A close friend of the British prime minister was found dead in a portable toilet at one of the country's leading music festivals Sunday, authorities said.
Christopher Shale died in unexplained circumstances in the VIP area of the Glastonbury Festival, an entertainment extravaganza that's one of the fixtures of Britain's music calendar.
Shale, who was in his 50s, chaired the Conservative Association in David Cameron's West Oxfordshire constituency, and in a statement Cameron said he and his wife Samantha were devastated by the news.
"He was a great friend and has been a huge support over the last decade," Cameron said. "A big rock in my life has suddenly been rolled away ... like so many others Sam and I have lost a close and valued friend."
Shale was staying in a restricted, celebrity-packed area of the festival, which is held on a farm in southwestern England and has drawn some 170,000 people. He was discovered by police shortly after 9 a.m. Festival organizer Michael Eavis said he was told the incident was "a suicide situation" but police have yet to confirm that.
"It is only a couple of hours ago," Inspector Chris Morgan said. "We are still working on establishing a cause of death."
News of the death comes the same day as Shale was quoted in a national newspaper as describing the weakness of his association in unusually frank terms.
LeAnn Rimes, who is frequently criticised for being ‘too skinny’, is very outspoken when it comes to body image issues - and she recently published an article on her website where she discusses the topic:
“Imagine – your dad, who you idolize, walks into your bathroom one morning. You’re in the 11th grade. He lovingly asks you, ‘When are you going to take care of yourself and lose some weight?’ He doesn’t mean anything by it other than, ‘I love you and want to see you happy and healthy.’ But he didn’t exactly say that. In your young mind, he said what all of the other girls in school say to a beautiful, normal girl—’You’re fat.
I could tell you a similar story, in one way or another, about each and every one of my girlfriends. And I bet a lot of you can too. We could probably say the same story about girls we’ve never even met. Would you then think before you spoke? We are all made with the design for our bodies to change in many different ways as our lives unfold.
The highs and lows of the 52-year-old singer’s phenomenal career — which has spanned almost 30 years — will be encapsulated in a 32-page graphic novel produced by publishers Bluewater Productions Inc. as part of their Female Force series, which has previously featured the likes of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Sarah Palin and Barbara Walters.
“Our goal is to show the little-known events and influences that resulted in Madonna becoming the phenomenon she remains to this day, more than a quarter-century after she burst upon the scene,” said Jason Schultz, executive vice president of Bluewater.
“A visual medium provides perspective that is not only accessible but more relatable to the average person without losing any of the information involved.”
Penned by C.W. Cooke and drawn by Michael Johnson, the comic book is due for release in August.
The 30-year-old socialite — who will marry basketball star Kris Humphries later this summer — revealed she will start using weight loss supplement QuickTrim again, on which she has previously lost 15lbs, in order to get in shape for her nuptials.
When one of Kim’s twitter followers tweeted her yesterday saying, “On my way to GNC to buy some quicktrim”, Kim responded by writing, “Take some for me! I’m about to start again! Wedding slimdown (sic)”
Kim has also been beautifying herself ahead of the big day by using at home skin care and hair removal treatments from TRIA Beauty.
“I have been using the new @TRIABeauty Laser since they first sent it to me to try & now I’m fully ready for summer!” she wrote on Twitter.
Although Kim has not announced the date of her wedding, the reality TV star and her fiance — who proposed with a 20.5 carat Lorraine Schwartz diamond ring — are said to be eager to tie the knot as soon as possible.
“The wedding will happen within six to eight weeks,” a source said.
The 38-year-old actress worries people will think she is “pretentious” when she communicates with her beloved pooch Hugo, who is a Belgian Malinois breed, in the European language but she insists he can’t understand English commands.
“He’s Belgian and all his commands are in French,” Eva said. “I go hiking and I sound incredibly pretentious because I’m not French but I’m yelling in French. He is the love of my life.”
The Hitch actress loves throwing herself into her work but refuses to discuss what her future plans are because she feels it “devalues” her work.
“I feel like when you share those things, you devalue them in a way, especially in an industry where everyone’s talking about the next project,” she said. “I prefer to talk about the concrete.”
