EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Ex sex pest MP Simon Danczuk, 57, finds God after marrying for the third time
Simon Danczuk found love in a restaurant in Rwanda when he met beautician Claudine Uwamahoro during a business trip. Now the former Labor MP has also found God.
I can reveal that Danczuk, 57, was baptized before exchanging vows this weekend with Claudine, who is 28 years his junior. Their marriage was blessed at the Central London Seventh Day Adventist Church, two months after their traditional wedding in the Rwandan capital Kigali.
“I have attended many services of different denominations,” Danczuk says. “I’ve always been spiritual, but I was never baptized.”
Claudine, better known as Coco, is a follower of Seventh-day Adventism, but broadcaster Danczuk insists: ‘There was no pressure on me. It would have been fine for Coco if I had been Catholic or Muslim.’
He was previously married to Sonia Rossington, mother of his two adult children, but that ended after 10 years amid accusations he ‘bullied’ her into sex – which he has always vehemently denied. He then married Karen Burke, dubbed the “selfie queen” because she posted photos of her cleavage online. The couple, who have two sons, split in 2015 after he had sex with a 22-year-old woman in his constituency. He tells me, “I was always faithful when we were together.”
Simon Danczuk found love in a restaurant in Rwanda when he met beautician Claudine Uwamahoro during a business trip
Danczuk, 57, was baptized before exchanging vows this weekend with Claudine, who is 28 years his junior
He was then caught sending text messages describing himself as ‘hot’ to a potential employee aged 17, leading to his suspension from the Labor Party.
He later said that younger women were his “Achilles heel” and that he was getting help for sex addiction.
He tells me, “Christianity has made me a better person. It has made me more aware of what is good and what you should do in life; that makes me more focused on the family.’
The public still confuses Dame Emma Thompson with Natasha Richardson – even though the Hollywood star died in a skiing accident in 2009 aged 45.
Dame Emma’s husband, actor Greg Wise, explains that very often people approach his wife and, “She gets, ‘Natasha!’ She’s been everyone. People get a little excited and their brains act a little funny.”
The public still confuses Dame Emma Thompson with Natasha Richardson – even though the Hollywood star died in a skiing accident in 2009 aged 45
He adds: ‘We had a beautiful moment in a restaurant. “An American woman at a nearby table looked at Em, smiled and nodded. We get that a lot.
“As we were leaving, she said, ‘Barney’s, right?’ You sold me my bra at Barney’s.”
Never doubt Boris Johnson’s ability to bounce back from a fall. “Once I took Boris hunting,” Charles Moore, his editor at the Daily Telegraph, recalled on the Scribehound website. ‘He was very brave, he had never ridden on Blackpool beach before, except on a donkey. Literally, as soon as he stepped on, he fell off the other side.
When Boris became editor of The Spectator magazine, Lord Moore convinced the future Prime Minister to let him write a hunting column
He was in the lead for the rest of the day. Jenny, who led him on our hunt, proudly claims to be the only woman who could ever control Boris.” And when Boris later became editor of The Spectator magazine, Lord Moore convinced the future Prime Minister to let him write a hunting column. “That was great because it also meant I could travel anywhere and take a mercenary with me at The Spectator’s expense.”
Unusual Halloween outing by castle restorer and former Saatchi advertising executive Surrey Garland. Tonight he will hold the first communion service for 400 years at the ruins of Snodhill Castle, Elizabeth I’s love nest in Herefordshire. It will be an open-air event, with a pastor in boots.
When Princess Leonor of Spain graduated from UWC Atlantic in May, her fellow students cheered loudly at the boarding school in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, known as the “hippie Hogwarts.”
As she celebrates her 18th birthday today, the future queen (below) can expect a more formal reception at a ceremony in the Spanish Parliament, where she will swear allegiance to the Constitution before receiving the medals of Congress and Senate.
When Princess Leonor of Spain graduated from UWC Atlantic in May, her fellow students cheered loudly at the boarding school
Yesterday it was revealed that her grandmother, Queen Sofia, was not invited to the ceremony. Her scandal-prone husband, Juan Carlos, who lives in exile in the United Arab Emirates, abdicated in 2014 in favor of son Felipe.
Both grandparents are expected to attend a private event later.
It seems that Richard Osman had a good motive for leaving his role as host of TV’s Pointless game show to concentrate on writing crime novels.
The 52-year-old best-selling author including The Thursday Murder Club has reported an initial trading profit of £1.4 million at the company he founded last year, Six Seven Entertainment.
Richard Osman had a good motive for giving up his role as host of the TV game show Pointless to concentrate on writing crime novels
According to newly filed accounts, the company netted £1.8 million in assets in the thirteen months to March 2023. That amounts to €4,900 per day. Clearly, crime pays for some.
Downton Abbey may seem to have little in common with the cobblestones of Weatherfield, but the series of stately homes was set in the north of England due to the enduring popularity of Coronation Street.
Peter Fincham, the ITV television director who commissioned Julian Fellowes to create Downton, reveals: ‘I said to him (Lord Fellowes), ‘Where is Downton Abbey, where in the country?’. And he basically said, “Where do you want it to be?”
Downton Abbey may seem to have little in common with the cobblestones of Weatherfield, but the series of stately homes was set in the north of England due to the enduring popularity of Coronation Street.
‘So I said, ‘Because the ITV audience loves Coronation Street, Emmerdale and so on, can it be in the North?’ And he said, “Okay, I’ll put it in Yorkshire.”
‘So when you watch Downton Abbey you occasionally get references to ‘going shopping in Ripon’ or ‘taking the train from Leeds’. This is entirely because of this conversation.”
Speaking about the Have you seen it? podcast, Fincham adds: ‘I always think this is the least convincing thing about it, because Highclere Castle is near Newbury (in Berkshire) and it feels like the least northerly series ever made.’