The Diary

IT was all glitz and glamour from rising young stars Brooke Vincent and Sacha Parkinson at the weekend.
The young Coronation Street beauties, both 17, rather stole the show as they headed to the glitzy charity Star Ball at Manchester’s Hilton Hotel on Saturday night.
Both in shiny mini-dresses, they had the flashbulbs popping as they strutted their stuff on the red carpets.
But the down-to-earth pair, who are great pals in real life as well as on the Manchester soap, were both wearing high street designs.
Blonde Sacha got her daring black sparkle mini-dress from Topshop, while Brooke snapped up her blue sequinned one shoulder mini from new Manchester boutique Forever Unique.
And while the girls are rising young starlets in the showbiz world, they still took their lovely mums as their guests to the black tie bash. And looking at glam mums Leigh and Nicola, it’s not hard to see where the girls get their looks from!

Well, there was certainly no missing Katie Price, aka Jordan, when she headed to Manchester amid a whirlwind of publicity at the weekend.
First up was her booksigning in the city centre, when she appeared in this jaw-dropping blue sequinned swimsuit (above).
Then later on Friday night she headed out on the well-trodden celebrity bar circuit of Panacea followed by The Circle club. I didn’t think she could top her blue outfit for sheer scantiness.
Oh, but the girl managed it – in this black basque that only just managed to contain those famous assets, and a feathery tutu.

Needless to say, Katie/Jordan dominated the headlines of all the red tops on Sunday morning thanks to her alleged exploits in Manchester with a new hunk – cage fighter and former Hollyoaks star Alex Reid.
The glamour model and businesswoman is rarely out of the papers since the announcement that she and her pop star hubby Peter Andre were to separate last month.
Katie has been doing lots of interviews saying she’s never been happier since the split, and she certainly seems to be enjoying her new single status.

Now, i’m not one to condone mindless acts of vandalism to innocent items of street furniture or anything.
But this particularly Mancunian brand of graffiti scrawled on a road sign by all those annoying roadworks down Deansgate is pretty amusing.

Ah, only in Manchester eh?

Rufus Wainwright showed how to really make an entrance as he headed to the world premiere of his debut opera Prima Donna here in Manchester at the weekend.
Rufus and his boyfriend Jorn really turned heads at the packed premiere – by dressing up as opera greats Verdi and Puccini.
M.E.N. photographer Chris Bull got this fabulous shot (above) of Rufus and Jorn looking quite the dandy gents as they posed on stage before curtain up on the first night.
But Rufus couldn’t resist heading back out to woo the adoring crowds in the foyer of the Palace Theatre.

There was a huge clamour for photos with the flamboyant music star and he certainly made a few besotted fans happy as he merrilly chatted away before the show.
Among the crowds of VIPs for opening night of the opera, held as part of the Manchester International Festival were League of Gentlemen star Mark Gatiss, Divine Comedy singer Neil Hannon and film star Julian Sands (oo I loved him in Room With a View). Here’s some photos from the opening night.

The last pic here is of Rufus with his mum, folk singer Kate McGarrigle. Fans of the Wainwright musical clan got a real treat on Sunday night, as Kate joined Rufus at a free acoustic gig he decided to lay on at the MIF pavillion on Albert Square. By all accounts, it was a pretty magical night, and another highlight of this year’s rather splendid MIF.

Did you guess who it is wearing these fabulous Christian Louboutin heels?
It’s actress and model Gemma Atkinson, of course. Here she is looking really rather gorgeous as she helped to launch the new Virgin Media store at the Arndale Centre in Manchester yesterday.

But Gemma in “real life” is more of a tomboy. She even told me at the launch that in the back room she’d got her jeans and t-shirt to change into once the launch do was over so she could slope off to the hairdressers to get her roots done! And it turns out she’d been pestered by her mum and her agent to buy these Louboutin heels, her first such pair of the celeb favourites.
Yes, Bury-based Gemma is a lovely down-to-earth lass.
She also loves her hometown and told me she’ll really miss being up north for the next three months – as this weekend she heads off to the Big Smoke to star on the West End for the first time in her career.
The former Hollyoaks babe is to star alongside the likes of June Brown and Jerry Hall in the first West End production of Calendar Girls – based on the hit movie.
And while the play is about a group of W.I. members taking their kit off for a charity calendar, Gemma herself won’t be stripping off. She plays the character of Elaine in the show, a “ditsy northern lass” says Gemma who helps the ladies get prepared for their nude photoshoot.
Gemma said: “I’m looking foward to the work and appearing in the West End for the first time, but I’m not looking forward to being away from home for so long.”
Here’s Gemma catching up on all her hometown news with the M.E.N. before she heads down South.

SHORT and sweet was definitely the look for X Factor judges Cheryl Cole and Dannii Minogue on the final day of auditions for the TV talent show here in Manchester.
Both singing stars went for high glam – and even higher hemlines – for that final day…not that they knew the nation’s media were waiting for them outside their hotel or anything.

Below are the girls’ Saturday outfits for you to check out too. I can’t fault the ladies – they both look absolutely sensational! Which reminds me, really must head back on that diet…

FILMING of the new series of The X Factor has been causing quite a stir in town this weekend. Namely – everyone waiting to see what glamorous ensembles show judges Cheryl Cole and Dannii Minogue will step out in each day.
And though there’s been much gossip about the girls not getting on, they looked like the best of friends when The Diary saw them heading out of their hotel – hand-in-hand – on the way to film the new series at Manchester Central.

Cheryl, Dannii and fellow show judges Simon Cowell and Louis Walsh have all been staying at the swanky five-star Radisson Edwardian Hotel in the city, and fans, autography hunters and paparazzi have been camping out there all weekend to catch a glimpse of the team as they head to the live auditions.

Just had the new pics of the girls heading to today’s auditions – and they both look fabulous as you might expect. They’ll be printed in tomoz’s M.E.N. so hopefully will be able to do a bit of a pic gallery on tomoz’s blog.
Oo, they’ll make you green with envy ladies!

LOOK who turned up to see the oh-so glamorous LadyBoys of Bangkok show in Manchester this week…
None other than stars of hit BBC series Waterloo Road.
And while Jason Done and Angela Griffin will be most familiar to fans of the school drama, new to the show this year will be Strictly Come Dancing and Holby City star Tom Chambers.
All three took a break from filming in Rochdale to head to the sequin-festooned LadyBoys show, that’s playing for the next month down on Sackville Street.
And check out glam Angela! I reckon she gives the Ladyboys a bit of a run for their money in the glamour stakes, showing off her shapely pins in these on-trend white shorts.

The actors all play teachers in the gritty hit BBC drama, although ex-Holby City star Tom is set to cause a bit of a stir as the new headteacher in the upcoming series.
I bet the heart-throb actor will be setting a few pulses racing on the show too – I hear he and Jason were getting a fair few winks from the Ladyboys on Monday night!
The show, featuring what are billed as the world’s most glamorous showgirls (who just happen to be men!), take place in purpose built pavillions on Sackville Street and is a real hoot. I headed there last weekend and I can thoroughly recommend it – I loved their take on Girls Aloud and Katy Perry. Although if you are very reserved I’d advise sitting towards the back of the cabaret-style auditorium!!

WHILE her high-profile pal, glamour model Jordan, has been going wild in Ibiza after splitting from hubby Peter Andre, former Liberty X singer Michelle Heaton opted for a more refined time in Cheshire at the weekend.
Raven-haired Michelle stepped out in this dazzling gold ensemble as she headed to Mere Golf and Country Club to party with the Cheshire Set.
It was a rather different gold get-up than the one sported by Michelle’s pal Jordan in the news today – the glamour girl was snapped in an Ibiza nightclub in a teeny gold bikini that left little to the imagination! Last week Michelle had been spotted comforting Jordan, aka Katie Price, as she came to terms with the split from pop star Andre.
But while Katie headed to the sunshine isle, Michelle headed to Cheshire.

Michelle’s glamorous appearance was all in a good cause, of course, as she was joining guests in the revels to celebrate the charity foundation of her old pal ex-Manchester United footballer Lee Sharpe.

The event helped raise money for Lee’s foundation, which is helping to establish soccer academies for kids in South Africa.
And while Michelle was undoubtedly belle of the ball, she wasn’t tempted to belt out a tune – leaving those honours to X Factor’s Chico and Manchester crooner Cole Page on the night.

TAKE That have certainly whet the apetite of fans after pictures from their new Circus-themed tour were released.
The lads started the tour in Sunderland at the weekend, and head to Manchester for a five night run from June 23.
And don’t they look great in their clown get-up? They also show off their own impressive unicycling skills in the show – except Gary who was ruled out of the tricky maneouvre due to his ongoing back problems – so he gets a cute little bike with stabilisers instead!

But, I’m afraid fans hoping that the prodigal fifth member of Take That, Robbie Williams, may make a return on this tour have been well and truly ruled out by the lads. Gary Barlow and Jason Orange both flatly denied that Robster would be returning.
Robbie, who quit the band in 1995, added fuel to the fire this March when, back in Manchester to watch his pal Jonathan Wilkes in We Will Rock You, he confirmed that he would like to rejoin the band in future. But his former bandmates ruled it out – for this tour at least.
“Unfortunately – and I mean unfortunately – there is no chance of it happening this time,” confirms Jason.
“We did speak about the prospect with him. It’s OK for us because it would boost the show and it would be a brilliant moment, but it’s not right for him. He’s taken his own advice from his own people, but when he came back to us and said it’s not right for him, we were in agreement. We know how the public perception is.
“If Robbie came on board with us, some people would be saying it’s a lovely thing, but other people would be saying ‘You know what, Robbie needs THEM now’. It would go against him, wouldn’t it, really? But I hope it does happen in the future, and I mean that.”
The UK tour will see Take That playing for a total of a million people in what was the fastest-selling tour in UK history.
And what next for Take That? “Another record, probably, next year” says Gary. “We’ll see how we feel after this. We’re still ambitious. We don’t feel like this is the end of the road for us by any means. We feel in many respects that this is the start.”