In Bob Seddon’s day, they did things differently. No televised Lions squad announcement because there was no television, no first class plane travel because there were no aeroplanes.
Captain of the wide-eyed Victorians of 1888, Seddon led the first rugby team of its kind to leave these shores and head south, not yet as the British and Irish Lions, but precursors and pioneers.
Seddon’s squad set sail for New Zealand and Australia on RMS Kaikoura. For 46 days, they travelled. Calm waters and lumpy seas. Heavy gales and dense fog. A week went by when “neither sun nor stars were seen,” he reported.
They played 19 games in New Zealand, 16 in Australia, but they still were not done. They played another 19 matches of Victorian Rules – Aussie Rules, in effect. Fifty-four contests for just more than 20 players on a tour that lasted 249 days. The chosen ones this time will play nine times in just more than a month. Blink and you will miss them.
Seddon, from Lancashire, was engaged to be married. Twenty games into the trip he drowned in the Hunter River in New South Wales. Some people do not get the Lions and call it an anachronism and an unimportant exhibition. They ask why do the Lions matter in the current age?
They matter, in part, because of folk like Bob Seddon and all the heroes and all the social history that came in his wake.
Tommy Crean, the Irishman, was a Lion in South Africa in 1896. He won a Victoria Cross in the Boer War. Alexander Todd, the Englishman, was a Lion in South Africa in 1896. He died at Ypres. Matthew Mullineux, a London clergyman, was also a Lion in 1896. He won the Military Cross during the First World War. Eric Milroy, a Scot, was a Lion in South Africa in 1910. He died at the Somme. Phil Waller, the Welshman, was also a Lion in 1910. He died at Arras.
Paddy Mayne, from County Down, was a Lion in South Africa in 1938. He won the Distinguished Service Order medal and three bars for three separate acts of heroism at war and was then awarded the Legion d’Honneur and the Croix de Guerre by the French government for his work in the liberation of France. He was also a founding member of the SAS.
Harry Jarman of Pontypool did not die at war. The 1910 tourist died of complications after he threw himself into the path of a runaway coal wagon at a South Wales colliery as it rattled towards some children playing in its path.
Mandela & Millar’s overcoat
This team transcends sport. It’s a cultural phenomenon. The Lions tour to apartheid South Africa in 1974 was deeply divisive and even now there would be heated debates about the rights and wrongs of going there.
But there’s also the story of Nelson Mandela in his cell on Robben Island, listening to commentary on the radios of his wardens. When Willie John McBride’s immortals beat the Afrikaners and took the series, Mandela and his fellow political prisoners rejoiced.
When the Lions returned in 1997, players from the ’74 tour were coach, Ian McGeechan, and manager, Fran Cotton. They were greeted by Steve Tshwete, a government minister in a country that now had Mandela as president.
Tshwete, incarcerated on Robben Island with Mandela, practically moved McGeechan and Cotton to tears when he recounted his experiences of listening to those radios and hearing how they brought the Springboks to their knees.
How much did it mean to be a Lion back in the day? Players took time off work to tour. Some gave up their jobs if they could not get time off. Club members and fellow villagers chipped in to send them on their way with a few bob in their pocket because they did not get paid.
On the 1959 tour in New Zealand the great Irish prop, Syd Millar, had his overcoat stolen from his hotel room. Word reached the local press and suddenly letters with cheques came flooding in from sympathetic Kiwis.
Which Scots will make the Lions tour?
07/05/25
We live in different days, thankfully. This team and these tours have endured despite bloody conflict abroad and at home, they have prospered despite having their existence threatened by the march of professionalism and an ever more crowded fixture calendar, they have survived the flak that flew after despicable violence in matches from the wild west years.
The Battle of Ballymore, the Battle of Canterbury, the Battle of Potchefstroom, the Battle of Boet Erasmus. Compelling but bleak chapters.
Doom-mongers have been proven wrong at every turn. Yes, it has become a commercial beast and the rampant hyping of the brand grates, but the essence of what makes the Lions special is strong and apparently unbreakable. The tourists have won just one series this millennium – one of six – but the fascination only grows. Brilliantly weird and utterly exhilarating, this is a unique experience, a bucket list item for fans and for every chosen player, a dream realised.
The speculation around who’s in and who’s out ends now, though. Andy Farrell and his coaches have got their men. Not everyone will agree with the names they came up with. There will be a wronged one, a lucky pick, a cause to rally round and get furious about. It was ever thus. The Lions is four nations and one team, but on announcement day, everybody is looking out for their own.
Being picked for the Lions is, and always will be, a special moment in the life of any player – many would say the most special moment – but it cannot be enough anymore. There’s a pride in being a Lion, but greatness only comes in victory.
In 1997 Jim Telfer called selection “the easy bit” in his famous speech about reaching the top of Everest. Winning was the most important thing, he told his forwards. “The ultimate.” He was right then and he’s right now.
Ellen DeGeneres, who is moving to the United Kingdom with her wife Portia de Rossi, shared a look at her new home on social media over the weekend and revealed her new hair color.
Ellen DeGeneres’ new brunette hairstyle is unveiled in a video from her Oxfordshire home.
Ellen DeGeneres appears to have settled in England well and appears to be happier than ever. The former host of a talk show is adapting her new lifestyle to radically alter her appearance.
Although the proverb says blondes are more enjoyable, Ellen, 67, is still up for it after switching from platinum blonde tresses to a darker hair color.
The former talk show host, 67, who relocated to the UK following Donald Trump’s presidential win in November last year, took to Instagram over the weekend to share her experience of mowing the grass.
After their Cotswolds home was severely flooded shortly after moving in, Ellen and her husband Portia de Rossi recently relocated to a different property close to Oxfordshire.
Ellen DeGeneres is embracing life in the English countryside (Image: Instagram/ellendegeneres)
Ellen can be seen reclining on a yellow mower in the video, revealing that she has switched out her signature blonde locks for a brunette.
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She can be seen navigating the mower through a dense field of clouds. The mower appears to have broken down on a steep hill, leading to Ellen being helped by someone in the clip, which is captioned “How it started.”
The video’s final line, “How it ended,” appears on the screen at the end. In the caption, Ellen said, “Portia thought it would be fun to film my first time on the mower.” She was correct.
In January, former Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson revealed Ellen and her wife often pop into his Oxfordshire watering hole, The Farmer’s Dog. Jeremy let slip that Ellen, who’d recently made a move to the UK, has graced his pub with her presence.
She lives in the village where our pub is located. I sincerely welcome them all, Clarkson said. She was “very friendly and lovely,” according to the staff at the pub, and everyone claimed she had been cancelled, but she still appeared nice when she arrived. What I read online will not make me believe what I read. She appeared lovely.
Ellen has previously been a blonde throughout her entire career (Image: Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)
This revelation came as Ellen swapped her US lifestyle for the quaint charm of The Cotswolds, amidst being ‘cancelled’ and the tumultuous reign of Donald Trump – whose presidency began again at the start of the year.
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She was looking to leave even before the election, according to a source who spoke to the Daily Mail. She is pleased she is making the move and is departing from the US as things turned out with Trump’s victory.
She is ready to leave everyone who has left her hanging out in her mind, including Portia, and she still has the one true love for her. As she would say, “Your retirement is upon her,”
Kai Widdrington reunited with his axed Strictly Come Dancing co-star Giovanni Pernice as the pair continue to work with each other following the Italian dancer’s scandal
Giovanni Pernice has teamed up with a Strictly Come Dancing star
Strictly Come Dancing’s Kai Widdrington has reunited with his axed co-star Giovanni Pernice, in a move he labelled “dangerous”. The professional dancers are back working together on a new project, months after Giovanni’s sudden departure.
He was caught up in scandal following his 2023 stint with actress Amanda Abbington, who made a series of claims about bullying behaviour. Giovanni decided to take a break from the public eye following the scandal.
However, he recently won the Italian version of Strictly and has returned to the UK for a series of dance projects. His passion is clearly still alive as he performed a sold-out show at the London Palladium as part of his Last Dance tour.
Kai shared a snap of him at work with Giovanni(Image: Instagram/kaiwidd)
Now, Giovanni has teamed up with Kai, who is about to head out on his own tour. Gioavnni shared a snap of Kai on the dancefloor as he gushed: “Just watched a full run of his brand new show lead by @kaiwidd…
“…and let me tell you!! They are super ready.” He then added a link urging fans to buy tickets. Kai also shared his own post as he reunited with Giovanni.
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The pair sat next to each other in a dance studio as Kai wrote: “The team,” while tagging Giovanni. He decided to add the Michael Jackson track Dangerous over the photo.
Back in January, Giovanni revealed he was working with Kai as he returned to British soil. Kai shared a video from a London rehearsal studio about his upcoming 2025 tour.
In the clip, he said: “Hello everyone, it’s Kai Widdrington here from Strictly Come Dancing. I’m here in London getting ready for my tour – Evolution – in 2025 and I would like to introduce you to one of the creative producers from my tour. He’s very shy but you may know who he is.”
His mate Giovanni popped into the frame adding: “I am very shy. I can’t help myself. I can’t help myself.” He rounded off with a cheerful statement: “Ladies and gents, we’re back together and it feels good!”
The video was paired with a caption hyping up fans which read: “Introducing one of the creative producers of the EVOLUTION team. A familiar face I think you may know.”
The dancers started working together in January (Image: Kai Widdrington Instagram)
However, things haven’t been so easy for the pair since Giovanni’s Strictly drama. Last summer, Kai pulled out of a scheduled dance class with Giovanni, which set fans back £100 per class. It was reported a scheduling clash was the reason for the cancellation.
Kai isn’t the only Strictly star to be showing their support to Giovanni, however. Head judge Shirley Ballas has continued to stand by the star and had a sweet reunion this week.
Shirley made sure to support Giovanni as she watched from the audience and made sure to catch up with him backstage afterwards on the final night of his tour.
Sharing photos from the reunion, Shirley said: “Amazing and beyond the stars… Gio set the night on fire last night @giovannipernice.
“Congratulations on a superb closing show to if last night is anything to go by a remarkable last dance tour. So many fabulous numbers, dancers, singers to which all were revived with standing ovations.
“You entertain, you inspire and you bring the house down. I only hope when I do my one night at the Palladium that I could wish for a reception like that. Truly amazing.”
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She added: “Congratulations and well done my friend @giovannipernice I’m beyond proud of you x.”
READ MORE: Amazon slashes prices of dentist-approved DrDent Teeth Whitening Strips to 90p per treatment
The former Little Mix singer recently underwent emergency surgery to save her unborn twins. The actress has been keeping fans informed about her high-risk pregnancy and was taken to the hospital.
Pregnant Jesy Nelson shares huge hint on due date in new video with Zion Foster(Image: jesynelson/Instagram)
Pregnant Jesy Nelson shared a huge hint on her due date in a new video filmed with partner, Zion Foster. The former Little Mix singer was recently admitted for emergency surgery to save her unborn twins. The star was hospitalised due to her high-risk pregnancy and has been keeping fans updated on her condition while being supported by her partner.
Fans took notice of her apparent lack of hints about when she is giving birth in a new video that was shared on her TikTok. As Zion did her makeup for her, the two were seen seated in a hospital room. When you let your boyfriend try to do your makeup, she said in part one of the video.
READ MORE: Amazon slashes prices of dentist-approved DrDent Teeth Whitening Strips to 90p per treatment
Jesy let Zion do her makeup as they sat in the hospital room(Image: jesynelson/Instagram)
In the video, Jesy joked, “This will take forever,” and Zion responded, “Do you want quality or quantity?” One fan wrote, “Jesyyyy, do you already know what you’re going to do first after leaving hospital?” in the comments section.
A monkey hiding its face and a laughing emoji were all used in the singer’s response, “Learn how to be a mother.” The way he just kept shushing you, a user said.
Jesy joked that he was “practicing for the bubbaz.” The actress later returned to share part two of the video, which she called “The final look,” which made reference to her potential due date.
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The star has been open about her difficult pregnancy journey(Image: jesynelson/Instagram)
In the video, Zion asks her, “Does it have to be sharp?” She responded, “I just want it to look like my actual lip line, not sharp.” He declared, “Everyone is happy now that the transformation is over,” afterward. I appreciate you all.
Jesy revealed about her high-risk pregnancy in the videos. Jesy continues to keep her spirits up despite her difficult pregnancy by staying in touch with her fans while receiving constant medical attention and monitoring in the hospital.
Her surgery was successful thanks to the assistance of her partner, musician Zion. Following the couple’s March emergency procedure, they updated the couple about their pregnancy.
Hello everyone, we just wanted to update you because we know it’s been a while.
We want to wish all the amazing and resilient mothers out there a happy Mother’s Day. Second, I’ve been recovering because we’re still being treated in the hospital.
“But we have some fantastic news. The operation was a success, which is just incredible, and the TTTS has cleared up. We have the most amazing doctors, and we are so, so fortunate.
My cervix is very, very short, so I can’t leave the hospital because my waters could break at any point and I’m still very, very early, in essence.
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Inigo Martinez, a Barcelona defender, has denied spitting at Francesco Acerbi during their Champions League semifinal defeat.
Acerbi allegedly ran past Martinez as he celebrated Hakan Calhanoglu’s penalty in the second leg of Inter’s 2-0 lead at half-time on Tuesday at the San Siro.
“He snarled in my ear,” I said. Martinez told El Chiringuito TV, “I never spat at him, even though it was unnecessary.”
Before furiously confronting Martinez, Acerbi remonstrated with referee Szymon Marciniak.
There was a potential red card review conducted by the video assistant referee (VAR) before play resumed, but no decision was made.
Later footage showed Martinez spitting in Acerbi’s direction.
After Acerbi scored a dramatic stoppage-time equalizer to make it 3-3, Inter broke up in a thrilling tie 4-3 and 7-6 on aggregate after extra time.
Linda Nolan’s stepson, who was suffering from metastatic throat cancer, has sadly died four months after the singer passed away. We take a look the disease’s impact on the family
The famous family has been struck by cancer again and again(Image: Daily Mirror)
Another sad death in the Nolan family has been announced today – Linda Nolan’s stepson Lloyd Hudson, the son of Linda’s late husband Brian Hudson. Lloyd was diagnosed with throat cancer in September 2023 and with his tumour too large and close to his vocal cords, surgery was ruled out.
The sad news comes four months after Linda, 65, died after contracting double pneumonia following her own courageous journey with cancer. The singer had been supporting Lloyd as he underwent an intense round of radiotherapy.
“They were fighting side by side,” a family friend told The Mirror. “Linda would finish her treatment and text him to check in. They joked about their meds, shared their side effects, cried together too. Linda really thought he’d outlive her. She needed that belief.”
Lloyd’s father Brian, whom Linda was married to for 26 years, also tragically died in 2007 following a fight with the cruel disease.
READ MORE: Linda Nolan’s brother Brian reveals cancer diagnosis just weeks after her death
Lloyd had throat cancer and was supported by Linda as he underwent radiotherapy (Image: Facebook)
In March, Brian Nolan, big brother to the Nolan sisters, was the latest in the famous family to reveal he has cancer. The 69-year-old was told he had prostate cancer just three days after the funeral of Linda, which he had courageously helped to plan despite his own ordeal.
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The news was the latest ‘cancer curse’ for the singer siblings, who lost Bernie Nolan, 52, to breast cancer in 2013 before Linda died on January 15 following a twenty-year battle with the disease. Anne, 74, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2000 and Coleen, 60, learned she had skin cancer in 2023.
“I just want cancer to leave us alone,” said Brian, who went to his GP with urinary issues in November and following his diagnosis, was preparing to undergo surgery to remove his prostate gland. “The urologist stood up and said: ‘We’re going to treat this and we’re going to cure this’. I’m focusing on that and hope to god I can have the courage my sisters had.”
“I couldn’t speak,” said Loose Women star Coleen of being told her brother had cancer. “I went completely numb and about an hour later I wanted to punch walls and scream. In our family, cancer’s just there. But Brian was so positive and I’m just so proud of him.”
Coleen revealed she had been diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma on her shoulder and melanoma on her face(Image: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
Brian kept his cancer fears secret for months as his sister Linda’s condition deteriorated, to protect his siblings from further anguish. The singer was first told she had the disease in 2005 and went into remission a year later. But in 2017, she devastatingly announced she had been diagnosed with a secondary cancer in her hip, which spread to her liver in 2020.
Three years later, the cancer had spread to her brain. The Daily Mirror Columnist passed away with her sisters at her side and her final moments were said to have been full of ‘love and comfort’.
Their father, Tommy Nolan Sr, was the first to be struck by the cruel disease, dying from cancer in 1998. Bernie, Anne, Linda and Coleen later faced diagnoses. “You almost feel like it’s a curse that’s been on you but it’s not. So many families go through this,” said Coleen in an emotional episode of Piers Morgan’s Life Stories in 2021.
In an exclusive interview as he awaits lifesaving surgery, Brian told how his family, with siblings Tommy, 77, Denise, 72, and Maureen, 70, making up the clan, have been referred to a genetic clinic for testing.
These days, much is known about the factors that can increase an individual’s risk, but why is it that the killer condition all too often targets entire families? Here, we take a look at the family’s history with cancer as an expert geneticist explains why some families might see similar cases of cancer among members, even if they test negative for well-known genetic defaults such as the BRCA1 and BRCA2 faulty genes, known as the ‘Jolie Gene.’
Linda Nolan opened up about her devastating journey with cancer and chemo(Image: Andy Stenning/Daily Mirror)
According to Cancer Research UK, most families will have at least one person who has or has had cancer. But having a couple of relatives diagnosed with cancer doesn’t mean there is a cancer gene fault running in the family. In families with an inherited faulty gene, there is usually a pattern of specific types of cancer. The strength of your family history depends on: who in your family has had cancer; the types of cancer they have had; how old they were at diagnosis; how closely related the relatives with cancer are to each other.
The more relatives who have had the same or related types of cancer, and the younger they were at diagnosis, the stronger someone’s family history is, with it being more likely that the cancers are being caused by an inherited faulty gene. In the case of the Nolan family, who rose to fame after forming the girl group The Nolans in 1974, they have experienced similar cancers. Anne was the first sister to be diagnosed with breast cancer in 2000.
The star was then diagnosed with stage three breast cancer 20 years later in April 2020 and is now in remission after receiving the all-clear. Just days after her second diagnosis, her younger sister Linda found out about her liver cancer – a cancer that their father died from.
Nolan sisters Coleen, Maureen, Bernie and Linda performing in 1981(Image: Andre Csillag/REX/Shutterstock)
This came after Linda was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005. While she underwent gruelling treatment, her beloved husband Brian Hudson died from skin cancer aged just 60. Brian had worked as the Nolans’ tour manager until 1983 and became his wife’s manager after she left the group.
Having lost her husband of 26 years, Linda was left in a deep depression while living with breast cancer but was given the all-clear in 2006. But the disease devastatingly returned as incurable secondary breast cancer in her hip in 2017. It was in 2020 that she was found to be suffering from liver cancer. Then, doctors found two sizable tumours surrounded by smaller ones in her brain in 2023.
Meanwhile, their late sister Bernie announced she had been diagnosed with breast cancer in April 2010. In October of the same year, Bernie was declared cancer-free following a mastectomy, chemotherapy and treatment with Herceptin. She announced in February 2012 that she was no longer taking cancer treatment drugs.
However, by the end of October 2012, Bernie’s cancer had returned. Doctors told the singer that the disease returned to her left breast, brain, lungs, liver and bones. The star passed at her home in Surrey in July 2013 aged just 52.
In 2023 it was revealed that Loose Women presenter Coleen, 58, had been diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma on her shoulder and melanoma on her face. Speaking with the Mirror in 2020, Linda confirmed that she, Anne, and Bernie tested negative for the BRCA gene mutation.
“Anne had breast cancer first in 2000, then me in 2006, then Bernie in 2010. Then we tested for the BRCA gene mutation and we don’t have it, but they did say we’ll have a rogue gene somewhere – it’s just one they haven’t found out about yet. They took our blood so they could use it for testing.
Bernie Nolan died from breast cancer in 2013(Image: Getty Images Europe)
“It’s weird because the doctor said it’s not just bad luck that three sisters have got breast cancer. There’s something not right there, so for the other girls it’s very scary. They’re doubly aware of checking themselves because they could have this gene that we don’t know about.”
Speaking to The Mirror, consultant clinical geneticist at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, Dr Terri McVeigh, explained how families can inherit an alteration in genes that increases their risk of cancer, although some faults are too tricky to test with the current technology.
“Genes are tiny chunks of the DNA genetic code that we inherit from each of our parents. They are tiny structures inside our cells, that carry instructions to make proteins that carry out different jobs in the body,” Dr McVeigh explains. “We normally have two copies of most genes, one of which we inherit from our mother and the other which we inherit from our father. We have about 20,000 different genes. Some of these genes work to protect against the development of cancer – called tumour suppressors.
Anne Nolan and her sister Linda walking in support of Bernie(Image: Sunday Mirror)
“Certain individuals are born with an inherited risk of cancer, because of an inherited alteration (also known as a variant or mutation) in one of these genes. In people where one copy of the gene is already broken, a cell only has to lose the one remaining copy for cells to start growing unrestrained and for cancer to develop. People from certain ethnic backgrounds may also be at higher cancer risk because some groups have had more genetic changes concentrated in their population over the generations.
“Genetic testing is useful in such families as it can help us identify those relatives at higher risk of developing cancer, and, importantly, allow us to take actions to try to facilitate early detection, or prevention where possible. Very often, even if we suspect a hereditary cause of cancer, genetic testing doesn’t identify a genetic alteration.
“A result like this cannot fully exclude the possibility that there may still be inherited risk factors in a family – there may be alterations in genes we don’t routinely test yet, or there may be tricky parts of the gene that cannot be easily tested by current technology.” Dr McVeigh also highlighted how non-genetic risk factors can come into play, such as shared environmental exposures. In cases where a genetic alteration isn’t identified, doctors may recommend extra screening depending on the family history.
The Nolans have a family history of cancer(Image: Andy Stenning/Daily Mirror)
At the Royal Marsden, a screening programme has begun to detect so-called germline cancer predisposition genes in high-risk populations before a cancer develops, so that patients with a mutated gene can be followed to make sure a tumour is detected early.
The NHS England Genomic Medicine service also offers genetic testing of patients who have already developed cancer. The expert adds: “Cancer genetics is a really rapidly moving area of medicine, and there may be an opportunity for additional genetic testing in the future as our knowledge grows.”
Cancer Research UK warns that you may have a strong family history if some of the following situations apply to you: cancers developed when the family members were young, multiple close relatives on the same side of your family have had cancer, the relatives have had the same type of cancer, or different cancers that can be caused by the same gene fault, one of your relatives has had a gene fault found by genetic tests.
Nicola Smith, senior health information manager at Cancer Research UK, said: “Only roughly 5-10 per cent of cancer diagnoses are linked to an inherited faulty gene from a parent.
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“Faulty genes aren’t always passed on to children, but even when they are it doesn’t mean that a person will definitely get cancer – they just have a higher risk of developing particular types of cancer than other people. It’s a much less common cause of cancer than ageing or other factors, such as smoking.
“However, if people are concerned that they have a strong family history of cancer – for example, if multiple relatives have had the same type of cancer at a young age – then they can talk to their GP. If the doctor thinks that someone might be at increased risk, they can refer them to a genetics clinic.”
