Stage school trailblazer Sylvia Young left an estate worth £2.3 million for her family when she died aged 85 last year.

The influential teacher played a key role in shaping the careers of some of Britain’s biggest entertainment names, including Amy Winehouse, Rita Ora and Billie Piper.

Young signed her final will in April 2025, fewer than four months before her death. Her granddaughter, pop star Eliza Doolittle, was named as one of the executors.

Probate documents released more than a year after her death show that her husband, Norman, was made the primary beneficiary of her estate.

He inherited her personal belongings outright, while the remainder of the fortune was transferred into a trust designed to provide him with an income for the rest of his life.

Her daughters, Alison and Tony Award-winning actress Frances Ruffelle, are eligible to benefit from the trust, along with Young’s grandchildren and several charities.

Her business assets were dealt with separately and placed in a second trust benefiting the same relatives and charitable causes.

Young established the school that carried her name in 1972, initially offering part-time classes in London’s East End. It later moved into a converted church in Westminster as the school expanded.

The £14,000-a-year stage school has since counted Dua Lipa, presenter Denise Van Outen, McFly star Tom Fletcher, and actors Lashana Lynch and Nicholas Hoult among its former pupils.

Young was appointed an OBE in 2005 for her contribution to the arts and later received a special honour at the Olivier Awards.

Theatre producer Sir Cameron Mackintosh described her as a long-standing “force of nature” and a legend of British show business.

He also praised her lasting impact on the character, work ethic and discipline of generations of young performers.

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The estate was initially valued at £2,367,107. After debts and associated expenses were deducted, the final figure stood at £2,333,638.

Frances Ruffelle, who originated the role of Eponine in the West End production of Les Misérables, paid an emotional tribute to her mother on social media following her death.

She remembered Young as a visionary who gave aspiring performers from all walks of life the opportunity to develop their skills to the highest possible standard.

Ruffelle said her mother had an exceptional eye for raw talent and encouraged every student, helping enrich the modern theatre world while also receiving an Olivier Award herself.

She added that Young believed determination, hard work and a little good fortune were the ingredients for success—and that her own life reflected those principles.

Above all, Ruffelle said, her mother would be remembered as an East End girl who worked tirelessly to achieve her ambitions, embraced life and lived it to the fullest.

‘Her family were everything to her, her wonderful husband, Norman, our dad and her grandchildren, Eliza, Nat, Phoenix and Coral and her great grandson, Felix.

‘We share her love with her wide and inclusive family, her friends, her students, you all meant the world to her.’

Radio legend Tony Blackburn wrote: ‘So sorry to hear Sylvia Young has passed away. She founded the Sylvia Young Theatre School which has been responsible for starting so many careers in TV and Theatre. 

‘She was a very lovely lady who I have had the privilege of knowing for many years. She will be sadly missed. R.I.P Sylvia.’

Actor Sadie Frost wrote: ‘What a woman, what a family, what a legacy!

‘Sending everyone so much love and support – I am here if you need me.

‘She was always so lovely to me and will cherish memories forever.’

They say the best revenge is to live well.

I’d argue that having a column—and a long-standing score to settle—comes a close second. Especially when that score involves a familiar television personality who, in my experience, treated me terribly yet continues to enjoy a spotless public reputation.

You may be thinking: ‘Here’s Amanda taking another swipe at a celebrity. How can she accuse anyone else of being unkind?’

It’s true that I write about people, and my opinions are not always flattering. I know I’ve offended some people over the years, and I’ll probably offend more. That is one of the risks of being paid to express an opinion.

But having a strong view is not permission to twist the knife. There is a significant difference between mocking the foolish behaviour of powerful people and deliberately making another person feel insignificant.

That brings me to Sally Bowrey, the seemingly immaculate Weekend Sunrise news presenter, whose treatment of me remains lodged in my memory all these years later.

You might be wondering why I’ve chosen to revisit it now.

As I write, The Australian’s Steve Jackson reports that former Today show presenter Sarah Abo—who is widely regarded as genuinely lovely—is being pursued by Seven’s Melbourne news bulletin. The report prompted me to put my thoughts on paper before she joins a network where my own experience was considerably less pleasant than its public image might suggest.

It has taken me nearly ten years to write this. I have settled scores before, including with Abbie Chatfield, and there are others who may eventually have their turn. Sam Armytage is one of them. Sadly, my editors and the Mail’s lawyers would collectively panic if I printed what I think.

But back to Bowrey. Before my encounter with her, I had crossed paths with another Sally: Sally Obermeder, who may be remembered as one of the hosts of The Daily Edition. Bowrey would occasionally step in for her.

Before I became Samantha X, I sometimes worked as a freelance producer on Seven’s flagship current affairs program, Today Tonight. Obermeder was preparing to take maternity leave, and I was brought in as a potential replacement. It was an enormous opportunity, entirely new to me, and I was thrilled. It felt like a dream job.

Not long after I arrived, however, I began to feel that Obermeder did not like me. While writing this column, I was reminded of that feeling when I discovered she had blocked me on Instagram, perhaps years ago. Bowrey has also blocked me.

During my short stint at Today Tonight, I increasingly felt unwelcome and watched my confidence disappear. Eventually, I broke down in tears while explaining my feelings to a female manager. The role I had been so excited about ultimately went nowhere. No one likes a squeaky wheel.

That is not to say everyone at Seven was difficult. Chris Bath, Nat Barr, the chief of staff and several other producers were warm, genuine and refreshingly authentic.

And I am hardly fragile. I have worked in some of London’s toughest newsrooms, dealt with shouting editors and ruthless journalists, and encountered more than my share of challenging personalities. Piers Morgan was one of my earliest bosses.

Yet at Seven, for the first time in my career, I began questioning my own value. Even now, I sometimes wonder whether I said or did something wrong.

Obermeder and the others may remember those events differently, and I’m sure she has her own reasons for blocking me. I can only describe how the experience felt from where I stood.

Fast forward a year or so and a lot had changed. I farewelled 9-to-5 journalism and became Samantha X. Around the same time, Seven launched a new daytime show, The Daily Edition, with Obermeder as one of its presenters.

And boy, did I have a great story: glossy magazine writer becomes high-class escort. Instead of putting the news together, I became a walking headline.

Seven’s Sunday Night ran the exclusive on me and promoted my memoir, Hooked.

I became media fodder. For months, producers from The Daily Edition emailed asking me to come on as a guest. My answer was always the same: no.

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And I was honest about why. After my tough time at Today Tonight, I didn’t want to be face to face with Obermeder on live television.

Until one day another invitation landed in my inbox. Obermeder was going on holiday. Would I reconsider if someone else interviewed me?

That someone was Sally Bowrey.

I’d never heard of her. I agreed. I had an escort agency and another book to promote, and it seemed a safe bet.

How wrong I was.

I’d agreed to an interview with one Sally to avoid the potential awkwardness of being interviewed by the other – but what I hadn’t anticipated was walking straight into what felt, to me, like an ambush.

Years later, I don’t remember much about those five or so minutes on live television with Bowrey, but I do remember how they made me feel: humiliated, embarrassed, upset, tearful and angry at myself for agreeing to it.

I’d done plenty of live interviews, both as Samantha and Amanda. During my time at Seven, I was a beauty expert on The Morning Show, sharing the studio with the lovely Larry Emdur and Kylie Gillies many times. They were, and still are, consummate professionals.

But with Bowrey, it felt like a completely different story. I’d quit my desk job to become an escort. I accepted that not everyone would approve of my life choices. But it felt as though I was being questioned by police on suspicion of murder.

I remember the hot studio lights, stumbling over my words as I tried to answer what felt like sneering, aggressive questions that came at me faster than I could gather my thoughts.

‘Couldn’t you just ask for flexi hours?’ Bowrey said after I explained that one of the reasons I became Samantha was to achieve a better work-life balance. The question seemed to assume that every workplace simply grants such requests on demand.

Before I could recover, the interview was over and I was left untangling my microphone, fighting back tears before fleeing the studio.

Friends who watched called to see if I was OK. ‘That was pretty brutal,’ one said.

I wasn’t expecting a fireside chat. I was a journalist and knew how it worked. Bowrey wasn’t there to stroke my ego. But this was daytime TV, not 60 Minutes. I was an author and escort, not El Chapo.

There is a difference between asking tough questions and leaving someone feeling the way I did that day.

While the past is the past, I’ve never forgotten how I felt being interviewed by Bowrey and my ill-fated stint at Today Tonight.

Since then, Obermeder has traded television for lifestyle influencing. I noted with interest two recent, unflattering stories about her appeared in the Telegraph – a paper that once breathlessly reported her attending the opening of an envelope.

Bowrey is still at Seven. Woman’s Day referred to her this week as ‘the beloved Weekend Sunrise star’.

I don’t know whether Sarah Abo is bound for Seven or weighing up other career paths after being axed from Today while on maternity leave. But my gut tells me she’s far too nice for that place.

In the world of daytime television, it’s not always the ratings or the bosses you need to watch. Sometimes it’s the hosts sitting right beside you.

Channel Seven was contacted for comment. 

The early-morning raid by Department of Homeland Security agents at Representative Ilhan Omar’s Washington home on Monday may have stunned some observers, but it was hardly unexpected.

As the journalist who reported extensively on the Minnesota Democrat’s complicated personal life, I had anticipated such a development since Donald Trump returned to the White House.

The timing, however, is striking. Federal action against Omar came only three weeks before the November 3 election, appearing to violate the Justice Department’s long-standing practice of avoiding major moves involving political candidates during the 60 days before an election.

Yet after the Trump administration’s repeated challenges to established political and legal norms, it was perhaps unrealistic to expect this unwritten rule to remain untouched.

The central issue now is whether investigators have sufficient evidence to establish a claim repeatedly made to me and the Daily Mail: that Ahmed Elmi, whom the five-term Democrat married in February 2009, is actually her brother.

If federal officials believe they can substantiate that allegation, the administration could seek action against Omar over alleged violations of U.S. immigration law.

My reporting on Omar’s relationships began in the summer of 2019, after I received a tip that she had been seen at an Italian restaurant in the secluded Los Angeles neighborhood of Playa Del Rey with a man who appeared to be more than a friend. Omar was married at the time.

The man was later identified as Tim Mynett, a political consultant who worked with Omar. He was also married and had a teenage son.

The reporting soon generated additional tips about Omar’s personal relationships, particularly her February 2009 marriage to Elmi.

In 2020, Abdihakim Osman Nur, a Minneapolis community leader, told me that Omar and her then-husband, Ahmed Hirsi—known as Southside—had introduced Elmi to him as Omar’s brother.

“He was very feminine in the way he dressed—he would wear light lipstick, pink clothing and very, very short shorts in the summer,” Nur said.

“People started whispering about him.”

We also located the marriage application Omar and Elmi filed at a Hennepin County office in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. Omar was 26 at the time, while Elmi was 23.

The couple listed a Columbia Heights address on the application, but their wedding took place roughly 25 miles away in Eden Prairie, inside an unremarkable one-story brick building that contained both county offices and a library.

Although both were Muslim, the ceremony was performed by Wilecia Harris, a Christian minister. One Somali community leader in Minnesota suggested that an imam might have questioned whether the pair were related. “If they had gone to an imam, he would almost certainly have known if they were related,” the leader said.

Harris declined to explain why Omar and Elmi chose her to conduct the ceremony. Elmi is now 41, while Omar is 44.

Harris’s husband, Marcus Harris, said: “My wife doesn’t want to be involved or interviewed about Congresswoman Omar. It’s not going to happen, not now and not ever.”

Nur also claimed the reason that the couple asked a Christian minister to officiate was because the imam at their local mosque in Minneapolis would have known they were siblings and refused to marry them.

‘She said she needed to get papers for her brother to go to school,’ Nur told me. ‘We all thought she was just getting papers together to allow him to stay in this country.

‘Once she had the papers they could apply for student loans.

‘They both moved to North Dakota to go to school but she was still married to Southside. In the Somali way, the only marriage that mattered was the one in the mosque,’ he said.

Omar has had a complicated marital life. 

She wed Hirsi – the father of her daughters Isra and Ilwad, and son Adnan – in 2002, in a religious ceremony that was not recognized by law. Then, after supposedly splitting from him, she married Elmi, who had been living in Britain, in 2009.

According to my sources, that marriage was purely to allow Elmi to attend North Dakota State University – Omar’s own alma mater – and no one has ever suggested the marriage to her alleged brother was consummated.

Instead, Omar continued to see Hirsi, having their third child, Ilwad, in 2012. She finally divorced Elmi in 2017, allowing her to marry Hirsi in a civil ceremony the following year, just before she was first elected to Congress.

But this time the marriage didn’t work out and she left him for good in 2019 – just five months before she married Mynett, who converted to Islam after they wed. 

The marriage effectively ended when Hirsi paid a visit to his wife’s Washington, DC apartment and found her and Mynett lounging around in pajamas – a strict no-no for Muslim women, who aren’t allowed to be alone with men who aren’t their husband or a close relative.

Hirsi had long suspected Omar was having an affair, and here was the proof. He went on to marry again just 37 days after their divorce went through.

Omar could have cleared up the whole story of her marriage to Elmi. But in her 2020 autobiography, This is What America Looks Like, she barely mentioned the incident at all.

She went into great detail about her family’s flight from war-torn Somalia to a refugee camp in Kenya, her move to the United States, and her rise through local Minnesota politics that led to to her 2018 election to the House of Representatives.

She even wrote about miscarrying twins during her marriage to Hirsi.

But when it came to her second marriage, details were scant, with Omar claiming instead that she had a ‘Britney Spears-style meltdown’ at the time.

‘I not only eloped with a man – whom I spent so little time with that I wouldn’t even make him a footnote in my story if it weren’t for the fact that this event turned into the main headline later on – but I shaved my head,’ she wrote. 

‘Yes, like the beleaguered pop star, who shaved her head in 2007, I took clippers to my own head.

‘Too many headaches, too little sleep – I had to flee myself, my relationships, my hair,’ she continued. 

‘The difference between Britney and me is that I wore a hijab, so nobody knew what I had done – except my children who were very surprised. ‘Mommy looks like me,’ Adnan [her son] declared. And he was right, I did look like a little boy.’

She wrote that, like Spears – who eloped with childhood friend Jason Alexander in 2004 only to have the marriage annulled after two days – ‘my impulsive second marriage ended in divorce’.

In the book, Omar only returned to the marriage when she discussed her election to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 2016.

She said an anonymous post on a Somali website ‘established two simple facts, which were true, but that unleashed a torrent of speculation and conspiracies that follow me to this day.

‘They were that I had applied for a marriage license in 2002 and then again, in 2009, when I eloped.

‘These facts – which are true – were couched in speculation that I had married a relative illegally, to get him entry into the United States – which isn’t true.’

Omar says she has never been able to find out who posted the allegation. 

‘The blog post appeared on Somali Spot, an online Somali discussion forum,’ she wrote.

‘If someone had accurate information or true concerns that I had committed an immigration crime, they would have gone to the Star Tribune with it,’ she said, referring to the Minneapolis newspaper.

But time may now have run out for Omar and her attempts to bury the truth about her mysterious second husband, who is now said to be back living in London.

The Department of Homeland Security is reportedly focusing on immigration papers her late father completed on her behalf when she was a minor. 

Omar, who came to the US with her father in 1995, when she was 12 years old, became an American citizen at the age of 17. 

The raid on her home is a major escalation of an inquiry that DHS border czar Tom Homan first revealed in mid-September.

Pressed on whether Omar was under investigation, Homan refused to discuss specifics but warned: ‘No one’s above the law.’ He also declined to rule out stripping her of her American citizenship.

Days earlier, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said the probe reached beyond the Congresswoman’s disputed second marriage and warned that removal actions could follow if wrongdoing is proven. 

The Daily Mail has contacted Omar’s office for comment on Monday’s raid. 

The 1980s fantasy adventure The NeverEnding Story became a beloved childhood classic, enchanting audiences around the world.

The film follows Bastian Balthazar Bux, a lonely schoolboy grieving a personal loss and facing bullies at school. Played by Barret Oliver, Bastian steals a strange book and is soon pulled into the fantastical world of Fantastica, also known as Fantasia.

There, the magical kingdom is slowly being consumed by a mysterious and destructive force called the Nothing.

Adapted from Michael Ende’s novel, The NeverEnding Story was directed and co-written by Wolfgang Petersen.

Released in 1984, the movie quickly became a lasting part of pop culture. Film critic Roger Ebert praised its imaginative power, calling it evidence that “storytelling is a neverending act of the imagination.”

Ende, however, strongly disagreed with the finished production, describing it as a “revolting movie… a gigantic melodrama of kitsch, commerce, plush and plastic.”

The author asked for his name to be removed from the credits and accused the filmmakers of being motivated primarily by money.

Despite that criticism, the story continued on screen with sequels released in 1990 and 1994. Neither matched the cultural impact or commercial success of the original film.

A documentary titled Life After Atreyu also entered production in 2020, exploring the legacy of the much-loved fantasy movie.

More than four decades after the original adventure premiered, the young cast members have taken very different paths. Here is a look at where the children from The NeverEnding Story are now.

Barret Oliver who plays Bastian

Barret Oliver competed against around 200 young actors before landing the defining role of Bastian in The NeverEnding Story.

He was initially turned down because producers felt he was too immature for the part. Six months later, however, he was invited back after the casting team failed to find another suitable performer.

Oliver continued acting throughout his childhood. Following his appearance as Bastian, he featured in Tim Burton’s little-seen film Frankenweenie, before taking roles in Ron Howard’s Cocoon and the science-fiction drama D.A.R.Y.L.

He eventually chose to leave Hollywood behind, largely staying out of the public eye and rarely taking part in interviews or cast reunions.

Away from acting, Oliver built a respected career as a photographer and historian, focusing particularly on 19th-century photographic techniques and processes.

Now aged 53, he has long dreadlocks and a full, bushy beard. Oliver has also become a published author on photography and, as of April 2008, was teaching the subject in Los Angeles.

Barret also wrote a renowned book on photography called A History Of The Woodburytype.

While uncredited, he worked as a stills photographer for Cold Mountain and in 2012, he starred in a 2012 short film about his craft, called In the Usual Manner.

Noah Hathaway as Atreyu 

Noah Hathaway is best known for his portrayal of brave warrior Atreyu whose job was to save The Childlike Empress.

Without giving away too many spoilers, those who have seen the movie will remember him for the heartbreaking swamp scene with his horse, that brought viewers to tears. 

Noah continued to act for a time since the movie’s release and starred in Battlestar Galactica. 

He had some minor television appearances on programmes such as Simon & Simon and Family Ties before landing the main role in the 1986 movie Troll, before largely stepping away from the TV and movie industry for a time. 

Noah said he quit because he just wanted to ‘be a regular human being’ for a while. 

He later returned to screens to appear in independent films, starring in 2012 movie Sushi Girl, and has since written his own screenplays.

He became a tattoo artist and also got into motorbike racing and has picked up black belts in Tang Soo Do and Shotokan Karate, too

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Now aged 54, Noah is set to lend his voice to Mondo Holocausto!, a movie being written and directed by Anthony Sant’Anselmo and has also voiced some characters on South Park. 

But he never forgot the movie that made him something of an icon and regularly appears at fan conventions in celebration of the iconic movie. 

He now looks worlds apart from the young star of the show, sporting an edgy sense of style, multiple tattoos and a mohawk. 

Noah told Remind in 2024 that he can’t believe how long it’s been since the movie’s release date. 

He said: ‘I don’t even look 40, so I’m told — fake knock on wood — but I definitely don’t act it or feel it for the most part. My body does though.

‘So, some days I gotta go, “Hello?” It’s almost like the reality of the world. Like, I kind of pinch myself. It’s kinda like the same thing. It doesn’t feel like it’s been 40 years, but it has in some ways.’

And talking about how the movie has stood the test of time, he said: ‘I think it went through a little period where people were super into the CGI, but it still kept a hell of a fan base.

‘It’s got a hell of a cult following. And when those kids [in Stranger Things] did that song, it kind of had this reemergence and another generation found out about it. 

‘They don’t make movies like that anymore.’

Tami Stronach as The Childlike Empress 

She was just 10 years old when she got the role of the Childlike Empress and she has called it a ‘fluke’ that she was chosen for the role.  

The daughter of two archeologists, Tami was just a child in musical theatre in San Francisco when a casting director scouted her and she landed in The NeverEnding Story.

She spent her summer in Bavaria, for the three-month shoot, living in a hotel with Noah and Barret. 

She has said they swam in the pool together, raced up and down in the elevators and banged on each other’s doors, likening it to summer camp. 

She told Yahoo Entertainment: ‘I don’t think you could do what we did back then with child labor laws and everything. We were on set 10 hours a day. 

‘We were there all day. I mean, I loved it. I would wander through the different rooms and talk to the makeup artists. The stuntman and I became friends. 

‘I hung out a lot with the artistic behind-the-scenes crew and they would take me to the English beer gardens. I couldn’t drink beer because I was 10, but they taught me tricks.’

Tami took something of a break from acting after the movie was released, upon her parents’ wishes, taking on only a small role in Czech television film, Feedy a Zlatovlaska.

She told Vice in a 2021 interview that her parents, wary of the pressures of being a child star, impressed on her the importance of focusing on her education. 

Tami went on to become a professional dancer and choreographer and co-founded a dance company in New York. 

She said: ‘I made a decision that I would throw myself into dance and that if I really missed acting, I would return to it as an adult when I was in charge of my life and I wasn’t upsetting my parents, who both had really active full careers and couldn’t just give over all their time to pursue being my manager.

‘So that’s what I did and I ended up dancing for 20 years professionally in New York.’

Most recently, Tami, who is now aged 54, has returned to acting, preferring to take on fantasy-themed roles and appearing on stage in New York. 

She has helped to develop the Paper Canoe Company, which performs plays across the country, and she also performs as a musician too.  

In 2024, she returned to the big screen for yet another fantasy film, Man and Witch: The Dance of a Thousand Steps. 

Tami plays the Witch in a cast including Christopher Lloyd, Sean Astin, Michael Emerson and her husband, Greg Steinbruner, who wrote the screenplay and plays the Goatherd.

She told Yahoo Entertainment: ‘It’s completely insane to go back to film in your 50s as a woman. 

‘It’s like everything in our society is telling you that it’s the wrong move — but that’s the move I’m making,’ she laughed.