8 h. ago From outlaw bushrangers who fell in love to a famous horseman born a woman, Australia’s history is full of queer stories

At the time LGBTQ+ people had to hide away. But researchers are now working to discover and celebrate themGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastIn 1841, Anne Drysdale invited Caroline Newcomb to live with her on her farm outside Geelong. It was a bold move for the time: the full decriminalisation of homosexuality was 156 years away;the legalisation of same-sex marriage, 176 years.In colonial Australia, women did not own property,let alone share one, and the same bed. Continue reading...

Politics

64 h. ago I fell in love with a Greek waiter on holiday who poured shots in my mouth

Beth Winstone, 21, from Birmingham, jetted off to Zakynthos, Greece, with her mother and grandma in August 2023 and visited the restaurant her family had gone to every year.

Politics

68 h. ago Monica Lewinsky admits she loved Bill Clinton as she opens up on affair scandal

Monica Lewinsky has admitted she fell in love with former president Bill Clinton as she opened up on the high profile scandal that dominated headlines in the late nineties.

Science

69 h. ago ‘She killed three husbands with this teapot’: Prue Leith, John Swinney and more pick their favourite museum

From a stray meteorite to an immersive coal pit, via the chance to sit on a ‘feeding chair’, famous fans tell us how they fell in love with the UK’s Museum of the Year finalistsIt’s rare to hear someone getting this excited over a teapot. But as Terry Deary tells me, with exactly the kind of relish you’d expect from the author of Horrible Histories, this particular drinks vessel belonged to the Victorian-era mass murderer Mary Ann Cotton. Believed to have killed 12 of her children, not to mention three husbands, she was finally caught after poisoning her stepson in 1872 with an arsenic-laced brew. “And in Beamish they’ve got the teapot!” says Deary. “I was blown away to hold it!”He’s talking about Beamish, the Living Museum of the North, an open-air site based in County Durham (just like Cotton herself, who was eventually hanged in Durham Gaol). Featuring an 1820s tavern, a 1900s pit village and colliery, a 1940s farm and a 1950s town – all populated by costumed staff – it’s somethi...

Events

69 h. ago ‘She killed three husbands with this teapot’: Prue Leith, Huw Stephens and more pick their favourite museum

From a stray meteorite to an immersive coal pit, via the chance to sit on a ‘feeding chair’, famous fans tell us how they fell in love with the UK’s Museum of the Year finalistsIt’s rare to hear someone getting this excited over a teapot. But as Terry Deary tells me, with exactly the kind of relish you’d expect from the author of Horrible Histories, this particular drinks vessel belonged to the Victorian-era mass murderer Mary Ann Cotton. Believed to have killed 12 of her children, not to mention three husbands, she was finally caught after poisoning her stepson in 1872 with an arsenic-laced brew. “And in Beamish they’ve got the teapot!” says Deary. “I was blown away to hold it!”He’s talking about Beamish, the Living Museum of the North, an open-air site based in County Durham (just like Cotton herself, who was eventually hanged in Durham Gaol). Featuring an 1820s tavern, a 1900s pit village and colliery, a 1940s farm and a 1950s town – all populated by costumed staff – it’s somethi...

Events

2 d. ago 'I fell in love on holiday with a Greek waiter who poured shots in my mouth

Beth Winstone wasn't looking for romance when she stumbled across Gabriel Alia working in the restaurant her family had always visited. A few days later, she was madly in love

Politics

6 d. ago ‘I find it sad and difficult to listen to the Smiths’: Ana Matronic’s honest playlist

The Scissor Sister has a complex relationship with the Smiths and gets parties started with Grace Jones, but who’s her (not so) guilty pleasure?The first song I fell in love with I was obsessed as a child with the Muppets and Sesame Street. My grandmother made me a puppet of the Count to help practise my counting. I loved The Pinball Number Count with the Pointer Sisters counting up 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 / 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 / 11/ 12 which is prophetic because I still consider the Pointer Sisters one of my all-time favourite bands.The first record I bought I was playing Delirious by Prince for my mother in 1982, and she said: “He sounds like Little Richard.” I said: “Who is Little Richard?” and she said: “Get in the car, young lady,” and we went and bought a Little Richard greatest hits set. It was the start of a long conversation about music with my mom. Continue reading...

Politics

6 d. ago Georgia Kousoulou marries Tommy Mallet as TOWIE stars gush over 'dream' wedding

The Only Way Is Essex fan favourite couple Georgia Kousoulou and Tommy Mallet who met and fell in love on the ITV2 reality show, have tied the knot once again in a stunning ceremony

Politics

8 d. ago Victims of illegal puppy trader open up on heartbreak of desperate attempt to save dogs

New owners fell in love with defenceless pups and were immediately faced with a desperate fight for life - and huge vet bills.

Events

1 week ago Gemma Atkinson reveals heartbreaking reason 'something stops her' from marrying Gorka Marquez

Fans will already be aware that the Hits Radio host and professional dancer fell in love in the Strictly Come Dancing ballroom back in 2017

Politics

1 week ago ‘I used to impersonate Hannah Montana – I can’t listen to her now!’: Lainey Wilson’s honest playlist

The country star loves the loud guitars of Bob Seger and belts out some Dolly after a few drinks, but which song makes her feel as if she can do anything?The first song I fell in love with I remember my grandma playing (How Much Is That) Doggie in the Window by Patti Page when I was five years old in the back seat of the car. I could never tell if she was singing “doggie” or “dolly”, but I loved it either way.The first record I bought My grandma used to babysit [US country singer] Tim McGraw, 15 minutes down the road from where I lived in Louisiana, so I bought his album A Place in the Sun from Walmart and my sister and I made up a dance routine. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Killing Heidi are back, 25 years on: ‘Growing up in rock’n’roll gives you a shitload of grit’

After a ‘quiet little break’ of 20 years, the band is back to celebrate their 2000 debut Reflector – then the fastest-selling Australian album in history• Get our weekend culture and lifestyle emailIn 2022, Ella and Jesse Hooper, siblings and bandmates in Australian rock band Killing Heidi, lost both of their parents in the space of two weeks. Their father, Jeremy, died first after a shock cancer diagnosis and a quick decline; a fortnight later, their mother, Helen, passed away after a long struggle with breast cancer.The grieving siblings took the weekend off, then went straight back out on to the road. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago Primark shoppers racing to buy 'every colour' of 'super cute' £10 bow top

People fell in love with the affordable item online - and want to get every option for their summer wardrobe

Economics

2 w. ago 'I dialled wrong number and fell in love before unthinkable happened'

EXCLUSIVE: Alison Cork was planning to call her friend for a catch-up one Sunday when she accidentally dialled the wrong number - and the man who picked up went on to change her life

Politics

3 w. ago Twisted fraudster lied to girlfriend about mum's death to con her out of thousands

The 'born again Christian' scammed a woman who met online before swindling another short-term partner out of an eye-water amount.

Events

3 w. ago Twisted fraudster faked mum's death to scam girlfriend out £15,000

The 'born again Christian' scammed a woman who met online before swindling another short-term partner out of an eye-water amount.

Economics

3 w. ago Scots couple who fell so in love with Dumfriesshire wedding venue they bought it to retire

Mark and Morag have run Hightae Inn near Lockerbie since 2008, having held their wedding reception there 14 years earlier.

Politics

3 w. ago How a drag queen thriller became too controversial for Britain: ‘It was queers policing queers’

‘Femme’, a violent erotic drama starring Nathan Stewart-Jarrett and George MacKay, hit a handful of cinemas in 2023. And its tortured journey to release – as well as its rejection by elite institutions in the British film industry – speaks to the incredibly narrow and polarised landscape for queer stories today, writes Ryan Gilbey

Politics

3 w. ago Hala Alyan’s story of exile, addiction and surrogacy: ‘I had to do something with the fragments’

In her new memoir, the Palestinian American writer reflects on her fractured lineage and having a child against all oddsIn the poem Hours Ghazal, published in 2024, Hala Alyan writes: “The cost of wanting something is who you are on the other side of getting it.” The line is a glimpse into the mind of a woman, who, at 38, has paid a high price for desire and emerged intact after living through what might feel like several lifetimes for the rest of us.Alyan is a Palestinian American poet, novelist, clinical psychologist and psychology professor at New York University. She is also the author of a memoir published this week titled I’ll Tell You When I’m Home.I have never not been a Palestinian. That has never not been written upon my body. In Lebanon, in Kuwait, in Oklahoma – I am what my father is, and my father is a man who was once a boy who was born to a woman in Gaza. Who speaks with the accent of that place. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago A Palestinian American writer’s story of exile, addiction and surrogacy: ‘I had to do something with the fragments’

In her new memoir, Hala Alyan reflects on her fractured lineage and having a child against all oddsIn the poem Hours Ghazal, published in 2024, Hala Alyan writes: “The cost of wanting something is who you are on the other side of getting it.” The line is a glimpse into the mind of a woman, who, at 38, has paid a high price for desire and emerged intact after living through what might feel like several lifetimes for the rest of us.Alyan is a Palestinian American poet, novelist, clinical psychologist and psychology professor at New York University. She is also the author of a memoir published this week titled I’ll Tell You When I’m Home.I have never not been a Palestinian. That has never not been written upon my body. In Lebanon, in Kuwait, in Oklahoma – I am what my father is, and my father is a man who was once a boy who was born to a woman in Gaza. Who speaks with the accent of that place. Continue reading...

Politics