Heavens above! Vicar with vertigo climbs his church spire to raise repair money

Even after becoming a man of the cloth, this vicar with vertigo found a higher calling. Reverend Sam Leach conquered his fears to climb his church's 165ft spire in a fundraising feat to pay for repairs. The 44-year-old is normally so afraid of heights that 'going up an escalator, I …...Read More

Want to live longer? Get a dog. Just don't walk it to the cake shop, says 84-year-old Norman Lazarus

HEALTH The Lazarus Strategy : How To Age Well And Wisely by Norman Lazarus (Yellow Kite £14.99, 192 pp) The world is getting to be such a dangerous place, as W. C. Fields observed, 'a man is lucky to get out of it alive'. When the coronavirus arrived, for example, …...Read More

MARK ALMOND on the 'poisioning' of Putin critic Alexei Navalny

The nondescript cafe is where Alexei Navalny, the main opposition leader and Putin’s most vociferous critic, sipped a cup of tea before boarding a flight back to Moscow yesterday Tomsk, one of the oldest cities in remote Siberia, rarely makes headlines in Russia – let alone around the world. Not …...Read More

Pictured: Cheriegate conman Peter Foster's new shame over alleged million-pound scam

Serial conman Peter Foster – a central figure in the notorious Cheriegate affair – was arrested yesterday over an alleged million-pound scam. Undercover police officers posing as joggers tackled the 57-year-old to the ground and handcuffed him as he walked his dogs on a beach in Queensland, Australia. The convicted …...Read More

Charity hits out in anger at flogging of British ex-public schoolboy in Singapore

The brutal flogging of a former British public schoolboy was last night condemned as ‘inhuman’ by campaigners. London-born Ye Ming Yuen, 31, was strapped naked to a wooden frame and caned 24 times after a last-ditch appeal against the brutal punishment failed. Astonishingly, the judgment in that appeal was delivered …...Read More

My love for a dirty old man! Serge Gainsbourg was 18 years older than Jane Birkin

BOOK OF THE WEEK Munkey Diaries by Jane Birkin (W&N £20, 320 pp) For those of a certain age, Jane Birkin will forever be associated with Je T'Aime . . . Moi Non Plus, the heavy-breathing song dubbed 'the pop equivalent of an Emmanuelle movie'. If you're too young to …...Read More

Coronavirus: Pfizer's second vaccine has fewer side effects

The experimental coronavirus vaccine currently being tested by Pfizer Inc and its German partner BioNTech is more promising than the one on which results were presented last month. The two companies say this is because their second immunization also induced immune responses in volunteers, but came with far fewer side …...Read More

Coronavirus Scotland: Technician swears during live update

Radio listeners who tuned in for Nicola Sturgeon's coronavirus update were shocked to hear a blundering technician turning the air blue instead. The frustrated Tay FM staff member let rip during the First Minister's coronavirus update earlier today as he tried to transmit the broadcast from Holyrood, Scotland. He was …...Read More

Taylor Swift donates £23k to Tottenham teenager for university

Taylor Swift has donated over £23,000 to a Tottenham teenager who started a GoFundMe appeal to become a mathematician. The singer, 30, made the generous donation to Vitoria Mario who described herself as a 'black 18-year-old with a dream'. The teen explained that despite being offered an unconditional place at …...Read More

Former Uber security chief is charged after 'concealing hack'

Uber's former chief security officer Joe Sullivan (pictured) was charged with obstructing justice and concealing a felony on Thursday Uber's former chief security officer has been charged with allegedly trying to cover up a data breach that exposed the email and phone numbers of 57 million drivers and passengers. Federal …...Read More