‘What happened to me and my dad, I’d hate to see that happen to me and my sons. I’d never let it happen. It’s hard for everyone and it isn’t fair.’

These were the words of David Beckham in 2008, as he reflected on what had been a painful schism with his father, Ted.

Given David’s recent serious falling-out with his eldest son, Brooklyn, his words now seem painfully obtuse.

For just as he was with Brooklyn, David had been extraordinarily close to his own father, who had spent hours and hours drilling his son on the pitch and had been so personally invested in his career. Yet for two years the pair barely spoke, and it took around 15 years before they were fully at ease with each other.

Part of the cause of the fall-out had been Ted’s misgivings about David’s relationship with Victoria. Working-class gas fitter Ted had little in common with his daughter-in-law and her upwardly mobile family. He worried about Victoria’s influence on his son, and whether she would cause him to drift away.

Twenty-five years later, Brooklyn also married a girl from a different social bracket – American actress Nicola Peltz, daughter of billionaire businessman Nelson Peltz. And the complaint from David and Victoria to this day is that Brooklyn’s identity has been swallowed up by the woman he married.

But while Ted largely kept his mouth shut, David and Victoria haven’t attempted to hide their negative feelings about their son’s bride. So much so that, as Brooklyn, 27, claimed in his explosive six-page denunciation of his parents on Instagram earlier this year: ‘The night before my wedding, members of my family told me that Nicola was “not blood” and “not family”.’

Of course, David and Victoria themselves regularly declare family means everything to them. The stream of loving social media posts devoted to their children – who include Romeo, 23, Cruz, 21, and Harper, 15 – are clearly meant to underline that. But the building of their brand, with their family image as a lynchpin, has been meticulous, with a ferocious protection of all parties within it.

The disastrous fall-out with Brooklyn – who damningly claimed in his Instagram post that ‘inauthentic relationships have been a fixture of the life I was born into’ – has, then, been the ultimate test of this PR strategy.

For how would Brand Beckham react when threatened by one of its own? Speaking to me, a source close to Brooklyn and Nicola is clear on this point. The couple, it seems, are convinced the Beckham camp responded by briefing the media against their own son.

Brooklyn and the Peltzes believe one of the Beckhams’ closest aides, who travels with David internationally and is intimately involved in their business affairs, was responsible for stories calling Nicola a ‘spoiled brat’, a ‘viper’ and worse. The source goes on to tell me that Brooklyn could not believe the Beckhams had attacked him and Nicola so publicly.

The friend said: ‘There was a steady stream of stories intended to demonise and upset [Brooklyn and Nicola], much of it untrue.

Brand Beckham by Alison Boshoff, to be published by Century on August 13, priced £22. To order a copy for £19.80 (offer valid to August 23; UK p&p free on orders over £25) go to mailshop.co.uk/books or call 020 3176 2937. 

‘It was very painful to him to think his own parents were briefing against him and the woman he was proud to call his wife. This remains the biggest barrier to the two sides making up.’

If it was indeed the Beckhams who were behind the deluge of negative stories against Nicola it’s hard to see what their end game was.

The more that it was briefed that Nicola was ‘mean’, ‘bad’ to the family, and ‘bad’ for Brooklyn, the tighter the couple stuck together. As a source tells me now: ‘The Beckhams don’t have to like Nicola… but you know, wake up – this is your son, so what are you doing?

‘The more they stick their foot down, the more Brooklyn and Nicola are going to make that marriage work. There’s nothing Brooklyn or Nicola did which would have deserved this treatment.

David Beckham with his dad Ted. The pair are close, but previously fell out and didn’t speak for two years

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‘It seems [the Beckhams] thought they could heap abuse on Nicola without any consequence. They did not let up. There was a public trashing which kept on going.

‘It matters what was written. It seemed as if things were being said without any regard being paid to the impact on Brooklyn.

‘He is loyal to his wife. Someone should have told them to stop, because it was not in their best interests to do this to their own son, but nobody did.’

A SITUATION where a father seemingly deliberately trashed his firstborn son and new daughter-in-law to the world’s media was unthinkable back when – some six weeks after the birth of baby Brooklyn, in April 1999 – I interviewed David Beckham for the Daily Mail. He was clear he was in a new, family era. ‘We’re a family now and I’m the happiest I’ve been in a long time,’ he said.

As to his ambitions for the boy, David sounded as if he had been inspired by his own father’s spartan parenting ‘We are going to love him and look after him and we are going to be strict as well. Victoria is adamant about that. You know, we can’t stand those naughty little kids who run about in restaurants. He is going to be a well-behaved little boy.’

David had also been clear on another seeming ‘red line’.

‘We don’t want his picture splashed all over the papers – if he wants to do pictures when he’s old enough to make that decision for himself, then fine. It’s a different story with me and Victoria – we expect to be photographed because of what we do, but when we’re with Brooklyn… well, I don’t know how that’s going to be and, I’ll be honest with you, it worries me.’

Victoria echoed the sentiment in a paid-for interview in OK! magazine – reportedly worth £250,000 – insisting: ‘He’s the one thing that is totally private for us. He’s not a money-spinner. People were saying, “They left the hospital with their little asset,” and that really hurt a lot.’

Brooklyn Beckham and Nicola Peltz at the 2021 Met Gala, where Nicola wore Valentino, not Victoria Beckham

Yet before long that line vanished. Brooklyn, who had been shielded from paparazzi lenses and conscientiously cropped from photoshoots, made his front-page debut in pictures from the Beckhams’ £1 million OK! magazine wedding only four months later.

From almost the beginning, the couple’s publicists would brief journalists about the world of luxury the little lad, and later his siblings, were living in. Each small invasion of privacy kept the family in the limelight.

Brooklyn’s first birthday party, held at the Cottons Hotel in Cheshire, featured clowns, jugglers, stilt-walkers, magicians and a menu of champagne and lobster – although presumably not for the children – at a cost of £12,000. His third birthday treat was a £2,000 toy car and a private screening of Disney’s Treasure Planet.

For Christmas 2003, David splashed out £220,000 to fly Brooklyn and his 18-month-old brother Romeo to Santa’s grotto in Finland.

For his fourth birthday, Brooklyn got a Shetland pony. When he was five, Brooklyn tackled his first red carpet at the Scooby Doo 2 premiere, wearing a £6,000 watch. Newspapers were told by his parents’ PR this had been a gift from New York jewellers Jacob & Co, and was a copy of David’s £36,000 diamond-encrusted model.

At the family home in Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, known as ‘Beckingham Palace’, his parents spent £20,000 installing hundreds of fibre-optic lights in Brooklyn’s bedroom to recreate the night sky, and had their faces superimposed on a Cinderella and Prince Charming Disney mural on the walls – all of which was shown off in OK! magazine.

Hand-in-hand with this luxury was a darker side, however. Both David and Victoria were sincerely convinced there were serious security threats against them and, in particular, against baby Brooklyn.

David at times slept on the floor of his room to be sure nobody could come through the door.

David and Victoria with baby Brooklyn. The pair were convinced there were serious security threats against them

This all led to a rather sheltered life for Brooklyn. Victoria herself recalled a moment when her mother’s friend took toddler Brooklyn shopping and it started raining.

Rather than seeking shelter, ‘he just stood there… his little hands held out trying to catch the drops, amazed. And everybody else was staring, wondering why he didn’t take shelter.

‘And she told me this – like here’s a funny story for you – but I was suddenly overcome by guilt. He did it because it was a new experience for him. He’d never been in the rain, he went everywhere by car.’

Victoria and David have said the Press attention focused on their family was worst in the wake of the Rebecca Loos affair allegations, when Brooklyn was just five.

Victoria said: ‘It was very difficult for Brooklyn because he was older, and he had photographers screaming things. They used to scream things to Brooklyn about his mum and his dad.’

And yet they continued to parade their children in front of the world’s cameras.

Little wonder Brooklyn grew up to be highly sensitive.

One friend of his told me: ‘The young man has anxiety issues and other educational issues that were not properly addressed when he was growing up. The kid never got the attention that he needed to deal with his issues properly. He is a good kid with good instincts and a good heart, but he is sensitive.’

Brooklyn in 2004. Due to David and Victoria’s security concerns, Brooklyn led a sheltered life

His family, for their part, say that this sensitivity means he falls in love fast – and hard.

Another family friend adds: ‘Jackie [Victoria’s mother] always says that Brooklyn gets completely absorbed by whoever he dates. You know, if they like poodles he likes poodles, if they drink milkshakes, then so does he.’

Brooklyn met his future wife Nicola at a Halloween party in Hollywood in 2019 and proposed just eight months later in July 2020 – something Victoria initially felt optimistic about.

Perhaps, she said, Nicola – driven and focused on her nascent acting career – might be ‘the making’ of Brooklyn. However, it was also noted by the Beckhams that Nicola seemed to be ‘in charge’ of Brooklyn when they saw them together.

One friend of the Beckhams says: ‘I always say he married his mother. Nicola and Victoria are very similar people. They both demanded and expected to have control over him.’

At first Nicola seemed to play ball with the Beckhams, wearing a canary yellow Victoria Beckham dress for her engagement photographs. The pictures were taken by Brooklyn’s sister, Harper. Online congratulations from the Beckham family appeared absolutely genuine.

But by September 2021 there were visible signs of fracture when Brooklyn and Nicola went to the Met Ball in New York.

There, Nicola wore Valentino, not Victoria Beckham – and in a world where social media ‘likes’ are as indicative as a Roman emperor’s thumb – Victoria and David didn’t offer a like on the pictures. In that same month, Brooklyn and Nicola went to the Paris fashion shows and Brooklyn expressed his admiration online for Givenchy and Valentino. Again, no likes from his parents.

Nicola wore a canary yellow Victoria Beckham dress for her engagement photographs

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And when, soon afterwards, the couple were featured on the cover of the Hong Kong edition of Vogue magazine, the only image liked by David and Victoria was the digital cover of Brooklyn, solo. The cover which included them both was noticeably not liked by his parents.

In hindsight, it looks very much as if the Beckhams started to withhold social media approval from Nicola in 2021, just as Brooklyn moved permanently to the US. Some friends of his parents say Victoria can be manipulative and is uniquely sensitive to perceived slights. The not liking posts is undoubtedly pointed and petty but ‘is very Victoria,’ observed one of her friends.

‘She is 100 per cent the kind of person who will perceive a slight and nurse her upset over it. All the Spice Girls were like that back in the day. They were well schooled in the art of being a bitch.’

Then, in February 2022, with Brooklyn and Nicola’s wedding just months away, came an almighty row that brought all the toxicity to the fore and resulted in the families no longer speaking.

At its heart, it was a dispute about Brooklyn’s right to his own name. This had been bubbling away as an issue since 2018, when Brooklyn was just 19 and had come close to signing a £3 million deal with Boohooman clothing, to ‘design’ a range bearing his name.

A source close to the proposed deal says Victoria was involved throughout, and negotiations were at an advanced level before it all, perplexingly, collapsed into nothing. ‘There must have been a dozen meetings,’ they said. ‘At a late stage, Victoria decided to block Brooklyn from using the Beckham surname on the product. It did get into a bit of a war with the brand, and the deal then did not happen.

‘Brooklyn was like, “I can’t help it – this is my surname.” She had been OK about it in the beginning, but then she had a change of heart.’

At this stage in Brooklyn’s life, Victoria was in control, and he had no choice but to comply. But four years later, and with a confident fiancee in his corner, the outcome was rather different when Brooklyn’s parents then approached him with a proposition he believed was an attempt to sign away his rights to his name entirely.

Brooklyn and Nicola in 2023. Brooklyn believed the deal his parents approached him with was an attempt to sign away his rights to his name entirely

The situation arose because the Beckhams’ company, DB Ventures, had years previously taken out a trademark on all the names of the Beckham children. Sources familiar with this step explain other commercial entities had been trying to trademark the children’s names, so they had taken proactive steps to stop them.

In February 2022, however, David Beckham had entered into a strategic partnership with Authentic Brands Group (ABG), selling a 55 per cent stake in his company, DB Ventures, for about $269 million (£200 million).

This deal had a number of implications, including for the children’s trademarked names, as they were now owned partly by a new entity, over which the Beckhams did not have complete control. Brooklyn and Romeo, who were both over 18, were asked to sign a trademark co-existence agreement. This is a formal, negotiated contract between two parties allowing them to use similar or identical trademarks in the marketplace without infringing on each other’s rights.

A source familiar with the situation said: ‘It was to protect them [Brooklyn and Romeo] in case someone tried to use their names, but at the same time it would allow David and Victoria to use their names and their brand. Victoria signed it and Romeo signed it, but Brooklyn didn’t sign it.’

The Beckhams have apparently ‘decided to act as if he had signed it, so we protect his name as well’.

The source added: ‘He was never penalised or prejudiced in any way by not signing it.’

Soon-to-be-married Brooklyn saw the deal differently. It appears he had legal advice from the Peltz lawyers, who said that it wasn’t in his interests.

A source close to him insisted: ‘Brooklyn, his name and his brand, has been sold by the Beckhams from the beginning in order to benefit them. This was one of the biggest violations of trust between parents and child.

Nelson Peltz, Nicola’s father, officiating Brooklyn and Nicola’s vow renewal at the Peltz family estate in Bedford, New York

‘He refused to sign over his name in that deal right before his wedding. It was a big deal and they were trying to maximise their return. I guess their catalogue isn’t worth as much if you don’t have all the kids in it.’

Brooklyn gave his account in his Instagram post, writing: ‘Weeks before our big day, my parents repeatedly pressured and attempted to bribe me into signing away the rights to my name, which would have affected me, my wife, and our future children. They were adamant on me signing before my wedding date because then the terms of the deal would be initiated. My holdout affected the payday, and they have never treated me the same since.’

The Beckham source insists it would not have disadvantaged Brooklyn, and there was no effect on any payday.

They deny trying to ‘pressure or bribe’ him. But the Peltz-Beckham source says the episode is very much viewed as a clear example of attempted exploitation. The source explains: ‘They said when he was a baby that they didn’t want to exploit him and then they did. There is a straight line from that to this.

‘Wherever and whenever there is money available in return for exploitation of the names the Beckhams are open to doing it. They have the right to, up to a point.

‘At this time, Brooklyn was already having other input and advice. The concept is not one that is hard to understand: if you give this away then you are giving up the option of having your brand. Why would you give that up and have nothing for it?’

The feeling among Brooklyn’s friends is that ‘it was just exploit, exploit, exploit to whatever degree you can. What upsets them [David and Victoria] is when they lose control or the financial benefit.’

Those final weeks ahead of the wedding in April 2022 could scarcely, then, have been more awkward. What should have been a happy time anticipating the uniting of two families was, in fact, the point at which battle lines were drawn.

The reality is Brooklyn and his bride walked down the aisle with neither on speaking terms with his parents. In the Beckham camp, emotions were high – so much so that a source tells me Victoria ‘openly’ referred to her daughter-in-law as a ‘c-word’. Sources close to Victoria deny this.

Stories mounted about tensions between the Beckhams and the Peltzes – indeed, I was the first to report on them in July 2022.

And then, in September 2022, David – known for being prone to outbursts rather than reasoned argument – finally boiled over at his son.

In an interview that month with Grazia magazine to promote an acting role, Nicola had only stoked the fire of the tension rumours.

She exclaimed: ‘It’s not a feud! I keep seeing everywhere, that word “feud, feud, feud”. I don’t know why they say “feud”? I mean, maybe they picked up on something?’ before adding: ‘No family is perfect.’

Brooklyn added, in an aside that appeared to confirm the awkwardness was very real: ‘To be honest, my wife is obviously my first priority and I never want to see her upset ever. We have each other’s back 100 per cent and we just move on together.’

Short of wearing a ‘Team Peltz’ T-shirt, he could hardly have made it more obvious that there was an upsetting problem, and he was taking her side.

David, who had spent a couple of decades selling the story of the perfect Beckham family, was outraged by the indiscretion, and launched a ferocious, dressing down of his son. A well-placed source told me: ‘I don’t think David has ever lost his temper with Brooklyn or had cause to talk to him harshly, but that finally happened. David had it out with Brooklyn and told him, “We don’t do this in our family – and you know that we don’t do this in our family.” ’

David allegedly added to his son: ‘What happens next is up to you, but we are done with the drama.’

The source said: ‘David was really appalled by the Grazia interview because it seemed to be washing the family dirty linen in public, and he said Romeo and Cruz were also hurt by it.

‘It was probably a shock to Brooklyn, as David had never done anything other than tell Brooklyn how much he adores him. What was being said is Brooklyn forgot that he is a Beckham.’

By mid-2025, negative stories about Nicola were appearing almost daily.

At this point, the young couple started to plan a secret second wedding. Nicola’s view was the Beckhams had ‘ruined’ her special day and their bad behaviour tainted their happy memories.

Rather than move on, she wanted to do-over. Brooklyn agreed. His statement later elaborated: ‘We wanted to renew our vows so we could create new memories of our wedding day that bring us joy and happiness, not anxiety and embarrassment.’

Nelson Peltz agreed to officiate, and the venue chosen for the event, to be held on August 2, 2025, was the Peltz family estate in Bedford, New York.

A guest list of some 200 friends was drawn up. Not a single one had been at Brooklyn’s 21st birthday just four years earlier. There wasn’t a single Beckham invited. That was rather the point.

All involved must have known how deeply this would upset the Beckhams. A friend of the Peltz Beckhams now acknowledges the cruelty, saying: ‘It was a twist of the knife. It looked as if Nicola had done the whole thing out of spite.’

Then came the final bombshell: Brooklyn’s Instagram statement in January this year.

Today, though, the Beckhams remain particularly hopeful of a reconciliation. Friends of the Peltz-Beckhams are more circumspect about whether that is possible – even though Brooklyn feels the pain of separation keenly.

A friend says: ‘Nicola says she will never stop Brooklyn from having a relationship with his parents, and if he wants to go to London to see them she will never stop him.

‘But she is over it now. It doesn’t land in the same way with her. Brooklyn is so sad about it, still.’

With respect to whether the Beckham family brand can survive, it has certainly taken a big knock. But after years in the business, David and Victoria know it’s simply a matter of finding the right narrative.

An associate of Victoria says: ‘The Brooklyn problem has done them two big favours. Firstly, David and Victoria have never got on as well as they do now. The pain of it all has brought them closer together. They are in lockstep. I’ve not seen them so happy together since the really early days.

‘The other positive is it has humanised them. People who used to mock them in a snobby way now see them as human beings who you can relate to. David is kind of a national treasure, and people are softening towards Victoria, they can see how hard she has had it.’

Indeed, it seems a decision has been taken to incorporate ‘the feud’ into the ‘Brand Beckham’ narrative. The strategy is they will continue to remind us they are heartbroken, good parents who have done their best, and they love all their children.

The wheel of Brand Beckham will continue to turn – with or without Brooklyn inside the tent.

 © Alison Boshoff, 2026

Click here to read part one of the Daily Mail’s serialisation of Brand Beckham by Alison Boshoff 

Adapted from Brand Beckham by Alison Boshoff, to be published by Century on August 13, priced £22. To order a copy for £19.80 (offer valid to August 23; UK p&p free on orders over £25) go to mailshop.co.uk/books or call 020 3176 2937.

At least three people have been killed and 21 injured after a homemade explosive device was detonated at an Italian restaurant in Moscow, Russian state media reports, quoting security officials.

The blast happened at about 20:00 local time (17:00 GMT) on Kudrinskaya square near the city centre.

The National Anti-Terrorist Committee said a woman carrying the explosives tried to enter the restaurant but was stopped by a security guard.

The device detonated, killing the woman, the guard and a visitor to the Balzi Rossi restaurant, which had been holding a private function.

Authorities have not said who they believe was the target, but many Muscovites will suspect a link to the war in Ukraine.

In recent years, several senior Russian military figures have been assassinated in and around the Russian capital. Moscow has blamed Kyiv for those attacks.

Initial reports said the blast happened in the establishment’s kitchen but the restaurant later issued a statement saying “there was a problem outside”.

The restaurant is located in one of Moscow’s famous Stalin-era skyscrapers, with roads around the square briefly closed.

Dozens of cyclists had been gathering nearby for an evening ride through the city but the event was cancelled.

Video released by Russia’s RIA news agency showed heavily armed law enforcement officers at the scene, which had been closed off to members of the public.

New research by outdoor retailer Millets has ranked the country’s best family-friendly dog walks, with routes in the Peak District, Lancashire and the Lake District all making the national top 10.

The study comes as UK searches for “family hikes” have more than doubled over the past month, increasing by 104 per cent as more people look for outdoor days out.

The highest-ranked nearby route is the Rydal Water and Cave Circular in the Lake District, which was crowned the best family-friendly dog walk in the UK.

(Image: Google Maps)

The 2.7-mile circular walk near Ambleside takes around an hour to an hour and a half to complete and offers lakeside views, a dramatic cave and gentle, well-maintained paths.

Walkers praised the route as “super dog friendly”, highlighting its lack of stiles and accessible terrain, making it suitable for children, dogs and people of all abilities.

Closer to home, the Fairy Glen Circular in Lancashire placed fourth overall.

(Image: Google Maps)

The scenic woodland walk, near Parbold, has built a strong reputation among walkers thanks to its easy-going terrain and picturesque surroundings, making it a popular choice for families wanting a relaxed countryside stroll.

This hidden gem, just half-an-hour away from Bolton, is a haven for walkers and nature lovers, offering a tranquil retreat just a short drive from the hustle and bustle.

Follow the winding path alongside Sprodley Brook, where centuries of flowing water have carved a dramatic sandstone valley.

Here, tiny waterfalls tumble into mossy pools, and rugged cliff faces peek through a canopy of ancient woodland. It’s a scene straight out of a storybook.

The old windmill on Harrock Hill near Parbold. Picture by George Hopkins

Also within easy reach of Bolton, the Dovestone Reservoir Circular in the Peak District was ranked sixth in the UK. It is just an hour away.

(Image: Google Maps)

The route around the reservoir has become a favourite with Greater Manchester walkers thanks to its sweeping moorland scenery, waterside views and relatively straightforward paths.

Millets based its rankings on average user ratings, the number of reviews and overall trail difficulty to identify the UK’s most family and dog-friendly walks.

Emma Johnson, from Dog Owner’s Guide, said owners should always prepare before heading out.

She said: “Check the weather in advance and be prepared to change your route if the temperature or ground gets too hot.

“One of the most common mistakes is not packing enough water or thinking there’ll be somewhere to refill when there isn’t.

“If your dog is slowing down or not enjoying it, it’s okay to turn back or cut the route short.”

With school holidays under way and warmer weather encouraging more people outdoors, the rankings offer Bolton families plenty of inspiration for a day trip without travelling to the other end of the country.

Look closely, and you’ll see we’re in the middle of a Delta Goodrem summer. The Aussie musician, who soared to fame in the early 2000s as the angel-faced, angel-voiced teenager behind such ballads as “Born To Try”, is seemingly everywhere right now: on stage, on tour, on telly.

In May, Goodrem, 41, made her Eurovision debut in style – propelled into the air on a platform that rose out from a golden piano, mid-key change. She has only just finished a set of live UK shows, a prelude to the world tour she will embark on next year in support of her forthcoming eighth album Pure. In a couple of weeks, Goodrem will touch down in London once again to begin rehearsals ahead of her stint on Strictly Come Dancing – though not before she closes out the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow tonight. “I feel it’s one of those years of saying yes to everything. I want to be adventurous. I’m ready for that in my life,” she says now, over video call from Sydney.

Back in Australia, where I grew up, the singer remains a national treasure. To some, particularly those who came of age in the early Noughties, Goodrem is as iconic as Vegemite or the Sydney Opera House, a venue she has played no fewer than five times, the most recent being last year when she sold out two anniversary shows of her 2005 album Mistaken Identity. Goodrem has been less of a constant presence over here, and this second shot at cracking the UK feels only right, given her first was cut short by tragedy.

It was in the same week that her debut album shot to No 2 in the UK charts that she was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, forcing her off the promotion circuit and into a hospital bed, and effectively slamming the brakes on a music career that had quite literally just got going. It was 2004 and Goodrem was just 18. The experience was surreal to say the least. “I tried the best I could with the duality of what was happening,” says Goodrem. “Cancer doesn’t discriminate based on what job you’re doing. It says, ‘You have to look after this now.’”

The country rallied around her; by then, she was already known to millions as Nina, the sweet, shy high schooler on Neighbours. Newspapers filled with messages from readers sending their love; Sony, her label at the time, set up a “Get Well Delta” postbox to get a handle on the massive influx of letters from fans. Australia’s prime minister sent his regards. As did Elton John “on behalf of the United Kingdom”.

“The entire press world was sitting outside my door,” recalls Goodrem. “My brother would hand out biscuits to them, that’s one of my strong memories. Our house was like a train station!” Today, the idea of reporters camped outside the home of a teenage star screams invasion of privacy – but that’s not how Goodrem remembers it. “I’m pretty neutral about it,” she says after giving the question a good deal of thought. “There are so many stories in my life that I have to go into the filing cabinet of my mind… but I mean, it was all well wishes coming from them. And I think, as an 18-year-old back then, I was just focused on being with my friends and family.” Outside her bubble, hubbub continued to grow; Innocent Eyes spent a record-breaking 29 weeks at No 1 in Australia.

After months of chemotherapy and radiation, Goodrem went into remission before she was given the all-clear. It’s a period she speaks of with grit and grace. “I’ve gone through a lot of different emotions about my changes in trajectory when I first started […] but I’ve since been able to see that hopefully that’s symbolic of being a survivor,” she says. “Being able to give back and make a difference – that’s a gift from that chapter in my life.” In 2020, she established the Delta Goodrem Foundation in partnership with the hospital in Sydney where she was treated.

Goodrem is still the human equivalent of a glowstick: a 1,000-kilowatt smile and the sort of enviable perma-tan that only Australians seem to possess. Certainly, hers is not the hardened exterior you might expect from a woman who was signed to Sony at 14 and came of age in the media hellscape that was the early 2000s. “My journey was positive,” she says simply. “Everyone has a different journey. I really did have great industry mentors, wonderful men and women around me, including my mum who was this fierce woman. It doesn’t mean I didn’t have to fight for myself, of course, but there was enough respect and understanding to have collaboration and conversation.”

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Her parents made sure she maintained a normal life outside of music. “I never felt like I missed out on any childhood,” she says. “Also, I was the driver in my music. It wasn’t my parents. They just guided and protected me.”

Now, two decades later, Goodrem is still in the driver’s seat with an eighth album on the way. Set to be released in November, Pure has been described as “a return to myself” and follows on from her latest single “Hologram” – a big, gleaming gem of disco-pop. Sonically, it’s miles away from the heart-wrenching ballads on which Goodrem made her name, but spiritually it’s more similar than you think. It has that same bright-eyed, bushy-tailed optimism of “Not Me, Not I” – only this time filtered through a woofer-rattling bass.

Before then, though, Strictly… “I love the glamour of it!” Goodrem says of her decision to sign up to the BBC show. “My music has always been very piano-driven so this is my opportunity to learn something new and then I can take it on tour with me.” As for who she would like for a partner, she has just one request for producers. “I’m quite tall, so I’d love to have someone taller than me!” laughs Goodrem, who is just shy of 6ft. “I really don’t want to be the one that has to lift people.”

It’s fair to say that Strictly has been through the wringer recently, with this latest series arriving amid a spate of scandals. But Goodrem knows the game, having spent eight years on The Voice Australia where she was on the other side of things as a coach rather than contestant. “I can safely say that, being on the show for nine years, everyone worked very hard to make sure all the artists were shining on stage and getting to live out their dreams,” she says, “what you do with that moment is up to you. It is a TV show, and you have to create your next moment.”

The show also taught Goodrem the value of holding back sometimes. “I probably gave too much of myself [to the contestants],” she says. “I poured so much into it. I was always on the phone to the artists because I loved sharing; I’m an open book.” It’s her natural disposition, she says. “I’m such a ride-or-die person. When I love someone, I’ll do anything for them. And so when people are loyal to me, I’m so loyal back. Scorpio loyal.” It can come at a cost, though. “The show taught me about my own boundaries and pouring that back into myself and my own artistry.”

Season six of The Voice saw Goodrem become the target of online bullies who questioned the sincerity of her on-air enthusiasm. The earnestness that had once endeared her to audiences suddenly became the very thing they used to dismiss her as fake. Seal, her co-judge at the time, was among those to defend her publicly. “There was so much that I saw change culturally when Twitter came into play, and obviously being the only female coach for a long time, it was a very different dynamic for me,” Goodrem says. “I was 26, but people treated me like I was a lot older because I started so young. So I had to navigate those chapters of intensity under a microscope.” Though, she reminds me, it certainly wasn’t the first time.

Never were more eyes on Goodrem than in the wake of her cancer remission, when her return to public life carried the weighty comeback narrative of a seasoned musician three decades her senior. In 2004, Goodrem released Mistaken Identity. The album had a different thrust: more dark than its predecessor, more grown-up. Whether she intended for it to be or not, Mistaken Identity pushed against the idea of Goodrem as the nation’s most beatific pop sweetheart.

“Heading back into the world was definitely a change of gears,” she says now. “That’s probably when it felt most like going into the washing machine, so to speak – definitely a rougher, more turbulent chapter. Your identity changes after going through something so extreme.” Her parents had divorced, and her body – “my physicality” – was no longer the same. “Everything had changed.” The spotlight turned up some after it was revealed that Goodrem was dating Westlife singer Brian McFadden that same year – it turned up more still after their nasty and very public split in 2011. “Do I wish that it ended earlier? Yes. Do I wish I had the courage to leave earlier? Yes, I do,” she told Vogue in 2012. On the subject of McFadden today, Goodrem is looking on the bright side: “Every single path that’s led me to today and this beautiful relationship I’m in now, I’m grateful for.” (At one point in our conversation, her husband, the guitarist Matthew Copley, pops his head in with a big smile and a glass of water for his wife.)

Goodrem might just be one of pop’s most resilient stars. The cancer wasn’t even her last major health scare. In 2018, she had a salivary gland removed after which she woke up from the surgery to find her speech altered; a nerve in her tongue was paralysed. Goodrem couldn’t speak, let alone sing. “The lesson that came out of that experience was sometimes you have to surrender and listen,” she says. “It wasn’t about talking or doing. It was a real reset. It is something you cannot rush.” In the end, it took over a year for Goodrem to regain her voice. She’s certainly putting it to good use now, with her year of saying yes.

‘Pure’ is out via Universal Records on 6 November, with ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ set to launch in September

The Sunday Mail today names senior figures who must testify about botched handling of tragic Emma Caldwell’s murder to avoid yet another cover-up.

The Sunday Mail is today naming the senior police and prosecutors who must give evidence to a public inquiry into the murder of Emma Caldwell.

It comes amid fears the probe will become “part of the cover-up” by failing to examine the years killer Iain Packer walked free while overwhelming evidence of his guilt was suppressed at the highest level.

Emma’s body was discovered in woods outside of Glasgow in May 2005 but it took another 19 years for Packer to finally be convicted – during which time he continued to rape and abuse women.

Even after we published his picture on the front page in 2015 branding him the “Forgotten Suspect”, senior officers launched an illegal molehunt for our sources rather than pursue the killer.

A public inquiry was ordered after Packer’s eventual conviction in 2024, but its terms of reference suggest it will only investigate the actions of Strathclyde Police during an initial botched investigation into four innocent Turkish men which collapsed in 2008.

Emma’s mum Margaret has now joined forces with former Sunday Mail editor Jim Wilson, her lawyer Aamer Anwar and MSP Pauline McNeil to demand inquiry chair Lord Scott take urgent action to avoid the probe becoming an expensive whitewash.

In a letter to Scott, Wilson said: “Packer had not, of course, been forgotten by detectives but concealed. Strathclyde Police effectively closed the case in 2008 after the prosecution of Turkish suspects collapsed.

“The refusal to return to the inquiry, despite senior officers knowing the strength of the evidence against Packer, only hardened after the new national force was established in 2013.

“It should be noted that several former Strathclyde officers were promoted to the most senior ranks of Police Scotland after being directly involved in the first murder inquiry.

“The murder investigation in 2015 was eventually reopened after the Mail’s reports after the intervention of a Lord Advocate exasperated by police inaction but that second inquiry moved at glacial pace taking six years to go precisely nowhere.

“Many critics believe its protracted, torturous progress can only be explained by an official reluctance to allow its conclusion.

“The first murder inquiry was sabotaged by professional hubris and incompetence. To most impartial observers, what happened – or did not happen – next is far more worthy of the Inquiry’s interest.

“The crux of this scandal is not a botched police investigation, it is official cover-up and concealment, a family lied to, police officers and prosecutors circling the wagons because it was too professionally embarrassing not to, and our investigating and prosecuting authorities allowing one of Scotland’s most dangerous men to walk free for almost two decades to attack countless women.

“If restricted to examination of the initial murder investigation and not the subsequent years of cover-up, concealment and apparent corruption, your inquiry will, I’m afraid, risk becoming part of that cover-up.”

Packer was finally jailed for 36 years – the second longest sentence ever in Scotland – in February 2024 after being convicted of Emma’s murder and 32 other charges, including 11 rapes, involving 22 other women.

He was first spoken to by police in June 2005 before admitting in subsequent interviews taking a prostitute to woods outside Glasgow. In March 2007 Packer gave a fifth statement and even took police to Limefield Woods where Emma’s body had been found.

Despite this he appears to have been dismissed and four Turkish men were instead pursued with a massive surveillance operation and charged, before the case later collapsed in July 2008.

It then took another 16 years for Packer to be convicted.

We are today naming senior police figures including former Police Scotland Chief Constable Stephen House, former head of CID Ruaraidh Nicolson, former counter corruption unit boss Neil Richardson, and former superintendents David McLaren and Bobby Hendren as men who must be called to give evidence spanning the entire 19 year scandal.

At Crown Office former Lord Advocates Frank Mulholland, James Wolffe and Dorothy Bain must all also be called before the inquiry.

These are some of the people who can shine a light on what went wrong. There is no suggestion they have personally done anything criminal.

Emma’s mum Margaret said: “I do not want to be insulted or patronised further, I have had to fight not just for my daughter Emma, but Packer’s many other victims.

“I will fight until my very last breath for the truth. I believe that those officers who sabotaged the investigation into Packer have for far too long remained in the shadows, but if you stop this Inquiry at 2013, those corrupt officers will always remain hidden rather than answer for their betrayal.

“I plead directly now to the First Minister John Swinney and Lord Scott – we want the truth I have fought too long for the cover up to continue.”

Solicitor Aamer Anwar said: “Maragaret did not spend 20 years fighting for the truth, to now see Police Scotland excluded from investigation by this Inquiry, that would be a travesty of justice and a further betrayal of Emma and the many women who suffered at the hands of Packer.

“If this Inquiry is truly determined to follow the evidence, then it must look at the period after Strathclyde Police became Police Scotland.

“Sir Stephen House, Chief Constable of Strathclyde Police from 2007, became Chief Constable of Police Scotland. The detectives, responsible for ‘wrongfully’ arresting four Turkish men then became senior officers at Police Scotland, under the leadership of House who only resigned in November 2015.

“The Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain KC in March 2024 told Emma’s family that as senior crown lawyer in 2008, she actually instructed the bogus case against the Turkish men be dropped, and for a team of new detectives to pursue Iain Packer as a prime suspect, whilst former detectives should have been investigated over their conduct.

“Yet it never happened, several months after she left, the case was marked ‘closed and protected’ and paperwork disappeared – that could only have been instructed at the highest levels in the Police and Crown Office.

“Jim Wilson more than any other journalist fought to expose the truth and of course it’s why Police Scotland’s carried out unlawful surveillance of the Sunday Mail and honest police officers in 2015.

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“Margaret believes that Police Scotland sabotaged the case against Packer until they no longer could.

“If an arbitrary line is drawn at 2013 to leave out Police Scotland from the inquiry’s terms of reference will be seen as a further act of betrayal and cover up by the Caldwell family as well as many of the survivors we represent.”

Labour MSP Pauline Mcneil added: “The Emma Caldwell scandal exposed serious failings in Scotland’s criminal justice system.

“If the pubic inquiry is restricted to avoid examining every aspect of those failings, no matter how uncomfortable that may be for some, lessons will not be learned and more families will be let down.

“I fully support efforts to make sure the public inquiry uncovers every aspect of this scandal so that it can hopefully never happen again.”

Eleven questions for Police Scotland

• Why did it take Police Scotland 19 years to put Iain Packer in the dock?

• How many senior Strathclyde Police detectives leading the first Emma Caldwell murder investigation were promoted after Police Scotland was launched in 2013?

• Did any seek to investigate Iain Packer before The Sunday Mail exposed him as the forgotten suspect in April 2015?

• Did any discourage or delay a new investigation into Packer or assist and encourage a cover-up of his involvement?

• Why did Police Scotland immediately order an unlawful inquiry into the Mail’s sources two days after Packer was exposed and who ordered it?

• Why was invented intelligence and fake claims the murder investigation was live used to justify that molehunt?

• Why did it take the direct intervention of the Lord Advocate to reopen the inquiry?

• Why did that second inquiry take nine years to get to court when there was only one suspect?

• Why did it spend years analysing the evidence against Turkish suspects already cleared when Packer was obviously the prime suspect?

• Was that inquiry prioritised and properly resourced as a live investigation while Packer, a prime suspect in an unsolved murder, remained free?

• Did Police Scotland allow a suspected murderer, one of Scotland’s most dangerous men, to remain free for almost 20 years because it was too embarrassing to admit its serial failures?

Five questions for the Crown Office

• Why was Police Scotland not instructed to investigate Iain Packer until May 2015, eight years after the Crown Office had been given his six statements to murder squad detectives?

• Why did the investigation reopened under Crown Office direction go nowhere for six years?

• Did the Crown Office instruct detectives to spend those years reviewing and analysing all the evidence from the initial inquiry despite Packer being the only suspect? If so, why?

• Was that inquiry properly directed or needlessly delayed by the Crown Office while Packer, a suspected murderer and one of Scotland’s most dangerous men, remained free?

• Did prosecutors allow a suspected murderer to remain free for almost 20 years because it was too embarrassing to admit it prosecuted the wrong men despite knowing the evidence against him?

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He was Roger McKechnie, who also made Tudor crisps worth climbing a mountain for.

He was born in Darlington in 1941, where his father, Harry, was a bank manager. He went to the private school of Wrekin College in Shropshire and then studied economics at Newcastle university.

Roger McKechnie at The Samling in Ambleside, a luxury hotel he created out of an 18th Century mansion called Doves Nest, which overlooks Lake Windermere

After a spell in marketing with Proctor & Gamble, he returned to the North East to take charge of marketing with Tudor Crisps, a brand started in Newcastle in 1947 which, in 1962, was the first to trial the salt and vinegar flavour.

In McKechnie’s time, Tudor became renowned for its slogans – “a canny bag o’Tudor” – and its TV adverts which featured pronounced North East accents. One featured a paperboy who was faced by the prospect of delivering to the top floor of the 280ft Derwent Tower, nicknamed the Dulston Rocket, without a lift and with only a bag of crisps as a reward.

He says happily: “For Tudor, I’d climb a mountain.”

The advert finished with: “A crisp that’s really worth its salt.”

A still from the early 1970s advert for Tudor crisps

From marketing, McKechnie rose to become managing director of Tudor, but when, in the early 1980s, the parent company, Associated Biscuits, wanted him to move south to promote Smiths Crisps, he jumped ship and set up Derwent Valley Foods at Consett.

The town had just lost its defining steelworks, but McKechnie’s company made its base in Medomsley Road a key part of its identity, because from Medomsley Road you could taste the world.

He introduced a line of snacks that explorer Phileas Fogg had apparently tasted on his journey around the world: Tortilla Chips, Punjab Puri and Mignon Morceaux. In the 1980s, the extravagant tastes – Mignon Morceaux were intense garlic butter bread sticks – were all anyone wanted to snack on.

The company employed more than 300 people in a town that had been economically devastated a decade earlier, and McKechnie was awarded an MBE.

In 1993, he and his three business partners sold out to United Biscuits for £24m.

He invested his millions in many schemes, creating the Look What We’ve Found brand of gourmet ready-meals and converting an 18th Century mansion overlooking Lake Windermere into a luxurious hotel called The Smaling, which Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise visited.

He also used the word “smaling”, which is Norse for “gathering”, for his philanthropic projects around Hexham and Corbridge, where he lived, which promoted the arts and artists.

He married Eileen in 1966, had six children and adopted three more, and he died in the Tyne Valley on April 24. We are grateful to Rodney Wildsmith for pointing his obituary which appeared in the Daily Telegraph this week.

Sprawling on the floor of a lift looking hot and bothered, Sir Rod Stewart is clearly having one of those up-and-down days.

The star was getting some retail therapy at Prada with his son Alastair, 20, and Alastair’s girlfriend Mell Ratto, when the trio found themselves trapped in the store elevator – and clearly wishing they’d taken the stairs.

Despite the Maggie May singer being one of the world’s biggest music stars – having sold more than 100 million records and earned two inductions into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame – help was not immediately at hand.

Eventually, the trio gave up waiting, sat down on the floor and got in touch with Prada via Instagram with the understated plea: ‘Can someone help get us out of the elevator?’

While being trapped in a lift is a nightmare for many, Sir Rod, 81, and company appeared more bored than panicked as they waited to be rescued during the drama last week.

Perhaps they were thinking of ways to describe their plight by reimagining some of the star’s lyrics – Wake up Prada I think I got something to say to you (for instance).

It’s the latest in a string of minor setbacks for the singer. In June, he was forced to use an oxygen tank during a concert in West Valley City, Utah, after almost fainting on stage, taking breaths from the apparatus throughout the remainder of the performance.

The drama came just a week after he cancelled a concert in California citing health concerns, only to fly by private jet to Boston 24 hours later to watch Scotland take on Haiti in the World Cup.

The decision did not sit well with fans who had been expecting to see him perform.

Suki rocks the glam look at Lollapalooza

Most people would be happy to succeed in one career – but not Suki Waterhouse. Not only is she a supermodel, but she’s also an in-demand singer, appearing on Friday at the Lollapalooza festival in Chicago in a Seventies rock-inspired outfit of tiny hotpants and pink, ruffled cape.

She has revealed several tracks on her third album, Loveland, were inspired by her Hollywood actor fiance Robert Pattinson – including Notting Hill, about the boujie flat where the couple fell in love, and one about missing the Batman star while he was travelling, called Weirdo. Now that’s a pet name if ever there was one!

Suki Waterhouse performed during the 2026 Lollapalooza Festival at Grant Park on July 31

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Dua is a Tua star

Forfet Dua Lipa… meet Tua Lipa. That’s the nickname given to the star after her insistence on having tulips at her wedding in June.

The tulip season runs from March to May but that didn’t deter Dua, 30, who held a huge wedding party in Sicily with actor hubby Callum Turner, 36.

‘The flowers had to be imported at vast expense,’ my source says. ‘The wedding florists are calling her Tua Lipa.

Dua Lipa and Callum Turner celebrated their wedding in Palazzo Valguarnera Gangi in Italy

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Lila’s solo

Lila Moss looked every inch like her supermodel mother Kate in Ibiza last week, trying on feather mini-shorts and bejewelled corsets at trendy clothes shop Annie’s Ibiza.

But my spies tell me Lila, 23, was without one usual accessory… her on-and-off boyfriend Yoni Helbitz.

‘Lila has outgrown him,’ my source tells me. The pair have already broken up and got back together once this year, but my source confirms: ‘This time, it’s for real.’

Lila Moss and Yoni Helbitz attended Wimbledon Tennis Championships on day seven on July 9

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Do all wizards look the same? Fans often mix up Gandalf actor Sir Ian McKellen and the late Michael Gambon as Dumbledore.

Sir Ian recalls Gambon once admitting that: ‘They hand over their wretched 8×10 [photos] of you and I just sign your name.’

Ian McKellen, pictured playing Gandalf on the left, is being mixed up with Michael Gambon, who plays Dumbledore in the Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Congratulations to David Linley’s daughter Margarita Armstrong-Jones, 24, who has won a coveted spot at Mayfair’s Dover Street Market exhibition.

Princess Margaret’s granddaughter, who makes Matita Jewellery, has finished a tough course in her craft at Alchimia, in Florence.

Lady Margarita Armstrong-Jones attended Tatler’s Little Black Book Party in November 2023

Crews in Lincolnshire, Derbyshire, Cheshire, London, North Wales, Yorkshire, Co Durham and Darlington, Berkshire, Leicestershire, Bedfordshire, Greater Manchester, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, Humberside, Dorset and Wiltshire, Devon and Somerset, Nottinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Kent, Merseyside, West Sussex, Surrey, and Norfolk have all reported dealing with fires in the open.

Skipper Gav Rees and his crew came second in an 11-month round-the-world Clipper race

A Welsh sailor is back from the voyage of a lifetime after 11-months at sea braving 70mph winds, 15 metre waves, sharks and medical emergencies navigating the globe.

Gav Rees, from Abergavenny, was skipper for a crew which changed along the route for The Clipper Round the World Yacht Race and included some who had never sailed before ranging in age from 18 to 75.

Racing on the the 70ft yacht, The London Business School, they took second place in the legendary Clipper race, the only round the world race which admits people who have never sailed before. Sign up for our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here.

Gav, a father-of-two, skippered the boat, competing against nine other identical racers. He was also acting chief medical officer and engineer – all on no more than four hours sleep a night and no showers for the entirety of the near year-long voyage.

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“I was acting doctor, engineer, meteorologist and skipper,” says Gav, who left his job with a pharmaceutical company to take part in the race, sometimes dubbed the toughest endurance challenge of its kind.

The crew crossed oceans from Europe, to Africa, Australia, Asia and America, skirting the Southern Ocean near Antarctica and in near tropical conditions around the Philippines.

Covering 45,000 nautical miles, equivalent to more than 50,000 land miles, they faced down raging storms, waves the height of houses, broken sails and a first mate with a broken leg.

Magical moments included pods of whales filling the Southern Ocean near Antarctica at sunset, a flock of 10 booby birds joining the vessel for a stretch and seeing dolphins and albatross as they headed through some of the most remote waters on the planet.

Christmas dinner on the waves was cooked on a four ring hob in a galley kitchen the size of a phone box but was complete with turkey, ham, roasties and gravy.

It was harder for Gav to keep track of the Welsh rugby and World Cup football scores with satellite Wi-Fi covering just one email and phone for the vessel.

The Clipper Round the World yacht Race is the only event of its kind that trains everyday people to sail around the world on 10 identical racing yachts. The race is split into eight legs, with race crew choosing to take on one, multiple or all eight of the legs.

Lou Boorman, from Haverfordwest, who now lives in Malta, skippered for rival Team Tongyeong in the race.

For most of the challenge Gav and his crew fed on easy-to-store dried food like pasta while in cold conditions it was safe to keep nets of fruit and veg bought on the brief stops as they raced on.

The vessel, built for speed not comfort, only had enough bunks for the crew to take turns sleeping and a bucket and sponge did for washing. Swimming was banned as it could slow them and be risky while the boat sped on.

There was just one toilet, without a seat, for all 16. Staying on the toilet as the yacht surfed over house-high waves and lurched from side to side was not always easy, so the crew had to pick their moments for comfort breaks.

“Sleep is a privilege rather than a right and the toilet, flushed through with sea water by pump, can be an adventurous place to be on a boat being thrown around,” said Gav.

“We take the seat off because it could be dangerous. There was no shower, just a bucket and sponge and wet wipes.”

The unique sights as they crossed the Atlantic, the Southern Ocean and the Pacific made it all worthwhile, says the former officer cadet in the Royal Regiment of Wales, now the Royal Welsh Fusiliers.

Gav’s crew was made up 16 at a time from a 55-person squad, some of whom were on-board for the whole 11-months and some for as little as a week. The longest leg at sea was five weeks before they hit land.

All this was only possible with the strong bonding, daily crew meeting and joint ambition to have the experience of their lives whilst staying safe, says Gav.

Staying safe was at times easier than others, he admits.

The worst moment came when his first mate Zoe Longley broke her leg in several places a week’s voyage from Cape Town a few months into the race when a sail fell on her in October 2025.

“There’s no real text book for these things,” admits Gav as he describes how the main sail had then swung to one side in strong winds making the boat go backwards instead of forwards. For an hour there was a huge task righting the boat all whilst getting Zoe to safety.

Gav has high level first aid training and a vet was also on board and they made the decision to keep Zoe comfortable while they made it to a hospital in Cape Town, rather than have her helicoptered off.

While other boats could be contacted none nearby had any better kit to help.

“We set up sleeping bags on the floor next to her bunk, immobilised her and gave her pain relief. She had dislocated her ankle and her tibia and fibia were fractured in three places but she only had paracetamol and ibuprofen.

“It was significant and not pleasant and the boat was precarious as the sails were on the wrong side leaning the wrong way,” recalls Gav.

Less than four months later Zoe was out of hospital and re-joined the boat as it neared the Philippines in January 2026.

To get to this point the crew had to sail through “huge breaking waves” going from Cape Town to Australia near Antarctica.

“The Southern Sea is cold and grey but a very special place,” says Gav. “The wildlife was incredible with huge pods of whales. One evening there was a flat sea and pilot whales everywhere surfacing and blowing. It was magical.

“We also saw albatross, which are only unlucky if you kill or injure them, and lots of dolphins on the race.

“We saw sharks and turtles and in the Pacific booby birds took up residence on the boat. We didn’t feed them and I don’t know why they stayed, maybe for a rest. They weren’t bothered by us, they were just remarkably comfortable with 10 on one night.”

The race, which started in August 2025 in Portsmouth, took a route via Spain to Uruguay, South Africa, Australia, Indonesia, the Philippines, China, Japan and South Korea.

It went through the Caribbean to the USA and out through the Panama Canal. From there the route went across the Atlantic to Oban in Scotland and back to Portsmouth where the race ended and Gav and his crew came in second on July 25.

Back on dry land Gav is now wondering what to do next.

“People were selfless when conditions were awful and I was proud we had a really strong bond,” he says. “We enjoyed each other’s company and there was unity.

“These boats are designed for racing and surf up and down the waves which can be quite fun. Our top speed was 30 knots.”

It is the first time that Gav, a lifelong sailor, has done the Clipper Race, let alone skippered for it.

“It is a lot of responsibility and I wanted to bring everyone back safe. I have always had a passion for team work since being an officer cadet in the Royal Regiment of Wales.”

This week Gav is glad to be back home with wife Vicky and daughters Mollie, 16 and Bethan, 10 and plans to take it easy before planning his next adventure.

“I am taking a lie down in a darkened room for now,” he jokes.

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