When football gets too fashionable

                                     

Footballers’ enthusiasm for restocking their wardrobes every payday (ie, every day) has not gone unnoticed by high-end retailers keen to capture their loose change. Witness the tech-savvy efforts of Harvey Nichols, which recently launched an invitation-only private Twitter feed, so that its biggest male spenders could get tip-offs about new arrivals in store.

But perhaps it was ever thus. As demonstrated by The Class of ’92, the recently released film about Man United’s team of all-conquering wunderkind, swanking about off the pitch takes its toll; David Beckham notwithstanding — and Victoria, the sarongs and Sam Taylor-Wood’s vision of him asleep were still a way off — Fergie’s kids were a fairly unshowy bunch. For Giggs, Scholes, Butt and Nevilles P and G, the hairdryer treatment was something to be avoided rather than booked in at a fancy-schmancy salon. The team’s most memorably eccentric piece of clothing? That Starsky and Hutch-style chunky belted cardigan favoured by Cantona, football’s philosopher-king

In the 1960s, George Best did not confine his off-pitch activities to drinking champagne in nightclubs with a succession of beautiful women. He also went into business with his great pal, Manchester City’s Mike Summerbee, to open a series of boutiques with names such as Rogue and Edwardia. Put aside the fact that George was once snapped in a sombrero on the way home from beating Benfica, the rest of the time he was the epitome of style, a dedicated follower of fashion. And a visit to the King’s Road wasn’t the same unless you spotted one of Chelsea’s on-trend team members, such as Alan Hudson and Peters Osgood and Bonetti.

The 50 biggest celebrity stories of 2013: Good and worst

Well, the end of the year is upon us, with just days left until we ring in 2014. And, unless Jennifer Aniston suddenly announces she's pregnant with her first child, or Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie get married over the next week, we can pretty much guarantee that the biggest showbiz stories of the year are well and truly behind us.

It's been a huge year for celebrities this year, with break-ups, babies, twerking, stars opening up about their sexuality, arrests and even a double mastectomy taking the headlines.

There have been a fair few shocking deaths this year too, and a few public breakdowns, but on the up-side, there have been happy moments too.

Oh, and Katie Hopkins annoyed pretty much everybody.

Re-live the biggest, best and most shocking celebrity stories of 2013. How many can you remember?

Christmas comes early for Liverpool as Suarez commits future to Reds after penning new £200k-per-week long-term deal

     

Luis Suarez has ended speculation that he will be leaving Liverpool by penning a new long-term deal worth £200,000 per week.

The Reds announced on Friday that their free-scoring Uruguayan – who has netted 17 times already this season – has committed his future to the club.

It brings to a close the saga surrounding Suarez and reports that he could look to quit Anfield next year.

He failed to manoeuvre a switch to Arsenal during the summer and was convinced to remain on Merseyside by boss Brendan Rodgers.

But, having finalised the deal which extends to 2018, the 26-year-old said: ‘I am delighted to have agreed a new deal with Liverpool and have my future secured for the long term.

‘We have some great players and the team is growing and improving all the time. I believe I can achieve the ambitions of winning trophies and playing at the very highest level with Liverpool. My aim is to help get us there as quickly as possible.

‘Without doubt the backing I have received from the Liverpool fans has influenced my decision. I am so proud to represent them and go out to do my best for them every time I pull on the shirt.

‘We have a special relationship; they have love for me and in return I love them back. I will always do my best for them and hopefully we can achieve success together.

The Cambridge graduates grateful to earn £7 an hour as Amazon drones: As Ben reveals, working gruelling shifts in a warehouse is often the only job they can get

                                      

With all the subtlety of an angry bear, the alarm on my phone  wrestles me from my brief, blissful slumber. Cold and tired, I peel myself from the sheets, feeling the stiffness in my legs and the dull ache in the soles of my feet as they reluctantly touch the floor.

Dead to the world, I push a toothbrush around my mouth, trying to avoid eye  contact with the zombie in the mirror.

I pull on the battered trainers, tracksuit bottoms and a T-shirt I'd dropped on the bedroom floor seconds before falling asleep last night, zip up my windproof jacket, clip my bike lights into place and set off on the hour-long ride to work. Meanwhile, the kitchen clock shows 5.30am.

Once at work, I punch a code into a drinks machine and watch it spit tea into a paper cup, while other exhausted ghosts limp into view and exchange supportive nods of acknowledgment.

I just have time to wolf down a breakfast cereal bar before my shift starts at 7am.  For the next 11-and-a-half-hours, I will be pushing a trolley around a giant warehouse in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire.

It's back-breaking work - I will probably walk a total of 20 miles today - just one ant among 1,500 others, scurrying around a vast complex of jaw-dropping logistical genius and breath-taking productivity.

Panic at the Apollo: London bus is commandeered to take injured theatregoers to hospital as 88 are hurt after balcony collapses 'like an avalanche' at West End show following massive thunderstorm

Dozens of theatre-goers were injured last night when part of a balcony collapsed during a performance at a major West End theatre in chaotic scenes described as being 'like an avalanche'.

Police said seven people were seriously injured and there were 81 walking wounded following the incident which happened at about 8.15pm inside the packed 112-year-old Apollo Theatre in London.

Masonry from the Grade II-listed theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue plummeted into the stalls below, striking members of the 720-strong audience and filling the theatre with clouds of thick dus

A capacity audience was inside the theatre, which was 45 minutes into the National Theatre's performance of The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-time.

Audience members then started screaming as parts of the ceiling appeared to cave in, with some eyewitnesses hearing a loud ‘creaking’ which some initially thought was part of the show.

Rooney boxing, Ronaldo playing volleyball and Messi stopped on the street by Beckenbauer as they team up for the World XI (but why is Victor Moses in there, too? )

                      

Aliens have arrived and they've challenged us to a game of football. Don't panic... it's purely a hypothetical scenario, spectacularly depicted in this new all-star advert.

The world best players - along with Victor Moses and Bolton's Lee Chung-Yong - have been summoned to defend Earth as part of the Samsung Galaxy XI

Lionel Messi is Captain Planet, stopped on his morning run in Barcelona by an entourage of blacked-out vehicles with the team's manager, Franz Beckenbauer handing him the armband.

And his strike partner? Cristiano Ronaldo.

The Real Madrid man may well eclipse the Argentine superstar as the No 1 footballer in the world next month

Apollo Theatre Ceiling collapses at London's and Dozens of people injured after part of theatre roof caved in during packed performance, officials say.

                   

A ceiling has collapsed at London's Apollo Theatre, wounding dozens of people and prompting a swift search-and-rescue operation.

The London fire department said about 700 people were inside the theatre in the British capital when the incident occurred on Thursday evening.

"We saw the ceiling give way and it just dropped down onto the stalls. There was dust everywhere and people were screaming," said Steve George, who was in the audience

People were quickly ushered out of the theatre, he said.
In a message posted to Twitter soon after the incident, the fire department confirmed that all trapped audience members had been freed.
More than 75 people were injured, emergency services said, including seven who were taken to hospital with more serious injuries.
It was not immediately clear why the ceiling caved in.

What men really want to hide on their smartphones - and it isn't porn! Bank information lolx

                 

 men around the worldare more concerned with hiding banking information on their phones than sexy photos, a new survey has revealed.

A poll of 1,000 men and women - conducted by market research firm TNS on behalf of the new Clean Master app – reveals that just 13per cent of men say they would be embarrassed if friends and family found naked snaps of other people on their phones.

But a larger percentage of respondents feel more cagey about the banking history logged on their phones -  25per cent of the men and women surveyed would like to hide this information

It appears that male cellphone use is more sexually charged than its female equivalent. But women aren't exactly perfect either.

While 15per cent of men are nervous about having their mobile porn habits found out, five per cent of women are too.

An additional five per cent  of women are nervous about naked photos of other people being discovered on their phones as well.

But according to the study, nine per cent of men have naked photos on their mobile devices, while only two per cent of women are guilty of doing so

Rigby's family grieve after verdict

The devastated family of Lee Rigby have said they will "never forget" the young soldier as two Muslim extremists were convicted of his barbaric murder.

Michael Adebolajo, 29, showed no remorse as he kissed his Koran after he and fellow killer Michael Adebowale, 22, were told they face life behind bars for the atrocity.

Fusilier Rigby's relatives, including mother Lyn, widow Rebecca and fiancee Aimee West, wept as the verdicts were given at the Old Bailey, and Mr Justice Sweeney praised their "great dignity" in sitting through harrowing evidence

British Muslim converts Adebolajo and Adebowale mowed the young father down in a car before hacking him to death with a meat cleaver and knives in a frenzied attack, and dumping his body in the middle of the road near Woolwich Barracks in south east London on May 22.

The verdicts, which took the jury just 90 minutes to reach, provoked widespread condemnation of the attack from high-profile figures including the Prime Minister and Home Secretary Theresa May

Tulisa does a Nigella: Former X Factor judge gets a dramatic court makeover as she arrives to face charges of supplying cocaine

     

Singer Tulisa Contostavlos appeared to have had a Nigella-style makeover before she arrived at court in central London this morning to face a drugs charge.

The 25-year-old singer strode into Westminster Magistrates' Court in sky-high heels, coiffed blonde ringlets and full war-paint before denying one charge of supplying Class A drugs.

The N-Dubz star, of Friern Barnet, north London, is accused of setting up an £860 deal to sell 13.9g of cocaine to an undercover reporter.

She appeared alongside rapper Mike GLC, real name Michael Coombs, 35, of Enfield, north London. He too denied a charge of supplying the drug

Contostavlos, who wore tight black trousers, a black top and black jacket, was forced to disclose her address to the court after her solicitor applied for it to be withheld to prevent 'unwanted visitors'.

But chief magistrate Howard Riddle ruled 'the address must be given' after considering the application with representations from prosecutor Emma Scheer and members of the Press.

The singer told the court: 'Just to let you know, after it being read out, in the next month or so I might have to move to a new address.'

The court heard how the charge relates to 13.9g of cocaine - dubbed 'white sweets' by Tulisa as a codename for the powder when talking to Mr Mahmood.

Emma Scheer, prosecuting, said: 'This was an investigation carried out by an investigative journalist at the Sun newspaper.

'On the March 28, Mazher Mahmood met Tulisa under the pretense of her playing a role in a forthcoming film.

'There was no reference to drugs in that meeting. He again met her later on May 10 at a hotel in London

10 migrants heading for Britain rescued in northern France from a refrigerated lorry where temperatures dropped to -4C

                      

Ten desperate migrants who were trying to get into Britain illegally have been rescued from the back of a refrigerated lorry in northern France.

The six women and four men, who claim to be from war-torn Eritrea, locked themselves into the truck, where temperatures dropped to – 4 C.

They were only found because one managed to get a call out to police on his mobile phone and mumble: ‘Help

French police managed to track them using a GPS tracking system in the early hours of Tuesday morning. 

‘The call was traced by a mobile company, but the truck was still moving so they were hard to find,’ said a spokesman for Arras police.

‘The lorry was heading for Calais, from there the migrants hoped to be transported in the lorry across the sea to England.’ There they would have claimed asylum, the spokesman added. 

The truck was eventually stopped by a police patrol near Boulogne-sur-mer, and all those on board rescued