My haunted Cotswolds house that proves hauntings are real. NADINE DORRIES thought she'd found her forever home. Then after family deaths and sinister encounters that terrified her children, she called a priest...
Last month, I read about the tragic death of Beverley Allen, the first wife of former F1 boss Christian Horner and mother of his teenage daughter, who passed away at 58 after a cancer battle.
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BBC News
9 minutes ago
- BBC News
'Top secret' D-Day landing maps to go to auction
"Top secret" maps used by Allied troops in the D-Day landings are expected to fetch up to £15,000 when they go up for UK, the US, Canada and France attacked German forces on the coast of northern France on 6 June was the largest military seaborne operation in history and involved the simultaneous landing of tens of thousands of troops on five beaches in maps, found in a box of documents originally bought for £10, provide restricted-access details of the Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword beaches, and will go under the hammer in Etwall, Derbyshire, on Wednesday. The maps outline details of the German defences, including enemy strong points, barbed wire and aircraft were used throughout the conflict to create an accurate record of the French coast, and because it was not known where D-Day would take place, maps were developed for a wide area of to Hansons Auctioneers, about 2,500 anti-tank obstacles acted as shoreline defence, while hundreds of submerged mines proved fatal to troops wading behind the beaches, coupled with barbed wire and anti-tank ditches, made advancement even more many as 4,400 troops died from the combined allied forces on D-Day while some 9,000 were wounded or German casualties on the day are not known, but are estimated as being between 4,000 and 9,000 men. The maps were found in a box of various other documents bought at auction for £ had previously been in the possession of Royal Naval Sub Lt Walter Page, who served on Landing Craft Tank 2138 - one of 900 such vehicles which played a vital role in transporting men and supplies across the Crowson, from Hansons, said: "Imagine landing on a strange shore under enemy fire and not knowing where you were going or what hazards awaited."These maps, which look so old-fashioned today, would have been essential for the D-Day troops."It is amazing to think, had it not been for the eagle-eyed vendor, they would likely never have seen the light of day."
Times
22 minutes ago
- Times
I'm a boomerang kid at 38
The hallway of my mum's new-build maisonette looked like the 'after' pictures of the world's least fun car boot sale. Huge blue and red laundry bags bulging with clothes, battered suitcases, baby toys, coats thrown carelessly and a rogue bag of cables that even the Dalai Lama wouldn't have the patience to untangle. Standing to one side, trying to remain calm, was my 78-year-old mum. 'How long are you staying for?' she joked. 'TBC,' I grimaced back. This was in January when my partner and I, along with our one-year-old son, moved in with my mum while the 'fixer-upper' house we bought as our first family home was, uh, fixed up. It saved us thousands but everyone — apart from the baby — was nervous. I'm definitely not the only one moving back home. A recent survey by the British bank TSB found that 80 per cent of first-time buyers moved back in with their parents to get onto the property ladder. My mum has been living alone for more than 30 years. First in the house I grew up in, then in the pristine new flat she downsized to a few years ago. She's no Hyacinth Bucket but she was used to having everything just so. When she left a room in the morning it would look the same way when she returned at night — and the same could very much not be said once we moved in. For me and my partner, there were other worries. There's only one TV, and our viewing habits, dinner timings and entire routine were different from my mum's. The space was small. Perfect for one, maybe two people, but three adults and chaos monkey? Nope. Too small. There's nowhere to escape. We also had to go back to sharing a bedroom with our son again after finally getting him settled into his own room. And I don't know if you've ever tried to work from home with your boomer parent in the house but I'd compare it to trying to work in a room with an affectionate labrador that happens to have the stealth of a monster truck and the street smarts of an undercover spy. However, in the five months we spent living with her, I learnt some valuable things. The first I knew before we moved in but I really knew it by the time we left: how lucky we were to have the option to do this in the first place. To have family in the city you live and work in isn't a given. To have them in London, the most expensive place to live in the UK, and round the corner from your life, your work and your kid's nursery is like having a winning lottery ticket in your purse. Mum was patient and kind. She kept our son entertained while we made him dinner, put up with him wrecking her curtains and carpet, and coped with my snapping at her that I was 'trying to work' for approximately 12 hours a day. The second was that you really only know someone when you live with them. Like most children, my relationship with my mum was previously frozen in time. We revert to type the minute we're in the same room: I am always the mouthy boundary-pusher and she is always the warrior-like matriarch whose word is final. But the truth, of course, is that we're different now, both made softer and harder by the toll life takes, by age and by motherhood itself. Living with each other forced us to reckon with the people we actually are, rather than the family personas we used to take on. Three years ago my mum was diagnosed with Parkinson's, something we've all been in denial about since. But I needed to see how it affected her life. At present, the answer is not much. However, I now know the ways in which that will change and what I can do to help when it does, because I am under the skin of her day-to-day life in a way you can't be when you check in by phone once a week or see each other for Sunday lunch. In the reverse, she knows what type of mother I am and that I am finally, for the first time in my adult life, in a relationship with a functional, kind man. Some nights, after I'd go to bed, my partner and my mum would sit up and chat. I only found this out afterwards, and how much he enjoyed it. And lastly, that time she had with her young grandson was precious. They imprinted on each other in a way I never could have predicted. His face still lights up when Grandma enters the room. He took his first steps on her velvet-soft rug. He runs into her place and goes straight for the window they'd look out of together, counting the cars on the street below. We all cried when the time came for us to finally move out because we knew that blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment in time meant more than anything. Amy Grier What it's like to live with my parents at 23 by Esme Gordon-Craig When I was younger I enjoyed imagining a 23-year-old-version of myself. She was living in a small but elegant flat in London, maybe with a boyfriend, but I also considered that a couple of best friends would be fun too. I pictured having the perfect office job with the perfect office outfit, along with all the emotional and financial freedoms that would follow. This fantasy, a product of overwatching The Devil Wears Prada, is yet to come true. Instead, having now reached the great age of 23, I find myself living at home with my parents, cushioned among all the emotional and financial security that brings. This is increasingly common for my generation. The cost of living crisis has ensured that those of us in our early twenties who have the opportunity to live at home will happily sacrifice our independence for the sake of saving, or even just affording to live. We see it as a temporary situation, one that might one day lead to the ultimate goal of adulthood: having a home of our own. Having the option to live at home as an adult is both a blessing and curse. It's a blessing for many reasons, an obvious one being no rent. Then there are the added extras: I have my washing done for me, bills are nonexistent and a home-cooked meal is guaranteed every night. • The reality of living with your parents in your twenties However, as much as I love my parents, there are downsides. Number one, if you want the perks of being supported like a child you have to accept being treated like one too. There are no drunken nights out ending in early-morning cereal binges and no hungover lie-ins that blend beautifully into a day-long movie marathon. I can't even guarantee access to the TV. World War Three can kick off with the simple act of not turning off a light switch or forgetting to open the gate for the postman, and remoulding one's life around the routine of one's parents can be exceptionally challenging when everything down to the hot water has a regimented schedule. Then there's the problem of socialising. I had a boyfriend who was living at home after he graduated. I wouldn't say this was the reason we ended it but coming downstairs to be greeted by his parents every morning added an element of awkwardness. The big issue for me is that, unlike my ex, home is nowhere near London. It's nowhere near anything, really, and to make matters worse, I can't drive. Yes, I still get lifts on nights out.
The Independent
39 minutes ago
- The Independent
Zoo staff receive death threats after baboons culled and fed to lions
Staff at a German zoo who culled a dozen healthy baboons and fed their remains to lions have received death threats. The Tiergarten Nuremberg zoo said it euthanised 12 Guinea baboons on 29 July because their enclosure had become too overcrowded, despite growing protests from activists and animal rights groups. Some of the baboons' carcasses were used for scientific research, while others were fed to carnivores at the zoo, Tiergarten said. Zoo director Dr Dag Encke told Sky News that police were investigating after staff received threats. 'The staff are really suffering, sorting out all these bad words, insults and threats,' he told the broadcaster. 'The normal threat is 'we will kill you, and we'll feed you to the lions'.' 'But what is really disgusting is when they say that's worse than Dr Mengele from the National Socialists, who was one of the most cruel people in human history,' he added. 'That is really insulting all the victims of the Second World War and the Nazi regime.' Josef Mengele was a Nazi officer who performed deadly experiments on prisoners at the Auschwitz concentration camp during the Second World War. Plans to reduce the baboon population were first announced in February after the number of animals rose to 43, which far exceeded the capacity of a facility built for 25 adults and their offspring. The zoo said the overcrowding had begun to fuel aggression and conflict among the group. Dr Encke said efforts to rehome the animals or use contraception had failed. 'We love these animals. We want to save a species. But for the sake of the species, we have to kill individuals otherwise we are not able to keep up a population in a restricted area,' he told Sky News. The cull was carried out behind closed doors after the zoo shut for 'operational reasons'. Activists who scaled the zoo's fence on the day were detained by police, with some gluing themselves to the ground in protest. The decision drew outrage from campaigners, with animal rights groups pledging to file a criminal complaint. The zoo said it had tried to manage the population over the years, rehoming 16 baboons to zoos in Paris and China since 2011. But other facilities, including one in Spain, had reached capacity, it said. Animals are routinely euthanised in European zoos, but some cases have caused widespread controversy. In 2014, Copenhagen Zoo killed a healthy young giraffe, dissected it in front of visitors, and fed it to lions, prompting international outcry. And earlier this week, a zoo in Denmark appealed to the public to donate their small pets as food for its predators. The Aalborg Zoo has asked for donations of healthy and live chickens, rabbits, and guinea pigs to feed its predators, such as the Eurasian lynx. In a post on social media, the zoo said it is trying to mimic the natural food chain of the animals housed there 'for the sake of both animal welfare and professional integrity'.
