PLATELL'S PEOPLE: Throwing milkshakes at a war hero? You've lost the battle

Despite his great age, retired Para hero Don MacNaughton was on duty outside a polling booth, campaigning in the European elections.

Don, 81, wasn't wearing his uniform — the red beret and insignia of the elite airborne infantry regiment of the British Army. Just slacks, a white shirt, his regimental tie and a blue rosette supporting the Brexit Party.

Within minutes he'd been splattered with a strawberry milkshake, thrown by some 'imbecile' — to use his word — who objected to what he was doing, just as his party's leader had been days before. Although in Nigel Farage's case it had been an up-market salted caramel version.

Despite the goo dripping from his shirt, Don refused to abandon his post in Aldershot, Hampshire. He turned down offers from passers-by of a fresh white shirt — and continued to campaign for what he believed in, a United Kingdom free from Brussels.

Don, 81, wasn’t wearing his uniform — the red beret and insignia of the elite airborne infantry regiment of the British Army

Don, 81, wasn't wearing his uniform — the red beret and insignia of the elite airborne infantry regiment of the British Army

The former member of the Red Devils parachute display team wore his battle scars with pride, even if they were just strawberry milkshake rather than the blood of past conflicts.

Don MacNaughton's sole crime was voicing a political opinion. For this he was attacked by a cowardly yob with a 'milkshake missile'.

Whatever you may think of Don's political views — although around a third of the country are predicted to have supported the Brexit Party — this kind of behaviour is nothing short of thuggery. True, it was nothing compared to what he'd faced serving in Northern Ireland. Yet even die-hard Remainers such as comedian Ricky Gervais and Match Of The Day's Gary Lineker were appalled.

Gervais said: 'I voted Remain. I will argue with people who disagree, always respecting their right to do so. I won't throw things. That would mean I'd run out of good arguments.'

Lineker said: 'Throwing milkshakes or whatever else at people is not the answer and is unjustifiable.'

And that surely is the point. Violence and physical abuse are the antithesis of democracy and debate.

During this acrimonious Brexit campaign, many Remainers have vilified Leavers as ignorant, racist fools. In doing so they have emboldened ignorant thugs such as Don's assailant.

Yet the former Para is refusing to press charges saying: 'The silly man has cemented the iron will, I'm going to keep fighting on.'

How fitting that a distinguished, elderly ex-serviceman has claimed the moral high ground from a young moron. Don MacNaughton has published a novel based on his time in the military entitled They Stayed A Soldier. And indeed he has.

 

That's one way to make a splash   

The star of Quentin Tarantino's movie Once Upon A Time In Hollywood performed a perfect dive off the high board in Cannes wearing an asymmetrical white swimming costume.

Glorious indeed, but did anyone tell Margot Robbie that her one-shoulder outfit left her prize assets looking rather, shall we say, asymmetrical? 

The star of Quentin Tarantino’s movie Once Upon A Time In Hollywood performed a perfect dive off the high board in Cannes. Glorious indeed, but did anyone tell Margot Robbie that her one-shoulder outfit left her prize assets looking rather, shall we say, asymmetrical?

The star of Quentin Tarantino's movie Once Upon A Time In Hollywood performed a perfect dive off the high board in Cannes. Glorious indeed, but did anyone tell Margot Robbie that her one-shoulder outfit left her prize assets looking rather, shall we say, asymmetrical?

 

 It's a £7,000 verse - but is mine worse?

Leonard Cohen's Sixties poetic love letter to Marianne Ihlen is to be auctioned for around £7,000.

The Canadian crooner wrote: 'It's hard to write you. The surf is too loud. The beach is too crowded and you're too much in my heart to put anything down.'

I hope I don't have to die before the love poem I wrote to my 16-year-old surfer boyfriend Derek is sold off.

It was six stanzas, not just 26 words long, with the refrain: 'He rides his sea, cares not for me.'

Starting bid — £1. 

 

 A rocket for Elton's mum 

Rapturous receptions for Rocketman, Elton John's authorised biopic, but I can't help wondering if Reginald Dwight might think the film's a bit hard on his mum, who raised him with his nan in a semi in Pinner when dad scarpered. 

In the movie a glamorous, yet emotionally callous, Sheila says to Elton: 'Do you know what a disappointment it is to be your mother?' 

Yet in 1992 Elton said she'd always been supportive of him and never reproached him.

Rapturous receptions for Rocketman, Elton John’s authorised biopic, but I can’t help wondering if Reginald Dwight might think the film’s a bit hard on his mum, who raised him with his nan in a semi in Pinner when dad scarpered

Rapturous receptions for Rocketman, Elton John's authorised biopic, but I can't help wondering if Reginald Dwight might think the film's a bit hard on his mum, who raised him with his nan in a semi in Pinner when dad scarpered

 

The buxom, plus-sized model Jada Sezer is in talks with ITV to join Love Island in their bid to be more inclusive and show people of all shapes and sizes. 

Jolly good, but with her Kim Kardashian-sized bottom, they'll need plus-sized sun loungers too.

 

Who can blame Donald Trump for bringing his wife, children and their spouses to meet the Queen on his state visit? 

When my mum met Her Majesty, she took Dad and me along. 

And, despite being in her late 80s and with two artificial knees, she managed a deep curtsey. 

Even for the world's most powerful man, there's no greater thrill than meeting the Queen. 

 

Mum-of-two Gwyneth Paltrow, 46, who claims her age-defying looks are all down to her natural Goop therapies, announces that her £4,500 London Wellness Weekends will be held in Bloomsbury — ironically, just an avocado stone's throw from her waxwork in Madame Tussauds. 

Mum-of-two Gwyneth Paltrow, 46, who claims her age-defying looks are all down to her natural Goop therapies, announces that her £4,500 London Wellness Weekends will be held in Bloomsbury

Mum-of-two Gwyneth Paltrow, 46, who claims her age-defying looks are all down to her natural Goop therapies, announces that her £4,500 London Wellness Weekends will be held in Bloomsbury

 

We applauded bbc presenter Victoria Derbyshire for her courageous video diaries during her treatment for breast cancer. 

Now her colleague Jane Hill reveals she has returned to work after six months in which she privately battled the same disease.

Jane told no one except her nearest and dearest, including her wife Sara Shepherd. Public or private, each to their own. But I'm delighted she's back — because, for what it's worth, I've missed her.

 

Jamie Overdone 

What did Jamie Oliver, Gordon Ramsay, Marco Pierre White and the late Antonio Carluccio have in common?

All were famous male chefs whose restaurant chains expanded as fast as their egos — and all were hit by closures and financial problems.

Meanwhile, the women — Nigella Lawson, Delia Smith, Prue Leith and the Two Fat Ladies — were all content making their millions by writing books and doing TV shows without feeling the need to conquer the world.

I adore Jamie Oliver, but with his Jamie's Italian chain going into administration, he's learned the hard way that he can't whisk up a restaurant empire as easily as one of his 15-minute meals.

 

 Westminster wars...

Theresa May said she was proud to be the second female PM, but 'certainly wouldn't be the last'. After her leadership, I fear it will be decades before the Tories put power in the hands of a woman, however well manicured they are. 

Favourite quote about Boris from the New Yorker: 'The possibility that Johnson may indeed become PM is one of the many measures of the current reckless unseriousness of British politics.' A bit rich from a country that gave us The Donald.

And wasn't Boris Johnson's first 'official' picture of him with his 30-year-old mistress Carrie Symonds bird watching a bit symbolic? The serial philanderer has done nothing but chase birds for his entire career.

  

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