London newspapers produce special Jubilee e-editions - Lancashire Evening Telegraph
A group of newspapers in South London has put together a series of online special editions enabling them to publish hundreds of pictures of Jubilee celebrations across the capital.
Newsquest titles including the News Shopper and Your Local Guardian series are bringing out the e-Xtra Jubilee specials alongside their usual e-editions today, tomorrow and Friday.
Other titles taking part in the initiative include the Surrey Comet and Richmond Twickenham Times.
The group’s web team worked over the Bank Holiday period to put them together, missing out on the chance to join in the celebrations themselves.
Web manager Paul Jones said: “When our readers started sending in details of their street parties and other jubilee events, we knew we’d struggle to do them justice in our papers due to space.
“So we decided to utilise our online newspapers, adding innovative and interactive content, allowing us to publish hundreds of pictures from across south London, as well as video and interactive maps from the weekend.
“It was a mammoth effort meaning myself and the News Shopper web manager, Jamie Ross, didn’t see much of the celebrations ourselves – but we hope our readers think it was worth it.”
Croydon Guardian assistant editor Matthew Knowles added in a Tweet: “Hats off to our snappers over weekend who between them went to more parties than the Queen could shake her sceptre at.”
World’s fastest street legal car smashes speed record at 250mph…. but it’s a Vauxhall Vectra that cost £60 - Daily Mail
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The British maker of the world’s fastest street legal car has smashed a world speed record covering a quarter of a mile in just over six seconds.
Andy Frost’s vehicle can clock an incredible 250mph and will take the driver from 0-60 in under ONE second.
He bought the red Vauxhall Victor for just 60 in 1980 and has gone on to transform it into the world’s speediest street legal car - complete with MOT to prove it.
Andy Frost with his pride and joy, a suped up Vauxhall Victor, bought in 1980 for just 60
On Saturday Frost took the current record from an American completing a quarter of a mile in 6.59 seconds at a speed of 220mph at the finish line.
Frost, from Wolverhampton, said: 'It has been an on going 29-year project, but it is never going to be complete - I’m always trying to improve it.
'I’ve spent almost 4,000 a year on this car since I bought it second hand. I have slowly improved it bit by bit in my spare time.
'It is a bit like Triggers broom in Only Fools and Horses - I’ve changed so many parts that it has has evolved into a super car from just a bog standard Vauxhall with nothing done to it.
On Saturday it became the world's speediest street legal car, completing a quarter of a mile in 6.59 seconds at a speed of 220mph at the finish line
'It is hardly recognisable from the the car I first bought. I have sacrificed having a holiday each year to spend the money on the car instead.
'I don’t ever go to the pub or spend money on other trivial things like that - I just plough it all back into improving the car.
'It has been a life long dream to be able to say I own the world’s fastest street legal car. it makes all the hard work worthwhile, but I won’t stop tinkering with it even now.'
The car's engine is a powerful V8 engine combined with two turbos lifted from a large digger to help it reach its top speed
The 50-year-old, who runs Penn Autos in Wolverhampton, has devoted over 1,600 hours to painstakingly crafting the sports car in his garage.
It weighs a hefty 1,200kg due to the modifications, and is estimated to have cost Andy over 100,000 in total.
When on the drag strip it can zoom from 0-220mph in 6.5 seconds, and comes complete with a parachute to help slow it down.
Under the bonnet a powerful V8 engine combined with two turbos lifted from a large digger give it enough boost to reach its top speed in a matter of seconds.
Andy Frost has spent more than 20 years and 100,000 to make his car a record-breaker
Despite the car being geared to racing, he still uses the car as a run around every so often.
'It is just like a normal car when you drive it on the roads - it handles easily around the corners and isn’t tricky to drive like many people think.But on the track it goes like a rocket.
'I used to take my three lads to school in it. They loved it obviously as they were the envy of all their friends. Everyone would stop and stare as we roared up in it.
The car comes with its own tongue-in-cheek speed guide
UPDATE: Condolences offered after four die in A39 collision in Cannington (From Bridgwater Mercury) - bridgwatermercury.co.uk
UPDATE: Condolences offered after four die in A39 collision in Cannington
1:20pm Wednesday 6th June 2012 in News By Newsdesk
CONDOLENCES have been offered to families of the four victims who died in a crash on the A39 in Cannington yesterday afternoon (June 5).
A fourth victim has died following a collision involving a VW Passat and a Vauxhall Astra at around 2.30pm yesterday.
Somerset County Council Leader, John Osman, said: “This is a dreadful tragedy and my heartfelt condolences go to the family and friends of all those involved.
“I would also like to pass on my thanks to those members of the emergency services who have worked so hard over the last 24 hours.”
Five people were travelling in the vehicles. A 68-year-old man travelling in the Passat has died. A 73-year-old woman, a 59-year-old woman and a 76-year-old man travelling in the Astra have also died.
Two people died at the scene with three others taken to hospital, two of which later died. One casualty was airlifted.
Police confirmed the third fatality shortly after 5pm yesterday.
The road has now re-opened after being closed for around six hours while police carried out an investigation.
Officers closed the road both ways between Blackmore Lane and the main road and traffic mounted as drivers have been diverted between Charlynch.
Six ambulances, a doctor, police and firefighters were called to the scene.
Resident Nicola Puddy, who lives near the A39, said she and her neighbours were shocked and upset by the crash.
She said: “I’ve never seen so many emergency vehicles. There is a massive amount of police presence and we’ve seen an RAF helicopter at the scene. Things have quietened down now, but I think it will be some time before the roads will be open.
“My neighbours and I are shocked by it. It’s fairly upsetting to think there have been deaths near your house. My thoughts are with their families. It’s awful.”
Charlynch Road resident Alli Baldwin said she had been stuck in traffic for over an hour and had to walk home with her two dogs while her husband stayed behind. She suggested drivers take alternative routes. She said: “It’s complete gridlock. I was stuck for about an hour, despite living in Charlynch Road.
She said some motorists were becoming angry and recommended people turned off at Splatt Lane to go through Spaxton.
Leathea Stephenson, joint landlady at The Globe Inn, said: “People said they’d seen a helicopter and lots of police and ambulance vehicles in the area.
“The roads have become gridlocked because the main road is closed. People are saying even the back roads are getting very busy."
For further information, keep checking this website.
Did you witness the accident? Call our newsdesk on the out of hours mobile on 07816-169323 or the newsroom on 01278-727960.
Officers are appealing for anyone who was in the area at the time and witnessed the collision to contact the collision investigation unit on 101. Alternatively, call the charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800-555111 or via www.crimestoppers-uk.org
Shakespeare's Buried Curtain Theatre Unearthed In London - huffingtonpost.co.uk
Shakespeare experts have hailed the "thrilling" discovery of remains of the predecessor to The Globe theatre.
Plays including Henry V were first performed at The Curtain Theatre - immortalised in that play as "this wooden O" - and Romeo And Juliet might also have premiered there.
Parts of the playhouse's yard and gallery walls were excavated in Shoreditch, east London, by the Museum of London Archaeology (Mola) as part of regeneration works.
Parts of the Curtain Theatre being excavated in Shoreditch, east London
It is hoped the site could be opened to the public and plays could be staged there in the future.
Royal Shakespeare Company artistic director Michael Boyd said: "It is inspiring that the Museum of London has unearthed the foundations of The Curtain Theatre.
"I look forward to touching the mud and stone, if not wood, and feeling the presence of that space where Shakespeare's early work, including the histories, made such a lasting impact."
Actor Eddie Redmayne, who won last year's Critics' Circle Theatre Awards for Best Shakespearean Performance for his Richard II role at the Donmar Warehouse, said: "The discovery of The Curtain in Shoreditch is a thrilling prospect particularly in this year of the World Shakespeare Festival.
"With The Globe and The Rose having helped add such cultural vibrancy to Southwark, I'm excited to see what the exploration of this exceptional site will unearth and bring to this already brilliant area of the capital."
The Curtain, which opened in 1577, was operated by theatre manager James Burbage and was home to Shakespeare's Company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, before The Globe opened. It was the main venue for the Bard's plays from 1597 to 1599.
It disappeared from historical records in 1622 but could have remained in use until the outbreak of the Civil War, 20 years later.
Plough Yard Developments, which owns the site, is planning to make The Curtain central to its redevelopment of the area.
Further excavations are to take place of the remains, three metres below ground.
An artists impression of what the site might look like following regeneration works
A spokesman for the developers said: "This is one of the most significant Shakespearean discoveries of recent years. Although The Curtain was known to have been in the area, its exact location was a mystery.
"The quality of the remains found is remarkable and we are looking forward to working with Mola, local community and Shakespearean experts to develop plans that will give the public access to the theatre remains as part of a new development."
He added that there was a 50/50 chance that The Curtain, named after nearby Curtain Close, was where Romeo And Juliet was first performed.
Kim Stabler, archaeology adviser at English Heritage, said: "This is an outstanding site - and a fortuitous find in the year of the worldwide celebration of Shakespeare.
"Developer-led archaeology, investigating and recording a site before any construction begins, has undoubtedly enriched our understanding of our towns and cities. A sensitive and creative public presentation of these remains would be a fantastic addition to telling the constantly unfolding story of London."
Neil Constable, chief executive of Shakespeare's Globe, said: "The find is another wonderful opportunity to further our understanding of Shakespeare's theatres."
Chris Thomas, from Mola, said: "This is a fantastic site which gives us unique insight into early Shakespearean theatres. We are delighted that Plough Yard Developments plan to preserve the remains in place and open them up to the public as there are few similar sites across the UK."
A planning application for the redeveloped site is to be made this summer. Proposals for the site are going on display in Shoreditch on Friday.
Visit the Vauxhall Heritage Centre for free - Daily Telegraph
Visitors will be able to view the company's collection over more than cars, encompassing pre- and post-Second World War cars, as well as popular models from the 1960s, 70s and 80s, as well as a selection of very rare concept cars.
London 2012: Great Britain name powerful rowing squad - BBC News
Great Britain have named 48 rowers in the squad for the London Olympics, with four places still to be decided.
Remaining selections in the men's and women's eights will be finalised "in due course", said a Team GB statement.
Katherine Grainger“There is a sense that the upcoming home Games will be on a different scale to anything we've ever seen before”
Britain will compete in 13 of the 14 rowing events at Eton Dorney, with the men's four and men's lightweight double scull defending titles.
The host nation hopes to improve on the record haul of six medals that saw them top the rowing medals table in Beijing.
"We go to the start in London ready to defend our status as the leading rowing nation from Beijing but we are under no illusion as to how tough winning medals, especially gold medals, will be at this Games," said David Tanner, GB Rowing Team performance director.
As expected, Andrew Triggs Hodge, Tom James, Pete Reed and Alex Gregory will attempt to win a fourth consecutive gold medal for Britain in the men's four, following in the footsteps of Sir Steve Redgrave, Sir Matthew Pinsent and James Cracknell among others.
The crew have won both World Cup races this year but were pushed hard by Australia in Lucerne last time out.
"I'm thrilled to be part of the biggest British team ever at our London Olympics," said Reed.
"I have been training for this all my life one way or another. I am a proud lieutenant from the Royal Navy, a proud Olympian and a proud Briton. I'm racing to win."
Anna Watkins and Katherine Grainger are firm favourites in the women's double scull, with Scot Grainger looking to win a first gold after taking silver at the last three Games.
Britain row to Beijing glory
"It's been an incredible honour and privilege to be part of the past three Olympic Games and, as wonderful as they have all been, there is a sense that the upcoming home Games will be on a different scale to anything we've ever seen before," said Grainger.
World and Olympic champions Zac Purchase and Mark Hunter will defend their men's lightweight double scull title, while Helen Glover and Heather Stanning are currently the world-leading women's pair.
Greg Searle will get the chance to go for gold in the men's eight 20 years after he won the coxed pairs title in tandem with his brother Jonny and tearful cox Garry Herbert in Barcelona.
Searle, 40, returned to the sport in 2010 having last competed at an Olympics in Sydney 12 years ago.
Only seven rowers have been named in the men's eight, leaving the door open for Constantine Louloudis to be named as stroke despite having missed both of this year's World Cup regattas with a back injury.
A world under-23 champion, it is hoped Louloudis could give Britain the edge after they pushed world champions Germany hard in Belgrade and Lucerne over the last month.
Ten rowers have been named for the women's eight, with selectors likely to use the upcoming Munich World Cup to assess their options once again before making the final decision.
Team GB rowing squad:
Men's Pair - George Nash, Will Satch
Men's Four - Alex Gregory, Tom James, Pete Reed, Andrew Triggs Hodge
Men's Eight * - Richard Egington, James Foad, Matthew Langridge, Alex Partridge, Tom Ransley, Mohamed Sbihi, Greg Searle, Phelan Hill (cox)
* one further rower will be added at a later date
Men's Single Scull - Alan Campbell
Men's Double Scull - Bill Lucas, Sam Townsend
Men's Quadruple Scull - Charles Cousins, Stephen Rowbotham, Tom Solesbury, Matthew Wells
Women's Pair - Helen Glover, Heather Stanning
Women's Eight * - Jo Cook, Jessica Eddie, Katie Greves, Lindsey Maguire, Natasha Page, Louisa Reeve, Emily Taylor, Victoria Thornley, Annabel Vernon, Olivia Whitlam, Caroline O'Connor (cox)
* Eight from the ten rowers listed will be confirmed as racing in the eight. The two rowers not racing in the eight will be selected as reserves.
Women's Double Scull - Katherine Grainger, Anna Watkins
Women's Quadruple Scull - Debbie Flood, Frances Houghton, Beth Rodford, Melanie Wilson
Lightweight Men's Four - Chris Bartley, Peter Chambers, Richard Chambers, Rob Williams
Lightweight Men's Double Scull - Mark Hunter, Zac Purchase
Lightweight Women's Double Scull - Katherine Copeland, Sophie Hosking
Pre-Globe Shakespeare theatre unearthed in London - The Independent
Pre-dating the riverside Globe, the Curtain theatre, north of the river Thames in Shoreditch, was home to Shakespeare's company - the Lord Chamberlain's Men.
Remains of walls forming the gallery and the yard within the venue have been discovered by archaeologists from Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA).
"This is a fantastic site which gives us unique insight into early Shakespearean theatres," said Chris Thomas from MOLA, who is leading the archaeological work.
The theatre was immortalised as "this wooden O" in the prologue of Henry V with the lines: "Can this cock-pit hold within this wooden O, the very caskes that did affright the Ayre at Agincourt?"
The discovery will delight historians and Shakespeare fans as excavations offer a picture of where the writer's early productions were performed, although little further detail is known about the early playhouse.
"This is an outstanding site - and a fortuitous find in the year of the worldwide celebration of Shakespeare," said Kim Stabler, Archaeology Advisor at English Heritage.
London has been celebrating its cultural heritage with a world Shakespeare festival taking place at the Globe theatre and across the UK, as part of a festival to coincide with the Olympics this summer and will last to November.
"The find is another wonderful opportunity to further our understanding of Shakespeare's theatres," said Neil Constable, Chief Executive of Shakespeare's Globe.
The Curtain Theatre opened in 1577 close to London's first playhouse "The Theatre" and was one of a number of early theatres built outside the city's walls.
The venue took its name from nearby street Curtain Close.
It was the main arena for Shakespeare's plays between 1597 and 1599 until the Globe was completed in Southwark, but it is unclear what happened to the playhouse after that when it seemed to vanish from historic records after 1622.
Some experts say it may have remained in use until the Civil War in the 1640s.
Archaeologists stumbled upon the Curtain Theatre's remains on Hewett Street after work began on a regeneration project led by local developers last October.
Soon after the remains were found on an exploratory dig, architects began drawing up plans to preserve the remains while allowing the development to go ahead.
A spokesman for Plough Yard Developments, the company leading the regeneration project with the Estate Office Shoreditch, said the excavations could become a preserved centrepiece of a new housing and shopping area.
The plans are set to go on display on 8 and 9 June at the site.
"Although the Curtain was known to have been in the area, its exact location was a mystery," the Plough Yard spokesman said.
Reuters
London 2012 Olympics: David Millar faces battle to earn place with Team GB - Daily Telegraph
Millar, presently competing at the Critérium du Dauphiné, has endured an injury-disrupted season after breaking his collarbone and a bone in his hand racing in Belgium at the end of March.
Although his track record with GB is excellent and Cavendish has always insisted he wanted Millar in the team regardless of any BOA selection issues, the Scot badly needs to offer compelling evidence of fitness and form before being given the nod because GB have several viable options. With time running out, that effectively leaves Millar with a four-day race in Holland from June 9-17 and the first week of the Tour de France during which to impress.
Much the same goes for Steve Cummings - a powerhouse domestique and a key man at the World Championships last year - who is also returning from injury and Ben Swift, whose switch from the track programme to the road six weeks ago has been hampered by a shoulder injury after he crashed in training with Team Sky ahead of the Giro d’Italia.
Swift is embarking on a busy road programme with Sky and, although he might not feature in their Tour de France plans, the world scratch-race champion could force his way into the squad. If anything happened to Cavendish during the road race at the Games - a crash, mechanical or problems on the Box Hill climbs - he represents a potential Plan B with his climbing ability and sharp turn of speed The GB long list of eight will include obvious starting selections such as Cavendish and Wiggins as well as Chris Froome, back to health, and Ian Stannard, a stalwart worker for Cavendish at the recent Giro and in the form of his life. When naming the final five, Brailsford and the GB road coach Rod Ellingworth have strong candidates to fill the Millar role should he not regain his best form.
The veteran Jeremy Hunt, a lead-out specialist that Cavendish rates highly, could come into the equation, although the feeling is that if the Olympic race finishes in a sprint it will be contested by a relatively small bunch. The need for a pure lead-out man might not be paramount.
Just getting Cavendish to the final one-kilometre is the priority. He has proved many times, not least this season, that he can take it on from there alone if necessary.
Meanwhile, the competition for places in the women’s team is so strong that again British Cycling and the BOA will announce a squad of six squad rather than the four-rider team they must confirm on July 6. Lizzie Armitstead has been the stand-out rider all season, while reigning Olympic champion Nicole Cooke and Emma Pooley, a silver medal winner in the time-trial at Beijing, have been less consistent although Pooley did claim a fine win, her first of the season, at the Emakumeen Saria race in Spain on Tuesday. Sharon Laws, Katie Colclough and Lucy Martin are also well in contention.
As with the men, the time-trial entrant - probably Pooley - has to come from the final four. The National Championship later this month could be the most important race in the selection process.
On an Olympic course that could suit both the sprinters and breakaways, the decision on whether Armitstead or Cook is the protected rider could be delayed until the day of the race. Armitstead’s form puts her in a strong position.
On the track, the only real issue likely to occupy the selection panel is whether the sole place in the individual sprint should go to reigning champion Sir Chris Hoy or to Jason Kenny, who has placed higher than Hoy at the past two World Championships, taking gold and silver. The selectors might again tarry - their only requirement before the Games is to name the men’s team sprint squad - though the memory of Hoy decimating the world’s best sprinters at the World Cup meeting at the London Velodrome could well hold sway.
London hotels 'pricing themselves out of market' - The Guardian
Vauxhall buff Alisdaire completes drive of his dreams - thesouthernreporter.co.uk
IT took Selkirk veteran car enthusiast Alisdaire Lockhart 22 years of painstaking work to recreate the famous Prince Henry Vauxhall, writes Andrew Keddie.
But all that toil and attention to meticulous detail paid off in spades last week when Alisdaire fulfilled a lifelong ambition by driving his remarkable vehicle on a 620-mile journey through rural Sweden.
In so doing, he emulated the feat of Vauxhall’s legendary founding managing director Percy Kidner and celebrated in style the centenary of the model’s participation in the inaugural Great Swedish Winter Reliability Trial of 1912.
Back in April, we told the story of Alisdaire, who lives in the town’s Ettrick Terrace, as he prepared for his date with destiny.
Only 60 21-horsepower, three-litre Prince Henry models – widely acknowledged as the first British sports cars to exceed 100mph – were ever manufactured by Vauxhall and only a handful exist today.
In 1988, Alisdaire, at that time resident in Bedfordshire and a passionate afficionado of the famous UK motoring marque, set his sights of following in the tyre tracks of Kidner 100 years on.
Using original parts specially transported from Australia, he began the re-creation of the famous model, finally completing the task in Selkirk, where he relocated five years ago. And his dream of taking part in the commemorative centenary reliability trial in Sweden, organised by the Kungliga Automobil Klubb (KAK), has finally come true.
Having travelled with his prized vehicle on the ferry from Harwich, Alisdaire lined up for the first day of the trial at the Tjoloholm Rally, south of Gottenburg, on Sunday, May 20.
He told us: “The following morning, we drove along the southern route of the original event, through Jonkoping and Linkoping, arriving in Stockholm on the Tuesday for a reception at the KAK headquaters where the car was photographed with the original trophies for the event. Thereafter, the car was driven back to Gotheburg by the northern route for the return to the UK on Saturday, May 27.
“On the commemorative run, I was accompanied by Kay Mordza of the Svenska Vauxhall Register, who was a great help with all the arrangements in Sweden, and my co-driver Andrew Duerden of the Vauxhall Heritage Centre in Luton.
“In total, we covered 620 miles in 22 hours of driving time spread over four days. With the open roads and low volume of traffic in Sweden, it was easy to cruise at 55-60mph without any mechanical trouble, with fuel consumption of around 30 miles per gallon.
“To my immense pride and pleasure, my Prince Henry, now safely back in its garage in Selkirk, proved a nimble little runner and was great fun to drive with easy gear changes and a lively performance.
“It must have been very impressive in its heyday of just over 100 years ago.”
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Headline - Proof reader's "seeing-eye" dog eats copy !
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