Free Republic

In Britain, defending your property can get you life. Celebrity news from the United Kingdom: In April, Germaine Greer, the Australian feminist and author of The Female Eunuch, was leaving her house in East Anglia, when a young woman accosted her, forced her back inside, tied her up, smashed her glasses, and then set about demolishing her ornaments with a poker. A couple of weeks before that, the 85-year-old mother of Phil Collins, the well-known rock star, was punched in the ribs, the back, and the head on a West London street, before her companion was robbed. “That’s what you...

Phil Collins, the musician, is an avid collector of Alamo memorabilia. Texas Monthly has written about Collins and his collection. And last week, as I was watching a music documentary on Nelflix about the making of Collins’ classic “Face Value” album (this is what I do at 3:30 a.m. when I can’t sleep), I was struck by how uber-produced the album was, by how painstakingly thorough — even anal — Collins was when creating his first solo project. (I mean, he’s a drummer who uses a drum machine.) But I imagine he brings the same passion and attention to detail...

Sandwiched between two respected Texas historians on a hard church pew, the compact Englishman looks nervous, stroking his stubbled chin as he eyes 60 or so people crowded into the Buffalo Gap Chapel waiting for the sound of that voice they couldn't have escaped hearing over the last 40 years.

PHIL Collins has quit music for good after developing hearing problems, a dislocated vertebra and nerve damage in his hands from his 40-year career playing drums. The Easy Lover hitmaker also thinks people are sick of him and his music. “It’s a good time to stop,” said the star, who has sold more than 150 million records. “I look at the MTV Music Awards and I think: ‘I can’t be in the same business as this’. “I don’t really belong to that world and I don’t think anyone’s going to miss me. I’m much happier just to write myself out...

Having made what he says is a musical swan song with his R&B covers album "Going Back," Phil Collins' next project will be in the book world -- and situated deep in the heart of Texas. Collins tells Billboard.com that he's in the midst of writing a book about his extensive collection of Alamo and Texas Revolution artifacts, stemming from an interest in the topic that started when he saw the Walt Disney film "Davy Crockett" as a child. "It's a huge collection of memorabilia from the Alamo and before and after it, basically the Texas Revolution in general," explains...

Singer Phil Collins said his life now revolves around the Alamo. Collins is in town, set to appear at local events commemorating the anniversary of the siege and battle of the Alamo. Though he's mulling the idea of recording a tribute cover album of 1960s songs, he said he's making the Alamo “my main thing” as a collector, history buff and possible author. “Basically, now I've stopped being Phil Collins the singer. This has become what I do,” he said Monday, standing beside a 13-foot-by-15-foot model of the 1836 Alamo compound that will open to the public this week. Collins,...

Marriage No. 3 was no day in paradise for Phil Collins, whose latest failed one cost him nearly $46.7 million - believed to be a record for a celebrity divorce. Collins, 57, had to pony up the huge sum to Orianne Cevey, 35, to end their six-year union, according to Britain's Daily Mirror. The soft rocker's settlement tops the Paul McCartney deal with Heather Mills, which was estimated to be worth about $45 million.

Rock star and wife mugged by RICHARD SIMPSON and ROSS LYDALL, Evening Standard Phil Collins and his wife have been mugged while Christmas shopping with their young son in the West End. The rock star was making a rare visit to London from his £10million home in Geneva with third wife, Swiss-born Orianne, 30, and two-year-old Nicholas. The muggers snatched Orianne's handbag, which they stripped of cash and other personal belongings before dumping it in a backstreet. Exact details of the attack remain uncertain. The bag and what remained of its contents were found shortly afterwards by Westminster council "city...