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More than 650,000 people watched Andy Serkis’s marathon reading of The Hobbit

The actor said he was 'truly humbled' by the response.




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For this 29-year-old, the fear and anxiety sparked by coronavirus are everyday battles. Here’s her advice for coping.

Jam Gelua says now more than ever people need to remember that mental health supports are available and they should reach out to anyone who can help. It makes a difference, she says.










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Playbook Inning 6: Nine must-follow tips

Part 6 of Tristan H. Cockcroft's nine-part expanded "Playbook" explains nine tips to use during the fantasy baseball season, from trade strategies to how to value rookies and closers.




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The incredible comeback you probably didn't hear about: Phil Galfond talks overcoming €900,000 deficit

Professional poker player Phil Galfond overcame a €900,000 deficit in a 25,000-hand head-to-head challenge against a pot-limit Omaha regular known as "VeniVidi1993" online.




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How technology is getting golfers -- Tour pros and regular hackers -- through a pandemic

In times that have kept golfers away from courses and ranges, players had to get creative.




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Fantasy football 12-team, PPR mock draft

We officially kick off the 2020 fantasy campaign with our first mock draft. Who went first?




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The iconic hockey moments that should be statues: Bobby Orr has one; who should be next?

What signature moments from hockey history should be immortalized outside of arenas? Here are our picks.




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Man United post-Ferguson signings: The good, the bad and the ugly

It has been seven years since Sir Alex Ferguson retired, and Man United have been busy (if not always successful) in the transfer market ever since.




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JJ on NASCAR's return: 'Nutty, to say the least'

Jimmie Johnson has been logging virtual practice laps for what should be an unpredictable first race back.




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Sources: Some NBA teams OK'd to test players

Some NBA teams opening facilities for voluntary workouts will be allowed to administer coronavirus tests to asymptomatic players and staff, provided there is enough testing available for at-risk health care workers, sources told ESPN.




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Ter Stegen's diary: Keeping fit, keeping sane and bonding with family at home

The Barca goalie shares his routine from quarantine in Spain.




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Hastings United besieged by swarm of bees; Messi back in action

With almost all football off because of the coronavirus, star players have found themselves at a loose end. How are they filling their time?




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NBA facilities are reopening, but is the season any closer?

The reopening of NBA training facilities is the first step, but a step to what remains uncertain.




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The great bat flip mystery

In MLB, bat flips have long symbolized disrespect. In South Korea, they are art.




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Jordan dunked on 12-year-old me in a game of one-on-one

By the time Wayne Drehs turns around, all he can see is the back of Jordan's head as he elevates for a dunk.




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The NFL schedule is out, and we predict wins and losses for every game

The full regular-season schedule is out. The Chiefs open defense of their Super Bowl title vs. Houston.




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Love: Being back at Cavs' facility 'weird, uplifting'

Kevin Love's Cavs became one of the first teams in the NBA to reopen their practice facility for voluntary individual workouts, a process that Love described as "weird" but also "pretty uplifting."




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Silver preps NBA players for challenges ahead

Adam Silver outlined a potentially grim future for the NBA in a call with players, calling the pandemic the "single greatest challenge of all our lives."




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Inside Justin Gaethje's journey from a mining town to MMA stardom

Gaethje's family heritage was forged in Arizona copper mines, but a fighting spirit charted his path to a UFC title shot.




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Apple borrows on the cheap to fund buybacks, dividends

Apple capitalized on the Federal Reserve's emergency measures in response to the coronavirus outbreak to issue its cheapest bonds in year




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How Europe got caught up in crackpot 5G coronavirus conspiracy theories

At a time of crisis, people want answers — and 5G is a really simple answer




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Digital-friendly recession: How Big Tech got even bigger in the midst of a market meltdown

Many analysts expected the stocks to fall back to earth when the next downturn came




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Bitcoin is staging a comeback reminiscent of the 2017 bubble frenzy

In anticipation for a technical event that may be a new catalyst, Bitcoin has rallied to more than US$9,000 from around US$6,000 just a month ago




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Shopify becomes Canada’s most valuable company after quarter beats expectations on back of pandemic

Larger retailers like Heinz and Loblaw signing up with Shopify




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Sidewalk Labs pulls out of Toronto smart city project after 3 years, citing ‘unprecedented economic uncertainty’

'It has become too difficult to make the 12-acre project financially viable'




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As Shopify passes RBC to become No. 1, the Canada market curse gets put to the test

Those that leapfrogged the value of Canada's largest bank in the past have faltered — think Valeant, BlackBerry and Nortel




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Google, Facebook tell staff to plan to work from home for the rest of the year

The edicts from the internet giants come as states and corporations grapple with ways to reopen as the virus pandemic rages on




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Coronavirus: NHS doctor returning to help during pandemic cheers up colleagues by singing opera

Dr Alex Aldren has returned to the NHS after leaving to become an opera singer




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Dentists warn 'desperate' people will try 'DIY dentistry' if the government doesn't give access to emergency treatment

'It's inevitable many desperate patients will resort to 'DIY dentistry'




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Adverts which claim IV drips can help fight coronavirus banned by watchdog

No treatments for the coronavirus have yet been approved, meaning companies cannot make medical claims about their products




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'We don't do apart': Elderly couple who fought coronavirus together in hospital heap praise on NHS staff

'We've never been apart for sixty plus years, we don't do apart,' says Sidney Moore




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One in three nurses say mental health has become 'very bad' during pandemic

A lack of PPE is concern among nurses




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'Call your GP': Women displaying new gynae cancer symptoms during lockdown urged to seek medical advice

Some hospital trusts have seen a dramatic drop in cancer referrals from GPs in recent weeks




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Half of UK workers feeling more stressed or anxious during lockdown, study finds

The poll also found Britons are working 28 hours of overtime per month




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Samantha Fox on fame at 16, stalkers and David Cassidy: ‘I kneed him and told him where to go’

One of the most photographed British women of the 1980s talks about feminism, her abusive father and how she battled her fears to come out as gay

In a small, unloved hotel, the receptionist greets me and Samantha Fox with pursed lips: “There will be no interview here,” she says. I feel as if I’ve wandered into the pages of Fox’s new autobiography, Forever, which is littered with bizarre anecdotes of best-laid plans going awry. From her ill-fated presenting partnership with a spaced-out Mick Fleetwood at the 1989 Brit awards, to a secret naked horseback photo shoot in Antigua – during which her steed galloped off with her to a busy tourist beach – not much has gone as expected in Fox’s life. Not least the day she worked with her childhood idol David Cassidy, who died earlier this month, which she says culminated in being sexually assaulted by him. Despite these, and many other setbacks, she says she is a “lucky girl”.

Fox was just 16 when her mother entered her for the Sunday People’s Face and Shape of 1983 competition – her wholesome, girl-next-door image made her the most popular Page 3 girl ever, and one of the most photographed women of the 1980s, alongside Princess Diana and Margaret Thatcher. By 21, she had made her first pop record and retired from modelling, going on to break the US and sell 30m records worldwide.

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Griff Rhys Jones: ‘My best kiss? I kissed all the Spice Girls once’

The actor and comedian on being lazy, losing his cool and public shaming

Born in Cardiff, Griff Rhys Jones, 64, began his career on the BBC’s Not The Nine O’Clock News, which ran from 1979-82. He went on to develop a comedy partnership with Mel Smith that lasted 20 years. He is also an Olivier award-winning stage actor. His UK tour, Where Was I?, starts on 18 January. He is married with two children and lives in Suffolk.

When were you happiest?
I’ll be at my happiest today, and probably my gloomiest at some point today, too.

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What I’m really thinking: the secret smoker

If I was ever going to ‘come out’, I should have done it when I was younger

If anyone ever offers me a cigarette, I always reply: “No thanks, I don’t smoke.” But I’m lying.

I started smoking at 16. I thought it made me look grown-up, but I was shy so I’d do it on my own. I would go into the woods near my home, or occasionally “bravely” have one in the house if nobody was else in.

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  • Health & wellbeing
  • Smoking
  • Life and style

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A letter to… the teacher who inspired my young son

‘I take comfort in the knowledge that, even though you are not here, your work continues to make children happy’

I was so worried about handing my little boy over during his first week of school, but you made it easier. You smiled at him like a mother would at her own child. You radiated warmth and your hugs were always on offer.

After a day in class with you, C would come home singing. Whenever I hear Do Your Ears Hang Low or see him stretching to the sky when singing about the days of the week, I will think of you. I didn’t tell you at the time, but I loved your morning song so much that I implemented it in my own class (I’m a teacher too). The first time we sang it after losing you was hard but, as time passes, I take comfort in the knowledge that, even though you are not here, your work continues to make children happy.

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Eco-chic and trouser suits: how Meghan Markle’s style reads the room

The future royal wore a trouser suit for her first official evening engagement with Prince Harry, ushering in a new kind of sartorial diplomacy

Last night, for her first official evening engagement with Prince Harry, Meghan Markle wore an Alexander McQueen trouser suit. It was slim-fitting, with cropped cigarette trousers, worn with very high stiletto heels and a cream dishabille blouse. The outfit was many things: very Saint Laurent’s Le Smoking, a bit Princess Diana, with a soupçon of Marlene Dietrich, even a hint of Carine Roitfeld (although Roitfeld probably wouldn’t have worn a blouse underneath the tux). What it was not was a Sandringham-appropriate boxy Catherine Walker skirt suit. It was notable because it didn’t feel like standard royal family dressing at all.

The royal family wrote the rule book on sartorial diplomacy. Usually, their approach is unambiguous. It is a gown embroidered with 2,091 shamrocks in Ireland; a Chanel tweed coat in Paris in the middle of Brexit; a dress by Polish designer Gosia Baczyńska at a garden party in Warsaw. It is the opposite of wearing a cult band T-shirt that only fellow devotees will recognise. The clothes are designed to speak of decency and propriety; the visual messages are clear enough to charm heads of state and reach the rest of us in the cheap seats as well.

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Why I love… SZA

Her voice swings between self-consciously raspy and whisper-soft, with a hint of something not quite of this realm

I’ve just realised that I’ve already bought more music this year than I did in all of 2016. It’s not that I have suddenly developed an appreciation of previously unexplored genres (on the contrary, I have become even more entrenched in loving what I already do) but there has been a lot of excellent music in 2017.

And as we ease into the second half of the year, there’s no one I’m listening to as much as American singer-songwriter SZA. I am playing her morning, noon and night; in the shower, all day at work, even as I brush my teeth.

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Artists find fans and creative outlet as they flock towards crowdfunding sites

Coronavirus crisis has forced musicians and others to adapt, says founder of platform

Musicians, artists and writers have turned to crowdfunding sites to make up for lost opportunities in lockdown, and their audiences have followed them, leading to a rise in contributions through platforms such as Patreon.

Since mid-March more than 70,000 extra creators have joined Patreon, which allows fans to give monthly payments to artists in exchange for exclusive content or simply out of a desire to support someone whose work they appreciate.

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20 apps to up your skills

Want something to show for the weeks you have spent in lockdown? These apps will help you achieve your aims

In early April, one bullish American consultant suggested on Twitter that if people didn’t emerge from coronavirus quarantine having learned a new skill, gained more knowledge or having started something they’d been putting off, then “you didn’t ever lack the time, you lacked the discipline”.

As the tweet was widely shared, it met mockery and anger in equal measure, as people noted that home schooling, financial worries, stress and/or illness are making this period anything but a delightful self-improvement holiday.

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Tom Hunt's recipe for tin-can curry: five-minute dal | Waste not

Tinned food is an invaluable back-up, and can be transformed into a nutritious meal at the drop of a hat

Tinned food has a best-before date of about three years, but is still likely to be good to eat decades later, making it an invaluable back-up. It also helps you prevent food waste by letting you be more sparing with perishable purchases – though, as with fresh food, it’s a good idea to rotate the cans in your cupboard, bringing short-date items to the fore, so you can build them into the week’s meals.

As well as helping to reduce food waste, tinned food is a good choice compared with other packaged food, because cans are made from a relatively low-impact material that actually gets recycled, unlike most plastics and Tetrapak. It’s also worth noting that, no matter how new it is, if a tin has a dent or is rusty, it is safest to compost the contents to avoid the deadly bacteria Clostridium botulinum.

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My happy place: readers' travel tips

Memories of beaches – in the UK or further afield – as well as village bars, sunrise views and days out with tea and cake are sustaining readers during lockdown

A day out in Whitby. Morning tea and fruit cake with Wensleydale at Bothams. Walk to the sea, and out onto the pier. Walk up the beach, climb up the cliff and then back to the town past the whale’s jaw. Fresh crab sandwiches for lunch, then climb the 199 steps to the Priory. Back down, just enough time for afternoon tea and cake before crossing back over the river for a fish supper at the Magpie. Drive back over the beautiful North Yorkshire moors; the end of a perfect day, in perfect weather every time.
Nigel Goddard

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