Sir Ian McKellen has revealed that he wasn't the first choice to play Gandalf in 'The Lord of the Rings' franchise and got the part after Sir Anthony Hopkins and Sir Sean Connery turned it down.

More than 3,000 residents of a Country Garden Holdings Co. project in China’s northern Tianjin city were evacuated

Sharon Horgan has opened up about having post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after her eldest daughter was diagnosed with meningitis as a baby. The Irish actor, who will star in the forthcoming BBC One drama Best Interests with Michael Sheen, said she drew on the experience in order to play her character in the new series. Horgan’s daughter survived the life-threatening illness, but it left an “aftershock” on her mother. “We were so unbelievably lucky and we know that,” the Bad Sisters star told The Times in a new interview, published today (Sunday 11 June). “But the aftershock – there’s definitely PTSD and I dealt with any of my second daughter’s illnesses with blind panic because you always think, ‘If it can happen, why couldn’t it happen again?’” Both of Horgan’s daughters, Sadhbh and Amer, are now teenagers. She shares them with her ex-husband, Jeremy Rainbird. Best Interests tells the story of Nicci (Horgan), a mother who sues the NHS after doctors decide her Marnie (Niamh Moriarty) should be taken off life support after her condition, muscular dystrophy, deteriorates. Horgan stars opposite Sheen, who plays Nicci’s husband Andrew. In the show, Andrew is torn between his love for Marnie and his unwillingness to support his wife’s case. The friction between Nicci and Andrew shows that they “had a real relationship that has difficulties”, Horgan said. “When things get really, really bad, the accusations are there, a certain amount of finger-pointing, which happens anyway, just even in normal parenting,” she explained. After her divorce from Rainbird in 2019, Horgan said the adjustment to co-parenting made her doubt if she was a good mother. During an appearance on Desert Island Discs in 2020, she told host Lauren Laverne: “I was fun mum for years. I entirely thought that was my role but that changes when you co-parent. “Everything changes and you take on a lot more roles and I am much more practical than I was, and I think that is a positive thing.” She continued: “It had some dips in the middle where I thought, ‘Oh, that thing I thought I was, which was a good mother, I am not entirely sure about’. “When you bring anything like that into your kid’s life it’s tricky, when you turn the roles upside down, but it balances out and everything eased back.” Read More Shapewear is booming, and body image experts are worried: ‘It’s really dangerous’ Chris Hemsworth thanks wife Elsa Pataky for her ‘forgiveness’ Kelis addresses Bill Murray dating rumours for the first time Sharon Horgan opens up about ‘aftershock’ after daughter’s meningitis Jamie Foxx’s rep addresses conspiracy Covid vaccine left actor ‘paralyzed and blind’ Debate sparker over parent who wouldn’t give her daughter any birthday cake

France's star footballer Kylian Mbappe arrived in Cameroon to an ecstatic welcome from fans Thursday for a visit that includes charity work with deaf children and...

Eclipse season begins this week, so hold on tight cosmic beings. First up, Pluto ends its five-month retrograde on October 10th at 9:09 p.m. EST. Pluto is the Planet of Transformation, so its shift direct in Capricorn (for the final time in centuries) will have a significant effect on us on a personal, psychological, and collective level. We should aim to be more patient with ourselves or others this eclipse week rather than projecting our fears, worries, or insecurities onto them. Yes, everything is changing, but remembering that change is the most constant truth in life can bring us relief.

Sebastian Vettel was back in the Formula 1 paddock on Thursday as he unveiled a number of “bee hotels” at the Suzuka circuit. The four-time F1 world champion, who retired last year, is the leading voice in the sport on the environment and climate change – and continues to use his platform within the sport even after leaving the grid. Present at his favourite track in Japan, Vettel invited all the drivers and teams to turn two of the track on Thursday, where he has formed a set of specially-created insect hotels. The message behind the project is to spread the word of the importance of biodiversity in our ecosystems. Each team was able to customise and paint their hotel, while the kerb at turn 2 was painted yellow and black. “I want, with this project, to create awareness about the importance and the subject of biodiversity,” Vettel said. “[The bee is] the perfect ambassador for us around this project and idea to highlight the importance of biodiversity, because it stands not just for the bee but for all the other insects, so we see the bee as our ambassador. She will help us stress this very important message. “It’s very exciting and a lot of work and passion went into the project. Hopefully this is just the beginning of an initiative and projects around the world… standing up for biodiversity, which is not just insects, it’s all types of animals. “But it’s more than that as well: it’s all types of plants, all types of organisms, bacteria. And even more than that, we have to celebrate variety, not just in human beings, but also in nature – and we have to protect it.” Lewis Hamilton was full of praise for his former rival for passionately raising awareness for issues close to his heart. “It’s great to see that he’s found his purpose,” Hamilton said. “It’s great to have Seb back this weekend. He sat down and told all the drivers about these plans. “To be honest, in the history of the sport, I don’t know any other driver who’s ever been so outspoken and shown real compassion for the world outside of this little world that we’re living in. It’s really great that he’s utilising his platform. “I always just hope that with the things that he’s doing, for example, that he inspires the other drivers to do something here – maybe in their own lane. “But we all need to come together in this world to have a positive impact; to spread love, to spread compassion, to raise awareness for a lot of the problems – and there’s obviously millions of problems that we need to address – but biodiversity is for sure.” Read More Lewis Hamilton says ‘something’s up’ at Red Bull – if Max Verstappen struggles in Japan Lando Norris calls for ‘harsher penalties’ after Max Verstappen incident George Russell insists 2023 has been his ‘best season ever’ despite Singapore crash

The panel that oversees the credit-default swap market, the Credit Derivatives Determinations Committees, will discuss whether there’s a

Embattled property developer China Evergrande Group said on Monday the measures it had taken to improve its internal

By Nandita Bose WASHINGTON As the UAW strike enters its fifth day, the Biden administration is hobbled by

Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid expects wide receiver Justin Watson to return for Week 8 against the Denver Broncos.

It seems like every day, we hear about another price increase, whether it's for high-priced

SHANGHAI/SINGAPORE China cut its key lending benchmarks on Tuesday, the first such reductions in 10 months as authorities