Entertainment
‘Downton Abbey’ star pays tribute to late Maggie Smith
Maggie Smith, a towering figure in the arts, portrayed Violet Crawley in Downton Abbey. In the show, her co-star Elizabeth McGovern paid tribute to her in the latest interview.
The actress played Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham, in the historical drama, as she is set to appear in Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale, a third film in the franchise without the late star.
She said, “I thought it would be absolutely horrible. I think a lot of the actors were really frightened of the idea, but the funny thing is I felt like she was there.”
“I felt like her spirit was in the air, in that house and in those rooms, that I didn’t miss her as much as I thought I would,” the actress noted.
Similarly, Judi Dench previously remembered her late friend in an interview with the BBC with a sweet gesture of planting a tree in her name.
“Joe, who works for me, came in and he had one little crab apple,” the 007 star told the outlet, adding it started to produce fruit at the time of her funeral, as she died on Sept 27, 2024. She was 89.
“And so I had it in my pocket at her funeral, which was a very nice thing to have,” she noted about the Harry Potter alum, with whom she first met at Old Vic theatre’s dressing room in 1957.
Also, Judi and Maggie both appeared in films such as the 1984 film A Private Function, 1985’s A Room With a View, 1999’s Tea With Mussolini, 2004’s Ladies in Lavender, 2011’s The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and its 2015 sequel The Second Best Marigold Hotel.
Entertainment
‘Saturday Night Live’ alum Tina Fey admits past jokes missed the mark
Saturday Night Live veteran Tina Fey reflected on her years at the NBC sketch institution, acknowledging that some of her jokes were “on the wrong side”.
Speaking at the History Talks event in Philadelphia, Fey said she’s realized with time that not every punchline was fair.
The two times Globe Globe winner added candidly, “I was pretty dumb.”
Fey joined SNL in 1997 and later became head writer.
She recalled navigating some of the show’s most difficult broadcasts, from the first episode after September 11 to the anthrax scare and even President George W. Bush’s visit to meet Will Ferrell.
Over time, she said, the line between comedy and current events grew thinner, with politicians and public figures often responding directly to the sketches.
One of her most memorable stretches came in 2008, when she teamed with Seth Meyers and Amy Poehler to craft the now iconic Sarah Palin sketches.
Fey explained that the team worked hard to make sure their material was “a fair hit,” grounded in truth rather than random exaggeration.
“If it’s not true, it will not be funny,” she noted.
Reflecting on the influence of SNL, Fey said it was both thrilling and intimidating to know that what she wrote could be taken seriously by people in power.
She emphasized that the show never set out to control politics or the national narrative, but admitted that some of her own jokes didn’t age well.
Fey appeared alongside Nicole Kidman, Ted Danson, Kate McKinnon, Colin Jost and others at the event, which marked the nation’s 250th anniversary.
Entertainment
Prince William’s ally Robert Irwin rejects Prince Harry, Meghan offer
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle appeared to completed a successful four-day tour to Down Under, as they received a warm welcome from the Aussies.
The optics of the visit worked in the Sussexes’s favour, having plenty of similarities to an official royal tour. However, there was one particular item on their to-do list which they were not able to accomplish after facing a major rejection.
The Irwin family is hugely popular in Australia and especially with Robert Irwin’s work and amplified fame after winning Dancing with the Stars, they hold a special prestige in the country. So much so, Prince William has made Robert one of the ambassadors of the Earthshot Prize, a deeply personal and important initiative William had taken over five years ago.
Hence, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were hoping to get a meeting with the Irwins especially the celebrity conservationist at Australia Zoo in Queensland. However, it was not possible during the four-day trip, per New Idea magazine.
The source revealed that there is “no ill-will” towards the Sussexes from the Irwins and cited that it “wasn’t possible”. Although, it is key to note that they are all “staunch monarchists and fiercely loyal to The Firm”.
“Aligning with the Irwins’ worthy causes is something that Meghan and Harry could be on board with,” the source said. But, it seems that Robert may have played it safe as he did not want to upset William.
Entertainment
Breakthrough Prize laureate David Gross drops shocking prediction for humanity
David Gross has won the Special Breakthrough Prize for Fundamental Physics with a whopping $3 million prize, as announced by the Breakthrough Prize Foundation on April 18, 2026.
The prize honors scientists whose discoveries have contributed significant advancement to the development of human knowledge.
The Breakthrough Prizes—commonly known as the ’Oscars of Science’—were established in 2012 to celebrate the wonders of the 21st century scientific age.
David Gross, who is a Nobel Prize laureate in Physics (2004), served as director at the Kavli Institute of Theoretical Physics at University of California, Santa Barbara for three decades.
What earned Gross winning Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics?
In the early 1970s, there was a wide gap in quantum field theory, as it could not define the strong nuclear force, which holds the atom’s nucleus together.
But in 1973, Gross and his graduate student Frank Wilczek cracked the mystery.
They discovered that the strong force works the opposite way to familiar forces like gravity: it gets weaker as particles approach each other, but stronger as they move apart.
That discovery led to the development of quantum chromodynamics.
After taking home the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, he drops a shocking prediction for humanity in an interview with LiveScience.
Gross, when asked if humanity will ever get to a place where we get rid of nuclear weapons.
Gross predicted, “We’re not recommending that. That’s idealistic, but yet, I hope so. Because if you don’t, there’s always some risk an AI 100 years from now, but chances of (humanity) living, with this estimate, 100 years, is very small, and living 200 years is infinitesimal.”
Gross became one of this year’s six awardees for his contributions to theoretical physics, earning the Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics.
David Gross has remained an authority in fundamental physics for six decades.
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