Glastonbury announce the date that tickets will go on sale for next year’s festival – here’s everything you need to know

By Kirsten Murray For Mailonline

Published: 15:02 EDT, 22 September 2023 | Updated: 15:03 EDT, 22 September 2023

Dating is a minefield – and a first date can often feel particularly incendiary, with those involved usually a bag of nerves, paranoid about saying or doing the wrong thing.

No one knows this better than relationship expert Jacob Lucas, 31. And he’s here to help.

The ‘Her Dating Coach’ author has more than 750,000 followers on his TikTok channel ‘jacoblucas101‘, and here shares his top tips for making sure a first date is fun, even if you don’t hit it off with your companion.

DURATION 

How long you spend with your date is ‘such an important part of the process’, according to Lucas, who believes three hours is ‘the perfect time to spend’ on a first date.

‘Three hours gives you enough time to get to know each other,’ he tells MailOnline Travel. 

‘And because the date isn’t too long, you will leave them wanting more, which is great when building attraction.’

The dating guru, from Wiltshire, warns that those who stay longer during the initial meeting ‘risk the date turning stale’, but if you leave too soon, your date may think you are not interested in them.

‘With the mix of dating nerves and excitement it’s easy to get tired quickly when dating because your social battery runs out faster than when you’re hanging out with friends,’ he says.

‘If you spend too long on a date, you may not come across as the best version of yourself, and it may harm your chances of getting a second date.

‘However, if the date is too short then it’s very hard to get to know each other. You need time to be able to invest in the conversation with the person you’re dating to see if you are both compatible.’

LOCATION

Lucas says keeping the date relaxed and casual is key to combatting any first-date nerves.

The dating whizz recommends a coffee shop or a cocktail bar for the first meeting, which he says offer the ‘best of both worlds’ whether your date goes well or not.

‘These types of dates are great because if you don’t like the person, you will only have to endure the time it takes for you to have one drink and then you can leave in a polite manner,’ he says.

‘However, if you like that person and want to continue getting to know them then you can order another drink and go for a nice walk after your coffee. Best of both worlds.’

Another key tip from Lucas is to ‘always remember to go somewhere public’.

He adds: ‘It’s much safer and sets the right tone for you to get to know each other without it feeling too intimate too soon.’

Places to avoid on a first date? The cinema, Lucas says, because ‘you will both be focused on the film and not each other and it makes it difficult to talk’.

This is also the case for high-energy, activity-based dates, he suggests, which should be saved for a third date ‘when you know each other more and can be more playful’. 

He adds: ‘A first date is about the basics and you need a calming, moderate activity.

‘I also recommend avoiding double dates for a first date.

‘Double dates can be fantastic later down the line but on the first date it can be hard to get to know someone when there are four people in the conversation and makes it a bit too casual.’

CONVERSATION

‘A simple way to keep a conversation flowing is by asking open-ended questions and to avoid asking “yes or no” questions,’ Lucas says.

‘This creates a conversation that can move in many different directions.’

If you are asked a question then ‘answer it’, he assures, adding: ‘When you feel like you have said your part, ask them a question in return that links back to them about what you have just said.’

Sharing another top tip, Lucas suggests ‘falling back on your strengths and passions’ if you feel like there could be an awkward silence.

‘For example, if you love travelling talk about that,’ he continues. ‘Talking about something with passion is contagious and it should inspire them to talk about their interests as well.’

HOW TO END IT 

Almost half of Britons who are actively dating feel more confident and relaxed on a date if they’ve set a deadline and known when and how they’ll make their exit, according to research commissioned by Uber. 

Almost three-quarters of daters (73 per cent) worry about the awkward goodbye at the end of a date and three in five (61 per cent) wish they had a reason to leave, the findings show.

With this in mind, Lucas recommends pre-booking a ride home before your date as ‘a perfect way to end a date without feeling awkward’.

He says: ‘Let’s say you have booked a ride home for 9pm, then once the time comes you can leave the date in a way that doesn’t feel awkward, because you have a real reason to leave, and don’t need an excuse.’

The relationship expert says having your taxi home pre-arranged with a service like Uber Reserve not only ensures you get home safely but can also make you ‘feel more confident about your date because you will feel in control and not have to worry about what time you’re leaving’.

The service, which can be ordered via the Uber app, provides scheduled rides up to 90 days in advance with added benefits such as upfront driver assignment, early arrival, a longer 15-minute wait time, and an on-time pickup guarantee.

HOW TO END IT EARLY

If you feel your date is not going well, ‘the number one rule is to leave with good manners’, Lucas says.

‘Sometimes people just don’t have a connection and that’s okay,’ he adds. ‘However, if someone is rude to you, it doesn’t mean you need to stoop down to their level.

‘Keep it polite and classy and know that you’ve done your part.’

Lucas suggests saying you have lots of work to do when giving your reasons for leaving a date early.

‘Not many people will complain about this, because they will have also had moments when they’ve been overwhelmed with work themselves,’ he says.

‘Plus, it’s polite because you aren’t saying anything negative to or about them.’

Another way of drawing things to a close is by saying you have a lift home ‘that you have pre-arranged because you have a busy schedule’, the expert says, adding: ‘Again, your date should be understanding of this, and you won’t come across as rude but just a busy person instead.’

With eight billion people now walking the Earth, the thought of humans going extinct anytime soon seems rather unlikely.

Barring nuclear annihilation, being overrun by artificial intelligence or a catastrophic impact from space, of course.

But even if our population is booming today, it hasn’t always been that way.

That’s because there have been at least five occasions throughout history where the human race has been in danger of dying out, not least because of the eruption of a supervolcano 70,000 years ago that almost sent us the same way as the dinosaurs.

But what happened on the other occasions? And how close did we really come to not existing? MailOnline takes a look.

1.1 million – 1.2 million years ago

It took until 1804 for the world’s population to reach one billion, 1927 to surpass two billion and 1960 to get to three billion.

If that population growth seems rapid, it’s nothing in comparison to the fact that in the six decades since, it has soared to more than eight billion.

Rewind 1.2 million years, however, and things weren’t so rosy.

Researchers have estimated that between our ancient cousins Homo ergaster and Home erectus, the entire human race was made up of just 26,000 people.

Worse still, the breeding population was about 18,000 – i.e. without children – which means there were fewer humans then than there are gorillas today.

Classified as a critically endangered species, there are now estimated to be around 316,000 western gorillas in the wild and 5,000 eastern gorillas. 

So what was to blame for this drop in human population, especially as fossil evidence shows that members of our Homo genus were spreading across Africa, Asia and Europe?

Scientists aren’t sure, but they know there was an extinction level event which temporarily wiped out early humans from Europe around the same time.

The previously unknown ice age pushed the European climate to ‘beyond what archaic humans could tolerate’, according to a study published last month. 

Ocean sediments from 1.1 million years ago show temperatures suddenly dropped by more than 9°F (5°C), which scientists say would have made it impossible for our ancestors to survive because they didn’t have heating or warm clothes.

This absence of our species from the continent lasted for about 200,000 years, before humans adapted and returned.

800,000 – 900,000 years ago

That was all well and good, but it wasn’t long before our race faced another perilous challenge.

Just last week, a separate piece of research suggested that another severe cooling period put humans at risk between 800,000 and 900,000 years ago.

It was so dicey the population of our ancestors dropped to just 1,280 individuals during a period in Earth’s history known as the Middle Pleistocene.

This severe ‘bottleneck’ lasted around 117,000 years and was a threat to humanity as we know it today, experts said. 

The decline also coincided with climate change that led to long periods of glaciation, a drop in sea surface temperatures, possible long periods of drought in Africa and Eurasia, and loss of other species which may have been a food source. 

Our last common ancestor with Neanderthals, and another extinct human species called Denisovans, was also thought to live during this period.

Professor Giorgio Manzi, a senior author of the research and anthropologist at Sapienza University of Rome, said: ‘We know that between about 900,000 and 600,000 years ago, the fossil record in Africa is very scarce, if not almost absent, while both before and after we have a greater number of fossil evidence.

‘The same can be said for Eurasia: for example, in Europe we have a species known as around 800,000 years ago and then nothing for about 200,000 years.’

Professor Chris Stringer, the head of human origins at the Natural History Museum in London, said things were so dire that it was ‘remarkable’ the human species survived.

‘For a population of that size, you just need one bad climate event, an epidemic, a volcanic eruption and you’re gone,’ he told the Guardian.

150,000 years ago

Around 195,000 years ago, the world once again started to undergo a big change.

Deserts and glaciers began to expand, causing temperatures to drop and destroying habitats across what became a cold and dry landscape.

It is unclear why, but groups of humans in Africa started to split up, which in turn caused our numbers to plummet dramatically around 150,000 years ago.

The continent was largely the only place that Homo sapiens, or modern humans, lived until about 50,000 years ago.

But the scale of the glacial phase was so threatening that some scientists believe our breeding numbers dropped to as low as just 600 individuals.

Those that survived appeared to thrive after settling beside the sea in what is now South Africa, experts say. 

This was vital because the area happened to be rich in plants that stored their energy below the surface of the soil, as well as having relatively warm waters nearby which enabled shellfish to flourish.

Both of these factors provided Homo sapiens living there with just enough food to survive and enabled our species to evolve into the humans we are today.

70,000 years ago

It’s clear that humans don’t fare well in extreme cooling events, but there was a very different threat that almost annihilated us just over 70,000 years ago.

Rather than an ice age, it was the largest volcanic eruption in history that nearly brought an end to our existence.

The Toba super-eruption fired out some 720 cubic miles (3,000 cubic km) of rock and ash which spread across the world, blocking out the sun and creating a volcanic winter which lasted at least a decade.

Such was the extent of the catastrophe that it killed off huge swathes of animal and plant life, while also squeezing our species to a few thousand people.

It had been thought that those remaining were confined to parts of Africa, but in 2020 a study found evidence that humans in India also survived the fallout. 

Researchers assessed a 80,000 year-long record of rock layers from the Dhaba site in northern India’s Middle Son Valley.

Tools made from rock were found which coincide with the timing of the Toba event, indicating humans in India were already using Stone Age tools when it erupted.

The site yielded evidence that use of the tools persisted after the catastrophic event created a decade-long winter — proof that the people who created them survived. 

The Toba eruption was so massive that all that is left of the mountain is the enormous Lake Toba, which stretches 62 miles (100 kilometres) long, 19 miles (30 km) wide, and up to 1,657 feet (505 metres) deep.

It occurred 74,000 years ago on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia, and was about 5,000 times larger than the Mount St Helens eruption in the 1980s.

40,000 years ago

Climate change may be one of today’s greatest debates.

But between 25,000 and 40,000 years ago it was what could have wiped out one of our most famous cousins. 

Computer analysis suggested in 2020 that Neanderthals may have failed to adapt to a rapidly changing climate, although it has also been argued that the arrival of Homo sapiens from Africa could have led to a desperate squabble for resources.

Ultimately, some say, the superior intelligence of us modern humans gave us the edge in this fight and led to Neanderthals dying out.

However, a study published three years ago suggested that it was because Neanderthals lost most of their ‘climatic niche’.

This describes a locale where conditions are just right for the species to survive, not too hot, dry, cold or barren.

Researchers investigated temperature, rainfall and other data over the last five million years to get a gauge of the climate for every 1,000-year window.

This allowed them to come up with their theory about why climate change may have killed off Neanderthals between 25,000 and 40,000 years ago.

Another early human species, Homo floresiensis, nicknamed the ‘hobbit’ also died out around this time, although what happened to them is a mystery. 

It meant Homo sapiens were left as the sole-surviving species in the once diverse human family tree, allowing us to ultimately swell in number to more than eight billion individuals.

So when will our species go extinct?

If you’re an optimist, it won’t be for another billion years.

That is when the expanding sun will cause our planet to heart up to a Venus-like state and render all life on Earth extinct.

However, a billion years is a long time, especially when you consider that scientists this year placed the Doomsday Clock at a record 90 seconds to midnight. 

So if there is a global apocalypse, what might be to blame for wiping out all life on Earth?

A wandering black hole, giant asteroid impact and nuclear war could all trigger such disaster, as could the rise of killer robots or the reversal of our planet’s magnetic field. 

Experts on catastrophic risks think there is a six per cent chance humans will go extinct in just 77 years, while renowned physicist Stephen Hawking said our species would probably have to find another planet to live on within 1,000 years if we are to live on.

Others argue that mammalian species typically last around one million years before going extinct, which, considering modern humans evolved around 200,000 years ago, would give us another 800,000 years on the planet.

Looking at the course of human history, and the ever-present threat of nuclear war and growing artificial intelligence, that might end up still being a rather bullish and hopeful outlook, however. 

Matildas superstar Mary Fowler spotted on a date with NRL royalty Nathan Cleary

• The Matildas star, 20, and NRL star, 25, were spotted on an ice-cream date 
• Both share the same sponsor – Adidas
• Fowler and Cleary both follow each other on Instagram 
• Cleary split with model Tèah Foot last year 

By D. Lawrance For Daily Mail Australia

Updated: 18:47 EDT, 22 August 2023

The exact date that King Charles and Prince Harry are likely to ‘meet for peace talks’ has been revealed – but Meghan Markle isn’t expected to be there, according to a well-placed source.

Prince Harry, 38, is reportedly due to fly back home to California via London next month when his Invictus Games end in Germany.

Meanwhile, the King, 74, is due to return from his summer holiday in Balmoral in mid September, meaning both the monarch and his youngest son will be in the British capital at the same time.

As such, it’s thought that the pair could meet with one another in the hopes of smoothing out tensions within the Royal Family, following the release of the Duke of Sussex‘s explosive memoir Spare, and his and his wife’s Netflix docuseries. 

Staff are reportedly making plans for the ‘peace talks’ to take place on September 17, ahead of the King’s trip to France on September 20, a source told OK! magazine. 

The source said: ‘King Charles is due to return to London from Balmoral in the middle of September which ties in with the end of Harry’s Invictus Games trip to Dusseldorf. 

‘The King has a rescheduled official visit to France on September 20 so has a few days to spare in London to meet with his son. Staff are trying to fine-tune the details as we speak.’

The insider added that Charles was also understood to have been upset by the claims his son made in his memoir Spare – particularly those concerning his wife Queen Camilla, who Harry felt ‘had sacrificed me on her personal PR altar’.

‘If the talks take place, the King will make it very clear that there will be absolutely no private family business discussed in public moving forward,’ they told OK!.

Indeed, it was reported that Camilla herself was ‘hurt’ by the contents of the book, in which she was labelled ‘dangerous’ and a ‘villain’, according to one of her closest friends.

‘Of course it bothers her, of course it hurts,’ Fiona, the Marchioness of Lansdowne – who was one of the Queen’s official companions at the King’s Coronation, told the Sunday Times.

‘But she doesn’t let it get to her. Her philosophy is always, “Don’t make a thing of it and it will settle down – least said, soonest mended.”‘

Although Meghan is said to be accompanying Harry to the Invictus Games, the source said it was ‘highly unlikely’ that she would be included in any ‘peace talks’ that took place between Harry and the King. 

Earlier this year, other insiders expressed their belief that a reconciliation between Harry, Prince William and their father is not out of the realm of possibility.

‘It’s fixable,’ they told The Times. ‘Both sides need to hold their hands up and admit ”we didn’t get everything right, and we got a lot wrong”… It’s going to take flexibility on all sides, but it can be done.’

‘It needs Harry over here, in the room with the King and Prince of Wales, a couple of other family members, some of ‘his people’ he trusts who always had his back, so he doesn’t think he’s being ambushed.’

However, the Prince of Wales may be slightly harder to win over, the source added.

Harry had shared deeply personal recollections of brotherly spats, revealed text messages between his wife Meghan and the Princess of Wales during their now infamous bridesmaid dress argument and accused the future King and Queen of endorsing his Nazi costume.

Even still, the royal source says William’s loyalty is ultimately to his country, and he will reconcile if he believes it’s the best thing for the future of the monarchy.

Next month, Harry and Meghan are set to present a segment of Invictus Games weeks after putting on a united front in a TV appearance against cyberbullying. 

The Duchess of Sussex, 42, will enter the stage in September during the closing ceremony of the games. 

Meghan will host the ‘Lifestories Scene’ segment, which provides insight into the bravery and resilience of the injured servicemen and women competing. 

Her contribution will be ‘poignant’ and serve as a testament to the games’ ability to transform lives, organisers said, according to The Telegraph.

Meanwhile Harry will deliver a goodbye speech at the closing ceremony in Düsseldorf, Germany, which is set to take place on September 16. 

The royal will apparently praise the competitors’ ‘unwavering spirit and impressive recovery journey’. 

Harry and Meghan enjoyed a date night out in Montecito to celebrate the Duchess’ birthday – a day after the couple made their first public appearance together in months.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were seen in good spirits, smiling and laughing, as they were pictured leaving the trendy Italian restaurant Tre Lune, a favourite among A listers including Kourtney Kardashian and Ellen DeGeneres.

Meghan, who turns 42 today, looked glamorous wearing a strapless column-style black and white Posse dress, priced at £188, paired with her beloved Cult Gaia bag and flat strappy black sandals. The Prince accompanied her wearing a linen blue shirt and white trousers.

The pair entered the popular eatery, where musician Travis Barker was spotted earlier that night, and they were joined by their good friend Matt Cohen, husband of the Duchess of Sussex’s friend of many years Heather Dorak.

It is the Californian-based royals’ second public appearance within days, after weeks of not being seen together, showing the pair are determined to present a united front and combat swirling rumours about strains behind the scenes.

Meals at the Italian restaurant range from $24 (£19) to $61 (£48). Italian-lovers can also choose from 24 different pasta and risotto meals, while an array of meat and fish dishes on offer, from salmon fillets $44 (£37) to filet mignon steak $65 (£55).

Photographs show the couple walking out of the restaurant front, before Meghan is seen pointing at something in the distance. They then jump in a car that appears to have been waiting for them.

The Duchess kept her jewellery simple for the outing, opting to go without any necklaces in order to allow her décolletage to remain on full display in the strapless dress design. She chose chunky gold hoop earrings, as well as a stack of bracelets on one wrist, to add a bit of sparkle, however.

This included her favorite $5,427 Cartier Love bracelet and what appeared to be her £3,736 Jennifer Meyer Gold Mini Bezel Tennis Bracelet.

The pair have been faced with mounting speculation about their future in Hollywood, after their deal with audio giant Spotify was axed and one their planned Netflix shows was quietly dropped.

Their celebratory outing comes after the couple appeared to combat their falling popularity and quash any negative rumours by appearing in a happy two-minute, 40 second clip released on Wednesday.

They were seen surprising US recipients of the first Responsible Technology Youth Power Fund (RTYPF) grants with phone calls to congratulate them. Their Archwell Foundation is a founding member of the initiative that will help fund 26 youth-led projects. 

Harry, 38, also mentioned their children Archie, four, and Lilibet, two, telling one winner in a call: ‘Thank you for doing everything that you do. Our kids especially are incredibly grateful.’ Meghan then added: ‘They don’t know it yet, but they will!’

The Sussexes are thought to be in danger of losing millions after their lucrative Spotify deal was axed and further concerns were raised over the future of their Netflix deal.

Further questions were raised over the future projects of ‘Brand Sussex’ after Hollywood powerhouse Jeremy Zimmer dismissed Meghan as ‘not a great audio talent, or necessarily any kind of talent’.

The dismissal followed the scathing remarks made by one of Spotify’s podcast chiefs, who branded the couple ‘f***ing grifters’.

Sources close to the couple insisted they were both ‘fine’ despite becomingly increasingly ‘fed up’ by the rumour mill, adding that the pair were determined to make their move to America a success.

The Duke and Duchess have been plagued by a series of gossip-fueled claims since their last public appearance in May.

The pair had been at an awards ceremony in New York but ended chaotically with opposing reports that they were chased by paparazzi through the city.

One suggestion was that the couple had stepped back from joint projects and were instead focusing on solo ventures.

The rumour came after Meghan was signed to power agency William Morris Endeavor, and Harry, 38, working on a Netflix series with a trip to Botswana.

The couple have since become increasingly irritated by the speculation swirling around them.

One source told OK! Magazine: ‘The Sussexes’ marriage is fine,’ adding that unfounded online snipes had stemmed from Harry’s upcoming solo trip to Africa.

‘That’s a work trip. It’s not a sign of trouble.’

Similarly, an ‘insider’ told PageSix last month that the rumours were categorically ‘not true. It’s literally made up’.

Others close to the Californian-based royals said that their struggle to make a mark on Hollywood and have their new careers take off was simply a result of ‘growing pains’.

The pair signed multi-million-pound deals with both Spotify and Netflix after moving across the pond in 2020, but these since stagnated.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s lucrative Spotify project was dramatically pulled last month after they produced one 12-episode podcast and a festive special over three years.

The couple also reportedly did not produce enough content to receive the full pay-out from the reported £18million deal they signed after stepping down as senior working royals.

But sources have said that the deal ended early because there was too much ‘red tape’ and they were ‘given no formal lay of the land’, which set them up to fail.

There were claims that the couple had ‘lots of ideas and did pitch them’ but none of them ever took off and ‘things moved very slowly on both ends’.

One of those ideas, Bloomberg reported, was Harry’s suggestion to interview ‘controversial’ guests such as Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump about their childhoods.

Another one of the Prince’s ideas reportedly touted was to interview the Pope on fatherhood – despite not having children.

Meanwhile their Netflix docuseries Live to Lead failed to take off, while a Meghan-driven animation called Pearl, about a girl inspired by female leaders, was quietly dropped.

But an industry executive told People that there was still time for the couple to turn things around, adding: ‘Has their final chapter been written? Absolutely not…Hollywood loves a comeback.’

The chat-up lines to AVOID if you want to bag a date, according to scientists

By Matthew Phelan For Dailymail.Com

Updated: 13:03 EDT, 9 June 2023

Camila Cabello hits the gym after she was seen hugging and kissing on-again beau Shawn Mendes at Taylor Swift’s Eras concert

By Amy Lamare For Dailymail.Com

Published: 14:11 EDT, 29 May 2023 | Updated: 14:12 EDT, 29 May 2023

Taylor Swift fans were left in shock when it was revealed in April that she’d called it quits with Joe Alwyn after six years together.

And with the hitmaker, 33, seemingly moving on with The 1975 frontman Matty Healy, DailyMail.com is taking a look back at her extensive dating history.

July- October 2008: JOE JONAS

Taylor dated Joe in the early days of her singing career back in 2008, but sadly split after only a few months together.

The singer revealed that she was dumped over ‘phone call’ and their relationship was inspiration for the star’s much-loved album Fearless.

The Grammy-winning songstress then went onto slam Joe during an appearance on The Ellen Show, saying: ‘There’s one (song) that’s about that guy, but that guy’s not in my life anymore, unfortunately. That’s ouch.

‘We haven’t talked since, but you know what, some day I’m gonna find someone really really great who’s right for me.’

‘When I look at that person, I’m not even going to remember the boy who broke up with me over the phone in 25 seconds when I was 18.’

But in 2015, Joe revealed he harbored no bad blood with Taylor during an interview with Access Hollywood, admitting that having a song written about you goes with the territory of dating a musician.

And in 2021, Taylor hinted that she and Jonas were back on civil terms during another appearance on Ellen’s Burning Questions segment.

The star was asked what the most rebellious thing she did as a teenager was, which caused Taylor to laugh.

‘Probably when I like put Joe Jonas on blast on your show,’ she began. ‘That was too much, that was too much.’

Meanwhile in 2021, Taylor put out previously unreleased track Mr. Perfectly Fine which is believed to be about ex Joe.

August – November 2009: TAYLOR LAUTNER 

Taylor and Taylor dated back in 2009, having first met while filming the upcoming ensemble romantic comedy Valentine’s Day, where they shared an on-screen kiss.

She described the moment as ‘life-changing’, and he appeared equally smitten, saying he definitely considered her ‘his type’.

When quizzed about their relationship on a U.S. radio show at the time, the Love Story singer played it coy.

She said: ‘I don’t know, he’s an amazing guy and we’re really close… and ah… yep.’

However it was a mere two months before their relationship was over.

‘He liked her more than she liked him. He went everywhere he could to see her, but she didn’t travel much to see him,’ a source told Us Weekly at the time. ‘They decided they were better as friends.’

It has long been rumored that Swift wrote Back To December about her 2009 relationship with Lautner.

November 2009 – February 2010: JOHN MAYER 

John Mayer reportedly dated Taylor from December 2009 through February 2010 when he was 31 and she was 19.

They originally met when she collaborated on his song Half of My Heart.

The romance seemingly ended on bad terms based on her scathing song Dear John which many people believe is about him.

The name of the song as well as lyrics recalling her age (19) at the time of the romance appear to lead to the conclusion that is is fact about John and their rocky but brief romance, although the songstress never confirmed it was about him.

The timing of the song also confirms its about John: She released the song in October 2010 on her Speak Now album, eight months after their reported split.

The tune gave insight on how Taylor and John’s reported romance went wrong, with the singer singing in tune: ‘Dear John, I see it all now that you’re gone/ Don’t you think I was too young to be messed with / The girl in the dress cried the whole way home.’

She also wrote the lyrics: ‘Well maybe it’s me / And my blind optimism to blame / Or maybe it’s you and your sick need / To give love and take it away.

‘Dear John, I see it all now, it was wrong / Don’t you think nineteen’s too young / To be played by your dark, twisted games.’

He added more fuel to the fire two years after the songs release when he told Rolling Stone magazine that he felt ‘really humiliated’ about the song, which ‘made’ him ‘feel terrible.’

October – December 2010: JAKE GYLLENHAAL 

Swift and Gyllenhaal made headlines when they dated for just three months in the fall of 2010, when he was 29 and she was 20.

Sources told tabloids at the time that it was ‘serious,’ and they were even spotted together over Thanksgiving weekend.

Nearly two years after they split, Swift released Red, which included track number five, All Too Well, with allusions to the actor.

In the original lyrics, Swift sings about taking a trip upstate with her romantic partner, leaving her scarf at his sister’s house, dancing in the kitchen, and falling in love before it all ended.

She later teased on numerous occasions that the song as she originally wrote it lasted about ten minutes, but verses were cut for time.

Gyllenhaal, though, denied knowing anything about being featured on her album.

‘Do I [have a song]? I don’t know,’ he told Howard Stern in 2015.

The song would have firmly been in Swift’s past had it not been for the drama with her masters. In 2009, after Scooter Braun purchased her masters, Swift accused him of exerting ‘tyrannical control’ over her music, and the two had a bitter feud in the press.

At the urging of fans, Swift began rerecording all of the songs for which he owned the masters, which she has started to release — including several never-before-released tracks on each one.

She released a 10-minute long, deeply personal version of All Too Well, which offered added new dramatic details in recounting their romance, singing that she was in ‘hell’ and felt ‘shame.’

Most damning, though were revelations that Gyllenhaal told Swift the problem was their age difference.

July- October 2012: CONNOR KENNEDY 

Taylor and Connor – the son of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and the late Mary Kennedy – were first spotted together at the Kennedy family home in Hyannisport in July 2012.

But the summer romance barely lasted three months. Insiders said Taylor – who was four years older than Conor – freaked the 18-year-old by coming on too strong – and because of her apparent obsession with his famous family.

‘Conor’s just an 18-year-old kid and wasn’t ready for anything super serious,’ a pal told RadarOnline.com.

‘But Taylor is looking for her soulmate and it kind of freaked him out with how strong she came on,’ the insider went on.

The friend also said that Taylor was obsessed with the Kennedy family – and was living out a fairytale with Conor.

‘She was more obsessed with the idea of dating a Kennedy, than the actual Kennedy she was dating,’ the pal added.

December 2012 – January 2013: HARRY STYLES 

Fledgling couple Harry and Taylor dated from November 2012, with a source telling The Sun at the time: ‘Harry is head over heels for Taylor and even admitted he loves her while they were in the Big Apple.’

However they split just three months later in January 2013.

At the time it was reported she had ended their fling after an angry row during their New Year’s vacation.

He is largely believed to be the inspiration for her tracks Style and Out Of The Woods, both off of the album 1989.

In 2015, she admitted she always knew her relationship with Harry was doomed for fail.

In a video posted to celebrate the one year anniversary of her hit album 1989, she revealed that the number one feeling she felt during her three month fling with the One Direction singer was ‘anxiety’.

Before belting out a one-off acoustic version of Out Of The Woods, she elaborated on the relationship that inspired the song.

‘I’m going to play you a song that I wrote about a relationship that I was in that the number one feeling I felt in the whole relationship was anxiety,’ she explained as she sat at her piano.

‘Because it felt very fragile, it felt very tentative. And it always felt like, “Okay, what’s the next road block? What’s the next thing that’s gonna deter this?

‘How long do we have before this turns into just an awful mess and we break up? Is it a month? Is it three days?”

The former One Direction-er previously spoke about Taylor’s songwriting back in 2017.

He kept coy about the songs, but defended Taylor against critics telling Rolling Stone: ‘I mean, I don’t know if [Out Of The Woods and Style] about me or not, but the issue is, she’s so good, they’re bloody everywhere.’

March 2015 – June 2016: CALVIN HARRIS 

Taylor is rumored to have started their relationship after meeting the hunk at a BRIT Awards after party in London in February 2015.

However the couple ended up splitting in 2016 after a very public romance, with reports stating the relationship had ended because he was ‘jealous’ of the superstar singer’s success.

Calvin later accused Taylor’s team of leaking that she had secretly written the lyrics for his hit track with Rihanna, This Is What You Came For. 

He wrote soon at the time: ‘Hurtful to me at this point that her and her team would go so far out of their way to try and make ME look bad at this stage though. I figure if you’re happy in your new relationship you should focus on that instead of trying to tear your ex bf down for something to do. 

‘I know you’re off tour and you need someone new to try and bury like Katy [Perry] ETC but I’m not that guy, sorry. I won’t allow it. Please focus on the positive aspects of YOUR life because you’ve earned a great one. God bless everyone have a beautiful day.’

Calvin later admitted ‘all hell broke loose’ when he split from Taylor.

He told GQ: ‘It’s very difficult when something I consider so personal plays out very publicly. The aftermath of the relationship was way more heavily publicized than the relationship itself.

‘When we were together, we were very careful for it not to be a media circus. She respected my feelings in that sense. I’m not good at being a celebrity.’

He continued: ‘But when it ended, all hell broke loose. Now I see that Twitter thing as a result of me succumbing to pressure. It took me a minute to realize that none of that matters. I’m a positive guy. For both of us it was the wrong situation. It clearly wasn’t right, so it ended, but all of the stuff that happened afterwards.’

June – September 2016: TOM HIDDLESTON 

The couple – formerly known as Hiddleswift – became infamous due to their enthusiastic public displays of affection.

They shocked fans around the world after they were spotted locking lips on a beach in June 2016 – marking the beginning of their romance.

But the most infamous moment occurred during their July 4th weekend break in Rhode Island, where Tom was photographed frolicking in the surf with his lover while wearing a vest that was emblazoned with the message ‘I heart TS’.

Tom insisted that their relationship wasn’t a ‘showmance’ when talking to The Hollywood Reporter.

‘The truth is that Taylor Swift and I are together, and we’re very happy,’ he said. ‘That’s the truth. It’s not a publicity stunt.’

The couple even took the huge step of meeting one another’s parents, with Taylor jetting to the UK to spend time with Tom’s mother in Suffolk, while he went to her adopted home town of Nashville.

However it was soon reported she put the brakes on the relationship after having regrets about how public the first few weeks were and getting the impression that Tom liked the limelight.

A source told Us Weekly: ‘Taylor knew the backlash that comes with public displays of affection but Tom didn’t listen to her concerns when she brought them up.

‘I think she feels a little embarrassed that the whole world saw them so serious and now it’s over.’

According to the publication, the pair were also struggling maintain a long-distance relationship, and met up in her Rhode Island home just last month in a bid to work through their problems.

They ended up breaking up in September of that year an insider exclusively told DailyMail.com that the pop star felt ‘uncomfortable’ with the actor’s desire to be ‘so public’ about their romance.

Tom had asked Taylor to the Emmy Awards that month, but she began questioning whether he was with her for ‘the right reasons’ and ultimately decided to call off the romance.

The actor commented in a GQ profile in a 2017: ‘Taylor is an amazing woman. She’s generous and kind and lovely, and we had the best time.’

He also nixed speculation the relationship was a stunt purely designed for publicity, insisting: ‘Of course it was real.’

He claims they were both seeking a normal relationship, adding: ‘So we decided to go out for dinner, we decided to travel… She’s incredible. [But] a relationship in the limelight… A relationship always takes work. And it’s not just the limelight. It’s everything else.’

2016- APRIL 2023: JOE ALWYN 

Taylor began dating the Conversations With Friends star, 31, in late 2016 after they were rumored to have crossed paths at that year’s Met Gala in New York City.

The Lover singer reportedly kicked off her romance with Joe just months after her shock split from Loki actor, Tom Hiddleston, in September 2016.

Taylor gave fans insight into their burgeoning romance by alluding to Joe in lyrics on her hit 2017 album Reputation, including the song Gorgeous where she recalls ‘making fun of’ his English accent.

The Grammy Award-winner opened up even more on her 2019 album Lover, where she gushed about her ‘London boy’ on multiple tracks.

The song Cruel Summer is also rumored to be about the overlap between the beginning of her romance with Joe and the end of her fling with Hiddleston.

Joe told The Sunday Times in 2018 that he finds it ‘flattering’ that Taylor uses him as her musical muse.

Just two years later, Taylor welcomed her beau into the songwriting world by allowing him to pen lyrics for her 2020 alum, Folklore.

Using the pseudonym ‘William Bowery,’ Joe co-wrote two songs for the Grammy Award-winning album and three more songs for Folklore’s sister record Evermore.

Although she feels safe opening up in her music, Taylor previously stated that her relationship with the British hunk ‘isn’t up for discussion’ in the press.

She discussed the decision to keep their romance ‘private’ in her 2020 Netflix documentary Miss Americana, which included rare footage of herself and Joe.

She described ‘falling in love with someone who had a really wonderfully normal, balanced, grounded life’ and they ‘decided together that we wanted our relationship to be private.’

Though the pair have yet to make a red carpet debut, they’ve attended several high-profile events together – including the Golden Globes in 2020.

They were hit with engagement rumors in July 2022 but Taylor seemingly shut them down in the lyrics on her latest album Midnights.

On April 3, 2023, it was claimed by ET that – despite reports they were ‘doing fine’ – Taylor and Joe had decided to call it quits after six years together.

A source told the outlet that the split was ‘not dramatic’ and that the relationship had simply fizzled out.