In brief: Cheryl Cole becomes an Angel

Pop star, X Factor judge and footballer's wife Cheryl Cole has been immortalised in a painting (pictured) that depicts her as the 'Angel of the North'. The artist, Lee Jones, trilled: "I feel the overwhelming warmth of the Northern people towards Cheryl Cole... I see her as a new icon of popular culture for the 21st Century, a beacon of light in these bleak times"............ According to a new list compiled by the Hollywood Reporter, Angelina Jolie is the highest earning actress of 2008. She can now command $15 million per movie, while Jennifer Aniston, who was once married to 33-year-old Jolie's husband Brad Pitt, earns $8m per film and appears eighth on the list………… Fawlty Towers actor Andrew Sachs was unimpressed by Russell Brand being awarded the Best Live Stand-Up award at the British Comedy Awards at the weekend. He told the Daily Telegraph: "It baffles me as to why he is so popular. There's no style or structure to his work"………… John Prescott, the former deputy prime minister who admitted earlier this year that he had suffered an eating disorder, has backed a scheme in his Hull constituency aimed at helping the elderly lose weight. Talking about his own trouble with bulimia, he said: "I let things get on top of me and took refuge in stuffing my face" with "any old rubbish - burgers, chocolate, crisps, fish and chips, until I felt sick"...........Rachel Weisz, the Oscar-winning British actress, is to appear as Blanche Dubois in a revival of the Tennessee Williams's classic, A Streetcar Named Desire, to be staged in July at Donmar Warehouse in London ………… Matteo Garrrone's Italian mafia movie, Gomorrah, swept the board at the European Film Awards in Copenhagen, Denmark, scooping five of the annual event's most prestigious gongs, including Europe's Best Film. Dame Judi Dench was also honoured for her long-running movie career, and fellow British actress Kristin Scott Thomas was named the Best European Actress for her role in the French-language movie I've Loved You So Long………….