CRICKETER Ian Botham told, a London court yesterday that he had never cheated during his career and denied he was bitter because he had not lived up to his great natural talent.
Botham and ex-colleague Allan Lamb are suing former Pakistani captain Imran Khan for libel over an "offensive personal attack" in India Today magazine which, they say, called them racist, uneducated and lacking class.
A motor biking barmaid is about to stir up things in Britain's most famous pub, the Rover's Return.
Samantha Failsworth, played by 25 year old actress Tina Hobley, makes her screen debut tonight as the 36th barmaid to pull pints there since Coronation Street started in 1960.
Washington mayor Marion Barry turned down an interview for Playboy magazine with Janet Cooke, a journalist who left the Washington Post in disgrace after she won and lost a Pulitzer prize for a story about an eight year old heroin addict that was entirely made up. The mayor's wife, Cora Masters, told the Washington Post that, although she believed people should get a second chance, the offer was just too risky. "My husband has all these other things people associate him with."
The 1950s crooner Pat Boone is back and into heavy metal. He is putting together a big band album but trying desperately to keep his tunes within certain moral boundaries.
"Most heavy metal songs are about chasing girls, getting high or eating decayed flesh, he told People magazine. "I just jettisoned CD after CD until I found songs that I really liked."
Former Take That star Gary Barlow has disappointed thousands of female fans by revealing he wants to marry his girlfriend Dawn Andrews.
Barlow (25), whose debut solo single Forever Love went straight to No 1 this week, says he is in love with the blond dancer, who shares his Cheshire mansion, and wants to start a family with her.
President Nelson Mandela yesterday had lunch with Danielle Mitterrand, a longtime anti-apartheid activist, on the last day of his state visit to France.
Ms Mitterrand, who chairs the rights group France Libertes, was invited to the lunch at the Hotel Marigny just down from the Elysee Palace, where Mandela has been staying for the last three days.
Actor Gregory Peck is in a "good condition and a good mood" after an emergency appendix operation over the weekend.
The 80 year old star was taken ill on Saturday after receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award at a film festival in Karlovy Vary, 80 miles from Prague.