A £1 House in U.K.

Homes in Stoke-on-Trent which can be bought for just £1

More than 600 people are interested in buying rundown homes in Stoke-on-Trent for £1 each, the city council has said.

Thirty-five derelict homes, mainly two-bedroom terraced properties, will initially be sold off in the Cobridge area, with a further 89 to follow.

Under the £3m project, the local authority is offering loans of up to £30,000 to help complete essential repairs on the houses.

Applications opened for potential buyers on Monday.

People have until 12 May to apply for one.

Stoke-on-Trent City Council said the initial 35 homes would be randomly allocated to the successful applicants.

The majority are two-bedroom, but there are also a few three-bedroom houses and possibly some flats.

Anyone applying must have lived in the city for the past three years.

Other criteria they must satisfy include:

    A joint income of £18,000 to £25,000 a year – £30,000 maximum if they have children
    Applicants must have been employed for the past two years
    They must not own another property
    They must have the right to live permanently in the UK
    The new house must be their main home for at least five years

‘Community spirit’

Anyone taking out the £30,000 loan would have to pay it back within 10 years at an interest rate of 3% above the Bank of England base rate, which currently stands at 0.5%.

If the house is sold within 10 years, a proportion of any profit must be paid to the council on a sliding scale.

In return for buying the properties, people will be required to renovate them and bring them back into use.

Councillor Janine Bridges, responsible for housing, said the scheme would “see a rundown area of the city transformed”.

She added: “The project will not only benefit the residents who are currently living next door to properties that have been vacant for some time, it will also give families moving into the homes the chance to take their first step on the property ladder.”

The council said it hoped to “build a community spirit” in the area and create “thriving neighbourhoods”.

However, Steph Dunn-Fox, from Stoke-on-Trent-based estate agents findahomeonline.co.uk, said Cobridge was presently an unattractive area for home buyers and was “full of empty homes”.

She said: “I think it’s a great idea in principle and they’re probably thinking it’ll appeal most to first-time buyers.

“It’s the sort of area and offer that could appeal to property developers, but they’re excluded from this.

“It’s difficult – unless you’re from the area, who wants to live on a rundown street, carry out a lot of work and know you have to stay there for at least five years?”

She said she could see a typical terrace house redeveloped in a good condition reaching a maximum of £55,000 to £60,000 on the market.

Last month, Liverpool City Council said more than 2,000 people had been in touch about buying 20 homes there during the week they were on offer for £1.

By: Unknown On 18.00

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The Top Secrets How To Slim Down Forever

Dead student's family call for clampdown on slimming drug

Sarah Houston, 23, died after taking banned dinitrophenol (DNP), which she ordered online, alongside antidepressants

Sarah Houston was studying medicine at the University of Leeds at the time of her death last September. Photograph: Christopher Thomond

A coroner and the family of a medical student suffering from bulimia who died after taking a banned weight-loss drug bought online have called for a change in the law to further tighten the distribution of the substance, which has been blamed for other deaths.

Dr Graham Mould, a forensic toxicologist, told an inquest into the death of Sarah Houston, 23, that a combination of dinitrophenol (DNP), which is banned from human consumption but is used as a chemical pesticide, and antidepressants may have been fatal.

DNP, which was first used to treat obesity in the 1930s but was banned as a food substance due to its dangerous side effects, continues to be used as a slimming aid by bodybuilders around the world. It was linked to 62 deaths in a study published last year in the Journal of Medical Toxicity.

The University of Leeds medical student, who comes from a family of doctors, is believed to have been taking the drug secretly alongside a prescribed antidepressant Fluoxetine. Houston was found dead in her bedroom by a flatmate.

The inquest in Wakefield heard she had complained of feeling hot and unwell and had been breathing heavily on the evening before she died in September last year.

Mould said there was no evidence of an overdose. "We don't know how long Sarah had been taking DNP but it may have accumulated in her system," he said. "It increases the body's metabolic rate. The side effects can be overheating and breathlessness caused by an increased heart rate and this seems to be consistent with how Sarah was feeling that evening.

"The side effects of DNP were clearly present and it's possible that Fluoxetine may have exacerbated the affect of DNP. At a very high dose, Fluoxetine can have a similar affect to DNP and so one can speculate that the two drugs together might have speeded up the affect."

Mould pointed out that the Food Standards Agency had previously issued a report warning the public not to take DNP.

Coroner David Hinchliff said: "The only way to combat the use of DNP is to bring to the attention of the public how dangerous a substance it is.

"This is not a one-off case and it needs bringing to the public's attention."

Outside court, Houston's family said she was not depressed at the time she died and her health had improved leading up to her death. In a statement, they said that it was incomprehensible that DNP could be purchased over the internet and called on the government to take steps to ensure that no other family suffered in the same way in future.

"It's going to be a slow process, but hopefully approaching the Home Office to begin with will be the right step and hopefully it will be made illegal," said Sarah's father, Geoff Houston. "For those who are selling it, if you have any ounce of decency you must stop."

The coroner recorded a verdict of death by misadventure.

By: Unknown On 00.16

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Roman gold in the City of London

‘Unparalleled’ Roman artefacts found in London

Artefacts “unparalleled in the Roman world” have been unearthed at London’s biggest archaeological dig for 20 years, shedding new light on the mercantile and social roots of the capital.

Up to 60 staff from Museum of London Archaeology have been digging since September at Bloomberg Place, a three-acre site in the heart of the City of London that will become the European headquarters of the media group.

About 8,000 objects have been found at the site, which the archaeologists have dubbed “the Pompeii of the north”. These include a hoard of pewter, fine leather upholstery and footwear, inked writing tablets and shoulder-high oak walls that channelled the Walbrook river which once ran through the area.

Though this tributary of the river Thames no longer flows, the waterlogged earth was crucial in keeping the leather, wooden and wicker objects in a remarkable state of preservation.

Among the hundreds of shoes found were cork-soled slippers used on the stone floors heated by Roman hypocausts, flip-flop style sandals and carbatina – footwear made from a single piece of leather.

But the artefact that has set archaeologists’ pulses racing is a large panel of leather upholstery that may have been used as the equivalent of a dashboard on a Roman horse-drawn chariot. Consisting of five stitched layers of leather, the 1.2m piece is decorated with an image of a warrior on a chariot flanked by two “hippocamps” – half-horse, half-fish creatures of Roman myth.

Staff said European museums could find nothing with which to compare the object. Michael Marshall, a Museum of London archaeologist, said: “It’s completely unparalleled in the Roman world.”

The scale of commerce in Roman London is also revealed by a mass of industrial spoil, including the offcuts from leather and metal working and evidence of a large mill that may have been powered by the Walbrook.

Mr Marshall said: “It is going to tell us a massive amount about the local Roman economy.”

With finds dating from the entire period of the Roman occupation of Britain, which lasted from AD43 to AD410, the dig also boasts the biggest haul from a single site of “fist and phallus” amulets – popular effigies thought to ward off evil – with 20 recovered for analysis.

Large parts of the Bloomberg site were also excavated in 1954, when archaeologists discovered the foundations of a Roman temple of Mithras.

But modern techniques mean far more will be saved this time than in the earlier digs, enriching academic understanding of the Roman occupation of London. “We’ve only looked so far at about 1,000 objects from the site, so much of the story has yet to be told,” said Mr Marshall.

The remains of the Mithras temple, dismantled for the current construction work, will be rerebuilt under the Bloomberg building to form part of a permanent exhibition also featuring objects from the dig.

Under the rules governing archaeological finds, Bloomberg – which is majority-owned by Michael Bloomberg, mayor of New York – owns the artefacts retrieved from the site.

While the media group said no decision had been taken, large-scale finds in the capital have previously been donated to the Museum of London by their corporate owners after analysis and research has been completed.

By: Unknown On 03.42

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The World's Longest Bus Route

Birmingham to Kashmir by bus

Plans have been announced to launch a bus service between Birmingham and Mirpur in Pakistan, known as "Little Birmingham".

It promises to be Britain’s longest bus route – all the way from Birmingham to Kashmir almost 4,000 miles away.

Plans have been drawn up for a bus service between the West Midlands and Mirpur, nicknamed “Little Birmingham” because of close historical and family ties between the two cities.

The Mirpur region’s transport chief Tahir Khokher says the route will span seven countries including Iran and Pakistan – and include stopovers in Quetta, near the Afghan border, and the Iranian capital Tehran.

Tickets for the 12-day trip are expected to cost £130, a saving of around £450 on the average air fare.

Birmingham is home to the world’s largest population of Kashmiri expatriates, many having emigrated from Mirpur in the 1960s after being displaced by the building of a dam.

Mr Khokher says he hoped the service would strengthen ties and tourism between the two cities. “We are proposing to run four luxury buses once a fortnight,” he said. “The Kashmir government will also set up a swift counter system to hasten the visa process for those who don’t have a British passport.”

The plans were welcomed last night by by Khalid Mahmood, a Birmingham Labour MP whose family originates from Mirpur. “It’s a great idea that will bring the two cities closer together and be a real life experience, particularly for younger people,” he said.

His views were echoed by Mohammed Nazam, a city councillor, who said earlier generations often made the trip from Britain to Pakistan by road. “In the 1970s and 1980s people would drive a van from the UK to Kashmir and it would take about 10 or 12 days of hard driving, day and night,” he said. “Even in those days it was a real adventure. But the world isn’t as safe a place as it used to be.”

Mr Khokher dismissed security concerns, particularly those surrounding the volatile city of Quetta, where top Taliban commanders are believed to be in hiding. “I don’t feel it will be a problem,” he said. “The government is responsible for security.

“Barring one or two instances in Quetta, the overall situation is good to go.”

By: Unknown On 03.09

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Eat Noodles Everyday for 13 years

Teen's Strange Ramen Addiction

Ramen-style noodles, a staple in the pantry of broke college students, has been the mainstay of one teenager's diet for the past 13 years, according to an article in the New York Daily News.

Georgi Readman, 18, of the Isle of Wight, U.K., refuses to eat fruit and vegetables and exists solely on packaged noodle soup, a snack that often contains high amounts of fat, saturated fat, and sodium. One package typically boasts 400 calories and 20 grams of fat.

Readman, who is 5'3'' and 98 pounds, told the Daily News that she became hooked on the noodles when she was five-years-old and her mother still buys her packages by the dozens. She estimates eating 30 miles of noodles per year and the thought of eating anything else makes her sick.

“I hate the texture of fruit and vegetables," she said. “I can’t go to my friends' for dinner or go out for meals because I don’t want them to see me freak out if the side salad touches the stuff I eat. Mum goes to the supermarket and brings back as many packets as she can afford. I always fancy noodles and could easily eat two packets at once. I’ve even eaten them dry and uncooked before!”

Many children develop picky eating patterns after they turn one because their bodies naturally need less food and their taste buds change so they become more opinionated and selective about what they eat. Plus, at that age they're often on the go so it can be hard to get them to sit down for properly balanced meals. And although parents might give in to the demands of their children because it's easier than arguing about food, one recent study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that 78 percent of picky eating habits can be attributed to genetics (only 22 percent are caused by environmental factors).

Readman could not be reached for comment but according to her doctors, she is malnourished and has the health of an 80 year old.

"That sounds like an accurate assessment," says Lisa Kaufman, a pediatrician at Village Pediatrics who has not treated Readman. "A diet of instant noodles has likely wreaked incredible amounts of havoc on her organs. The body—especially one that's still developing—needs protein, minerals, and nutrients to grow; that's just basic common sense. Without it, this girl has probably suffered stunted growth and IQ, osteoporosis, heart and kidney damage, and high blood pressure. Her lifespan has likely been shortened as well."

Kaufman adds, "Kids would eat ice cream every day if they could but it's the parent's responsibility to broaden their palates, introducing various foods and textures to them."

At 18 years old, Readman's eating habits are so ingrained that it would likely take a major mental and physical overhaul to improve her health. "In order to get off the noodles, she may need hospitalization and an education in nutrition," says Kaufman.

By: Unknown On 03.01

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The World's Most Valuable Real Estate

A Slice of London So Exclusive Even the Owners Are Visitors

Central London is home to some of the world’s most valuable real estate, including the Belgravia district.

LONDON — An odd thing was happening, or rather not happening, as dusk fell the other day across Belgravia, home to some of the world’s most valuable real estate: almost no one seemed to be coming home. Perhaps half the windows were dark.

It seems that practically the only people who can afford to live there don’t actually want to. Last year, the real estate firm Savills found that at least 37 percent of people buying property in the most expensive neighborhoods of central London did not intend them to be primary residences.

“Belgravia is becoming a village with fewer and fewer people in it,” said Alistair Boscawen, a local real estate agent. He works in “the nuts area” of London, as he put it, “where the house prices are bonkers” — anywhere from $7.5 million to $75 million, he said.

The buyers, increasingly, are superwealthy foreigners from places like Russia, Kazakhstan, Southeast Asia and India. For them, London is just a stop in a peripatetic international existence that might also include New York, Moscow and Monaco.

Along Elizabeth Street, home to a Poilâne bakery outlet and tony boutiques, foot traffic the other day was very slow. A Belgravia resident from Colombia, who was shopping at a pet store where dog beds go for $358 and cat blankets for $289, said that there were two English people along her street, and that it was hard to tell whether many of her neighbors were there or not there.

“French, American, Petra Ecclestone” — that would be the daughter of the Formula One impresarioBernie Ecclestone — “and Russians,” said the resident, considering those closest to her. She asked that her name not be used because, she said, she was scared of the Russians on the corner.

London is not the only city where the world’s richest people leave their expensive properties vacant while they stay in their expensive properties someplace else; the same is true in parts of Manhattan. But the difference is that so many of them here are foreign, and that they look to be buying up entire neighborhoods.

“Many areas of central London have become prohibitively expensive for local residents,” a recent report by the Smith Institute, a research group in London, said recently.

Paul Dimoldenberg, leader of the Labour opposition in Westminster Council, said the situation had reached a “tipping point” and was starting to concern lawmakers.

“Some of the richest people in the world are buying property here as an investment,” he said. “They may live here for a fortnight in the summer, but for the rest of the year they’re contributing nothing to the local economy. The specter of new buildings where there are no lights on is a real problem.”

In its report, Savills found that in 2011-12, 34 percent of people buying residential properties in the resale market in prime areas of London — places like Kensington, Chelsea and Mayfair as well as Belgravia — were from overseas, up from 24 percent in pre-crisis 2007. In the most exclusive spots, foreigners accounted for 59 percent of the sales.

This has made parts of London more international, more expensive and more empty. The salesclerk at a Belgravia clothing boutique, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity because she did not want to get in trouble, said that at some times of the year the area was virtually abandoned. “We’ll shut for the whole of August,” she said.

Many foreign purchasers are buying to rent, said Naomi Heaton, chief executive of London Central Portfolio, which represents high-end buyers. “There is a definite concern about ‘lights out London,' ” she said, “but the reality is that half of what is bought is bought for rental.”

But not at the top end, said Yolande Barnes of Savills.

“The very wealthy won’t rent their houses out. Why would they?” she asked rhetorically. “It’s more like buying their own private hotel, really — an alternative to living in a suite at the Dorchester.”

Meanwhile, prices are rising beyond expectation. For single-family housing in the prime areas of London, British buyers spend an average of $2.25 million, Ms. Barnes said, while foreign buyers spend an average of $3.75 million, which increases to $7.5 million if they are from Russia or the Middle East.

Of newly developed properties in what are considered “ultraprime” apartment complexes, those offering hotel-style amenities and apartments priced at more than $7.5 million, 78 percent of purchases last year were made by foreigners, the report said. Brokers are marketing new properties abroad in places like Hong Kong and Singapore even before advertising in Britain, as they did for Cornwall Terrace, a development at the edge of Regent’s Park where houses are priced at $45 million to $87 million.

The most visible, and also the most notorious, of the new developments is One Hyde Park, a $1.7 billion apartment building of stratospheric opulence on a prime corner in Knightsbridge, near Harvey Nichols, the park and the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, which functions as a 24-hour concierge service for residents. Apartments there have been purchased mostly by foreign buyers who hide their identities behind murky offshore companies registered to tax havens like the Isle of Man and the Cayman Islands.

It is rare to see anyone coming to or going from the complex, and British newspapers have been trying since it opened two years ago to discover who lives there. Vanity Fair reported recently that as far as it could discern after a long trawl through records, the owners seem to include a cast of characters who might have come from a poker game in a James Bond movie: a Russian property magnate, a Nigerian telecommunications tycoon, the richest man in Ukraine, a Kazakh copper billionaire, someone who may or may not be a Kazkh singer and the head of finance for the emirate of Sharjah.

One resident, Rinat Akhmetov, the Ukrainian, paid $204 million for two penthouse apartments that he combined into one, at a reported additional cost of some $90 million.

According to The Sunday Times of London, only 17 of 76 apartments, which have been sold for a total of $4 billion, are registered as primary residences, which means that the owners pay only negligible “second home” taxes of a few thousand dollars a year. Mr. Dimoldenberg called the building “London’s Mary Celeste” and said it “contributes nothing to local businesses or London’s economy.”

London’s housing market is at odds with that in the rest of the country, floundering since the 2008 crisis and now hit by a new wave of austerity-driven budget cuts. While housing prices outside the city fell by 10 percent in the last five years, inside London they increased by 21 percent. In Mayfair alone, they rose by 30 percent. A house in Chester Square that sold for $2.4 million as a long-term lease in 1987, Mr. Boscawen said, sold last year, as an outright purchase, for $48 million.

An American who lived for 20 years in a multimillion-dollar apartment in Belgrave Place, and who did not want her name used for fear of alienating her old neighbors, said the quiet could become oppressive.

Most of her neighbors seemed to be away most of the time, and she never met any of them. “So I was kind of excited when a Russian family moved in across the street,” she said. “I put a welcoming note through their letterbox, introducing myself.”

The neighbors invited her to their Christmas party, where she ate caviar, drank vodka and listened to Russian classical music. “I tried to meet people, but they didn’t speak much English,” she continued. “Anyway, that was the last I saw of my neighbors. I think they spend most of their time in Palm Beach.”

By: Unknown On 01.59

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A Girl Raised By Monkeys

Kidnapped, dumped in the jungle and raised by monkeys: The story of a little girl wrenched from her family and brought up in the wild who only revealed her tale 50 years later as a Bradford housewife
    Marina Chapman tells riveting story exclusively with The Mail On Sunday
    She was abandoned aged four in South American rainforest by kidnappers
    Mrs Chapman copied monkeys' eating habits and learned to climb trees
    A monkey cured her stomach pain by encouraging her drink from a river

Jungle behaviour: Marina's daughter Vanessa describes a 'normal' family walk as one which includes her mother climbing trees


It is an amazing – some might say unbelievable – tale: how a Yorkshire housewife spent five years as a young child being raised by monkeys in the Colombian jungle. Yet experts have found no evidence that Marina Chapman's story is a fantasy – and now she has told it for the first time, in riveting detail.

In a new book, exclusively serialised by The Mail on Sunday from today, Mrs Chapman reveals how a colony of capuchins taught her how to survive after she was abandoned in the rainforest by kidnappers who botched her abduction. She copied the monkeys' eating habits and high-pitched cries and even learned to climb trees, though she slept in a hollowed-out tree trunk at night.

Mrs Chapman's story – which has echoes of the Tarzan tales – began in the Fifties when she was drugged and abducted from her Colombian home at the age of four. Here, she recalls the moment her young life was torn apart, and the ‘human’ kindness of the apes who saved her...

Playing on the vegetable patch at the end of our garden at my home in Colombia, I was in my own  special place, my little world where I loved to spend my days. It was 1954, or at least I now think it was. Lost in my activity, I was oblivious to others and everything happened so quickly that fateful day.

One minute I was squatting on the bare earth, playing, preoccupied. The next, I saw the flash of a black hand and white cloth, which covered my face. As I jerked in  surprise and terror, there was the sharp smell of a chemical. My last thought as I began to slip into unconsciousness was a simple one:  I was going to die.

I don’t know how long it was before the faintest sensations of consciousness began to return. I heard the noise of an engine. I rea-lised I was in the back of a truck. And I wasn’t alone. I could hear crying and whimpering and anguished sobs. There were other children in the truck – terrified children, just like me. I slipped back into unconsciousness.

I had no sense of how much time might have passed when I woke next. The ground around me seemed to be shaking, and I realised I was being carried by an adult. Another man was running with us.

We plunged on further into the depths of the forests until the man hauled me roughly off his shoulder and dumped me on the ground. Dazed, I tried to scramble up and see who had carried me, but all I could see were two pairs of long legs running away and soon they were lost in the gloom. I had no idea where I was, why I was there or when someone would rescue me. The darkness deepened  and the eerie night sounds of the jungle were terrifying.

I was nearly five years old, helpless, abandoned and so frightened of being alone. How could I possibly survive?


It was the searing heat of the sun that woke me, and I opened my eyes to the realisation of where I lay. This was the jungle.

Memories of the previous evening came rushing into my head. I stumbled to my feet and began searching for a way to escape. But where to go?

As I span around, I saw only trees, trees and more trees.  I trailed disconsolately around, crying and wondering why my mother had not come to find me. As the daylight faded to dusk I knew I would have to spend the night amid the jungle beasts.

The next day, I was wakened by the pain in my stomach. I was hungry and I needed to find something to eat. I curled up on the ground in despair. I wanted to die. I then dozed off and when I woke I opened one eye, and what I saw almost stopped me from opening it any further. I had company. In fact, I was surrounded.

At a distance of several paces were monkeys staring at me.  After a short time, one of the monkeys left the circle and approached me. Afraid, I shrank back into a ball, trying to make myself as tiny as possible.

He reached out a wrinkly brown hand and with one firm push, rolled me over on to my side.  I quivered on the soil, tensed  for the second blow that was surely coming.

But it didn’t – the monkey had lost interest. He had now returned to the circle, squatted back on his hind legs and resumed watching me, along with all the others.

Then they all seemed to want to inspect me. They had been chattering to one another and some had come to check me over.

They began to prod and push me, grabbing at my filthy dress and digging around in my hair. I pleaded, sobbing: ‘Get off me! Go away!’ But I had to wait, cowering and whimpering, until they’d finished their inspection.

Yet I was mesmerised. There was something about the way they seemed to enjoy oneanother’s company that made them feel like a family. And whatever else the monkeys were doing, they seemed to be constantly feeding. I needed to do that too, or I would die.

Startled by a siren shriek from above me, I looked up to see a small monkey swooping from one tree to a smaller one nearby, from which hung banana-like bunches of fruit.

The fruits looked unripe, about the size of my finger, and were an unappetising shade of green. As the monkey dropped a bunch in his haste to grab a handful, I snatched them up from the forest floor.

I watched a nearby monkey who was feasting on the contents and copied him. I looked around to find a stick and had soon snagged another small bunch for myself. I had found company and felt my spirits lifting just a little.

Soon I had spent my third night in the jungle with the monkeys. There were more of my new companions than I’d first seen – looking back now, perhaps 30.

They slept high up in the canopy, while I had to be content with curling up on the bare earth far beneath them, between two shrubs.

Just knowing they were there made me feel a little safer. As the night came rushing down, the sound of them calling to one another gave me comfort.

Figs seemed to be prized over any other foodstuff, and a monkey with figs was a monkey who was hounded.

But life in the jungle during those first days wasn’t just about feeding or grooming. It was also about survival. To my new family, this meant having territory, and defending it.

The first time I saw the  monkeys fight with intruders, I was terrified. One minute they were playing, the next there was the crash and clatter of breaking branches as they massed in  the canopy.

The sound of the violence above me was petrifying, the noise of their screams as they fought so intense and horrific that I hid under a bush, clamping my hands over my ears.

When they came down again,  I was shocked by the sight of the blood around many of their mouths. I was in a dangerous place, but when I thought about how the monkeys had treated me, I decided they must have accepted that I posed no threat.

What I remember most clearly from that time is the feeling of incredible loneliness.

Day after day passed, and still there was no sign of my parents. There was no sign of anyone.

My hope of rescue was fading as fast as the flower pattern on my dress. I imitated the noises the monkeys made for my own amusement, though probably also for the comfort of hearing the sound of my own voice.

But I soon realised that sometimes a monkey – or several monkeys – would respond. So I practised the sounds that they made, desperate for a reaction. If there was an immediate danger their call would be even higher – a sharp, high-pitched scream, which was usually accompanied by the slapping of hands on the ground.

They would then scamper up to the safety of the canopy, leaving me scared and panicky, trying to find a safe place on the ground. All the time I was growing filthier and filthier, and found myself scratching more and more. Like the monkeys, I became home for all manner of little creatures. Not only was my skin growing drier and scalier, I was also soon crawling with fleas.

I suppose it was inevitable that I would fall ill and when I did I was sure I was going to die – but it marked a turning point in my  relationship with my monkey family, after which I was truly one  of them.


The pain was overwhelming, causing me to clutch my stomach and whimper. The day before, I had eaten tamarind, one of my favourite choices, but even as I’d tasted it, I’d known it wasn’t the usual tamarind.

As I writhed, I saw that sympathy might be at hand. Though my vision swam, I could see Grandpa monkey. I’d called him that simply because that’s what he looked like, with the same sprinklings of white fur that triggered a distant memory of the few old people I’d encountered in my former life.

He jumped down from the tree he most liked to sit in and approached me. He squeezed my arm firmly, then began shaking me slightly, shoving me, as if determined to herd me somewhere else. He was  purposeful, and I half-crawled, half-stumbled into the foliage, in the direction his repeated shovings wanted me to go.

And then suddenly, I was falling – tumbling over and over, down a mossy, rocky bank, which was running with cool water. I ended up in a little basin below.

But Grandpa monkey seemed intent on putting my head under, keeping a tight grip on my hair. Was he trying to drown me? Or trying to make me drink the water?

I struggled, heaving myself away from him and slapping the surface of the pool, splashing him, and as I did so he yanked my face up and looked me straight in the eyes. As I looked back at him, I could see something I hadn’t before. His expression was completely calm, rather than angry, agitated or  hostile. Perhaps he was trying to tell me something.

In that instant I trusted him. The look in his eyes and the calmness in his movements made me realise he was trying to help me.

I did as he seemed to want. I went under and drank in great mouthfuls of muddy water, feeling it force its way up my nose.

Grandpa monkey let go of me. I scrambled out and collapsed face-down on the ground. I began coughing again and then vomiting – great heaving gouts of acid liquid that burned my throat.

The purging worked. Gradually, I felt able to make my way slowly back towards our territory. Grandpa monkey, seeming satisfied with his efforts, turned and scuttled off ahead of me, back to his tree. From that point on, Grandpa monkey’s attitude changed completely. Where once he’d been indifferent and then wary, he now felt like both my  protector and my friend.

At the time, I didn’t give them names – I had no such concept – but now, when I look back, I remember them as individuals and so have given them names.

There was Grandpa, of course, energetic Spot, gentle, loving Brownie, and timid White-Tip, one of the little ones, who seemed to love me and who would often jump on to my back, throw her arms around my neck and enjoy being carried.

Perhaps my favourite – aside from Grandpa – was Mia. She was affectionate, but unlike him she was also shy. I first won her round when I got cross about the way she was sometimes bullied and I would use my size to stop some of the more aggressive young monkeys from poking her and pushing her around.

Now I felt more accepted, I became determined to learn how to climb to the top of the tree canopy, to join my monkey family in their natural domain. Day after day, I would try to climb the shorter, slimmer trees. I fell often but I didn’t let my  failures deter me.

I grew stronger, the muscles in my arms and legs developing and becoming sinewy, while the skin on my hands and feet, elbows, knees and ankles was dry and leathery.

I will remember the day I reached the canopy for the rest of my life. The view was breathtaking – literally. The rush of cool air up there was such a shock to me that it made me gasp.

The monkeys were, of course, indifferent, showing no interest in the fact that I was suddenly up there with them. But I couldn’t have been more excited. So here was where they most liked to be. I had now become fully part of their world.

There were few moments that the monkeys didn’t spend together, whether grooming or playing or communicating in some other way. Now I could go where they went, communicate with them and play.

I was just happy to be one of them, to feel included. There were still nights when I was overcome by what I’d lost and wept for hours. But as the months rolled by, curled up in my little ball, in a hollowed-out piece of tree trunk, with the comforting, familiar sound of the monkeys up above me, I was gradually turning into one of them.

Time had no meaning to me, but I can’t think I had been in the jungle for more than three years when memories of my earlier life came clamouring back.

I had started to explore and was rewarded one day by the discovery of a territory that belonged to a whole new species. I could see three huts – large and circular, with roofs made from long grass. The sight of them created a sort of yearning in my heart. I had forgotten so much. I could see people – a family. A human family. And I was human, too.

From then on my life became focused. Though I’d scamper back to my monkey troop at around nightfall, most of my waking hours were now spent at the camp. I would carefully climb up into a tree close to the perimeter and spend hours, a silent wraith, just looking on. I would gaze at tantalising scenes: children  playing, fires lit, all the family together. How wonderful it would be, I thought, to be one of those cherished children.

One day I stepped out from the scrubby undergrowth and planted my feet on the beaten sandy earth of the camp. Beside a water butt was a woman, a mother of a newborn  baby. My heart leapt at the sight of her. What an intense thing it is, this human need to be loved. It’s one  of the most profound things that make social animals social – monkeys too.

But as she looked into my eyes, all I could see in hers was fear. She began stumbling in panic, shouting at me, and as I tried to make myself as small and submissive as I could, a well-built man came running from one of the huts.

He wore a fabric headband with a pair of feathers – one was a vivid, gorgeous blue, the other a deep green, and brightly coloured jewellery made from beads. He also had two stripes – one red and beneath it one black – daubed across  his cheeks.

Now it was my turn to be terrified, because he placed a strong hand on one of my shoulders, while his other hand grasped my face and pulled it forwards.

While my heart thumped in my chest, he opened my mouth to inspect my teeth. The job done, he simply shooed me away. I was  devastated. I tried begging to him, making gestures to convey my wish for food and shelter.

But my voice and actions were those of a monkey, not a child. He took not the slightest notice and I slunk away into the jungle once more, feeling wretched.

I learned a valuable lesson that day – and an enduring one. Family is found anywhere you are loved and cared for. And I’d been so disloyal to the monkeys. I realised I must put all thoughts of humans firmly out of my mind.

The monkeys, not the humans, were my family.

YOU ONLY HAVE TO MEET HER TO KNOW THAT IT IS TRUE

Did I believe it? I wasn’t sure, writes Lynne Barrett-Lee, co-author of Marina Chapman’s book The Girl With No Name. Of the many stories I have been asked to consider ghostwriting, this one was singular: the story of a woman who’d been raised, in part, by monkeys – or so they said.

I had read some of the material, but the one thing that would clinch it was a face-to-face meeting. It took only a few seconds for me to trust Marina’s story.

It was important to establish such facts as were known. It was essential that the detail was correct.

Here, her daughter Vanessa James had done a brilliant job, spending many hours with Marina, homing in on memories, then cross-checking against images of indigenous species. Vanessa ascertained that the monkeys were probably weeper capuchins, Marina ate guava, and the trees shed brazil nuts and figs.

It has been known for monkeys to accept young humans in their fold. In 1996, a two-year-old Nigerian boy was found living with chimps.

Expert analysis of Marina’s case has found no evidence of obvious fraud or fantasy.
National Geographic and Animal Planet have now commissioned a documentary, and staff will travel with Marina to Colombia next month. I’m left with no doubts. This is an incredible true story.

MY 'MONKEY MUMMY', BY HER DAUGHTER

Thanks to my family, I am rarely able to have a ‘normal’ walk, writes Vanessa James, Marina’s daughter. Instead, I often return home with twigs in my hair.

Typical adventures of a Chapman day out would involve scaling the trees with Mum and my sister Joanna, while my father John studied the bark and lichen below.

At some point there might be an animal-rescue mission, then perhaps a spot of getting lost.

Painting a picture of life at home in Bradford, West Yorkshire, reveals some embarrassing truths. Mum would sometimes sit with a bowl of sweet porridge and have my sister and me ask for it by doing our best monkey impressions.

I’m glad social services never visited us! After dinner, we would often groom one another by picking through each other’s hair.

Being brought up by such a wild and spontaneous mother suggested to us that she had been raised by another breed. She has always been our own ‘monkey mummy’.

She was sometimes criticised for her style of parenting, but her only example was from a troop of monkeys.

So, from what we’ve seen, my sister and I are clear – they must be the most loving, fun, inventive, creative parents on the planet!

By: Unknown On 20.14

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The Best Police and Foolish in THE World

UK police: We can’t solve the crime, but have some flowers!

In a surprising move for UK police, forces across the country are reportedly issuing a 'mea culpa' for their failure to solve crimes by sending bunches of flowers to criminals’ targets.

Victims of crimes are regularly given bouquets of flowers by Metropolitan and West Mercia police forces, The Sunday Telegraph says. In the London borough of Barnet, the Met has sent out some 300 bouquets since last November.

Barnet resident Sarah Miller said she received the flowers, along with a card from police apologizing that it seemed unlikely that her crime would be solved. Her house had been robbed of valuable items, including two laptops and a camera. 

“Sorry you have been a victim of crime, unfortunately in this case there is insufficient evidence to proceed and investigation into your crime will now be closed,” the card allegedly read. The following day, a bunch of flowers was delivered. 

A Met spokesperson said that giving someone flowers “helps soften the blow and shows we are there to support them.” The bunches are either donated by wholesale firms or paid for using a police community fund, gathered from proceeds from unclaimed property sales, voluntary contributions from officers and staff and donations from the general public.

“I'd rather they'd have sent a community officer to comfort me after it happened rather than being fobbed off with flowers,” Miller told the Telegraph. 

Miller had her own suggestions on how the local police force could make a better use of their time: “The thought that went into that could have gone into solving the burglary, like putting pictures of the things that were stolen in the local paper in an effort to recover them.”

Last year, only 436 of the 3,405 residential burglaries in Barnet were solved – a 12.8 percent success rate.

By: Unknown On 19.05

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The Secret How To Be A Drug Dealer and Not Get Caught

Terry Bennett, Convicted Drug Dealer, Sentenced To Writing 5,000-word Essay On Dangers Of Pot

The writing is on the wall for convicted drug dealer Terry Bennett: He'll be going into jail next week if he doesn't finish a 5,000-word essay on the dangers of marijuana.

Bennett, 32, from Gloucestershire, UK, was caught with more 2 pounds of cannabis and admitted possession with intent to supply.

Bennett, who lives with his mom, was sentenced to 240 hours of unpaid work, but claimed a snowboarding injury made that impossible, according to the Metro.

Judge Julian Lambert came back with an alternative sentence: A 5,000 word essay on the dangers of drugs and their effect on society.

Bennett was shocked by the pot-related punishment because it's been years since he last wrote a report of this scale.

“I asked the judge if I could write a balanced argument for and against cannabis, but he said that since it’s illegal, I should only write about the bad things," he told the Mirror. “I’m just going to write about certain dangers caused by cannabis that people might not necessarily know.”

Bennett has until April 4 to weed out information on the web and finish the essay. If he doesn't, he will go to jail for 12 months.

He's busy at work hoping to complete the project by the due date.

"Hopefully the essay should be quite good but it's been ages since I last wrote an essay. I have already done a bit of research," he told the Telegraph. "I'm going to approach it from a different angle, writing about the dangers that come about because it is illegal, rather than the nature of weed itself.

"Weed often causes more problems because of the social inertia and stigma that surrounds it."

Besides the essay, Bennett was given a four-month 8 p.m. curfew and must allow himself to be drug tested, SWNS.com reported.

"I've got a drugs conviction so for me to take on a more serious role in society it is imperative that I prove I am clean and steering clear of cannabis, purely because it is illegal," he said.

By: Unknown On 21.38

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A Teen Girl Mauled To Death By Five Dogs

British teen Jade Lomas-Anderson mauled to death by five dogs while eating a meat pie in friend's home, authorities and friends say

The much-loved schoolgirl was staying in dog lover's home for Easter holidays when attack occured. 'They’re really mean dogs — they’re never let out of the garden and nobody goes in there,' a friend says.

Jade Lomas-Anderson 'was really lovely,' a friend said. Lomas-Anderson was mauled to death by dogs, cops believe.

A 14-year-old British schoolgirl was mauled to death by five dogs afer she walked into a room eating a meat pie, authorities and friends believe.

Jade Lomas-Anderson was alone in her friend's house in the town of Atherton in Greater Manchester on Tuesday afternoon when she was apparently attacked by two bull mastiffs, two Staffordshire bull terriers and one other unidentied dog.

The aggressive mastiffs and terriers were later shot dead by police in the backyard, but the fifth dog was captured alive inside the house. Police will not be able to confirm the breeds until the remains of the dogs are examined.

 The girl was reportedly staying at her friend's house for the Easter holidays.

“Jade went to the shops to buy a meat pie and took it back to the house," a friend told the Sun newspaper. "We heard the dogs went for her as she tried to eat the pie. She tried to fend one off but apparently it went berserk and went for her throat. She was then overwhelmed by the animals inside the house."

"While our inquiries to find out what happened are ongoing, this girl's injuries are consistent with her having been attacked by dogs," Greater Manchester Police Superintendent Mark Kenny said in a statement.
 The dogs belonged to dog lover Beverley Concannon, the mother of Jade's friend. "Can't believe that my mum's dogs have killed a 15-year-old," her son posted on Facebook, according to the Telegraph.

“The dogs were really scary," a friend of Jade told the Sun. "But Jade knew these animals so I don’t know why they all went for her. Presumably they must have smelled blood after the first dog attacked. It’s such a tragedy. She was a lovely girl.”

According to the Sun, Concannon worked as a breeder and featured many different dogs on her Facebook page. She described her favorite mastiff as being so aggressive that it had to be castrated. And, she said on the Facebook page, the mastiff didn't like children.

 "Those dogs were always growling and barking in that tiny house," a neighbor told the Sun. "All the local kids were scared stiff of them."

“They’re really mean dogs — they’re never let out of the garden and nobody goes in there," 15-year-old Oliver Carrick said.

 Friends of Jade set up a tribute page on Facebook, which has more than 12,000 likes as of Wednesday morning.

“Jade was really lovely," friend Natasha Hunt told the Sun. "There wasn’t a bad bone in her body."

By: Unknown On 22.10

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The World's Youngest Teacher

Ten-year-old maths prodigy turns to teaching pupils

Edward Wilson Primary School in West London has an unusual addition to their teaching staff - 10-year-old maths prodigy Dima, who has been wowing his fellow pupils with his number skills.

Reporters from Paddington Academy in Westminster meet Dima, who spoke no English when he moved from Ukraine to the UK just three-and-a-half years ago.

He has now taken over the role of maths teacher for younger pupils of the school during lunch breaks.

Students say they are impressed with the talented pupil's lessons, and teachers are happy to have him helping out.

By: Unknown On 06.04

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Black Death CrossRail Skeletons

'Black Death' Skeletons Found In Farringdon Crossrail Excavations

 The skeletons are believed to be up to 660 years old
Up to 50,000 people might have been buried in less than three years at Farringdon

Carefully laid out skeletons thought to be from a 14th century burial ground have been discovered during work on the London's Crossrail project.

Twelve skeletons, lying in two neat rows, were found on the edge of Charterhouse Square in Farringdon in the City of London.

Uncovered more than 8ft (2.4m) below the road that surrounds gardens in the square, the skeletons are thought to be victims of the Black Death plague which swept through Britain and Europe in 1348.

Tests will be carried out on the skeletons but experts are linking the discovery with the Black Death as it is known that a burial ground for plague victims was opened in the Farringdon area.

Limited written records suggest up to 50,000 people might have been buried in less than three years at Farringdon, with the burial ground being used up until the 1500s.

Pottery dated up until 1350 found in the graves by the Crossrail team and the layout of the skeletons all point to them being plague victims. A similar skeleton formation was found in a Black Death burial site in nearby east Smithfield in the 1980s. The skeletons are being carefully excavated and taken to the Museum of London Archaeology for testing.

Scientists are hoping to map the DNA signature of the plague virus and possibly contribute to the discussion regarding what virus caused the Black Death. The bones will also be carbon dated to try to establish when they were buried.

Crossrail lead archaeologist Jay Carver said: "This is a highly significant discovery and at the moment we are left with many questions that we hope to answer.

"We will be undertaking scientific tests on the skeletons over the coming months to establish their cause of death, whether they were plague victims from the 14th century or later residents, how old they were and perhaps evidence of who they were.

"However, at this early stage... all points towards this being part of the 14th century emergency burial ground."

These are not the first skeletons found on the Crossrail projects, with archaeologists already uncovering more than 300 at a known burial ground at Liverpool Street in London that dates from the 1500s to 1700s. That burial ground was located near the Bedlam Hospital.

Archaeologists also hope to find Roman artefacts as they dig deeper at the Farringdon site.

Once the archaeologists have finished their work, Crossrail excavators will dig the shaft down to around 65ft (19.8m) with the site to be used to support tunnelling works.

Once analysis of the bones has been completed, the skeletons will be reburied on the site or other cemetery.

Around 1.5 million Britons died in the Black Death - more than a third of the population - and in Europe about 25 million perished.

These are not the first skeletons found on the Crossrail projects, with archaeologists already uncovering more than 300 burials at the New Cemetery near the site of the Bedlam Hospital at Liverpool Street from the 1500s to 1700s.

At £14.8 billion, Crossrail is the biggest construction project in Europe, building a 118 kilometre rail line and 42km of underground lines.

Much of this work is being done underground, right under the feet of oblivious Londoners.

Five tunnel boring machines (TBMs), each one weighing 1,000 tonnes and 148m long, are currently underneath the capital's streets chewing through the earth at a snail-like 100m a week.

Some more Crossrail facts:

    Eight new underground stations at Paddington, Bond Street, Tottenham Court Road, Farringdon, Liverpool Street, Whitechapel, Canary Wharf and Woolwich will be built

    A new surface station will also be constructed at Custom House

    Crossrail will increase the capacity of London’s rail based public transport network by 10 per cent

    An estimated 200 million people will travel on Crossrail each year

    Phyllis (one of the TBMs) is currently under Hyde Park having completed 2.9km of tunnel and is now heading for Crossrail’s Bond Street Station western ticket hall in Davies Street

    At least two-thirds of all Crossrail excavated material, more than 4.5m tonnes, will be used to create the new RSPB nature reserve at Wallasea Island, creating Europe’s largest man-made coastal reserve

By: Unknown On 03.58

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The World's Most Expensive Apartments

Guess who owns world's most expensive apartments? Naomi Campbell's boyfriend, naturally! Multimillionaires of London's One Hyde Park revealed for the first time

    Many owners at One Hyde Park have been revealed for the first time
    Owners include oil billionaires, Kazakh singers and Middle Eastern sheikhs
    Property in the block is sold for as much as £6,000 per square foot

Exclusive: One Hyde Park apartments are owned by a roll call of the some of the world's richest people

It is a central London apartment block with a price tag that only the world's richest can afford to pay.

But owners of the lavish apartments at the Candy & Candy development One Hyde Park are notoriously shy about revealing their identities.

Now a six-month investigation has revealed that oil baronesses, Kazakh singers and Arab sheikhs are all members of the small and exclusive club of owners.

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Exclusive: One Hyde Park apartments are owned by a roll call of the some of the world's richest people

The exclusive residential glass tower in Knightsbridge developed by property tycoons Christian and Nick Candy is believed to be the most expensive apartment block in the world.

Christian Candy owns separate flats worth £31million and £26.2million on the tenth floor.

His brother Nick, who recently married Holly Valance, also owns a penthouse in the block.

In total the Candy brothers and other members of the Project Grande consortium - the company that developed One Hyde Park - reportedly own eight apartments.

Among their neighbours is Project Grande partner and prime minister of Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani.

He owns an apartment spread over the eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth floors worth £12million.

The list reveals a diverse selection of the world's richest people including billionaires, the investigation by Vanity Fair has shown.

Other apartment owners are Rinat Akhmetov, Ukraine's richest man, Kazakh singer Anar Aitzhanova and Sheikh Mohammed Saud Sultan al-Qasimi, a member of the ruling family of the Gulf emirate Sharjah, The Sunday Times reported.

Naomi Campbell's boyfriend Vladislav Doronin is reported to own an apartment there as well, although the supermodel is not believed to share the property.

The properties, which have magnificent panoramic views of Hyde Park and Knightsbridge enjoy some of the city's finest views from picture windows running the length of the property.

The apartment block may have the most eye-watering price tags, but the property has been branded a 'ghost town' in the past.

According to the investigation by tax haven expert Nicholas Shaxton, just 17 of the 76 sold apartments are primary residences.

Many of the owners use offshore companies to hide their identity.

According to The Sunday Times, five properties worth £81million are owned by companies on the Isle of Man.

Because the residents are so wealthy, many have other homes and do not use their exclusive address as their permanent home, it has been reported.

Many of the features of the block – iris recognition in the lifts, panic rooms, bomb-proof windows, all mail being X-rayed – point to a cocoon.

It has a 21-metre swimming pool which is said to be nearly always empty, a cinema, saunas, gym, golf simulator, wine cellar, valet service and room service – via a tunnel from the five-star Mandarin Oriental hotel next door.

But chefs there say they can go a week without an order from the complex.


THE RICHEST OWNERS OF EXCLUSIVE ONE HYDE PARK

Rinat Akhmetov, Ukraine's richest man - estimated worth £143.8m

Folorunsho Alakija, Nigerian oil tycoon - estimated worth £81.9m

Sheikh Hamad bin Jasmin bin Jabr Al Thani - estimated worth £40.4m

Irina and Viktor Kharitonin, Russian pharmaceuticals,  - estimated worth £33.1m

Professor Wong Wen Young, Taiwanese entrepreneur - estimated worth £29.1m

By: Unknown On 22.28

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