British explorer and television presenter Levison Wood has revealed he was seriously injured in a dramatic road accident while filming in Venezuela late last year. The incident adds to a growing list of narrow escapes for the intrepid former Parachute Regiment officer.
Levison Wood's Venezuelan Jungle Crash
The 43-year-old adventurer was travelling at night in an SUV with a local driver when the vehicle careered off a narrow jungle road. The accident occurred at the edge of a low bridge, causing the car to flip onto its side and hurtle 150 feet before coming to a stop. Wood sustained a significant injury, smashing and breaking his elbow.
Fortunately, his girlfriend, Brazilian model and yoga instructor Ana Protasio, and their infant daughter Maya were not in the vehicle at the time. The couple, who welcomed their first child in Plymouth, Devon, last summer, had travelled together to South America.
This is not Wood's first brush with mortality on the road. During a 2015 expedition in Nepal's Himalayas, a taxi he was in with his brother plunged 150 feet off a mountain cliff into jungle terrain. Miraculously, all survived with only broken bones. Reflecting on his latest ordeal in Venezuela, Wood stated, 'Thankfully everyone was OK. We managed to get some cars to winch us out of the dry riverbed and carry on.'
Celebrity Style and Business Backlash
In lighter news, tiaras are experiencing a resurgence as an evening accessory, championed by celebrities like Suki Waterhouse and Lily Allen. The pair were recently photographed wearing diamanté tiaras alongside jewellery designer Julia Hobbs, who declared '2026 is the year of the tiara.' Suki Waterhouse, who celebrated her 34th birthday this week and shares a one-year-old daughter with actor Robert Pattinson, noted that motherhood has influenced her style, suggesting she might become 'a better dresser.'
Meanwhile, TV chef Tom Kerridge has launched a fierce critique of the Labour government's economic policies, accusing them of 'killing trade.' The pub owner faces a massive increase in costs from April after Chancellor Rachel Reeves removed relief on business rates. Kerridge detailed that the rateable value for his Michelin-starred pub, The Hand and Flowers in Marlow, Buckinghamshire, will skyrocket from £50,000 to £124,000 annually. A second Marlow pub, The Coach, will see its rates jump from £50,000 to £106,000. He branded the situation 'non-sustainable' and the government's policies 'very, very unhelpful.'
Family Dramas and Formal Name Changes
West End star Carrie Hope Fletcher experienced an inauspicious start to a family holiday in Florida after her 22-month-old daughter, Mabel, disturbed other guests. The actress, 33, reported that security at the Hard Rock Hotel in Orlando pounded on their door and issued a 'first warning' when the jet-lagged toddler cried. Fletcher, sister to McFly's Tom Fletcher, criticised the hotel's approach, quipping it was 'not very 'hard rock' to issue a noise complaint to a toddler.'
In a more formal domestic update, actor David Tennant and his wife, Georgia Moffett, have officially adopted his stage name. The couple, who have been married for almost 14 years, formally changed their surname from McDonald to Tennant on New Year's Day, according to filings for their company Sandyboy Ltd on Companies House. Georgia Moffett has also updated her title to Mrs. The pair, who have five children, met on the set of Doctor Who, where she played the Doctor's daughter and he the Tenth Doctor.
Finally, Oscar-winner Olivia Colman revealed her children are unlikely to follow her into acting, with her eldest son aspiring to be a physicist. The 51-year-old star joked that her sensible offspring remind her of the dynamic from the sitcom Absolutely Fabulous, laughing at her more chaotic tendencies.
