By WILL PICKWORTH

Updated: 18:07 BST, 3 July 2026

For decades, people in the UK tended to view air conditioning as something that belonged elsewhere. It was associated with office buildings, hotels and hotter countries rather than their own homes. But as summers become warmer and heatwaves more frequent, that picture is beginning to change.

Colleagues and I analysed data from the English Housing Survey, a nationally representative sample of about 16,000 households. This shows that air conditioning remains relatively uncommon, with just 4.3% of households using it in summer. That’s far below countries such as the US (nearly 90%) and Australia (around 75%).

Yet beneath this modest national average lies a far more revealing picture. Air conditioning is not spreading evenly across society. Instead, England is beginning to develop a cooling divide, one in which access to protection from extreme heat increasingly depends on where people live, how much they earn and the type of home they occupy.

During in-depth interviews we conducted with air conditioning users in the UK, people rarely described it as a luxury. Instead, they spoke about trying to sleep through hot nights, remain productive while working the next day, or protect babies or elderly relatives from dangerously high temperatures.

The geography of this emerging divide is immediately apparent. London and the east of England have by far the highest levels of residential air conditioning, followed by the East Midlands and the south-east. Northern regions remain much less likely to use cooling.

These patterns are hardly surprising. London experiences both warmer summers and a stronger urban heat island effect, where buildings and hard surfaces trap heat long after sunset. But these regional differences also show how the ability to adapt to a warming climate is likely to be distributed unevenly.

Economic inequalities are equally visible. Households in the highest income group are more than twice as likely to own air conditioning than those on the lowest incomes. Installing and running air conditioning is expensive, making it far more accessible to wealthier households.

As with the higher temperatures, those wealthier households who are more easily able to absorb the cost of air conditioning are also highly concentrated in London and the south-east.

Vulnerable groups at risk

Perhaps the most concerning finding is that several groups most vulnerable to heat currently have relatively low access to air conditioning.

Older people, lone-parent households and many lower-income families are among those least likely to use it, despite facing greater health risks during periods of extreme heat. Social and private renters also lag behind owner-occupiers, reflecting barriers such as upfront costs, landlord permissions and practical constraints on installation.

The picture is not entirely negative. Some vulnerable groups are adopting air conditioning at higher rates than the wider population. Households with babies, young children, disabled people and those living with long-term health conditions are all more likely to use air conditioning.

Given the well-established health risks that high temperatures pose for these groups, this is encouraging. It suggests that many households are taking proactive steps to protect their health.

However, this introduces another challenge. Since air conditioning uses lots of electricity, vulnerable families may find themselves facing a difficult choice between staying cool and keeping their energy bills affordable.

In the UK, fuel poverty has traditionally focused on heating homes during winter. But our research suggests a new form of summer fuel poverty may already be emerging.

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Another notable finding reflects how society itself has changed. Households where someone works from home at least two days each week were 42% more likely to have air conditioning.

Before the pandemic, many people spent the hottest part of the day in air-conditioned workplaces such as offices. Hybrid working has shifted that exposure into the home. Increasingly, homes must function not only as places to live, but also as workplaces during periods of extreme heat.

A national cooling plan

These trends have implications far beyond individual households. A rise in air conditioning in homes will increase electricity demand in summer, placing additional pressure on energy networks.

Unless that electricity comes from zero-carbon sources, it will also increase emissions, creating a feedback loop in which hotter summers drive greater demand for cooling. The solution today therefore cannot simply be more air conditioning for everyone.

Instead, the UK needs a national cooling plan – but that does not simply mean installing more air conditioning everywhere. It should be a plan to keep homes cool naturally, through solutions like external shading and shutters, as well as encouraging more trees in cities to provide shade and other cooling effects. Where air conditioning is essential for vulnerable households, they should receive targeted support.

Even at this early stage, a cooling divide is already taking shape. The question is whether we act now to ensure that protection from dangerous heat is available to everyone – especially those most vulnerable to heat – or wait until a cool home becomes a privilege.

Seventy years ago, Britain confronted a dilemma. It wanted to remain a leading military power but no longer had the economic resources to sustain all the conventional capabilities it had inherited from the second world war.

The solution proposed in the 1957 Sandys defence white paper was technological. Guided missiles, Duncan Sandys argued, were transforming warfare so fundamentally that many traditional capabilities, including some crewed combat aircraft, would become obsolete.

In other words, by embracing this technological revolution, Britain could achieve defence on the cheap. Britain’s new Defence Investment Plan (DIP) reflects a similar strategic instinct. The technologies may have changed but the underlying dilemma has not.

Announcing the DIP in the House of Commons, Dan Jarvis, the defence secretary, said the UK would be making its “largest ever investment in drone warfare: £5 billion for strike, protector and surveillance drones across the Royal Navy, the Army and the Royal Air Force.”

Here are some of the key technologies discussed in the Dip.

Drone ships

At least a quarter of the £5 billion announced for drone warfare is going towards a “hybrid fleet,” a fundamental re-imagining of the Royal Navy. The UK’s sole ballistic missile defence capability – the Type 45 destroyers – will no longer be replaced by a like-for-like. Instead, a network of Crewed Combat Vessels (CCVs) will act as control hubs for specialised, uncrewed boats.

These would include Type 91 missile barges, Type 92 and Type 93 anti-submarine and underwater surveillance platforms, and Type 94 radar vessels. In principle, distributing the sense, decide and strike functions across the navy offers several advantages.

It could ease chronic personnel shortages by reducing crew requirements, extend radar and sonar coverage over a wider area, and make the fleet more resilient by dispersing combat power rather than concentrating it in a handful of expensive warships.

Uncrewed vessels could also be rearmed or maintained independently and without the
design constraints of supporting sailors at sea. However, the challenges are significant.

The DIP envisages this concept becoming proven and operational before the Type 45 retires in the mid-2030s, despite the fact that resilient communications and electronic warfare protection for autonomous warships remain immature.

Nor is Ukraine’s use of naval drones a straightforward template. The Royal Navy’s principal tasks – particularly anti-submarine warfare in the High North and North Atlantic – are far more demanding than Ukraine’s use of maritime drones in the Black Sea.

While experiments such as using RFA Lyme Bay as a mothership for autonomous mine countermeasures (including drone minesweepers) are encouraging, retiring Britain’s only ballistic missile defence destroyers before the wider architecture has been proven would entail significant operational risk.

AI targeting network

The army’s Project Asgard illustrates the same technological philosophy in a different domain. Asgard aims to transform how – and how quickly – the army identifies and strikes targets, by linking sensors, armoured vehicles, drones and long-range weapons into a single, AI-enabled targeting network.

First trialled in 2025, Asgard is now receiving £370 million to develop an operational capability, reflecting the Army’s ambition to achieve a tenfold increase in combat power primarily through automation rather than expanded forces.

This idea has an important intellectual history. During the 1990s, the United States championed the concept of network-centric warfare: the proposition that superior information sharing would enable smaller, more agile forces to defeat numerically superior opponents. But Britain was soon concerned about the affordability and technological challenge of creating such highly connected forces, adopting in its place a lighter version: network-enabled capabilities.

The DIP suggests that the government now believes the technology is catching up with the theory. But old weaknesses remain. Networks only work if they survive. Communications can be jammed, satellites disrupted and software attacked, and Russia has the electronic warfare capabilities that could, without adequate safeguards, do all three.

‘Loyal wingmen’

It is also the case that what has worked at smaller levels now needs to be scaled across Nato. If it works, Project Asgard would provide Nato land forces with the ability to control long-range weapons of their own, reducing their reliance on air forces which will need to focus on supressing and destroying enemy air defences.

That task is motivating the DIP’s investment in Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCAs) – uncrewed platforms that will fly alongside the RAF’s Typhoons and F-35s.

These “loyal wingmen” drones would support crewed aircraft by acting as scouts, decoys, absorbing enemy fire or jamming enemy radars. They could be controlled by the pilot of the combat jet, or work autonomously.

Systems such as the MQ-28 Ghost Bat are at an early stage of development. To be militarily useful CCAs must combine long range, high speed, low observability, resilient data links and meaningful payloads, requirements that quickly approach the complexity, and potentially the cost, of the crewed aircraft they are intended to complement.

Will it be cheaper?

Against these challenges, the government’s headline commitment of £5 billion on these systems therefore seems more like a down payment than the full mortgage. Spread across four years, three armed services and an exceptionally diverse range of programmes, it is less transformative than some may believe, and certainly not on the timelines some think are necessary as tensions continue with Russia.

The unit costs of what will be specialist equipment may remain prohibitively expensive. Take the hybrid Navy as an example. The autonomous systems in question require resilient communications, sophisticated sensors, electronic warfare protection and high engineering reliability, meaning the combined cost of CCVs and their uncrewed flotillas could approach that of the destroyers they replace.

Even if the funding can be found – and there are good reasons to question whether it can – Britain must still demonstrate that its defence industry can deliver this technology-intensive force. Expanding military output requires far more than larger budgets: it demands additional factory capacity, skilled workers, shipbuilding infrastructure and resilient supply chains. This is particularly true for autonomous systems whose military value depends on being produced, sustained and replaced at scale.

The DIP rests on three assumptions: that autonomous systems mature quickly, prove affordable and can be produced at scale. The Sandys Review rightly foresaw the missile age but underestimated the staying power of conventional forces; new technologies reshape warfare but they rarely replace its enduring fundamentals.

If Britain is to bet on autonomy, therefore, it also needs the spending profile to make that bet credible. After all, the most important judgement on the DIP will not be that of future historians, but of the occupant of the Kremlin today.

Independence Day has been an official federal holiday only since 1941, but its origins date back to the Revolutionary War and our nation’s independence from Great Britain.

The quiz below, from the Ashbrook Center at Ashland University in Ashland, Ohio, provides an opportunity for you to test your knowledge of the Fourth of July, which is much more than just a day for picnics and fireworks.

1. The Declaration of Independence wasn’t actually signed on the 4th of July. Which day was it officially signed?

A. July 2, 1776

B. August 2, 1776

C. November 15, 1777

D. March 1, 1781

2. Which monarch reigned over the colonists at the time of the American Revolution?

A. Queen Elizabeth

B. Queen Victoria

C. King George II

D. King George III

3. Who famously said, “I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me Liberty or give me death!”

A. Nathan Hale

B. Samuel Adams

C. Patrick Henry

D. Paul Revere

4. Which signer has the largest signature on the Declaration of Independence?

A. George Washington

B. Thomas Jefferson

C. Roger Sherman

D. John Hancock

5. Which country assisted the colonists with financial and military aid during the Revolutionary War?

A. England

B. France

C. Canada

D. Netherlands

6. Who was the oldest Signer of the Declaration of Independence?

A. George Washington

B. Ben Franklin

C. Roger Sherman

D. Stephen Hopkins

7. Besides John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, which other president died on the 4th of July?

A. Andrew Jackson

B. Millard Fillmore

C. James Monroe

D. James Buchanan

8. Thomas Jefferson was part of a five-person committee to write the Declaration of Independence, along with John Adams, Ben Franklin, Robert Livingston and Roger Sherman. Which man did not sign the Declaration of Independence?

A. Robert Livingston

B. Roger Sherman

C. Ben Franklin

D. John Adams

9. Which signer of the Declaration of Independence stated that this holiday “ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shews, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other from this time forward forever more.”?

A. James Madison

B. Thomas Jefferson

C. Ben Franklin

D. John Adams

10. How many signers of the Declaration of Independence were born in the United States of America?

A. 56

B. 48

C. 0

D. 13

Prince William teased the possibility of the World Cup returning to England as he made a special appearance on the New Heights podcast. 

The royal featured as a surprise guest on a one-off episode of NFL stars Travis and Jason Kelce‘s podcast on Friday, which was released just hours before Travis was set to tie the knot with Taylor Swift. 

In a major podcast appearance for the prince, William, who also serves as the official Patron of the English Football Association, opened up on the World Cup – which is currently taking place across the US, Canada and Mexico – in particular England fans’ notorious gameday behavior. 

William admitted that the taste of America’s beer could prove to be the biggest culture shock for the visiting England fans arriving in the States for the football extravaganza. 

‘I think you haven’t met your match until you’ve met a lot of beer drinkers from the UK,’ he warned the two NFL stars. ‘We can handle our own beer to anyone.’

Like all England supporters, William, who previously served as the FA’s President since 2006 until he became Patron in 2024, is familiar with the pain and suffering that accompanies the experience of an international tournament.

The episode dropped just hours before Travis was set to wed Taylor Swift on July 3

Yet, despite the years of hurt, he insisted that he has faith that Thomas Tuchel’s side could be lifting the trophy on July 19 in New Jersey. 

‘I always felt like we had a really good chance,’ he said. ‘But as each World Cup goes on and the results don’t quite go your way… a little bit of hope gets chipped away each time.

‘I’m taking it calmly and quietly and like, come on, we’re going to do well and see how we go. But I am quietly confident, I think.’ 

While it remains to be seen if it truly is coming home this month, William hinted that the World Cup could be returning to England in the future. The tournament, at least. 

‘I think trying to support our World Cup or European bids,’ he said when asked about his role with the FA by Jason. ‘This country particularly is mad about football. 

‘So, trying to get a World Cup to be hosted here… Or a euros here is fantastic. I’ve been trying to do a bit of work on that. But also I think I’ll be trying to help reform the system a bit as well.’ 

He added that a predominant aspect of his job is acting as a ‘cheerleader’ for the organization, ensuring that the FA has the ‘backing of the country.’

William’s passion for the sport is well-documented with the royal frequently spotted cheering on his beloved Aston Villa at Villa Park with his son, Prince George. 

The prince warned the NFL stars about England fans’ notorious drinking habits 

The royal is an avid football fan as is regular seen supporting his team Aston Villa at games 

The Prince of Wales is pictured with son Prince George at the 2024 FA Cup final 

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In his former role as president of the FA, Prince Williams greets players before the 2025 final 

He has supported both the men’s and women’s national teams on the global stage, attending the 2020 Euro final against Italy with George and Princess Kate and a game at the UEFA Women’s Euros last year, which the Lionesses went on to win, with Princess Charlotte. 

He also often attends FA Cup finals in an official capacity for his trophy presentation responsibilities. 

However, while William has passed on his passion for the sport to his children, he did not inherit it from his own father. In fact, he revealed that King Charles does not share his love of football, at all. 

‘Absolutely not. My father hates football,’ he said when asked if the King introduced him to supporting Aston Villa, stunning Travis and Jason. 

Travis and Jason are, of course, more acquainted with American football. Travis is a three-time Super Bowl winner with the Kansas City Chiefs and is heading into his 14th season in the NFL in September. 

Meanwhile, Jason is a Philadelphia Eagles legend, having also won a Super Bowl with the franchise before retiring in 2024 following 13 seasons. 

Yet, William was convinced he could convert the brothers into football supporters as World Cup fever sweeps through the US. 

The prince, who shared that he would attend the final should England make it all the way, joked that he would invite the pair to MetLife Stadium, saying: ‘See you both there for the final.’

William, pictured with England manager Thomas Tuchel, serves as the official Patron of the FA

He revealed that his father, King Charles, does not share his passion for the sport 

However, Travis’s focus will have already switched to the looming NFL season with the Chiefs’ training camp beginning 10 days after the World Cup final. 

William hatched a plan to sneak the tight end out of Missouri for the occasion, joking that he would write to Kansas City head coach Andy Reid to request permission. 

Before NFL preseason gets underway, Travis has his attention on a much bigger event: His wedding to Taylor. 

The NFL star and singer are set to wed at Madison Square Garden in New York on Friday evening in a star-studded ceremony – five hours after the New Heights podcast with William went live.  

The royal previously joked that he was ‘hoping’ to get an invite to Taylor and Travis’s New York wedding after striking up a friendship with the couple at Wembley Stadium in 2024. 

The pop singer and NFL star posed for a selfie with the Prince of Wales as well as two of his children Prince George and Princess Charlotte at the show.

Travis made his own special appearance during that concert, stunning fans when he emerged onstage to perform a small segment with his pop sensation fiancee. 

‘Definitely a very proud moment of my life, for sure,’ the tight end said of his performance. 

The Prince of Wales and children Princess George and Princess Charlotte posed for a photo with Taylor and Travis at Wembley in 2024

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Travis and Taylor met the Prince in the same run of shows as the NFL star’s cameo on stage

He went on to admit that both he and Jason were wracked with nerves over meeting the Royal Family, revealing they were petrified of breaking protocol. 

‘That was honestly one of the coolest moments ever was meeting you and the little ones that day,’ he added. ‘Me and Jason joke about it all the time.

‘We were so nervous to meet you guys and the royal family. And Jason has this running joke where he didn’t know what to do with his beer.’

‘It wasn’t a joke. It was real,’ Jason insisted. ‘I don’t know what. Well, you want to be respectful and know what the protocols of course. No, it was awesome. And you were fantastic. The kids were great.

‘Princess Charlotte was still the highlight for me. I have four daughters as well, so she was great.’ 

The former NFL center shares Wyatt, six, Elliotte, five, Bennett, three, and Finnley, one, with wife, Kylie.  

Police and paramedics, including two air ambulances, were called to the scene near Great Thirkleby, close to Thirsk, on Wednesday afternoon (July 1).

North Yorkshire Police said the crash involved a grey BMW travelling north and a Skoda Fabia travelling south at about 2.20pm.

The force said the woman driving the Skoda was pronounced dead at the scene.

“Her family are being supported by specially-trained officers,” a force spokesperson said.

They said the woman driving the BMW was taken to hospital for treatment.

An eyewitness said an air ambulance landed at the crash site, near the Thirkleby Hall junction, at 2.50pm on Wednesday.

Another eyewitness said the road was blocked with police turning vehicles around.

Yorkshire Ambulance Service said its crews, including two ambulances and a specialist paramedic critical care crew were dispatched to the scene. 

One person was then taken to hospital, the ambulance service said.

Police are urging anyone who saw or has dashcam footage of the crash or the cars before to email sciu@northyorkshire.police.uk quoting reference 12260123305.

Politicians, Olympians, British TV stars – and even scientists – all mingled in the Royal Box on Day Five of Wimbledon today.

Joining the Earl and Countess of St Andrews at Centre Court’s hottest seats was former British prime minister Rishi Sunak, seated with his wife Akshata Murty.

Also present were sporting legend Usain Bolt, known as ‘the fastest man in the world’ and TV star Rob Brydon, best recognised for hosting Would I Lie To You? and starring in the hit series Gavin And Stacey.

Elsewhere, physicist Brian Cox could also be spotted with his wife Gia, among a myriad of corporate VIPs, including the CCO of Jaguar Land Rover, the President of Villa Primrose, Bordeaux and the CEO of Fraser’s Group (Slazenger).

Read on to discover who’s who in the Royal Box on the fifth day at the Championships…

1. Usain Bolt 

Legendary athlete Usain Bolt and his longtime partner, Kasi Bennett, were All England Club chair Deborah Jevans’s guests in the Royal Box today. 

The retired Jamaican sprinter, 39, and eight-time Olympic medallist was seen arriving solo as he cut a dapper figure in a navy suit, blue and green striped tie, white shirt and tan shoes. 

In a subtle matching moment, Kasi opted for a striped black and white shirt dress with white sandals. 

Bolt ran his final race in 2017 and has since settled into a stay-at-home dad routine. 

He and Kasi share three kids, daughter Olympia Lightning, five, and four-year-old sons Thunder and Saint Leo, together. 

In a recent interview, the ‘fastest man in the world’ revealed his athleticism has fallen off a cliff so much that he says he needs to ‘start’ a discipline he once mastered: running!

‘I’m not a fan, but I think now that I’ve been out for a while, I have to actually start running because when I walk upstairs I get out of breath,’ he joked to The Telegraph last September. 

Legendary athlete Usain Bolt and his longtime partner, Kasi Bennett, were All England Club chair Deborah Jevans’s guests in the Royal Box today

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The retired Jamaican sprinter, 39, and eight-time Olympic medallist was seen arriving solo as he cut a dapper figure in a navy suit, blue and green striped tie, white shirt and tan shoes

2. Rt Hon Rishi Sunak and Akshata Murty

Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty were also at Centre Court today, with the former prime minister still using crutches after suffering a skiing injury over the Easter holidays. 

However, the 46-year-old looked in high spirits as he found his seat and shook hands with actor Joseph Fiennes. 

At the time of the accident, the former PM said on social media: ‘Pushed my luck on the slopes this Easter showing off to my daughters.

‘I’m already on the mend and determined to keep up with my meetings and constituency work (although sadly no walks with Nova for a while).

‘Thanks to everyone who’s been in touch. Looking forward to getting back to full fitness soon and seeing many of you in the coming weeks.’

He added: ‘Thankfully there’s no shortage of sport on TV this month!’

Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty were also at Centre Court today, with the former prime minister still using crutches after suffering a skiing injury over the Easter holidays

3. Joseph Fiennes 

British actor Joseph Fiennes brought the star power to SW19 today, as the brother of Ralph Fiennes was spotted chatting with AELTC chair and former tennis star, Deborah Jevans. 

He recently portrayed former England manager Gareth Southgate in the BBC’s four-part TV adaptation of award-winning play Dear England. 

Joseph Fiennes (right) in the royal box on day five of the 2026 Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club

4. Deborah Jevans

As Chair of the AELTC, Deborah Jevans was sat front and centre of the Royal Box. 

The British former tennis player Ms Jevans CBE has been at the hallowed location numerous times, as a former junior Wimbledon champion.

She also played ten times in the women’s singles (between 1979 and 1983). Her best result was reaching the fourth round, when she lost to fifth-seeded Virginia Wade.

Ms Jevans also played in the doubles event, reaching the quarter finals of the mixed doubles event in 1978, playing with her future husband and Wimbledon referee Andrew Jarrett.

She became the first chairwoman of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club Board in 2023, succeeding Ian Hewitt.

In 2013, she was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the New Year Honours due to her services to Sport and the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, when she served as director of sports for the event.

5. Earl and Countess of St Andrews

George Windsor, the elder son of the Duke of Kent and late Duchess of Kent, was accompanied by his wife, Sylvana Tomaselli, as they represented the Royal Family at Wimbledon. 

The Earl and Countess of St Andrews were among the 80 Royal Box guests today, as they settled in for an afternoon of world-class tennis. 

George, 63, was installed as Chancellor of the University of Bolton in 2017 in a post he still holds. 

Meanwhile, his wife is an academic who has lectured at the University of Cambridge and written about French and British political theory. 

Before meeting George, she was married to another man, but they divorced in 1981. In 1988, she wed the late Duchess’s son in Scotland.

The low-key royal couple’s appearance at Wimbledon comes weeks after their daughter, Marina Windsor tied the knot with Nico Macauley at All Saints’ church in Hovingham, North Yorkshire. 

Lady Marina, 33, did not join her parents at Wimbledon, with the royal recently posting snaps from her Mediterranean honeymoon on Instagram. 

6. Ben Hardy

Ben Hardy is a regular attendee at Wimbledon, proving to be an enthusiastic tennis fan

Ben Hardy is a regular attendee at Wimbledon, proving to be an enthusiastic tennis fan. 

The former EastEnders actor played Peter Beale from 2013 until 2015 before also starring as Queen’s drummer Roger Taylor in Bohemian Rhapsody. 

Bohemian Rhapsody won four of the five Academy Awards it was nominated for. The film also grossed more than $900million worldwide. 

The actor has also since starred in X-Men: Apocalypse.

He parted ways from his fellow EastEnders ex Jessica Plummer in 2023 after going public with their relationship back in 2021.

The former soap actors were said to have fallen victim to busy work schedules, leading to them ‘growing apart’.

According to The Mirror, sources close to Ben and Jessica claimed at the time that the pair had been too busy to keep the relationship afloat.

One insider shared: ‘Ben and Jessica were besotted with each other but work has meant they spent a lot of time apart. Over time it’s taken its toll and recently they decided to call it a day.’ 

7. Brian Cox with his wife Gia

Professor Brian Cox is a world-renowned physicist who is best known for presenting science programmes, including BBC Radio 4’s The Infinite Monkey Cage and the Wonders Of… series

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Professor Brian Cox is a world-renowned physicist who is best known for presenting science programmes, including BBC Radio 4’s The Infinite Monkey Cage and the Wonders Of… series.

He is also a talented musician, having been a keyboard player for bands like Dare and D:Ream in the past.

Other popular science programmes Brian has presented include the BBC’s long-running Horizon series and In Einstein’s Shadow, as well as Wonders Of The Universe and Wonders Of Life.

In 2010, he was appointed OBE for services to science. A decade later, he was promoted to CBE in the 2020 Birthday Honours for services to the promotion of science.

Brian married Gia, an American TV presenter and writer, in Duluth, Minnesota, in 2003. They share two children, a son from a previous relationship Gia had and their son, who was born in 2009.

8. Mark Precious 

Another athlete sitting in one of the sought after spots in the Royal Box today was Mark Precious, a former student at University College in Oxford.

The former field hockey player won the bronze medal with the British team at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.

9. Brian Vahaly  

Brian Vahaly is the former world 57 in tennis, reaching his career high in March 2003.

The sporting star, 44, began playing tennis at just the age of two with his parents. Clearly the practice paid off, and he claimed defeats against the likes of Juan Carlos Ferrero, Michael Chang and Fernando Gonzalez.

In 2017, he came out as gay, a decade after he was forced to retire due to a shoulder injury. He had been dating a woman for two years while on the ATP tour.

The following year, he was described as a ‘gay tennis trailblazer’ by the Telegraph, due to very few players in the sport being openly out.

Vahaly is happily married to his husband Bill, and the two are raising twin boys, Parker and Bennett.

He told the Telegraph previously: ‘My exposure to the gay community had always been very limited and what I knew of it I didn’t connect to. Until I retired I just didn’t allow myself to explore my sexuality.

‘No-one would have known what to do with me. It could have potentially impacted sponsorships.’

He added: ‘I heard homophobic comments all the time in the locker room – to my face, behind my back. That was just a part of the culture.’

10. Fleur Anderson  

Putney Labour MP Fleur Anderson was also in the stands today as she was pictured reading the order of play in her seat in the second row. 

11. PB Balaji 

Indian businessman PB Balaji was also spotted in the stands today. 

He was appointed chief executive officer of Jaguar Land Rover in November 2025. 

12. Dan Brooke 

Dan Brooke also had a seat in the Royal Box as the Chair of Paralympics GB, following his appointment in March 2025. 

He has previously worked for Channel 4 as the Chief Marketing and Commercial Officer and Dan has been credited with fostering the broadcaster’s ‘relationship with the paralympic movement’, according to the official announcement. 

At the time, he said: ‘My lifelong love affair with Paralympic Sport was sparked by London 2012 and snowballed into a lifelong mission for disability inclusion.

‘I am honoured to renew my vows with this precious movement and cannot wait to help ParalympicsGB take on the world at Milano Cortina 2026 and Los Angeles 2028 and help change the world for people with disabilities in the process.’

13. Rob Brydon and his wife Claire  

Rob Brydon and his rarely seen wife Clare Holland cosied up for photos as they led the stars arriving at day five of Wimbledon on Friday

Rob Brydon and his rarely seen wife Clare Holland cosied up for photos as they led the stars arriving at day five of Wimbledon on Friday. 

The Gavin and Stacey star, 61, and his glamorous TV producer wife Clare looked happier than ever as they took their seats in the Royal Box to watch Novak Djokovic play Arthur Rinderknech on Centre Court. 

Rob cut a dapper figure for the day in a linen suit which he teamed with a blue shirt and a smart navy tie. 

Meanwhile, his wife of 20 years looked stunning in a white floral dress which she teamed with an orange handbag and sandals. 

14. Leon Butler 

 General Manager for BM UKI, Leon Butler was among the businessmen at Wimbledon today, 

15. Roy Colabawalla 

Roy Colabawalla is the Corporate Partner at Sydney Mitchell LLP and President of the Lawn Tennis Association.

The Sydney Mitchell partner was appointed youngest president in Lawn Tennis Association history earlier this year.

16. Ken Doherty

Ken Doherty famously beat the great Stephen Hendry 18-12 at the Crucible in 1997 to become the first Irishman and only third overseas player to win the World Championship.

Before he made history at the Crucible, Doherty’s only ranking title win was the 1993 Welsh Open. He had never gone past the quarter-finals of the World Championship. But he had perfect preparation for the 1997 tournament. 

‘I used to play with Ronnie O’Sullivan at the Ilford Snooker Centre,’ he previously explained. ‘For a while we weren’t practising with each other, but before 1997 I made a conscious decision and said, ‘Look Ronnie, let’s put our differences to one side and practise for this World Championship’.

‘We played each other in a best of 19 every single day. The two of us were flying. Going there, I thought he was going to win it.’

O’Sullivan showed off his form in the first round when he hit a 147 break in a record time of 5min 20sec against Mick Price but lost his next match against Darren Morgan.

Doherty, though, saw off Mark Davis, Steve Davis and John Higgins to set up a final with defending champion Hendry, who had already won a record-equalling six titles and five in a row.

18. Lord Coe 

Lord Coe won gold in the 1500m at the Olympics in 1980 and 1984, was a Tory MP for five years, and masterminded the London 2012 Games.

Now the President of the International Association of Athletics Federations, Sebastian splits his time between Monaco and London.

19. Roy Hodgson 

Roy Hodgson in the royal box on day five of the 2026 Wimbledon Championships

The former England football manager, 78, looked to be in high spirts as he attended day five of Wimbledon.

Former England manager Roy Hodgson has made it known that he has no intention of becoming the permanent Bristol City manager after his stunning return to football management.

Hodgson, 78, was appointed manager of the Championship team until the end of the season last week, taking over from Gerhard Struber, who was sacked after overseeing a disappointing run of results this season.

City are 16th in the Championship and without a win in five games. They fell to a disappointing 1-0 home defeat against relegation-threatened West Brom last Saturday, and the team was booed three times during the game. City were also recently dumped out of the FA Cup by League One’s bottom side, Port Vale.

The future of the club is unclear, with Hodgson, who hasn’t coached since leaving Crystal Palace in 2024 when he was taken ill during a training session, only contracted until the end of the season.

And the man himself has now confirmed that he won’t be staying at Ashton Gate any longer.

On what attracted him to the role, he said in his first press conference: ‘I think it was the fact that it was a short-term project, a short-term appointment.

20.  Lieutenant General Sir Simon Hamilton

Lieutenant General Sir Simon Hamilton is the newly appointed chief of General Staff, as of April. The senior British army officer enjoyed a day out at Wimbledon, taking a seat in the royal box following an impressive 33 years of service.

He had attended the Royal Military Academy in Sandhurst and was made Lieutenant Colonel in 2009.

Sir Hamilton has also worked as Head of Vehicle Support at Defence Equipment, the British Army’s Director of Logistics Support and Engineering and Director General Land at Defence Equipment and Support. 

In 2018, he was made CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours, before getting knighted last year.

21. Sue Bucknall 

Today’s guest list included Sue Bucknall, Deputy Chair of the Wimbledon & Putney Commons Conservators. 

 22. Dennis Taylor 

Snooker legend Dennis Taylor was all smiles as he enjoyed an afternoon of tennis today. 

The Northern Irishman famously defeated Steve Davis 18-17 at the World Snooker Championships in 1985, making him one of the most recognisable faces in the game.

23. Dominic Ferris

British pianist Dominic Ferris also joined the ranks of Royal Box attendees today.  

24. Lennard Hoornik 

Lennard Hoornik has been the Chief Commercial Officer of British carmaker JLR since 2021. 

He overseas global sales and marketing for both the Jaguar and Land Rover brands. 

25.  Alexandra Innes 

Alexandra Innes was also given a Royal Box invite after she served on the Club Committee. 

26. Lt General Sir Robert Magowan 

Royal Marines officer Lieutenant General Sir Robert Magowan looked smart as he took his seat in the Royal Box. 

He was recently named Commander of Cyber and Specialist Operations Command (CSOC). 

Congratulating Sir Rob on the appointment, former defence secretary John Healey said his expertise would enable the ‘transformation of our armed forces’ in a statement at the time. 

Sir Rob succeeded General Sir Jim Hockenhull, who praised the Royal Marines officer as ‘one of the most professional, knowledgeable, and dedicated officers I have ever worked with’. 

The outgoing CSOC chief added: ‘Possessing enormous experience, Rob also brings a humanity that makes him an outstanding leader.’

27. Emmanuel Cruse

Also spotted at Wimbledon was Emmanuel Cruse, the president of the French tennis club Villa Primrose.  

28. Jonathan Smith 

Rounding out the list was London Fire Brigade’s commissioner Jonathan Smith.  

“I feel sick to my stomach. Paul is gone and so too is a massive part of my heart.”

A grieving family have recalled how they spent their final hours with their much-loved brother playing his favourite music and talking to him in hospital before he passed after being hit by a drunk driver.

Paul Marshall, 70 died after he was hit by a van driven by John Taggart (36), of Torrens Link in North Belfast.

Taggart pleaded guilty to a charge of causing the death of by driving dangerously within the vicinity of Divis Street, Castle Street and Millfield junction in Belfast on Monday, September 2, 2024. He also admitted that on the same date, he was driving a Ford van with excess alcohol on his breath.

He will spend three years in jail followed by a similar period on supervised licence for what the Judge described as his “grotesque consumption of alcohol” which caused the fatal collision.

Family relatives, some of whom appeared in court for the sentencing hearing today (Friday), penned moving and poignant victim impact statements to the court.

Gerry Marshall wrote: “Paul was our big brother, and the horror of what happened to him led us to the Royal Victoria Hospital, where he was on a life support machine for six days.

“During those days, the family spoke to Paul, played his favourite music and we were then confronted with the enormity of telling us his life was unsustainable.”

He says he has struggled since and reflects on those moments, “with the loss of Paul, my big brother”.

“Paul kept himself very much to himself and had grown out of the despair of being a lifelong paranoid schizophrenic in his younger years and settling into his older years with a quiet solitude and contentment that has now been taken away from him.

“We miss and we love him so much.”

Deidre Trainor referred to her deceased brother as “kind, generous and gifted, who had a great sense of humour”.

She wrote: “He could fill the room with the warmth of his big smile”

Mrs Trainor said she experiences the “very serious sense of loss of Paul’s death” and when she passes where Paul died she pictures him “standing at the lights waiting to cross, his innocence, bothering nobody and happily going about his day.

“I feel sick to my stomach. Paul is gone and so too is a massive part of my heart.”

Another sister, Maria McShane, described Paul as “her big brother and the most kind and gentle person”.

“Losing Paul in such a wild way has left a large hole in my life that can never be filled. I treasure his memory,” she concluded.

Belfast Crown Court heard that at around 5.30 pm on September 2, 2024, he drove his work pharmaceutical van from Great Victoria Street and College Avenue northbound in the direction of Millfield.

As he approached the junction in the outside lane, Taggart was behind a Honda Civic car which then moved into the inside lane.

A prosecution barrister said that if Taggart had been “driving competently, the obvious response at that point is just to touch the brakes and to hold back so that the car can move in.”

Instead, Taggart “undertook the vehicle to get through and it’s that which led him to mount the traffic island” where Mr Marshall was standing.

The pensioner was rushed to the Royal Victoria Hospital where he passed away almost a week later from “catastrophic injuries” which included a serious fracture to his skull along with spine, rib, writs and toe fractures.

Passing the six year determinate custodial sentence, Judge Rafferty said: “Given the grotesque nature of his consumption of alcohol and him being a professional driver, the minimum period of disqualification is one of seven years. Take him into custody.”

As Mr Marshall’s family were leaving the court following the hearing, Judge Rafferty removed his wig and addressed them personally.

He said: “Can I say that you did Paul proud in the way that you wrote about him. I had a very, very vivid picture of Paul because of the way you wrote about him.

“All judges find these cases very difficult. We have to try to proportionate sentences against the dreadful loss that you have suffered. I wish today brings some degree of closure.”

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Fire crews were called at 3.55pm today (July 3), to an incident on the A66 in Middlesbrough, near the South Bank roundabout.

Two fire engines remain in attendance as firefighters tackle the blaze, with thick black smoke seen billowing into the air.

Fire on the A66 in Middlesbrough (Image: SUPPLIED)

A spokesperson from Cleveland Fire Brigade said: “We were called on July 3 at 3.55pm to an incident on the A66.

“Two fire appliances in attendance from Grangetown and Middlesbrough.

 “The incident is ongoing.”

The cause for the fire is not yet known.

Cleveland Police have been contacted for more information.  

Ken Wheatley, from Crewe, sprang into action when he witnessed a car flip onto its roof on the southbound carriageway near Bedford at around 4am.

The collision involved a vehicle carrying a family of three.

Mr Wheatley, a grandfather of four who has worked for AO since 2022, said the scene could have ended in ‘fatalities’.

He said: “It was about four in the morning, and I was driving along when I saw a black car come tearing down past me on the outside lane.

“It must have just clipped the other car containing this family – it was completely upside down with all the lights off.

“If another vehicle had hit them at 50 to 60mph there could have been fatalities.

“But if there’s one thing about HGV drivers, it’s if we can help, we will help.”

Mr Wheatley and three other HGV drivers stopped their vehicles to block the motorway and prevent further danger.

They smashed the window to free the father, but didn’t realise others were inside until they heard a child crying.

Mr Wheatley said: “So, we made the decision to just get them out, because if my kids or grandkids were in there, I’d want someone to do the same.”

He then climbed onto the car to help extract the rest of the family. With a crowbar from his lorry, he prised open the door and retrieved their suitcases.

Mr Wheatley invited the family to take shelter in his cab until paramedics arrived.

Fortunately, none of the occupants sustained serious injuries.

Lynne Wood, director of service delivery at AO based in Bolton, said: “We always speak about being magic in the moments that matter, and Kenny’s heroic actions are a perfect example of this.

“We’re extremely proud of him.”

Mr Wheatley has been named employee of the month and rewarded with champagne, a gift voucher, a trophy, an extra holiday day, and a private parking spot for a month.