Between her work as an actor, comedian and presenter, Whoopi Goldberg is one of the most celebrated stars in Hollywood today – and she’s got the EGOT to prove it.

The “O” part of that coveted accolade came in the early 90s, when she picked up the Best Supporting Actress prize at the Oscars for her work in Ghost.

However, during an interview on the podcast Baby, This Is Keke Palmer, Whoopi opened up about how the role of conwoman-turned-psychic-medium Oda Mae Brown in the hit romance drama didn’t come easy.

Initially, she recalled that “every Black woman and their mama” had been called upon to audition for the role of Oda Mae but her, quipping: “They got women out the grave to come audition for this – and I hadn’t gotten a call.”

When she enquired with her agent as to why this was, her team claimed: “[We] suggested you [for the part]. They didn’t want you, because they felt people would take you out of the movie. I said how would I take them out of the movie? I don’t understand!”

Apparently, the film’s casting director had been advocating for Whoopi to land the part, and when Patrick Swayze was cast as Ghost’s leading man, he also said he wanted her to play Oda Mae.

Eventually, this was enough to get the film’s male lead and director on a plane to visit her in Alabama, where she was shooting Long Walk Home.

“Patrick and I hit it off right away, because he was just a really funny, wonderful man,” she recalled. “They literally flew in, we had some fun and did some improv, and the next day, they offered me the part.

“And [Patrick] kept saying, ‘why haven’t you called her? Did she turn it down? Did she not want to do it?’. And they finally had to say to him, ‘no, we thought it’d be too much, and [she would] just weigh [the film] down in a way we didn’t want’.”

Host Keke then suggested to Whoopi this was a case of her successfully “advocating for yourself”, after which the View panellist opened up about some more of her biggest roles – and how few of them were actually written with her in mind.

“They wrote [Sister Act] for Bette Midler,” Whoopi said. “That wasn’t mine. I was looking for work [and] apparently I’m Black! And I guess I didn’t realise it! So, every time I went looking for [a role] they were like, ‘oh, no, no, no, this isn’t for you’.

“So, I started saying to my agents, ‘give me all the stuff that people have turned down’. So, I got that Burglar that way, that was Bruce Willis’ movie. Jumpin’ Jack Flash was Shelley Long’s movie. There’s several! A whole bunch of movies! Because I felt like people really wanted to make those movies, and then the person they wanted said no. Let me see what I could do!”

“People 30 years ago or 40 years ago had a limited idea what could be done, and had a limited idea of what I could do, because clearly they hadn’t seen my show – so they didn’t know,” she continued.

“So, I did [those films]! And you know, listen, they didn’t always work at the box office. But when they got on television, people lost their minds. And that’s how a lot of my movies have become these kind of classics.”

Although these days, Whoopi’s time is often spent offering her hot takes on The View, she made a big return to the acting world in the 2020s.

Her recent credits have included the historical drama Till, the dramedy Ezra and the Western Outlaw Posse.

She also made a cameo in the 2023 musical The Color Purple, having previously starred as Celie Harris-Johnson in the 1985 original, earning her the first of her two Oscar nominations.

Parts of the UK seem set for their fifth heatwave of the year, with no significant rainfall set to take place in parts of the south this month.

Claire Belcher, an Exeter University professor, told the BBC the risk of wildfires has “never been so high”. And firefighters warn that the risk of house fires rises in drier, sunnier conditions, too.

Speaking to the MK Citizen after a run of “near disasters” in Milton Keynes, a spokesperson for Bucks Fire and Rescue said: “As the bright weather continues, we’d like to remind everyone of an often unconsidered fire risk within homes.”

Multiple windowsill fires have broken out over the years due to glass items left in direct sunlight.

They’ve created blazes in places like Essex, Northamptonshire, Dorset and Wiltshire, Norfolk, Merseyside, Milton Keynes, and more.

The Bucks Fire and Rescue spokesperson said: “Recent incidents have highlighted that reflected sunlight can become concentrated enough to generate significant heat, resulting in marks, smouldering materials and, in some cases, fire.”

Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service said to keep crystals; mirrors, especially magnifying ones; and glass ornaments off windowsills and out of direct sunlight in the summer.

The firefighters added you shouldn’t keep them near curtains or bedsheets in the heat either.

Other risky items include:

In general, Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue explained, any glass ornament or object that’s curved can work as a lens, intensifying the sun’s heat.

“The principle is the same as using a magnifying glass to start a fire. It does depend on the angle of the sun, but any mirror or glass ornament with a curve in it should never be left on a windowsill or by a window,” their site reads.

A Bucks Fire and Rescue spokesperson added: “If you notice a bright spot of reflected sunlight inside your home, move the object immediately or close curtains or blinds.

“Check around windows regularly to ensure decorative items are not creating focused beams of light.”

Ben Wallace has hit back at Zia Yusuf after the Reform home affairs spokesperson called the ex-defence secretary a “traitor to Britain”.

Their social media row began when Wallace, who stood down as a Conservative MP in 2024, criticised Reform UK’s plan to fix the shortage of prison spaces by sending foreign criminals abroad.

The right-wing party has proposed deporting those with non-custodial sentences to their country of origin if they ever get into government.

Those with custodial sentences would either be forced to go home or to a third country, like El Salvador.

But Wallace, a former Tory cabinet minister, tore into the proposal while also accusing Yusuf of “making policy and facts up”.

He wrote on X: “If memory serves me right the top foreign nationalities in UK prisons are Irish, Polish, Romanian, Albanian and Baltics. Total number of foreign offenders always hovered around 10-11k.

“ Reform have to answer a.) how they will force those countries to take these offenders. For decades they have refused to.

“b.) If they won’t and then deport them but they are released how will that sit with their victims? And the Irish offenders will find it easy to return.”

Yusuf soon hit back by calling Wallace, who headed up the defence department for four years, a “moron”.

He wrote on X: “Incredible that this moron was defence secretary.

“Our policy today is in direct response to your government’s failures.

“If their home countries won’t take back, their citizens that are languishing in our jails, we are renting spaces in countries like El Salvador to put them.

“They will serve their full jail terms there, and will be banned from ever coming back to Britain.

“They may well include some of the thousands of Afghans you imported, including those who had not been vetted properly and including Taliban fighters (!).

“You know, the ones you took a super injunction out to keep secret from the British people? That’s why I call you a traitor to Britain. You fit the dictionary definition.”

But Wallace hit back: “Oh look a lesson from a man who never put a uniform on…just worked at bank.

“A man who is literally making policy and facts up.

“A man who cant even get his own party to pick him as an MP ( tell us why please?).

“When Reform stop taking £5m bungs and start being honest with people then people might take you seriously.

“No one is saying don’t send prisoners back when you can but don’t lie to the public you can do it with a magic wand. You guys are getting desperate. After all you recruited Suella!”

Suella Braverman worked in the Tory cabinet at the same time as Wallace but defected to Reform earlier this year.

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This article contains major spoilers for the latest episode of House Of The Dragon.

House Of The Dragon showrunner Ryan Condal has opened up about the decision to deviate from the show’s source material in its latest season finale.

Monday’s instalment of the Game Of Thrones prequel saw Emma D’Arcy’s Rhaenyra Targaryen not just delivering a rousing speech to the masses of King’s Landing, but also revealing the Prince That Was Promised prophecy (and how it relates to her) out in the open.

None of this featured in author George R R Martin’s books, on which House Of The Dragon was based, which Condal spoke about at a press conference coinciding with the finale.

“It’s not in the book and it’s not in the history,” he explained (as reported by IGN). “But there is a bunch of talk about how Rhaenyra became very despotic and became a tyrant at the end and was very unpopular with the people.

“So we saw it as ‘this could just be something that happened and there was disagreement over exactly what it was’, so it didn’t make the historical record.”

He quipped: “But my glib sort of toss-off from the historians is, ‘Oh, well, Targaryens say crazy shit all the time’.”

Condal continued: “So much of [the Targaryens’ existence] is this self-aggrandisement. And for the stone masons standing there in the crowd just looking up at this, it could just sound like somebody trying to make something of themselves because they have no idea of all the ‘real history’ that went into Rhaenyra making that speech.

“But we wanted something that felt like a real seismic change, a sea change in Rhaenyra’s relationship to her people. She’s seen the death of their religious leader. She’s standing outside of the church of the faith of most of the people standing there, as a member of a totally different faith.

“This old Valyrian faith of dragons and fire gods and blood magic, and pronouncing herself the chosen one, the leader that is going to take them through the fire and out of the darkness.”

“And so tremendously, virtuosically performed by the great Emma D’Arcy,” he enthused.

Back in January, US broadcaster HBO confirmed that the upcoming fourth season of House Of The Dragon will be the show’s last.

Condal, according to Variety, told the press conference that he’d been “taking time off” from the fantasy world of Westeros while season three was airing, as he “needed to step away from all of this”.

However, he noted that he’s already handed a first draft of a new episode in to HBO, insisting: “We have an incredible season coming. As crazy and big as season three was, I think season four is going to be even bigger.”

All three seasons of House Of The Dragon are now streaming on Now, Sky and HBO Max in the UK.

Maybe it’s part of the current 2016 nostalgia, but I’ve been seeing a lot more sweet potato content recently.

There’s the classic orange fare, this time caramelised to crispy perfection – but in 2026, Japanese sweet potatoes (perfect for dessert) are all over my feed as well.

So, too, is the increasingly popular ube, a yam key to Filipino cuisine. It’s also sometimes called a “purple yam”, “water yam”, or “violet yam”.

But what’s the difference between a sweet potato and a yam to begin with?

Sweet potatoes – which aren’t actually that closely related to “normal” spuds – are from the Convolvulaceae family, while yams belong to the Dioscoreaceae family.

Yams are quite closely related to lilies and grasses.

Yams are tubers, while sweet potatoes are technically roots.

Sweet potatoes usually have thin, papery skin and a yellow or orange-ish inside. Sometimes they can have purple flesh too.

Yams have tougher, more “scaly” skin and can weigh as much as 45kg in extreme cases. They’re more cylindrical and sometimes have protrusions called “toes”.

Yams are common in parts of Africa and Asia, with about 95% of the plants being grown in Africa. It can be hard to find true yams in mainstream Western supermarkets.

Sweet potatoes are predominantly grown in China, India, and some African countries. They’re native to Central and South America and are more common in Western stores.

Yams are starchier and “not nearly as sweet as sweet potatoes,” America’s Test Kitchen said.

Sweet potatoes’ flesh is softer and fluffier when cooked, meanwhile, and can be creamier and more moist than yams.

Sweet potatoes have ever so slightly more protein than yams, while yams are considerably higher in carbohydrates.

Yams have slightly more vitamin C, potassium, vitamin B6, and iron, while sweet potatoes are higher in sugars, fat (though neither has much at all), beta-carotene, and calcium.

But, Healthline notes, both are rich in nutrients, fibre, and vitamins.

Usually, yams are boiled, roasted, or fried.

Sweet potatoes are often baked, roasted, fried, pureed, or mashed.

Nigel Farage has admitted that the number of small boats coming across the English Channel is falling – but still insisted the migrant crisis is “completely out of control”.

The Reform UK leader vowed last week to use the British Royal Navy to return small boats to France if his party ever got into power.

This proposal triggered a row with the French authorities who called it a breach of international and maritime law.

The number of crossings has fallen this year overall, but the controversial topic resurfaced this week after a record 230 people arrived in the UK on just one large dinghy.

Farage said Britain is evidently heading towards the kind of migrant crisis seen in the Mediterranean during a press conference on Monday.

But, Sky News reporter Rob Powell hit back: “Yes this is the largest number of people arriving in one boat but overall numbers are down quite significantly, 42% down on last year.”

He asked if Farage would acknowledge numbers are falling, adding: “Are you being straight with the British public when you suggest this is an issue that is getting worse?”

The Reform leader replied insisting he “always” thought the boats would get bigger.

“The overall numbers are down,” he admitted. “But they’re still horrendous.”

“Whether we have fewer bad people thus far than last year, the situation is desperate, it should be declared a national security emergency,” Farage said.

“Yes, we have managed to stop some of the dinghies.

“But it doesn’t stop the problem. It doesn’t go away. It is completely out of control.”

He added: “The idea that we should be celebrating that numbers are not as extreme as they were is for the birds.”

Responding to concerns over the mega-dingy, prime minister’s spokesperson told reporters on Monday: “We’ve seen today some appalling images of young babies being put into these unseaworthy craft, and they’re shocking images, and they show the reality behind the ruthless smuggling gangs that are prepared to risk human lives for profit.

“That’s exactly why the government has signed a new payment-by-results deal with the French to prevent these perilous journeys from happening in the first place.”

He said the government was “not complacent” and noted how joint action with the French since the general election had prevented 47,000 crossings.

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