Swimmers at the Hampstead Ladies’ Pond were thrilled to find a surprise guest at their breakfast on Sunday: superstar Harry Styles.
The singer popped down secretly from his home nearby for breakfast and a quick dip. The event, a “Shared Breakfast at the Ladies Pond”, was offering free drinks and croissants, but asked guests to bring their own mug, as well as food to share. The ladies pond is not usually open to men, though Harry’s a very special case.
The temperature was a cool 17.5 degrees, but we hear Styles jumped in and inspired other event goers to try the same.
— Pop Tingz Backup (@ThePopTingzz) September 9, 2023
The ex-One Direction man is a big fan of the ponds. He set hearts fluttering when he was snapped going for a dip there in September following a punishing world tour.
Geri’s launch takes the Tower by storm
Geri Halliwell-Horner took over the Tower of London last night for the launch of her new children’s book Rosie Frost and the Falcon Queen.
Geri told us she took advice from authors including Jacqueline Wilson, who was at the bash, and Booker-shortlisted William Boyd. “He read one of my first drafts and told me to rewrite the whole thing in the third person and the past tense,” she said, “because I’d done it in the first person and present tense.”
Geri said the book took nine years to write, and was the “hardest thing I’ve ever done”. Her husband Christian was there too, as well as pals Emma Bunton and Dolly Alderton. “My husband read it and he said ‘ooh, it’s much better than I thought it would be,’” she said. Penny Lancaster, on crutches, went too, and posed with a Tower yeoman.
Over at Ladbroke Hall in west London, during a party to celebrate its reopening as a cultural space, we spotted fashion designer Pam Hogg and former Bank of England governor Mark Carney. Carney made headlines this week after endorsing Labour’s Rachel Reeves as the best next chancellor, praising her “energy and ideas”.
Elsewhere, model Leomie Anderson was at the London Film Festival showing off her new movie Sumotherhood.
Woolf house for sale at cut price
Fancy several rooms of one’s own? Virginia Woolf’s former house in Richmond has gone on the market this week for a cool £3 million. The four-bedroom Grade II listed Hogarth House is on Paradise Road. It was home to Woolf and her writer husband Leonard between 1915 and 1924, at the height of the Bloomsbury Group. As well as literary pedigree, it’s a steal, having been on the market for £500,000 more last year. A sign of the housing market slump since the reign of Liz Truss.
Labour gatecrashers end conference
Peter Mandelson can make even drinking coffee look spine-chilling. Yesterday he gave GB News journalists a fright when he appeared in the back of shot during their live broadcast, sipping from a takeaway cup. Mandy, who is advising Keir Starmer, then jumped in with a delectably sinister account of why Labour will win power. He smirked that GBN were helping divide the Tories.
Also gatecrashing yesterday was Angela Rayner, who was spotted begging bouncers to let her staffers into the exclusive Daily Mirror party to end Labour conference.
