Prince Harry’s court case can’t be filmed - so Sky News came up with a ‘bizarre’ reconstruction
It’s fair to say that the Duke of Sussex and the media – particularly the tabloid press – don’t get on all too well, with the prince previously branding it the “devil” in an interview with ITV News’ Tom Bradby earlier this year. Now, as the duke is back in the headlines with his court case against the publisher of the Daily Mirror over alleged phone hacking (which the company denies), paparazzi and broadcasters have a bit of a problem with capturing footage inside of the courtroom. While the broadcasting of High Court and Senior Circuit judges handing out criminal sentences was allowed from 2020 (with the first sentencing remarks aired in 2022 due to the coronavirus pandemic), filming anything else in court is very much forbidden and risks those responsible being found in contempt. Except, written transcriptions aren’t the most visually exciting thing in the world for TV news stations, who are more interested in some good quality video for their reporting. Thankfully, Sky News offered up a solution on Tuesday – by roping in an actor to perform a dramatic recital of some of the most eye-opening moments from Harry’s testimony. In a clip of a reconstruction shared by the station online, Laurence Dobiesz (who starred in the 2011 Sherlock Holmes film sequel A Game of Shadows) can be seen sporting a blue suit and standing behind a lectern as he tries to emulate the duke’s demeanour in court. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter The accompanying caption reads: “In the phone hacking case, Prince Harry told the court that every single article played a destructive role in his life. “There are no cameras in court, so as part of a special progamme, Sky News has recorded what was said by the duke, played by an actor.” With a few extravagant hand gestures along the way, Dobiesz recites a passage in which the prince said “every single one” of the articles penned by the tabloid press played a “destructive role in my growing up”. Harry/the actor (this is all very confusing) said: “More than thousands, maybe millions of articles have been written about me since age 12 … because it’s 20 years ago, I simply cannot speculate how I was and whether I saw these articles at the time. “I certainly saw lots of articles at the time - the ones I was made aware of because of the behaviour and reaction of people in my inner circle. “Unfortunately, stories that I’ve only shared with one or two people within my inner circle, ends up front page of a newspaper or any page, your circle of friends starts to shrink and diminish rather rapidly.” It’s certainly an unusual way of presenting the information to viewers, but Twitter was soon to conclude it was still “creepy” and “embarrassing”: The actor’s appearance was part of a special programme on Sky News titled Harry in Court, presented by Jonathan Samuels and airing every night at 9pm. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.
2023-06-07 17:25
Two killed and five injured in shooting at Virginia graduation
A 19-year-old suspect has been arrested and is expected to face at least two murder charges.
2023-06-07 17:24
Chris Billam-Smith: ‘Mum is unwell, I missed my son’s birthday – there were so many reasons to win’
First, Chris Billam-Smith was raised aloft. As Shane McGuigan hauled his fighter’s hulking frame into the air, for the adoring mass of fans to see, the cruiserweight’s face vanished behind his gloves. Somewhere under the battered leather, his left eye – swollen half-shut – closed completely. So did the right, trying to trap the tears. Inevitably, the dam broke. The stream washed away his sweat, while his bawls were drowned out by the flood of noise around him. Then, the cruiserweight sank to his knees, all 6ft of him reduced to the stature of a boy who once dreamt of this very moment. Or rather, this meshing of moments. To a young Billam-Smith, fighting in front of a sold-out crowd at the home of his beloved AFC Bournemouth would have represented a dream fulfilled; so would winning a world title. Doing both on the same night? If that plays like a scene from a Hollywood blockbuster, then it is the kind of moment that one would deride for stretching our suspension of disbelief a fibre too far. Boxing is not Hollywood. Boxing does not provide fairytale endings. Boxing is unforgiving, and cruel. But if any boxer has earnt a mote of kindness from this sport, it is Billam-Smith. It was granted in the form of his decision win over former teammate Lawrence Okolie last month, but it should not be taken for granted. Nor could it have been when “112-112” was the first scorecard to boom over the PA at Dean Court. “I remember listening and thinking... like frowning,” Billam-Smith, 32, tells The Independent, with stitches still hovering over his left eye. “I wasn’t really listening to the [other] scores, but I just knew it was obviously a majority decision. If I had listened, I think I would have known [I’d won] because obviously one of them was a 107, and that couldn’t have been me because I had no points deducted and wasn’t knocked down or anything. Obviously I was just waiting for them to say ‘and new’. He said it, and a wave of emotion came over me. I was just thinking, ‘I’ve done it.’ I just couldn't believe it. It was such... it’s been such a long journey.” As Billam-Smith knelt in the ring, his face soaked in tears, his mother came to his mind. Dedicating his victory to her, Billam-Smith revealed in the ring that she is battling cancer. “Obviously at the moment, with my mum being unwell and stuff,” he tells The Independent, “for it to be all worth it and worth all the hard graft put in over the years, the years of not earning any money as an amateur and even early on as a pro – not earning a huge amount of money and scraping by at times... To finally to do it and achieve my ultimate dream of winning a world title at the stadium, it was just... You can’t really put it into words to be honest with you. “I had so many reasons to win; I had 15,000 people there that I couldn’t let down, my mum, my wife, my son. I was never going in there without giving it 100 per cent, because of all those reasons. And obviously for myself as well, with the growth through the years. Yeah, my mum obviously was a huge part of that as well.” So was Billam-Smith’s son, Frank, as he says. “Having to miss my son’s first birthday the day before the fight, that’s a completely different emotion. It’s weird; he has no idea what’s going on, doesn’t know that I missed his birthday – thankfully – to stand half-naked in front of loads of people at Bournemouth pier. You know, it’d be amazing for him to grow up and hopefully be proud of his dad.” These various factors, and the emotional weight loaded into each of them, had to be put aside for the sake of performance; so did the sense of occasion around fighting at Dean Court. “On the Friday, I went and sat in my old season-ticket seat and just looked at the set-up,” says Billam-Smith. “I was like, ‘This is crazy.’ The ring-walk rehearsal was very important for me to visualise how everything was going to be, so it wasn’t overwhelming and I wasn’t like, ‘Oh my God, this is actually happening.’ [During the actual ring walk], there’s a point where I sort of look around and just nod to myself. Like, I’m still very much in the zone and focused and staying calm, but I thought: ‘This is awesome.’ “[In the fight], I very much had blinkers on. All the visualisation helped. I was very calm in the ring and the whole time in the build-up, just thinking about those 12 rounds and how I was going to react – making sure I reacted logically to every situation.” Billam-Smith did just that, capping off an eclectic trilogy of fights across the last 11 months. First, there was his war with Isaac Chamberlain, which ended as a points victory in Billam-Smith’s favour, then his knockout-of-the-year candidate against Armend Xhoxhaj in December, before this often-bitty bout with Okolie. The 12 rounds against Okolie will not be what fans remember from this particular night, however. They will remember the aftermath – the stirring scenes of a dream being realised in real time. “Now it’s about creating another dream,” says Billam-Smith, looking ahead to the future. “You know, I’d love to fight in Las Vegas, but most importantly I need to secure my family’s future financially. And I’m not the finished article as a boxer. “In any sport I’ve ever played, I’ve always just wanted to give it 100 per cent and improve. That’s still the same me now.” Lorton Entertainment’s“STABLE”, a four-part documentary series covering Shane McGuigan’s work with his fighters, will be released this Autumn. Read More Leigh Wood and Chris Billam-Smith win world titles with victories over familiar foes How a unique night of action could lay groundwork for future super-fight ‘I could kill a guy and get away with it’: Teofimo Lopez is treading a disturbing path through boxing How unique night of action could lay groundwork for future super-fight Leigh Wood and Chris Billam-Smith win world titles with victories over familiar foes Boxxer’s Ben Shalom: ‘I sacrificed my twenties, I sacrificed absolutely everything’
2023-06-07 17:24
Counting Dollars! Here's how much Jill Duggar stands to make from explosive memoir on her family
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2023-06-07 17:24
Aramco, ENI, United Airlines invest in UK-based low-carbon fuel venture
NEW YORK The venture units of oil firms Saudi Aramco and Italy's ENI have joined the world's largest
2023-06-07 17:22
Redkey Will Launch the First "Smart Screen" Vacuum Robot Soon: Everything Can Be Achieved Without an App
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2023-06-07 17:20
'He's an old soul': Tina Turner was unfazed by 16-year age gap with husband Erwin Bach
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2023-06-07 17:20
China Stocks Too Cheap to Ignore for JPMorgan Asset, Invesco
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2023-06-07 17:18
Chris Christie news – live: Ex-governor lashes out at Trump family’s ‘breathtaking grift’ in fiery 2024 launch
Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie launched his campaign for president on Tuesday at a town hall in Manchester, New Hampshire. This is the second time Mr Christie has made a bid for the White House, the first being in 2016 when he lost to former president Donald Trump. Though Mr Christie lent his support to Mr Trump in 2016 when he dropped out of the race, he has since changed his opinion of the former president and become a vocal critic of Mr Trump. That was evident on Tuesday, as he denounced his former ally as a corrupt narcissist and vowed to draw blood in his quest for the Republican nomination. He did so several times during the town hall event, including at one point when he tore into the former president’s family for “breathtaking” levels of corruption and “grift” that he said followed them through the White House and beyond. The former New Jersey governor plans to position himself as a moderate Republican alternative to both Mr Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, while promising an aggressive campaign unafraid to punch at his rivals. Read More Chris Christie gave Trump legitimacy. Now he can’t stop Trump in 2024 Chris Christie targets his ‘divisive’ former friend Donald Trump as he sets up bitter 2024 battle Mike Pence suffered the wrath of Trump. Now the ex-vice president wants his old boss’s job in 2024
2023-06-07 16:59
Turkish lira declines to record lows following start of Erdogan's new presidential term
The Turkish lira has tumbled to fresh record lows and extended its slide against the U.S. dollar
2023-06-07 16:59
'I need more': Apple TV+'s cryptic tweet leave fans hopeful about another season of 'Ted Lasso'
After ‘Ted Lasso’ season three ended, Apple TV+ hinted at a ‘Ted Lasso’ spinoff in a Twitter post
2023-06-07 16:58
Japan rethinks tattoo ban in defence forces to lift recruitment
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2023-06-07 16:57
