SEBASTIAN SHAKESPEARE: Ben Goldsmith's pooches land him in a new pack of trouble as locals complain about lurchers on public footpath
Forget about his herd of red deer which have destroyed crops on neighbouring farms and denuded precious grazing.
Financier and eco-crusader Ben Goldsmith is now beset by fresh howls of anguish – provoked, this time, by his lurcher hunting dogs.
Indeed, I can disclose that locals who use the public footpath close to Goldsmith’s beautiful Queen Anne mansion on his 250-acre Somerset estate have posted a string of distressed comments on social media, warning of the danger.
‘Vicious dogs live in the house along this path,’ says Jo Vooght, explaining that, while walking in a family group which included her five-year-old great niece, two lurchers bounded towards them and terrorised their dog.
After upsetting neighbours by allowing red deer on his property to escape due to inadequate fencing, Ben Goldsmith has now upset locals with his dogs
Pictured: The home of Ben Goldsmith in North Brewham, Somerset. Locals have claimed that aggressive dogs from his home have the freedom of a nearby public footpath
‘I assume it was staff from the house who came out and tried to get the lurchers back. Before blood was drawn, the dogs came away and my daughter was able to pick up dog, both shaking with fear. What a shame to allow aggressive dogs the freedom of a public footpath.’
Theresa Preston has abandoned the footpath after a disturbing incident when out walking with her children. ‘Our Jack Russell was attacked in front of them and received a deep puncture. The children were traumatised and haven’t repeated the walk since. What can we do to make them feel safe again?’
Celia Holland, who has also ceased using the path, agrees that lurchers ‘were the problem’, adding: ‘I had a dog with me who stood up to them but I was terrified they were going to pull him apart.’
Goldsmith, 39, whose wife Jemima gave birth to their third child Vita Iris in April, is eager to placate them. ‘One of my dogs has had puppies,’ he tells me. ‘She’s been over-protective when it comes to other dogs on the public footpath.
‘The puppies are gone and, now that the dog is undergoing a little bit of training, I think the problem should be past.’
Every cloud . . . Panto dame Christopher Biggins is secretly pleased that he won’t be taking to the stage this festive season owing to Covid. ‘2020 is going to be a miss for me and pantomime, ’ he tells me at the first night of musical Sleepless, A Musical Romance at the Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre. ‘It’ll be nice not having to wear all those costumes for a while. I’ve got a bad knee and I’m supposed to go for an operation, so that will give me a lot of time to recuperate — which is good. We’re going to come back in 2021, bigger and stronger.’ Oh yes he will . . .
Hands up who’s 54, Salma!
Most Hollywood actresses fear ageing, but Salma Hayek is embracing it with open arms as she celebrated hitting 54 yesterday in Greece.
Flinging her hands in the air, she captioned the picture online: ‘I am very grateful and proud for every single one of my 54 years.’
Salma, who has a 13-year-old daughter with her husband, French billionaire Francois-Henri Pinault, pictured below with the Frida actress, was praised by fans for being in great shape — a feat, she admits, is no piece of cake.
Despite her dislike of exercise, she regularly embarks on three-to-five day juice cleanses. ‘It makes me think about what I’m putting into my body.’
Actress Salma Hayek celebrated hitting 54 yesterday in Greece , captioning the above picture with ‘I am very grateful and proud for every single one of my 54 years.’
Salma has a 13-year-old daughter with her husband, French billionaire Francois-Henri Pinault (pictured together in 2019 in Los Angeles)
At the time of the release of her big Hollywood film Jack Reacher, English rose Rosamund Pike hailed her on-screen chemistry with co-star Tom Cruise. Now she seems to have changed her tune. ‘I don’t think my work is very stellar in it,’ Pike says of her role in the 2012 film, in which she plays a lawyer. ‘I’ve never felt I’ve done my best work when the character is too professional, in truth. I’m a little odder than people might expect, I suppose, so I’ve never felt quite as comfortable when I’ve been asked to play lawyers, or people in the City.’
How Bake Off’s Nadiya keeps her home in apple-pie order
You can have too many cooks but you can never have enough cleaners. Just ask Great British Bake Off winner Nadiya Hussain.
She refuses to employ a cleaner, despite her fame and fortune. Instead, she gets her husband and three children, Musa, 13, Dawud, 12, and nine-year-old Maryam, to do the dirty work.
‘Every Sunday morning the whole household cleans the house for two and a half hours,’ she says. ‘I’m happy for anyone who wants a cleaner but it’s not for me, I want my kids to know that when we make a mess, we have to clear it up.
‘We have a cleaning soundtrack we whack on and all five of us get on with it.’
She adds: ‘I knew when I started this three years ago that I would look back years later and say it was one of the best things I ever did, because they have to learn to be self-sufficient.’
Great British Bake Off winner Nadiya Hussain, pictured, has said that she refuses to employ a cleaner, and instead gets get husband and three children to clean the house on a Sunday
Veteran Sky News anchorman Mark Austin says jobs in TV news are so scarce that he is unable to get his 21-year-old daughter Beatrice work.
‘My daughter has done a Masters in TV journalism at City University and is coming out and is looking at a jobs landscape that is unremittingly bleak,’ he says.
‘My daughter is really struggling to get a job in journalism. I can’t even get her a job, not that she’d want me to, and not that she’d want to come to Sky while I was there. This pandemic has made things really, really difficult for young people and my heart goes out to them.’
Herding cats? Rees-Mogg’s brood head back to school
No sign of any qualms about returning to school in the Rees-Mogg household.
Whilst some parents have expressed misgivings about sending their offspring back, the Leader of the House of Commons, Jacob Rees-Mogg, has his brood — or almost all of it — lined up, in uniform, ready for the start of term.
‘The holidays are over and my five older children certainly need, and want, to be at school,’ he says .
The family roll-call, in descending order, is Peter, 12, Mary, 11, Thomas, ten, Anselm, eight, and Alfred, out in front, four. Their youngest brother, Sixtus, three, remains at home for now.
First day back at Hill House School for Peter, Mary, Tom and Anselm Rees Mogg, and a first day at the small school for 4 year old Alfred, pictured at the front
The sins of the fathers... The Late Late Show producer Ben Winston, son of fertility professor Lord Winston, reveals that he was ribbed as a schoolboy on account of his father’s expertise,
‘I realised quite early on that my father was different from other dads,’ he says. ‘I was about six or seven at a time when the subject of IVF and stem cell research was being discussed in the Houses of Parliament.
‘He was often called as a spokesman on TV, and kids in the playground would ask me, “Did your dad grow you in a test tube?” They weren’t being nasty, just teasing me.’
Why Claudia is so glad she’s not perfect
Winkleman, pictured, claims women who try to ‘do it all’ are doing more harm than good
Juggling a career, motherhood and housework is no easy task, but Strictly co-host Claudia Winkleman claims women who try to ‘do it all’ are doing more harm than good.
‘Women are doers. We are running at breakneck speed: organising, changing gas providers, roasting chickens, defrosting chilli, laying the table.
‘If you do it all, it’s selfish, because there’s no space for anyone else to ,’ declares the mum of three, who is married to TV producer Kris Thykier. ‘There are some things you should be s*** at — you have to let your partner fill in some of the gaps. When we go on holiday he packs for me and unpacks for me, because I’m incapable.’
It could be the start of a new bromance. The Duke of Marlborough has invited pop star Ed Sheeran to play at his ancestral home Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire. ‘Many congratulations to Ed and Cherry Sheeran on their happy day,’ he says, following the birth of the singer’s first child Lyra Antarctica. ‘It would be an honour if you would consider to come and play at our home. Thank you and, again, many congratulations’.