By CONNIE RUSK, ASSOCIATE SHOWBUSINESS EDITOR

Published: 22:01 BST, 14 August 2026 | Updated: 05:21 BST, 15 August 2026

Joan Collins caught up with her friend Elizabeth Hurley in St Tropez on Friday over lunch. 

The actress, 93, looked effortlessly glamorous in a blue and white dress and large hat for the meeting at Club 55. 

Joan and Elizabeth have had a close-knit friendship spanning decades. They played mother and daughter in the E! drama series The Royals.

And Elizabeth, 61, had flown out to see Joan alongside her son Damian, 24, and boyfriend of just over a year, Billy Ray Cyrus, 64.

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Sharing an Instagram video, Joan told her followers: ‘Here I am, with all my friends and we’re all spending her money. So happy, whatever day it is. Thursday or Friday, Saturday.’

Elizabeth replied: ‘ Thank you mummy dearest,’ to which Joan shot back: ‘Forget the mummy’. 

Joan Collins caught up with her friend Elizabeth Hurley in St Tropez on Friday over lunch

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Joan captioned the video: ‘#friends @leclub55officiel #95farenheit @elizabethhurley1 @damianhurley1 @fennelltheo @louise.fennell @rene_horsch @billyraycyrus.

The actress has had her villa in St Tropez for three decades. She purchased the five-bedroom property in the early 1990s and has spent three to four months there every summer for more than 30 years.

Throughout her career, Joan has offered a glimpse at the regime that’s helped to maintain her famous looks, and she’s insisted it has nothing to do with Botox or any other plastic surgery.

Joan has shared that as she’s gotten older, she’s learned that one way to maintain her figure is by ‘eating less’, and said she now eats a quarter of what she did when she was 25.

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The star said that she hopes she’ll live until she’s 100 with her healthy lifestyle, adding she’ll do a quick fix of ‘broccoli and boiled eggs’ if she needs to lose a few pounds.

In an interview with The Express, she said: ‘No knives. Had Botox once, years ago. Hated it. I’m an actress, I have to have expression.

‘You need half the food at 50 as you ate at 25. Half as much again at 75. I’m going to live to be 100, and I am telling you: look after your skin. Never leave the house without make-up. 

‘Don’t diet, just eat less. Never drink tap water. If you need to drop a few pounds to fit into something, eat boiled eggs and broccoli for three days.’

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Is it inspiring or out of touch for celebrities to joke about wealth and aging while vacationing in luxury?

The actress, 93, looked effortlessly glamorous in a blue and white dress and large hat for the meeting at Club 55

And Elizabeth, 61, had flown out to see Joan alongside her son Damian, 24, (pictured) and boyfriend of just over a year, Billy Ray Cyrus , 64

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While she has been captivating audiences for decades, Joan’s fitness and nutrition have been just as enduring. 

‘My exercise regime has changed a lot over the years. I was very active as a young girl. From the time I was 16, I went to discotheques, dance halls, and nightclubs and danced the night away for hours and hours,’ she told Platinum magazine.

After that, she would do a lot of gym workouts and Pilates, but admitted as you get older you ‘cannot put that amount of stress on your body’.

In fact, she had to scale back her movement in recent years due to a trapped nerve, which led to her not being able to function for two months.

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Liverpool have just over a week until they kick off their Premier League campaign against Newcastle United

It hasn’t been a particularly busy summer transfer window for Liverpool so far, with just two weeks left for the Premier League giants to do business. However, things can change quickly and the club are currrently chasing to sign Paris Saint-Germain winger Bradley Barcola.

The French champions are nearing the signings of Mika Godts and Ferran Torres, which could accelerate negotiations with the Reds over the Frenchman’s future. Yet to acquire a replacement for Mohamed Salah, new Reds boss Andoni Iraola will be feeling the pressure to strengthen his squad.

The Spaniard has been informed of a significant issue he could face at Anfield, while the race for Barcola’s signature has received its latest update. Mirror Football takes a look at the biggest stories coming out of Merseyside.

Iraola’s ‘huge’ problem

Iraola’s side have yet to add incomings in midfield this summer – a situation Jamie Carragher believes could cause harm to the club’s progress this season. Speaking on The Overlap Fan Debate, the Reds icon said: “The midfield for me is still a huge problem for Liverpool.

“I haven’t watched all the pre-season games, but I watched the last two against decent opposition – it was Leeds and then Monaco. And the problem Liverpool had last season was there was space everywhere in midfield. That has not gone away at all.”

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Carragher explained that Szoboszlai’s return to midfield, having played a portion of last season at right-back, will only exacerbate Liverpool’s issue in the engine room. He added: “That’s only going to get bigger with the deployment of [Dominik] Szoboszlai in midfield.

“It looks like they’re going to play him, rather than as a number 10, almost as a central midfield player alongside [Ryan] Gravenberch and that is just pure box-to-box.”

Barcola update

The sticking point in a deal for Barcola looks to be the fee. PSG are said to be demanding £145m for the 23-year-old, with Liverpool hoping a compromise can be found to secure his arrival.

Despite the lack of clarity over the figure, Fabrizio Romano reported on his YouTube channel that the two clubs remain in constant contact with the financial aspect of the deal holding up a move.

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He claimed that personal terms with Barcola have already been verbally agreed, with the Reds his first choice. The winger was an unused substitute in PSG’s UEFA Super Cup victory against Aston Villa on Wednesday.

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Samantha Mitchell, 39, from Stoke-on-Trent, who requires dialysis five times a week, was travelling from London Stansted to Reggio Calabria in southern Italy on July 26 when the error occurred.

Ms Mitchell, a special educational needs (SEN) teacher, had checked in her 43kg dialysis machine but was told by a Ryanair agent that the machine was “too heavy” to be taken on board.

But after producing a medical waiver, she claims a supervisor reassured her the medical equipment would be on the flight.

Ryanair admitted that a staff error meant a holidaymaker’s dialysis machine was not loaded onto a flight in July (Image: Kennedy News and Media)

It was only when Samantha landed and turned on her phone that she discovered her machine had been left in London.

Samantha was in tears as Ryanair staff contacted Stansted Airport, fearing she could have a heart attack without the treatment, and was later told it would be sent the following day.

She was due to do dialysis that evening and began ringing around hospitals ahead of her machine arriving at 5pm the following day when she started feeling ill.

Samantha claimed she even stopped eating and drinking to prevent further toxins entering her bloodstream.

The airline flew the machine out and sent it via taxi to her accommodation by the end of the following day, but by this point Samantha claims she was unwell and “swelling up” from toxins.

Ryanair said the machine wasn’t loaded due to “an error made by the check-in agent” but that as soon as the airline was alerted, the machine was “rushed” onto the next available flight.

This is the second time Samantha has had issues flying with her dialysis machine, after hitting headlines in 2018 for being denied boarding on a previous occasion due to the same weight issue.

Samantha’s dialysis machine weighs 43kg and it’s not the first time she has had an issue travelling with it (Image: Kennedy News and Media)

Samantha said: “I’ve got kidney failure so my kidneys are non-existent.

“They don’t work and I need dialysis five times a week.

“Without it I would be very swollen and it would have become hard to breathe.

“I would start being sick and the worst thing would be a heart attack as the toxins in my blood would be too much.

“I went to check-in my machine, [the agent] rang supervisors to make sure everything was okay and the documentation was okay.

“He said it was all fine and they’d take it through.

“As soon as I got through security, they were asking for me to go back and speak to a supervisor about how heavy my machine was.

“It was 43kg, the supervisor said it was too heavy to go in the cabin with me but I wanted it in the hold.

“She said [that] was fine and it would go in the plane.

“As soon as I landed, I had a phone call from my dad.

“He’d got an email to say they were refusing to put in the machine because it was too heavy.

“I was literally fearing for my life. I was crying because I was panicking, my machine was all the way in London.”

Samantha added: “I’ve travelled with it [the machine] many times.

“I don’t think they realised how serious it was that they had done this, it was full on panic and anxiety [mode].

“I had to stop drinking and eating because I didn’t want any more toxins in my body.

“I had started to swell up because I didn’t pass urine and felt a bit sickly.

“It’s been a very traumatic experience, a horrible start to the holiday.

“I am scared of the way back, it makes me not want to travel again in my life.”

Samantha’s mum, Elaine Mitchell, said it was a “life and death” situation and that it was traumatic for the whole family.

Elaine said: “This is not a case of clothes gone missing, this is a life-saving machine. It was traumatic for all of us.

“We immediately rang the baggage team […]and they told us it’s a matter of health and safety.

“We were saying ‘she’s got a waiver, it’s not a health and safety issue, it’s a life and death issue.’

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“If Sam doesn’t have dialysis, she will be ill or worse. All [they] kept saying was that it was too heavy.”

A spokesman for Ryanair said: “Due to an error made by the check-in agent at Stansted Airport, this passenger’s medical device was not loaded on this flight from Stansted to Reggio Calabria (26 Jul).

“As soon this check-in agent’s error was realised, Ryanair rushed the device onto the next available flight to Reggio Calabria via Lamezia and arranged for a taxi to swiftly deliver the device directly to the passenger, which she received the following day (27 Jul).”

Stansted Airport said the issue was for the airline to address, not the airport.

Have you ever had trouble with missing luggage or equipment on flights? Let us know in the comments below.

Fires across England and Wales have prompted a national government alert warning people not to light anything that could spark a wildfire.

The warning on Friday evening came as it was revealed 19 homes were destroyed and a further 18 damaged in a huge fire in Stourbridge, West Midlands, that spread rapidly through grass and woodland on Thursday before damaging homes.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham told members of the public to take the warning “seriously”, adding it was triggered at the request of firefighters.

West Midlands Fire Service chief fire officer Simon Tuhill said the Stourbridge blaze was one of the most significant incidents the service had ever dealt with.

It was one of several fires being dealt with across England and Wales on Friday.

Investigators said they were working with other emergency services to establish how the Stourbridge fire started, with police saying they were keeping an open mind.

Some of the worst-affected areas have been cordoned off and many residents who were evacuated, including the Bishop of Dudley, the Right Reverand Martin Gorick, have not been able to return home.

The 41-year-old has been found dead at a property in South London, according to reports.

Former University of Cambridge professor Jason Arday has been found dead at a property in South London, according to reports.

Mr Arday, 41, was found ‘unresponsive’ at the scene in Battersea, with police saying his death is being treated as unexpected but is not believed to be suspicious.

The Metropolitan Police said officers attended Daley Thompson Way, in Battersea, where the academic lived, on Friday afternoon.

A statement said: “Police were called by the London Ambulance Service at 15:12hrs on Friday, 14 August following a report that a man had been found unresponsive inside a property on Daley Thompson Way, SW8.

“Sadly, a 41-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene.

“His next-of-kin have been informed and are being supported by officers.

“At this time his death is being treated as unexpected, but is not believed to be suspicious. The case is being investigated by officers from the Met’s Central South Command Unit. A file will be prepared for the coroner.”

A London Ambulance Service spokesperson said: “We were called at 3.06pm on Friday 14 August to reports of an incident on Daley Thompson Way, SW8.

“We sent a number of resources to the scene, including an ambulance crew, an advanced paramedic in a fast response car and members of our Hazardous Area Response Team.

“Sadly, a person was pronounced dead at the scene.”

Mr Arday stepped down from his role as the University of Cambridge’s professor of sociology of education on August 5 amid accusations of plagiarism. He had been the university’s youngest ever black professor.

His resignation came just hours after Cambridge announced an investigation examining his appointment and tenure at the university.

In a statement, University of Cambridge Vice-Chancellor Professor Deborah Prentice said: “We are desperately saddened to hear this tragic news. Our heartfelt sympathies go to Jason Arday’s family and friends at this incredibly difficult time.”

Prof Arday quit following a series of media reports alleging he plagiarised his PhD thesis – completed at Liverpool John Moores University – and other research.

Further questions were asked in the press about the truth of other claims he made, including saying he ran 600 miles in six days and that he had raised £5.5 million for charity.

An investigation at Liverpool John Moores University cleared Prof Arday of wrongdoing.

Durham and Glasgow universities are investigating the circumstances around Prof Arday’s appointment to academic posts there and Cambridge’s Jesus College accepted his resignation from his fellowship.

Prof Arday said in his open resignation letter that the “only way to bring this chapter to an end is to step away”. Over the weekend, he cancelled events promoting his forthcoming memoir.

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BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) — German sprinter Owen Ansah won the 200-meter final at the European championships Friday despite facing a potential ban at home for allegedly failing to comply with a doping test.

Ansah crossed the line in 19.95 seconds for the gold medal at Alexander Stadium three nights after taking the bronze in the 100 meters.

“I hope everyone will know my name now,” Ansah said. “This was the goal, to leave the Europeans with two medals. A bronze and gold is amazing for me.”

The 200 was “was always the main goal,” he added. “This race was just more for me. At a championship you never know what can happen.”

Last week, the National Anti Doping Agency of Germany alleged Ansah “committed a violation of Article 2.3 of the National Anti-Doping Code … (refusal or failure to submit to sample collection).”

There was no provisional suspension, however, so Ansah remains eligible to compete.

NADA Germany’s “letter of charge” calls for a four-year ban. Ansah had 20 days to either accept the findings “or request the initiation of disciplinary proceedings before the German Court of Arbitration for Sport.”

Ansah told German site sport1 that an anti-doping official came to his house for an out-of-competition test last month as he was leaving to travel to Monaco. Ansah reportedly said he couldn’t immediately give a urine sample and wasn’t aware of the consequences.

Athletes across multiple sports have received lengthy bans under such rules. In June, former Wimbledon tennis champion Marketa Vondrousova was given the maximum four-year ban for refusing a test.

___

See full AP coverage of European sports here

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Manchester United manager Michael Carrick has discussed his aims in the transfer window as the club are linked with PSG star Ibrahim Mbaye

Manchester United face a potentially busy end to the transfer window as Michael Carrick looks to strengthen his squad. The United boss is aware of the challenges awaiting his side as the team prepare for their Champions League return next season.

United have not welcomed any major new signings since swooping for Andrey Santos and Youri Tielemans as part of their midfield rebuild a month ago. Carrick helped United climb up to third in the table last term but understands the importance of squad depth as the club look to compete on multiple fronts.

Despite the recent lack of activity, Carrick has delivered a clear message regarding transfers. The manager has emphasised the need to bring in more players as Carrick looks to help the club achieve their ambitions.

United have been linked with a move for Paris Saint-Germain winger Ibrahim Mbaye. The Red Devils are reportedly one of several clubs interested in the 18-year-old. Here, Mirror Football looks at some of the biggest transfer stories surrounding the club.

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Michael Carrick issues transfer statement

United boss Carrick has outlined that the club are determined to keep improving their squad in the transfer window. The club have signed Santos, Tielemans and experienced goalkeeper Karl Darlow, alongside several young prospects, but the manager has insisted that more is needed to help the team challenge for major honours.

“We want more, we need more, we keep looking for how we can do that,” he said. “Money’s money, I get that.

“We feel like we have to be pushing for everything we’re involved in, while being realistic of what the recent history’s looked like over a period of time.

“For now, we’ve got to make the most of it, but we’ve got to push every boundary we can to be able to win again, basically. That’s the challenge.”

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Countdown to Kickoff: The Essential 26/27 Sky Sports Bundle

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Ibrahim Mbaye decision made

United have received a boost in their pursuit of Mbaye as Liverpool have reportedly decided to cool their interest in the PSG winger. The Merseyside club are targeting wide players following Mohamed Salah’s decision to leave Anfield and are working on a move for Mbaye’s teammate Bradley Barcola.

However, Liverpool have reportedly stepped away from a possible deal for Mbaye due to his £42.7m price tag. The teenager faces limited first team opportunities at PSG, given the number of forwards already at their disposal.

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In a further boost to United, the French club have agreed to sign Ferran Torres from Barcelona for around the same fee, potentially making a deal for Mbaye more likely. Spanish publication AS claims that several other clubs, including Bayern Munich, RB Leipzig and Aston Villa, have also made enquiries about Mbaye, who scored three goals in 29 games last term.

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