Author: The Guardian

When she was 89, Barbara McInnis took her first drum lesson. Walking into teacher Chris Joyce’s Morecambe studio, she sat behind the kit, picked up a pair of sticks and began to hit the kit that surrounded her. “I was very nervous but once I got going, it was joyous,” she says. “I made a wonderful racket that I haven’t been able to stop since.”Six months on from that first lesson, McInnis is known locally as the “90-year-old drummer” and can often be found at Morecambe pubs playing gigs with groups such as the D’Ukes of Lancaster Ukulele Band and…

Britain’s top-ranked Katie Boulter won her WTA title with a 5-7 6-2 6-2 victory over Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk in the San Diego Open final. First win in the 500 event.After the two started tied, the sixth-seeded Ukrainian began to beat Bolt, winning consecutive games and quickly approaching the first set.Bolt fought back to bring the score to 5-5, but Kostyuk regained his momentum and won the first set 7-5. Bolt then found his best form in the second set and dominated from the first serve, sealing the victory 6-2 and forcing the deciding set.The British continued to maintain their advantage…

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The NRL is making a hard sell to American viewers with two games on Saturday night at Allegiant Stadium just weeks away from hosting the Super Bowl.”I promise – I promise you’re going to enjoy what we affectionately call the greatest game,” Australian commentator Dan Ginnane said at the start of Fox Sports’ US broadcast of the game, which is taking place in this otherworldly city. Played on American courts. Las Vegas.Many people have made this statement over the years. Few succeed. Yet on the face of it, rugby league may have a better chance than most sports of achieving…

Towns in Utah have been inundated with tumbleweeds that have blocked roads, surrounded houses and buried cars after a strong storm.South Jordan, which lies south of state capital Salt Lake City, is cleaning up after winds blew thousands of the plants through streets.The weeds formed piles up to three metres high (10 feet), in some places. Similar scenes unfolded in Eagle Mountain, further to the south.According to local news outlet KSL TV, residents of South Jordan ploughed through the weeds with hoes and shovels before city workers arrived with garbage trucks to clean up.Tumbleweed piles up in front of houses,…

Allegations of racial abuse emerged on the pitch at the NRL’s grand season launch in Las Vegas, an incident that had been greeted with enthusiasm by the rugby league community.Broncos five-eighth Ezra Mam Torres Strait Islanders complained to referee Adam Gee during the second game at Allegiant Stadium, which the Roosters won 20-10, alleging opposition forward Spencer Lenew (Black Panthers premiership player and Samoa international) racist remarks.When asked about Gee’s report, Leniu responded: “Why would I say that?”. Asked about the incident in a post-match radio interview, Lenue said: “It’s all fun and games on the pitch.” The Roosters have…

US vice-president Kamala Harris has bluntly called out Israel for not doing enough to ease a “humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza as the Biden administration faces increasing pressure to rein in its close ally while it wages war with Hamas militants.Harris, speaking on Sunday in front of the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, where state troopers beat US civil rights marchers nearly six decades ago, called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and urged Hamas to accept a deal to release hostages in return for a 6-week cessation of hostilities.But she directed the bulk of her comments at Israel in…

Donors have raised more than $100,000 for an incarcerated man in the U.S. who earns 13 cents an hour cleaning and porting jobs at a California prison and is donating his $17.74 salary to Gaza relief Work.Los Angeles-based filmmaker Justin Mashouf, who has been corresponding with the 56-year-old, known only by his first name, Hamza, shared on social media that October A photo of the time log and a check for $17.74 that read: “California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.”The time log shows a workload of 21 days, totaling 136.50 hours.Mashouf wrote on May the Creator double his sincere giving.”Mashouf’s…

The US supreme court plans to issue at least one ruling on Monday, the day before Colorado holds a presidential primary election in which a lower court kicked Republican frontrunner Donald Trump off the ballot for taking part in an insurrection during the 6 January 2021 US Capitol attack.The supreme court, in an unusual Sunday update to its schedule, did not specify what ruling it would issue. But the justices on 8 February heard arguments in Trump’s appeal of the Colorado ruling and are due to issue their own decision.Colorado is one of 15 states and a US territory holding…

medium sizeolly Caudery is an adrenaline junkie who enjoys surfing and jumping off cliffs near his home in Cornwall. But now she’s pursuing something even more exciting: winning Olympic gold this summer. The very likeable and humble 23-year-old came to believe that she could make it happen.As she twisted, flipped and soared over the 4.8m bar to win the world indoor pole vault title on Saturday, she was asked whether she was a favorite in Paris. She paused, letting what once seemed like magical realism sink in, then nodded.”Yes,” she said. “It sounds like a lot of pressure, but I…