The former Take That singer - nominated for six Brit awards - made his Los Angeles debut last week at Hollywood club The Lucky Seven.

Before an audience of about 200, he performed songs from his current album I've Been Expecting You, which will be released in the US in May.

Capitol Records president Roy Lott is predicting a long and challenging campaign to make Williams follow in the footsteps of the likes of George Michael.

But Williams, 24, who is enjoying being able to walk around and not be mobbed, is philosophical about his future.

He said: "If I don't get big here, I have a great place to go on holiday.

"And if I do get big, then I I'll have enough money to take a holiday on the moon."

Pop veteran at number 10

Jarvis Cocker: Wrote Walk Like A Panther

Veteran singer Tony Christie is back in the Top 10 for the first time in over 25 years - thanks to Sheffield dance act All Seeing I and Pulp singer Jarvis Cocker.

The 54-year-old appears on the All Seeing I's new single Walk Like A Panther, which is written by Cocker.

His biggest hit was I Did What I Did For Maria, which reached number two in 1971.

The song is referred to in the opening lines of Walk Like A Panther, which entered this week's chart at number ten.

Christie, whose last single reached number 35 in 1976, was often compared to Tom Jones but never achieved the same level of fame.

He now lives in southern Spain and is currently on tour in Germany, where he has remained popular.

Dalton's dream city

Timothy Dalton in his James Bond days

Former James Bond star Timothy Dalton is at Shepperton studios filming the final scenes for a new version of Cleopatra.

Dalton plays Julius Caesar in the production, which will be seen as a four-hour television mini-series.

The production called for the Egyptian city of Alexandria to be reconstructed in Morocco, and 10,000 extras and 7,000 horses were also used.

"I've never worked on a set so big - ever," Dalton told USA Today. "Driving in my chariot from one end of this huge city to the other lingers in my mind. They built the heart and essence of a city which we've never seen. It's tremendously exciting."

Chilean-born Leonor Varela takes the title role in Cleopatra, with Titanic star Billy Zane playing Mark Anthony.

Williams wanted for Ealing remake

Robin Williams: Wanted for Kind Hearts revival

Director Mike Nichols wants Robin Williams to star in a remake of the 1949 British comedy Kind Hearts and Coronets.

Williams would take Sir Alec Guinness' eight roles in the film, playing eight members of a titled family under threat of murder from a rogue relative.

Kind Hearts and Coronets was made at the famous Ealing Studios, which also produced classic comedies such as The Lavender Hill Mob, The Captain's Paradise and Two Way Stretch.

Hoffman photo row ruling expected

Dustin Hoffman and his legal team leave court last week

A judge is expected to rule within a week on actor Dustin Hoffman's claim that a magazine used a digitally-altered picture of him without permission.

The actor issued a $5m lawsuit against Los Angeles Magazine for superimposing his face onto the body of a man wearing a designer gown.

Hoffman said it turned him into an unpaid fashion model.

The magazine insisted it portrayed his character in Tootsie - his 1982 film where he played a man masquerading as a woman - rather than Hoffman himself.

Prince of Egypt banned in Maldives

Hollywood's latest animated musical The Prince of Egypt has been banned by the Maldives on grounds that its portrayal of Moses is offensive to Islam.

The ban follows a ruling by the Moslem country's Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs that prophets and messengers of God cannot be "portrayed in any form".

It stated that the events portrayed in the DreamWorks Studios film about Moses leading the Jews out of Egypt - were contrary to the teachings of the Moslem holy book, the Koran.

ITC reject complaints about Springer show

The US-made TV programme The Jerry Springer Show has been given the all-clear by a UK TV watchdog after members of the public complained.

The Independent Television Commission admitted that items on three editions of the show "attracted a higher than average number of complaints from viewers" but it said that none had breached its programme code.

Viewers objected to subject matter which included the female victim of a sexual assault confronting her male attacker and a woman in a swimsuit covering herself in sauce and allowing men to spoon it off for a dollar.