PROMO FLASHBACK : WRITING FOR JOAN IS A NOVEL IDEA!

As we look forward to the paperback release of Joan's latest novel 'The St Tropez Lonely Hearts Club' on May 5th. here is a promotional sheet for Joan's 1st bestselling novel 'Prime Time' in 1988..

EVENT UPDATE : THE WELLBEING OF WOMEN LITERARY LUNCH .. FORTNUM & MASON .. APRIL 26TH 2016

Joan was the special guest speaker at The Wellbeing of Women Champagne Literary Lunch, held earlier at Fortnum & Mason, in their Diamond Jubilee Tea Salon. The £150 a head event started with a champagne reception followed by a sumptuous lunch after which Joan was interviewed by friend Eve Pollard about her new novel 'The St Tropez Lonely Hearts Club' and her glittering career.. After the conversation, Joan signed copies of her exciting new novel, which will be out in paperback on May 5th in time for the summer vacations..

Order The St Tropez Lonely Hearts Club here!

CHARITY UPDATE : IT IS A NO BRAINER BANDANA CAMPAIGN .. APRIL 25TH 2016

                                                       WWW.IT IS A NO BRAINER.COM

Joan Collins, Liv Tyler and Freddie Flintoff are just some of the A-list names who are supporting a campaign set up in the name of an 11-year-old Badlesmere boy who died from a brain tumour.

It Is A No Brainer asks people to throw on a bandana and smile for the camera.

It has been launched to raise awareness about brain cancer, the biggest killer of children in the UK.

It was inspired by Silas Pullen who was diagnosed with a malignant and aggressive tumour in August 2012 and spent more than a year having intensive treatment such as operations, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and immunotherapy, but lost his battle in December 2013.

His family has raised more than a staggering £350,000 for the Brain Tumour Charity which directly funds scientific and clinical research into brain tumours.

Silas’s parents say that there is still not enough research and funding into the disease despite harrowing statistics which place it as the most dangerous condition for children in the UK.

The Brain Tumour Charity runs an event every year called Bandana Day and produces thousands of the colourful headpieces to spread the word about their work but Silas’s friends and family decided to take the project further.

Silas’s mum Sarah, who lives in Badlesmere with husband Ben and sons Oscar, Rufus and Inigo, said this week: “A friend of mine Fenella Fox Pitt, whose daughter was at school with Silas, decided she wanted to do something which would raise awareness and was moved by what had happened and how brave Silas was.

“It started off with her engaging with farmers, asking them to pose for pictures with the bandanas, and she thought they looked really good and it could be an even bigger idea, engaging people to do something fun which would raise awareness.

“It is not about asking for money. It tells people about Silas’s story, raises awareness about the Brain Tumour Charity and let’s them do something imaginative.

“We never knew it would be this big. It has all been from word of mouth to get all these people involved.”

Sarah added: “Everyone worries about meningitis, but brain cancer kills more children every year, and in this day and age, to have such little treatment available is ludicrous, and even the treatment available is debilitating.

“We are starting to make progress and there are a lot of passionate people involved.

“I hope that we can sit here in 10 years time and say that things have changed but I always think that if people had done this 30 years ago, rather than do nothing, then we would not be in this position today.

“I do not want families to go through what we have so I cannot sit back and do nothing.

“We would like to thank the people who have helped us and the people who have supported the Silas Pullen Fund. “

The Pullens are already looking to their next event, a charity ball at a farm in Newnham on Saturday, May 7, when hundreds of people will be wearing their best showbiz outfit for the Hollywood-themed night.

To find out more about It Is A No Brainer and Silas’s story, visit  www.itisanobrainer.com or find them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

For more information about the Brain Tumour Charity, visit www.thebraintumourcharity.org ..

PHOTO UPDATE : LOVELY IN LACE THAT'S JOAN!

Joan looks lovely in lace in this exclusive shot taken whilst she was in Chile for fashion blog Paula.com...

FILM FLASHBACK : STATE OF SIEGE .. CINEGAI S.P.A ... 1969

This rare lobby still from Italy is for the little seen 1969 Italian drama 'State of Siege' which starred Joan as Roberta also featured Hollywood star Faith Domerque and Antonio Cantofora aks Michael Coby who also appeared with Joan in the 1979 hit film 'The Bitch'... 

TV ALERT : THE GRAHAM NORTON SHOW .. BBC1 APRIL 22 2016 / UTV IRELAND APRIL 24 2016

Joan with Lily James & Richard Madden after the show

Tune into BBC1 tonight at 10:35 to catch Joan on 'The Graham Norton Show' with 'Game of Throne' actor Richard Madden and 'Downton' actress Lily James... Viewers in Ireland can catch the show on Sunday evening at 10:00pm..

EVENT UPDATE : THE QUEEN'S 90TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION .. BBC1 ... APRIL 21ST 2016

Joan with Alyn  Waterman

Joan celebrated Her Majesty The Queen's 90th birthday with style as she was special guest on the BBC's coverage show of the event's in Windsor as part of the celebrations, which was hosted by Kirsty Young..

TV ALERT : THE GRAHAM NORTON SHOW .. FRIDAY 22ND BBC1 10:35PM / UTV IRELAND SUNDAY 24TH 10:00PM

Joan's last appearance on the show with Jackie, Frank Skinner & Michael Buble

Joan will make an appearance at 'The Graham Norton Show' on Friday the 22nd on BBC1 at 10:35pm.. and on UTV Ireland on Sunday 24th at 10:00pm. Also on the show is chef Paul Hollywood and actress Lily James...

PHOTO UPDATE : IT'S THE SEASON FOR DINING!

As her time in New York draws to a close before she returns to London to launch the paperback edition of the bestselling novel 'The St Tropez Lonely Hearts Club'... Joan attended a dinner at The Four Seasons restaurant hosted by friends Eva & Stanley Mohr.. Also in the group were Nikki Haskell, Clive Davis & Jack Rich...

PRESS UPDATE : COSAS INTERNATIONAL .. CHILE .. MONDAY APRIL 18TH 2016

Elegant, enigmatic, glamorous and possessing an overflowing personality and appearance, the Legendary actress was in the country to discover its history and launch Catalogue 80 at The Fashion Museum.

By: Bernadette Cruz

With hugh hats and the latest fashion outfits withJewelry everywhere. When Alexis Carrington came on the scene in the "Dynasty" series, everyone seemed to surrender to her feet. Her presence overshadowed everything, amid grisly betrayals, tangled bed, excesses and murky secrets. Because the series themes were "outrageous" for television at the time, as the character of Collins discovered her own daughter in bed with her ​​third husband, a rich, attractive man and much younger.

A star, who for nearly a decade played to perfection the character of Alexis. Because in real life, Joan Collins is a true star who talks to the press when she wants to and owns a unique look that transcends the years.

Born the daughter of a dance teacher and a representative of artists, she began to shine in the cinema with great actors like Paul Newman and Richard Burton. But undoubtedly she reached her peak with the legendary character Alexis, who is also an absolute symbol of ostentation and at the same time style and glamour.

The role earned Joan a Golden Globe Award, the People's Choice Award and several Emmy nominations. She has also continued to gather recognition with own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and also received the title of Dame and the Officer of the Order of the British Empire from Queen Elizabeth 1.

Such is her reputation as an icon, in addition to having a  major beauty brand, she won a resounding success touring extensively with "An evening with Joan Collins", an autobiographical show.

Today Joan acts on "The Royals" series, broadcast by the channel E!, featuring scandals centered on a fantasy British royal family. There her role also has hints of Alexis, at least as far as elegance is concerned, as she plays the Duchess of Oxford, the mother of the Queen, played by actress Liz Hurley.

An icon

In Chile  she was there for the press conference at the Fashion Museum to launch "Catalogue 80", where she was the star guest, accompanied by Jorge Yarur. ''Catalogue 80'' is the result of more than six years of research on fashion icons of the decade.

Dressed in Ralph Lauren and with a very similar hairstyle to that of Alexis Carrington, arriving in a black Bentley, she walked swiftly but gracefully, into the Fashion Museum, with all the style and glamour of Alexis. 

At the conference, Joan was very friendly with journalists, and agreed to answer each question. Something that surprised everyone, because at first it was said she would only talk about what  was prepared and then leave.

After the press conference and the museum tour, which featured exhibits with various costumes from the world of television including 'Dynasty'..

That evening, there was a grand gala which attracted many VIP guests.. Again attendees, just looking at her, remembered why Joan Collins is glamour personified.

At the launch of the catalog that brought Jaon to the country, she said she does not feel like an icon of the era. But there is no doubt that she is. 

CHARITY ALERT : JOAN MAKES HER MARK FOR CHARITY! ART FOR CURE AUCTION 2016 ..

Joan has created this stunning portrait of herself to raise funds for the care and cure of breast cancer, a cause very close to her heart, with the loss of both her mother Elsa and sister Jackie to the disease. The portrait along with many other celebrity efforts from stars including Dame Judi Dench, Anne Reid, Elizabeth Hurley and Joanna Lumley will go up for auction today and you can bid on Joan's portrait here!
Art For Cure Auction - Dame Joan Collins Bid Here!

The canvases will be also be on show at Art for Cure 2016 at Glemham Hall and there will be an opportunity to bid for each canvas at the event. In addition, you can bid online HERE.

The online auctions opens Monday 18th April and will continue to run for a week after the event at Glemham Hall. The online auctions close from 7pm on Sunday 8th May.

PRESS UPDATE : THE WESTMORLAND GAZETTE .. APRIL 16TH 2016 ..

LETTER: The day I interviewed Dynasty star Joan Collins!

This occurred when she visited the area to help promote a planned film called The Pike, which was intended to be the freshwater answer to 'Jaws'. It was based on a book by that name by Chris Twemlow, of Manchester, who was producing the film and had asked me, as a freelance journalist living in Windermere, if I could help with publicity.

The news of the auctioning of actress Joan Collins' dresses in December brought back to mind the wonderful red suit she wore when I interviewed her on the shores of Windermere on a very sunny day in May 1982.

He said that Joan Collins would be coming up to Windermere to help promote it, and an Ulverston firm (Ulvertech Ltd.) had been commissioned to build a mechanical pike to perform alongside her on the 'launch' day (May 13). I agreed to help, and was promised a personal interview with her for doing so.

On the day the mechanical pike did not perform according to plan, but Joan did, playing her starring role role to perfection.

With great humour, she smiled and shone her way through the whole event, including putting her head in the jaws of the pike, which had been manually forced open for the purpose. The large crowd of onlookers who had gathered were delighted, with many taking some great pictures of her they would treasure forever.

I then got my interview with Joan, who looked radiant in the bright sunshine. I found her a warm and lovely person, and not at all the insensitive character she had portrayed in 'Dynasty'.

She told me she had been let off Dynasty temporarily to shoot 'Nutcracker' in London, which is why she was able to be in the Lakes. She was enchanted by the Lakes, explaining: "I have never been to the Lake District before. But I always wanted to come, as my father used to fish here."

I have always been an admirer of hers since, and followed her career with interest as it has gone from glory to glory - and is still ongoing.

But the career of the mechanical pike was not so enduring. It's teething problems were sorted out but it did not perform again in the lake. However, a full-size glass fibre model was loaned to the Low Wood Water Sports Centre, where it was hung up as a tourist attraction.

I wonder whether that red dress I saw her in was one of those auctioned.

Andrew Wilson

Troutbeck Bridge

COMING SOON! THE ST TROPEZ LONELY HEARTS CLUB .. PB OUT MAY 5TH 2016!

As a prelude to the release of the paperback edition of Joan's exciting current novel on May 5th, here is an exclusive extract.. Order your copy at the following!

Pre-Order THE ST TROPEZ LONELY HEARTS CLUB Waterstones

Pre-Order THE ST TROPEZ LONELY HEARTS CLUB Amazon

Pre-Order THE ST TROPEZ LONELY HEARTS CLUB W.H.Smith

They gathered in the huge open living room in which every surface was covered in glass and gold

bric-a-brac and the soft furnishings were made from the skin of nearly extinct animals.

Harry’s sound system was state of the art and soon the CD of Mina’s amazing voice echoed throughout the marble hall and carried down to the beaches. Her first ballad was a thinly disguised tale of her problems with an abusive husband, who got her hooked on coke. It brought tears to everyone’s eyes, except Sophie, whose eyes were boring jealous holes into Mina’s back.

Several classic standards performed in an innovative modern style were greeted with appreciative applause, and then an upbeat eighties disco-style song brought the normally blasé revellers to their feet; in classic Saint-Tropez style they started dancing and waving their arms in the air.

Maximus fancied himself as a cool mover and shaker, and in spite of his bulk, he shook his massive booty in front of a slightly embarrassed Carlotta.

Fabrizio reluctantly pranced with Lara, who always became a total exhibitionist on the dance floor, waving her disastrously bingo-winged arms above her head in a wild yet catastrophic facsimile of a teenybopper and flashing sun-damaged thighs in her sparkly red mini-dress. The seven vodkas she’d consumed added to her lunatic abandonment.

As the music became more frenzied, so did the dancing, and Mina’s golden voice and her strong backing singers even drowned out the relentless sounds of the cicadas.

Then, almost as one, several of the dancing guests bent over, clutching their stomachs in agony. Some of them ran into the garden to vomit into the azaleas, while the other guests watched in horrified amazement.

‘My God!’ shrieked Sophie.

‘It’s the plague,’ screamed Fabrizio, a total hypochondriac.

Running to the onyx swimming pool, he threw up into it, then tumbled in.

Suddenly over half the guests were in paroxysms of pain; those who weren’t tried to assist each other with the help of the waiters who seemed unaffected.

‘Somebody call an ambulance,’ yelled Harry.

‘We need more than one!’ gasped Maximus, through a paroxysm of pain.

Lying on the ground, face up, Britain’s favourite comic, Charlie Chalk, his white face now matching his last name, lay completely still. His Australian lover Spencer cast himself, weeping, on to the vast expanse of his lover’s inert body. ‘Are you alright, darling?’ he wailed. ‘Please don’t die, love.’ As if to set his mind at rest, Charlie let out a loud burp and opened his eyes weakly. ‘Thank God! I couldn’t live without you!’ Spencer started laughing and hugging Charlie’s huge bulk, which made the comedian break some fierce wind.

Half an hour later, a phalanx of ambulances screeched to a halt as the retching and nausea reached a climax, coinciding with the final wailing soprano notes of Mina’s CD.

At least everyone thought it was the final wailing notes of the CD, until Khris noticed that the music system had stopped and what could be heard was Mina herself, wailing in some undetermined location accompanied by a chorus of cicadas.

They started to search, but the young pop star’s injured moans had stopped. Then a paramedic raised the alarm as he discovered Mina sprawled beside a lavender bush. He started frantically administering CPR as the stunned guests rushed down the incline to watch, then he shook his head gravely. ‘I’m afraid she’s gone.’

The assembled partygoers gasped in horror.

‘Oh, my God!’ shrieked Khris Kane. ‘I’m ruined. What’s going to happen to my tour?

(c) 2015 Joan Collins

PHOTO UPDATE : JOAN STEPS OUT FOR A NIGHT BITE!

Joan back in LA from her whirlwind tour of Peru, Chile and Australia. took time out to catch up with friends at her favourite restaurant Craig's in West Hollywood..

50'S FOCUS : THE WOMAN'S ANGLE 1952,, ABP.

Associated British Pictures Corporation Ltd
Presents
A Leslie Arliss / Bow Bells Production

             The Woman's Angle
                        starring

Cathy O' Donnell  Lois Maxwell  Claude Farell
    Edward Underdown
Peter Reynolds Marjorie Fielding Isabel Dean Anthony Nicholls John Bentley Olaf Pooley
             JOAN COLLINS
                        as
                    Marina

Screenplay by Leslie Arliss Adapted by Diana Morgan Music by Robert Gill & Mabbie Poole
Director of Photography - Erwin Hillier Produced by Walter Mycroft Directed by Leslie Arliss


This 1952 film was Joan's second film appearance and she gets a few minutes more screen time than in the previous year's "Lady Godiva Rides Again". This time she plays the role of Marina, a maid on a small Greek island, where she works at the inn owned by her father. Although she get no lines, she still manages to show a fiery spark and vitality and it makes you want to see more of her. The film

itself is typical fifties British movie making, with a romantic if not racy plot, which may have seemed risque at the time, dealing with divorces and affairs. The setting is a divorce court hearing, with the bulk of the plot, a series of flashbacks, telling the story of Robert Mansel's indiscretions with the three women in his life! One of those ladies is Lois Maxwell, who went on to become the iconic Miss Moneypenny in the legendary James Bond series of films.
The film was shot at Elstree Studios and Joan was paid fifty pounds for her two day stint.

On it's release in the USA in 1954, NY Times critic Bosley Crowther wrote;

" The Woman's Angle, a baffling little exercise on the subject of masculine behaviour. It is also a mildly vexing picture, a grim little sample of bad writing, bad acting and bad directing all around!"

He obviously enjoyed it then! Viewed today it's a passable time waster and it gives us an early glimpse of Joan.

(c) 1952 . ABP LTD. (C) 2010 Mark McMorrow

PHOTO EXTRA : HAT'S OFF TO JOAN.. SHE'S TIMELESS!

Whilst Joan was in Australia for her TVSN appearances, she took time out to do a photo shoot for long runnning magazine 'Australia Women's Weekly' who has alway featured Joan over the years.. Here is a stunning shot of Joan at the shoot, looking sensational as ever, certainly a Timeless Beauty!!

PHOTO FLASHBACK : IT'S FABULOUS FOREVER FOR JOAN AND JENNIFER!

As Joan will make a special appearance in the upcoming 'Absolutely Fabulous The Movie' out in July, here is a photo of Joan with Jennifer at a party for the illfated 'Viva Forever' musical..

PHOTO UPDATE : JOAN IS ALWAYS ON THE PULSE OF FASHION!

This super portrait is from the current issue of 'ODDA' magazine.. Joan looks sensational in a Christian Dior jacket and Prada trousers.

TV CATCHUP : TIMELESS BEAUTY ON TVSN .. SATURDAY ARPIL 9TH 2016

Joan has had a most successful three days on TVSN Australia with Timeless Beauty, where all stock had sold out even before the last two shows aired! To catch up on all the excitement you can view Joan's final two sellout appearances on the following links!!
JOAN TVSN WITH MARNIE MEREDITH SAT APRIL 9TH 
JOAN ON TVSN WITH LEE BRADLEY SAT APRIL 9TH

TV UPDATE : TIMELESS BEAUTY ON TVSN CATCH UP .. FRIDAY 8TH APRIL 2016

Joan takes a break between segments as she completes her 2nd highly successful day on TVSN Network to promote Timeless Beauty.. To catch up on all the action, click the following links!
TIMELESS BEAUTY on TVSN Friday 8th with Moira McLean
TIMELESS BEAUTY TVSN FRIDAY 8TH Marnie Meredith