United Kingdom

Britain’s government was on Wednesday launching a campaign to publicise its new ”gay marriage” law, which will give same-sex couples many of the same rights as married people. The first such partnerships will be sealed just before Christmas, with pop singer Elton John and his partner set to become one of the first ”married” gay couples.

England’s Ashes win over Australia could be the start of a period of prolonged domination of world cricket, according to victorious skipper Michael Vaughan. He believes the self-belief engendered by this summer’s dramatic contest will accelerate the development of individual players.

England fans may pray for him to lead the country to victory in next year’s World Cup, but not even his most ardent admirers have ever compared David Beckham to Jesus. Until now, that is. An academic conference was to hear on Wednesday that while Beckham has yet to perform any miracles he is perhaps the closest thing modern British society has to a Messiah figure.

Jonny Wilkinson will likely miss England’s autumn Tests against Australia, New Zealand and Samoa after having his appendix removed. The Newcastle flyhalf had the operation on Friday and will be sidelined for up to six weeks. ”I think it pretty much puts paid to the autumn internationals,” Newcastle’s director of rugby said.

The Ashes has returned to England after the home team broke Australia’s 16-year hold on one of the most coveted trophies in world sport on Monday. Kevin Pietersen scored his maiden Test century, allowing England to draw the decisive fifth Test at The Oval and win cricket’s prized urn for the first time since 1986 with a 2-1 series victory.

Horatio Hornblower is an odd name, but consider his siblings: Azubia, Constantia, Jecoliah, Jedidah, Jerusha and Erastus. Staff and researchers at the Cornwall County Record Office have compiled a list of more than 1 000 unusual names found in censuses as well as births, deaths and marriage records going back as far as the 16th century.

Britons have spent billions of pounds on household gadgets such as sandwich toasters and bathroom scales that they ended up never or rarely using, a study said on Monday. An online home-insurance firm Esure estimated Britons have collectively spent £9,4-billion (R109,7-billion) during their lifetime on gadgets.

Britons applying for a passport from Monday will be ordered to wipe their smile off their face and pose with a neutral expression so new biometric scanners can accurately read their facial features. Facial-recognition systems match key features on the holder’s face and work best when the face has a neutral expression.

Australia took what appeared to be a calculated risk after accepting an offer of bad light when well set on the second day of the fifth Ashes Test at The Oval in London on Friday. At stumps, Australia were on their tea score of 112 without loss, 261 behind England’s below-par first-innings 373 after no play took place in the final session with 37 overs lost.

For decades they have been an invaluable source of nutrition for London’s homeless. But now, mobile soup kitchens are attracting new customers — those who are not poor and needy but just too lazy to cook. The mobile soup kitchens are increasingly being seen as a free, convenient catering service.

Britain and the United States pressed on Thursday for talks on the accession of Turkey to the European Union to begin as planned on October 3 in spite of increasing opposition from France and Cyprus. The intervention of the US will help persuade some of the waverers but could be counter-productive in France, which has emerged as one of Turkey’s main opponents.

A charming and ruthless British conman who posed as a spy to extort huge sums from a string of victims was jailed for life on Tuesday. He had persuaded his victims to think they were on the run from terrorists. Robert Hendy-Freegard was sentenced at Blackfriars Crown Court in central London after being found guilty of a string of crimes related to deception.

Glamorgan seamer Simon Jones has been left rueing an injured right ankle which, after a fitness test, ruled him out of selection for England’s deciding Ashes Test at The Oval on Thursday. Jones was put through his paces at Lord’s on Tuesday morning but his ankle was still painful and he was ruled out immediately.

The original cloak worn by Alec Guinness in the blockbuster film Star Wars: Episode V — The Empire Strikes Back has turned up in a British fancy-dress shop, where it had been hired out as part of a monk’s outfit, the owner said on Tuesday. Estimates have put the cloak’s value at £25 000 (about R289 500).

As sporting events go, they don’t get much bigger than this. Australia, having dominated England on the cricket field for the best part of two decades, are locked in a tense battle to hold on to the Ashes — and their reputation. At 2-1 down in the series ahead of the fifth and final Test starting on Thursday, Australia face a fight.

A housing developer in Britain is offering a live pig as a pet to anyone who purchases a property from him, a spokesperson said on Monday, adding that the unusual offer has already attracted two buyers. The rare Gloucester Old Spot pig will be fully house-trained before it is delivered to its new family.

Nazi German saboteurs plotted unsuccessfully during World War II to ship explosives into Britain hidden in bars of chocolate and other products as well as in dead rats, archivists said on Monday. British intelligence files released into the public domain at the National Archives in the last six months provided details of the plots accompanied by diagrams.

A University of Oxford law graduate who works for Sotheby’s is living in a ditch to prove people can do without all the mod-cons, a British newspaper said on Sunday. Hugh Sawyer (32) always turns up impeccably dressed for his high-flier auction-house job in London while sleeping in the woods in Oxfordshire, southern England.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s father received an odd, impersonal response to a letter he sent his son congratulating him on being elected into government in 1997, the BBC revealed on Friday. Tim Allan, a former Downing Street communications adviser, described the incident in a new BBC Radio 4 series.

A couple trying to walk the length of Britain in the nude were due to appear in court on Friday after being grabbed by police south of Edinburgh following a complaint by a member of the public. So-called "Naked Rambler" Stephen Gough (46) and his girlfriend, Melanie Roberts (34), were arrested for an alleged breach of the peace.