Archive for December, 2011

Heavens above! Cloud Appreication Society’s beautiful 2012 calendar is a hit with sky-gazing fans

By Jill Reilly Last updated at 5:05 PM on 30th December 2011 Calendar manufacturers take note – scantily clad celebrities, flowers, and cute kittens are not as popular as they once were and it now seems that 12 different types of clouds are what some customers want hanging on their wall in 2012.  The Cloud […]

Huge blow for the High Street as shoe chain Barratts sheds 1,600 jobs after administrators fail to find buyer

Job loses will mostly be at concessions in Dorothy Perkins and Outfit stores Stand-alone Barratts stores will continue to trade until a buyer is found 400 jobs are also at risk at Hawkin’s Bazaar, which is going into administration By Leon Watson Last updated at 5:27 PM on 30th December 2011 Barratts Priceless, one of […]

UK weather: 2011 is 2nd-warmest year on record after hottest-ever spring

This year, the UK enjoyed its warmest April since 1910  Huge difference from 2010 which was the 12th coldest year on record By Jill Reilly Last updated at 6:45 PM on 30th December 2011 After the balmiest Boxing Day for 28 years, it may come as no surprise to learn that 2011 is predicted to […]

Angry Birds take over the kitchen! iPhone App gets a marzipan makeover

By Anna Edwards Last updated at 6:52 PM on 30th December 2011 After becoming a sensation on the mobile gaming world, the popular iPhone App Angry Birds is now looking to swoop in to the kitchen. A YouTube video by a user called mraakko has become an internet hit, showing an anonymous person making an […]

I warden do that if I were you: Traffic attendant’s car caught on camera parking illegally

By Anna Edwards Last updated at 7:30 PM on 30th December 2011 They are known – and despised – for their draconian approach to parking laws. But it would appear that these traffic attendants lowered their standards in this instance – when they were the ones doing the parking. Staff working for Plymouth City Council […]

Overdue library book turns up 123 YEARS late… but woman who returned it doesn’t have to pay £4,500 fine

By Daily Mail Reporter Last updated at 7:38 PM on 30th December 2011 A library book that’s 123 YEARS overdue has been unearthed at an historic Lake District home. The Victorian miscellany Good Words for 1888 was borrowed from the Troutbeck Institute library shortly after it was first published. But was never returned. It sat […]

Asda worker wins £21k payout after chain spied on her because they didn’t believe she’d broken back slipping on an egg

Grandmother didn’t know she had been followed until compensation hearing three years later ‘I felt sick when I saw the footage, it just left me numb’ By Andy Dolan Last updated at 7:40 PM on 30th December 2011 A supermarket sent a private detective to film one of its workers as she recovered from a […]

Man accused of faking his own death arrested as he lands at Heathrow

By Tom Kelly and Will Stewart Last updated at 7:58 PM on 30th December 2011 Dressed in a polo shirt and flip flops, this is the moment a British psychologist accused of faking his death was arrested after arriving home at Heathrow Airport. Father-of-two Stephen Kellaway was detained as he stepped off a plane from […]

Send for Bananaman! Quick thinking cashier chases thief while dressed in giant fruit costume

By Jill Reilly Last updated at 11:50 PM on 30th December 2011 In a stunt that would make Bananaman proud, a Tesco worker earned his superhero credentials by chasing and capturing an alleged thief while dressed as a giant banana. Checkout worker Luke Summerhayes, 21, was wearing the 6ft 7ins outfit as part of a […]

Family nurse ‘dying’ gran back to life after doctors give up on her: Granddaughter sleeps on floor to give her food, water and 24-hour care

By Sam Greenhill Last updated at 12:09 AM on 31st December 2011 When 89-year-old Margaret Park’s family were told she had only hours to live, they gathered by her hospital bed to say goodbye. But baffled as to how a pensioner who had gone to hospital with a bad back could now be at death’s […]

‘Statins can cut prostate threat’: Medication for cholesterol can reduce risk of cancer

By Daily Mail Reporter Last updated at 1:54 AM on 31st December 2011 Taking statins to cut cholesterol can help to reduce the risk of developing prostate cancer, says researchers. The findings back up previous studies suggesting that controlling cholesterol, a ‘key nutrient’ for cancer cells, can have multiple benefits. Study author Stephen Marcella said: […]

Bygone times: The incredible colour photos that capture a world on the brink of permanent change

By Anthony Bond Last updated at 9:27 AM on 31st December 2011 They are considered to be part of one of the most important collections of early colour photographs ever seen, capturing key moments in history and the dying embers of many cultures. And now – more than a century after the ambitious project was […]

London 2012 Games ‘will not be austerity Olympics’: Jeremy Hunt vow to use event to kick start economy

Voters won’t forgive us if we don’t ‘make the most’ of the event, says Culture Secretary Protesters will be treated with ‘dignity’ By Craig Mackenzie Last updated at 10:32 AM on 31st December 2011 Opportunities: Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt has rejected calls that the London 2012 Games should be an ‘austerity’ […]

Loss of faith in democracy could make 2012 the most frightening year ever

By Dominic Sandbrook Last updated at 10:47 AM on 31st December 2011 The dawn of a new year is usually a time of hope and ambition, of dreams for the future and thoughts of a better life. But it is a long time since many of us looked forward to the new year with such […]

Flock of endangered Corn Bunting birds gives renewed hope for its breed

By Pamela Owen Last updated at 11:33 AM on 31st December 2011 The heart-warming sight of a flock of ‘fat’ Corn Bunting birds has got ornithologists in a flutter as it gives renewed hope for the dying breed. Numbers of the brown farmbirds have plunged by nearly 90 per cent to 10,000 over the last […]

A third of Brits will be ASLEEP at the start of the New Year

The average person will go to bed at 10.38pm tonight Just one in five of us will be out painting the town red By Mary Mcconnell Last updated at 12:23 PM on 31st December 2011 One in three people will be asleep when Big Ben rings in 2012 tonight, new research has found, with the […]

UK set to enjoy record New Year’s Eve temperatures

By Lee Moran Last updated at 12:39 PM on 31st December 2011 Britain will enjoy near-record New Year’s Eve temperatures tonight – with parts of the country warmer than Iraq, Morocco and Spain – capping the second-warmest year ever recorded. Forecasters said today will be as warm as average peak temperatures in May, with a […]

Kickboxer rammed by drink driver chased after suspect and pinned him to car until police arrive

By Mary Mcconnell Normal 0 false false false EN-GB X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:”Table Normal”; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:””; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:”Times New Roman”,”serif”;} Last updated at 12:51 PM on 31st December 2011 This is the moment a professional kickboxer pinned down a drunk […]

Haydn Mark Evans missing: Body found in lake after search for Mold teenager

By Mary Mcconnell Last updated at 12:58 PM on 31st December 2011 Normal 0 false false false EN-GB X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 A body has been found two weeks after a teenager from North Wales went missing after a Christmas party. According to police officers, the body found matches the description of 18-year-old Haydn Mark Evans, […]

Lie detector trial: Suspect criminals face tests in new scheme by UK police

Polygraph questioning of 25 ‘low level’ sex offenders Trial could lead the way to its use nationwide By Craig Mackenzie Last updated at 12:59 PM on 31st December 2011 Lie detector tests on suspected criminals are being used for the first time by a British police force. Hertfordshire Police confirmed it had been using polygraphs, […]

New Year Honours list 2012: Chris Preddie, cousin of Damilola Taylor’s killers, gets OBE

Chris Preddie, 24, shunned gang life to work with young offenders His cousins Danny and Ricky Preddie killed 10-year-old Damilola in 2000 Damilola’s father Richard ‘totally against’ the honour By Daily Mail Reporter Last updated at 1:00 PM on 31st December 2011 Honoured: Chris Preddie, has been awarded an OBE in the New Year Honours […]

There’s something fishy about this computer: Photographer creates acquariums out of old iMacs

By Mary Mcconnell Last updated at 1:13 PM on 31st December 2011 When Jake Harms was told to throw away an old iMac he couldn’t bear to see the sleek computer dumped on a scrapheap. Instead, bright spark Jake decided to turn the old machine into an unusual home for his pet fish. The 28-year-old […]

Anne Diamond: Thirty years of wearing an earpiece for television has made me deaf

By Ted Thornhill Last updated at 1:13 PM on 31st December 2011 Revelation: Anne Diamond has said that TV ‘talkback’ devices have made her deaf in one ear She’s one of Britain’s best-known television presenters, but Anne Diamond has admitted that using earpieces for nearly 30 years has left her deaf in one ear. She […]

Royal fever sees William and Harry top list of most popular names for newborn baby boys … with Isabel favourite for girls

By Lee Moran Last updated at 1:17 PM on 31st December 2011 Princes William and Harry are evidently proving an inspiration to parents across the country – as their names top a newborn baby boy list for 2011. Of the 1,330 births announced in The Times newspaper this year, the royal brothers each recorded 31 […]

Simon Ellis: Paralysed son’s first words in 19 years to mother are ‘I love you’

By Lee Moran Last updated at 2:32 PM on 31st December 2011 A paralysed man who suffered brain damage in a car crash almost 20 years ago spoke for the first time – and said ‘I Love You’ to his devoted mother. Doctors said Simon Ellis, now 37, would never be able to talk again […]

Surgeon who failed to spot fatal breast cancer is struck off medical register 14 years later

She told patient lump did not need to be removed Victims of botched operations awarded £700,000 £122,000 consultant a danger to patient By Craig Mackenzie Last updated at 2:41 PM on 31st December 2011 Cancer victim: Writer Ruth Picardie A surgeon has been struck off from the medical register 14 years after the death from […]

Catherine Wynter murder: Tony Bushby, 18, remanded in custody over babysitter’s death

By Daily Mail Reporter Last updated at 2:43 PM on 31st December 2011 Catherine Wynter was stabbed while babysitting An 18-year-old man has been remanded in custody charged with the murder of a teenage babysitter. Catherine Wynter, 19, had been looking after her sister’s son and daughter in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, on Boxing Day when she […]

New Year Honours 2012: Knighthood for Tory donor Paul Ruddock and CBE for jailed tycoon Gerald Ronson

Ex-convict Gerald Ronson and Conservative Party supporter Paul Ruddock both honoured David Cameron accused of being ‘out of touch’ with decent British people Government source says Prime Minister has no personal involvement in deciding who receives honours Founder of online gambling company bet365 also appointed OBE By David Wilkes and Jason Groves Last updated at […]

Fears animal-born disease will spread as quarantine laws are relaxed to fit EU guidelines

By Mary Mcconnell Last updated at 3:14 PM on 31st December 2011 Animal welfare groups fear rabies could return to Britain following moves to ease quarantine regulations from tomorrow. Currently, dogs, cats and ferrets from overseas must be tested and vaccinated against rabies and quarantined for six months, before they are allowed to enter the […]

Bird flu is back: Bus driver dies of disease in China sparking fears of fresh outbreak

By Lee Moran Last updated at 3:18 PM on 31st December 2011 A Chinese bus driver died of bird flu today – sparking fears there will be a fresh outbreak of the potentially deadly disease. He became unwell on December 21, was admitted to hospital on Christmas Day with severe pneumonia, and died this afternoon […]

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