4 d. ago US actor battles UK council over restoration of ‘Downton Shabby’, his ancestral home

Hopwood DePree has been leading efforts to renovate Grade II* listed Hopwood Hall in Middleton since 2017It was a story fit for the pages of a Hollywood screenplay, with a California actor moving to a town in north Manchester to restore his dilapidated ancestral home.But Hopwood DePree’s romance plot has transformed instead to a horror, after he found himself locked out the building he was restoring, and now battling the local council in court for possession of the property. Continue reading...

Events

7 d. ago Takeaways from our collaboration on schools recovering from wildfires

The Camp Fire in Paradise, one of the deadliest wildfires in U.S. history, has deeply affected students' learning

Events

7 d. ago This California town was ravaged by a wildfire. Seven years later, schools are still recovering

Paradise, California, is slowly recovering from the devastating 2018 Camp Fire

Events

1 week ago A California Gold Rush town was like ‘going back in time’. Then came a wildfire

A 19th-century settlement founded by Chinese miners and said to have hosted outlaw Black Bart was devastated by fireShortly after lightning sparked dozens of wildfires in California’s Sierra Nevada foothills this week, author Stephen Provost received news that devastated him.Fire was sweeping through Chinese Camp, a Gold Rush-era town that a group of Chinese miners founded in the 19th century after they were driven out of a nearby settlement. The town’s almost 100 residents were forced to evacuate and news reports showed flames consuming historic buildings. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago California fires LIVE: Homes destroyed in Chinese Camp and other communities

Communities in California, such as Chinese Camp and Vallecito, have been ravaged by wildfires, which have also threatened to cause damage to properties in Hollywood Hills

Society

2 w. ago California fires LIVE: Chinese Camp and other communities ravaged by wildfires

Communities in California, such as Chinese Camp and Vallecito, have been ravaged by wildfires, which have also threatened to cause damage to properties in Hollywood Hills

Events

2 w. ago World War Two bombs explode as huge wildfire ravages Yorkshire moorland

Shocking photographs show smoke blanketing the moors in Yorkshire

Events

3 w. ago ‘Optimism is very important, especially now’: why Sammy Virji’s joyful dance tracks are conquering the world

His masterful mix of all that is good from the UK bass scene has led to Coachella success and collabs with Giggs and Skepta – the future looks bright for this bashful star• See all of our unmissable autumn arts preview picks hereWhen Sammy Virji was DJing in room three of a local nightclub in Newcastle with his uni mates, he didn’t anticipate that the bouncy, bombastic bassline and UK garage sounds he was obsessed with would become so big across the pond. In June, he shut down New York’s Times Square with a set to announce his new album, Same Day Cleaning, followed by headlining his first North American stadium show. “It didn’t feel real, I was freaking out,” says Virji, still in disbelief.Also real: the tens of thousands singing along as he spliced the dreamy intro of Radiohead’s Everything in Its Right Place with his 2023 track If U Need It at this year’s Coachella. The 28-year-old from the market town of Witney, Oxfordshire, made his debut on the California festival’s second-larg...

Politics

4 w. ago Spain suffers its worst wildfires on record as deadly infernos ravage area twice the size of London after two

Official figures from the Carlos III Health Institute show there were 1,149 excess deaths in Spain from August 3-18.

Events

4 w. ago Harrowing moment Portuguese pensioner is dragged away as she watches her house burn in ferocious wildfires

Some 216,000 hectares of land has burned in Portugal and two firefighters have died, while deadly wildfires have ravaged 348,000 hectares in Spain, bringing the death toll up to four.

Events