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    I was in EastEnders and a gladiator.. now I’m fighting GB News star on KSI’s Misfits Boxing card but I wanted John Fury

    MARK SMITH has enjoyed quite a remarkable career change.From starring as Rhino on hit UK TV show Gladiator and featuring in EastEnders, he is now entering the boxing ring.
    Mark Smith is starring in Misfits boxing tonightCredit: Rex
    Smith, second left, starred as Rhino on UK TV show GladiatorsCredit: Getty
    Smith has weighed in at his lowest body weight in 37 yearsCredit: Getty
    Smith, 54, is facing off with GB News panellist Adam Brooks on KSI’s Misfits Boxing 011.
    However, he ahead of the fight he has admitted Smith was not his first choice bout.
    Instead, he was targeting a fight with John Fury, the father of heavyweight champion Tyson and ex-Love Island star Tommy.
    But this fight was a non-starter after he was told he was too heavy for him by Misfits’ co-president Mams Taylor.
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    Though that has not dulled his excitement for his influencer boxing debut.
    Speaking on talkSPORT, he said: “I’m extremely excited, this is for Misfits Boxing, KSI is obviously huge here.
    “The youngsters are into this, it’s crazy the following they have. Myself and Mams were speaking, I said, ‘I would love to fight John Fury.’
    “But he said, ‘what? He’s 100 pounds heavier than you!’ He said, ‘how much do you weigh?’
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    “And when I told him how much I weighed, he said, ‘there’s no way we can match you up, he’s 100 pounds heavier than you.’
    “And I said, ‘well is there anyone else?’ So he said, ‘leave it with me and I’ll get back to you’, and long story short, about four weeks ago, he said, ‘can you get down to 173lbs?’
    “That’s 12st 5lbs, and I haven’t been that light since I was 17-years-old, I’m 54 now.
    “But consistency is key, I cleaned up my diet a little bit, dropped a few pounds, increased the sparring and the running and we’re all on schedule.”
    Smith spent four years on Gladiators between 1995 and 1999.
    He has turned in his lowest body weight in 37 years for tonight’s fight.
    Regardless he has a plan to bear Brooks, who stopped Bachir Fakhouri in a charity fight in September.
    He said: “If he comes for a war and comes out swinging straight away, we’re prepared for that.
    “If he comes out to box and is more stand-offish and wants to box throughout the rounds, we’re prepared for that.
    “Have I seen any footage? Not really. He’s undefeated, he had a 30-second knockout in September, there’s not much really to go on.”
    The main card for tonight’s event will get going from 7pm. More

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    How Everton chairman Bill Kenwright rose from Corrie to chairman of hometown club via some of West End’s biggest hits

    IN a long and distinguished career, Bill Kenwright was many things to many people.To theatre-goers he was the impresario behind West End hits Blood Brothers and Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
    Bill Kenwright lived with his long-term partner, actress Jenny SeagroveCredit: Rex
    Bill as Gordon, left, on Corrie in 1969Credit: Rex Features
    Bill directed West End hit Blood Brothers in 1983Credit: Donald Cooper
    To football fans he was chairman of his beloved Everton FC for 19 years — and to soap fans Coronation Street’s Gordon Clegg, who appeared from 1968 to 1969 then popped up again until 2012.
    But to all who knew him, his death on Monday, aged 78, from liver cancer was a bitter blow.
    Bill lived with his long-term partner, actress Jenny Seagrove, 66, and had a daughter, Lucy, from a previous relationship.
    Despite his fame he was an intensely private man and hated being interviewed.
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    He said: “People don’t understand this about me because I shout my productions to the rooftops and love talking about Everton.”
    He added: “I am very private, but can only talk in one way — though I don’t want to come across as a passionate buffoon.”
    Liverpool born and bred, Bill got the acting bug after childhood trips to the city’s cinemas with is gran.
    While he lived most of his adult life in London, he maintained a lifelong attachment to his home city and said “my past was what moulded me”.
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    He added: “I don’t think I had an easy childhood. I was very shy, nervous and timid and we weren’t rich. In Everton player Dave Hickson I found a sort of guide — he taught me how to dare.
    “From my family I had protection and comfort and, in Mum, a spirit that said I could do anything I wanted. I wanted to be Errol Flynn and I loved Alan Ladd in (1953 Western) Shane. I didn’t just want to be an actor, I wanted to be a film star.”
    Already treading the boards at the Liverpool Playhouse at age 12, he left home at 17 to join a London youth theatre and in 1968 made his Corrie debut as teenager Gordon, who lived above the paper shop with his aunt and uncle.
    But Bill shocked producers by leaving after just a year. His time in the soapland spotlight had led to him wanting to work behind the scenes.
    Recalling the late Corrie veteran Pat Phoenix, who played Elsie Tanner, he said: “I remember Pat telling me on day one, ‘You’re a good-looking lad from Liverpool — and you’ve got no idea what will happen to you when you appear on that screen’.
    Everton chairman Bill and owner Farhad Moshir unveil boss Frank Lampard in January 2022Credit: Getty
    Bill as a star guest on pop show Lift Off, 1970Credit: Rex
    “I was shocked. My character was the first teenager written into a soap to attract teenage viewers. It was an extraordinary situation and I really didn’t like it. That’s one of the reasons I left.”
    Bill’s love of the West End drew him to producing and directing and his company, Bill Kenwright Ltd, is the world’s most prolific theatre production company in the world, bringing hundreds of productions to theatres across the planet.
    A close collaborator of West End kings Sir Tim Rice and Lord Lloyd- Webber, Bill directed their hits Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Evita and Jesus Christ Superstar.
    He was nominated for a London Theatre Critics’ Award for his work on West Side Story and a Tony Award for a Broadway run of Blood Brothers.
    He also produced numerous films.
    These included 2009 romcom Cheri, starring Michelle Pfeiffer, 2021 hit Heathers: The Musical, and this year’s comedy thriller The Kill Room, starring Uma Thurman and Samuel L. Jackson, plus Gemma Arterton crime drama The Critic.
    In 2001 he won a CBE for services to film and theatre.
    I was a timid child but I could go on my own to Goodison Park because I felt safe there. When Dave Hickson and that team ran out on to the pitch, I was in heaven with my gods.Bill Kenwright
    But it was perhaps his first love, football, that inspired him most.
    A director at Everton from 1989, he became club chairman in 2004 and remained so until his death.
    The club shone a light into his lonely childhood.
    He said: “I was more timid than shy but I could go on my own to Goodison as a kid because I felt safe there.
    “When Dave Hickson and that team ran out on to the pitch I was in heaven with my gods. It gave me a feeling of absolute safety.”
    He married Anouska Hempel, the actress turned society hotelier and interior designer, in 1978, only to divorce after less than a year.
    There followed a long relationship with actress Virginia Stride, now 87, which produced daughter Lucy, now 45 and a successful TV producer with two children.
    But his true love and partner for his last three decades was actress Jenny Seagrove who he met at the Liverpool Playhouse in 1993 when she was starring in Noel Coward play Present Laughter.
    She said in 2017: “Bill’s a force of nature, larger than life.
    “It’s a privilege to live with him. He’s got the biggest heart of anybody I’ve ever met. He’s made me a better person.”
    She added: “I’ve made him feel safe, given him the confidence to dive off that high board.”
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    A self-confessed workaholic, Bill was worth an estimated £33million — but lived for passion, rather than money and its trappings.
    He said: “I never see myself retiring, not at all.”
    Bill married and divorced Anouska Hempel – an actress turned society hotelierCredit: Rex
    Bill said: ‘I was a timid child but I could go on my own to Goodison Park because I felt safe there’Credit: Handout More

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    Bill Kenwright dead at 78: Everton FC chairman and Corrie star passes away after liver cancer battle

    EVERTON chairman Bill Kenwright has died aged 78 – months after having surgery to remove a cancerous tumour.The ex-Corrie star went under the knife in August this year when the growth was found in his liver.
    Bill Kenwright has tragically passed awayCredit: 2019 Simon Stacpoole/Offside
    Kenwright was forced to stay in intensive care for longer due to complications in the procedure.
    But he was told he was allowed to continue his treatment at home and was released from hospital earlier this month.
    Tragically his death was announced by Everton this evening.
    The club said: “Everton Football Club is in mourning following the death of Chairman Bill Kenwright CBE, who passed away peacefully last night aged 78, surrounded by his family and loved ones.
    “Everton’s longest serving chairman for more than a century, Bill Kenwright led the Club through a period of unprecedented change in English football.
    “A lifelong Evertonian, he became a board member on October 23, 1989, and then on Boxing Day 1999 his True Blue Holdings consortium acquired the Club. Initially vice-chairman, he succeeded his close friend Sir Philip Carter as Chair in 2004.
    “In his 19 seasons as Chairman, the Club secured 12 top eight finishes, including a top four finish in 2005, a run to the 2009 FA Cup final and European qualification on 6 separate occasions.
    “The club has lost a chairman, a leader, a friend, and an inspiration. The thoughts and prayers of everyone at Everton are with his partner Jenny Seagrove, his daughter Lucy Kenwright, grandchildren and everybody who knew and loved him.”
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    Everton previously told how Kenwright had been carrying out his club duties still even while recuperating from his op.
    He has been chairman of the Toffees since 2004 after first joining the board in 1989.
    Kenwright was also one of the UK’s most successful theatre producers.
    His most famous productions include in West End hit Blood Brothers and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
    Kenwright was also a judge on the 2007 BBC series Any Dream Will Do.
    The former actor, who had a role in Coronation Street in 1968, was married to theatre star Jenny Seagrove.
    He was previously married to actress Anouska Hempel from 1978 to 1980 and then went on to date Virginia Stride, who he shares a daughter and two grandchildren with.
    The ex actor played Gordon Clegg in CorrieCredit: ITV
    Kenwright became chairman of Everton in 2004Credit: 2019 Getty Images
    The chairman with his wife Jenny SeagroveCredit: Rex
    He is also a successful theatre producerCredit: 2021 David M. Benett More