SEBASTIAN SHAKESPEARE: John Terry is slide-tackled over his plans to build a garage for his supercars
Few will ever emulate his enviable life path — from insalubrious beginnings in Barking, Essex, to captain of the England football team and a £40million fortune.
But John Terry, revered — and sometimes reviled — for his uncompromising style of play, may have met his match in the gin-and-Jag heartlands of Surrey’s stockbroker belt.
That’s where he and his former beautician wife, Toni, snapped up their latest property last year, paying £4.35million for a sumptuous 18th-century mansion, with library, stables, swimming pool and tennis court, set in eight acres near his old club Chelsea’s training ground.
Jony Terry and his former beautician wife, Toni, (pictured together) snapped up their latest property last year, paying £4.35million for a sumptuous 18th-century mansion
Despite the house’s grandeur, the couple recently sought permission to add a covered outdoor seating area — equipped with a bar — and to replace the current triple garage with a new version.
This would house Terry’s car collection, which includes a Ferrari 275 GTB and a £2 million Enzo, and would also provide accommodation for ‘ancillary domestic staff’.
Though Terry neutralised many an opponent in a career that led to five Premier League winner’s medals, until now he’s not had to contend with neighbour Imogen Jamieson, who, in an online forum for female writers, says she observes ‘small successes with pleasure’ and seeks ‘subtle humour wherever possible’.
Despite the house’s grandeur (pictured) the couple recently sought permission to add a covered outdoor seating area — equipped with a bar — and to replace the current triple garage with a new version
Undeterred by Terry’s reputation on or off the field, Mrs Jamieson wrote to Guildford Council’s planning officer on behalf of Ockham Parish Council, accusing Terry of an ‘inappropriate and excessive development’.
In particular, she points out that an external staircase leading to the staff accommodation will cause neighbours to be overlooked.
Nor is she impressed by the lack of detailed information about the size of the new building.
‘Without specific dimensions,’ she writes, ‘we cannot be sure the increased height will not be visible from the road’.
Can Terry, 39, now Aston Villa’s assistant head coach, nod that one over the bar?
Lulu has something she wants to shout about: today’s young pop stars showing off their backsides.
‘One of my pet hates is somebody’s bum hanging out and you see the line of their pants, and also the shape has gone,’ the 71-year-old singer declares.
‘Young kids get away with a lot of things. At my age I hide my bum, I don’t let my crotch show, but I can wear tight pants if the top is long enough so it’s appropriate.’
Stanley’s joy with a new baby Johnson
The Prime Minister is on holiday in Scotland this week with his fiancee Carrie Symonds and their three-month-old son, Wilfred.
But Boris Johnson’s father, Stanley, had an even younger grandchild to play with at his 80th birthday party in Somerset on Tuesday.
Stanley’s financier son Max Johnson brought his Brazilian wife, Gabriela, and their five-week-old daughter, Ayla, to help him celebrate reaching the milestone.
Boris Johnson’s father, Stanley, had an even younger grandchild (pictured) to play with at his 80th birthday party in Somerset on Tuesday
‘I was happy to spend it with my latest grandchild and all is good,’ Stanley tells me from his home on Exmoor.
‘We had a very small family function down on my farm.’ Like Carrie, former model Gabriel suffered from coronavirus while pregnant but Max says she and Ayla are ‘doing really well’.
Max adds: ‘She is a true blessing from heaven and we couldn’t be happier.’
Stanley’s financier son Max Johnson brought his Brazilian wife, Gabriela, (pictured together) and their five-week-old daughter, Ayla, to help him celebrate reaching the milestone
David Cameron’s favourite pantomime has been called off because of the coronavirus crisis.
‘The Chipping Norton Theatre panto has been performed, without interruption, for the past 47 years,’ confirms a spokesman for the theatre near the former PM’s Oxfordshire home.
‘Sadly, the risks of proceeding with a show this year are simply too great.’
So Cameron will have to make do with the Whitehall farce currently being staged by Boris Johnson and his hapless Education Secretary Gavin Williamson.
Pippa’s pedal power
Boris Johnson has urged us all to take more exercise, but Pippa Middleton didn’t need much encouragement.
The Duchess of Cambridge’s sister was spotted cycling in Chelsea, where she shares a £17million home with husband James Matthews and their 20-month-old son, Arthur.
Pippa, 36, is so keen she took Arthur to the gym before he’d even celebrated his first birthday.
‘I needed to find something more than just park walks in the pram,’ she explained. ‘Our local baby gym has been a saving grace.’
The Duchess of Cambridge’s sister Pippa (pictured) was spotted cycling in Chelsea, where she shares a £17million home with husband James Matthews and their 20-month-old son, Arthur
Havers’ moving tribute to his Chariots Of Fire hero
Nigel Havers has paid tribute to his Chariots Of Fire co-star Ben Cross, who has died aged 72 after a short illness.
‘He was a very macho man, but underneath that he was softie,’ Eighties heart-throb Havers tells me.
‘While we were training to become athletes, I was showing off how brilliant I was over the hurdles and clipped the hurdle at full speed. I stuck my left hand out and broke my wrist and dislocated my shoulder.
‘Ben looked after me the whole day in hospital and took me home — without him I would have been in big trouble.
Thandie’s line of duty to her daughter Ripley
Line Of Duty and Mission: Impossible 2 star Thandie Newton has declared that she used her daughter, Ripley Parker, to test her views on gender.
‘My daughter was a bit of an experiment,’ Thandie admits of the 19-year-old.
‘When she was born, I just had a very powerful sense that I didn’t want her gender [to be] the first stop on how she identified herself.
‘If people said, “oh, she’s a sweet little boy”, I wouldn’t challenge them, and I used neutral colours that I happened to love as opposed to exclusively pink.’
Ripley is one of Thandie’s three children with husband Ol Parker, director of Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again.
Line Of Duty and Mission: Impossible 2 star Thandie Newton has declared that she used her daughter, Ripley Parker, to test her views on gender (pictured together)
Rick Cressman — whose beloved brother Thomas was murdered by Jane Andrews, former dresser of Sarah, Duchess of York — has found a touching way to mark the 20th anniversary of his death.
The Warwickshire hotelier is writing a tribute song to celebrate Tommy’s life which will be performed by his wife, Sue, an accomplished singer.
‘I would like it to be an uplifting song rather than a morbid one,’ Rick tells me. Cressman’s most recent song, Survive, celebrated Sue’s successful battle with breast cancer. ‘
We’ve had to survive an awful lot over the loss of Tommy and the things that have gone on with all of it,’ he says.
‘So Survive has a good meaning for us as all.’
Edited by Richard Eden
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