SEBASTIAN SHAKESPEARE: Why Lloyd Webber feared his life was over

Andrew Lloyd Webber and wife Lady Madeleine

Andrew Lloyd Webber and wife Lady Madeleine

Having revealed four years ago that he had been left impotent after successful treatment for prostate cancer, Andrew Lloyd Webber has now disclosed how crippling back pain led him to fear his life was over.

The composer, 67, began to suffer from agonising pains in his leg which were misdiagnosed as a spinal problem.

‘A couple of back operations didn’t cure anything. Instead, things got worse,’ he says. 

‘I was on so much morphine and painkillers — and was drinking too much — that I honestly thought it was all over.’

Lord Lloyd-Webber attributes his recovery to sessions with a chiropractor. 

‘I saw him every day for about eight weeks,’ he adds. ‘And three months later I thought it was time we did Cats again.’

Downton's dress-down jet-setters

Ever wondered how Downton Abbey’s aristocratic Crawley family might look in the present day?

Wearing a faded pair of jeans and cosy cardie, Hugh Bonneville, who plays the Earl of Grantham in ITV’s period drama, poses with his on-screen wife, Elizabeth McGovern, as she dutifully clutches the family passports at Heathrow yesterday.

The pair flank their fictional children Lady Edith (Laura Carmichael) and Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery). Appropriately, for the squabbling sisters, they resemble a pair of sulky teenagers who no longer want to holiday with their parents.

The actors were heading for Los Angeles for a promotional junket for Downton, which enters its last series on British screens this autumn.

Hugh Bonneville, who plays the Earl of Grantham in ITV’s period drama Downton Abbey, poses with his on-screen wife, Elizabeth McGovern, as she dutifully clutches the family passports at Heathrow yesterday

Hugh Bonneville, who plays the Earl of Grantham in ITV’s period drama Downton Abbey, poses with his on-screen wife, Elizabeth McGovern, as she dutifully clutches the family passports at Heathrow yesterday

 

C4’s Jon Snow is known for his garish ties, but new ITV anchorman Tom Bradby takes a more sombre approach. 

‘I don’t put much thought into what I wear,’ admits Bradby, a friend of Prince William. 

‘I’m sometimes accused of getting dressed in the dark. Jon does a good job of making himself stick out in an interesting way. But I can’t say it’s the top of my list of things to think about.’ 

 
Mark Rylance reveals he enjoys dancing at home

Mark Rylance reveals he enjoys dancing at home

Acclaimed for his serious roles in BBC historical drama Wolf Hall and West End hit Jerusalem, Mark Rylance seeks release on the dance floor.

‘I like dancing at home and I also go ballroom dancing,’ the 55-year-old actor tells me. 

‘I try to attend lessons in London whenever I have time. When I’m in New York, I go to swing classes.’ 

Sign him up for Strictly!

Miliband's New York charity calls for London spin doctor 

Here's a happy coincidence: just as David Miliband’s cheerleaders call for him to return and save the Labour Party, his New York-based charity is to appoint its first spin doctor in London. 

The International Rescue Committee, of which former Foreign Secretary Miliband became chief executive in 2013, is advertising for a Head of Communications on a salary of £45,000. 

Its ad says the successful applicant must ‘raise the profile’ of the charity. And Miliband’s leadership credentials, needless to say.

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