Jamie Oliver thought he had the recipe for a lucrative house sale when Harry Styles turned up for a viewing. Unfortunately, his daughter’s obsession with the pop superstar appears to have lost him the deal.
‘I’m not mates with Harry Styles, but I have met him a couple of times,’ the television chef says. ‘One time was when I had put my house up for sale and he came for an inspection.
‘He didn’t know that my daughter had a life-sized [cardboard] cut-out of him in her bedroom. He just sort of looked at it, turned around and said, “Argh!” and left the house very quickly.’
Asked if the former One Direction singer, 30, pictured, bought their house, Jamie replies: ‘No he didn’t.’
Instead, the couple sold the north London house to the estate of a late porn baron for £15million.
Harry Styles showed up for a viewing at Jamie Oliver’s house sale before noticing a cardboard cutout of himself in the chef’s daughter’s room
Jamie Oliver (pictured with his wife Jools) earlier this year at Wimbledon
They had bought the eight-bedroom property for £8.95million in 2015, so they made a whopping £6million profit.
The house was bought by FIJPTC, a trustee company set up for the estate of Paul Raymond, a strip club owner and porn publisher who was known as the ‘King of Soho’.
Jamie, 49, has three daughters with his wife, Jools, also 49, as well as two sons. They now live at Spains Hall, a 16th-century mansion in Finchingfield, Essex, which they bought for £6million.
Jamie does not disclose which of his daughters’ rooms contained the cut-out, but Jools once admitted that she had stalked Styles with Daisy, who’s now 21.
‘I once took Daisy to sit outside [Harry’s] house after school,’ Jools said. ‘We sat there for ages in the car, and got really excited when he came out.’
Praying for a resignation
Priest to the Chipping Norton set, Fergus Butler-Gallie hopes to unseat Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby over his failure to report a prolific sexual abuser.
‘Forgiveness requires sacrificial action,’ says the Vicar of Charlbury in Oxfordshire – home to David Cameron and Jeremy Clarkson. ‘I for one will be praying that you will resign. The damage you have done to this Church will take a very long time to repair.’
Fergus Butler-Gallie (pictured) hopes to unseat Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby over his failure to report a prolific sexual abuser
Clarkson’s sweary pal is City Mayoress
Here’s someone who should rev up the City of London: the wife of the new Lord Mayor of London is a Formula 1 writer who’s friends with Jeremy Clarkson.
Florence Walker’s husband, Alastair King, was sworn in before the Lord Mayor’s Show at the weekend. She’s the sister-in-law of Pointless host Alexander Armstrong and TV presenter Giles Coren.
Florence, 35, who used to work for Clarkson’s petrolheads website DriveTribe, married financier Alastair, 56, in April.
She may leave a lasting impression on the City as she has a sideline embellishing cushions with four-letter rants. Look out!
Florence, 35, who used to work for Clarkson’s petrolheads website DriveTribe, married financier Alastair, 56, in April
Becker meets his match in young wife
They’ve been married for just a couple of months, but Boris Becker has already set about improving his wife’s tennis skills.
The three-time Wimbledon champion, 56, played a match against Lilian de Carvalho, 33, a political risk consultant, at the weekend.
‘Playing tennis with my wife…and guess who won?’ the German star asks fans online – without revealing the answer – alongside this picture of the couple with their racquets and balls at the Aspria Harbour Club in Milan.
They were married in Portofino, Italy, in a ceremony attended by Becker’s sons with his first wife, Barbara Feltus: Noah, 30, and Elias, 25. Noticeable by their absence were his daughter Anna Ermakova, 24, and his fourth child, Amadeus, 14.
The three-time Wimbledon champion, 56, played a match against his wife Lilian de Carvalho, 33, a political risk consultant, at the weekend
Brenda Blethyn’s bloody accolade
As she bows out after 14 years as the star of ITV1 detective drama Vera, Brenda Blethyn admits she’s not sure about one bloody accolade she received.
Blethyn, 78, tells an audience at London’s BFI that she returned from a promotional trip to the US with the Poirot Award for Services to Crime Fiction.
Blethyn says: ‘The prize was a cup – lovely, but it was a cup and saucer with blood pouring down the side.’
Brenda Blethyn has bowed out of ITV1 detective drama Vera after 14 years
Jude Law is forced to live out of a suitcase
Jude Law, who sold his Highgate home for £13million in 2022, has been forced to live out of a suitcase due to ‘nightmare’ renovations at his new London pad.
‘It’s been going on for two years, so we’ve been travelling where I’m working,’ reveals the actor, who has two small children with his wife, Phillipa Coan.
‘We’ve been in California, Canada, France, Australia, then New York. I found it hard going back to the UK without my house – I had this lovely home. Going as a visitor, renting, it’s disconcerting.’
Jude Law, who sold his Highgate home for £13million in 2022, has been forced to live out of a suitcase due to ‘nightmare’ renovations at his new London pad
Chef Hix calls last orders
Mark Hix made his name as chef-director of trendy London dining rooms including Le Caprice and Scott’s, then built his own restaurant empire. However, it collapsed at the start of the pandemic and Hix, 61, moved back home to Dorset.
Mark Hix is closing his last remaining restaurant, the Oyster & Fish House in Lyme Regis
Now, he is closing his last remaining restaurant, the Oyster & Fish House in Lyme Regis. The Saturday Kitchen star blames ‘increasing challenges and pressures on the industry’. He says: ‘If you’re going to stop doing something, you should always go out on a high.’
Hix will, however, continue his Kitchen Tables experience, which takes place at his home in Charmouth.
He says: ‘You might not be able to dine at The Fish House any more, but you can still come and dine with me at my house.’
Comedian Alan Davies is a victim of online fraud
New technology is no laughing matter for comedian Alan Davies, who reveals he’s been the victim of online fraudsters.
‘I’ve been relentlessly scammed,’ the Jonathan Creek and QI star, 58, tells BBC Radio 4’s The Infinite Monkey Cage, to be aired this Thursday.
‘I was scammed on a Playstation 5 and that was £400 down the Swannee. The trouble is it’s become almost impossible to contact an actual human being with any company that you’re dealing with.
‘My Twitter [now X] account was hacked by a Bitcoin scammer and I couldn’t do anything about it,’ Davies says, adding: ‘I lost my 800,000 followers.’
