Must Reads

A 38-year-old man has no excuses for not cleaning his flat - after amassing a collection of 300 vacuum cleaners. Addict Steve Cook has been collecting vintage vacuums since he was three-years-old. Collector Steve estimates he has spent around £10,000 on the haul and he's now run out of places to store the hoovers in his tiny one-bed flat. But the hoarder, who claims to have the third largest collection in the UK, insists the lack of space won't prevent...

Nancy Watson also revealed the secret to a long life was “smiling, laughing, joking and drinking Guinness”. She admitted she was “scared stiff” of riding the bike, but managed to keep a smile on her face as she went through with the long-term promise to do it on the big day. Reflecting on her 100 years, the lifelong Liverpool FC fan, who was born in Birkenhead on The Wirral said: “I’ve had fun, love.” The great-grandmother-of-13 celebrated her landmark birthday...

The family of an elderly dementia sufferer who died covered in twenty cuts and bruises today called for an inquiry – claiming carers failed to record the injuries. Blind Pamela Matthews, 85, was left with deep gashes, carpet burns and extensive bruising after a month-long stay at £825-a-week Woodbine Manor. Her family began noticing small marks on her arms and buttocks a week after she moved there and say staff started dressing her in long-sleeved clothes. Daughter Celia Matthews, 63,...

Rolls-Royce has unveiled a new single seat electric sports car for children to drive around hospital. Engineers at the iconic British firm spent more than 400 hours of their spare time developing the all-new Rolls-Royce SRH. The one-off motor has been hand built for child patients at St Richard's Hospital Paediatric Day Surgery Unit in Chichester, West Sussex. It will allow youngsters to drive themselves to the operating theatre in an attempt to reduce their anxiety and stress. Rolls-Royce normally...

This is the heart-stopping moment a woman was run over by a heavy good train - but miraculously emerges totally unscathed. Onlookers said the burqa-clad jumped down from the platform to cross to the other side, but tripped on the tracks. But before she could get up an enormous 40-carriage goods train rumbled through Agra's Raja Mandi station in India at high speed. Passengers looked on in horror as the woman in her 20s had no option but to pin...

A teacher who was bullied as a schoolboy for being gay bravely came out to 1,000 of his pupils during a school assembly. Daniel Gray made the bold decision to be open about his sexuality after being told to keep it a secret while training to be a teacher. But after coming out in an assembly, the 32-year-old teacher has been inundated with support from staff, current and former pupils at Harris Academy South Norwood, in Croydon, south London. Back...

People really do look like their names - thanks to a phenomenon dubbed the "Dorian Gray effect", say scientists. In a study strangers' faces were matched to names with surprising accuracy - up to twice as often as would be expected by chance. The strange curiosity is believed to be linked to "cultural stereotypes" we attach to names. In Oscar Wilde novel The Picture of Dorian Gray the main character does a deal in return for his soul so that...

A devastated eight-year-old girl with autism has been made an exact replica of her precious blanket to replace her life-long comforter after a global appeal. Bella Mildon had never been apart from the fleecy green teddy bear quilt ever since nurses wrapped her in it when she was born prematurely weighing just 3lbs. But the green fleeces had deteriorated with age and Bella, who cannot speak, self-harms and has the mental age of a one-year-old child, was desperate without them....

Two mums who were sexually abused as children by the same man joined forces thirty YEARS later to ensure their abuser remains on the sex offenders register. Kate Taylor, 37, and Kerrie Jones, 35, were abused by their Catholic primary school teacher Gerard Kelly now 59, when they were just six years old. In February 1999, 14 years after the abuse took place, Kelly was convicted of indecent assault against seven underage schoolgirls – including Kate and Kerrie – and...