Strictly Come Dancing star Jill Halfpenny and North actor Craig Conway are celebrating the birth of their first child. Jill and Craig, both 32, have become proud parents to a little boy. The couple are said to be “over the moon” at their little bundle of joy and have decided to call their son, born on May 3, Harvey Reece.

The infant weighed a healthy 6lb 8oz and Jill — who has starred in Coronation Street, EastEnders and Waterloo Road — had a smooth labour. Doting dad Craig said they hadn’t announced the birth because they were still finding their feet, but revealed that new mum Jill was doing fine. Craig, born in South Shields, South Tyneside, said: “We are really proud of our baby. We said we won’t do anything for a couple of weeks because we just want to get settled.”

Jill’s mum Maureen, of Gateshead, who already has five grandchildren, revealed that the couple hadn’t picked out a name for a girl. She added: “He’s not named after anyone in the family. I think they couldn’t make their minds up. They’re over the moon. He is lovely . . . a real cutie. It is hard to tell who he looks like when they are little like that. We’re waiting to see. We’re all very happy.”

The couple first met and fell in love when they starred in a stage version of George Orwell’s classic novel 1984 at the Newcastle Playhouse six years ago. They set up home in East London but, homesick for their family and friends in the North, moved back to the region permanently at the end of 2006, to a new home in Stocksfield, Northumberland.

(Taken From http://www.sundaysun.co.uk/news/north-east-news/2008/05/25/baby-boy-joy-for-jill-halfpenny-and-craig-conway-79310-20970624/)

Strictly Come Dancing judge Craig Revel Horwood has revealed he once worked as a rent boy at just 17. The 43-year-old choreographer admits he became a gay prostitute to raise money to leave his Australian hometown, before becoming a drag act. Revel Horwood, dubbed the BBC talent show's 'Mr Nasty' due to his cutting comments, will tell all about his life of vice in his forthcoming autobiography All Balls And Gliiter: My Life.

Revel Horwood's main customer was a famous Australian TV personality, who was 43 at the time. The TV judge told the News Of The World: "I feel it's a part of my life that is very important I'm honest about." After spending a year selling his body, Revel Horwood then transformed himself into a drag queen called Lavish. The 18-year-old dressed up in ladies wigs, make-up, fishnet stocking and arm-length gloves for his risque show, which he toured the whole of Australia with.

Brought up in the gold mining town of Ballarat, Victoria - 65 miles away from Melbourne - Revel Horwood turned to prostitution in the hope of making his way to the big city. A source tells the News Of The World: "Craig had big dreams and knew his passion was dancing. But he was surrounded by people with small-town mentalities, and had no money and no way to get out of town. He was dancing and performing in amateur theatre but his dad, who was in the navy, wasn't supportive at all. So he became a rent boy to get the cash to leave. It was not a decision he made lightly but he knew exactly what he was doing."

After raising enough money, Revel Horwood moved to Melbourne and started dance school and created Lavish to support himself. Revel Horwood performed as Lavish for five years, but decided to 'kill her off' when he moved in Britain in the late 1980s.

During his dancing career, Revel Horwood performed at the Moulin Rouge in Paris and in Cats, Miss Saigon and Crazy For You in the West End. Revel Horwood has focused his career on choreography and direction since 1994 and joined the first series of Strictly Come Dancing in 2004.

He is expected to reveal the secrets behind the judges' relationships in his book and his feud with professional dancer Brendan Cole. His book is expected to be released in September - around the same time his fellow judge Len Goodman is publishing his autobiography. A source said: "Craig's book will be much more salacious and nasty than Len's. He'll write a lot about how the judges—including Bruno Tonioli and Arlene Phillips—really interact backstage. Some of it is sure to offend them."

Referring to Cole, the source added: "They do not get on and Craig will tell exactly how he feels about him."

(Taken From http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1021772/Strictly-scandalous-Judge-Craig-Revel-Horwood-admits-rent-boy-past.html)

She may be the host of US hit So You Think You Can Dance, but Cat Deeley admits she's not an avid viewer of reality dancing shows. "To be honest, I haven't seen that many of them," she told us.

Olympic gold medallist Denise Lewis was the victim of a car-jacking as she collected her child from school in South Bucks. The former athlete, who also starred in Strictly Come Dancing in 2004, was on her way to pick-up her six-year-old daughter Lauryn in Farnham Royal when it happened.

The 35-year-old, who is expecting her third child, was driving a Volkswagen Golf, when it was rammed from behind at around 3.30pm on Thursday. When she got out to see the damage, a man in the passenger seat of the car that hit her, ran and jumped into Mrs Lewis' car and drove off.

The former heptathlon star, who won a gold medal at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, tried to grab the door as he drove off and injured her arm, but was not seriously injured. No one else was in the car, which also had her handbag in it. Speaking to the Daily Mail, Mrs Lewis said: "I was pretty shaken. It was the middle of the day on a quiet residential road, so you just don't expect something like that to happen.

"I'm just thankful I didn't have my two-year-old son Ryan in the back seat that day, as I often pick him up from nursery before picking my daughter up. If he had been in the car I don't know what would have happened to him. And, of course, because I'm expecting a baby, that brought a lot of fears to my mind after the event too - at the time there was too much adrenalin pumping for me to consider what could have happened."

(Taken From http://www.bucksfreepress.co.uk/news/localnews/display.var.2279081.0.olympic_athlete_victim_of_carjacking.php)

Alesha Dixon's professional dance partner Matt Cutler has revealed he lost weight during Strictly Come Dancing because she insisted on training so hard. All the celebrities slimmed down and toned up thanks to the gruelling practice sessions, but though Matt dances regularly even he shed the pounds. And it paid off because he and Alesha went on to win the BBC talent show.

Matt said: "It was amazing, I think I lost about 5 or 6 kilos working so hard because Alesha really wanted to train every hour. I think because she was so dedicated to it it meant we could do good routines and we had a lot of time to make the routines good so we just tried every week to go out and do the best dance we could and just hoped for the best. Luckily Alesha was beautiful and a great dancer that helped me stay in the competition."

The weight loss has now inspired a new show Diet On The Dance Floor - which also stars fellow Strictly dancer Karen Hardy - to help other people shimmy into shape. Matt said: "It's similar to Strictly as 10 people do a new dance every week plus they also have to try and lose weight, get fitter and there's certain challenges they have to do during the week as well. It's trying to show how fit you have to be to be a dancer and them training four or five hours a day has helped them all slim down and lose lots of weight."

(Taken From http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5hALb3m-ms90l3RwrtTUEivJTJk8g)

Dancer Brendan Cole made a bea-line for Princess Beatrice when he spotted her at a polo event. The Strictly Come Dancing star saw Bea, 19, at Hurtwood Park Polo Country Club in Surrey.

We're told: "She asked if he could show her his best moves. So he taught her what looked like a Dirty Dancing routine, then the tango. Bea was laughing hysterically." Brendan, 32, looked chuffed as he headed back to his girlfriend afterwards. Lucky lady.

(Taken From http://www.mirror.co.uk/showbiz/2008/05/14/brendan-cole-teaches-princess-beatrice-tango-at-polo-event-89520-20417062/)

"I've probably damaged practically every part of my body, pushing myself to the limits on stage and in dance studios," she said. "More than 40 years of it have given me a bad back, pulled hamstrings and other things. I doubt if a day goes by without me getting a twinge somewhere. But if you have spent a lifetime trying to be the best, then you have to put up with it."

She began dance classes as a three-year-old in Manchester and credits her mum and dad for nurturing her dancing passion. She said: "My parents quite often took me to the ballet and I fell in love with it - the drama, the mystery and the beauty. It was like watching a fairy tale come to life." Tragically, Arlene's mother died when she was 15 and after her dad also passed away, Arlene moved to London to pursue her dancing dream.

She took a job babysitting for film director Ridley Scott, who went on to make Alien and Bladerunner. "I got that job through a friend," said Arlene. "And then he asked me to choreograph a commercial for him." It was a break that saw her become one of the best-known British choreographers and her work has taken her all over the world, from London's West End to Broadway and Japan, where she has worked on shows such as Grease and Starlight Express.

But it's on television's Strictly Come Dancing that she earned her fearsome reputation as a critic. But she defends her outspoken attitude: "I know a lot of people think I am being unfair and a bit harsh but I am certainly not doing it simply because I am on TV. I would say the same things to dancers I was training for major musicals and I would be as critical of myself. It is like anything someone goes into and wants to be perfect at - you have to take the flak in order to improve. It might seem unfair at the time but, later, you realise it was justified."

And she said there are some contestants on the hit BBC1 show spared her sharp tongue. She added: "I'm not always giving low marks to celebrities. Darren Gough and Mark Ramprakash were incredible and I gave them a maximum of 10 points."

Arlene accepts the contestants work hard but refuses to let that affect her if she feels criticism is warranted. "These people work extremely hard. Probably harder than a lot of the public realise," she said. "Most of them have never danced to this standard in their lives and, during the competition, they train for up to 70 hours every week on a specific dance routine with their professional partner. That is not an easy thing to do and they are often quite exhausted. I really appreciate that but I can't let it affect my marking if they aren't up to scratch."

But she certainly doesn't want to be a celebrity herself. Arlene said: "What I do is only an extension of my dancing and choreographic career. Many years ago, when I was working with the dance troupe Hot Gossip, who achieved a certain notoriety on TV, I did become somewhat high-profile. I did feel a bit uncomfortable with it. So I don't think I would want to go there again."

Despite her successful career, she rates her greatest achievements in life a bit closer to home. She said: "The real highs in my life would have to be giving birth to my two daughters. The first one was in 1979, when I was working on Can't Stop The Music. I thought that was my family until I gave birth to my other daughter, Abi, when I was 47. It was a surprise but a beautiful one."

Arlene is about to start work on the stage version of the iconic dance movie Flashdance. And there's a new series of Strictly... on our screens come autumn. 'I would say the same things to dancers that I was training for major musicals'

Flashdance is on at the King's Theatre, Glasgow, in August.

(Taken From http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/entertainment/celebrity-interviews/2008/05/13/arlene-s-the-real-dancing-queen-86908-20416530/)

Inspired by the win of Alesha Dixon from Mis-Teeq, Lindsay Armaou of 90s girl-band B*Witched fancies being on Strictly Come Dancing. Lindsay, now 30 and in celtic country group Clayton, says: "I'd love to be on Strictly - it's a big ambition. I'd enjoy learning to dance like that and it looks fun to be on."

Richard Madeley is among the names being touted for the sixth BBC series in October. Dunno about Richard but we'd all be spellbound by beautiful Lindsay's moves.

(Taken From http://www.mirror.co.uk/showbiz/tv/tvland/2008/05/12/b-witched-star-eyes-strictly-come-dancing-89520-20415442/)