Liverpool Echo from Liverpool, Merseyside, England • 15

the Holly folks! it though. because I slowly Liverpool Echo, Saturday, October 7, 1995 15 slot' Rabbi's revelation By DIANA PULSON IF YOU are a regular listener to the early morning Today programme on Radio 4, you will be used to Rabbi Lionel Blue in the 'God Slot'. He's as regular a fixture as John Humphrys, Sue McGregor and James Naughtie. For me his approach always seems schmaltzy and when he throws in yet another mention of his depression I'd switch off if only I wasn't waiting for the weather forecast. I am, however, now looking at Lionel in a new light: He recently made the decision to come out of the closet and admit that he is homosexual and that cannot have been easy.

"It was the Aids explosion which made me do it," he says. "The whole homosexual community was going through such trauma I felt I could no longer keep quiet. "I knew I Ws gay when I was a boy, but I thought I was the only one in the world. Eventually, both my father and my mother knew. "My father never mentioned it and my mother, after initially being startled, accepted it though she was afraid because, at the time, homosexuality was illegal." Lionel, 65, says there have been three serious relationships in his life, but that the one he is in now, and which has lasted 15 years, is forever.

Partner His partner has a house in Wirral which was where we met, ostensibly to talk about a new book of day-to-day readings. In 1939, East-Ender Lionel was at first evacuated, then returned to London to be with his parents because they feared an invasion. He feels this unsettled his whole life. He read history at Oxford, getting a lower second degree and a note from his tutor saying he should have got a first. It was at Oxford, that he says his depression really manifested itself: "I did not want to get of bed.

In short I was afraid of life and withdrew." By chance a psycho-analyst at a party recognised that Lionel was in trouble. As a result, he was in analysis for two years. After flirting with the idea of being an actor and then a monk, he finally decided to become a Rabbi although now he spends a lot of time writing, and is an authority on Jewish jokes. When he was a boy, he says, he longed to be anything other than Jewish. When he realised he was gay as well, he wondered what else life could throw at him Gradually, however, Lionel came to be proud of himself.

Lionel says he and Jonathan Magonet decided to put together their volume of readings because they feel it is through the little things in life that men and women gain a deeper understanding of humanity and of God. Llonel's own favourite passage? "The party's not over till the fat lady sings. I don't know where it comes from or what it means, but in a depression it popped into my mind and gave me a lift." Kindred Spirits by Lionel Blue and Jonathan Magonet is published by Harper Collins: £15.99. New beauty: The look of 77pe sex symbol of Holly- Holly- oaks, 4 luck and lust actress Shebah Roney 1 1 7 LONDONER Shebah Ronay (left) plays Natasha Andersen, the girl the boys love to lust after. 1 i 4 i Following A-levels, Shebah took a course at ii Wimbledon School of Art after which she appeared in the film Renoir and the BBC's House Of Elliot.

"I don't think anyone of us was prepared for it all," says Shebah. "I 4 am so excited about seeing the first episode and the reaction to. "It's been so much fun have all worked very full days. "And Chester is so pretty and full of tourists. It was unusual seeing people clicking away taking pictures as we were trying to do our dialogue but I suppose we will all get used to that! Her character Natasha, 17, is relaxed and self-confident, but her i 11' beautiful looks can sometimes work against her.

Confident Natasha is at sixth form college il 1 41 0ko working for A-levels and she plans to go on to managem ty nt. universi to study hotel and leisure So is Shebah at all like her alter ego? though But "I I a I'mm don't confident think sure I'm likemy as Natasha dramatic family and come from a very supportive family i friends would not agree!" 'l Shebah says she celebrated her a- 3 good news with a sigh of relief when she landed the role after endless i a auditions. i "I bought a bottle of champagne l. following a holiday. Since then it's been Liverpool and Chester 4,1, 4 non-stop!" 1 Yasmin )10.

le bon! ACTRESS Yasmin Bannerman (above right) lays 18-year-old Maddie )6 Parker. 411 Born in Bromley but 1 brought up in Gloucester, babe not a bimbo' Yasmin has appeared in the Hollyoaks' Yasmin Bannerman BBC's Crown Prosecutor and in a project for the National come into the Adds Yasmin: "I've never Film School. Is she like her on screen been in anything this big "I didn't take it all in at character? before, but then, we're all in first," she says of Hollyoaks. the same boat." "No, not really. Maddie is "But one positive aspect Yasmin's character Maddie all the and she sa utsy about Mersey TV is that you ghas taken a year off from her things that I wish I'd said at A-levels.

feel comfortable. You only times and then always regret Her mum owns the Interior have to ask and the crew say never having said them. 'don't worry'. Design Shop and Maddie 2r "She's very independent: "Without that support it herself is a dedicated follower she's shrewd and she has her k. would have been even more of fashion.

0.. daunting. own agenda. "Maddie is most definitely a "I think I'm going to have "I think Meddle would babe and not a bimbo!" 4 1 an easier ride than the others, make a great business says a Hollyoaks press '3. mirth hPCallSe I slowly woman in her 30s!" person.

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