Still, the singer’s visit could be as controversial as that of Mike Tyson, the boxer, who was given a visa to enter Britain in May 2000 after he had served a prison sentence for rape.Yesterday Mr Jackson’s friends in Britain spoke out to defend him. But his decision to visit Britain before the court case is likely to provoke opposition from children’s charities.Mr Jackson, who has three children of his own, has denied the charges and his lawyer has claimed that the accusations are driven by “greed and revenge”. Mr Jackson is able to travel because he is free on £2m bail after his arrest that stemmed from a police raid on Neverland last month. He is also accused of plying the boy, who has not been publicly identified, with alcohol to facilitate the abuse.He could go to prison for more than 20 years if found guilty and would be required under California law to register as a sex offender.Many of Mr Jackson’s celebrity friends, including the actress Elizabeth Taylor, are being asked to provide video testimonials in support of the singer. But the happiest face of all belonged to Professor Colin Pillinger, a planetary scientist at the Open University, who originally conceived the idea of a lander to probe the Martian dust for the chemicals which would indicate the presence of fossilised life.Like a master of ceremonies in a bright orange shirt and black jacket, Professor Pillinger expertly fielded questions from the audience during the nervous half-hour between receiving the first preliminary signals of Beagle-2’s separation and final confirmation What happens if you find life, he was asked. Michael Jackson was expected to fly to Britain tonight on a promotional tour that will go ahead in spite of his forthcoming court appearance on child sex charges.
The pop singer was planning to attend a party held in his honour and hosted by his parents at his Neverland ranch in the foothills above Santa Barbara in California before flying across the Atlantic.After he does some promotional work for his CD, Number Ones, which sold well in Britain despite being poorly received in the United States, Mr Jackson will take a short holiday in Europe.He is due to appear in court in California on 16 January to face nine charges of abusing a 13-year-old boy at Neverland.Mr Jackson is accused of “lewd and lascivious acts”, including “substantial sexual contact” with the boy, who is a cancer sufferer.

Mr de Mol franchised Big Brother and the idea has been copied and adapted, although not always successfully.The British arm, Bazal Productions before it was bought by Mr de Mol in 1999, operates semi-autonomously and its staff are said to be relaxed about developments in Amsterdam.A spokesman for Endemol said staff were concerned at the departure of Mr de Mol and Mr Schouwenaar. “We do not see why two experienced and creative people should be forced to depart It is a big loss.”. Sources close to him have been reported as saying he is not interested in buying back his company.Although Mr de Mol is credited with devising the Big Brother concept it took off only after Endemol UK executives injected into the original European format a healthy dose of tabloid television techniques. Many observers felt the departure of Mr de Mol, 48, a former pirate radio DJ who built the company from scratch, was inevitable. But Endemol, which employs 3,300 people, has struggled to match the success and there have been rumours Telefonica wanted to sell the company.Endemol executives were said to be furious when Mr Schouwenaar, Mr de Mol’s chosen successor, was replaced two weeks ago by one of Telefonica’s men, Joaquim Agut, the head of its internet operation. No changes are envisaged at its British arm, Endemol UK, which is headed by Peter Bazalgette and which makes Big Brother in this country, as well as Ground Force and Changing Rooms.Behind Mr de Mol’s departure is a clash between the creative and business-oriented arms of the company, sold to the Spanish telecoms group Telefonica in 2000 for €5.5bn (£3.8bn), a price some said was inflated by the success of the Big Brother concept.

John de Mol, the man who brought Big Brother into the world, spawning the reality television genre, has parted from the company he founded, in a dispute with its Spanish owners.
Mr de Mol, who stepped down in June as the chairman and chief executive of Amsterdam-based Endemol to concentrate on a more creative role, is to leave the company in May Aat Schouwenaar, the man who replaced him, will also depart. I’m 50-50 if it is there but if it is, then Beagle will find it.”Professor Pillinger stressed that there was no question of winning a race with the US space agency Nasa – which has two probes due to touch down early in January.. He predicted that any life on Mars would be low level and probably aquatic. “I’m very hopeful that it will succeed because this is important to see if there is life on Mars, and I do not mean Martians or aliens. When the Martian lander’s relayed message eventually reaches Earth, it will mean just one thing: the beagle has landed.The astronomer Sir Patrick Moore described Beagle-2 as a “British triumph”. Its heat shield must protect against burning up in the Martian atmosphere, its parachute must open, its three gas-filled bags must inflate and its solar panels have got to peel back and soak up the sun’s rays.Beagle-2 – named after the ship that sent Darwin on his own voyage of discovery – will enter the Martian atmosphere at 12,500mph and must in the space of just seven crucial minutes slow down quickly enough to land gently on Mars.If all goes to plan, at about 5.15am on Christmas morning, Beagle-2 should be able to send its first signal and picture to the American Mars Odyssey probe orbiting overhead.