"С нетерпением жду этого момента, хотя, конечно, волнуюсь", – говорит артист, и шутя добавляет, что сейчас занят составлением списка тем для разговоров с женой в нормальной, спокойной обстановке.

Кстати, весной Take That отправятся в большой гастрольный тур, все билеты на него уже проданы. С собой участники квинтета намерены взять свои семьи, включая и детей тоже.
http://www.fashiontime.ru/celebrities/news/806384.html

Gary Barlow used to get up early so he could eat more.

The Take That singer - who famously ballooned to over 240lbs after the group split up in 1996 - admits he has learned how to control his eating habits by not always being strict with himself but found it hard to stick to in a sensible way at first.

He explained: "The key to me was portion sizes and I think people forget that, if you can control your portion size you can eat what you want and you've cracked it.

"I have Saturdays off, I was getting a lot of advice and this guy said if you just diet seven days a week, you'll get fed up and fall off the wagon.

"I'd get up early on a Saturday to get started but I would make such a pig of myself and I thought 'I don't want to be this' and after a few weeks the food got less and now it's a part of life, I know when I'm full and I even recognise when I'm full but want to keep eating because I'm a pig!"

The 'Patience' hitmaker also knows he needs to work out regularly to help keep his weight down.

He added: "I must say if I didn't train as much I'd be a different size but I work out every day except Saturdays and Sundays. I'm a cardio man, I do tennis, I do Pilates. I've never done yoga."
http://www.contactmusic.com/news.ns....1196300

The group had reportedly stayed at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat, on New Year's Eve – where the conversation doubtless turned to Bonham Carter's role in The King's Speech, the most accomplished example to date of our new appetite for tales of troubled bluebloods and intrigue on country estates. In its own way, then, this was an image of the New Britain as telling as Tony Blair's famous Downing Street encounter with Noel Gallagher: proof of a new blurring of Tory politics and popular culture that speaks volumes about our times.

Other examples abound. There is surely a deeply zeitgeisty aptness to the fact that Julian Fellowes, the creator of Downton Abbey, has recently become a working Tory peer. Though whispers about her own arrival in the upper house have died down, TV's aristo homebuyer and make-and-mend guru Kirstie Allsopp remains an equally fervent supporter of the Conservatives. And what about Gilbert & George, apparently enthusiastic Tories whose civil partnership and combination of tweedy tradition and metropolitan urbanity surely make them honorary Cameroons? "We admire Margaret Thatcher greatly," George said in 2009. "She did a lot for art. Socialism wants everyone to be equal. We want to be different."

Last year, Tracey Emin came good on pre-election talk about her pro-Tory leanings – sparked by her loud opposition to Labour's 50p tax rate – by claiming Britain now had "the best government we've ever had". On the campaign trail, David Cameron launched Tory plans for a new National Citizen Service with Michael Caine, and a proposed national "School stars" talent contest in the company of Take That's Gary Barlow. "There's no one more with-it than David," the latter assured an audience in Nantwich, Cheshire; by way of returning the compliment, Cameron hailed Take That as "Britain's best ever boyband".

For sure, there remain plenty of celebrity Tory endorsers who do not push quite the same A-list buttons, and instead suggest a time-honoured mixture of seaside summer seasons, golf jumpers and ITV: Cilla Black, Ronnie Corbett, William "Ken Barlow" Roache, Joan Collins, the ex-pop star and I'm A Celebrity contestant David Van Day. Pulses did not exactly quicken when they were joined by such names as Matt Willis, an erstwhile member of the teen-pop trio Busted, and Spandau Ballet's Tony Hadley.

Yet the main point is inarguable: there is a whiff of stardust around the Tories that would once have been unthinkable. It's easily forgotten now, but there were very serious rumours about Mark Ronson DJing at the 2009 Tory conference, and giving Cameron a public endorsement. Now, in a twist no one would have seen coming, Courtney Love recently attended a "Port and Policy" debate organised by Oxford University's Conservative Association, and was given the post of "non-executive officer for rock'n'roll". Photos of the accompanying revellers show Love – who is dating Kirstie Allsopp's art dealer brother, Henry – dutifully posing in front of a union flag with a mostly-male array of student Tories, who look about as non-rock'n'roll as you might imagine. What Kurt Cobain would have made of it all is anyone's guess.
Helena Bonham Carter and Tim Burton Helena Bonham Carter and Tim Burton are apparently friends of the Camerons. Photograph: Samir Hussein/Getty Images

There is, then, something afoot: a waning of the old stigma that got in the way of "creatives" backing the Tories, and resulted in any who did facing loud ridicule. Consider the case of the synth-pop icon Gary Numan – these days a name it's perfectly OK to drop, with a dependable cult following. Back in the 1980s, his public statements of support for the Thatcher government made him a music press pariah, and played some role in his fall (as late as 2003, however, he was unrepentant: "Thatcher had a clear idea about everything and seemed to be massively pro-British against the rest of the world," he said). In 2010, by contrast, the other Gary's campaigning for the Tories caused no career damage whatsoever: it simply stood as an above-average photo opportunity, crashlanded on the evening news, and was promptly forgotten.

So what has changed? Cameron's diligent attempts to rebrand his party by affecting the role of the modern, bike-riding urban dad and paying endless tributes to his favourite rock bands have undoubtedly helped. The same applies to the feting of his supposedly switched-on wife.

Much more important, though, is the wider context. Whether austerity will bring a renewed ideological charge to the relationship between politics and culture is an interesting point: certainly, the famous names who have protested about arts cuts and library closures suggest that very familiar battle-lines are already reappearing. That said, we still largely live in the post-Blair age, in which the right-left divide is not nearly as entrenched as it once was, and people's political preferences count for much less. Whisper it, then – but after decades of ignominy, it might just be OK to be a pop-culture Conservative.

In any case, the arts are aligning themselves with the Tories in ways much more subtle and insidious than simple endorsements. Just as New Labour managed to slot itself into the wider moment known as Cool Britannia, so there are lines that can be drawn from musicians, actors, film-makers and novelists to people at the top of government. Here, the arriviste likes of Barlow are less important than a new elite who speak with the same accents as people at the top, and attest to a simple fact: the privately educated seem to be newly dominant, and a sharp change of tone and taste stretches from politics, to the arts, and beyond.

The demotic affectations – glottal stops, photo-ops in greasy spoon cafes, an affected love of football – that were obligatory 15 years ago have completely disappeared. Last year, there was a flurry of news coverage when the Word magazine discovered that during one week in October, 60% of the acts in the UK charts came from privately educated backgrounds. When this story was revived last week in an item on the Today programme it brought a furious emailed response from one Jane Blount, better known as the mother of that renowned Harrow alumnus James Blunt.

Barely a day goes past, it seems, when you cannot pick up a newspaper and find the latest sensation in music, or film, or literature, expounding on an early life of dormitories, tuck shops and "prep". Take, for example, the actor Dominic West – AKA Jimmy McNulty in The Wire, and just cast in an ITV drama as the serial killer Fred West. He went to Eton, his wife is a former countess, he has a daughter from a relationship with a member of the Astor dynasty, and he is – but of course – a friend of the Camerons. He is also said to have once had a soft spot for the prime minister's wife. When asked, he has occasionally seemed uneasy about his background, though he has tended to end up sounding much the same rather questionable notes as the Old Etonians in government. "It probably helps that we now live in a meritocracy," he mused two years ago, "so we don't need to worry where people came from."

Earlier this month, the Daily Mail roundly ignored such sentiments, and captured the new mood in a list of "Britain's 50 most powerful posh people under 30": they included Florence Welch of Florence and the Machine, the rather irksome comedian Jack Whitehall, two members of the "nu-folk" sensations Mumford & Sons, and Sophie Winkleman, better known as Big Suze from Peep Show.

Accompanying the list was a piece by Dylan Jones, the long-standing editor of GQ, another supporter of the Tories, and the author of the in-his-own words book Cameron On Cameron. "Privately educated scions of the great and the good no longer feel that everyone is against them," he wrote.

"What is more, they are happy to proclaim their status and to exploit it. Look around you. So many fields of public life are now dominated by those with, at the very least, a private education, [and] in many cases wealth and in a few instances a title. In the arts, sport, television, fashion, music, nightlife and, of course, politics, it's positively Brideshead Revisited Revisited."

Or, if you prefer, Born To Rule Britannia.

Here, in the latest of a revealing series of interviews with the Mirror, Sir Elton John insists he thrives on keeping busy and will keep working till he drops.

“For me it’s never about what you’ve done, it’s what you’ve got next,” says 63-year-old Elton, who has sold more than a billion records.

“I’ve got two movies – Gnomeo and Juliet and a documentary [Making of The Union] directed by Cameron Crowe – then there’s my album, The Union.

“I want to do Las Vegas again. I can tour with Billy Joel, tour with Leon Russell, I can tour solo. I’ve got a musical coming up and a ballet.”

That workload sounds tiring, but Elton insists: “It’s not exhausting, it’s amazing.

“I buzz on working, I love it. I’m in this incredible position in life where I am doing a job I absolutely love. I’m going to carry on until I drop. There is absolutely no way I’m going to slow down.”

It has been suggested that since Elton became a dad to son Zachary, born on Christmas Day, he would cut down his phenomenal workload. Far from it.

He grins: “I’ve got a bigger lust for life than ever. I’m a man with the enthusiasm of a boy. I have this wonderful, surreal life. I work really, really hard every year and I love it. I do more than 100 shows a year – musicals, movies, everything.

“I work hard and I live large and that’s what I enjoy. To me, having Zachary is just amazing because he will become part of our lives. He will come with us wherever we go. This is the time of my life and it’s only getting better.

“I’m a total fidget-a***. I can never see myself stopping working. I get bored out of my brains if I have nothing to do. The way I function is by creating, working, singing – you just can’t take it away.”

Elton keeps things fresh with his collaborations. He has just worked with Glee’s Matthew Morrison, recently saw his protege Plan B at LA’s Troubadour club, while the soundtrack for the Disney film Gnomeo And Juliet features a duet between him and his pal Lady Gaga.

ELTON says: “I love her, she’s absolutely amazing. We’ve become friends. What I like about the Gaga most is that she’s amazingly polite and respectful to everyone around her.

“What I loved most about John Lennon is that he was like that. He once gave my mum a lift to the airport and came to my agent’s wedding.

“The Gaga is like that. But the greatest thing about her is that she manages to let everyone think they know everything about her but no one knows anything.

“She’s a phenomenal star – definitely someone who will be taking on the old sods like me, McCartney and Rod Stewart doing big tours for years to come. Pure genius.”

Elton is an expert on long careers. More successful now than ever, he believes that is all down to keeping his ear to the ground. He explains: “Every Monday, HMV sends me a list of new CDs and I’ll order copies for all my houses and my car. On Tuesdays I’ll order my American CDs. I get an advance list, I cross them off and I write down everything in a book – same with books and DVDs. I’m very organised.

“I don’t do freebies, I don’t do iPods, I don’t even do mobile phones. I hate the idea that people pick up one song, I want to hear the complete album.

“I listen to music all the time and I mix with musicians constantly. A lot of artists cut off, but I believe in plugging into everything around me and getting to know people through thick and thin.”

His most recent album, The Union, saw him rediscover Leon Russell – a former hero who had fallen on hard times – and bring him back into the studio. Elton kept in touch with Gary Barlow in his wilderness years. And he also helped Robbie Williams when he turned up wrecked on his doorstep – although that event sparked a major rift between them.

He says: “I couldn’t be happier for Gary, but the time to be a friend is when someone is down. There was a time he didn’t leave his house for six months.

“I have a lot of time for him. The way he handled all that stuff Robbie said about him was incredibly dignified. It was unbelievably hurtful but he forgave him. I saw Take That last year when they were all recording the album – the first time I’d seen Robbie for five years.

“In his book he’d said something about me kidnapping him. I was very upset and we both had a go at each other. We didn’t kidnap him, he turned up on our door coked out of his brains and we took him to our house in Windsor because we thought he was going to die.

“When I saw Robbie with Gary he asked me if we were OK again. I told him of course we were, there’s no point hanging on to bad feelings. I knew what he’d been through, drink and drugs – if anyone can understand that, it’s me.”

These days, Elton is happier than he has ever been. And finding personal happiness has helped him appreciate just how fortunate he is.

Of his success, he says: “I have never had a problem with fame and celebrity. All it has ever done is open doors – it gives me a great way of being able to raise money for Aids.

“What I did have a problem with for many years was myself... I do have it all. I have everything I could want and I appreciate it all because for so long I was rich, successful and very, very unhappy.

“I have an amazing partner, a son, a loving family, amazing friends and an incredible career. I have a perfect life.

“Sometimes I’m not perfect but my life is and I know it now because I’ve worked bloody hard to get here. My life is about family, music, friends and growing.”

Does this mean his family will grow?

“There are absolutely no plans yet – but we haven’t closed the door on that...”

Read more: http://www.mirror.co.uk/celebs....yaJYiUg

But he admits he wasn't always a heavyweight when it came to writing songs.

Gary was so short on inspiration during his early TAKE THAT days, he nicked lyric ideas from anyone within earshot.

He said: "Throughout the Nineties I didn't have any views. I always felt lyrics were a weak point for me and I was often a copier of lyrics.

"I would use other people's emotions. I'd listen to conversations and talk to friends and always stole my lyrics from people around me.

"I very seldom looked inside myself to write. That's something I've acquired this time round."

Gary's got a lot more to inspire him these days.

He's had 20 top years in the music industry, including two spells with TT and a solo career, plus a successful marriage and three kids.

And while Gary still isn't immune to the odd bout of writer's block, he's found the perfect cure - his dear old mum.

He said: "One of my best tricks is that every now and again I go and see my mum for a few days. I leave a keyboard there and I set it up in front of the window, overlooking the fields.

"Suddenly I'm in a whole different situation. It's a new environment."

He isn't short of help with penning the band's tunes either. When ROBBIE WILLIAMS returned to join Gary, MARK OWEN, JASON ORANGE and HOWARD DONALD in the studio last year, Gary slipped into JAY-Z mode as the dynamic shifted.

He said: "I'm sat there thinking, 'OK, I'm a writer, Mark's a writer, Robbie's a writer.'

"Now, listen, on a three-minute single how much of each individual can you get on?

"So I had a plan, I thought 'I'm going to become like one of these hip-hop producers and I'm going to make the backing tracks'."

It worked a treat. Progress was the UK's best-selling album of 2010, shifting more than two million copies, and it's up for Album Of The Year at next week's Brits.

But if the lads do get the gong, it won't be taking pride of place in the Barlow trophy cabinet.

That space is occupied by their numerous Smash Hits Awards, with Gary's favourite in the centre. He says: "Best Haircut, that's the one."
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol....ic.html

Fans were asked by The Sun newspaper who they'd like to see replace Simon Cowell and Cheryl Cole if they both quit the panel to focus on the US X Factor instead.

The Take That star came out on top, followed by Sharon Osbourne, Nicole Scherzinger and Robbie Williams (who came in fourth).

Other names chosen by fans include Michael Buble, Mel B and former guest judge Katy Perry.

It could be bad news for The X Factor if Simon Cowell does quit - 76% of those who took the poll said the show will no longer be good if he leaves.
http://www.omgmusic.com/news....w-judge

Robert died, aged 19, from a rare form of cancer in 2004. His family and friends have raised more than £250,000 for the hospital, funding "Rob's day unit", a spacious area for patients treated on a day care basis.

His parents Peter and Helena and grandmother Sandra joined the viewing group, Helena Broude saying: "The paintings look fantastic. The pupils have incorporated some of Robert's favourite things such as Liverpool Football Club. I know Robert would be impressed."

Inspired by the work of Andy Warhol, the art has a north-west theme with celebrity images including Gary Barlow, Amir Khan, Tony Wilson and the Gallagher brothers.
http://www.thejc.com/communi....-victim

9-30 - мне самое то время, утренний кофе перед планеркой. Гари с утра послушать было бы замечательно)