EastEnders legend Jacqueline Jossa has addressed a totally bizarre moment from last night’s live episode, that seemed to show Lauren Branning sniffing cousin Sonia Fowler’s (Natalie Cassidy) knickers.

The heartbreaking instalment was capped off with a spell-binding performance from James Bye and Lacey Turner, as his character Martin Fowler succumbed to injuries sustained in the Queen Vic explosion.

After going into cardiac arrest as a result of crush syndrome, Stacey Slater cradled his dead body amongst the rubble and screamed out, just moments after the pair declared their love for one another.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the pub,Sonia Fowler (Natalie Cassidy) had gone into early labour.

The scenes provided much comic relief, as her sister Bianca Jackson (Patsy Palmer) navigated the tricky situation with zero help from Lauren.

Neither of them were prepared to take a look at what was happening, as poor Son’ wailed and declared that she couldn’t bring a baby into the world that was fathered by her wicked, murderous fiancé Reiss Colwell (Jonny Freeman).

To make matters worse, his corpse was literally on the other side of the room having been hilariously flattened by a falling bathtub earlier in the week.

Sonia eventually gave birth to her little girl, who she (ahem, the viewers) named Julia, and delivered an emotional monologue over the last few scenes.

Despite everything, viewers were more focussed on one part of the episode that seemed to show Lauren taking a whiff of Sonia’s undergarments.

As she pushed (or as Bianca so eloquently put it ‘Come on blow, blow like you’ve blown that trumpet!’), B’ whipped off her sister’s pants and threw them over her shoulder.

Lauren caught them, and after realising what they were, threw them to one side.

Over 435,000 people have found much hilarity in the situation on TikTok, where one fan posted the clip.

As a result, Jacqueline has now been forced to reveal all on what has been dubbed ‘KnickerGate scandal’ by fans.

Commenting on the video – and receiving a whopping 6,544 likes – Jac wrote: ‘Just to clarify, I didn’t sniff them. I was checking what they were and lifting them in shot. No sniffing.’

In the replies she added: ‘They usually hit me in the face so I think I just lifted them up to make sure it was in the shot. This is amazing.’

She also added a number of laughing face emojis.

One fan responded: ‘Wahahahaha I love that you commented to clarify. It does look like it tho no lie. Well done for tonight!!!’

Another added: ‘You did good. Well done, what a funny scene! I’d of cracked. Well done all.’

‘You did amazing, sniff or no sniff’ added a third.

‘Absolutely hilarious but FAB FAB acting from you all!!! Well done gal! Had me in tears laughin & crying tonight’ said a fourth.

Simon Cowell was the subject of ‘brutal heckles’ at recent Britain’s Got Talent auditions, forcing them to be paused, Amanda Holden has now revealed.

It had previously been claimed that the judge, 65, was on the receiving end of humorous jabs while filming at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool.

But Amanda, 54, has revealed the true extent of the verbal abuse he received, saying the production team had to stop filming at one point.

She told The Sun: ‘Because Simon’s in charge they took it all out on him — they called him an old fart, they flicked the Vs at him, and then all the way through two or three acts there are these women in the ­camera shot giving him the finger.

‘Then, at the end of the session, they’re like, “Simon, can we have a selfie?” and he’s like, “You’re joking, aren’t you?”‘

It had previously been said that boos and repeated insults were aimed at Simon, which included ‘You old fart’ when he criticised hopefuls.

Thankfully though, Simon saw the funny side of it all.

‘Simon isn’t vain in that way and found the heckling absolutely hilarious — even when they were calling him an old fart,’ a source earlier told The Sun.

‘He loves having BGT in Blackpool precisely because the crowds are so raucous and enthusiastic.’

The crew working on the ITV production also took it for light-hearted fun, but were a little less amused by their task of editing the recording, which is filled with the insulting comments.

It has been described as an ‘editing nightmare’ by Daily Mail.

‘Simon even encourages them to mis­behave, even if sometimes the ­misbehaviour can cause a headache for the production team,’ the source continued.

‘Thankfully they were compensated for any hassle by a rare chance to have a good laugh at the boss’s expense.’

Simon faced another incident during the auditions stage when he was part of a ‘dangerous’ stunt.

The media mogul later admitted he feared ‘actually’ dying when a blindfolded man smashed watermelons around him with a mallet.

‘You know the feeling when you kind of think, somebody doesn’t want you on the show anymore? It was that,’ he said during a press launch for the show.

‘It was the closest genuinely where I’m thinking they actually want to kill me.

‘And I swear to God that’s how I felt. Because this guy got really nervous and he’d slipped and he was smashing these watermelons.’

Speaking to The Sun about that audition, Amanda admitted she was ‘genuinely worried’.

She said: ‘This guy was obviously practised and knew what he was doing. But there was no leeway for mistakes.

‘Simon was told to keep still, and wasn’t keeping still, and then there’s these melons being crushed all over the stage with this lump hammer.

‘And I’m thinking, “There’s no safeguard against this guy slipping on a bit of melon juice that you don’t expect to be there, because you don’t know which of the melons he was going to split.”‘

Britain’s Got Talent returned to screens on February 22, instead of the usual April slot and fans will be treated to an extra-long series.

The series already had the most disgusting act to date, as viewers were left convulsing by the antics of Auzzy Blood, plus an emotional golden buzzer moment courtesy of Vinnie Mckee.

The series is set to last for around four months as opposed to the usual two, it has been reported. The live semi-finals will air on Saturday nights, rather than all spread across one week which will lengthen the proceedings.

As well as Simon, Amanda, Bruno Tonioli, 69, and Alesha Dixon, 46, they will also be joined by guest judge, YouTuber KSI, 31, who has teased being a ‘villain’.

Of course, Ant McPartlin and Dec Donnelly will also be returning to present the series.

Fans of Netflix have been hard at work binge-watching a 2018 crime drama starring Carey Mulligan as a cop investigating a murder.

The Promising Young Woman plays Detective Inspector Kip Glaspie, who is drawn into an unlikely conspiracy when she investigates the seemingly random murder of a pizza delivery driver in London.

Peeling back the layers of a series of unlikely coincidences, Kip finds herself at the heart of a criminal plot which links to the special forces of the British military.

The show also stars Life on Mars actor John Simm alongside former Doctor Who companion Billie Piper, and Coupling star Ben Miles.

First airing on BBC Two in February 2018, the four-part miniseries appeared to fly under the radar for many – in spite of generally good reviews and a television award-nominated performance from co-star Billie.

However, since being added to Netflix, viewers have begun to see what they missed out on the first time around.

Writing on Reddit, viewers shared their appreciation for Collateral, with many praising Carey’s performance as the police officer.

‘Another binge-worth British short murder mystery. Carey Mulligan at her best and all the crews!’ wrote user AmenahSmith in a thread on the social media site.

‘I really liked her performance. I would definitely watch multiple seasons with that character,’ said Blairisbuffy.

‘This was pretty good. Wife and I binged it and walked away happy,’ commented Evil_burrito.

‘I really enjoyed this one. Carey Mulligan is so good in this,’ agreed bigdirkmalone.

When it was first released, Metro.co.uk described Collateral as ‘a detective show like no other,’ with critic Adam Starkey calling it: ‘a bold detective drama which hopes to defy the genre at every turn.’

This is backed up by review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, where the miniseries currently sits with an average rating of 79% from critics.

Users are similarly positive, contributing toward a 66% Popcornmeter rating and reviews which highlight its strong performances and tight pacing.

‘This series is simply brilliant. In fact, with each episode, it gets better and better. Low-key but smart. The pace is breathtaking without being overwhelming. Honestly, this is the best of the best in my opinion,’ writes one user on the site.

Star Carey was pregnant while filming the role – and praised writer David Hare and director SJ Clarkson for not making it all about the baby.

Speaking in a Q&A at the time, Carey revealed: ‘Being pregnant had to become part of the story, and what I loved about it was that there was no, “oh goodness me” [mimics back pain], or “Oh he/she/ just kicked’.

‘No pregnant acting was allowed, and no crying, which was a revelation. So she doesn’t cry. She’s a working woman, who’s working through her pregnancy.’

‘She’s a heroine who is on screen for four hours and does not cry once,’ added the show’s writer.

The chances a ‘city killer’ asteroid will crash into Earth in seven years’ time have fallen, NASA has said.

Scientists have kept an eye on the ‘near-Earth asteroid’, named 2024 YR4, as it has an orbit that brings it to our region of the solar system.

There is currently a 0.28% chance that 2024 YR4 will strike Earth on December 22, 2032 – a drop from 1.5% yesterday – according to the space agency.

Meanwhile, the chances the asteroid will hit the Moon increased from 0.8% to 1%.

NASA estimates that the asteroid is about 130-300 feet (40-90 metres) wide.

Experts have modelled what the possible impact of 2024 YR4 – equal to 15,000,000 tons of TNT – could look like.

‘Think of the destruction we wrought on each other during Hiroshima and Nagasaki,’ former International Space Station commander Chris Hadfield said.

‘This is 500 times more powerful, just because of the energy of it coming through the atmosphere, causing shockwaves, and because of the heating, exploding.’

NASA says that an airburst – or explosion of the asteroid after it enters Earth’s atmosphere – is likely.

The agency paints a less terrifying picture of what might occur if the asteroid strikes Earth.

It says the damage 2024 YR4 would cause depends on its composition and exact size.

‘If the asteroid entered the atmosphere over a populated region, an airburst … on the smaller side of the size range, about 130-200 feet (40-60 metres) could shatter windows or cause minor structural damage across a city,’ the agency says.

‘An asteroid about 300 feet (90 metres) in size, which is much less likely, could cause more severe damage, potentially collapsing residential structures across a city and shattering windows across larger regions.’

After an airburst, the asteroid is unlikely to cause a ‘significant tsunami’, the agency adds.

By April, the object will be so far away that it will become too faint to be detected by Earth-based telescopes.

More updates will not be possible until 2028, when 2024 YR4 approaches Earth again and becomes bright enough to be seen.

As more observations are collected, NASA says it is likely the chances of the asteroid striking earth will drop to zero.

How can humans survive an asteroid strike?

Survival and Outdoors Expert Ky Furneaux has offered a step-by-step guide we can follow to keep us alive if an asteroid strikes.

The first thing to do ahead of a collision is to leave the coast and head inland.

The earth is 71% water, so it is far more likely any comet will hit a body of water and create tsunamis.

The next task would be to find a bunker – the sturdier the better.

An underground bunker would be best, as it will shield you from environmental hazards, such as dust and soot, after the comet strikes Earth.

This bunker will need to be stocked with essentials, as you wait out the asteroid’s after-effects.

The wait might last months or even years, meaning the bunker needs a heat source, radios, food, water, and medicines.

The key is canned food, dried goods, non-perishable foods, and bottled water.

Acid rain is one of the main reasons you’ll be locked inside, as massive fires release pyrotoxins into the air.

After spending years stepping up into the roles left vacant when men went to war, many women had no desire to become homemakers again after 1918.

Instead, many pushed back – fighting for their rights to continue to work. While some managed to keep hold of ‘respectable’ careers, others turned their attention to more salacious pursuits.

It is the women who owned, ran and worked in the illegal nightclubs of London’s Soho (and those that tried to stop them) that sparked the inspiration for the BBC’s upcoming period drama Dope Girls.

The six-part series, which has been described as a ‘spiritual successor to Peaky Blinders’ depicts in ‘visceral delicious detail the birth of the modern nightlife industry guided and gilded by hard fought female endeavour’.

Based on the 1992 non-fiction book Dope Girls: The Birth of the British Drug Underground by Marek Kohn, the story centres on Kate Galloway (Julianne Nicholson), a single mother who establishes her own nightclub to provide for her daughter after a devastating family tragedy.

Although her story has many similarities with a real-life figure, the BBC has said the show is ‘inspired by a forgotten time in history, and all its events and characters are fictional’.

However, parallels can be drawn between the characters and women who lived through ‘the hedonistic uproar of post-World War One London’.

Julianne Nicholson as Kate Galloway

Inspired by Kate Meyrick

Living in a small English village at the start of the series, Kate goes from a seemingly charmed life in the country to being widowed, turfed out of her home and travelling to London with her teenage daughter to try and make ends meet.

She eventually decides to try her luck opening a nightclub, a decision that changes her life, not unlike the story of the real-life Kate Meyrick.

Born in Ireland, Meyrick suffered the loss of both of her parents at a young age, eventually marrying a doctor in Dublin before they moved to England and settled in Hampshire.

For 15 years she helped run nursing homes for psychiatric patients with her husband whilst also raising eight children.

But they eventually split in 1918 when Meyrick was 43.

Faced with having to provide for her family with a weekly allowance of less than £1 a week, she responded to an advertisement asking for help to run tea dances and eventually opened the club Dalton’s in Leicester Square alongside Harry Dalton.

The venue was described as a ‘rendezvous for members of the theatrical and variety professions and their friends’ however in 1920 it was struck off the register and the pair were fined for operating what a prosecutor described as a ‘dancing hell and a sink of iniquity’.

At the time the sale of alcohol in the country was subject to strict licensing rules but Meyrick’s approach to dodging the law was to open another venue each time one was shut down for breaching the law.

Her most famous was the 43 Club at 43 Gerrard Street in Soho, which remained open until 6am and offered meals to patrons, as well as illicit alcohol.

It attracted highflyers, including actors Rudolph Valentino and Tallulah Bankhead, jazz musician Harry Gold, and authors J. B. Priestley, Evelyn Waugh and Joseph Conrad.

After a raid by police in 1922 she reopened the venue as Procter’s Club the following year, as well as establishing Folies Bergères in Fitzrovia.

Regularly facing raids and fines, the force of the law didn’t deter Meyrick, who was once quoted as saying: ‘Fines don’t worry me… I’m getting quite accustomed to them now. I suppose they’ll keep on fining me! Well, it can’t be helped – you can’t run night clubs unless you are prepared for this sort of thing.’

She eventually picked up the nickname of ‘Queen of the Night Clubs’ and it was said she earnt £30,000 in her first year running clubs, allowing her children to be educated at top private schools.

Three of her daughters even eventually married into the British nobility.

By the end of her 13-year career, Meyrick estimated she’d earnt around £500,000.

However, she’d also served five prison sentences and died from influenza aged 57 in 1933. It was said her health had ‘undoubtedly been weakened by her several periods of imprisonment’.

Despite her regular brushes with the law, Meyrick left an indelible legacy. She was the inspiration for the character Ma Mayfield in Evelyn Waugh’s novel, Brideshead Revisited and on the day of her funeral, West End theatres and clubs dimmed their lights as a mark of respect for the trailblazer.

Umi Myers as Billie Cassidy

Inspired by Billie Carleton

In Dope Girls, Billie is a ‘dazzling bohemian dancer, whose life is irrevocably changed by Kate’s arrival’.

In real-life Billie Carleton was a musical comedy actress who started her stage career aged just 15.

She received her big break from when C.B. Cochran promoted her from the chorus to a role in his 1914 revue Watch Your Step.

However, when he was informed she’d been attending opium parties during the show’s run, Cochran fired Carleton.

She then went on to appear in shows including Some More Samples, The Boy, Fair and Warmer and The Freedom, briefly becoming the youngest leading lady in the West End.

However, her life came to a tragic end aged just 22 in 1918. After attending the Victory Ball at the Royal Albert Hall, she was found dead in bed in her Savoy Hotel suite from an apparent cocaine overdose.

Her death was then the subject of a highly published trial, which saw Reginald de Veulle charged with manslaughter and conspiracy to supply a prohibited drug. He was eventually sentenced to eight months behind bars.

However, in the Dope Girls book, Kohn claimed Carleton died from legal depressants that were taken to deal with her cocaine hangover.

Michael Duke as Eddie Cobb

Inspired by Edgar Manning

In the TV series, Eddie is a queer ‘bohemian, traveller, creative and artist’ who works in the Soho nightclubs as a band leader and performer alongside his close friend Billie.

In real life Edgar (Eddie) Manning was a Jamaican jazz musician and criminal who became known as the ‘dope-king’ of 1920s London.

In 1922 The Times reported that Scotland Yard called him an ‘important drug trafficker in the West-End’ while News of the World said he was a ‘drug vice chief’.

A handful of deaths through drugs were also linked to him and he was sentenced to prison several times for drug possession.

Eliza Scanlen as Violet Davies

Inspired by the first female MET officers

Although Violet is a fictional character, she was inspired by the women who made history as part of the Metropolitan police’s first female recruits.

Before 1829 the capital city didn’t have a professional police force and volunteers instead took on the responsibility of patrolling the streets.

But when the force was established, only men were allowed – and they had to be under-35, taller than five foot five and physically fit.

It was in 1915 that Britain’s first female police officer with the power of arrest (Edith Smith) was hired in Lincolnshire. Three years later women were permitted to join the Met, with the first seen on the streets of London in 1919.

However, they still faced an uphill battle and weren’t even allowed to make arrests until 1923. Married women were only allowed to sign up after 1946.

Speaking about her character, Eliza explained how she pursues a career in the force to ‘escape her disadvantage at home and start a new life and one of security’.

‘When she gets into the police force, she goes undercover as a sex worker to try and get women off the streets, and things start to go a bit pear shaped when she finds herself identifying with the unconventional family of women she has gotten to know. It becomes this moral conflict for her,’ she said.

‘Whether to choose this unconventional family she has become close with or choose the status and power that comes with the police force.’

Speaking to the BBC, Dope Girls’ executive producer Jane Tranter said the show was a ‘revisionist look at what it was like to live in London in 1918’.

‘One of the main themes of Dope Girls is what it was like for women in 1918 London and how women can find their voice,’ she said.

‘In the first episode alone, we see our four main characters being metaphorically or literally silenced by the men and the culture around them and one of the things that happens over the 6 episodes of Dope Girls is we see the women’s fight to find their voices and be heard.’

Hearing the word ‘guilty’, feelings of relief and validation flooded through my body.

My 29 year nightmare, during which time I’d been beaten, raped and emotionally tortured, was over, and now my abuser was to be locked away for a very long time.

It was hard to fathom that I had married this man, unaware of who he really was and what he was capable of inflicting on me.

Kenneth Quinn, 49, and I met on a night out in Paisley, Renfrewshire and married in 1993.

Although people have subsequently told me they found him cold and a bit ‘odd’, he made me happy.

Looking back however, there were red flags – like critical comments he made about my clothes, and how persistent he’d been when we were dating, showering me with gifts and cards. But this was 30 years ago and awareness about behaviour like love bombing and coercive control didn’t exist then.

The first time he attacked me was in 1994 when I was pregnant with our first child.

Out of nowhere he flew into a rage, violently punching and kicking me while I begged him not to hit my stomach. Afterwards, I was in a state of shock, I couldn’t believe what had just happened.

That was the only time he showed any remorse, crying at what he’d done.

A few months later, in the final weeks of my pregnancy, it happened again when he threw me down a flight of steps.

This Is Not Right

 

Throughout the year we will be bringing you stories that shine a light on the sheer scale of the epidemic.

With the help of our partners at Women’s Aid, This Is Not Right aims to engage and empower our readers on the issue of violence against women.

You can find more articles here, and if you want to share your story with us,

Like every survivor of domestic abuse, I’ve been asked – why did I stay? Why didn’t I leave him then, once he’d shown his true colours?

It’s taken me years to understand why I didn’t flee but back then I was a young newlywed, with a baby on the way, and I couldn’t bring myself to accept this marriage was a terrible mistake.

I also didn’t realise he’d already begun emotionally abusing me too. He’d convinced me I wouldn’t be able to cope as a single mum and with my parents living hundreds of miles away I believed I needed him.

I told myself he would change, and when we became a family things would be different.

Sadly, nothing changed. It only worsened.

My son Max* was born in 1995 and I would be beaten while he was a baby in my arms, Kenneth didn’t care when he was in one of his rages.

One evening in 1997, I’d put Max to bed and was sitting in the living room before going to work a night shift in my job as a nurse, when Kenneth came in and raped me.

I tried to fight him off but he was too big and heavy, and all I could think of was my beautiful little boy, fast asleep in the next room.

Until 2021, my life and our marriage was defined by physical and sexual violence, rape and emotional abuse.

I realise how hard it is for people to comprehend how I could have stayed married to him for so long but later on, after I was diagnosed with complex PTSD, a psychiatrist told me I’d formed a ‘trauma bond’ with Kenneth and was suffering from Stockholm Syndrome, more commonly seen in kidnap victims.

The injuries I sustained over the years were endless.

From bruises and cuts, which meant I always wore long sleeved tops and trousers even in summer to hide them, to broken ribs, wrist and fingers, and head injuries.

I did confide in a few very close friends over the years and they urged me to flee, terrified for my safety and horrified at what he was doing to me, but I just couldn’t do it.

If I had to seek medical treatment, I became expert at pretending I’d ‘tripped and fallen’ or ‘walked into a door’, and although I often saw disbelief on the faces of the nurses and doctors that treated me, I was too terrified and controlled to breathe a word to them about how I’d really come to harm.

Once, I went to my GP after my face had been slashed multiple times with a bank card. I refused to talk about what had happened but thankfully the doctor took images of my injuries, which would later be used as evidence against Kenneth.

In 2005, when Max was 10, I became pregnant again. It wasn’t planned, I hadn’t wanted to bring another child into the world with Kenneth, and after a vicious beating I suffered a miscarriage, losing a life threatening amount of blood.

Losing my baby and almost my life, I knew there was no rock bottom he wouldn’t drag me to.

Max grew up hearing and witnessing violence and watching his father mock and criticise me – everything from my looks and body, to how I kept the house were used against me.

There were times I wasn’t allowed to use the toilet without permission, or had to stay in my bedroom unless it was to prepare meals.

He controlled the heating in our home, what I put on social media and I was forbidden from making new friends when we moved to a new area.

While I was Kenneth’s main target, he harmed our son, too. I remember him throwing us both down the stairs on my birthday one year, then hitting Max before locking me outside naked.

Max learnt to remain silent, like me, about what went on behind the closed doors of our family home and it still causes me so much pain that was his childhood.

It wasn’t just at home Kenneth was violent and angry. He fell in and out of jobs, picked fights with strangers in the street and was accused of mistreating animals when he ran a dog grooming salon.

He had a terrible temper and a short fuse, he could explode at any moment.

In 2021, I walked into a police station in the Scottish Border where we were living at that time and that marked the beginning of the end of my nightmare.

I had lost a loved one in a terrible tragedy, and that loss had pierced through the control Kenneth had over me. I knew life was precious and short and I had to escape him, or else I would end up dead too – at his hands or my own, as by then I was suicidal.

He was arrested and charged with a variety of offences including rape and assault.

By then, Max had left home, and I spent over a year living in a women’s refuge because Kenneth was on bail and police considered me at ‘high risk’ from harm if I returned to the home we’d shared.

In January 2024, Kenneth was jailed for 15 years after being found guilty of ten charges at Glasgow High Court.

Watching him be led away, I felt like I could breathe again. He was gone from my life.

Just over a year on, I am no longer that broken, frightened, controlled woman.

I work in Occupational Health, I have great friends and I am so proud of Max, who now works and lives in London.

My body is scarred, a legacy of my abusive marriage, but when I look at them I am reminded that I survived and got justice for myself and my son.

I campaign and advocate for others experiencing DV and am working with survivors and politicians calling for the UK’s first Domestic Violence Register to be set up in Scotland. Like the one that currently exists for sex offenders, perpetrators would be put on it once convicted, to protect other people from them.

My nightmare is over but for so many other women, theirs carries on and I am dedicated to protecting them so, like me, they can experience a life of peace and safety.

Hooters, known for spicy chicken wings and orange-clad waitresses, is coming to Newcastle in only a few weeks.

But not everyone is best pleased about it.

The American ‘breastaurant’ chain, whose waitresses are called ‘Hooters Girls’, has branches in Liverpool and Nottingham.

Locals, women’s safety groups and animal welfare activists, however, have criticised plans to open the sports bar in Bigg Market.

A launch date for the franchise, on the ground floor of the former TJ Hughes building, has not been given.

Some hope the store won’t open anytime soon, however. ‘I understand the appeal but I am personally not a fan,’ said James Owen, a 20-year-old waiter.

‘I hope people who come here will be sensible and know Newcastle won’t just be about Hooters. What people wear or don’t wear shouldn’t encourage any harassment.’

50 job ads for uniformed Hooters Girls have been listed for the new Hooters, which will have a capacity of 200.

A woman who did not wish to be named said: ‘I would not want my daughter working there and I certainly wouldn’t want my sons to go.’

Melissa, 20, added: ‘I’m not a fan. People can do what they want to do but it doesn’t feel very liberating.

‘It feels so American. It’s funny seeing an American thing on one side of the street and Greggs on the other.’

Rowan said: ‘I think people will go once for a laugh then stop but I wouldn’t want to work there.

‘Newcastle already has a reputation for attracting the wrong crowds so maybe that’s why they’re opening it here.’

Hooters was created on April Fool’s Day in 1983 by six men in Florida.

It quickly became well-known – and infamous – for its plates of cheesy chips, mozzarella sticks and wings served by waitresses in the company’s trademark orange shorts as sports are shown on TVs behind them.

Hooters has more than 430 branches across 29 countries.

Attempts to bring the fast-food chain across the pond have had limited success. The first British branch opened in Birmingham in 1998 only to close 18 months later.

After two short-lived stints in Bristol and Cardiff, a proposal to open a site in Newcastle was shot down by council and police officials in 2015 over fears stag and hen dos could cause a spike in crime.

At the time, the bar and restaurant said in its application its style of operation was ‘no different to that of many similar operators throughout the UK’ and that its waitresses ‘dress in a similar fashion to waitresses at other units in the city centre’.

The chain has long been criticised for objectifying women. All serving staff are women and must wear the company uniform, tight low-cut white vests and tiny orange shorts.

A handbook given to staff in the early 2000s said: ‘The Hooters concept is based on female sex appeal and the work environment is one in which joking and entertaining conversations are commonplace.’

Off-shore worker Alan Fenwick said ‘Does [Hooters] have a place in 2025? I’m not sure.

‘As a concept it is dated and as a society we should probably be over that sort of thing now.’

Hooters bosses have said the role of the Hooters Girl is about ’empowerment’ and helping them ‘advance in their careers’.

A spokesperson previously told ChronicleLive that the company donates to women’s causes such as breast cancer research.

They added: ‘Hooters has built a global brand, neighbourhood by neighbourhood, for more than 40 years.

‘The same group responsible for our successful Nottingham restaurant, which has been in operation for 26 years, is opening the new location in Newcastle. Our customer base has always appreciated our commitment to giving back to community causes.’

Some Nottingham residents are more open to the idea of a Hooters on the high street.

‘It’s a fast-food restaurant where you can have a few drinks and have a laugh,’ said criminology student Hannah Devlin, 18, adding: ‘The girls don’t ask to be objectified by what they wear.

‘The issue is how men respond to it.’

Hannah’s friend on the same course, Jay Jay Ray, 19, added: ‘The people who have an issue with it won’t go.

‘If girls want to use it as an income and a job then that can be a good thing for them.’

After his wife’s agonising death two years ago, John Lydon wasn’t sure he would ever tour again.

But now he is finally going on the road, he’s hoping it will help heal him.

‘The truth of it is, I’m only half the person I was when she was alive,’ the former Sex Pistols star told Metro of his life after losing beloved wife Nora Foster.

Nora died at the age of 80 in April 2023 after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2018.

Understandably, her death rocked him to his core and John, 69, added: ‘That’s definite, I can feel that hollowness.’

However, in the last few months, the punk icon has ‘come to grips’ with the loss and is preparing to go on tour with his band Public Image Ltd (PiL) to ‘heal’.

‘I’ve come out of wallowing in alcohol and sadness and self-pity,’ he shared. ‘Which you can’t avoid, it just happens, it’s just in your nature.’

He and Nora were married for over five decades, with John becoming her full-time carer in later years as they lived in a remote home in Los Angeles.

The God Save The Queen hitmaker recalled how ‘painful’ her last day was with Nora in ‘physical and emotional torment.’

‘I’m not sure I’m quite ready to share how intense her agony was,’ he said, a reserved response for the usually outspoken anarchic legend.

He hesitated, becoming emotional before sharing Nora’s ‘whole system was giving up’ and her last day was filled with ‘screaming’, something that still haunts him.

Shortly after her death, John released Hawaii, an incredibly intimate song dedicated to his lost love.

Despite entering it into the Irish Eurovision competition in 2023, he is not yet ready to perform the song on tour as it would put him ‘in such a sad hole’.

‘It’s not the right way to end a set, leaving people feeling down or wallowing in that intense pain and pressure,’ he noted. ‘So I don’t know… but I might find a way of handling it.

‘There are many PiL songs that deal with such depth of personal tragedy, there are many, many times I delve into those emotions. But this one in particular, I think it’s too fresh in my mind.’

Thankfully, Nora did hear the song before her death, which he called a ‘blessing’.

His grief also encompasses the loss of his best friend John ‘Rambo’ Stevens to an aortic heart dissection, seven months after Nora.

He died aged 66 on December 11, 2023 and was John’s long-term manager, producer for several PiL and Sex Pistols albums, and his friend since childhood.

Despite his hesitancy around touring without Rambo by his side, John can’t help but feel excited for the upcoming shows.

The 28-date UK and Ireland tour, billed as This Is Not The Last Tour, opens in Bristol on May 22 and closes on August 16 in Belfast.

Age and loss have mellowed out the punk legend (slightly) so now his tour antics take a more disciplined approach.

As he sipped a birthday beer, John told Metro: ‘In the very early days, I was not [disciplined] at all. I think nerves played a huge part in that.

‘Being very shy — really — and just fearful of letting people down. I tried every kind of escapism, and I learned very quickly, it’s punishing to be standing up there as a sad sack drunk.’

He mentioned a gig from ‘back in the very early days’ which now he can only semi-remember and stated: ‘I never want to go through that ever again.’

Other stand-out moments from his decades of live performances include falling off stages rather more regularly than he might have hoped.

Mid-afternoon festival slots are some of John’s favourites but this comes with a downside of the sun in your eyes, making the edge of the stage hard to see.

‘I’m very prone to just falling off,’ he said as he burst into laughter. ‘I tend to ignore [injuries] and carry on to the bitter end but it’s the embarrassment of being such an ape.

‘Such a daft ape that you can fall off such an obvious thing.’

John says fans shouldn’t read too much into the tour’s name, Not The Last Tour, and has no intention of wrapping up any time soon.

The Rise singer is also embarking on a 50-date spoken word tour of the UK and Ireland almost immediately after the PiL tour from September 5 through to November 24.

Instead, he just thought it was ‘very witty’ and contrasted the ‘lying hyena nonsense’ of other artists, coyly naming no names.

The artist formerly known as Johnny Rotten says the music industry is ‘riddled’ with artists claiming to be on their final tour but have ‘already booked themselves for five years after’.

As for his old bandmates the Sex Pistols, the less said the better as John gave his unfiltered thoughts on their ‘karaoke’ tour.

‘No, I made that clear a long time ago,’ he replied when asked if a reunion tour was ever going to be on the cards.

‘Yeah, they’re impossibly heart-turgid and difficult to deal with and just basically have very bad natures,’ the Anarchy in the UK singer said, getting a little heated.

‘I think going out and doing this is in extremely poor taste. If you don’t want me around, that’s all well and fine, get your stand-up comedian in my place, but leave my words out of it, because it’s clear you don’t understand them.’

Thousands of ‘danger tourists’ have travelled to the slopes of Mount Etna in Italy to witness explosive lava flows and breathtaking ash clouds after its latest eruption.

Sicily’s iconic volcano, which is the tallest and most active in Europe, regularly erupts and has attracted tourists for decades.

But Sicilian authorities have hit out at ‘careless’ behaviour, warning that visitors are blocking the paths of rescue crews trying to provide assistance.

Footage on social media reveals just how close people are getting to one of nature’s most powerful phenomena.

One TikTok video shows dozens of tourists near a lava flow that has melted to form a stream in the snow. Skiing is prohibited in the area at the moment, but a second video appears to show skiers flouting rules by gliding past a lava flow.

Etna’s most recent eruption, which began on the night of February 11, has sparked a sudden influx of hikers, photographers and volcanologists, who officials say pose a serious safety risk. The volcano’s first eruption in 2025 has intensified in recent days.

Salvo Cocina, Sicily’s head of regional civil protection, described the tourism to Etna in recent weeks as ‘wild’ and ‘extremely dangerous’.

He said tourists parking on narrow streets in the area have obstructed emergency vehicles and made rescue attempts impossible.

‘As darkness falls, the situation becomes extremely dangerous, with rising risks of falls and people sinking in the snow,’ he wrote in a Facebook post on Sunday night.

Cocina said the majority of tourists are ‘well accompanied by alpine and volcanological guides’ and blames the ‘careless behaviour of unprepared people’ for the accidents and calls for help.

On Saturday, Mayor Fabio Mancuso also issued a warning to his town of Adrano, which is located at the foot of the volcano.

In a Facebook post, he wrote: ‘Etna is giving us a breathtaking spectacle: A lava flow has reached our territory.

‘A lot of people are trying to get closer to admire this natural phenomenon, but it is extremely dangerous!’

However, not everyone has taken the advice on board.

On Monday, Cocina said eight people attempting to hike up the mountain without a guide were lost for several hours before rescuers located them.

Hours earlier, he claimed a 48-year-old man fractured his foot after falling on the ice.

The eruption on February 12 sent a cloud of ash and lava into the air which was visible from miles around. It came from the volcano’s southeast crater, called Bocca Nuova, meaning ‘new mouth’.

During previous eruptions, nearby towns have been covered in thick volcanic ash, however, the recent eruption has caused minimal disruption – aside from delays and the diverting of flights at Catania Airport, at the foot of Mount Etna.

In April 2024, the volcano sparked fears of eruption after it was seen puffing rings of gas. It last erupted in 2023.

This story has been updated and was originally published on February 20.