
Girlfriend finally says ‘yes' to besotted boyfriend who popped question 43 times in seven years
Luke Wintrip, 36, had been desperate to marry Sarah, 38, since 2018.
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But despite his extravagant proposals — including hiring a castle in Prague, horseback- riding on a Jamaican beach, and several candle-lit dinners — she kept turning him down.
Marketing CEO Sarah said of the first rejection: 'I just said, 'No, we've only been together for six months'.
"I loved him but I didn't want to say 'yes' to something I later retracted.'
But tattoo artist Luke vowed to keep persisting.
And on the 42nd proposal, Sarah told him: 'Next time you ask, I'm going to say yes, but just you wait.'
Luke waited a year before taking Sarah to Greenwich in South East London — the home of Greenwich Mean Time.
He said: 'This is the centre of the world and you are the centre of the world and I want you to marry me.'
Mum-of-three Sarah, from Chelmsford, Essex, conceded: 'He finally won my heart.
"He should probably get a Guinness World Record. I am grateful he persisted for so long.'
The couple married in Jamaica in May — although it did not go to plan as Sarah had to struggle through the pain and ended up in hospital with a life-threatening infection when a cyst burst in her groin.
Moment woman proposes in Scotland & is stunned by partner's unexpected reaction
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BBC News
5 minutes ago
- BBC News
Tan lines are back in fashion. But can you get the look safely?
"I am literally going to apply this fake tan all over my bikini top," Jemma Violet says, as she smears chocolate brown mousse over her chest, neck and halter-neck bikini.I'm watching a TikTok video in which the beauty influencer is explaining how to develop a vibrant set of tan lines - without sunbathing."Make sure you do your arms and everything... and then wait a couple of hours before washing it off."A flash frame later and Jemma is showing off two very visible white stripes connected to two white triangles poking out of the top of her boob tube. Tan lines glowing, job done. Back in the 90s, I remember the abject horror of having tan lines on display and doing all I could to even mine out - with limited success. Fast forward to the mid 2020s and tan lines have become a fashion statement to be shown off."When they were out of style they were seen as an imperfection, now they're associated with the summer and an active lifestyle - they've become desirable," Jemma says. "This year it's risen to a whole other level - they're even on the catwalk."Some fake tanners are even using masking tape - the type I use on my skirting boards - to create that crisp line across their skin."My videos are about getting that tan line safely," Jemma says. "I feel pretty captivating, the look is eye-catching - especially the contrast between the darker skin and the white tan lines."Jemma is one of thousands extolling the virtues of tan lines, with posts notching up more than 200m views on alongside fake tanners like Jemma, there are just as many heading outdoors and under the hot sun, determined to create real tan lines - even if that means burning themselves and suffering the painful such as #sunburntanlines, #sunpoisoning and #sunstroke are popping up alongside videos of young men and women - some in tears - revealing deep red, almost purple, often puckered skin. Some are asking for help and advice, others actually want to show off their badly sunburned bodies. I've even seen one young woman proudly stating, "No pain no gain". Having a visible tan in Victorian times was a clear sign you were poor working class and probably spent most of your time hawking barrels of hay for very little the 1920s, a few freckles and a well-placed tan line would probably mean you had moved up a social class or two, and suggested health, wealth and luxurious the 1960s and 70s sun lovers were using cooking oil and reflective blankets to deepen their tans. But the links between ultraviolet (UV) radiation and skin cancer were becoming more widely known - and marked the beginning of a complex relationship with the desire to change our skin colour - and while tans are still sought after by millions of us, there is now little doubt a natural one carries with it a hefty element of risk. If someone had lectured Jak Howells about the risks of sunburn a few years ago those warnings would likely have fallen on deaf - and probably sunburnt - ears."I know it seems strange to be addicted to lying on a sunbed," the 26-year-old from Swansea says, "but I was."It began when Jak was 15, with a few of his older mates in school using them. By the time he was 19 Jak was on sunbeds five times a week, for 18-20 minutes at a time."My skin was so burned - my face looked like a beetroot. But I kept on going back for more," he says. "I knew in the back of my mind that there was a risk - I wasn't oblivious - but I didn't take it says he used to enjoy when people complimented him on how he looked and remarked on his tan."It gave me such a buzz, I loved it," he it was seeing the look of horror on his mum's face, as she examined a bleeding mole on his back, that made Jak realise his love of sunbeds had gone too far. Just before Christmas 2021, Jak was diagnosed with melanoma, one of the most dangerous types of skin cancer, which can spread to other parts of the followed, he says, were two years of "hell and horror". Jak had a complicated operation that involved surgeons cutting away two inches of skin from his lower back, chest and groin. But three months later the cancer was back. Jak then had immunotherapy - which uses the body's own immune system to fight the cancer - and was told if that didn't work, he had only a year to live."The sickness was horrific - I would lie in bed for days," Jak says. "It felt like I had been hit by a bus. I had such a damaged body, I was a shell of a human. I lived for the next scan, the next treatment." 'Massive backwards step' Melanoma skin cancer rates in the UK have increased by almost a third over the past decade. I asked Megan Fisher from Cancer Research UK why this is happening in an era where the risks posed by harmful rays from the sun and the links to skin cancer are now well known."It's partly down to those people who may have burnt several decades ago," she explains. "You only need to get sunburnt once every two years to triple your risk of getting skin cancer."As a population, we are growing older, so are "more likely to see more cancers" and "we are spotting them more quickly", she there are also concerns part of the increase could be down to the volume of misinformation doing the rounds online."We've taken a massive backwards step," says Dr Kate McCann, a preventative health specialist. "The message that the sun is good and sunscreen causes cancer is a complete loss of health literacy." She says the current trend to create tan lines by burning in the sun, coupled with false claims that suntan lotion is responsible for the very cancer it's trying to prevent is a "perfect storm"."If I see a child or a young person with sunburn now, I know they have an increased risk of cancer in 20 or 30 years."While there are some ingredients in suntan lotions - like oxybenzone - that can cause environmental damage to coral reefs, there is not evidence to suggest it poses a risk to humans, Dr McCann says."If you don't want to use a suntan lotion with certain chemicals there are plenty of more natural ones on the market - zinc and mineral based ones - but you can't just stop wearing sunscreen." As a young man Jak relished his tan lines. Now he says he's frightened by the sun and lathers himself up in SPF before even thinking about stepping the all clear from cancer in December 2022, he now has a career he loves making content and talking about his experiences to raise back he says he realises what happened to him was "probably self inflicted". "For a long time I blamed myself and I beat myself up about it," he says. "But I have been lucky enough to live through the consequences - and they were horrendous. So maybe now I feel like I've done my time."Back on TikTok, in her own way, beauty influencer and fake tanner Jemma is also trying to prevent others from going through what Jak did."Skin damage is real," she says. "We're not doing that." A list of organisations in the UK offering support and information with some of the issues in this story is available at BBC Action Line


BBC News
5 minutes ago
- BBC News
Bend It Like Beckham 'made me feel heard and seen'
Growing up, Simran Sandhu just wanted to play loved having a kick around the garden with her brothers, but her Punjabi dad wasn't keen on her joining a team. He didn't even like her playing FIFA on the PlayStation. Football was a boys' sport, he was jealous of her younger brothers, who were allowed to play on teams and who she spent her weekends watching from the sidelines. "Even when it came to just playing in the garden I'd noticed silly things like my dad would be paying more attention to my brother, passing the ball to him more," Simran, now 23, says. It wasn't until Simran was 14 that her dad let her join a around that time, she also first watched Bend It Like Beckham - and was surprised by how much Gurinder Chadha's 2002 film reflected her would point to Jesminder Bhamra, the film's main character, and say, "That's literally you", Simran says."When I heard the title, I didn't expect it to be so close to my heart. It made me feel heard and seen." 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"I'd never seen a brown girl on TV who represented me so well."Maz rented the film from Blockbuster in the early 2000s. It was a "mirror" of her life, she says. When she was young, her dad - himself a huge football fan - took her to a shop and told her she could pick any sport to start. But when she chose football, "he was like, 'Except for football, you can't play football, you should play tennis,'" Maz says. The concept of female footballers was "alien" to her dad, she says. "That conversation and that attitude impacted my confidence." Maz gave up her dream of some people of Indian heritage told the BBC the film represented their culture well, Northumbria University's Dr Aarti Ratna, who researches Asian representation in sport, says the film draws on some stereotypes and many South Asian female footballs do actually have enthusiastic was the case for Riya Mannu, who plays for Birmingham City FC."My dad didn't question it when I said I wanted to play," the 18-year-old says. 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"It was the first time I've ever seen something like that on TV."By the time she watched the film, in the early 2000s, Yasmin had already given up on the sport because she couldn't find a team with a female coach nearby. Before that, she'd been playing with brothers and his friends on the street, but "it was an environment my parents didn't feel that was appropriate or safe for me.""I knew that it's something that I won't be able to be doing long," Yasmin says. "It was just basically a matter of when it was I had to give it up. 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She hopes to give girls from South Asian communities the opportunities she didn't have when she was younger."Girls don't see it as a boys' sport anymore," she film's fans say they're excited for the sequel, which they hope will see Jess and Jules return to screens while marking the Lionesses' success, and hope will inspire a new generation of fans wonder if a sequel could live up to the original, though. "Another Bend It Like Beckham would be amazing," Riya says," but would it be as good as the first one?"


Daily Mail
5 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Marriage joy for Nathan Cleary and his family after the footy superstar and Mary Fowler shot down rumours about their romance
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