on subjects as diverse as US politics, AI and management.

Steven’s achievements certainly haven’t come by accident and his work ethic is something to behold.

In 2021, aged 28, he became the youngest Dragons’ Den investor ever, joining fellow business behemoths Deborah Meaden, Peter Jones, Touker Suleyman and Sara Davies on the programme.

He took the place of Vitabiotics CEO Tej Lalvani, who left the BBC show after four years.

It marked a breakthrough into mainstream celebrity, though Steven was already well established in the business world and a major play in the tech sector.

Steven developed The Social Chain alongside Dominic McGregor as a 22-year-old after dropping out of university.

He helped build the firm into an online powerhouse that was valued in 2021 at $600 million. Though Steven had stepped down as CEO prior to this valuation, he retained a significant number of shares and continued to work for the company advising on strategic matters.

The businessman has also released a book called Happy Sexy Millionaire and his The Diary Of A CEO podcast boasts millions of listeners and attracts globally famous names from a wide variety of fields.

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Daisy May Cooper says her This Country co-star was visited by a “presence” that correctly predicted when exactly he would die.

Michael Sleggs, who played Slugs in the BBC Three comedy series, died from heart failure in July 2019, aged 33.

Cooper, who, along with her brother and fellow This Country star Charlie Cooper, was a childhood friend of Sleggs, and reflected on his death in a new interview.

“He’d been in constant pain his entire life – even walking caused him pain,” Cooper told The Guardian, adding that “it was horrible” when Sleggs was placed in palliative care as “he was terrified of dying”.

However, according to Cooper, Sleggs “had a visitation from an angelic presence, which sat at the end of his bed and told him, ‘In seven days, you will have a new body at midnight”.

Sleggs would die seven days later at 11.59pm. The outlet notes that Cooper is unsure whether this was “real” or “a powerful example of bodily self-determination”.

Elsewhere, the comedy star, whose credits include Am I Being Unreasonable? and Rain Dogs, opened up about “encounters” she’s had with ghosts, stating: “It’s isolating, because people think you’re mad. But it exists.”

Cooper said one such moment occurred while she was suffering from viral meningitis in 2018. While alone in a hospital room, she said: “If there’s anybody in here, can you speak into the microphone?” and heard, in response, a tiny female voice saying: “Don’t be afraid.” She now has those words tattooed on her wrist.

Days before Sleggs died, he shared a message on Facebook that read: “Hi friends, as a lot of you are probably aware I’ve spent a lot of time in and out of hospital over the past few months.

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“This last time it was decided I was reaching the end of options so they’ve sent me home on palliative care to live out the remainder of my days at home. No specific time limit has been given but deterioration has been fairly rapid.”

He added: “Anyway as you can imagine this isn’t the ideal way I wished things to go and my family are dealing with a lot of grief.”

AXED Big Brother star Ryan Bradshaw has leapt to the defence of housemate Marcello, following calls for him to be fired over his misogynistic remarks.

ITV2 viewers hit out at the ‘disgusting’ contestant, after her questioned whether Sarah was on her period due to her glum mood.

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But now Blackpool-born Ryan, who was the first to be ejected from the Big Brother house, argues that Marcello has been misrepresented.

In an interview with The Sun he said: “I’ve got time for Marcello. But I just think he’s been represented, maybe a little bit differently, as what I’ve seen in there.

“At first I thought the same, I thought, oh, he’s this Greek God obviously he does talk about women. He’ll be the first to admit that. But there’s also the other side where he’s very respectful.” And Ryan added that he does have a generous streak.

He added: “He cooks and cleans for everyone. He opens doors for people, and I think yeah, I don’t think he’s as bad as what’s been made out.”

Earlier this week, youth worker Marcello, 34, had told Sarah, 27 that she smelled of  “periods and teabags” before asking her whether it was “her time of the month.”

Standing up for herself, Sarah retorted: “”I’m feeling upset and you say, ‘Are you on your period?’

That makes me feel like you’re invalidating the way I feel because you think the way I feel is because I’m on my period. “You’re not sitting down and saying, ‘Why do you feel sad, Sarah?’

“You’re saying, ‘Oh God, you’re on your period.’”

Sarah went on to defuse the situation by calling him her ‘bestie’ but reiterated that his choice of words weren’t okay.

Marcello replied: “I’m learning,” promising that he wouldn’t say it again.

But fans rushed to social media as they blasted him over the shocking exchange.

One tweeted: “Marcello telling Sarah she smells like period and tea bags, denying it, then asking if it’s that time of her month is f****d up.”

Another added: “can’t get over marcello telling sarah she smells like ‘period and tea bags’. What is actually wrong with him??”

Someone else agreed: “My mouth dropped when Marcello said to Sarah she smells like period and teabags. Omg this guy is insane, he needs to be told off.”

A fourth fumed: “Marcello makes me violently ill and uncomfortable, get him out.”

Meanwhile Ryan’s early exit from the house came as no surprise to the viewers, after his Big Brother journey got off to a bad start.

The northerner ruffled some feathers after making a dig at those who self-identify.

He said: “I think I’m strong and opinionated.            

“There’s a lot of woke people out there.

“It’s all well and good if you want to use certain pronouns, and I get that, but it gets a bit confusing sometimes with people identifying as a spoon or whatnot.”

Following this Ryan received some boos from the crowd during his entrance interview with hosts AJ Odudu and Will Best,

But Ryan, who works in marketing was surprisingly taken a back by the bad reception he received from the crowd saying: “I got boos there, bloody hell.”

After he packed up his bags, Big Brother Late and Live bosses played the track Ego by Halsey as he walked up for a chat — taking a dig at his character.

The marketing and events worker also  caused a scene in the house with Sarah over the shopping task in an episode earlier in the week.

Reflecting on the drama away from his co-stars, Ryan claimed he was set to become a “scapegoat” in the diary room.

He said: “It’s just a bit of fun innit, you know what I mean?

“As long as I don’t hurt anybody, I didn’t wanna upset anybody and I actually spoke to Sarah after to make sure she’s alright but I know people getting a bit angry but there’s a lot of mischief going on.

“It’s alright now, but we fail to shopping budget and finger’s on me. If there’s any punishment, I will say I’ll take one for the team because it was kind of me that caused it.

“But yeah, I think it’s all right now, but it’s gonna be a scapegoat, essentially that, oh, you know, if the luxury budget fails, 100 per cent I’ll be an easy target.

“So yeah, I’ve not really played it very well to be honest, have I Big Brother? Came up like a whizz-kid on day one, got blown up by a cake, stayed in a storage room, tried to do the honourable thing.

“Felt like I’d been ripped up, put for eviction, and I pissed people off today in the bloody shopping task, but you’ see how it going.”

On the night of the eviction, AJ said: “The viewers have spoken, we can now reveal that the first housemate to be evicted from the Big Brother house is Ryan.”

Hugging his housemates, Ryan took the blow in his stride and said:  “It’s all good, keep smashing it.

He added: “Gutted to be fair but someone’s got to go first.” 

Big Brother 2024 cast

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A brand new batch of Big Brother housemates are living it up in the famous compound.

Meet the cast of the 2024 series:

• Rosie, 29, dental assistant from Cornwall.
• Emma, 53, aesthetics business owner from Altrincham.
• Segun, 25, charity videographer from Watford.
• Nathan, 24, pork salesman from Dumfries.
• Daze, 24, climate activist from London.
• Khaled, 23, sales manager from Manchester.
• Martha, 26, NHS administrator from Scarborough.
• Lily, 20, Chinese takeaway server from Warrington.
• Ali, 30, Forensic psychologist from London.
• Thomas, 20 amputee footballer from Carlisle.
• Ryan, 28, marketing and events from Stockport.
• Hannah, 24, HR consultant from West London.
• Izaaz, 29, sales consultant from London.
• Sarah, 27, spa account manager from Shrewsbury.
• Marcello, 34, youth mentor from East London.
• Dean, 35, barber from East London

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The Graham Norton Show viewers were left confused after believing they heard boos for a celebrity guest.

One week after Miranda Hart and Selena Gomez shared an emotional interaction on the BBC chat show, it returned on Friday (18 October) with an episode that welcomed guests including Amy Adams, Vanessa Williams, Bill Bailey and St Vincent.

But it was Bruce Springsteen, who was in London to promote his new Disney+ documentary Road Diary, that prompted the most excitement from audience members.

At the start of Springsteen’s interview, when Irish host Norton introduced the musician, a noise could be heard from the audience gathered in the studio that those not unaware of the musician’s dedicated fandom thought were boos. This led to a flurry of posts on X/Twitter asking:”Why did the audience boo Springsteen?”

However, the musician and E Street Band leader’s followers were quick to point out the error in this assumption, with one replying: “They weren’t booing they were shouting ‘Brruuuuccceee!’”

One fan added: “For those who aren’t au fait with a Brooooce Springsteen audience just so you know … they’re NOT booing they’re shouting Broooce NOT Boo.”

Norton himself quipped on the show: “To me, it still sounds like booing. But it’s not – they love you.”

Springsteen, whose classic albums include Born to Run, Nebraska and Born in the USA, is known for his epic live shows alongside the E Street Band, which famously last for three hours.

His most recent tour, which saw the musician hit the road for the first time since before the pandemic, is documented in the new film, which is released on 25 October.

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It explores Springsteen’s position as, not only a musical icon adored by millions of fans around the world, but a bandleader to his fellow musicians, including Steven Van Zandt, Max Weinberg, Garry Tallent and his wife, Patti Scialfa, who recently revealed her diagnosis of multiple myeloma.

In a new interview with The Times, Springsteen said that, these days, the success behind performing so many lengthy live shows is “taking time off between shows”, which he described as “the biggest change” with age.

“If we do that we can play at our top form, which is what I like to do at this point,” he said. “I don’t want to go out there tired, because we put the pedal to the metal for three hours straight. It’s fun to overwhelm the audience.”

Back at the turn of the century, it could be something of a challenge to persuade film and television talent that Wales was the place to make world-class drama.

Twenty-odd years on, figures reveal that Cardiff’s creative sector is growing more rapidly than any UK city apart from London. And this weekend Bafta Cymru is celebrating a “golden age” for film and television production in Wales at its annual awards ceremony.

From Doctor Who and His Dark Materials to Men Up, which tells how Viagra was developed in Swansea, and the thriller Dal y Mellt (Catch the Lightning), the first Welsh language-only show to be bought by Netflix, the hits keep coming.

“It is definitely a golden age for Wales-based production in TV and film,” said Angharad Mair, the chair of Bafta Cymru. Mair said young people keen to get into the industry no longer had to leave for London or Hollywood. “If I was a young person now in school in Wales, with aspirations to work in television or film, I would be so enthused. I’d think, wow, I can be part of that without having to work out how to get away. That’s a massive change.”

Figures from the Centre for the Creative Economy at Cardiff University found business turnover in the Welsh capital’s audiovisual media sector between 2021 and 2023 grew by 55% – the highest for any UK city outside London.

More than 15% of enterprises in Cardiff are in the creative industries, and south Wales is said to have more television and film studios than anywhere in the UK outside London. The Welsh government has ploughed millions into the sector, with regional and local authorities also seeing it as a priority for economic growth.

One of the architects of this golden age, Julie Gardner, the co-founder of the production company Bad Wolf, which is behind shows including Dr Who, A Discovery of Witches and The Winter King will receive an outstanding contribution to television award at the Bafta Cymru ceremony.

Mair said: “What they are doing there in Wolf Studios is absolutely incredible – a centre of excellence producing some of the best work that’s ever come out of Wales. They are very involved with local schools and colleges. They bring young people in and show them that this great work is happening in Wales.”

Gardner said there were negative preconceptions about Wales two decades ago: “There was suspicion and a lack of confidence that Wales could produce the sort of projects the country is creating now. When I would be doing meetings with talent, I’d ask them how long they thought the journey from London to Cardiff was. Everyone thought Cardiff was five, six hours away. No one thought it was two hours. It felt like such a distant place. There were a lot of preconceptions.”

She said the revolution began in the early 2000s when the rebooted Doctor Who was based in Wales. “It was such a major moment in the evolution of the creative industries in Wales. In terms of network television, it was a lightning rod. And as Russell T Davies [the Doctor Who show runner] always says, work begets work.

“When we were setting up Bad Wolf, we knew we wanted to come home to Wales. Knowing how great the crews are, how great the locations are, how extraordinary the Welsh government is in supporting that sector. This is an incredibly fertile, joyful time for Welsh-based production.”

Also receiving a special award is Mark Lewis-Jones, who is recognised globally for his work on shows such as The Crown and Baby Reindeer – but also starred in Welsh hits such as Men Up (six Bafta Cymru nominations) and works in Welsh and English.

The success of the industry is boosting Cymraeg, the Welsh language. Shows such as the dark comedy Pren ar y Bryn/Tree on a Hill, which has five nominations, have been shot “back to back” – in Welsh and English.

Sara Pepper, the deputy director of Media Cymru, a 22-partner consortium delivering projects in and for the sector in Wales, said: “We are witnessing impressive growth in Wales, particularly within the Cardiff capital region’s media cluster.”

Moves are afoot to form a film and TV “supercluster” with Bristol, the city with the second-highest growth rate, at 41%.

Pepper said: “The potential for further growth is apparent. To build on existing successes and create new opportunities, it’s essential that innovation remains a top priority.”

The Bafta Cymru ceremony will be livestreamed from 7pm on Sunday on the Bafta YouTube channel.

IN the mid 80s she was part of a formidable group of emerging talent that was, perhaps unfairly, dubbed The Brat Pack.

Though Charli XCX has very much rebranded the term Brat into a positive this year, it had adverse repercussions for actress Ally Sheedy four decades ago as she struggled to break free from the cloak it put around her and peers like Demi Moore, Robert Downey Jr and Rob Lowe, among others.

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The moniker, a play on the famous Rat Pack nickname given to 50s and 60s crooners like Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole – came to be after a bunch of young up and comers appeared alongside one another in multiple coming of age movies like St Elmo’s Fire and The Breakfast Club.

At the height of those films’ success, Ally didn’t feel particularly concerned, and why would she, as one of the industry’s hottest new stars.

She told Vanity Fair in 2022: “Movies and working in film and TV and all that— it was this all-consuming love affair in my 20s. This is what I want to do….

“So I understand myself in my 20s, and I also understand how dangerous it can be to simply decide this is my path—period, end of story, nothing else matters. But that’s in your 20s. You’re passionate.”

However, that attitude began to change as she became increasingly pigeon-holed and was urged to change her style in order to compete for more prominent roles.

The shallow nature of Hollywood irked her and she had no desire to transform herself into a stereotypical ‘pretty girl’ to land roles.

It was something she had enough difficulty doing while in character during a pivotal scene in The Breakfast Club when her character, Allison, is given a glam makeover that then makes her more attractive to boys.

She told The Independent in 2020: “I never liked the makeover. Listen, it was Hollywood in the Eighties. They wanted to take the ugly duckling and make her into a swan.

“As far as I was concerned, that wasn’t what I was doing with that character, but that was what they wanted.”

Ally lamented the misogynistic culture within Hollywood at the time and the pressure on women to conform to the standards set out by the “white men’s club” in charge.

She said: “Acting started to just feel more and more to me like something that I didn’t want my life to necessarily be about.”

Despite her disillusionment, Ally has remained in the industry, though has been selective with the roles she has taken and the people she works with.

In 1998, the romantic comedy High Art renewed interest in her acting career.

Ally played alluring, party-loving photographer Lucy, who lives with her heroin-addict girlfriend in the flat above aspiring high fashion snapper Syd.

After a chance meeting, Lucy and Syd’s lives start to become complicatedly entwined both professionally and romantically.

Ally has gone on record as calling it her favourite role, loving every aspect of it from the direction to the script and filmography.

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Now 62, mum-of-one Ally splits her time between acting and working as a professor in the theatre department at the City University of New York.

She recently spoke out about her class and how she deals with students who might not be as committed to the course as they should.

“There’s so much to get out of this class, it’s really great,” she said. “If you don’t avail yourself of what’s here, then that’s on you. If I can see a particular kid who’s on their phone all the time, I’m not going to say anything. It’s just you’re missing out.”