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Lady Diana's mother did not forgive Prince Charles till the end (Go To Top)

         London: Princess Diana's mother, Frances Shand Kydd, who expired recently, never forgave Prince Charles for his treatment of her daughter and for keeping her grandsons away from her. This was evident when she died, as Charles was deliberately excluded from her memorial service. According to The Mirror, while Mrs. Kydd's grandsons Prince William and Harry were present at the service, Prince Charles did not get an invitation, as per her "express wishes". Mrs Kydd is reported to have blamed Charles for keeping her grand children away from her after Lady Diana's death. "The prince was not invited because the family followed the express wishes of Mrs. Shand Kydd. She said very clearly she wanted only close friends and family to be there," the report quoted a Royal insider as saying. Prince William stood close to her coffin and read one of her favorite Bible passages.

Harry Potter's 'Barry Trotter' and other spoofs new best sellers (Go To Top)

          London: Spoof books parodying hits like 'Harry Potter' and 'The Lord of The Rings' are also becoming bestsellers. According to The Sun, a new chart that came out yesterday shows that the sales of such publications is rapidly increasing. Even last year's surprise bestseller about punctuation 'Eats, Shoots And Leaves' is not safe, with a parody version due out in September. The top five parodies that have become extremely popular are: Bored Of The Rings; Barry Trotter And The Shameless Parody; Sh*te's Unoriginal Miscellany; Barry Trotter And The Unnecessary Sequel; The McAtrix Derided

           200,000 copies of 'Barry Trotter And The Shameless Parody' have been sold in UK in just three years, whereas its follow-up, 'Barry Trotter And The Unnecessary Sequel' has sold 110,000 books. Each of these books cost 6.99 pounds. US author Michael Gerber, 35, is the brain behind Barry Trotter series whose third book 'Barry Trotter And The Dead Horse' is out this Christmas. The No.1 best-selling spoof 'Bored Of The Rings' was put together 35 years ago by staff at The Harvard Lampoon and it finally made it across the Atlantic. Publicity Manager of Gollancz Publications, Nicola Sinclair said, "Spoof books are popular because they make fun of things that need to be made fun of." No doubt, the originals may have made their authors wealthy, but now the writers of these spoofs are also raking in the moolah.

Don McLean inducted into Song Writers Hall of Fame (Go To Top)

         Sydney: America recently honoured some of its most famous song writers by including them in the song writers' Hall of Fame. According to news.com, the song writers included folk singer Don McLean for "American Pie", the Motown team of Barrett Strong and Norman Whitfield for their song "I Heard it Through the Grapevine", Daryl Hall and John Oates for "She's Gone". The Hall also inducted Charles Fox, writer of Roberta Flack's 1970's hit "Killing Me Softly".

Liz Hurley is obsessed with bikinis (Go To Top)

          London: British actress Elizabeth Hurley has revealed her love for bikinis. "I'm obsessed with bikinis. I must have tried on thousands in my lifetime. I'm very lucky I didn't get stretch marks on my tummy when I was pregnant," The Daily Mail quoted Hurley as saying. The 'Bewitched' star had celebrated her 39th birthday with a new set of pictures taken on Richard Branson's Necker Island. Hurley travelled to the Caribbean Island with her two-year-old son Damian and her Indian boyfriend Arun Nayar. "I'd love to tell you that when packing for a beach holiday I casually throw a bikini and a sarong into a duffel-bag. Unfortunately, I'm a much sadder specimen. I loathe and hate packing and rarely start before midnight," said Hurley. The curvaceous beauty and her son took five large suitcases for the ten-day stay on Necker Island. "It takes me hours and I always take at least 10 times what I actually need, so I spend a lot of time when there changing unnecessarily to justify lugging so much in the first place," added Hurley.

Ben Affleck's latest girlfriend is a thief (Go To Top)

          Washington: Hollywood hunk Ben Affleck's latest girlfriend Enza Sambataro has a criminal record. It was revealed recently that Sambataro, 26, a sales worker for a TV station in Boston, was twice found guilty of shoplifting charges and was given a total of 70 hours community service. She stole items worth more than 243 dollars in 1995 and also stole clothes costing 297 dollars from New York's Bloomingdales department store in 2001. According to imdb, the reports of shoplifting charges about Sambatro is another shock for Affleck following his ex-fiancee Jennifer Lopez's secret wedding with singer Marc Anthony. However, the 'Paycheck' star has also had his share of trouble with the law. In 1999, he was fined for driving while his licence was suspended.

Judge bans sex, TV and computer for peeping Tom (Go To Top)

          London: Peter Schmitz, a gym owner, who filmed women getting changed has been banned by a Texan judge Ken Anderson from having sex for ten years. Anderson jailed Peter for two years and ruled that when he comes out of jail, he must abstain from sex and not even own a TV or a computer. "I'm sending you back to the 19th century to live like a monk," The Sun quoted Anderson as saying.

Family interests behind Bruce Willis' and Brooke Burns split (Go To Top)

          London: Movie actor Bruce Willis' ex Brooke Burns broke her silence over their split for the first time and said that she is doing so that they can focus on their families. Brooke Burns has a baby girl and film star Bruce has three daughters by Demi Moore. According to The Sun, Willis and Brooke ended their relationship last week. "We remain really good friends. He's an amazing guy and we have a ball together, even still," said she.

Nicole Kidman gets intimate with 10-year old boy in the bathtub (Go To Top)

          London: 'Cold Mountain' beauty Nicole Kidman's latest film 'Birth' in which she gets intimate with a 10-year old kid has given rise to controversy. According to The Sun, 'Birth' will feature a nude Nicole getting passionate with a little boy who she believes is the reincarnation of her dead husband. However, shocked executives may have to chop some scenes of the 30 million pound production after seeing the final version of the movie. Nicole has played the role of a widow in the unusual film and two scenes have sparked outrage among executives. The Oscar-winning actress and the boy strip off together to submerge in bubbles and also lock their lips in the film. Meanwhile, Hollywood insiders have said that the film has been plagued by constant creative battles and rewrites from the beginning. Now enraged executives have protested to producers that the bath and kissing scenes between Nicole and the boy are sick and disgusting. Moreover, PR companies, who are supposed to promote the film are calling it a publicity nightmare.

Katherine Hepburn's brooch goes for 120,000 dollars at Sotheby's (Go To Top)

          New York: The late Hollywood actress, Katherine Hepburn's, diamond and sapphire brooch was sold at a Sotheby's auction for 120,000 dollars. The brooch was among hundreds of other items from the late actresse's estate that were put on the block. According to The New York Daily Times, the brooch was given to Katherine by her then-boyfriend Howard Hughes. Other items sold at Sotheby's were artworks by Hepburn, clothing, studio photographs, movie contracts and membership cards in the Screen Actors Guild and Actors' Equity. The auction was visited by 400 people and competed with phone and Internet bidders to drive the prices far above predictions for the two-day sale. "I just wanted something small from her estate, and I'm probably not going to get it," complained DeWitt Peterkin. He said that Hepburn's family and his father were well acquainted in Connecticut.