'Hugely talented': Fellow comedians have paid tribute to Felix Dexter
Real McCoy star and comedy pioneer Felix Dexter died of cancer last night.
The versatile comic, 52, had been fighting multiple myeloma, which affects the bone marrow.
Tributes flooded in for the St Kitts-born former barrister, whose characters on the 1990s BBC series included Nigerian accountant Nathaniel.
He also starred in The Fast Show and Absolutely Fabulous and was the first black comic to get a regular slot at London's Comedy Store.
Close friend and radio presenter Eddie Nestor said he had kept his sense of humour even in his final hours.
"It's quite weird, you're going to see somebody being diagnosed with a terminal illness and you find yourself laughing, really hard," he told BBC Radio's Up All Night programme.
"It was great to be able to spend some time with him.
"(I was) lying with somebody on their death bed and they're still making jokes."
Nestor said although Dexter was on pain medication, his mind was still sharp and he seemed "really upbeat".
"You try to hold it together when you're in there, but when you come out of that room, it's a different gig," he said.
Loss: David Baddiel said Felix's death would be felt throughout the comedy world
Actor David Morrissey said he had worked with Felix and was sad to hear the news. "Such a funny, talented and generous man," he tweeted.
Fellow comedian Sean Hughes wrote: "So so sad to hear about the truly wonderful Felix Dexter passing away. I hope you can feel the love in the comedy community fella. Rip."
Actor David Schneider remembered Felix's popular character Nathaniel the Accountant on The Real McCoy, which he was perhaps best known for. "Lovely, lovely guy," he posted. "And I think nothing on TV has ever made me laugh more than his Real McCoy Nigerian character."
Dexter was once named Time Out Comedian of The Year. He also performed a season with the Royal Shakespeare Company. More recently, Dexter featured in the BBC series Citizen Khan.
Comic Meera Syal said: "It's such a huge tragedy for a hugely talented man."
Bill Bailey paid tribute to his "old friend" as a "brilliant comedian, a superb comic actor, a lovely man I fell privileged to have known".
David Baddiel tweeted: "Felix Dexter? Doesn't seem possible. Very funny, very gentle, man: his death is a real loss to comedy."
Matt Lucas said: "So sad to hear about Felix Dexter. A brilliant performer and on the few occasions I was lucky enough to meet him, a very nice man."
X Factor favourite Tamera Foster has issued a grovelling apology to show bosses after it emerged she was caught shoplifting.
The singer, 16, was held by security guards for stealing make-up from a branch of Boots a month after her first audition.
An insider confirmed Tamera told producers: “I am so, so sorry.”
The source added: “She is really remorseful for what she has done and has said sorry to everyone on the show for letting them down. She is distraught.”
Tamera was caught thieving along with two other girls at the store in Gravesend, Kent, on July 24.
Kent Police said Boots decided to deal with Tamera through “restorative justice”.
This means a manager would have been give a chance to ask why the theft had occurred, call for an apology and seek amends rather than press charges.
Role model: With judge Nicole Sherzinger REX/Tom Dymond
Sources confirmed Tamera had agreed to pay the cost of the goods stolen.
It comes as an unfortunately-timed video tutorial of how show artists do Tamara’s make-up was released online.
The teenager is 9/4 to win and blew the judges away with a rendition of Chaka Khan’s Ain’t Nobody last week.
Sharon Osbourne gushed: “You are very exotic, your name is exotic and you sing pretty good too.”
However, a chequered background has emerged.
Tamera was exposed for tweeting about smoking marijuana laced with class-A drug PCP by our sister paper the Sunday Mirror.
New leaf: Tamera Foster has "improved" say X Factor sources REX/Tom Dymond/Thames
She said last month: “I’m upset and ashamed. I never meant to encourage or endorse the use of drugs. It’s no excuse, but this was months ago.”
Tamera also accepted a police caution for attacking Holly Wilks, then 15, after smoking marijuana on Boxing Day.
She recently insisted she has changed her ways.
She said: “I’ve done a lot of growing up and I still have time to grow. I don’t want to be judged on my past – it’s what I’m doing now that really matters.”
An X Factor source said last night: “She has really improved since she has been in the X Factor house. We have been truly pleased. She is a really pleasant young lady. We believe she’s turned over a new leaf.”
A Kent Police spokesman confirmed officers attended the theft, adding: “The store agreed to deal with the offences through restorative justice.”
Looking at these pictures there's certainly NO DOUBT that Gwen Stefani is pregnant.
LAMB designer Gwen, 44, who already has sons Kingston, seven, and five-year-old Zuma with her husband, Bush vocalist Gavin Rossdale, made the big reveal on Thursday night as she clutched her impressive bump over her fringed frock for the world to see. The couple have been together for 11 years.
She's really glowing!
Musician Gavin Rossdale (L) and his wife singer Gwen Stefani attend the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts Inaugural Gala presented by Salvatore Ferragamo at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts
Greek authorities requested international help to identify an 'abducted' four-year-old girl found living in a camp with a couple and 13 other children
Greek authorities requested international help to identify a four-year-old girl found living in a camp with a couple and 13 other children.
Police believe up to 10 more of the youngsters may be the victims of an international trafficking ring.
The girl, known only as ‘Maria’, was found on Wednesday near Farsala in central Greece during a nationwide crackdown on illegal activities by Roma, also known as Gypsies.
The case bears similarities to theories about the disappearance of Madeleine who vanished aged three on a family holiday in Portugal on May 3, 2007.
It raises the possibility that Madeleine could still be alive six years after she disappeared.
Speaking to The Mirror, a spokesman for the McCanns said: “This gives Kate and Gerry great hope that Madeleine could be found alive.”
Dad Gerry said this week that statistics showed the younger a child is when abducted, the more likely they are to be found.
He said after Monday’s BBC Crimewatch: “There are cases over the last few years of children who have been found after they’ve been taken for a long time. I think that’s what the public needs to think about tonight.”
Scotland Yard said new evidence adds further weight to claims the three-year-old was snatched in a pre-planned abduction from her holiday apartment.
DNA tests confirmed yesterday that the mystery blue eyed girl is not related to the Greek couple who have been remanded in custody.
A 39-year-old man and 40-year-old woman have been charged with abducting a minor and remanded in custody.
Search: Missing girl
A source said the youngster is believed to have been with the couple for at least two years and speaks only Roma. She is currently being assessed by child psychologists.
He said: “Police are examining a wider network of child traffickers across Europe. This girl couple have been snatched to order or sold by east european criminal gangs. We know these networks exist.”
Police are trying to establish why the girl was living with the couple, who are also accused of falsifying identity and birth certificates.
The mother claimed to have given birth to six children within a total of less than 10 months. She is accused of illegally claiming benefits for the children.
Police say they also found drugs and unregistered firearms in other parts of the settlement, which is about 170 miles north of Athens.
One police officer questioned the couple after spotting that the blonde, pale-skinned and blue-eyed girl stood out from the rest of her family.
She bore no resemblance to the Greek couple and DNA testing confirmed that they weren’t related.
Her features suggest she might be from an eastern or northern European country.
Police have notified Interpol for assistance.
Larissa police chief Vasilis Halatsis said: “We have taken the gypsy parents into custody, and the child is being taken care of in hospital.
“We are getting information from all over Europe which shows that this problem, of children going missing and falling into gypsy hands, is a problem throughout the continent.”
The suspects allegedly offered conflicting accounts - that the girl was found in a blanket, was handed to them by strangers or had a foreign father.
Appeal: Police found the girl in a gypsy camp in Farsala, central Greece
The police statement said the couple claimed to have a total 14 children, and had registered different numbers with authorities in three different parts of Greece.
Officers found three children living with them who appear to be their children - although that hasn’t yet been verified by DNA testing.
The girl is in the care of the charity The Smile Of A Child, which said it has sought the help of European and global groups for lost or abused children in tracking her parents.
Charity director Costas Giannopoulos said the child was undergoing medical examinations.
“We are shocked by how easy it is for people to register children as their own,” he told private Skai TV. “There is much more to investigate, there are other registered children that were not found in the settlement, and I believe police will unravel a thread that doesn’t just have to do with the girl.”
The name of the gypsy parents has not yet been disclosed, but they are due to appear before the public prosecutor on Monday.
Lawyers for the arrested gypsy couple appealed to the media “not to present this couple as monsters, as abusers of children”.
Marietta Palavra said: “There is nothing but love and care between the Roma parents and the 4-year old girl.”
News of the girl’s alleged abduction comes just a few days after the Metropolitan Police revealed results of a major review of the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.
Among many claims made over the years, convicted paedophile Raymond Hewlett allegedly said he saw the Madeleine twice before she vanished and claimed she was stolen to order by a gypsy gang, but denied he was involved.
During a special Crimewatch show earlier this week, detectives issued two e-fits of a man seen carrying Madeleine towards the beach on the night she vanished.
Monique Mosley (pictured), the estranged wife of in-demand music hitmaker, Timbaland (pictured), has reportedly filed for divorce after five years of marriage, according to TMZ.
The couple’s parting-of-the-ways is reportedly not a peaceful one as Mosley is allegedly going for her soon-to-be ex’s coin-filled jugular. TMZ is reporting that Mosley is asking for financial support for their five-year-old child and for the 10-year-old daughter she had with another man prior to her relationship with the music producer.
The reason why Mosley is reportedly asking that Timbaland support her other child is because she claims he has “publicly and privately proclaimed” the youth as his own.
In addition to support for her two children, Mosley is also reportedly seeking alimony, life insurance, vacations, summer camp, private school and legal fees from Timbaland, who has worked with the crème de la crème of the music industry and whose wealth is guesstimated at around $80 million.
In addition, TMZ reports that Mosley’s pockets are hurting, so she is also asking for monies during the divorce proceedings in a lump sum. She is also requesting rehabilitative alimony (which helps a spouse to financially adjust after divorce for a short period of time) and permanent alimony.
Role model: With judge Nicole Sherzinger 
New leaf: Tamera Foster has "improved" say X Factor sources 
Musician Gavin Rossdale (L) and his wife singer Gwen Stefani attend the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts Inaugural Gala presented by Salvatore Ferragamo at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts 
Search: Missing girl 
