TV’s tallest performer Stephen Merchant, 43, is escorting stunning blonde American model and actress, the 5ft 6in Mircea Monroe, 36, a former cover girl for lads’ mag Maxim
TV’s tallest performer Stephen Merchant, 43, famously lamented that he couldn’t get a date because of his 6ft 7in frame as well as his English reticence.
Now I hear the beanpole comic, who established his reputation co-writing The Office and then co-writing and starring in Extras alongside pint-sized Ricky Gervais, is going steady.
He is escorting stunning blonde American model and actress, the 5ft 6in Mircea Monroe, 36, a former cover girl for lads’ mag Maxim. But Mircea is not just a pretty face — she studied at the Virginia Commonwealth University.
So what is the secret of his new-found romance, of the sort that eluded Stuart Pritchard — the socially inept Englishman living in Los Angeles, desperate to find his dream woman —who Merchant played in his sitcom, Hello Ladies?
Maybe a new-found confidence boost? His company, SSJM Limited — which Merchant established in 2002 when co-writing The Office with Gervais — has accumulated £16 million, an increase of £2.3 million on the £13.7 million it held the previous year.
A statement filed at Companies House records that Merchant is the company’s sole shareholder.
‘I was trying for years to woo people through humour,’ he reflected a while ago, ‘but it seems flash cars are much easier.’
In 2014, he shelled out £2.4 million for a gated house in Los Angeles once owned by U.S. comedian and TV host Ellen DeGeneres and subsequently re-built by DeGeneres’s former girlfriend, actress and director Alexandra Hedison. That may help, too.
Those hoping to catch the wedding of Princess Eugenie of York and Jack Brooksbank in the comfort of their own homes will be disappointed. Broadcasters BBC and ITV, apparently, will not be airing the event, which will take place at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle on October 12. A BBC spokesman tells me: ‘We are not planning to televise the wedding with the BBC’s live events coverage.’ While ITV concede: ‘We’re sending a small crew up there to cover arrivals.’
Ear’s the new Prince Charles
Actor Josh O’Connor, 28, who plays Lawrence in the ITV series The Durrells, has found his prominent ears are not such a disadvantage. As my picture reveals, perhaps Josh’s pair helped win him the coveted role of Prince Charles in the upcoming third and fourth series of the Netflix drama The Crown.
As my picture reveals, perhaps Josh’s pair helped win him the coveted role of Prince Charles in the upcoming third and fourth series of the Netflix drama The Crown
While most people sympathise with the Duchess of Sussex after her father Thomas Markle revealed intimate secrets — including Prince Harry’s views on Trump, and later told a media outlet that his daughter’s ‘pained smile means she’s terrified’ — Lewis actor Laurence Fox reckons Meghan shouldn’t be so hard on her dad.
‘He’s my man, I have big love for Thomas Markle, he reminds me of my father,’ says Laurence, whose pop is the award-winning actor James Fox.
‘My dad is just the same as old man Thomas, he has no filter but, luckily for me, he keeps well away from journalists.’
Model Roxie Nafousi, 27, who split up with 53-year-old artist Damien Hirst — after concerns over the age difference — has opted for looks rather than experience with her new boyfriend. He’s Australian actor Wade Briggs, who, at 28, is 25 years Hirst’s junior. ‘We’re very happy,’ says Roxie. ‘I was happy being single, but it’s true, you do find someone when you’re not looking.’
The smart set’s talking about…Tattooed Lisa
A devotee of Instagram, Lisa keeps her followers abreast of events in Leicestershire, posting images variously showing herself at the point-to-point meeting for the Quorn Hunt
She used to cut a striking figure, sashaying down the catwalk.
But since becoming the second wife of landowner Edward Packe-Drury-Lowe in 2016, the former Lisa Wallace (right) has effortlessly adapted to a very new life as chatelaine of Prestwold Hall, the magnificent Leicestershire house which has been in her husband’s family for 350 years.
A devotee of Instagram, Lisa keeps her followers abreast of events in Leicestershire, posting images variously showing herself at the point-to-point meeting for the Quorn Hunt — the Prince of Wales’s favourite in his hunting days — or striding across the gravel at Prestwold in killer heels, or reclining in a deckchair at a cricket match.
But anyone concluding she’s opted for a life of ease is mistaken. Since taking centre-stage at Prestwold, Lisa has hosted a Wedding Fair — and a Bereavement Awareness Day — while also heading to a reception at the Jamaican High Commission in London to welcome the country’s Prime Minister, Andrew Holness.
She and Edward have also been to Jamaica to visit Lisa’s 96-year-old grandmother — during which, Lisa disclosed, Edward displayed a healthy appetite for Jamaican produce.
But perhaps Lisa’s greatest passion is for developing her talents as a designer. ‘Busy wife. I am so proud,’ writes Edward, who is surely appreciative that Lisa sports an intriguing tattoo, reminiscent of a sea-lion, which emerges from below her bikini line.
Definitely a first for the traditionalists of the Quorn.
When former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham attempted a solo chart career, she was much mocked for her lack of singing prowess. But in spite of Posh’s renowned frosty demeanour, her former publicist Alan Edwards agrees she can laugh about the shortlived episode, along with everyone else, and knows her vocals were terrible, often joking about her failed solo career. But Victoria, who has since transformed herself into a fashion designer, might not be so good humoured about it when she learns that Edwards still has some of her music on tape — as yet unheard. ‘Somewhere, I’ve got some of the tapes that never came out,’ he says.
Naked chef Jamie Oliver, 43, is seen posing in a wheat-field with his sons, one-year-old River Rocket, and Buddy Bear, seven. ‘Beautiful evening walk on the fields and harvest time makes me so happy,’ wrote Jamie’s wife Jools, 43, alongside the image.
Jools, who designs a line of children’s wear for Mothercare, recently said she is keen to have another child. Isn’t five enough?
Naked chef Jamie Oliver, 43, is seen posing in a wheat-field with his sons, one-year-old River Rocket, and Buddy Bear, seven
(Very) modern manners
Jemima Goldsmith, film producer and daughter of maverick billionaire James Goldsmith, has had her fair share of romantic liaisons with hairy hedonists, but a few days before the Rolling Stones London concert last month on their No Filter tour, at which she was a VIP guest, she received a letter from Sir Mick Jagger inviting her to his Chelsea flat after the show. Assuming the snake-hipped singer had romantic designs on her, Jemima cooked up a thoughtful rejection letter to help maintain their platonic relationship.
It was only when Jemima arrived at the concert that she realised everyone had been invited to the after party at Sir Mick’s place, not only her.