However, one correction: The Smalls is not off England, but off Wales!
Longer version in the WMN, but can't find it online. The second story is also from the WMN, but I can't find it online anywhere yet:
Brides bank all on lucky seven
Paul Ham and John Harlow, Los Angeles
WHEN Eva Longoria, the actress in Desperate Housewives, the TV series, gets married in July, she will be in good company. A joyous chorus of “I do” is expected to resound around the world as unprecedented numbers of weddings take place on one of the “luckiest” days of the century: 7/7/07.
For Longoria, 31, July 7 will simply be a romantic day in Paris. For her superstitious fiancé Tony Parker, a 24-year-old basketball star, and thousands like him, it will be a magical opportunity to take advantage of all the lucky sevens.
“Eva is relaxed but if it makes Tony feel better on the big day then she is willing to play along,” said an associate of the bride, who plays the more cynical sexpot Gabrielle in the television comedy.
Last year some pregnant women hoped to avoid giving birth on June 6 — or 6/6/06 — fearing that the three sixes associated with the devil represented an inauspicious start to a baby’s life. Hollywood cashed in by releasing a remake of The Omen, the devilish thriller, on that day.
This year the portents are more cheerful as Hollywood promotes License to Wed, a marital comedy starring Robin Williams.
Official figures are not yet available but according to The Knot, an American wedding magazine, the number of couples who are planning their nuptials for the first Saturday in July is up by 250% on last year.
“Lots of people are seeing 7/7/07 as their lucky, lucky day,” said Kathleen Murray, the magazine’s deputy editor. “Brides and grooms are very superstitious, so when a date comes along once in a century that seems so inherently positive they feel they are hitting the jackpot.”
In small towns across America churches, hotels and boats suitable for receptions have been solidly booked for months. One couple slept outside a San Clemente hotel in California to book their dream suite when the resort’s new year diaries opened the next morning.
In Las Vegas venues such as The Little White Wedding Chapel, where Britney Spears embarked on a 48 hour marriage, will be opening early and closing late. Ron Decar, an Elvis Presley impersonator, officated at 45 weddings on Valentine's Day, but is booked for 120 on the "really big day". :shock:
Britons are not immune to the craze. Dean Yardley, managing Director of hitched.co.uk, a wedding website, said that thousands of extra couples intend to get married on July 7 this year. Typical is Eleanor Dixon, 28, senior stylist at Cosmo Bride magazine, who is marrying David Shere, 32, a film special effects expert, on the Isle of Man. "I'm not superstitious, but I do hope that it turns out to be a lucky day," she said.
According to Ed Vallowe, the author of Biblical Mathematics, the lucky reputation of the number seven is based on scripture: "It is used throughout the Book of Revelation. There are seven churches, seven spirits, seven seals, seven trumpets, seven dooms and seven new things. It symbolises spiritual perfection. All of life revolves around this number."
Some brides have a more practical reason for picking tthe day, however.
"Men love numbers," said Barry West, who is arranging the flowers for a 7/7/07 wedding in South Carolina. "So it's a good way of making sure that they don't forget the anniversary."
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/w ... 496495.ece
Pensioner's joy over hole-in-one
An 84-year-old woman has spoken of her delight at hitting her first hole-in-one after more than 70 years of playing golf.
Joyce Haydn Jones from Newton, Swansea, started playing when she was 12.
She shot the hole-in-one on the 141-yard 15th hole at Pennard Golf Club.
Mrs Haydn Jones, who has been lady captain at the club three times, is believed to be one of the oldest people in Britain to manage the feat.
She said she had been in a round with two other players and knew she had struck the ball well at the par three hole but initially feared it had gone too far.
"I used my seven wood, which is one of my favourite clubs," she said.
"I knew it was a nice shot, but there was no sign of it on the green - we found it in the hole.
"You can't see the hole from that tee when the pin is at the lower tier of the green.
"I was very excited and hugged the other two."
She said it was hard to concentrate on the last three holes, but she managed to complete the round.
A spokesperson for the club said: "It was lovely for her and we know she was thrilled.
"She has been playing golf since she was 12 and had never hit a hole-in-one before.
"We have had a bit of a run of holes-in-one recently, even though Pennard is a difficult course."
Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2007/05/25 15:44:08 GMT
© BBC MMVII
Researchers save Everest climber
A woman found near the Everest summit suffering oxygen deprivation was given life-saving help by doctors researching the subject, it has emerged.
The UK team, co-ordinated by University College London (UCL), are operating the world's highest medical laboratory on Everest's South Col.
Team head Dr Mike Grocott said Usha Bista, 22 and from Nepal, was found alone and unconscious by climbers.
Ms Bista was treated by the doctors at nearly 8,000 metres (26,200ft).
Dr Grocott, a UCL physiology lecturer, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "We are here on a medical research expedition to explore how humans adapt to low oxygen levels, in order to benefit patients on intensive care units.
"This wasn't what we intended to get involved in, but something where we were compelled to help with when the situation arose."
The rescue of the Nepalese climber, who escaped with little more than frostbite, hit the headlines last week, but the UK doctors' involvement emerged on Monday.
Dr Grocott said Ms Bista was found in the so-called "death zone" near the summit of the 8,848-metre (29,000ft) mountain.
She later said that her sherpa and team leader left her after she became sick and collapsed on her way up the mountain.
"It seems that she was on a relatively under-resourced expedition," Dr Grocott said.
"She had an inadequate amount of oxygen - probably only one cylinder, which is really not enough to get to the top of Everest and back again.
"She developed something called high-altitude cerebral edema due to low oxygen levels.
Dr Grocott told the Today programme that the climber was found by Dave Hahn, an American from International Mountain Guide, who "correctly recognised the problem" and gave Ms Bista appropriate medicines and oxygen.
He then took her further down the mountain to the team of doctors.
Dr Grocott was leading the Caudwell Xtreme Everest team investigating hypoxia, oxygen deficiency in the blood.
He said, although many groups were extremely organised, there were some others who did not have adequate resources for climbing the world's highest peak.
"There are teams who rely on sleeping in other people's tents and sometimes using their oxygen," he said.
"It's a relatively unregulated environment and not surprisingly there are teams around who take advantage of that."
The doctors are conducting experiments at different heights. Around 200 people have been taking part in scientific tests at the Base Camp laboratory at 5300m (17,388ft).
Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2007/05/28 09:48:52 GMT
© BBC MMVII
Driver survives motorway plunge
A driver appears to have had a miracle escape after his car left a motorway and smashed into the road below.
The accident happened on Saturday afternoon on the M876 motorway at Dennyloanhead, Falkirk.
The vehicle hit the pavement about 30ft below, rolled several times and ended up on its side.
Police and ambulance crews rushed to the scene but the driver was helped from the car with a chipped tooth and cut head and taken to a nearby house.
Several young boys had been playing below the motorway flyover.
One told the BBC Scotland news website: "We heard something and turned round and saw the car in mid air - I'm sure it was upright flying through the air, it then came down and hit the kerb not far from us.
"It rolled several times across the road and came to rest on its side."
Another witness, Thomas Beresford, who is also a first-aider, came across the accident.
He said: "When I arrived I saw the car on its side and the driver signalling with his arm through the driver's window.
"I helped get him out and he seemed to just have a cut on his head and a chipped tooth and was able to walk away."
Central Scotland Police said they were dealing with a serious road accident.
Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2007/06/02 14:18:10 GMT
© BBC MMVII
