Celebcity: Q award for Jake Bugg & Claire Sweeney on stage

Claire Sweeney on stage, Holly Willoughby trumps royalty, Caton’s ‘Out’ & Jake Bugg’s week

Sweeney on stage
The award-winning Brighton Gay Men’s Chorus has announced a celebrity guest for their Christmas Special on 7 December. The fabulous Claire Sweeney, of Brookside fame, is no stranger to treading the boards and belting out a few chords, having starred in Educating Rita, Tell Me On A Sunday and Hairspray over the years. She will join the chorus at the Brighton Dome concert to raise money for the brilliant Sussex Beacon. Discussing her upcoming role in Pull A Cracker: The Christmas Special, the TV star commented: “Having heard so much about them, I’m absolutely thrilled to have been asked by the boys at Brighton Gay Men’s Chorus to join in the fun at their Christmas Special in the fabulous Brighton Dome on December 7th. I’m equally delighted that we will also be raising funds for such a fantastic charity as the Sussex Beacon, which does so much good work for people living with HIV and AIDS.”
For more information, and to buy tickets online, visit www.brightongmc.org or call the Dome Box Office on 01273 709709.

Caton’s ‘Out’ show goes global
We have a brand new celebrity in town! For those of you that don’t know her, let me introduce you to Kathy Caton; radio presenter, producer and all round genius, who this week has been listed as one of the UK’s 101 most influential LGBT people in the Independent on Sunday’s 2013 Pink List. Kathy has been recognised for her excellent Radio Reverb show ‘Out’ in Brighton, which as the Indy on Sunday themselves say “is a globally influential LGBT show with listeners in Taiwan, Brazil and beyond”. Nice one, Kathy – long may you reign. You can catch Kathy live every Wednesday between 5–6pm on 97.2 FM Radio Reverb.

Bugg’s life
It’s been quite a week in the relatively short life of Jake Bugg. The painfully talented, awkwardly cool kid accepted a Q Award last Monday with a simple “Cheers” before exiting stage left. On Tuesday night he gave a raw and emotional performance at the Brighton Centre; switching it up from retro melancholy acoustic country to blistering filthy rock with songs from his (Mercury nominated)self-titled first album, his forthcoming album Shangri-La plus a cover of Neil Young’s classic ‘Hey Hey, My My’. His stage presence was shy and grateful, his talent is immense – in our humble opinion and to paraphrase the track he covered – this Nottingham boy isn’t going to burn out or fade away; this story will run and run.

A royal upset
So it seems the Duke of Gloucester (you know – him who is 22nd in line for the throne) isn’t glamorous enough for the residents of Shoreham. A recent grassroots campaign has seen locals call for the blonde bombshell Holly Willoughby to replace the Duke at the upcoming opening of the new Adur Ferry Bridge. However last week Willoughby, whose usual work sees her presenting This Morning with Phillip Schofield, suggested the bridge opening wasn’t really her calling, releasing a statement saying: “I’m extremely flattered that the residents of Shoreham would like me to open the Adur Bridge. I have very fond memories as a child playing on Shoreham beach but when it comes to the grand opening of bridges, I think it is probably better left in the capable hands of the person who is the 22nd in succession to the throne – the Duke of Gloucester, as opposed to myself who is third in line to my Nan’s tea set!”. While Holly’s statement might be a bit of a setback there’s a while to go yet before the grand opening; surely we can find some celeb to fill her shoes?

Have you spotted a celeb in the city? comment@thelatest.co.uk

Jo Brooks is director of Brighton-based PR company JBPR Ltd, 01273 622555, www.jb-pr.com
Send celebrity spots, gossip and pictures to job@jb-pr.com
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Have you spotted a celeb in the city? comment@thelatest.co.uk