Harry Potter star ‘had swine flu’ (Use this Code 5XXXUKRA, and get 5% of all canvas art)

Harry Potter actor Rupert Grint is recovering from a “mild bout” of swine flu, his publicist has said.

Grint, who plays Ron Weasley, took a few days off filming but has now returned to the set of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

And he is well enough to attend the world premiere of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in London on Tuesday.

“He has now recovered and is looking forward to joining his fellow cast members,” his publicist said.

Scenes

She said that Grint’s doctor had confirmed the 20-year-old actor had recovered and was no longer contagious or at risk of infecting others.

“Other scenes were shot in his absence which did not require his involvement and thus filming was not disrupted,” she added.

Grint, who comes from Watton-at-Stone in Hertfordshire, has starred in all the Harry Potter films as well as British comedy film Thunderpants and the comedy drama Driving Lessons with Julie Walters.

He is currently filming Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – JK Rowling’s final book about the teenage wizard and his friends.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince is released in the UK on 15 July.

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Top Gear airship stunt goes wrong (Use this Code 5XXXUKRA, and get 5% of all canvas art)

Top Gear presenter James May escaped unhurt when an airship he was travelling in crash-landed in a field.

May was filming a feature for the TV show in which a caravan was attached to the bright orange airship and flown across Cambridgeshire.

It was supposed to land on a cricket pitch but strong winds blew it off course and it landed on its side in a farmer’s field near the A428.

Emergency services were on stand-by, but were not needed, the BBC said.

Eyewitness Peter Clarke told the Daily Mail newspaper the caravan-carrying airship was “a very strange sight”.

He said: “I understand they were planning to land on the village cricket green in the middle of a match.

“All the cricketers were there dressed in their whites waiting for it to appear, but it started drifting off in the wrong direction.

“The film crew were a bit fed up as they’d been hanging around the village all day waiting for the wind to drop so they could film.”

A spokeswoman for Top Gear confirmed May was uninjured, but refused to disclose any further details about the stunt.

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Record start for Great North Run (Use this Code 5XXXUKRA, and get 5% of all canvas art)

A record number of entrants have set off on the the 29th annual Great North Run on Tyneside.

Up to 54,000 people are taking part in the half-marathon between Newcastle and South Shields.

About 30,000 spectators are lining the route to cheer the participants to the finish line on Sunday.

Musician Sting and Ashes-winning England cricketer Steve Harmison sounded the starting gun for this year’s race.

Sting said: “It is so exciting to be here and the atmosphere is incredible.

“It is a perfect day with blue skies and everybody is smiling.”

Celebrity runners this year include chef Gordon Ramsey, EastEnders actors Kara Tointon and Joe Swash, and Hull City manager Phil Brown.

Sir Bobby Robson’s son Mark, who is running to raise funds for his late father’s cancer foundation, said: “He was the honorary starter for the race twice and I always remember him saying that his hand nearly fell off because he shook so many hands.

“He loved doing it and it is a great event”.

The event started with the elite wheelchair athletes at 1010 BST, followed by the elite women at 1015 BST, and the mass runners set off with the elite men at 1040 BST.

The first Great North Run took place in June 1981 with 12,770 runners.

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Elton says he wants to adopt boy (Use this Code 5XXXUKRA, and get 5% of all canvas art)

Sir Elton John has said he wants to adopt a toddler he met during a visit to an orphanage in Ukraine.

The 62-year-old singer had performed at the orphanage, where some of the children’s parents had died of Aids.

Sir Elton said during a news conference that he had always rejected the idea of adoption because of his age and his lifestyle of regularly being on tour.

But he said a 14-month-old boy called Lev had “stolen his heart” and forced him to consider a change of mind.

‘Wouldn’t be fair’

Sir Elton said he and partner David Furnish, 46, were asked whether they thought of adopting.

He said: “David and I have always talked about adoption, David always wanted to adopt a child and I always said ‘no’ because I am 62 and I think because of the travelling I do and the life I have, maybe it wouldn’t be fair for the child.

“But having seen Lev today, I would love to adopt him. I don’t know how we do that but he has stolen my heart. And he has stolen David’s heart and it would be wonderful if we can have a home. I’ve changed my mind today.”

The singer added that the death of his long-term keyboardist, Guy Babylon, had also influenced his decision.

“Last week I lost one of my best friends; my keyboard player died of a heart attack at 52.

“It broke my heart because he was such a genius and so young and has two wonderful children.

“What better opportunity to replace someone I lost than to replace him with someone I can give a future to.”

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Moyles sets breakfast DJ record (Use this Code 5XXXUKRA, and get 5% of all canvas art)

Chris Moyles has become the longest-serving breakfast DJ on BBC Radio 1.

The host, who took charge of the show in 2004, has overtaken a record set by Tony Blackburn more than 30 years ago.

Moyles has now clocked up 2,073 days in the job. He has also revealed that he took a 20% pay cut three months ago as a result of cost-cutting at the BBC.

“No-one likes to take a pay cut,” he told BBC News. “But I want to work at the BBC, which is trying to save some of its gazillions.”

Moyles and his team are celebrating the milestone in Plymouth, at the start of a tour of Britain. They will travel to Cardiff, Leeds and Glasgow before returning to London.

The 35-year-old joined the station in 1997, initially working in the 0400 slot.

But the self-styled “saviour of Radio 1″ never hid his ambition of landing what he considered to be the top job in radio.

Since taking over the breakfast slot from Sara Cox, Moyles’s time on air has been extended twice and he has boosted the show’s audience from 5.5 million listeners a week to the current level of 7.3 million.

His zoo-style format has won him a loyal audience, and his core team – co-presenter “Comedy” Dave Vitty, producers Rachel Jones and Aled Jones and newsreader Dominic Byrne – have been with him since the show started.

Sports reporter Carrie Davis replaced Juliette Ferrington in October 2004.

But Moyles’s career on the station has not been without controversy, and he has previously drawn fire for jokes about Auschwitz and gay singer Will Young.

In July, the DJ hit out at BBC red tape and the lengths that the corporation goes to not to cause upset.

Some critics have also questioned whether Moyles can keep in touch with the young listeners the Radio 1 aims to attract.

Tony Blackburn gave up the breakfast show up when 29, saying at the time he was married and “didn’t fit the image any more”.

Earlier this year BBC Radio 1 denied that it was preparing to replace Moyles.

“He has a hugely successful show with over seven million listeners,” a spokesman said at the time.

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Madonna explains Gypsy comments (Use this Code 5XXXUKRA, and get 5% of all canvas art)

Madonna has said she was “compelled” to comment on the discrimination of Romany Gypsies while on stage in Romania, despite being booed by fans.

The 51-year-old was jeered by the audience in Bucharest after saying the discrimination “made me feel very sad”.

Publicist Liz Rosenberg said Madonna made the comments after being made aware of the prejudice towards Romany people in eastern Europe.

The star uses a group of Roma musicians on her Sticky and Sweet tour.

Madonna paused during her two-hour show to say: “It has been brought to my attention, that there is a lot of discrimination against Romanies and Gypsies in general in Eastern Europe – it made me feel very sad.”

“We don’t believe in discrimination, we believe in freedom and equal rights for everyone.”

Jeers and cheers

The star then received more boos when she mentioned prejudice against homosexuals and others.

Rosenberg said Madonna had told her there were cheers as well as jeers from the 60,000-strong crowd.

“Madonna has been touring with a phenomenal troupe of Roma musicians who made her aware of the discrimination toward them in several countries so she felt compelled to make a brief statement,” she added.

Concert goer Ionut Dinu, 23, said: “I jeered her because it seemed false what she was telling us. What business does she have telling us these things?”

Romania has the largest number of Roma in eastern Europe.

Nearly half of Europe’s estimated 12 million Roma claimed to have suffered an act of discrimination over the past 12 months, according to a recent report by the EU Fundamental Rights Agency.

The agency says Roma face “overt discrimination” in housing, health care and education.

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Kylie to perform at Abba tribute (Use this Code 5XXXUKRA, and get 5% of all canvas art)

Kylie Minogue will give her only live UK performance this year at London’s Hyde Park in September, as part of an Abba tribute concert.

The singer, 41, will perform Super Trouper and will be joined on stage by Abba’s Benny Andersson for a rendition of When All Is Said And Done.

Abba’s Bjorn Ulvaeus will also perform at the 13 September show.

Other acts confirmed for the gig, organised by BBC Radio 2, include Lulu, Chaka Khan and The Feeling.

Minogue said: “The opportunity to perform classic Abba songs on stage with members of Abba really is a dream come true.

“Their music has played such a great part in my life from a very early age and I’m thrilled I’ll be able to share that with them personally.”

US tour

Thank You For The Music: A Celebration of the Music of Abba, which will be hosted by Chris Evans and broadcast live on Radio 2, will also feature jazz musician Jamie Cullum, former Texas lead singer Sharleen Spiteri and Elaine Paige.

The West End cast of Abba musical Mamma Mia! will also perform.

Minogue’s performance comes ahead of her first tour of North America, starting on 30 September in Oakland, California, and finishing at New York’s Hammerstein Ballroom on 13 October.

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The force is with him: Star Wars fan’s collection (Use this Code 5XXXUKRA, and get 5% of all canvas art)

A Swindon man with an obsession for Star Wars has decided to sell off his enormous collection of memorabilia.

Luke Kay (aka Luke Skywalker) has a unique hoard, which includes a life-sized storm trooper and an R2D2 replica. It has outgrown his living room and a huge storage vault.

He now wants to sell the lot, which could raise as much as a million pounds.

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Vault above Marilyn Monroe sold (Use this Code 5XXXUKRA, and get 5% of all canvas art)

The burial vault above the remains of Hollywood film star Marilyn Monroe has been sold for more than $4.6m (£2.8m).

More than 20 offers, starting at $500,000, were received for the space, located in the Westwood Village Memorial Park in Los Angeles.

The vault had been advertised on the auction website eBay by the widow of the current occupier.

The name of the buyer has not been revealed – except for the initials OS, used to take part in the auction.

‘Eternity’ advert

The space was auctioned by the widow of the man buried – face down – above Monroe, to raise enough cash to pay off the mortgage on her Beverly Hills home, the Los Angeles Times reported earlier this month.

His remains would be moved sideways to a neighbouring plot to make room for the new occupant, said widow Elsie Poncher.

Her eBay advert was entitled “Spend eternity directly above Marilyn Monroe“.

Richard Poncher died 23 years ago at the age of 81.

The Westwood Village Memorial Park is the final resting place for many celebrities, including Dean Martin, Natalie Wood, Truman Capote and Farrah Fawcett.

The space next to Monroe’s vault was sold in 1992 to the publisher of Playboy magazine, Hugh Hefner, for $75,000.

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Flintoff wants England domination (Use this Code 5XXXUKRA, and get 5% of all canvas art)

Andrew Flintoff has challenged the England players to prove they are the best in the world after retiring from Test cricket with an Ashes victory.

England defeated Australia at The Oval to seal a 2-1 series win and ensured Flintoff ended his career on a high.

“There is no reason they cannot be the best. They have got a fantastic captain and (are) a talented team,” he said.

“If there’s any lesson to learn from 2005 now, it’s to go for domination, try to get to number one in the world.”

The 31-year-old continued: “We’ve got the talent, we’ve got the side to do it. It’s just a case of believing it and putting it into practice.

“One comforting thing is, having seen the past five Test matches, is that I’ll disappear and the England side will be in good hands.

“The likes of Jonathan Trott coming in and everybody’s forgetting about Kevin Pietersen. Our best player has not played the bulk of this Test series. So the future of the side is in good hands.”

Flintoff, who played 78 Tests in an 11-year career, taking 225 wickets and scoring 3,816 runs, was also a key member of the triumphant 2005 team and he said: “I loved playing Test cricket – it feels strange talking about it in the past tense.

“It’s one of those things you don’t want to end – but like all things it comes to an end at some point and I couldn’t ask for a better way for it to finish.

“To win the Ashes twice is everything. I’m proud to be English and represent my country and I feel very fortunate to do it on and off for the last 10, 11 years or so.”

Flintoff’s Test career was undermined by a series of injuries and he visibly struggled through the recently completed Ashes series. He was left out of the fourth Test at Headingley and bowled at well below full pace at The Oval.

He categorically ruled out any possibility of a return to the Test arena in the future.

“I have made my decision, or rather the decision has been made for me,” added Flintoff.

“I have had all these operations – bowling and Test cricket do not seem to match. Now I am setting my sights on being the best one-day player in the world.”

Flintoff was the Man of the Series in 2005 as England defeated Australia 2-1, a result that sparked huge celebrations.

Television shots the day after the victory was clinched showed the all-rounder looking visibly worse for wear, but he was keen to stress his enjoyment had been more low key in 2009.

“I remember 2005 – contrary to popular belief – 2005 was fantastic, it almost snuck up on us,” said Flintoff.

“I lived for the moment then and celebrated hard. But this time it was something which I savoured.

“It was quite nice – all the families came over. I sat with my wife and my kids, my dad who has done so much for me throughout my career.

“I was able to have a beer with my dad. It was very different but in a lot of ways far more enjoyable.”

Stuart Broad won the Man of the Match award in the decisive final Test following a destructive spell of 5-37 as Australia were bowled out for 160 in their first innings.

The Nottinghamshire player also scored 37 and 29 batting at number eight – prompting suggestions that he could fill Flintoff’s role as England’s all-rounder.

“He’s better than me in a lot of ways,” said Flintoff of Broad.

“He’s only 23 and he’s performing at the highest level. Broady has a lot of potential but he’s already showing it. Changing the course of the game at such a young age is very special.

“We have also seen signs of what he can do with the bat. He’s not the finished article but he has huge potential. He could bat at number three in the future.”

Flintoff’s close friend Steve Harmison took 3-54 in the second innings on Sunday as England won by 197 – and afterwards the Durham bowler said he was unsure about his Test future.

However, Flintoff is confident that Harmison can go on to become one of his country’s all-time leading wicket takers.

“If I was Steve Harmison and could bowl like that I would keep going,” he added.

“If you ask any batsman in the world ‘who do you not want to face’ it would be Steve Harmison.

“He could end up being one of the greats for England. He could go on to be our leading wicket-taker of all time. If he wants to, there is still a lot more to come.”

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