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/ 11 October 2005

Rooney vows to ditch bad temper

England striker Wayne Rooney said on Monday the ill-tempered behaviour that has landed him in trouble will be long gone by the time he arrives in Germany for next year’s Word Cup finals. Rooney is expected to become a target for opposition defences when England embark on yet another hopeful World Cup campaign.

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/ 6 October 2005

The Beatles’ heads up for sale

An original set of waxwork heads of The Beatles, which was used on the band’s album Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, has been found and will be put up for sale this month, an auction house said on Thursday. The heads were unearthed in a store room at Madame Tussaud’s waxwork museum in London.

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/ 5 October 2005

Welsh score big with double-L Scrabble

Most <i>Scrabble</i> players presented with a rack containing a tile marked "LL" would be both puzzled and stuck. But for players of the newly released Welsh edition of the popular word game, it’s an easy score. Released on Wednesday, the new edition is aimed at the estimated 500 000 speakers of Welsh.

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/ 5 October 2005

British weather ‘not being dumbed down’

The unpredictable and often confusing story of the British weather is to be told more simply in future in order to make forecasts more ”relevant” to the public. The Meteorological Office said efforts to introduce greater clarity to the weather report do not represent an attempt to make the weather appear ”more positive”.

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/ 4 October 2005

Researchers to map Britain’s subterranean world

British researchers said on Tuesday they hope to produce the first-ever authoritative map of the country’s last uncharted territory: what lies beneath people’s feet. With the help of utility companies, engineers from the University of Birmingham in central Britain hope to come up with a comprehensive chart of the more than four million kilometres of underground cables and pipes.

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/ 4 October 2005

British banker ‘borrowed’ seven million pounds

A British bank employee who stole huge sums from his employer left a note in a safe admitting he had ”borrowed” seven million pounds (,3-million), a court was told on Tuesday. In fact, the true scale of financial consultant Graham Price’s theft and deception totalled nearer £10-million, Swansea magistrates’ court in South Wales heard.

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/ 4 October 2005

Comedian Ronnie Barker dead at 76

British comedian Ronnie Barker, half of the long-established and much-loved duo The Two Ronnies, has died at the age of 76, his agent said on Tuesday. Barker had a career on the West End stage and in radio before moving into comedy as part of the classic 1960s TV shows The Frost Report and Frost on Sunday.

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/ 4 October 2005

Former soccer star hospitalised

Former Manchester United football star George Best, who has battled alcoholism since quitting the game, was in a ”serious” condition in intensive care at a London hospital on Monday, his doctor said. Best (59) was admitted to the private Cromwell hospital in central London on Saturday with influenza-like symptoms.

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/ 3 October 2005

Britain to give obese kids cooking lessons

Britain is give all school pupils lessons in cooking healthy meals as part of attempts to tackle an epidemic of obesity in young people. All senior school pupils aged 11 to 14 will receive practical cooking lessons and learn about the importance of a balanced diet, food safety and hygiene, the education department said.

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/ 3 October 2005

Chelsea maintain perfect record

Chelsea kept their Premier League record perfect with an emphatic 4-1 victory over Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday on goals from Frank Lampard, Damien Duff, Joe Cole and Geremi. Also on Sunday, it was: Manchester City 2, Everton 0; Wigan 2, Bolton 1; Arsenal 1, Birmingham 0; and Aston Villa 2, Middlesbrough 3.

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/ 3 October 2005

Chelsea open up nine-point lead

Reigning champions Chelsea opened up a nine-point gap at the top of the Premiership table after a stunning 4-1 demolition of Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday. Jose Mourinho’s side look unstoppable after cantering to their eighth successive league triumph following a stylish performance.

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/ 3 October 2005

Jonny Wilkinson makes winning return

England World Cup hero Jonny Wilkinson returned to action in Newcastle’s impressive 34-9 Anglo-Welsh Cup win over Sale on Sunday. Wilkinson came off the bench after 54 minutes and made an immediate impact, sending Matthew Burke over for a try and controlling the game with his varied kicking.

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/ 2 October 2005

Tottenham rally to beat Charlton

Robbie Keane came off the bench to score the winner, and Tottenham rallied from a two-goal deficit to beat second-place Charlton 3-2 on Saturday in the English Premier League. In another comeback, Ruud van Nistelrooy scored twice to lead Manchester United to a 3-2 victory at Fulham.

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/ 1 October 2005

Wenger hits out at bookmakers

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger believes the decision by bookmakers to pay out on Chelsea defending their Premiership title will backfire and spur his side to challenge their London rivals. While Chelsea are 11 points clear of Arsenal and 10 clear of Manchester United, Wenger insists the race is far from over.

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/ 30 September 2005

Blair kiss: ‘She was such a pretty girl’

When an 11-year-old boy sneaked his first kiss under a British railway bridge in 1965, he most likely never expected it to be front-page news 40 years later. But then he did choose British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s future wife. Stephen Smerdon woke up on Thursday to find his fledgling love life of four decades ago splashed across newspapers.

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/ 29 September 2005

Oil prices rise amid refinery worries

World oil prices pushed upwards on Thursday as the market focus remained on United States refineries, many of which are struggling to restart production after recent hurricanes in the US Gulf of Mexico. New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in November, added seven cents to ,42 per barrel in electronic trading.

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/ 28 September 2005

Eriksson: ‘I haven’t lost the players’

Under-fire England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson has insisted he still has the support of the players despite the suggestion of rifts within the England squad. Eriksson changed his formation for the embarrassing 1-0 defeat to Northern Ireland earlier this month, with captain David Beckham accommodated in a deep central role.

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/ 28 September 2005

‘The toilet is the last taboo’

Participants at the World Toilet Summit, taking place this week in Northern Ireland, are shrugging off the sniggers to insist everyone must pay attention to the ”last taboo” of proper sanitation. ”We have been conditioned not to talk about it,” said Jack Sim, founder of the World Toilet Organisation.