William 'spends night on streets in freezing temperatures'

Prince William, the second-in-line to the British throne, has spent a night sleeping rough on the streets of London in freezing temperatures as part of his work supporting a charity for the homeless.

A photograph released by the charity, Centrepoint, shows the 27-year-old Prince in a cold alley near Blackfriars Bridgein central London in jeans and a grey hooded sweatshirt, the British media reported.

William, who chose to sleep with the charity's chief executive Seyi Obakin to highlight the plight of homeless British teenagers, said he could not imagine what it must be like for those who sleep rough night after night.

"I cannot, after one night, even begin to imagine what it must be like to sleep rough on London's streets night after night. Poverty, mental illness, drug and alcohol dependency and family breakdown cause people to become and stay homeless. "Centrepoint's work -- along with many other organisations -- in tackling these fundamental causes is desperately important if we are ever to end homelessness in this country," William was quoted as saying.

Added Obakin: "It did not occur to me that Prince William would take up this challenge. But he was determined, as he has always been, to understand deeply the range of problems a homeless young person might face Advertisement

Woman who has 300 orgasms a day finally meets Mr Right

A woman with a medical condition which causes her to have 300 orgasms a day has finally met the man of her dreams.

Michelle Thompson, who suffers from persistent sexual arousal syndrome, was just too demanding for all her previous lovers.

But she has finally found a man to keep her satisfied -- after she wore out a string of boyfriends.

Single mum Michelle, 43, has been dating her neighbour Andrew Carr, 32, for six months now -- because he is as keen as she is and they make love 10 times a day.

"Andrew has changed my life. I'm no longer looking for a cure for my orgasms -- I've found it," The News of the World quoted her as saying.

"Now I have a huge grin on my face all the time, and it's not just because of the orgasms," she said.

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Salman Rushdie plans a Graphic novel

Controversial India-born author Salman Rushdie is considering widening his fan base by creating his first graphic novel.

The Midnight's Children author has established himself as a top name in the genres of magic realism and historical fiction and is now contemplating channeling his childhood love of comic books into a new venture, Contactmusic reported.

"Recently I got asked if I'd like to write a graphic novel. When I was a kid I was a real comic book nut and I can tell you a lot about superheroes," Rushdie said.

Meanwhile, Rushdie seems to have moved on after his split from ex-girlfriend actress Pia Glenn who called him "cowardly, dysfunctional and immature".

The 62-year-old author who retaliated to Glenn's comment stating that she is an "accomplished liar" was seen attending the Norman Mailer Writers' Colony Gala with author Min Lieskovsky on his arm. Advertisement

Queen wore a dress made from forgotten Indian cloth

The British Queen wore a dress fit for royals at her state banquet for President Pratibha Patil on Tuesday night - after finding the Indian fabric lying unused in a cupboard for decades.

Elizabeth II's stunning pale gold lame dress made its debut at the banquet after being delivered to her in the morning by her dresser.

"It's an Indian material from an earlier visit, but the Queen couldn't remember when," a royal spokeswoman told IANS at Windsor Castle, the 900-year-old castle where Elizabeth II hosted the dinner attended by 150 guests, including Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

"She had it in the cupboard and had forgotten about it. We think it could be from her first visit to India," the spokeswoman added.

The 83-year-old Queen had the fabric turned into a glamorous dress by her personal dresser Angela Kelly, said to be a close aide to her.

It turned out to be the most glamorous outfit of the evening.

The British monarch has visited India thrice - in 1961, 1983 and 1997. Advertisement

Here's what Hitler called the British PM

The first chief of British intelligence agency, MI5, had conveyed the gravity of a Nazi threat to Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain Hitlerby saying that Hitler called him "a*******", a new book has revealed.

Written by Cambridge historian Professor Christopher Andrew, The Defence Of The Realm is the first of its kind book which reveals the secrets of 100 years of obscure world of spying in Britain.

The book, which was released to mark the centenary of the founding of MI5, also discloses that three Labour MPs worked for Eastern Bloc intelligence agencies in the 1960s, including John Stonehouse who gained notoriety for faking his own death in a bid to start a new life in Australia, Sky News reports.

The book tracks down MI5’s early days of hunting German spies before the First World War to current operations against al-Qaeda.

The report quoted former MI5 director-general Sir Stephen Lander as terming its publication as a unique event.

Sir Stephen, who decided to commission the book after the 9/11 attacks, said no other major intelligence agency had opened up its files to an independent historian in this way.

According to him, the objective behind the publication was that the advent of al Qaeda-inspired terrorism meant the help of the public was needed more than ever.

"It is quite clear within the service that our world has changed fundamentally. The suicide bomber is a different order of threat to the IRA,” he said. "Reaching out - beyond the myths and misunderstandings - to the public was one of the motivations.” Advertisement

Diana had an affair with ex-French President?

Eighty-three-year-old former French president Valery Giscard d'Estaing has brightened his long retirement by writing a steamy romantic novel about a French leader's affair with a British princess.

The Princess and the President recounts the secret and passionate love of two characters clearly modelled closely on both Giscard himself and the late Diana, Princess of Wales, according to Monday's edition of the daily Le Figaro.

Recast as President Jacques-Henri Lambertye and Princess Patricia of Cardiff, the pair meet at the closing dinner of a G7 summit after the young British royal has been left miserable by her princely husband's adultery.

"I kissed her hand and she gave me a questioning look, her slate grey eyes widening as she tilted her head gently forward," the presidential first-person narrator recounts, according to an excerpt published in Le Figaro.

The newspaper said Giscard's book rises above the level of a well-written romantic novel because of the wealth of detail he is able to supply about the French and British characters and the palaces in which they meet.

As befits a member of the prestigious Academie Francaise, the president also alludes to the literary classics, such as Alexandre Dumas' tales of the love between French princess Anne of Austria and the Duke of Buckingham.

But the book will most likely cause a stir as the latest to cash in on the posthumous Diana publishing industry, particularly as it includes a playful hint that there might be an element of truth in the story.

According to Le Figaro, the book opens with the phrase "Promise kept" and ends with: "'You asked me for permission for you to write your story,' she told me. 'I give you it, but you must make me a promise ...'."

While marketed as a novel, there is little doubt that the characters are closely modelled on real life figures from recent history.

Princess Patricia shares Diana's passion for charity work with children with AIDS and campaigns as she did against anti-personnel mines.

"A fortnight before my marriage, my future husband told me that he had a mistress and was determined to continue his relationship with her," Patricia tells her French lover, according to the leaked extract.

President Lambertye also appears to be a close fit with Giscard, except for one key detail, one that suggests that the author is keen to reimagine history in a more flattering light.

While the fictional Lambertye wins a second term with a comfortable 56 percent, the real Giscard was turfed out of office in 1981 after being accused of corruptly receiving diamonds from Emperor Bokassa of Central Africa.

Giscard lost the vote in May 1981, costing him the chance of representing France two months later when Diana Spencer married Prince Charles, and thus the pair were never simultaneously the "Princess and the President".

Nevertheless, some commentators said that Giscard had left himself open to ridicule by penning a book even hinting at an affair -- he was 55 years old in 1981, Diana was 19. Some warned he risked tainting his legacy.

"How does he want posterity to remember him?" demanded the magazine Marianne on its website. "As the guy who legalised abortion? Who gave 18-year-olds the vote? Who brought female ministers into government?

"By talking about Diana, Giscard is remaking himself the great inventor of the celebrity presidency. A low-brow gossip president who needs the skills of a psychoanalyst to understand history," it stormed.

Diana died in a road accident with her boyfried Dodi Fayed in Paris in August 1997. Her life and loves were a target of massive media attention both before and after her death, and books about her continue to sell extremely well.

The Princess and the President will be released in Paris in French on October 1 by publishers Fallois-Xo.

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Soon, gay and lesbian guards to protect British Queen!

Soon, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender guards would protect the British Queen, according to an advertisement by the Scotland Yard.

The recruitment notice by the Scotland Yard says it is looking for armed officers from all backgrounds to deliver "residential protection" through a combination of fixed posts and mobile patrols.

"Successful officers can expect to work at London palaces or Windsor Castle and officers are required to ¬perform tours of duty in Scotland.

"Applications are particularly ¬welcomed from women, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and black and minority ethnic communities/people as these are under-represented within SO14 (Royalty Protection Branch). Selection will be based solely upon merit," the advertisement reads.

Successful candidates will have to be "currently or previously firearms trained" and will be expected to work 12-hour shifts. SO14 believes there will be about 30 vacancies by the closing date for applications next month, the 'Daily Express' reported.

Scotland Yard said: "We want to recruit the best people from London's many different communities. This includes ensuring that this diversity is reflected across the Metropolitan Police in units where particular groups are under-represented."

But, Philip Davies, Tory MP for Shipley, West Yorks, said: "I don't know whether the Royal Family are going to feel that much safer knowing there's transgender outside protecting them. This is absolutely ludicrous." Advertisement

French President Pens princess Romance: Is it true?

Former President Valery Giscard d'Estaing has written a novel about a secret love affair between a French head of state and an unhappy British princess, who bears a striking resemblance to Lady Diana.

"The Princess and the President" is due to be published next month and is already the focus of fierce speculation over whether it is based on fact or fantasy.

Giscard, who was president of France from 1974-1981, names his fictional French leader as Jacques-Henri Lambertye, while the heroine is Princess Patricia of Cardiff, "a town in Wales".

The pair meet at an official dinner at Buckingham Palace and the beautiful princess soon reveals her sad plight, according to excerpts published in Le Figaro newspaper on Monday.

"A dozen days before my wedding, my future husband came and told me that he had a mistress and that he had to decided to carry on seeing her after our marriage," says Princess Pat, evoking memories of rows between Prince Charles and Diana.

The book contains a lot of wishful thinking on the author's part, including the fact that President Lambertye wins a second mandate whereas Giscard was voted out of office just weeks before Diana married the Prince of Wales.

But he has fuelled gossip that there might be some truth in the tale by writing a cryptic inscription at the start of the book: "Promise kept". At the end of the book, he writes: "You asked my permission for you to write your story," she told me. "I give you it, but you must make me a promise ..."

Le Figaro said the book was bound to cause waves.

"Fiction or reality? Only the former president holds the key to this troubling story," it said.
Giscard was only 55 when he lost power and photographs show that the dome-headed statesman met Diana publicly in the years following his election defeat. One Reuters picture shows the former Princess of Wales smiling delightedly at Giscard.

Diana died in a car crash in central Paris in 1997 along with her boyfriend, Dodi al Fayed. Media reports said Giscard and his wife were the first people to send flowers to the hospital where her body was taken. Advertisement

Flintoff taking injections to remain Fit

England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff has become a "virtual pin cushion" in a desperate bid to remain fit for the last two Ashes Tests even as coach Andy Flower conceded that the injury-ravaged talisman's chances of playing were bleak.

Flintoff has taken six injections in the last 18 days to prevent his recurring knee injury from spoiling his dream run at the Ashes, at the end of which the 31-year-old would bid adieu to Test cricket. According to a report in the 'Daily Mirror', "Flintoff is still bullish about his chances of playing in Friday's fourth Test at Headingley, despite running repairs to his right knee which have turned him into a virtual pin cushion." Flintoff's fitness has become a major concern for England, which has a 1-0 edge in the series thanks largely to the all-rounder's heroic performances.

Flintoff had to take five injections during his man of the match winning show in the Lord's Test and he took the sixth jab last night. Flower, meanwhile, admitted that Flintoff did not look completely fit during the drawn Edgbaston match and is a doubtful starter for the fourth match. "Fred personally is quite bullish about playing, but he was moving gingerly in the field at Edgbaston," Flower said. "We will have to leave our decision to the last minute again and trust him to give us good information about his own body, along with the advice of our medical staff. We all realise the situation and we know he is struggling, but we have our contingency plans ready and the people involved in those plans know where they stand.

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Exclusive Pictures..Sikh Guards Queen Elizabeth

Lance Corporal Sarjvit Singh, left, of The Army Air Corps, and Signaller Simranjit Singh of the Royal Signals, pose together at Wellington barracks in London, Thursday July 31, 2009. The two men are the first Sikh soldiers to wear their turbans while on public duties in London, which include guarding Britain`s Queen Elizabeth II, and protecting the crown jewels in the Tower of London.

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