City can see off Everton and cement position as title favourites May 1, 2014 MANCHESTER City were the main beneficiaries of Chelsea’s 2-0 win over Liverpool last Sunday that saw the Reds drift from as short as 1/6 for the title all the way out to 11/8 with Star Sports. Manuel Pellegrini’s men kept their nerve to beat in-form Crystal Palace 2-0 away to shorten from 5/1 into 5/6 [...]
A violent eruption of camp madness May 1, 2014 FILM POMPEII 3D Cert 12a Two Stars THE DESTRUCTION of Pompeii, the ancient Roman city buried under the ash of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, has long held a grip on the public imagination. Only eight months ago, tickets sold out in advance for the British Museum’s exhibition Life and Death in Pompeii and Herculaneum, [...]
Baddiel: party like it isn’t 1999 May 1, 2014 COMEDY FAME: NOT THE MUSICAL Menier Chocolate Factory Four Stars REMEMBER David Baddiel? Of course you do. He did The Mary Whitehouse Experience, Fantasy Football League, Baddiel and Skinner, and the Euro96 anthem Three Lions (Football’s Coming Home). After a 15 year break, and aged almost 50, he is back with stand-up, reflections on fame [...]
An unnecessary, poorly-animated Tarzan adaptation May 1, 2014 FILM TARZAN 3D Cert PG Two Stars SINCE Edgar Rice Burroughs’ first Tarzan story in 1912, the character has been played or voiced by over 20 actors, including Herman Brix, Buster Carabbe and the late, great, five time Olympic gold medal winning Johnny Weissmüller who played the iconic jungle-dweller between the wars. To this illustrious [...]
Hernan Bas: the best young painter in the world? May 1, 2014 ART HERNAN BAS: MEMPHIS LIVING Victoria Miro Five Stars FLORIDIAN artist Hernan Bas’ early paintings were richly detailed and dimly lit with knotty vegetation and winding rivers, innocent adolescents in the foreground and erotic encounters in the shadows. They were his attempt to replicate the deep imaginative immersion of the novels and poems he fell [...]
Champions League: Seven mad minutes end Blues’ dream April 30, 2014 AT STAMFORD BRIDGE CHELSEA 1 ATLETICO MADRID 3 (Atletico Madrid win 3-1 on aggregate) CHELSEA manager Jose Mourinho was left to curse a pivotal seven-minute spell after his “dream” of leading the club to the Champions League final for the first time was steamrolled by Atletico Madrid last night. Fernando Torres fired the Blues ahead [...]
Familiar settings can aid England in Sevens Series April 30, 2014 IMPROVING England are hoping a return to British shores can give them the boost required to secure a maiden victory as this year’s HSBC Sevens World Series nears a conclusion in Glasgow this weekend. England recorded consecutive fourth and third place finishes after a mid-Series slump and reached a final in Hong Kong last time [...]
Rogers leads record-breaking run chase April 30, 2014 AUSTRALIA international batsman Chris Rogers hit an unbeaten 241 to ensure Middlesex successfully chased down their highest-ever target at Lord’s to beat Yorkshire on the final day of their County Championship match. The home side scored 472-3 in their second innings and Rogers said: “That’s the kind of thing you dream about as a cricketer.”
Dani Alves, the banana and the marketeers April 30, 2014 IT WAS the spontaneous and widely acclaimed riposte to a deplorable racist act, and spread like wildfire via social media seconds after its enaction on Sunday night. But it has now transpired that Dani Alves’ decision to pick up a banana hurled in his direction from the stands and munch it in nonchalant defiance was [...]
Ankle operation rules Townsend out of World Cup April 30, 2014 TOTTENHAM winger Andros Townsend will miss this summer’s World Cup after the club confirmed he will undergo an ankle operation today. The 22-year-old suffered the injury during a late cameo appearance in Spurs’ 1-0 win at Stoke at the weekend, though limped through the remainder of the match having been the third and final permitted [...]