EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Richard Curtis and his partner Emma Freud face green energy battle in idyllic seaside village
Only last year, they suffered the shock of seeing flames tear through their 18th century, timber-framed house. The blaze was eventually quelled by 14 fire engines and crews, but that hasn’t ended the pain for romantic comedy king Richard Curtis and his girlfriend, Emma Freud.
The couple now face further trauma at Walberswick, which has been a sanctuary to the Freud family for 90 years or more. The idyllic seaside village has become a battleground, thanks to ‘green energy’ plans to connect offshore power to the national grid via a 50ft-high substation on a 35-acre site – plans which, say locals, will needlessly industrialise swathes of the Suffolk coast.
Emma tells me she’s delighted that the village’s plight is receiving national attention but lets another member of the family, her cousin, novelist Esther Freud, whose books include Hideous Kinky, lead the charge.
‘They will build a haulage access road the width of the M6,’ says Esther, adding that, by doing so, the power companies will turn Walberswick into an ‘industrial wasteland, destroying the beach, wildlife and ancient ecosystem’.
At Esther Freud’s urging, locals packed into the village hall at the weekend for a meeting with the power companies
The blaze at thier home was eventually quelled by 14 fire engines and crews, but that hasn’t ended the pain for romantic comedy king Richard Curtis and his partner, Emma Freud
At Esther’s urging, locals packed into the village hall at the weekend for a meeting with the power companies. ‘It galvanized the village,’ she tells me. ‘They were pretty overwhelmed by the sheer power of the village’s outrage,’ she adds, explaining that the same fury is felt in the coastal towns of Southwold and Aldeburgh.
The Freuds’ key ally is Fiona Gilmore, organiser of Suffolk Energy Action Solutions, who points out that the current plans will require numerous cable channel trenches – each over 200ft wide and stretching over more than five miles – as well as huge substations and interconnectors.
The power companies could instead, says Gilmore, pool the energy from wind farms offshore – ‘as they are in Belgium and Holland’ – and bring it onshore at brownfield sites. ‘It would save £2billion,’ Gilmore tells me, explaining that that massive sum is based on the companies’ own calculations.
Time for Richard Curtis to put together a short film, like his four-minute clip in 2010 about cutting carbon emissions? Since then, the UK has cut them faster than any other country in the G20.
Author did not place star’s face
Best-Selling author Ken Follett was invited to the banquet president Emmanuel Macron of France gave for King Charles and Queen Camilla last week.
But the writer might not have recognised many famous faces at the Palace of Versailles, as he proved when he collected his CBE from the then Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace in 2018.
‘I did make a bit of a faux pas, because behind me in the queue there was this bloke quite a lot younger than me,’ Follett says.
‘Eventually, I turned to him and said, ‘What did you do to get your CBE?’ He said, ‘I’m an actor — I’m Tom Hardy.’ ‘
He adds of the Hollywood star’s reaction to his gaffe: ‘He was very nice about it.’
Fun and dames for Twiggy and Emma!
It was Twiggy’s big night, but another dame appeared to be in danger of stealing the show.
Sixties icon Twiggy, 74, who became Dame Lesley Lawson four years ago, is the subject of Close-Up: The Twiggy Musical.
At its first night at The Menier Chocolate Factory theatre in Southwark, South London, the model was embraced enthusiastically by friend Dame Emma Thompson, 64, the Oscar-winning screenwriter and actress.
It was Twiggy’s big night, but another dame appeared to be in danger of stealing the show (Pictured: Twiggy aka Dame Lesley Lawson and Dame Emma Thompson attend the press night after party for ‘Close-Up: The Twiggy Musical)
Sixties icon Twiggy, 74, who became Dame Lesley Lawson four years ago, is the subject of Close-Up: The Twiggy Musical (Pictured left to right: Elena Skye, Ben Elton and Twiggy at the press night after party for ‘Close-Up: The Twiggy Musical’
Twiggy says it was ‘very, very emotional’ seeing her parents and ex-husband portrayed on stage. The musical recreates the moment she found out husband Michael Witney had collapsed and died while taking their five-year-old daughter for dinner.
Twiggy says said she refused previous offers to dramatise her life but was flattered when Ben Elton asked and agreed because he was a friend.
Kate Garraway has endured a traumatic time since her husband Derek Draper’s near-fatal fight with Covid in 2020. So the Good Morning Britain presenter was grateful for a night out at illusionist Derren Brown’s show, Unbelievable, in London’s West End. And her evening took a magical twist when she was invited to join members of the audience on stage at the Criterion Theatre to take part in a trick. They were all asked to think of a song and not tell anyone. Then a musician played the tunes on the piano. Garraway, 56, was shocked when the woman played her number: ABC by The Jackson 5. And the surprises didn’t end there. A magician announced to the audience how much change Garraway’s friend, Mike, had in his pocket: £3.11 — the exact amount. Spooky.
Raducanu can still smash it, says men’s ace
Since her fairy-tale victory at the US Open in 2021, she has won only 24 of 51 matches, jettisoned five coaches and had three major operations — but Emma Raducanu, 20, can still dominate women’s tennis, insists BBC Wimbledon commentator Andrew Castle.
Since her fairy-tale victory at the US Open in 2021, Emma Raducanu, 20, has won only 24 of 51 matches, jettisoned five coaches and had three major operations
‘When Emma comes back in January, she can be a force,’ Castle tells me. Britain’s former men’s No 1 adds: ‘Nobody believes it any more; it’s so bizarre — she’s won the U.S. Open. She can do great things in the game. She just needs to grow and build physically.’
Let’s hope there are no major shocks at this year’s Labour Party conference for journalist Stephen Pollard. The former Jewish Chronicle editor has revealed he once walked into Tony Benn’s Blackpool hotel room. ‘We were staying in the same B&B. I didn’t know this, until one night I came back to go to bed,’ he recalls. ‘When I put the key in my door it didn’t work, which was annoying, but when I turned the handle it opened. And sitting there in bed in his pyjamas reading is Tony Benn. The key didn’t work because it wasn’t my room.’
Explorer’s secret gift to Afghan girls
TV explorer Levison Wood witnessed the Taliban capture of Kabul during the West’s bungled withdrawal from Afghanistan — where he previously spent four years fighting with the Parachute Regiment.
But the former Army officer hasn’t given up on the troubled nation.
‘I help fund a school in northern Afghanistan that teaches girls English,’ Wood, 41, reveals at a talk for the Chelsea History Festival about his book, Escape From Kabul: The Inside Story.
‘I can’t disclose the location because it’s technically illegal,’ he adds.
‘The Taliban wouldn’t like that, but these people are going to do it with or without my help.’
King Charles’s Ayrshire mansion, Dumfries House, is staging a ‘bat walk’.
An advert explains: ‘Join volunteers for the Bat Conservation Trust on an evening walk around the estate to seek out bat roosts.’ It adds: ‘Please note, this event will take place after the sun has set and so we will be walking in the dark.’ Look out!
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