Best known as unlucky-in-love ‘Duckface’ in the classic comedy Four Weddings and a Funeral, Anna Chancellor has received some devastating news in real life.
The actress’s only child, Poppy Chancellor, is suffering from acute myeloid leukaemia at the age of 36.
‘After three weeks with multiple infections in hospital, I have been diagnosed with leukaemia,’ Poppy confirms. ‘I am still very much processing my heartbreak.’
Leukaemia is cancer of the white blood cells. ‘I am, honestly, terrified and physically exhausted – at the same time as learning to talk to my body and cells with a loving defiance,’ Poppy says.
In preparation for chemotherapy, she has shaved off her trademark ‘bob’ hairstyle. ‘Chemo ready,’ she says. ‘Said goodbye to the bob today – end of an era.’
Her father, the East Lothian-born poet Jock Scot, died of cancer seven years ago at the age of 63. After his diagnosis in 2014, he refused chemotherapy after being given 100 days to live. However, he went on to live for another two years.
‘Cancer has always been close to home for me,’ Poppy says. ‘I’ve always been interested in cancer awareness and advocating for grief awareness and now it’s all starting to feel very real very quickly.’
She adds: ‘Grieving for my life before diagnosis – and coming to terms with all the bruises and needles is a challenge.’
An illustrator and papercut artist, Poppy has worked with major brands including Cath Kidston and Adidas, as well as run workshops at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
After studying illustration at Kingston University, in South-West London, she attended the Royal Drawing School, established by King Charles.
She once created a papercut for a friend to present as a gift to the late Queen Elizabeth during her Diamond Jubilee in 2012. The King is said to have one of her works which she gave to him as a thank-you after she attended an artists’ residency at Dumfries House, his stately home in Ayrshire. He wrote to her saying he was very ‘honoured’ to have her work.
She has also written a book titled ‘Cut It Out!’ which teaches readers how to create papercut art from a blank sheet.
Poppy has spoken fondly about her ‘crazy childhood’ with her ‘loving’ mother, 58, whom she described as her ‘best friend’.
Her parents split up when she was four years old and she lived with her mother in a basement flat in Shepherd’s Bush, West London. They would be seen out together on the party scene in trendy Ladbroke Grove nearby.
‘I was an only child, but I never felt lonely because I was always at the party, or down the bookies with my dad, or in the pub with both of them,’ she said. ‘There were parties every night and great pubs where everyone would go, so that’s what they did.’
David Bowie’s former drummer Woody Woodmansey tells me he’s yet to receive an apology from bandmates who ditched him last year for refusing to have the Covid jab. Woodmansey, 73, is the last survivor of Ziggy Stardust backing band The Spiders From Mars.
He later joined Holy Holy, which performs the pop chameleon’s classics and includes Bowie producer Tony Visconti among its line-up.
‘It was unfortunate — a split up on medical differences,’ Woodmansey drolly informs me at the Press call for Ziggy Stardust The Motion Picture at Hammersmith Apollo in West London.
‘Sad.’
Hedge fund manager Doug King must have dreamed of joining the Premier League when he became majority owner of Coventry City this season, and the club made it to the play-off final on Wednesday.
But he can’t have dreamt older brother Will would ruin his big night by sharing his phone number on social media.
Watching his brother’s club in a London pub, Will, who founded the men’s grooming company King of Shaves, got so carried away he posted on social media his attempt to call his brother, only for Coventry fans to ring up their sporting benefactor.
‘Yes I know in the excitement I tweeted a photo with DK’s mobile,’ Will King sheepishly confessed. ‘Yes, it’s deleted. Yes, I am sorry. Yes, I am embarrassed.’ He later observed that he’d been ‘sent to Coventry’.
Brosnan Turns 00-70!
James Bond star Pierce Brosnan celebrated turning 70 this week by taking his wife, Keely Shaye Smith, 59, and his mother, May, for a slap-up dinner at Giorgio Baldi restaurant in Santa Monica, California.
‘At this time in life, as I adventure to my 70th year . . . I feel joy, happiness, and creation,’ says the actor, who grew up in Putney, South-West London, after his mother emigrated from Ireland when he was four.
A keen artist, Brosnan, who has five children, adds: ‘Art and my family have played a big part.’
Having experienced drink, drugs and debauchery with Rolling Stones star Ronnie Wood, his ex-wife, Jo, no longer recognises the man she was married to for 26 years.
‘I don’t really know him now when I see him around,’ former Strictly star Jo, 68, tells me at the launch of her wallpaper range, JoJo & Trixie, in Mayfair.
‘He used to be, ‘Whee! Let’s party.’ He’s a funny old bloke.’
Ronnie, 75, has seven-year-old twins with his third wife, Sally Humphreys, 45, but Jo says: ‘I am more than happy with grandchildren.’
Penny’s Privy chat with King Charles
Aside from holding aloft the 8lb Sword of State for a full 51 minutes at the Coronation, as well as the slightly lighter Jewelled Sword of Offering for well over an hour, in her role as Lord President of the Council, Penny Mordaunt was the only person with a clear view as the new monarch’s head, hands and chest were anointed with holy oil.
But this week she had the chance to exchange a word or two with King Charles in private, shortly before the Privy Council, of which she is presiding officer, met at Buckingham Palace. Doubtless the King praised Penny’s unwavering performance at Westminster Abbey.
But how did he react to the swearing-in of the Council’s newest member — Scotland’s First Minister, Humza Yousaf?
During his campaign to become leader of the SNP, Yousaf remarked that he had been ‘very clear — I’m a republican’.
That didn’t dissuade him from being, like Mordaunt, ‘received in audience’ by the King.
No swords in evidence, on either side, I trust.
