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People - Here, There and Everywhere

First Posted noon June13,2007

Sopranos finale spurs Wiki slur

It seems a fan of The Sopranos was so furious about the enigmatic ending of the series on Sunday that he or she vandalised the entry for the show's creator David Chase on Wikipedia. "David Chase (born David DeCesare) is a homosexual American television writer." That's how the entry began yesterday morning. Well, Chase is not homosexual and has been happily married to his high school

sweetheart since the late 1960s. Wikipedia monitors have since locked the entry.

Chase has only given one interview about the controversial last episode, appropriately enough to the New Jersey Star-Ledger, where the series was based. Speaking from France, where he has gone to escape media attention, Chase, said: "I have no interest in explaining, defending, reinterpreting, or adding to what is there."

He discounted rumours that the open-ended conclusion was a set-up to allow for a celluloid return for Tony, Meadow (above) et al. "I think we've kind of said it and done it," he said.

Web Crawler on The Sopranos finale

A tale of two New Jersey Dons

June 13: June Sarpong, Robert Kilroy-Silk and Vanessa Feltz will help Nancy Dell'Olio launch her autobiography, My Beautiful Game, at the Orangery, Holland Park.

Crown Prince Pavlos of Greece will attend the Grosvenor House Art and Antiques Fair, London.

Mariella Frostrup will be at the House of Lords v Commons Tug of War, Victoria Tower Gardens, London.

June 14: Giles Deacon, Leah Wood, Peaches Geldof (above) and Erin O'Connor are due to attend the Visa Swap launch party, 5 Brompton Road, London

June 15: Simon Sebag Montefiore, Fay Weldon and Ronnie Corbett will join Earl Spencer at Althorp Literary Festival, Althorp, Northampton

June 16: Pete Doherty, Jarvis Cocker and Bryan Ferry will perform at the Royal Festival Hall, London in a Disney Songbook tribute.

Another check-out at Topshop

Another senior member of Philip Green's top team at Topshop has quit. When the rag-trade mogul lost brand director Jane Shepherdson (above left) in October - just when he was celebrating Kate Moss signing up for £3m to design a range - industry observers (continued below ad)

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(continued from above ad) had two questions:where would Shepherdson turn up next, and how would the teen fashion Mecca cope without her?

It was well known in the industry that Shepherdson, not Green, was the one who worked the Topshop magic.

Now those questions are made even more pertinent with the departure of marketing director Jo Farrelly, who was a close ally of Shepherdson's.

Farrelly - who will apparently continue to have a consultancy role at Topshop - has not announced what she plans to do next. And while Shepherdson has recently teamed up with the eco-fashion label People Tree as a part-time board member, her plans remains a secret, too.

High street fashion's most dynamic duo is at large. Watch this space. (The First Post)


Spector’s attack dog Cutler is caged

Famed defence attorney Bruce Cutler believed his aggressive courtroom tactics would keep Phil Spector out of prison, as they had three times for the late mob boss John Gotti.

But for the past four weeks, Cutler has sat silently in court as other attorneys have taken on the legendary record producer's murder defence.

Cutler, known as much for his theatrics as his legal skills, was put on a short leash last month after Judge Larry Paul Fidler scolded the lawyer for shouting at Dianne Ogden, who had tearfully described Spector pressing a pistol to her face and forcing her to spend the night with him in 1989.

"A lion's got to roar," Cutler told a reporter recently. "I have been muzzled. Phillip needs me [to win over the jury]. He needs my oomph, bang and emotion." (Los Angeles Times)

Now Conrad must wait on jury

After declining his right to testify on his own behalf, Conrad Black left court in Chicago yesterday with his defence quietly confident that the former Telegraph owner will not be convicted of fraud and racketeering. He should discover his fate around Independence Day, July 4.

Read the full story here

In Town Last Night

Sadie Frost, Kimberly Stewart and Melissa Odabash (above) partied at London's Hempel Hotel.
Seven pages of pictures

Amy’s weird and wonderful world

Another day, another weird insight into the life of huge- haired Amy Winehouse. The sottish singer decided to work behind the bar at her Camden local, the Hawley Arms, one night this week, pulling pints and pouring herself vodka Red Bulls.

Her husband, Blake Fielder- Civil, spent much of the evening locked in a toilet with drug-addled Pete Doherty. What his girlfriend Kate Moss will make of their budding friendship remains to be seen: at the Isle of Wight Festival last weekend she had a massive bust up with Blake, calling him a "fucking queer". (The Sun)

 

England cricket captain Michael Vaughan fell asleep on a bench, then had to be helped into a taxi after celebrating his team's Test victory... David Beckham is the subject of a TV documentary about his move to Los Angeles, which will rival a similar show also being filmed by wife Victoria...
TV presenter Jayne Middlemiss suffered a panic attack when she was trapped in a lift for 20 minutes as part of a prank set up by Rio Ferdinand for his show, All Star Wind-ups - no one told him she suffered from extreme claustrophobia... High finance superwoman Nicola Horlick is suing the Financial Times over a piece they wrote on her Bramdean Asset Management boutique - even though she writes a column for the paper...

Princes open up about Diana crash

Princes William and Harry have spoken movingly about the death of their mother, and her fatal accident. In an interview to be broadcast on American television on June 18 to publicise the upcoming Diana memorial concert, Harry said the decade since her death had passed "really, really slowly". Of the car crash, he commented: "Whatever happened in that tunnel, you know, no-one will ever know."

Unusually, press-shy Harry did most of the talking, but William gave an insight into how much he misses Diana: "There's not a day goes by I don't think about it." And into why his relationship with Kate Middleton hit the rocks. "There's a lot of baggage that comes with us, trust me. A lot of baggage."

The Diana Chronicles - all on one page