James Whitaker--- Royal Correspondant
Mr. James Whitaker died February 15th at the age of 71 after a year’s battle with cancer and is survived by his wife,
Iwona, and three adult children. Mr. Whitaker had chronicled the lives of Queen Elizabeth II and her family for 45
years, a career that had its genesis, he said, in the late 1960s, when, as a junior reporter, he was assigned to cover
a polo match in which Prince Charles was playing, and to write a diary column about it. It was a choice that saw him
rotate through a rollcall of Great Britain’s rambunctious tabloids, working successively at The Daily Mail, The Daily
Express, The Sun, The Star and The Daily Mirror, where he stayed for 20 years and scored the most notable of the
scoops — many of them centered on the tempestuous marriage of H.R.H. Prince Charles and H.R.H. Princess Diana
of Wales — that propelled him to minor celebrityhood, a status he unashamedly relished.
Mr. Whitaker was a fixture as well on British television, working as a “royal correspondent” for ITV. Richard Wallace,
the editor of The Daily Mirror, said in his eulogy that Mr. Whitaker “was a true Fleet Street legend” — and that he had
thrived on it. “His colleagues often joked that at times he appeared grander than the royals themselves,” he said. He
remembered for his jovial humour, rotund figure and booming voice with what the British call a "Plummy Accent" His
competitors knew better than to underestimate him. He was admired for his doggedness in pursuit of a scoop, and,
occasionally, for his less-than-genteel tactics.
On one occasion, determined not to be outdone in his coverage of Diana and Charles but momentarily flummoxed for
a story, he teamed with a photographer to follow the now defunct Sun newspaper team onto a flight to the Caribbean,
tracking them toward a beach house where the royal couple were staying, then finally betraying his ruse by crashing,
sweating heavily, through the undergrowth where his Sun rivals were hiding. To Mr. Whitaker’s frustration, the Sun
team outwitted him, finding a local newspaper office with a primitive version of a fax and beating the frustrated Daily
Mirror team to the scoop: a photograph of a pregnant Diana in a bikini. It was one of the few times he was beaten.
Mr. Whitaker arrived on the scene at a time when British attitudes toward the royal family were becoming less
reverential and when the behavior of many of the younger royals was like red meat for the tabloids. Mr. Whitaker took
full advantage. His scoops included breaking the story of Diana’s eating disorders in 1982, a year after her marriage,
after a tip from the princess’s sister Sarah that her family was concerned that she was becoming anorexic. The story,
initially denied by Buckingham Palace, offered a first glimpse of the stresses that were to lead to the breakdown of
the marriage and established Mr. Whitaker as a must-read chronicler of its dissolution. After Diana’s separation and
subsequent divorce from Charles when Diana lost her H.R.H. title, he was the first to report that she was having an
affair with Dodi Fayed, the son of the owner of the Harrod’s department store, who was killed with Diana, Princess of
Wales Paris in August 1997.
Among his proudest boasts was that he had managed to maintain friendly relations with the royal family, especially
with Diana. Diana liked Mr. Whitaker and teased him despite him being responsible for many stories she would rather
not have seen published. Then again, the way he told it, Diana was more than ready to leak titbits of information
when it suited her. It was Diana who nicknamed him the "Big red tomato", a soubriquet that he happily adopted
without a shadow of irritation. It was part of the fun and Diana recognised in Mr. James Whitaker what his colleagues
and his rivals recognised: he was utterly straightforward, honest and candid and was dedicated to his work, truly a
master of his trade. Also maintaining good relations with the Monarch, an official spokesman for Her Majesty Queen
Elizabeth II told reporters that “Those in the royal household who knew him were extremely sad to learn of his death”.
" Hello,
I am very sorry to hear of James's death. I do remember him so well and the close rapport we had with one another, he
was quite a flirt as he used to remark I was but all in fun! He was someone who made me giggle though there were times
when we clashed as by example seen in the photo shown when he was following me with Dodi during what became our
last summer but I also understood being a journalist that he had a job to do and stories and photographs of me
guaranteed making the headlines, so respected that he was dedicated to his work and admired him for that. He was
someone with a larger than life personality who will be sadly missed by his family, friends and business collegues ! "
My thoughts and personal condolencies are with his wife and children at this time.
Diana
James Whitaker, in green, conferring with Diana.
In James Whitaker's book about the Royal Marriage "Diana v. Charles" he says how as their 10th
Wedding Anniversary approached and Diana had recently told the media she had " never been happier"
he wrote an article highlighting two public events in which Diana and Charles suffered...
1) Novemeber 8th 1988. The setting was the River Seine in Paris, France and the evening one planned
for relaxation for H.R.H.Prince and Princess of Wales during a hectic visit to the French capital city. The
idea was to allow the couple to savour an evening of magic on one of the boats which glide down the river
while a gourmet meal was served by candlelight. It was a disaster for everybody as the band played "I
love Paris" there was a sourness in the air coming from them both which was apparent to their hosts. I
had asked a member of the band to tell me later how the couple had enjoyed their evening. He reported
that they had not looked at each other once, nor had they addressed a single word to each other all
evening.
2) September 10th 1990 . Prince William was to begin at boarding school. Dozens of photographers
were at Ludgrove Preparatory School near Wkingham in Berkshire ( Home county of his wife Catherine )
to witness the event. A couple of them allowed to the front door to record for posterity the moment the
young Prince stepped out of the family car to shake hands with the joint headmasters, Gerald Barber and
Nicol Marston. It all looked very cozy - but it wasn't! Much of the occasion I witnessed was a sham.
Although Diana, Charles and William appeared to arrive together in their Turbo Bentley as a family unit,
the true story was less appealing. Charles still suffering from his badly broken arm, an injury sustained
playing polo had driven the car from Highgrove, Gloucestershire. Diana and William had driven in her
Jaguar X.J.S. from K.P. in London where they had spent the weekend. The two cars slipped into the
schools grounds through a back entrance a few minutes apart. Their actions concealed by laurel bushes,
the Princess and William then transferred from her car into the Bentley. Then together the family drove
the hunded yards or so to the front door for the arrival. After saying farewell to their eldest son - which
made Diana cry - the departure took place in reverse. Diana and Charles got back in the Bentley, drove
out of sight back to Diana's car then parted comapany. Diana drove back to K.P. and Charles to
Highgrove. Their meeting which lasted for a total of thirty minutes would mark the last time they would
see each other for thirty - nine days ! Charles had only allowed one person to nurse him following his polo
injury that summer at Highgrove and that was Camilla, now his wife H.R.H. Duchess of Cornwall. Diana
went there from time to time but the joke amongst the staff was that as she drove in one entrance,
Camilla was driving out of another !
BELGIUM NETHERLANDS/HOLLAND
An horrendous crash on March 13th 2012 in which 28 people died-- including 22 of the school children. Six
adults, including the vehicle's two drivers, were also killed. This happened at Sierre in the Swiss canton of
Valais shortly after the party of 52 schoolchildren and staff from Belgium and Holland set off for home
following a holiday in the Alpine ski resort of Val d’Annivers. The 24 surviving school children all seriously
injured and in hospital. The coach entered the two-mile-long Sierre tunnel on the A9 motorway at around
9.15pm on Tuesday and clipped the kerb in the outside lane, before careering into a concrete wall. The
victims came from St Lambert School, in the north eastern Belgian town of Heverlee, and from the Stekske
School in Lommel, on the Belgian border close to the Dutch city of Eindhoven.
" Hello Everyone,
When traumatic events like this happen, people are so dumbshocked, quite literally infact lost for words;
wanting and needing to say something and yet what is there to say ? At times like this silence is golden
and speaks loudest of all !
My thoughts are with all the families who have lost loved ones and in most cases their children but also to
the surviving children who hopefully will soon be physically well, though the mental scars will take
somewhat longer to heal naturally, facing the horror that many of their friends and teachers are dead.
My thoughts being with them and their well - being now and in the future!"
With love from,
Diana xx
" I would like to pay tribute to an icon remembered always: Marilyn Monroe! Born June 1st 1926, as Norma - Jeane,
she lived her life off screen away from the cameras glare and media publicity and so often favouring wearing dark
glasses, shapeless tops and trousers was a very insecure woman who never truly believed in herself, never believing
that she was good enough; seeking and needing approval of others to gain personal confidence. Very different from the
public persona of a woman who brought out the mothering instinct in women and a rather different one in men,
Marilyn Monroe who graced front cover of magazines and who commanded world attention with countless headlines.
Marilyn remembered for many films and had the natural talent of a great comedienne and being stunning to look at was
very watchable also appealing to a large Gay audience, today being a Gay Icon and often drag artists impersonating her,
such is her enduring popularity in keeping with being a legend. In two of her films she really shines these being
"Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" and "Some like it hot". In another film "The Prince and the Showgirl" playing Elsie who
falls in love with a Prince and in real life Prince Ranier of Monaco showing interest in her subsequently marrying
another North American actress Grace Kelly becoming Her Serene Highness La Princesse Grace de Monaco and we
meeting on my first official outing following the announcement of my engagement to H.R.H. The Prince of Wales in
1981. Grace dying in hospital days after a suspicious car crash the following year. On my first solo engagement I, then
H.R.H. The Princess of Wales, represented Her Majesty at the funeral in Monte Carlo. For many Grace Kelly being
known as the intellectual man's Marilyn Monroe and ironically one of her films "To Catch a Thief " being filmed in the
small principlality on the French Riviera who she'd marry the Prince of.
Gorgeous
Grace Kelly
Marilyn though desired by men all over the world in real life never found the true, emotional lasting happiness that
Norma - Jeane wanted so desperately. Growing up in an orphange or with a variety of foster parents due to her single
mother being institutionalised when Norma - Jean was still a little girl, she was no stranger to rejection and
abandonment and was forver seeking a father figure calling her three husbands "Daddy" and ideally imagining her
father who she never knew to look like male film star Clark Gable who starred with her in another film "The Misfits"
and one written for her by her last husband Arthur Miller.
Joe Di Maggio her 2nd husband remained close friends with her until her untimely and controversial death on August
4th/5th 1962 and organised her funeral. Prior to her death Norma - Jeane having romantic affairs with both the
President of the U.S.A. , at that time John F.Kennedy, and later the nations Attorney General his brother Robert
Kennedy, her death thought by many to have been a deliberate political assassination; though officially of course her
death ruled to being due to "acute barbiturate poisoning" by Dr. Thomas Noguchi of the Los Angeles County Coroners
office and listed as a "probable suicide". Many people including Jack Clemmons, the first Los Angeles Police
Department officer to arrive at the death scene,believe that she was murdered. The death of Monroe has since become
one of the most debated conspiracy theories of all time. Marilyn dying whilst making what would be her last film
ironically called "Somethings Got To Give".
I personally was drawn to admiring Marilyn myself as the natural innocence of Norma - Jeane shone through every
performance by her and likewise Andrew/Christian has always loved Marilyn and has always vowed there will never be
anyone to replace her. I am personally very touched that the musical compositon written and arranged by Sir Elton
John and Berni Taupin and called "Candle in the Wind" dedicated to Marilyn Monroe was one subsequently re - worded
and musically altered and sung in my memory by my friend Elton at my funeral in Westminster Abbey on September
6th 1997."
Date Posted: 05/19/12
May 17th, 2012
Queen of Disco "Donna Summer", aged 63 years old, has died in Florida having secretly and bravely fought the
scourge of cancer. LaDonna Adrian Gaines, was born in 1948 in Boston. She was raised on gospel music and
became the soloist in her church choir by age 10 yrs old.
Donna Summer married actor Helmuth Sommer in 1973 before giving birth to the couple's daughter Mimi later that
year. Although the marriage ended in 1975, she kept an altered version of her ex-husband's surname to use as her
stage name.
The beautiful singer came to prominence as the disco diva coupled with the musical producer Giorgio Moroder
having many hit records beginning with the controversial "Love to love you baby" and defined the dance music era of
the 1970's.
During the disco era she burned up the charts: She was the only artist to have three consecutive double-LPs hit No.
1--- Live and More, `Bad Girls and On the Radio.
Many stars of the disco era faded as the music became less popular but Donna grew beyond it and continued her
chart dominance in the 1980s with songs "She Works Hard for the Money" and "This Time I Know It's for Real."
In the late 1970's Donna Summer became a born-again Christian and faced controversy when she was accused of
making anti-gay comments in relation to the AIDS epidemic. The disco queen denied making the comments, but was
the target of a boycott.
Donna Summer married her second husband Brooklyn Dreams vocalist Bruce Sudano in 1980. Donna Summer is
survived by her husband, three daughters Mimi, Brooklyn and Amanda from her second marriage and four
grandchildren.
" I do not imagine anyone not knowing or recognising at least one song sung by Donna Summer. The lady really was
"Hot Stuff" and the undisputed Queen of Disco Music who influenced so many other musical artists and together with
Giorgio Moroder created a unique musical style that immediately gained people's attention and popularity ! "
My thoughts and condolences are with her family and friends at this time.
With love from,
Diana xx
Various Tributes:
"Early this morning, we lost Donna Summer Sudano, a woman of many gifts, the greatest being her faith,"
the singer's family said in a statement. "While we grieve her passing, we are at peace celebrating her
extraordinary life and her continued legacy. Words truly can't express how much we appreciate your
prayers and love for our family at this sensitive time."
Your voice was the heartbeat and soundtrack of a decade! .. Quincy Jones
“one of my earliest musical inspirations” ... Kylie Minogue
“She will be terribly missed. She was truly the Disco Queen.” .. La Toya Jackson
“So sad to hear about the passing of Donna Summer. Our condolences.” .. Duran Duran
"Rest in Peace Donna" ... Madonna
“The fact that dance music is so popular today owes a lot to a handful of disco pioneers like Donna. It's a very sad
loss to the industry. "She’s an interesting woman who wasn’t afraid of controversy but hugely influential and nobody
can dispute the importance of classics like Love to Love You Baby. "She influenced a generation and I am
desperately saddened by today’s news.” ... Music critic Paul Gambaccini
“Her records sound as good today as they ever did. "That she has never been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame is a total disgrace, especially when I see the second-rate talent that has been inducted. She is a great friend to
me and to the Elton John AIDS Foundation and I will miss her ... Sir Elton John
"I'm sad to lose a dear friend. My heart goes out to her husband and her children. Prayers will be said to keep them
strong," ... Dionne Warwick
Donna will be remembered for her incredible voice and talent, her song I Feel Love was really the start of electronic
dance. ....Giorgio Moroder Donna's Original Musical Producer who together with Pete Bellotte established her as one
of the biggest acts of the 1970s
Michelle and I were saddened to hear about the passing of Donna Summer. Donna Summer was truly the Queen of
Disco .. her voice unforgettable. The music industry has lost a legend far too soon." ... President Barack Obama of
the U.S.A. The President saying his being a fan of her songs, like Love to Love You Baby, Hot Stuff and Bad Girls.
"Donna and Whitney filling spaces in the Angelic chorus line to assist in creating the rhythm for
global harmony and people to sing in unison!"
"Diamonds are a girl's best friend....
