New & Noteworthy: Dublin ‘Babe-Watch?’

By Eileen Murphy

Irish actor Ricky Paull Goldin, who’s best known in the U.S. for his heartthrob stint on the ABC soap “One Life to Live,” has apparently gotten over his breakup with “Baywatch” babe Yasmine Bleeth. Though we’re sure he just wants a girl just like the girl who married dear ol’ dad, Ricky also seems to favor women with zero tan lines and frequent flier miles between Hollywood and the Silicon Valley, if you catch our drift. We refer, of course, to Ricky’s blossoming romance with — you guessed it! — “Baywatch” babe emeritus, Pamela Anderson.

Those of you with male relatives in Ireland will want to warn their spouses that Ricky is bringing his Pammy to Ireland this week, for some Christmas cheer and lots of snogging under the mistletoe. The pair, accompanied by Pam’s children, toddlers Brandon and Dylan (via her copiously tattooed former hubby, Motley Crue’s Tommy Lee, will spend a few days in Dublin with Ricky’s parents, Paul and Helen.

This new romance was kindled on the set of the upcoming movie “VIP,” in which Ricky costars with Pamela. They first met when Ricky was engaged to Pam’s “Baywatch” costar Yasmine and Pam was married to Lee. Goldin and Bleeth broke off their engagement last year but have remained friends. Pam, on the other hand, filed assault charges against Tommy Lee, which earned him six months in the pokey.

Now, we’re sure it’s just a coincidence that Ricky’s dated two gorgeous actresses who’ve each built a career out of six inches of red spandex. After all, it’s Christmas, which is no time to be cynical. Maybe the boy can’t swim.

Boyz will be boys (literally)

It has been written (here in this column, at least) that one of the seven signs of the Apocalypse is the emergence of a tribute band to BoyZone: “And ye shall see five towheaded youngsters, in poorly tailored trouser suits, hamming it up, like, way beyond cuteness. And ye shall know them by their too-precious name. And ye shall immediately lose yer lunch.”

It’s amazing how accurate those old predictions are, because there IS a band starring in a Christmas pantomime show in Dublin this year that bears an uncanny resemblance to Ireland’s answer to the Spice Girls. These, if you’ll pardon the expression, new kids on the block are named BoyzOnly. And in the pictures we’ve seen, the suits are certainly too big. And their heads are very, er, tow. And yes, we’re on the verge of losing . . .whoops!

Whew! Well, we feel better now.

The five BoyzOnly members, Graham Reddy, Johnny Ward, Brian Reddin, Gareth Ward Glen Curran, range in age from 10 to 12 years old, and hail from Walkinstown and Tallaght in Dublin. And though they’re still very young, these boyz know what it’s like to suffer for their art. Ward, who plays BoyZone iconoclast Shane, had to endure having his head and one eyebrow shaved so that he’d more closely resemble his idol.

Though they’ve only been a band for six weeks, BoyzOnly already has one public appearance under their belts: they wowed the kids at Temple Street Hospital with their singing and fancy footwork. The real work starts when they take part in the Christmas pantomime “Jack and the Beanstalk,” which opens in St. Anthony’s Theater in Dublin on St. Stephen’s Day.

So what do these five want for Christmas?

We are going to send BoyZone and their manager, Louis Walsh, an invitation to see BoyzOnly kitted out in white suits singing [the BoyZone hit] “No Matter What,” said their manager, Alan Hughes.

“To meet BoyZone would be a dream come true for all of them,” he continued. Call us cynical, but we think, if the boys were given a choice between meeting BoyZone frontman Ronan Keating or meeting Ricky Paull Goldin’s girlfriend (see story above), there wouldn’t be any contest . . .

Cor blimey: Dreamy Daniel’s a Brit!

You may want to sit down for this next item, or at least brace yourself against the nearest wall. Daniel Day Lewis, who has starred in some of the most heart-wrenching Irish films of the past decade, wants everyone to know that, just like Prince Charles and that annoying guy who sells those non-stick pans on late night infomercials, he’s a tea-drinkin’, bubble and squeak-eatin’ Englishman. That’s B-R-I-T-I-S-H, just in case you don’t get the message.

Daniel, who won an Oscar playing Irish artist Christy Brown in “My Left Foot,” told the Sunday World that he can’t understand why people think he’s Irish.

“I’m English, but I have this image as an Irish patriot,” he said. “I think it’s because of a mixture of two things: part accident and part will.”

Now, personally, we think it’s the mixture of those soulful eyes and cheekbones that could cut glass. But let’s let Daniel continue . . .

“I am English, and I’ve had an English education. I grew up in England. My mother’s family is from Latvia, for God’s sake,” he laughed.

Daniel, whose Irish roots come courtesy of his father, the late poet Cecil Day Lewis, does take pride in his Irish heritage. Sort of.

“It’s not like I can claim to be an Irish thoroughbred, and I don’t,” he said. “I’m very proud to get an Irish passport because my father was Irish, and I keep that and travel with it.”

Daniel studied Irish history at school in England, and was “astonished” by what he learned.

“It made me feel a kind of kinship with the place,” he said. “Not because I was Irish, but as a person reaching out across the sea in a way.”