First Raspberry Pi computers to be delivered

The first batch of Raspberry Pi computers are being issued to users.

A group of schoolchildren in Leeds are the first to get their hands on production models of the bare-bones computer.

Costing only £16, the tiny computer has been designed to inspire anyone, especially children, to get started with computer programming.

Eager fans who were the first to order a machine should get their Raspberry Pi by 20 April.

Since the Raspberry Pi project began, the plan has garnered huge interest from developers, hobbyists and others keen to get their hands on a cheap, easy-to-use computer.

Delivery of the first batch of production machines has been delayed twice - once because the wrong component was soldered on to circuit boards and a second time thanks to confusion about electromagnetic testing.

Programming masterclass
With both these hurdles overcome, delivery of the first machines to roll off the production line is set to commence.

To mark the occasion, project co-ordinator Eben Upton is presenting a batch of the first Raspberry Pi computers to schoolchildren on Friday. The event is being held at the Leeds offices of Pi distributor Premier Farnell.

Dr Upton will also be holding a programming masterclass to help the children find out what they can do with the machine.

A spokesperson for Premier Farnell said it was due to get a large batch of machines delivered on 13 April and would be sending them out to customers on Friday.

Those who were the first to order a Pi should get their gadget within seven days of them being sent out, she said.

The Pi is built around the Arm chip that is used in the vast majority of mobile phones. It runs one version of the Linux operating system and uses SD cards as its storage medium.

The machine comes in two varieties - with and without a networking connector.

Majorana particle glimpsed in lab

Scientists think they may finally have seen evidence for a famously elusive quarry in particle physics.

The Majorana fermion was first predicted 75 years ago - a particle that could be its own anti-particle.

Now Dutch researchers, who have devised some exotic and minute circuitry to test for the Majorana's existence, believe their results show the fermion to be real.

The team has reported the details of its experiments in Science magazine.

"It opens up some very interesting ideas," said Leo Kouwenhoven from the Delft University of Technology.

Majoranas should behave quite differently from more familiar matter particles, such as electrons.

When these confront their opposites - positrons - they annihilate each other in a flash of gamma rays.

The idea that a particle existed that might be equal to its anti-particle was put forward by Italian Ettore Majorana, a brilliant theorist who mysteriously went missing after withdrawing all his money to go on a boat journey in 1938.

Many have tried to prove his fermion's existence, with a lot of the recent interest pursued not in giant accelerators, which have traditionally hunted new particles, but rather in incredibly small electronic devices where lengths are measured on the order of just billionths of a metre (nanometres).

Down to the wire
Prof Kouwenhoven's group fabricated just such a device with the help of colleagues from the Eindhoven University of Technology.

It comprised a phenomenally thin wire in contact with a semiconductor and a superconductor.

When a magnetic field was applied along the length of this "nanowire", electrons in it were restricted to a certain set of energies. But the set-up created a specific gap in energy in which electrons could gather together, acting in synchrony as a Majorana particle.


The nanowire created a place where the Majorana particles could be sequestered
The team applied a voltage to the wire, measuring the degree to which the wire conducted electricity at several points along its length.

The scientists say they saw two distinct dips in this conductance, one at either end of the wire. This is where they believe the Majorana particles were hiding.

"If you take a solid material and you make the right combinations, the natural particles living in these condensed matter structures, will also obey this defining property of Majorana fermions - that a particle is equal its anti-particle," Prof Kouwenhoven told BBC News.

"The system is still built out of atoms, with nuclei and electrons, but the electrons behave together in such a way that their collective state is a Majorana fermion."

Other groups working in this field of solid state physics are thought to be close to making similar announcements.

Probing the novel properties of Majorana particles could allow scientists to understand better the mysterious realm of quantum mechanics, which explains the behaviour of matter and its interactions with energy on the very smallest scales.

Those properties are also expected to make the fermions ideally suited to be the stable "bits" of information in the long-talked-about quantum computer, a theoretical device that would make use of quirky quantum effects to perform computation at incredible speeds.

And it has even been suggested that the "missing mass" in the Universe - the matter we cannot detect directly but which we know to exist because of its gravitational influence on everything we can see - is made up in some part by Majorana particles.

'Black widow' sentenced to death for murder in Japan

Kanae Kijima says she is innocent and asserts the men either committed suicide or died accidentally


A Japanese woman who murdered her three former lovers in 2009 has been sentenced to death.

Kanae Kijima, 37, murdered three men aged 41, 53 and 80 for financial gain, the court said. The judge added that there was no room for leniency.

She met the men on internet dating sites and poisoned them with carbon monoxide by burning charcoal briquettes after giving them sleeping pills.

Kijima says she is innocent and plans on appealing against the verdict.

The case has gained notoriety in Japan as the "Black Widow" case, named after the female spider that eats its partner after mating.

More than 1,000 people queued up for fewer than 50 seats at the court to hear the verdict.

"The defendant repeatedly committed quite serious crimes that claimed the lives of three people," the presiding judge, Kazuyuki Okuma, in Saitama district court, was quoted by the Kyodo news agency as saying.

"There is no room for leniency as the defendant committed the crimes for selfish purposes. She reiterated irrational excuses in court and did not show any remorse."

Prosecutors said she killed the men so she would not have to pay back the money they had given her.

The defence said the men had either committed suicide because Kijima broke up with them, or died accidentally.

Two of the three victims were found dead in their homes in Tokyo's Chiba prefecture. The third was found in a rented car in Saitama prefecture.

Brazil murder suspects 'confess to cannibalism'

Police in Brazil say three people arrested on suspicion of murdering at least two women have confessed to acts of cannibalism.

The accused, a man and two women, allegedly said they belonged to a sect.

Police said the suspects claimed "a voice" had told them to kill.

Police found two female bodies buried in the grounds of the house where the suspects lived in the town of Garanhuns, in northeastern Pernambuco state.

Speaking at a news conference, Garanhuns Police Commander Democrito de Oliveira said the three had told police they had eaten the flesh of their victims.

He said the two bodies were identified as those of two women who had been reported missing in Garanhuns earlier this year.

Mr Oliveira said police were investigating whether the suspects could be linked to the murder of another six women in Pernambuco.

He said one of the female suspects had claimed to have used some of the flesh of her alleged victims for making pasties, which she allegedly sold in Garanhuns.

Mr Oliveira said the three would be charged with murder, kidnapping, hiding bodies, fraud and offences against public health.

India anger at Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan detention

India has reacted angrily to the detention of Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan by US authorities for 90 minutes at White Plains airport near New York.

This "policy of detention and apology by the US cannot continue", External Affairs Minister SM Krishna said.

The actor arrived on a private plane and was on the way to Yale University for a function when he was stopped.

US customs and border protection authorities later expressed "profound" apologies for the incident.

The spokesman for the US embassy in Delhi, Peter Vrooman, also apologised "if Mr Shah Rukh Khan experienced an inconvenience or delay".

It is not clear why Khan was detained at the airport, which serves New York City.

In 2009 the actor was detained for two hours at Newark airport and was released after India's embassy in the US intervened.

The actor said then that he was stopped because he had a Muslim name. US customs officials denied that Khan had been detained, saying he was questioned.

'Uncalled for'
"Apologies from America have become mechanical," Mr Krishna said on Friday.

He also asked India's ambassador in the US, Nirupama Rao, to lodge a protest with Washington.

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All that the US immigration authorities need to know about Shah Rukh Khan, they can find it at the touch of a button”

Javed Akhtar
Musician
Member of Parliament Rajeev Shukla said the detention was "totally uncalled for".

The Bollywood film industry has also come out in support of the actor.

"All that the US immigration authorities need to know about Shah Rukh Khan, they can find it at the touch of a button," musician Javed Akhtar said.

Earlier, the Press Trust of India news agency reported that Khan was stopped and questioned for more than two hours before being cleared by immigration officials on Thursday.

He was freed after Yale University officials contacted homeland security and customs officials, the BBC's Salim Rizvi in New York said.

"Khan was very, very upset over the episode," the CNN-IBN channel said, quoting unnamed sources.

Later, he told the students of Yale University that he had been stopped and questioned at the airport.

But, he made light of the incident and joked about it.

"Whenever I start feeling arrogant about myself, I always take a trip to America. The immigration guys kick the star out of stardom," he said to laughter from the audience.

"They [immigration officials] always ask me how tall I am and I always lie and say 5ft 10 inches. Next time I am going to get more adventurous. [If they ask me] what colour are you, I am going to say white," he said.

Khan has appeared in more than 70 films and is considered one of India's most recognisable and popular celebrities.

Other incidents
There have been several incidents in the past of prominent Indian officials being stopped or frisked at US airports.

In December 2010, the US expressed regret after India's then-ambassador Meera Shankar was pulled out of an airport security line and frisked by a security agent.

Some reports said she was singled out as she was wearing a sari.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she was concerned about the incident and vowed to prevent a recurrence.

And in 2009, America's Continental Airlines apologised to former Indian President APJ Abdul Kalam for frisking him before he boarded a flight to the US.

Members of India's parliament were outraged after it emerged that Mr Kalam had been frisked and made to remove his shoes at Delhi airport in April.

Protocol exempts former presidents and other dignitaries from such searches.

Four-year-old Heidi Hankins joins Mensa with 159 IQ

A four-year-old girl from Hampshire has been accepted into Mensa with an IQ just one point below Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking.

Heidi Hankins from Winchester has a 159 IQ. She taught herself to read and was able to count to 40 at two years old.

British Mensa chief executive John Stevenage said Heidi's parents "correctly identified that she shows great potential".

According to Mensa, the average adult IQ score is 100.

In 2009, Oscar Wrigley, aged two and a half at the time, from Reading in Berkshire became the youngest ever child to join Mensa with an IQ of 160.

Mr Stevenage said: "We aim to provide a positive environment for younger members to develop."

According to Mensa, the signs of a gifted child include an unusual memory, reading at an early age, intolerance of other children and an awareness of world events. A gifted child will also ask questions all of the time.

UN 'deplores' North Korea botched rocket launch

failure
Continue reading the main story
Inside North Korea

Missile programme
Why launch raises tension
Exploring contradictions
Will North Korea change?
The UN Security Council has deplored the launch by North Korea of a rocket which broke up shortly after take-off.

A statement issued after closed-door talks said the launch was in breach of two Security Council resolutions.

Consultations on an appropriate response would continue, "given the urgency of the matter", it continued.

In an unusual step, the North admitted the launch of the satellite had failed, and went ahead with planned celebrations in Pyongyang.

The UN statement, read by the current Security Council chair, US ambassador Susan Rice, said the launch broke UNSC resolutions 1718 and 1874.

They imposed tough sanctions against North Korea following earlier rocket launches in 2006 an 2009.

Ms Rice would not say what sort of response they were considering. But she added: "We think a credible reaction is important."

Continue reading the main story

Analysis
Damian Grammaticas
BBC News, North Korea
The failure of this launch is embarrassing for the North Korean regime. It had been billed as a sign of the North's technical achievement.

But the news that it had failed was only given at midday local time. For four hours after the launch, there was no word at all. The international journalists assembled in the press centre were told nothing. Then state media said rocket scientists and technicians were looking into why it failed to reach orbit.

In previous days, we had been taken to see the launch pad on the West Sea site. North Korea wanted to insist this was just a satellite launch and not a test of missile technology as others had feared. It wanted to show us its mastery of technology.

The failure is a serious blow to the prestige of Kim Jong-un. It was hoped showcasing the North's technological achievements would reinforce the young man's right to the mantle of power.

The fear is he may now respond with a new show of strength, perhaps by testing a nuclear device.

Read more from Damian
But Aidan Foster-Carter, Korea analyst at Leeds University, said he found the prospect of more international action "a bit dreary".

Food aid cancelled
"I wish we could find a way not to paint North Korea further into the corner they're busy painting themselves into," he told the BBC. "We need to engage with them and draw them out but they have again made that harder."

Earlier, Washington accused the communist state of threatening regional security. It said North Korea had isolated itself still further from the outside world.

The US has also cancelled a proposed food aid deal with Pyongyang.

A US National Security Council spokesman said they would look at additional sanctions if Pyongyang continued its "provocations".

In February, North Korea agreed to a partial freeze in nuclear activities and a missile test moratorium in return for US food aid.

Washington suspended the deal when the missile launch was announced last month.

'Provocative acts'
The official reason for the launch had been to put a satellite into orbit in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of the state's founder, Kim Il-sung.


Susan Rice, UN: "Members of the security council deplored this launch"
Kim Jong-un, his grandson, led tens of thousands of people in lavish celebrations in central Pyongyang at which giant statues were unveiled to both his grandfather and his late father, Kim Jong-il.

Many outside the country saw the launch as an illegal test of long-range missile technology.

North Korea fired the Unha-3 rocket around 07:40 local time (22:40 GMT Thursday) from a site in Cholsan County on the western coast, according to South Korean and US monitors.

It disintegrated after a minute or two, falling into waters 165km (105 miles) west of the South Korean capital, Seoul, the monitors said.

"North Korea is only further isolating itself by engaging in provocative acts, and is wasting its money on weapons and propaganda displays while the North Korean people go hungry," said White House spokesman Jay Carney.

South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-Hwan accused the North of a "clear breach of the UN resolution that prohibits any launch using ballistic missile technology".

China and Russia, North Korea's closest allies, called for a resumption of the stalled multi-party talks on North Korea's nuclear programme.

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie announce engagement

Hollywood A-listers Angelina Jolie, 36, and Brad Pitt, 48, are engaged to be married, a spokeswoman has confirmed.

But no wedding date has yet been set, she added, describing the engagement as "a promise for the future".

The couple, who are among Hollywood's most widely recognised celebrities, have been together since 2005.

They have six children together, including three adopted children. They are "very happy" about the news, the spokeswoman said.

Jolie, the daughter of actor Jon Voight and actress Marcheline Bertrand, has starred in blockbuster films such as Mr & Mrs Smith, where she met Pitt. She won an Oscar for her performance in the 1999 film Girl, Interrupted.

She was previously married to actors Jonny Lee Miller and Billy Bob Thornton.

Meanwhile, Pitt has starred in a string of hit films including blockbusters Ocean's Eleven, Seven and, more recently, the critically acclaimed Moneyball and Tree of Life.

Earlier, Pitt had a high-profile relationship with actresses Gwyneth Paltrow and Jennifer Anniston, to whom he was married.

As a couple Pitt and Jolie have championed humanitarian causes.

In 2001 she became a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). She has also established a number of charitable organisations, among them the Jolie-Pitt Foundation.

Little boy lost finds his mother using Google Earth

An Indian boy who lost his mother in 1986 has found her 25 years later from his new home in Tasmania - using satellite images.

Saroo was only five years old when he got lost. He was travelling with his older brother, working as a sweeper on India's trains. "It was late at night. We got off the train, and I was so tired that I just took a seat at a train station, and I ended up falling asleep."

That fateful nap would determine the rest of his life. "I thought my brother would come back and wake me up but when I awoke he was nowhere to be seen. I saw a train in front of me and thought he must be on that train. So I decided to get on it and hoped that I would meet my brother."

Saroo did not meet his brother on the train. Instead, he fell asleep and had a shock when he woke up 14 hours later. Though he did not realise it at first, he had arrived in Calcutta, India's third biggest city and notorious for its slums.

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“
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I do not think any mother or father would like to have their five year old wandering alone in the slums and train stations of Calcutta”

Saroo Brierley
"I was absolutely scared. I didn't know where I was. I just started to look for people and ask them questions."

Soon he was sleeping rough. "It was a very scary place to be. I don't think any mother or father would like to have their five year old wandering alone in the slums and trains stations of Calcutta."

The little boy learned to fend for himself. He became a beggar, one of the many children begging on the streets of the city. "I had to be quite careful. You could not trust anyone." Once he was approached by a man who promised him food and shelter and a way back home. But Saroo was suspicious. "Ultimately I think he was going to do something not nice to me, so I ran away."

But in the end, he did get off the streets. He was taken in by an orphanage, which put him up for adoption. He was adopted by the Brierleys, a couple from Tasmania. "I accepted that I was lost and that I could not find my way back home, so I thought it was great that I was going to Australia."

Saroo settled down well in his new home. But as he got older the desire to find his birth family became increasingly strong. The problem was that as an illiterate five-year-old he had not known the name of the town he had come from. All he had to go on were his vivid memories. So he began using Google Earth to search for where he might have been born.

"It was just like being Superman. You are able to go over and take a photo mentally and ask, 'Does this match?' And when you say, 'No', you keep on going and going and going."


Eventually Saroo hit on a more effective strategy. "I multiplied the time I was on the train, about 14 hours, with the speed of Indian trains and I came up with a rough distance, about 1,200km."

Continue reading the main story
Find out more

Saroo Brierley spoke to Outlook on the BBC World Service

Listen to the programme

More from Outlook

More from the BBC World Service

He drew a circle on a map with its centre in Calcutta, with its radius about the distance he thought he had travelled. Incredibly, he soon he discovered what he was looking for: Khandwa. "When I found it, I zoomed down and bang, it just came up. I navigated it all the way from the waterfall where I used to play."

Soon he made his way to Khandwa, the town he had discovered online. He found his way around the town with his childhood memories. Eventually he found his own home in the neighbourhood of Ganesh Talai. But it was not what he had hoped for. "When I got to the door I saw a lock on it. It look old and battered, as if no-one had lived there for quite a long time."

Saroo had a photograph of himself as a child and he still remembered the names of his family. A neighbour said that his family had moved.

"Another person came and then a third person turned up, and that is when I struck gold. He said, 'Just wait here for a second and I shall be back.' And when he did come back after a couple of minutes he said, 'Now I will be taking you to your mother.'"

Continue reading the main story
Lost and found


1981: Saroo is born
1986: He loses his family and ends up living on the streets of Calcutta
1987: He is adopted by an Australian couple and grows up in Tasmania
2011: He finds his home town on Google Earth
2012: He is reunited with his mother in Khandwa
"I just felt numb and thought, 'Am I hearing what I think I am hearing?'"

Saroo was taken to meet his mother who was nearby. At first he did not recognise her.

"The last time I saw her she was 34 years old and a pretty lady, I had forgotten that age would get the better of her. But the facial structure was still there and I recognised her and I said, 'Yes, you are my mother.'

"She grabbed my hand and took me to her house. She could not say anything to me. I think she was as numb as I was. She had a bit of trouble grasping that her son, after 25 years, had just reappeared like a ghost."

Although she had long feared he was dead, a fortune teller had told Saroo's mother that one day she would see her son again. "I think the fortune teller gave her a bit of energy to live on and to wait for that day to come."

And what of the brother with whom Saroo had originally gone travelling? Unfortunately, the news was not good. "A month after I had disappeared my brother was found in two pieces on a railway track." His mother had never known whether foul play was involved or whether the boy had simply slipped and fallen under a train.

"We were extremely close and when I left India the tearing thing for me was knowing my brother had passed away."

For years Saroo Brierley went to sleep wishing he could see his mother again and his birth family. Now that he has, he feels incredibly grateful.

"It has taken the weight off my shoulders. I sleep a lot better now."

And there is something to make him sleep better - with memories of Slumdog Millionaire still fresh, publishers and film producers are getting interested in his incredible story.

Letting in non-Britons into Britain's Got Talent is a national disgrace

The clue, you might think, is in the name: BRITAIN'S Got Talent.

There we all were assuming that the sort of gormless idiots we see on a Saturday evening performing Beethoven’s 5th on a hot water bottle while dressed as Spongebob Squarepants were OUR idiots.

That, even more than this, that they REPRESENTED the UK, that they SAID something about our nation ­either its glorious eccentricity or what a sorry state it was in - how naive we were.

Tonight’s BGT features Face Team, a basketball stunt team of Hungarian performers who don’t live or work in the UK but have apparently flown in from Hungary especially to appear on Britain’s Got Talent.

They follow hot on the wheels of Germany’s Dennis Egel who flew over here not, as David Walliams hoped, using the gigantic gold foil wings he was wearing, but on EasyJet.

Britain’s Got Talent’s producers confirmed yesterday that the show is open to anyone from the EU ­ a state of affairs that suggests that perhaps EU’ve Been Framed would be a more apposite title.

It may seem harmless enough, but it shows how desperate the Dark Lord himself, Simon Cowell, is to find someone worthy of winning the show. Someone more marketable than Jai McDowall.

The pressure to deliver is greater than ever now that The Voice is beating BGT in the ratings.

It also suggests Simon has realised that after five previous series, the pool of “talent” in this country is drying up.

What he would do if someone from abroad actually WON Britain’s Got Talent remains to be seen.

Alesha Dixon blown away by "beautiful" BGT wheelchair act

It seems as if Alesha Dixon has been missing Strictly a little, with the judge gushing about how “inspired” she is by ballroom dancing pair Paula and Gary during tonight’s Britain’s Got Talent.

The singer was blown away by Strictly Wheels, who danced magnificently to Empire State of Mind by Alesha Keys for their audition.

Paula, 41, and Gary, 39, describe themselves as the “best of friends” and have been dancing seriously together for the last 18 months.

Paula, who admits that she would “never have put myself down to dance” before she started practicing with Gary, has been in a wheelchair for eight years after contracting MRSA during her 20s.

But the blonde says her condition hasn’t stopped her from doing anything she enjoys. She laughs: “I love dancing, I love going out – I just do things sitting down that’s all!”


Paula and Gary, who won the UK dancing championships at debutante level, started their BGT performance with a slow routine, before thrilling the judges by speeding the music right up and jiving on the stage.

Afterwards, David Walliams says: “I thought that was amazing, you turned what might have been a negative, into a positive! You did things that two dancers wouldn’t normally do.”

Simon tells Strictly Wheels: “I thought it was going to be uncomfortable. But you were fun, I like you. Paula, you are much better than Gary by the way.”

Amanda adds: “Paula, your control of that chair and your muscle in your arms is unbelievable.”

David Walliams achieves the impossible and gets even more camp (with the help of a sailor group) on tonight’s BGT

As a self confessed attention seeker, David Walliams is always saying how much he wants to jump on stage and get involved with the Britain’s Got Talent contestants.

And as soon as The Show Bears walk onto the stage during tonight’s programme, it’s pretty clear what’s about to happen.

David’s eyes light up as the five-piece appear in their sparkly sailor suits and launch into a rendition of It’s Raining Men by The Weather Girls (although they change the lyrics to “We’re Sailor Men” – ingenious).And afterwards the 40 year old says: “I just want to join and sing that song with you. You have to get me an outfit.”

Spurred on by the crowd, David pretends he doesn’t want to get on stage, before racing up to join The Show Bears, shouting gleefully: “I may be too camp and send it over the edge!”


With the song being played for a second time, David fits right in and shouts “You’d better listen”, before slipping into the dance routine with ridiculous ease. It’s really quite something.

Following the amazing dance, David admits that he “was in heaven” as Amanda laughs that the “Royal Family would adore that”.

Remember to tune into our TV liveblog, with us lot basically watching The Voice and BGT with you lot via this techno whizz kid story from 7pm tonight.

Tune into ITV1 tonight from 8pm to watch Britain’s Got Talent.

Titanic witnessed mankind at its heroic best and selfish worst

Titanic was the technological marvel of her age – the ultimate symbol of mankind’s genius, his victory over the elements and a symbol of hope for the new century.

All human life was aboard Titanic.

It contained millionaires and penniless immigrants, the rich from New York and London, the poor from every corner of Europe, men – and women – who were capable of facing death calmly and others who would do anything to stay alive.

The men of first, second and third class on Titanic shared only this – in every class, the majority of them died.

They said goodbye to their families, lit cigarettes and waited for death, true to the old code of honour, “women and children first”.

Those men, from every part of the ship, waving goodbye to the women and children from the deck of Titanic feels like the last act of a lost age of chivalry.

Courage was everywhere that night.

Some wives refused to leave their husbands, and died with them.

The band, in their lifejackets, played as Titanic went down.


And Captain Edward Smith, who legend has dying alone on the bridge, was seen by Fireman Harry Senior in the water after the sinking of Titanic, holding a child up with his last breaths, while others claim he was seen freezing in that black sea, yet still urging lifeboats on, and saying he would follow his ship down.

But there was cowardice, too, and desperate self-preservation.

Bruce Ismay, chairman of Titanic’s owners, White Star Line, slipped into a lifeboat when there were still women and children on board.

Ismay did not look back to see Titanic sink beneath the waves and he was scorned as a coward for the remaining 25 years of his life.

Daniel Buckley, a third class passenger, slipped into a lifeboat by wearing a woman’s shawl – the only evidence of the legend that some men fled Titanic disguised as women.

A stoker who tried to steal a lifejacket from a radio operator was beaten unconscious and left to his fate.

And when Titanic was gone, and a thousand voices screamed in agony in the sub-zero waters of the Atlantic, those in the lifeboats lashed out at them with oars.

The terror of being capsized by the dying was overwhelming.

Titanic witnessed mankind at its selfish worst – and at its very best.

And for 100 years this single, great unanswerable question has haunted our dreams of Titanic – what would I have done?

Here is the inherent human drama of the Titanic. Who will live and who will die?

“You go and I’ll stay a while,” Dan Marvin, on his honeymoon, said to his young wife. He blew his bride a kiss as she stepped into the lifeboat. They never saw each other again.

“You must come with me,” insisted Mrs Walter Douglas. “No, I must be a gentleman,” her husband stubbornly insisted. They never saw each other again.

Mrs Isidor Straus, wife of the man who built Macy’s, refused to leave her husband. He, in turn, refused a place in the lifeboat offered because of his age (67).

“I will not go before the other men,” said Isidor Straus, and he sat with his wife in deckchairs, waiting for death.

The couple’s memorial service in New York was attended by 40,000 people.


News UK News
14 Apr 2012 00:31
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By
Tony Parsons

Titanic witnessed mankind at its heroic best and selfish worst

Titanic took something from the human race when she went down – innocence, certainty and confidence


Doomed: The Titanic
PA
Titanic was the technological marvel of her age – the ultimate symbol of mankind’s genius, his victory over the elements and a symbol of hope for the new century.

All human life was aboard Titanic.

It contained millionaires and penniless immigrants, the rich from New York and London, the poor from every corner of Europe, men – and women – who were capable of facing death calmly and others who would do anything to stay alive.

The men of first, second and third class on Titanic shared only this – in every class, the majority of them died.

They said goodbye to their families, lit cigarettes and waited for death, true to the old code of honour, “women and children first”.

Those men, from every part of the ship, waving goodbye to the women and children from the deck of Titanic feels like the last act of a lost age of chivalry.

Courage was everywhere that night.

Some wives refused to leave their husbands, and died with them.

The band, in their lifejackets, played as Titanic went down.

Heroic: Captain of the Titanic, Edward J. Smith
Getty
And Captain Edward Smith, who legend has dying alone on the bridge, was seen by Fireman Harry Senior in the water after the sinking of Titanic, holding a child up with his last breaths, while others claim he was seen freezing in that black sea, yet still urging lifeboats on, and saying he would follow his ship down.

But there was cowardice, too, and desperate self-preservation.

Bruce Ismay, chairman of Titanic’s owners, White Star Line, slipped into a lifeboat when there were still women and children on board.

Ismay did not look back to see Titanic sink beneath the waves and he was scorned as a coward for the remaining 25 years of his life.

Daniel Buckley, a third class passenger, slipped into a lifeboat by wearing a woman’s shawl – the only evidence of the legend that some men fled Titanic disguised as women.

A stoker who tried to steal a lifejacket from a radio operator was beaten unconscious and left to his fate.

And when Titanic was gone, and a thousand voices screamed in agony in the sub-zero waters of the Atlantic, those in the lifeboats lashed out at them with oars.

The terror of being capsized by the dying was overwhelming.

Titanic witnessed mankind at its selfish worst – and at its very best.

And for 100 years this single, great unanswerable question has haunted our dreams of Titanic – what would I have done?

Here is the inherent human drama of the Titanic. Who will live and who will die?

“You go and I’ll stay a while,” Dan Marvin, on his honeymoon, said to his young wife. He blew his bride a kiss as she stepped into the lifeboat. They never saw each other again.

“You must come with me,” insisted Mrs Walter Douglas. “No, I must be a gentleman,” her husband stubbornly insisted. They never saw each other again.

Mrs Isidor Straus, wife of the man who built Macy’s, refused to leave her husband. He, in turn, refused a place in the lifeboat offered because of his age (67).

“I will not go before the other men,” said Isidor Straus, and he sat with his wife in deckchairs, waiting for death.

The couple’s memorial service in New York was attended by 40,000 people.

Lucky few: A lifeboat approaches the rescue ship Carpathia
Reuters
In both James Cameron’s Titanic and the film A Night to Remember, there is a drunken baker, who looks like comic relief, sucking down a bottle of whiskey, staggering about like Charlie Chaplin and perching on the stern of Titanic as she sits bolt upright in the Atlantic, then slides to her grave.

It was all true.

In reality the Titanic’s drunk was Chief Baker Charles Joughin, of Liverpool, who behaved with insane heroism all night.

Joughin threw women into lifeboats, chucked 50 deckchairs into the Atlantic (straws to cling to) and when he was assigned to number 10 lifeboat as skipper, he jumped out at the last moment and back on Titanic because he thought that leaving the ship would, “set a bad example”.

The Titanic’s comic drunk seems surely marked for death. But the baker rode the stern down and, as Titanic disappeared beneath the surface, claims to have stepped into the Atlantic without even getting his hair wet.

The bottle of whiskey inside him kept Joughin alive in sub-zero waters for hours – far longer than anyone else – and in the end he scrambled on to an overturned canvas lifeboat. Charles Joughin returned to Liverpool and lived for another 44 years.

Who lives another half century and who will die tonight?

In any catastrophic disaster, from 9/11 to the terrible tsunamis of Japan 2011 and Thailand 2004, there is an element of chance in who lives and who dies.

A decision made in a split second can mean the difference between life and death.

What was unique about Titanic was that hundreds consciously chose to die as a matter of honour.

“No woman shall be left aboard because Ben Guggenheim is a coward,” growled millionaire Benjamin Guggenheim.

Guggenheim and his valet changed into formal evening wear then sat in deckchairs, smoking cigars and drinking brandy, waiting for death to come.

Benjamin Guggenheim’s inheritance had largely been squandered on bad investments.


In truth he had never been much of a businessman, or much of a husband (he was travelling with his French mistress, a young singer, and she made it to the lifeboats with her maid).

But on the night of his death, Benjamin Guggenheim earned his place in history.

The Titanic feels like an overture to all the horrors of the twentieth century.

The symbol of man’s final victory over nature became a metaphor for the vanity of mankind, and the brutality of fate, and the limits of technology.

The launch of the Titanic did not symbolise a bright new dawn for mankind – but the start of a century where developments in technology would result in the industrial slaughter of the trenches, and the mushroom cloud that threatened the existence of the planet itself.

Nobody really knows how many died on Titanic.

The American Inquiry counted 1,517, the British 1,490 (to understand the confusion, it is worth noting that eight Chinese men were discovered to be travelling on one third class ticket).

It was easily the greatest tragedy in maritime history, but the losses were dwarfed just four years later in the battles of the war that was supposed to end all wars – 35,000 men died on the first day of the Somme.

And yet we remember the victims of Titanic in a unique way. We remember Titanic for more than the senseless loss of life.

Like the casualties of 9/11, their tragedy seems to mark a turning point in our history.

When the icy, black waters closed over the Titanic, and when the last of the screams of the freezing and drowning had finally stopped, the world would look a very different place.

The old world feels like it died with the Titanic – the good and the bad.





The unforgiving class system of Titanic is part of its myth, and gives it immense symbolic power – we may have lost the age of chivalry with Titanic, but we also lost the age of deference, and serfs who were content with their lot, who would cheerfully tug their forelocks while they died and their superiors lived.

On boarding, first class passengers were greeted personally by Captain Smith while third class passengers had health checks to ensure they had no disease to prevent them gaining entry to America.

History has been kind to Captain Edward Smith, despite dark rumours of excessive alcohol, reckless speeding and suicide.

He is forgiven for everything, because he did the honourable thing and joined Titanic in its watery grave.

It was a night when doing the right thing usually resulted in death. It did not take very long for RMS Titanic to sink.

From hitting the iceberg to disappearing beneath the waves, only two hours and 40 minutes elapsed – about the length of a play, or a film, or some other human drama, a story we might watch in order to better understand the hearts of men.

Death was fickle on Titanic.

Men were allowed to board lifeboats on the damaged starboard side if there were spaces and no women and children were waiting.

n the port side, only one man was allowed to enter a lifeboat – an amateur yachtsman, sent down the rigging to help the sailor in the boat.

There were not nearly enough lifeboats and yet the lifeboats left with empty places. Men often stood smoking on the deck rather than take a place.

Number 1 lifeboat rowed away with 12 people aboard and 28 empty places. And then Titanic began to dip forward and chivalry became more scarce.

Poignant: The last message received from the Titanic
NCJ Archive
Desperate mobs rushed the last remaining lifeboats. Men made decisions that would give them another 50 years of life, but see them branded as cowards.

Many third class passengers now lost themselves in prayer. Some found their way to the first class restaurant and stared dumbfounded at such impossible splendour.

The band played on and the music floated across a sea as smooth and still as black glass.

In his classic book, A Night to Remember, Walter Lord described how Titanic looked to those in the lifeboats.

“From the boats, they could see people lining the rail; they could hear the ragtime in the still night air.

"It seemed impossible that anything could be wrong with the great ship; yet there they were out there in the sea, and there she was, well down at the head.

"Brilliantly lit from stem to stem, she looked like a sagging birthday cake.”

The very last of the lifeboats had 47 places. There were approximately 1,600 people who needed them.

Then the music ended.

The stern began to rise, and this is where those on board ran to, until it was too steep to stand, and some slipped down into the freezing sea, or clung on until their grip broke.

Titanic tilted forward as if exhausted, finally broken, and acknowledging that it was time to die.

The stern rose still higher.

Tragedy: List of dead men because there were not enough lifeboats
The bow dipped forward and down, and the sea poured in for the end. The lights went off, came on again, then went out for good. Now a single light burned high at the stern. The forward funnel collapsed, crushing hundreds, but washing one lucky canvas lifeboat away to safety.

Then the mighty ship stood bolt upright, an unforgettable and terrible sight, with the din of all its riches smashing inside, as black as death itself against the starry night sky.

Then all noise from the ship stopped.

And at last, always gaining speed, Titanic slid beneath the sea like a collapsing skyscraper.

It did not take long to die in the middle of the night in the sub-zero waters of the Atlantic. Only 13 people made it from the water to the boats.

Those wearing lifejackets died of hypothermia. Those without lifejackets drowned.

Those close to the ship were sucked down to their deaths, those who had swum for their lives or jumped further out had more of a chance.

But the lifeboats all kept their distance.

Only one lifeboat, manned by Fifth Officer Lowe, went back to look for survivors, and even Lowe – a new kind of hero – waited one hour for those thousand souls drowning to “thin out”.

There was no need to wait that long. Hypothermia thinned them out quickly in those freezing waters and Lowe fished only four souls from the water and one of those was dead within the hour.

The other lifeboats rowed away from the screams.


There had been endless acts of heroic sacrifice over the last few hours.

But it was already a different world.

For 100 years now we have been gripped by this story where we all know the ending.

Every generation discovers Titanic anew, retells her story, tries to find meaning, and sees some reflection of its own time.

The souls who jumped from the Titanic as she stood bolt upright are a ghostly echo of those who jumped from the Twin Towers, on that day to remember when our world changed.

Titanic teaches us that every generation must witness the unthinkable.

When 15,000 men built Titanic in the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, it was more than the biggest ship in history – it was the greatest invention in the world.

The loss of Titanic shook the world – and changed it. Titanic took something from the human race when she went down – innocence, certainty and confidence.

Why are we still haunted by this ghost ship?

Beyond the incredible human drama of that night, it is because when Titanic went down on that cold, starry night exactly 100 years ago, our modern world began.

When the sun came up pink and gold on the 712 survivors shivering in their lifeboats, a more anxious age was dawning, a world that we can easily recognise, where man understands the uncertainty of life, the random nature of death and the fragility of all things.

In the fate of Titanic we glimpse the place where all our dreams go to die.

Brave Bee Gee in a coma: Family's bedside vigil as Robin Gibb battles cancer and pneumonia

The 62-year-old singer’s wife Dwina, his brother Barry, 65, and his three children were at his bedside


Bee Gee Robin Gibb was in a coma last night as his family kept a bedside vigil amid fears he has only days to live.

The 62-year-old singer’s wife Dwina, his brother Barry, 65, and his three children were at his side.

Robin has been battling liver and colon cancer – and now has pneumonia.

He was too ill to attend the London premiere of The Titanic Requiem – his first classical work – on Tuesday.

Robin composed the symphonic piece with his son, Robin-John Gibb, and was scheduled to perform a new song, Don’t Cry Alone, during the concert at The Royal Albert Hall.Robin-John and Spencer and Melissa, the music legend’s children from a previous marriage to Molly Hullis, were believed to be at his bedside in the London Clinic.

But last night, it was feared hopes were fading as he battled for life after a long period of illness.

He had intestinal surgery last month, and was hospitalised late last year for stomach and colon problems.

He has not disclosed the nature of his illness, but is said to have had a growth removed from his colon.

But in a message read to the audience, Robin-John said his father is still in hospital.

He added: “He sends all his love. We are all praying for him and hoping he has a speedy recovery.”

Robert Fisk: Shot in the heart - the journalist Assad made into a martyr

They buried Ali Shabaan as a martyr-reporter yesterday, another journalist of the Syrian war to die in action – but a Lebanese this time, unknown in the West but loved in his little south Lebanon village, not least by the girl to whom he was to have become officially engaged this Saturday.

Fatima Atwi clung to the railings of the balcony over the road from the beautiful village cemetery – all ficus trees and firs – crying tears that splashed on her yellow-and-black blouse. She wore a black veil and was inconsolable. All Shabaan's three sisters could do was embrace her. Shabaan – I met him once, briefly, in 2006, during the Israeli-Hezbollah war – had worked this past weekend on the Lebanese-Syrian border so that he could have next weekend off for his engagement ceremony.

Shot in the heart. By the Syrians. Forty bullets hit the cameraman's car and that of his fellow crew at Wadi Khaled. A quick death, I suppose. A quick funeral, of course, according to Muslim tradition. They said the fatiha prayer to the soul of Shabaan and placed his body in the dark earth of the little cemetery.

Every journalist who dies in violence in Lebanon is called a martyr. Not a bad description of all of those who die trying to report the truth, that subtle narrative that must name the guilty party. But Al-Manar, the television station of the Hezbollah – Syria's ally – did not speak of Shabaan as a "martyr" but as a "victim" of a battle between Syrian troops and "terrorists". As one of Shabaan's employers said yesterday, he was wiped off the news agenda of Hezbollah as a victim of "crossfire", the old explanation of Palestinian deaths at the hands of the Israelis. "But for God's sake," he said, "this wasn't an Israeli television station – this was a Hezbollah station!"

In the Husseinia mosque, a portrait of Imam Moussa Sadr, the Lebanese imam murdered by Muammar Gadaffi's killers in Libya more than three decades ago, was larger than that of Iranian Messers Khomeini and Khamanei. There was a guard of honour from the Lebanese internal security police and a strong clutch of local Shia imams and two representatives of the Hezbollah and a larger clutch of Lebanese journalists who believed that this was the result of – I quote one in particular – "a planned murder, Don Corleone-style". According to them, and to New TV (NTV) officials, Shabaan's killing was "a message".

But what was this message? Tahsin Khayat and his son Karim are overwhelmed. Shabaan's dad is Tahsin Khayat's driver. His sisters were cared for by Karim Khayat's sister and his brother-in-law. In Lebanon, companies really are families. The Khayat family's television station has always carried a Syrian "point of view" – they were even allowed into the Syrian city of Deraa at the beginning of the Syrian revolution and their senior cameraman in Deraa was Shabaan. The Khayat family, all Shia, are demanding a "full investigation" – whatever that means – and they have received the support of the Lebanese President Michel Sleiman.

But why did Shabaan die? He and his crew had passed the Lebanese customs at Wadi Khaled in northern Lebanon on Monday to film the border and shouted across to the Syrian immigration officers that they were filing for New TV on the Lebanese side of the frontier. The story from his colleagues yesterday was straightforward: after they had identified themselves, the crew began filming and were then told to stop by uniformed Syrian troops. These soldiers reportedly shouted: "Go back." The crew was reversing its car when a fusillade of bullets crashed into it – at least 40 hit the vehicle – and Shabaan was hit by the first round. NTV's staff is adamant that at no point did they enter Syrian territory. Thanks to the old post-war 1914-18 French mandate, the border was not delineated as carefully as it might have been – but that's no reason to kill journalists.

There was a range of feeling in Maifadoun yesterday. "We are with the Hezbollah when they fight Israel," one villager said, "but we are not with the Syrians when they kill their people."

Ahmed Shabaan watched the body of his only son placed in the earth. Muslims out here have no coffins. And oh yes, Syria sent its official condolences.

Sleeping around: My moment of truth happened at university

Even during my hedonistic teenage years, somewhere in the back of my mind I had a "checklist" for my life. I'd envisioned meeting the man of my dreams at around the age of 29, and marrying by 30ish.

I did meet the man of my dreams at the age of 29, but I guess we took a wrong turn somewhere, and our relationship ran into a ditch. But if there is any truth in the saying "life is what happens when you make other plans", I think that the same logic would also apply to love.

Sexually, I was an early bloomer and a pretty wild teenager. I had an S&M relationship with my 24-year-old French teacher and held naked make-out parties in my swimming pool on weekends.

But, although I was adventurous and curious, I was much more concerned with having all the right moves when it came to pleasuring the boys than pleasing myself. Because of this, until the age of 19, I'd never had an orgasm (although I did some Oscar-worthy faking).

My moment of truth happened at university, when I went to see a sex educator speak candidly about self-love and show a video of women touching themselves.

The next day, I went to the chemist and bought a Hitachi Magic Wand vibrator (saying it was for "neck pain"), locked myself in my bathroom and came out 45 minutes later a new woman.

Once I realised that I had to take responsibility for my own pleasure, sex and relationships in my twenties were all about experimentation. There were the one, two, and three night stands, the lesbian flings, the scuba diving instructor who gave me my first orgasm through oral sex, the sex parties, and the man who taught me that men could have multiple orgasms too all discovered through random, amazing encounters.

While worrying about protecting myself from pregnancy and STDs, as I approached my mid-twenties I realised that I was also protecting my emotions perhaps a bit too well.

So I let someone in, and experienced my first real heartbreak. But even then, I got over it quickly, since relationships then were mostly about self-discovery and sharing experiences with my friends, with the men in supporting roles.

I'm glad that I did things this way round, before I had children or a husband.

Now that I've just hit my thirties, I'm ready to confine my wild bedroom antics to one (very lucky) man, and am convinced that my sexual exploration will make me a much better partner, both in and out of the bedroom. I'm more stable, confident, and happier than ever.

But dating is harder, because there is more on the line. I'm still undecided about children, but the reality of the biological clock means that I feel I have less time to waste on the wrong person, just in case I do decide to have kids.

Maybe this is because women put too much pressure on themselves to have it all. Despite the fact Cameron Diaz, 36, and Jennifer Aniston, 39, are gorgeous, rich and have amazing careers, they are the subject of constant headlines asking why they haven't already found "the One".

Meanwhile, everyone wants to know who will be lucky enough to finally land 47-year-old George Clooney, instead of questioning the wisdom of going out with a guy whose most intense emotional connection to date seems to have been formed with a pot-bellied pig.

But I think we could all learn something from George. He doesn't care about convention, and is blazing his own trail. I'm hoping to do the same, live my life and eventually find someone who can give me a mix of great conversation and swinging-from-the-chandeliers sex that will be as fantastic at 60 as it is at 30.

How two whizz-kids made a billion dollar app in 551 days

It's all a question of momentum. That's the difference between the millions of online ideas that simply melt away and the handful, like Instagram, which keep rolling and growing until they deliver the life-changing pay-day of which every start-up founder dreams.

The photo-sharing network first appeared on Apple's App Store on 6 October 2010. It was the same day David Cameron first addressed a Tory conference as Prime Minister. But whereas the Prime Minister's fortunes have been mixed in the short time since, Instagram's rise has been relentless. It had a million users within two months. And it has kept expanding since.

Thanks to Facebook's $1bn (£630m) buy-out, Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger have become vastly wealthy overnight while still in their 20s, but their discovery of such a winning formula was a drawn-out process. On the road to honing the Instagram app, they left behind a series of failed projects. Mr Krieger worked on an app that aimed to counter Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) by offering sufferers the rays of sunshine in photos posted by users living in warmer climates.

Meanwhile Mr Systrom, who had formerly worked for Google, set up a location-based web service called Burbn, which didn't go exactly according to plan. Burbn never got past a few hundred users, but it allowed Mr Systrom – who, according to the website TechCrunch, raised $500,000 in seed funding for the project – to develop his programming skills, just as the sunshine project was an essential learning curve for Mr Krieger, an engineer and user-interface designer.

Those users who had signed up for Burbn mostly used it to upload photos of their visits to bars and cafés. Mr Systrom recognised that he was on to something and Burbn duly became the skeleton model for Instagram. The Instagram app allows users to take photos using a variety of filters, with names such as "Toaster", "Lord Kelvin" and "1977", giving their images a distinctive retro look. The formula has proved globally popular. Crucially, the pictures can be shared across a host of social-media sites, from Facebook and Foursquare to Twitter and Tumblr.

By last June, the app had five million users and it has added to that number at a rate of about two million a month. The surge in interest was fuelled by celebrity endorsements from Justin Bieber, Kim Kardashian, Snoop Dogg and then Barack Obama, who all took out accounts. Bieber in particular was a huge driver of traffic from his army of 20 million followers.

When the Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg clinched his $1bn purchase of the 18-month-old start-up this week, Instagram had a user base of 30 million updating five million photos every day.

The size of the deal brought gasps of astonishment even in a world that has witnessed the buyouts of MySpace (bought by News Corp for $580m in 2005), YouTube (bought by Google for $1.65bn in 2006) and The Huffington Post (bought by AOL for $315m in 2011), Facebook's reasons soon became clearer.

Until last week, when it released an Android App, Instagram was only available on Apple devices. The development has given the application an even greater momentum. Within 24 hours of being available on Android it found one million new users. After six days it had registered five million Android downloads.

So, does the Instagram deal herald a new dot.com boom? Probably not. Mr Zuckerberg, who will allow Instagram to remain as a separate brand, was making his first major acquisition. Among start-ups in the UK, Mind Candy – the company behind the Moshi Monsters brand – seems best-placed to enjoy a big pay-day. But the market remains cautious. Instagram might be worth $1bn this week. But it could turn out to be a fad.

'Cuddle drug' may be the new Viagra

It is the chemical that has been described by women as a "cuddle drug". Now scientists have discovered that its effect on men is more rampant and long-lasting than just the desire for a quick hug.

Oxytocin, a hormone traditionally used to induce labour, is as sexually arousing to men as Viagra, according to new research.

Studies conducted in the US found that a married man who sniffed a nasal spray containing oxytocin twice daily became more affectionate to friends and colleagues and recorded a marked improvement in his sexual performance.

According to the actual breakdown of results, the man's libido went from "weak to strong", while arousal went from "difficult to easy". Ego certainly wasn't hurt either: sexual performance, according to feedback from his wife, was classed as "very satisfying".

Scientists at the University of California believe the findings provide strong support for the idea that oxytocin improves sexual performance and, unlike Viagra, remains a chemical glue within the brain to cement relationships between people. Just how it works is not clear, but some studies have suggested that oxytocin levels rise naturally during arousal. The hormone is also thought to interact with the dopamine system, which is involved in the rewarding aspects of sexual activity.

Dr Mike Wyllie said: "Given the number of erectile-dysfunction patients who don't respond to drugs like Viagra, there is a great medical need for a new class of drug; this case study suggests there is a basis for optimism that this is achievable. Assuming positive clinical trials, a drug based on this approach could achieve blockbuster potential."

Oxytocin is produced mainly in the hypothalamus region in the brain, and has been most widely studied in women. It's released during labour to dilate the cervix and boost contractions, and also triggers the release of milk in the breasts. More recently it has been shown to have wider effects on behaviour, including boosting trust, co-operation and bonding, and it has been investigated for a number of conditions including anxiety and autism.

The new study, "Dramatic Improvement in Sexual Function Induced by Intranasal Oxytocin", was reported in The Journal of Sexual Medicine.

Oxytocin's power was first recognised in 1979 when virgin female rats whose brains were injected with the hormone began to display maternal behaviour. Since then, several hundred research studies have been carried out, shedding light on the hormone's role in the early stages of sexual passion and in the process of mother-child bonding after birth.

Fact: players are too big for own good

The extraordinary transformation from the stamina-based rugby of the game's amateur era to the physically combative version served up by today's professionals is illustrated by The Independent on Sunday today in a unique comparison between this year's Lions tour and the trip to New Zealand in 1971.

The desperate plea for change made by Lions doctor James Robson at the end of the tour to South Africa in July, when the Scotsman warned that players were getting too big and muscular for their own good, is borne out by our exclusive statistical and subjective analysis. By comparing key indicators between the Second Test of the 1971 tour in Christchurch and the Second Test in Pretoria in 2009, the anecdotal theory that rugby has become a collision sport for muscular hulks is revealed as hard fact.

It follows a week of debate over injuries and the laws at the International Rugby Board's interim meeting in Dublin, and questions the whole approach to player safety in the contact areas of scrum, tackle and breakdown as well as the battles in the air.

We teamed up with rugby website ESPNScrum.com, TV channel ESPN Classic and statistics experts Opta Index to analyse complete footage of the 1971 and 2009 Tests side by side. Though the essential facets of the game are broadly similar, there were obvious developments in how the matches were played out, with much more reliance on power and contact. "Looking at the stats and watching the matches pointed to a hell of a lot more collisions in the game," said Graham Jenkins, editor of ESPNScrum.com. "What is quite clear is that players are taking the ball into contact rather than shifting it like they seemed to do in the 1970s."

There are fewer scrums now but the "hit" on engagement comes with markedly more impact. In 1971 the forwards mustered immediately over the mark and every scrum was completed first time. Today's packs are heavier by a combined 35 stones – on average, a 2009 Lions back weighed more than a forward in 1971 – and despite the "crouch, touch, pause, engage" protocol, scrums are often collapsing or being reset, with the attendant risk of wrenched shoulders and necks. The aerial game of 2009 – leaping high in the line-out, and jumping to catch restarts and garryowens – has no parallel in 1971, when feet rarely left the ground, and never by much.

Some other specifics are just as compelling. There were more than three times the number of tackles in 2009, and the tackles in 1971 were clearly of less impact. Only one, when the All Blacks' Bryan Williams ran into Gerald Davies near the end, was of the head-on variety which today routinely smashes the opponent backwards; the rest in 1971 were side-on or from behind so the tackled player was able to fall forwards in greater safety. In 2009, Brian O'Driscoll's tackle on Danie Rossouw without the arms wrapping round led to both players going off injured.

John Taylor, 1971 Lions flanker and ESPNScrum.com columnist, said: "Player by player now the guys make many more tackles. We didn't expect Barry John [at fly-half] to make any. There were fewer rucks in that particular match in 1971 than our other Tests, but when you did ruck you had to commit more forwards because you weren't allowed to handle the ball once it was on the floor." Nevertheless, the clattering "clear-out" collision by the Springboks' Bakkies Botha which dislocated Adam Jones's shoulder in Pretoria was nowhere to be seen in Taylor's day.

Davies, a wing in 1971 and the manager this year, called the 2009 match "brutal" and Taylor concurred. "With the size of the guys and how dynamic they are now, the intensity is shuddering. The sheer physicality of the Second Test this year was incredible."

As for entertainment value, that beauty remains in the eye of the beholder. The stop-start nature of the 92 scrums and line-outs in 1971 is countered by the match being done and dusted 20 minutes quicker than in 2009, with fewer stoppages for injuries and substitutes.

100 things to do before you die, 1-50

Dave Freeman died this month, having worked his way through half the list. Here’s your chance to find out if you’ve done any better.

Click HERE or on the image to see his definitive list of life-changing experiences in pictures

Taken from the book, 100 Things To Do Before You Die, by Dave Freeman and Neil Teplica

Click HERE to view 100 things to do before you die, 51-100

Lineker blames £25,000-a-year school after son fails to make grade

Most schools would expect to deal with a handful of troublesome parents at this time of year, when the exam results season understandably causes emotions to run high. But not all of them have to cope with the ire of a former England football captain.

Gary Lineker was embroiled in a very public row with his son George's private school last night after the 18-year-old failed to get into university. The Match of the Day presenter and former England striker had chosen to send his son to the exclusive £25,000-a-year Charterhouse School in Surrey, which recently ditched A-levels in some subjects to allow pupils to do the new "Cambridge Pre-U" exam.

The qualification is said to be tougher by education traditionalists, as it eschews coursework in favour of an emphasis on the end of year exam.

Lineker said: "We don't know what's going on at the moment. [George] did the Pre-U and they seem to have been marked much harder than the A-level papers. It's all a bit frustrating as it is the first year the Pre-U exams have been used so George has been used as a guinea pig. At the moment his university place has been withdrawn but we are hoping to find a way round this. We are all very disappointed."

George was more explicit about his alma mater on his Facebook page, saying: "Didn't get into uni... cheers school u massive knobbers!" He is now one of around 160,000 youngsters expected to miss out an a university place.

However, Charterhouse remained unrepentant about its decision to opt for the Pre-U. The Reverend John Witheridge, the school's headmaster, said: "We are delighted with our pupils' excellent results this year.... we do not comment on the performance of individual pupils."

Students who take Pre-U exams cannot resit them. Cambridge International Examinations, which sets the test, says it provides more time for "great teaching and deep thought" because all of the exams take place at the end of a two-year course.

The row comes at a time when Education Secretary Michael Gove has paved the way for an expansion of the Pre-U into the state sector.

George Lineker had been planning to study business at Manchester University, where he had been offered a provisional place but had to obtain the equivalent of three B grades at A-level. Last Thursday he learned he had failed to do so.

He was spotted on a week-long holiday to Tenerife only a few weeks before his exams, and in March was pictured on a night out with Sophie Reade, a 21-year-old glamour model who won the previous season of Big Brother.

Alex Ferguson delighted David Beckham will wear Manchester United shirt

Sir Alex Ferguson could not be more delighted that David Beckham has agreed to wear a Manchester United shirt again.

Eight years after he left Old Trafford for Real Madrid, Beckham will fly back to England next week to play in Gary Neville's testimonial match against Juventus.

Confirmation of Beckham's participation completes the famed 'Class of 92' that emerged through the Red Devils youth ranks at much the same time and all went on to become United stars.

Ferguson has already guaranteed Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes will be involved despite their presence in the United squad for the Champions League final clash with Barcelona on May 28.

And the United boss has promised further big-name representation to provide the appropriate tribute to a player who quit in February after amassing 602 appearances for the Old Trafford outfit.

"With David Beckham coming, along with Nicky Butt, Phil Neville, Scholes and Giggs, it will be a fantastic occasion," said Ferguson.

"It is great to reunite these players together.

"There is no question they created a magnificent spirit in the place when they first arrived in the team.

"It helps us too because Gary's service to the club deserves a good representation from Manchester United.

"He has been a fantastic servant and I hope he gets the crowd he deserves."

It will be a novel experience too given Neville has confirmed all power used during the game will be matched by 52 windmills across the country powered by Ecotricity.

Neville has become more associated with sustainable projects in recent years and has just had planning permission granted for an 'eco home' just north of Manchester.

"I have recognised in the last two or three years the need to make personal changes in my life," said the former England star.

"Reducing my environmental impact is going to be a five-year transition for me and my family but with planning permission for my new eco-home being granted and my association with wind turbines, I am on track to complete this journey.

"I believe sport crosses all boundaries and plays a significant role in many people's lives.

"From my perspective, we have to look at the effect sport has had on other issues over the last 20 years to see that when sport comes together with society, positive actions can happen."