From http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/pages/live/a...in_page_id=1773

 

Blobbie Williams: Portly Robbie enjoys a game of golf in LA

By RICHARD SIMPSON -

Last updated at 00:01am on 3rd May 2008

 

 

He used to be lean, mean and hungry for success. Now, it seems, he's just hungry.

 

That, at least, could be one explanation for Robbie Williams's growing girth.

 

 

The singer, who is taking a break from his career, was spotted practising golf at a range near his home in Los Angeles. He puffed on a cigarette as he concentrated on his best shot.

 

Williams, 34, disappeared from view at the end of 2006.

 

 

He now lives permanently in LA, preferring the sunshine and the relative anonymity he finds there.

 

 

The golf seems to be an attraction too. He was recently pictured playing a game with his girlfriend, Ayda Field, a 28-year-old actress.

 

 

"Robbie has made it clear he's put his showbiz life on hold," a friend said.

 

"He doesn't need to remain trim for any professional reason, so he's let himself go.

 

 

"He's also really happy with Ayda and being content can lead to weight gain."

 

 

Wearing a loose black t-shirt and white gloves, the 34-year-old looked bloated and unfit as he played a round of golf in Los Angeles with his old friend and former drummer actor Max Beesley.

 

 

Although changed by the weight he has put on, the ex-Take That member has shaved off his thick beard which made him almost unrecognisable lately.

 

 

Clean-shaven, it was clearly Robbie, albeit carrying a few more pounds than usual.

 

 

Known for his cheeky charm, Robbie has previously dated ex-All Saint Nicole Appleton and supermodel Rachel Hunter.

 

 

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http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showb...icle1122128.ece (Click for some photos)

 

 

By CAROLINE IGGULDEN

 

Published: Today

 

ROBBIE WILLIAMS used to love angels, but instead another flying phenomenon is taking up his time.

 

The pop star has developed an obsession with aliens.

 

He is so fascinated that he recently jetted to a UFO convention in Nevada to pursue his hobby.

 

At the US conference 34-year-old Robbie revealed he had retreated into paranormal investigation to fill a “void” in his life and escape the pressures of fame.

 

He explains: “I have spent so much time looking at pictures on websites like Above Top Secret and reading conspiracy theories that I want to go and meet these people.

 

“I want to do something other than sit in my bed watching the news at half past ten, I want to go out and do something.

 

“I’ve been working since I was 16. I’ve put out ten albums in ten years and it takes its toll. I’m just having a break.”

 

Robbie tells of his belief that UFOs are “there all the time” but only show themselves on Earth when they make mistakes and their “protective shields” come off.

 

He travelled to the convention in Laughlin on a private plane, accompanied by his actress girlfriend AYDA FIELD , 28, and a record producer pal. The star, who has piled on the pounds in recent months, was sporting a full beard plus a khaki outfit and hat.

 

At the conference he was almost moved to tears by a meeting with Ann Andrews, from Lincolnshire, who believes her son Jason is regularly abducted by aliens.

 

On meeting “Rob”, she doesn’t realise he is Robbie Williams.

 

Jason, 24, was mercilessly teased as a child because of his wacky claims, Ann explains.

 

But Robbie tells his mother: “He should be shown compassion even if he was making it up, which I don’t believe, by the way.

 

“Tell him to drop me a line if he wants. It must have been a terrible time for you and an awful time for him. It’s so sad to hear it happens.”

 

He goes on to say: “It’s happened to me. I think joining TAKE THAT was like leaving on a spaceship and coming back and all your friends going, ‘He’s weird now’.”

 

Ann has written a book claiming her son is an “Indigo Child”, who has been put on Earth as a psychic sage. She claims he is regularly snatched by aliens for further instruction and has taken a number of hazy photos of him being “taken up in a spaceship”.

 

She argues the pictures never come out well because she is not a very good photographer and only owns a disposable camera.

 

Robbie tells of his fears that his interest in the paranormal may be a sign he is “going mental”.

 

At one point he asks Ann if she ever doubts her mental health.

 

He says: “Do you still question your sanity with regard to this kind of stuff, because I do – a lot. Do you go, ‘Have I gone mental?’.”

 

At the end of their conversation Ann suggests that “Rob” looks a lot like Robbie Williams.

 

He then confesses sheepishly: “I am Robbie Williams.”

 

Robbie’s mum Jan, 56, first sparked his interest in paranormal activity when he was a child.

 

He reveals: “Mum was a tarot card reader. On the shelf just outside her room there would be the books about the world’s mysteries — elves, demons and witchcraft.

 

“She’d have people round to read the tarot cards and read their palms. She’d talk about spirits, ghosts . . . the other side.

 

“I was that scared that I never talked to her about it and just lived in fear of this stuff.”

 

At the conference Robbie also meets a scientist who specialises in examining “evidence” of alien visits.

 

The singer insists on inspecting a flake of skin the investigator has been given, which is allegedly from a reptilian alien.

 

Robbie quips: “It could be a piece of chocolate.”

 

Since finishing a world tour 18 months ago, Robbie has vanished from public view.

 

The star spends hours holed up in his LA mansion researching UFOs on the net and watching DVDs about alien conspiracies.

 

Earlier this week The Sun printed pictures showing how the former pin-up has ballooned.

 

Under his multimillion pound record deal with EMI, Robbie was expected to release a new album this autumn. That seems to be on hold as he focuses his attention skyward.

 

Robbie goes on to tell how he and Ayda spend hours on his balcony staring at the heavens. At the conference he meets Nick Pope, who has been dubbed the UK’s answer to X-Files character Fox Mulder.

 

Nick once headed the Ministry of Defence unit responsible for investigating UFO sightings in UK airspace and was in Nevada to address the conference.

 

He says: “Robbie emailed me to let me know he was going to the conference and asked if we could meet. He started his email, ‘Hi, it’s Robbie Williams (the singer)’. Embarrassingly, I walked straight past Robbie because he looked so different.

 

“He looked like some sort of Cuban revolutionary. It was him who spotted me. He’s a nice guy with a genuine interest in the subject. And he certainly isn’t the first pop star to take an interest in the paranormal.

 

“JOHN LENNON famously claimed to have seen a UFO and David Bowie has long been fascinated by the subject.”

 

Robbie’s visit to the Nevada conference was recorded by broadcaster Jon Ronson — who specialises in winning the trust of people with different beliefs — for a Radio 4 documentary.

 

In the programme, Robbie admits the psychics he has dabbled with in the past have left him bitterly disappointed.

 

He explains: “Every time I put my foot in the water as regards this kind of stuff, or paranormal stuff, I meet charlatans.

 

“You come across people that make you go, ‘Oh no, you’re supposed to be the expert but you’re obviously mental’. And none of it is true. This might happen with UFOs, too — then I might be able to get on with my life.”

 

But Robbie left the convention with 15 new UFO DVDs under his arm, so he certainly doesn’t seem disillusioned quite yet.

 

 

 

Robbie Williams and Jon Ronson Journey To The Other Side will be broadcast on Radio 4 at 6.30pm on Tuesday.

 

 

Rob is talking to Joss Stone now here http://www.geminiexeter.co.uk/article.asp?id=615978

He is chatting about films. Says he thinks Leo Dicaprio (I think he called him Leonardo Di Craprio though :lol: ) is an amazing actor and saying how he loved American Gangster. He has good taste :P

 

Joss does'nt come accross as being very intelligent :lol:

Edited May 3, 200817 yr by Mr. Macphisto

Leonardo Di Craprio :rofl:

4th May 2008 ROLY-POLY striker Robbie Williams won’t have to release another album for EMI.

 

The star’s refusal to put one out has been solved by the company who are now releasing a budget-priced greatest hits

collection, this time featuring a heap of B-sides.

 

 

 

Source ...The STAR on Sunday

 

 

 

 

A B-Sides album? :o :w00t: :w00t: :w00t:

 

 

But what do they mean 'Budget priced?' :unsure: Like Bargain Basement Bin fodder? :o :arrr:

A B-Sides album? :o :w00t: :w00t: :w00t:

But what do they mean 'Budget priced?' :unsure: Like Bargain Basement Bin fodder? :o :arrr:

 

 

Not sure Jup if they took his blog in January & picked out that bit about the B-Sides album & then added on their own scenario at the end...I wish he would do the B-Sides as part of a good bloody box-set like U2 did...but who am I only a silly ' fan ' who knows nothing..... :huh: :huh: :huh: :huh:

Who is gonna but a B-Sides album on its own when it is nearly impsooible nowadays to see the real thing....but do I have a say NO !!!!!!!! :wacko: :wacko:

Edited May 5, 200817 yr by Scorpio

A dvd of videos to accompany any box set would be great :yahoo:

 

I'm really confused about the 'Greatest Hits' part. How many 'greatest hits' has he had since the last 'Greatest Hits' album came out? :unsure:

A dvd of videos to accompany any box set would be great :yahoo:

 

I'm really confused about the 'Greatest Hits' part. How many 'greatest hits' has he had since the last 'Greatest Hits' album came out? :unsure:

 

Robbie did not mention another GH in his blog ...only the release of some B-Sides...I think it is the press just adding their own parlava to write something new about him.....imagine giving out a writing set as a gift ( even though I am partial to nice writing paper & cards -_- )...I reckon if they worked their heads & gave maybe some free singles with it that people might be happier...but what do I know...I am only a ' FAN'. :huh: :huh: :huh: ....who the hell picked this for the gift anyway...his Nana !!!!!! :teresa: ...... :P :P :P :P :P

3 singles from IC (although Make Me Pure would be included I am sure), and 3 from Rudebox. It won't be called GH 2 that's for sure. It will most likely be a double disc with most of his singles on it. I would love a special box set edition with B-sides as well, and a DVD with all the vids, and making of vids etc. It would be amazing. But I don't buy that it will be released next. I hope not either.

3 singles from IC (although Make Me Pure would be included I am sure), and 3 from Rudebox. It won't be called GH 2 that's for sure. It will most likely be a double disc with most of his singles on it. I would love a special box set edition with B-sides as well, and a DVD with all the vids, and making of vids etc. It would be amazing. But I don't buy that it will be released next. I hope not either.

 

 

Do you think we such get a petition together....I do not want Make Me Pure...I have it already on IC & why would I want three from Rudebox..I already have the whole bloody album.....will they listen to me ...NO .... ^_^ ^_^ ...we could do a petition & post it on myspace ......Robbies myspace have started posting on the bulletin board recently ( they are beginning to catch up with modern technology & discovered what it was for ...... God Help Us.... :lol: ).

Mt Mac...you are pretty good with the wording of such things...get your thinking hat on..... ;) ...I thought the Joshua Tree Boxset from U2 was fab & would love something like it........ ^_^

 

 

From The Times UK May 9, 2008

 

Robbie Williams and Jon Ronson Journey to the Other SideChris Campling

On Tuesday we were privileged to hear Robbie Williams and Jon Ronson Journey to the Other Side, an ambiguous title for a programme in which the troubled pop star (©) described his latest bid for inner peace – the paranormal. Or was the Other Side the people he met along the way, the strange beings he found at a UFO conference in sleazy Laughlin, Nevada?

 

Cruelly, Radio 4 had scheduled it in the 6.30pm drivetime comedy slot, which made one wonder – was it a hoax, with a Robbie soundalike? Paranormal stuff does tend to make you paranoid.

 

But no, Laughlin exists, and two of the people they met there have websites to call their own. One is Dr Roger Leir, a surgeon who says he has extracted 15 items of alien metal from human abductees but had brought none of them to the conference to show off. The night before Robbie and Ronson arrived in Laughlin there had apparently been a fight between two alien beings that had yielded a vial of alien blood that was in Leir’s possession. He denied this, laughing avuncularly. He did, though, have a scale from a 7ft alien that someone had disturbed in their kitchen. Only it might have also been a moth’s wing.

 

The other delegate was Ann Andrews, whose son Jason is an Indigo Child, an alien sent to Earth in human guise. She reminded Robbie of his mum. “You know, you look a lot like Robbie Williams,” she said. She’s a big fan.

 

Robbie being Robbie, while he declared himself totally open to believing everything he was told, he’d brought along someone to be his nominated cynic. He was called Brandon. When Andrews showed photographs she had taken of aliens that were blurred because she had taken them on a disposable camera, Brandon asked why she didn’t buy a better camera.

 

It was easy to laugh, but at the heart there was a touching portrait of a man who has tried it all and is still unfulfilled. “Every time I meet charlatans,” he said. “I think: ‘I thought you knew the truth, but you’re just a nutter’.” He’ll keep searching. We wish him well.

 

Source...The Times UK

:huh: :huh: :huh: :huh:

How Robbie Williams helped Ant and Dec swipe Catherine Tate's prize

The Times

 

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00334/Awards385_334227a.jpg

 

Organisers of the British Comedy Awards promised Robbie Williams that he could present an award to Ant and Dec if the singer agreed to appear - even though the ITV presenters had not been selected for a prize.

 

The disclosure came in findings, published for the first time today, after an inquiry by law firm Olswang into the 2005 awards broadcast on ITV1.

 

Olswang found that comedy star Catherine Tate had been cheated out of the People’s Choice Award, which she should have won for her BBC sketch show, after a viewer vote.

 

The award was wrongly presented to Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly for their ITV1 Saturday Night Takeaway show, after a rigged premium-rate vote.

 

The presenting duo were said to be “completely appalled” by the error and will return their award to ITV. A spokesman for Ms Tate said she was an “innocent bystander” of the affair and did not wish to comment.

 

An Ofcom investigation is now under way into the scam, published separately from the offences which led to a record £5.6 million fine slapped on ITV. But the broadcaster will not face further financial punishment for the Comedy Awards debacle. The awards were produced for ITV by independent company Michael Hurll Television.

 

The Olswang independent report stated that Williams was invited to present an award at the ceremony. It was “understood” the LA-based pop star would be happy to present an award if the recipients were Ant and Dec, and in order to guarantee the former Take That star’s attendance, he was told he could present a gong to the duo even though they had not won any of the awards determined by the jury.

 

The only award that the I’m a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! presenters could have gone on to win was the People’s Choice Award, but this was dependent on a public vote.

 

In the event, Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway was announced as the winner of the People’s Choice Award, when the actual winner should have been The Catherine Tate Show, which collected the most public votes. The trophy was presented to Ant and Dec by Williams.

 

The awards had moved to a recorded portion while ITV viewers were watching the evening news. During the “as live” broadcast, viewers were encouraged to vote for the People’s Choice Award - which they did, even though the votes had already been counted and the award had actually already been presented.

 

The Olswang report says it cannot be concluded from the sequence of events that the assurance to Williams was the reason the wrong winner of the People’s Choice Award was announced.

 

It said: “In addition to the People’s Choice Award there were a series of awards determined by a jury. Robbie Williams was invited to present an award. It was understood that he would be happy to present an award if the recipients were Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly.

 

“In order to ensure his attendance, this assurance was given, albeit at a time when the winners of all the jury awards had been decided and Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly had not been selected.

 

“As such it was an assurance that could not legitimately have been guaranteed, as the only award still to be decided was the People’s Choice Award, the winner of which was then unknown and dependent upon the public vote.”

 

It adds: “While it can be concluded that the assurance was given to ensure Robbie Williams’ attendance to present an award, it cannot be concluded that this was the reason why the wrong winner of the People’s Choice Award was announced.”

 

The report states that there is no suggestion that Williams or Ant and Dec were aware of “any of these issues”. ITV will make a decision on the future transmission of the British Comedy Awards on the network after Ofcom’s investigation into alleged compliance issues has been concluded. The show went ahead last year without an ITV broadcast.

 

 

This story is all over the place and alot of people are blaming Rob, despite the fact that ITV made it more than clear he was'nt aware Ant And Dec were not meant to win. Honestly, is there every any positive Rob articles in any British press anymore? :zzz:

 

 

Positive article from the MSN home page here, even saying Rob should come back as he is missed. :o

 

http://entertainment.uk.msn.com/celebrity/...umentid=8262776

I'm more amazed that Catherine Tate won a public vote. I think she's as funny as a tooth abscess :blink:

I'm more amazed that Catherine Tate won a public vote. I think she's as funny as a tooth abscess :blink:

 

I Like Catherine Tate & she does fancy Robbie :heart: :heart: :heart: so I do think she should have won.... :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Oh yes. I remember her saying she fancied him! Nae luck Catherine! :lol:

SOURCE: TELEGRAPH UK

 

On radio: turkeys, gaffes and Robbie Williams's quest for aliens

Last Updated: 12:01am BST 13/05/2008

 

 

Gillian Reynolds says every word matters in the intimate sphere of radio

 

A Point of View, the mini-essay that fills the three weekend slots on Radio 4 formerly occupied by Alistair Cooke's Letter from America, presents severe challenges.

 

It's very short, too short to weave the contrapuntal themes Cooke managed so well and, generally, radio is a hard medium to master. Most people can talk. Not everyone is a radio natural. Since Cooke's death voices have come and gone on A Point of View with restless regularity.

 

advertisementI was getting used to one female academic when, just after Christmas, talking about using the last bits of the festive bird, she lost me forever by saying the one in Dickens's A Christmas Carol was a turkey. "A goose, a goose, you fool," I shouted at her, rattling the windows. Actually, I was only partly right, but that's what radio does to you.

 

In print, the reader imagines the voice. With television, there are always pictures to distract. Radio is intimate. Every word matters, every inflection remarked, the sound of the voice must bring pleasure. I have only to hear Clive James's voice on A Point of View to wonder what he'll be moaning about now. This is totally irrational. He is usually offering mordant comment of an informational and entertaining nature.

 

He was doing this very thing on Friday night, talking about gaffes, words that tumble from the mouths of the great without due consideration. He began with Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, went on to George W Bush, Ronald Reagan, George Bush Sr, Dan Quayle, Dwight Eisenhower and John F Kennedy, all of whom said things they were later to regret. His point was that we all do it, but today's media pounce more often.

 

I agreed with him, applauded the sentiment but had to jump over the tune of his voice to understand what he was saying.

 

Jon Ronson has a tremulous, childlike voice. He uses it to advantage. When being serious, as when visiting Nazi prison camps, it sounds as if he is intimidated. When being less serious, as on Robbie Williams and Jon Ronson Journey to the Other Side (Radio 4, Tues) it can make him sound sly. That was the impression left by the endless trailers for this programme and reinforced by the programme being scheduled in what is usually a comedy slot.

 

So was Ronson, the earnest reporter, really laughing at Williams, the international pop star? Was he inviting us to snigger at Robbie's obsession with conspiracy theories and extra-terrestrial goings-on? If you listened only to those trailers or the first few minutes of this programme, that's how it sounded. The whole programme had quite a different balance.

 

It made you understand some of the reasons Williams went to a UFO convention in a small Nevada town. It wasn't just to meet the doctor who claimed to have extracted extra-terrestrial metallic implants, or the mother who believes her son was trained by aliens to be a psychic healer. Robbie, it emerged, wants to believe, but he has not yet met the person who can convince him.

 

His mother read Tarot cards, it made him "live in fear". To the woman who says her son has met aliens he says: "Joining Take That was like leaving in a space ship." He has taken his girlfriend Ida on this trip but also brought his sceptical friend Brandon, who gets up and asks hard questions of the more ambitious UFO sighters.

 

What the listener learned was that pop stars need friends they can trust, that searches for personal identity can take strange routes, that we all wish we'd said things to our mother that we never got round to saying. If this was "the other side" the late Dr Anthony Clare, for many years Radio 4's resident psychiatrist, would have recognised it right away, in Ronson as much as in Williams.

And finally, a voice too many. A furious reader writes: "Why on earth did Radio 3 broadcast the heat winners of Young Musician of the Year at the end of Afternoon on 3? […] It rather spoiled Wednesday and Thursday night's viewing."

 

I'm away for the next fortnight, so, if you agree with this cross person, please tell Radio 3's controller. With audience figures like the ones he's just received, he'll be glad to know someone's still listening.