battles

AN ICONIC British pop band has been forced to scrap an upcoming performance amid one member’s battle with a mystery illness.

The Year 3000 hitmakers were due to take to the stage in Bradford for the Radio 1 Anthems show in the Yorkshire city.

Yet even though the gig isn’t until next month, Busted have revealed they’ve pulled out already.

It comes amid founding member James Bourne‘s ongoing, but as yet not disclosed, medical battles which have left the guitarist “really f**king sick.”

On a message posted to Busted’s official Instagram page, the band wrote: “We are sorry to say that we will no longer be performing at Radio 1’s Anthems Live in Bradford on November 15.

“James’ health is our priority and having discussed as a band we agree it wouldn’t feel right to do this without him.

HARD TRUTH

Matt Willis reveals the heartbreaking reason he REGRETS winning I’m A Celebrity

GROWING FEARS

Busted’s Charlie Simpson cancels gigs amid James Bourne’s health battle

“We love Radio 1 and thank them very much for their understanding.”

They added: “We look forward to being back performing as a full band when the time is right.”

SHOW GOES ON

Just days before the arena run of tours was due to begin, James announced that he had been forced to pull out due to a health issue.

None of the boys wanted to let fans down and so they decided to push ahead with a replacement on guitar.

At the time, bassist Matt told the Birmingham crowd: “You may have noticed our best friend is not here tonight.

“James Bourne is really f***ing sick and we love him and we miss him.

“This is the first show we’ve ever played without him and it’s really weird but we’re going to do the best we can.

“This happened really fast, y’know, health is wealth.”

He explained how they asked James whether or not they should continue and he told them: “You should totally do it”.

They then introduced a familiar face to the stage.

Matt said: “You might recognise this little guy from the Year 3000 video. This is James’s brother Chris Bourne.”

Chris then appeared from the wings and was greeted by cheers.

During another show, Matt choked back tears on-stage as fan concern grew.

JAMES’ SAD STATEMENT

In a message to fans, James admitted he “wasn’t in good enough health” to perform on tour, in a series of gigs where the band had scheduled to teamed up with McFly.

The current run of live shows will wrap at the Motorpoint Arena, Nottingham on November 8.

In his statement, James cited health problems and said he “hoped to come back further down the line”.

He wrote: “The VS tour kicks off tomorrow night in Birmingham and as excited as I’ve been all year for this tour to begin, I’m really sorry to say that over the last 8 days it has become clear that I am not in good enough health to play these shows,”

Although he didn’t disclose what the health issue is, James said: “There’s a lot of information I still don’t have about my condition but my bandmates, management and I are unanimous in deciding that I should focus on medical stuff for now.

MY HORROR

I laughed off Ella-May’s funny faces as Halloween act… it was cardiac arrest at 5

RIDES FROM HELL

Are funfairs safe? As rides leave kids bloodied & revellers with split jaws

“I really hope I can be in a position to come back further down the line.

“It’s still going to be an amazing show and I will miss being there!”

PORTLAND, Maine — Maine’s elections in recent years have been relatively free of problems, and verified cases of voter fraud are exceedingly rare.

That’s not stopping Republicans from pushing for major changes in the way the state conducts its voting.

Maine is one of two states with election-related initiatives on the Nov. 4 ballot but is putting the most far-reaching measure before voters. In Texas, Republicans are asking voters to make clear in the state constitution that people who are not U.S. citizens are ineligible to vote.

Maine’s Question 1 centers on requiring voter ID, but is more sweeping in nature. The initiative, which has the backing of an influential conservative group in the state, also would limit the use of drop boxes to just one per municipality and create restrictions for absentee voting even as the practice has been growing in popularity.

Voters in both states will decide on the measures at a time when President Trump continues to lie about widespread fraud leading to his loss in the 2020 presidential election and make unsubstantiated claims about future election-rigging, a strategy that has become routine during election years. Republicans in Congress and state legislatures have been pushing for proof of citizenship requirements to register and vote, but with only limited success.

Maine’s initiative would impose voter ID, restrict absentee voting

The Maine proposal seeks to require voters to produce a voter ID before casting a ballot, a provision that has been adopted in several other states, mostly those controlled by Republicans. In April, Wisconsin voters enshrined that state’s existing voter ID law into the state’s constitution.

Question 1 also would eliminate two days of absentee voting, prohibit requests for absentee ballots by phone or family members, end absentee voter status for seniors and people with disabilities, and limit the number of drop boxes, among other changes.

Absentee voting is popular in Maine, where Democrats control the Legislature and governor’s office and voters have elected a Republican and an independent as U.S. senators. Nearly half of voters there used absentee voting in the 2024 presidential election.

Gov. Janet Mills is one of many Democrats in the state speaking out against the proposed changes.

“Whether you vote in person or by absentee ballot, you can trust that your vote will be counted fairly,” Mills said. “But that fundamental right to vote is under attack from Question 1.”

Proponents of the voter ID push said it’s about shoring up election security.

“There’s been a lot of noise about what it would supposedly do, but here’s the simple truth: Question 1 is about securing Maine’s elections,” said Republican Rep. Laurel Libby, a proponent of the measure.

A key supporter of the ballot initiative is Dinner Table PAC, a conservative group in the state. Dinner Table launched Voter ID for ME, which has raised more than $600,000 to promote the initiative. The bulk of that money has come from the Republican State Leadership Committee, which advocates for Republican candidates and initiatives at the state level through the country. Save Maine Absentee Voting, a state group that opposes the initiative, has raised more than $1.6 million, with the National Education Assn. as its top donor.

The campaigning for and against the initiative is playing out as the state and FBI are investigating how dozens of unmarked ballots meant to be used in this year’s election arrived inside a woman’s Amazon order. The secretary of state’s office says the blank ballots, still bundled and wrapped in plastic, will not be used in the election.

Texas voters consider a citizenship requirement

In Texas, voters are deciding whether to add wording to the state constitution that Republican Gov. Greg Abbott and other backers said would guarantee that noncitizens will not be able to vote in elections there. State and federal laws already make it illegal for noncitizens to vote.

Thirteen states have made similar changes to their constitutions since North Dakota first did in 2018. Proposed constitutional amendments are on the November 2026 ballot in Kansas and South Dakota.

The measures have so far proven popular, winning approval with an average of 72% of the vote.

“I think it needs to sweep the nation,” said Republican state Rep. A.J. Louderback, who represents a district southwest of Houston. “I think we need to clean this mess up.”

Voters already have to attest they are U.S. citizens when they register, and voting by noncitizens, which is rare, is punishable as a felony and can lead to deportation.

Louderback and other supporters of such amendments point to policies in at least 20 communities across the country that allow noncitizens to vote in local elections, though none are in Texas. They include Oakland and San Francisco, where noncitizens can cast ballots in school board races if they have children in the public schools, the District of Columbia, and several towns in Maryland and Vermont.

Other states, including Kansas, have wording in their constitutions putting a citizenship requirement in affirmative terms: Any U.S. citizen over 18 is eligible to vote. In some states, amendments have rewritten the language to make it more of a prohibition: Only U.S. citizens are eligible to vote.

The article on voting in the Texas Constitution currently begins with a list of three “classes of persons not allowed to vote”: people under 18, convicted felons and those “who have been determined mentally incompetent by a court.” The Nov. 4 amendment would add a fourth, “persons who are not citizens of the United States.”

Critics say the proposed changes are unnecessary

Critics say the Maine voter ID requirement and Texas noncitizen prohibition are solutions in search of a problem and promote a longstanding conservative GOP narrative that noncitizen voting is a significant problem, when in fact it’s exceedingly rare.

In Texas, the secretary of state’s office recently announced it had found the names of 2,700 “potential noncitizens” on its registration rolls out of the state’s nearly 18.5 million registered voters.

Veronikah Warms, staff attorney at the Texas Civil Rights Project, said pushing the narrative encourages discrimination and stokes fear of state retaliation among naturalized citizens and people of color. Her group works to protect the rights of those groups and immigrants and opposes the proposed amendment.

“It just doesn’t serve any purpose besides furthering the lie that noncitizens are trying to subvert our democratic process,” she said. “This is just furthering a harmful narrative that will make it scarier for people to actually exercise their constitutional right.”

In Maine, approval of Question 1 would most likely make voting more difficult overall, said Mark Brewer, chair of the University of Maine political science department. He added that claims of widespread voter fraud are unsupported by evidence.

“The data show that the more hoops and restrictions you put on voting, the harder it is to vote and the fewer people will vote,” he said.

Whittle and Hanna write for the Associated Press. Hanna reported from Topeka, Kan.

LOVE Island host Maya Jama has revealed that she was put on an IV drip after falling ill.

Taking to her Instagram stories in Tuesday, the stunning hostess with the mostess was working while hooked up to a drip.

“The flu struck,” she revealed alongside a photo of her with the IV drip in her arm.

Maya could be seen getting her makeup done while on set, with her hair in rollers.

As people flocked around the TV star and did her hair and makeup, someone else tended to her IV drip.

Maya explained how the IV drip came to “save the day”.

Read More about Maya Jama

MAYA RAMMER

Maya Jama’s boyfriend Ruben Dias sparks fan fury as he shares bullfight clip

flower power

Maya Jama looks incredible as she shows off curves in a stunning floral gown

She later shared snaps of her dinner after heading out for a swanky meal.

It seems Maya is battling through the flu and continuing to work hard despite feeling under the weather.

Maya recently shed light on the mounting speculation over her Love Island hosting role – after we reported she hadn’t signed a contract earlier this year.

Eager to open up on her plans Maya took to social media and referred to the speculation she was about to walk away, before revealing she would be back.

“I did tell you if you were going to hear any news about it, it would come from me and me only,” she said.

“I will be hosting next year, I’ll be back for All Stars in January and then summer series in June and July. We go again, mother lovers.”

She also explained why she is not back hosting US spin-off, Love Island Games, which she presented the first series of.

She added: “Oh and I am obviously not hosting Love Island Games this year, as much as I love the show I physically could not host three Love Island series a year but Ariana [Madix] is doing a great job and I hope you are enjoying that one too.”

It comes as ITV chiefs offered Maya a deal reported to be worth nearly £2million to stay on.

It was believed Maya has been planning to walk away to explore work with streaming giant Netflix.

This comes as Maya’s footballer boyfriend Reuben Dias was slammed for posting footage of a bullfight.

He was recently on a lavish Portuguese holiday with the Love Island presenter.

Manchester City’s defender Dias, 28, shared the clip showing eight men surrounding one enraged beast.

FOOLED FOR LOVE

Dating app conman robbed me of £90k… it could happen to anyone

HOUSE THAT

Five home improvements you can get for FREE to help cut £2,000 off energy bills

Football fans slammed the video, saying it was cruel to the animal and said they felt let down by the £53million player.

One appalled fan wrote under Dias’ video on Instagram: “So disappointed to see the bullfighting. Unfollowing.”

SUPERSTAR Taylor Swift has quietly donated $100,000 to help save the life of little girl fighting cancer. 

The Sun can reveal the Look What You Made Me singer, 35, made the huge donation on Friday night after finding herself trawling the pages of GoFundMe. 

The singer’s money will go towards to helping a little girl named Lilah who suffered her first seizure aged 18 months before having surgery to remove a stage 4 tumour just weeks later.

She has since been diagnosed with a very aggressive form of brain cancer – with only 58 known cases in the world. 

A source said: “Taylor has always been keen to give back and help others but even by her standard this is staggering. 

“She often finds herself on GoFundMe reading about the plight of others and Lilah’s story really touched her.

READ MORE ON TAYLOR SWIFT

TAYL OF A SHOWGIRL

Taylor Swift stuns in a sexy sequined dress and matching heels

“Hopefully, her donation can help bring an end to her years of pain.”

Lilah’s mum previously took to social media to reveal how she turned to Taylor’s music to help get her through her darkest moments. 

She even almost named her daughter after Taylor’s 2020 single Willow. 

Posting on Instagram, she wrote: “Also Lilah’s name was originally going to be Willow. 

“We were set on that name my whole pregnancy but ultimately ended on Lilah. I listened to Taylor my whole pregnancy and then birthed a mini Swiftie.”

Lilah loves Taylor’s music and during her cancer treatment she always found joy in it. I hope Lilah gets through this diagnosis and gets to one day go to a Taylor Swift concert in person. I know she would love it.”

After two rounds of chemo Lilah and her family are now trying to figure out the next stage of treatment. 

Her family added via her GoFundMe page: “All the donations we receive will help us with travel expenses and paying bills as we are still out of work while Lilah is in treatment.”

Days before the Trump administration was supposed to file its response to a California lawsuit challenging its targeting of gender-affirming care providers, attorneys for the U.S. Justice Department asked a federal judge to temporarily halt the proceedings.

Given the federal shutdown, they argued, they just didn’t have the lawyers to do the work.

“Department of Justice attorneys and employees of the federal defendants are prohibited from working, even on a voluntary basis, except in very limited circumstances, including ‘emergencies involving the safety of human life or the protection of property,’” they wrote in their filing Oct. 1, the first day of the shutdown.

The district judge presiding over the case, which California filed in federal court in Massachusetts along with a coalition of other Democrat-led states, agreed, and promptly granted the request.

It was just one example of the now weeks-old federal shutdown grinding to a halt important litigation between California and the Trump administration, in policy battles with major implications for people’s lives.

The same day, in the same Massachusetts court, Justice Department attorneys were granted a pause in a lawsuit in which California and other states are challenging mass firings at the U.S. Department of Education, after noting that department funding had been suspended and it didn’t know “when such funding will be restored by Congress.”

The same day in U.S. District Court in Central California, the Trump administration asked for a similar pause in a lawsuit that it had brought against California, challenging the state’s refusal to provide its voter registration rolls to the administration.

Justice Department attorneys wrote that they “greatly regret any disruption caused to the Court and the other litigants,” but needed to pause the proceedings until they were “permitted to resume their usual civil litigation functions.”

Since then, the court in Central California has advised the parties of alternative dispute resolution options and outside groups — including the NAACP — have filed motions to intervene in the case, but no major developments have occurred.

The pauses in litigation — only a portion of those that have occurred in courts across the country — were an example of sweeping, real-world, high-stakes effects of the federal government shutdown that average Americans may not consider when thinking about the shutdown’s impact on their lives.

Federal employees working in safety and other crucial roles — such as air traffic controllers — have remained on the job, even without pay, but many others have been forced to stay home. The Justice Department did not spell out which of its attorneys had been benched by the shutdown, but made clear that some who had been working on the cases in question were no longer doing so.

Federal litigation often takes years to resolve, and brief pauses in proceedings are not uncommon. However, extended disruptions — such as one that could occur if the shutdown drags on — would take a toll, forestalling legal answers in some of the most important policy battles in the country.

California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta, whose office has sued the Trump administration more than 40 times since January, has not challenged every request for a pause by the Trump administration — especially in cases where the status quo favors the state.

However, it has challenged pauses in other cases, with some success.

For example, in that same Massachusetts federal courthouse Oct. 1, Justice Department attorneys asked a judge to temporarily halt proceedings in a case in which California and other states are suing to block the administration’s targeted defunding of Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers.

Their arguments were the same as in the other cases: Given the shutdown, they didn’t have the attorneys to do the necessary legal work.

In response, attorneys for California and the other states pushed back, noting that the shutdown had not stopped Department of Health and Human Services officials from moving forward with the measure to defund Planned Parenthood — so the states’ residents remained at imminent risk of losing necessary healthcare.

“The risks of irreparable harms are especially high because it is unclear how long the lapse in appropriations will continue, meaning relief may not be available for months at which point numerous health centers will likely be forced to close due to a lack of funds,” the states argued.

On Oct. 8, U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani denied the government’s request for a pause, finding that the states’ interest in proceeding with the case “outweighs” the administration’s interest in pausing it.

Talwani’s argument, in part, was that her order denying a pause would provide Justice Department officials the legal authority to continue litigating the case despite the shutdown.

Bonta said in a statement that “Trump owns this shutdown” and “the devastation it’s causing to hardworking everyday Americans,” adding that his office will not let Trump use it to cause even more harm by delaying relief in court cases.

“We’re not letting his Administration use this shutdown as an excuse to continue implementing his unlawful agenda unchecked. Until we get relief for Californians, we’re not backing down — and neither are the courts,” Bonta said. “We can’t wait for Trump to finally let our government reopen before these cases are heard.”

Trump and Republicans in Congress have blamed the shutdown on Democrats.

VICKY Pattison’s next Strictly performance is hanging in the balance, as she revealed she has been battling a “mystery bug”, hours before the next live show.

Former Geordie Shore star Vicky, 37, has revealed she has been battling an illness this week whilst trying to rehearse for tomorrow night’s show.

3

3

3

Vicky, who is partnered on this series with pro Kai Widdrington, took to Instagram to reveal her plight.

The star shared two pics of herself – one looking glam, the other looking a bit exhausted.

Vicky wrote next to the snaps: “Can we just take a moment for my glam team, stylist and the strictly angels who helped turn me from this feral little rat who looks like they live under a bridge and demands riddles to cross into THIS???!!

“Lads it’s been a WEEK… strictly rehearsals, mystery bug, VT’s, Erc away, my clothing collection launch… and I just don’t want anyone thinking I look too glam to give a damn all the time..

“I just thought it was important to show you all both sides of the coin… she LOVES to be a glam girly don’t get me wrong but there’s a hell of a lot of the time I look more like an exhausted little troll.”

It comes after Vicky told The Sun how her nerves ahead of the live shows had been getting the better of her.

The reality star wowed on the dancefloor last weekend, but was shown looking very anxious before she performed.

Vicky told us: “Everybody knows I’m super nervous about this entire process, I’m just a gobby girl from the north east doing her best.

“The dancing, the being out my comfort zone, learning something new, being judged by the public is also terrifying.

“But the one element that made me feel really excited and I had no reservations about at all was definitely being Strictlyfied.

“I’m sorry but the tan, the hair, the glam! I’ve been preparing for this for like 25 years.

“Like, I didn’t even have to change my fake tan routine at all — this girl was ready.”

Vicky also admitted that people constantly underestimate her and in the 14 years since she shot to fame on MTV series Geordie Shore, has always been a bit of an underdog.

It was something the popular star also faced when she was a contestant on ITV’s I’m a Celebrity a decade ago.

She said: “Winning the jungle was the best moment of my life, maybe tied with the day that I got married to Ercan.

“Everybody just wanted us out initially. Obviously I was in there and in me bubble and I’m actually really grateful for that, you know.

“But I learned afterwards everyone was like: ‘Get her out. We don’t want her in here. Reality TV scum blah, blah, blah.’

Strictly Come Dancing 2025 lineup

Strictly Come Dancing news and the latest line up

Families in Taiwan will receive cash incentives for newborns and fertility treatment.

Taiwan has announced that it is fighting back against low population growth with a new subsidy programme to encourage families to have more children.

Taiwan’s cabinet on Thursday approved standardised cash payouts to families for each newborn and the coverage of a larger proportion of infertility treatment costs, Focus Taiwan reported.

Under the new plan, families will receive $3,320 per newborn, Taiwan News reported, with twins qualifying for a payment of nearly $7,000. The previous system included payouts that ranged from $1,300 to $2,300 per baby, depending on the mother’s employment status.

Taiwan became a “super-aged society” in 2025, meaning that more than 20 percent of its population is aged 65 or older. The island nation has one of the lowest birth rates in the world, CNN reported last year, with its total birth rate in 2022 hitting just .087.

Countries need to maintain a total fertility rate of 2.1 children per woman to hit what the French Institute for Demographic Studies calls “replacement level,” meaning the number of children a couple must have to replace themselves in the population.

Taiwan saw its ninth consecutive year of declining birth rates in 2024, according to Taiwan’s Ministry of the Interior.

The country’s benefits will also extend to couples facing infertility. Women aged 39 and under will reportedly be eligible to receive subsidies for up to six attempts at in vitro fertilization (IVF). Women between the ages of 39 and 45 will receive subsidies for their first three attempts.

Low-and middle-income households will be eligible to receive nearly $5,000 per attempt at IVF.

Minister without Portfolio Chen Shih-chung told Taiwan News the recently announced subsidies are expected to help more than 120,000 families.

Other countries in the region have experimented with the type of programme Taiwan is looking to implement. Parents in Hong Kong receive over $2,500 for each newborn, and parents in South Korea can receive over $2,200 once they’ve had two or more children, CNN reported.

Taiwan’s policy changes are expected to go into effect in January 2026.

Walt Disney Co., Universal Pictures and Warner Bros. Discovery on Tuesday sued a Chinese artificial intelligence firm called MiniMax for copyright infringement, alleging its AI service generates iconic characters including Darth Vader, the Minions and Wonder Woman without the studios’ permission.

“MiniMax’s bootlegging business model and defiance of U.S. copyright law are not only an attack on Plaintiffs and the hard-working creative community that brings the magic of movies to life, but are also a broader threat to the American motion picture industry,” the companies said in their complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.

The entertainment companies requested that MiniMax be restrained from further infringement. They are seeking damages of up to $150,000 per infringed work, as well as attorney fees and costs.

This is the latest round of copyright lawsuits that major studios have brought against AI companies over intellectual property concerns. In June, Disney and Universal Pictures sued AI firm Midjourney for copyright infringement. Earlier this month, Warner Bros. Discovery also sued Midjourney.

Shanghai-based MiniMax has a service called Hailuo AI, which is marketed as a “Hollywood studio in your pocket” and used characters including the Joker and Groot in its ads without the studios’ permission, the studios’ lawsuit said. Users can type in a text prompt requesting “Star Wars’” iconic character Yoda or DC Comics’ Superman, and Hailuo AI can pull up high quality and downloadable images or video of the character, according to the document.

“MiniMax completely disregards U.S. copyright law and treats Plaintiffs’ valuable copyrighted characters like its own,” the lawsuit said. “MiniMax’s copyright infringement is willful and brazen.”

“Given the rapid advancement in technology in the AI video generation field … it is only a matter of time until Hailuo AI can generate unauthorized, infringing videos featuring Plaintiffs’ copyrighted characters that are substantially longer, and even eventually the same duration as a movie or television program,” the lawsuit said.

MiniMax did not immediately return a request for comment.

Hollywood is grappling with significant challenges, including the threat of AI, as companies consolidate and reduce their expenses as production costs rise. Many actors and writers, still recovering from strikes that took place in 2023, are scrambling to find jobs. Some believe the growth of AI has threatened their livelihoods as tech tools can replicate iconic characters with text prompts.

While some studios have sued AI companies, others are looking for ways to partner with them. For example, Lionsgate has partnered with AI startup Runway to help with behind the scenes processes such as storyboarding.

ERIC Dane did not appear at the Emmy Awards despite a scheduled appearance.

The Grey’s Anatomy alum, 52, had been previously announced as a presenter for the swanky TV ceremony on Sunday, September 14.

5

5

5

Eric did not provide an explanation for his sudden absence.

The awards ceremony was expected to be Eric’s first major event since he opened up about his health battle in June during an appearance on Good Morning America.

Eric first announced his battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, otherwise known as ALS, in April in an interview with People.

“I have been diagnosed with ALS,” the TV star shared. “I am grateful to have my loving family by my side as we navigate this next chapter.”

Eric shares two children, Billie Beatrice, 15, and Georgia Geraldine, 13, with his wife, Rebecca Gayheart.

‘IT’S SOBERING’

He has since been more vocal about how the disease has significantly impacted him mentally and physically.

During a sit-down with Diane Sawyer on GMA, Eric revealed his left arm is the only one functioning, as his right had “completely stopped working.”

“I feel like maybe a couple more months and I won’t have my left hand either. It’s sobering,” the Euphoria star said at the time.

Eric explained that he first noticed something wasn’t right after experiencing “weakness” and “fatigue” in his right hand.

Although he at first brushed it off, chalking the symptoms up to “texting too much,” it soon worsened leading him to see numerous specialists.

After nine months, Eric received the heartbreaking diagnosis that he had the incurable disease.

“I will never forget those three letters,” the Borderline star said.

“It’s on me the second I wake up. It’s not a dream.”

Eric then admitted that he feared the moment he loses cognitive function in the rest of his body.

“I’m worried about my legs,” he revealed.

The Last Ship star experienced a terrifying incident a couple of months earlier when he needed to be rescued by his daughter after suddenly losing the ability to swim during a boat trip.

“When I jumped into the ocean that day and realized I couldn’t generate enough power to get myself to the boat. I thought, oh god. I’m not safe to be in the water,” Eric, who was a competitive swimmer and athlete in high school, said.

“She dragged me back to the boat. I was breaking down in tears. I made sure she got back in the water and continued snorkeling with the guide. But I was heartbroken.”

Despite the long road Eric has ahead of him, he’s determined to battle the disease head-on.

“I just don’t feel like in my heart this is the end of me. I’m fighting as much as I can,” the Countdown star declared.

ALS, additionally referred to as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a common degenerative neurological disorder that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord.

5

5

Channel 4 hit show Gogglebox has been a staple on our screens since 2013 and sees much-loved faces speaking about the week’s biggest TV moments

The Gogglebox cast have become well-known faces ever since the show first kicked off back in 2013. Viewers get ready each week to watch the reactions of their favourite sofa-sitters as they give their opinions on the week’s biggest TV moments.

Some of those that grace our screens each week have been there ever since the show began more than a decade ago. However it hasn’t been smooth sailing for all of the families.

They have been open about ups and downs in their lives over this time and this has included health struggles. Here’s a look at the iconic TV critics’ health worries over the years.

READ MORE: Gogglebox confirms legend’s show future after more than 10 years as fans left concernedREAD MORE: Gogglebox sparks fury as fans issue same demand minutes into show

Tremaine’s cancer diagnosis

Tremaine Plummer who joined Gogglebox in 2016 alongside his brothers celebrated five years cancer-free after suffering from bowel cancer in 2020.

He shared a photo of himself where he was in a hospital bed during his treatment as well as sharing a caption where he admitted he used to hate the picture.

He said: “When I first saw this photo it made me feel sick and weak. I hated this photo for a long time. But now this photo is my medal. This was me 5 years ago. Post surgery for bowel cancer.”

“One of the worst things that could have happened to me has turned into one of the best. Not everything bad that happens to you is the end. Out of some bad s*** comes good s***. The entire experience has been an eye opener and I view life totally different now. Stay strong,” Tremaine added.

Sue’s Bell’s Palsy

Sue Sheehan opened up in 2024 about how she had been diagnosed with Bell’s Palsy. Bell’s Palsy is a condition that causes temporary facial paralysis or weakness and usually affects one side of the face due to inflammation of the facial nerve.

This means that Sue struggled with being able to speak during this time. She joined the programme in 2019 with her husband Steve.

Sue explained: “I mean, I’ve had to relearn to do a couple of things since this Bell’s palsy. One is to speak through the side of my mouth, and the other one is chewing. Chewing takes a long time.”

Pete’s sudden cancer death

Pete McGarry died from bowel cancer in 2021. He was one of the original stars as he joined Gogglebox in 2013 with wife Linda.

At the time, Linda said Pete was told he had six months to live but died just a few days later. Linda told The Sun: “Pete was a lovely man and I was so lucky to have him for 25 years. I said to him, ‘We’ve not only been 25 years, it’s been day and night with each other.’ He was my life.”

READ MORE: Shoppers say hair loss ‘significantly reduced’ with discounted shampoo set

Mary’s near-death experience

Mary Killen and Giles Wood have been on Gogglebox since 2015 and are fan favourites. However, Mary has a near death experience before her TV fame.

Speaking to The Guardian, Mary explained: “The closest I’ve come to death was contracting Legionnaires’ disease in 1999.”

She added: “I caught it from air conditioning in the Bahamas and developed something called Beau’s lines: white ridges across the fingernails which are a sign that your body’s shutting down for death.” She then said she’s never been quite the same since.

Jenny’s painful condition

Jenny Newby and Lee Riley are arguably some of the favourites in Gogglebox history after first appearing in 2014. But it was in 2018 that Jenny spoke about struggling with arthritis.

Before an advert came on by charity Versus Arthritis, Jenny said: “I’ve got arthritis.” She explained: “I get more stressed now because I can’t fasten my coat. I can’t open a tin of beans and I’ve got to ask somebody. And that I think is the worst, when I have got to ask somebody because I feel like I am stupid.”

Jenny shared a press release afterwards when she said: “I’ve suffered with arthritis for a while now. I think something people don’t realise is the impact the condition has on simple everyday life. I really do think we should change that by being able to talk about it openly. It’s really important to me.”

Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Threads.

Latinos unleashed a political earthquake after voting for Donald Trump, who has long painted the country’s largest minority as an existential threat, in unexpectedly large numbers in the fall.

This swing to MAGA helped Trump win, kicked Democrats into the political wilderness, launched a thousand thought pieces and showed politicians that they ignore Latinos at their own risk.

Now, Latinos once again hold the power to make or break American politics, thanks to redistricting fights shaping up in Texas and California. And once again, both Democratic and Republican leaders think they know what Latinos want.

In the Lone Star State, the GOP-dominated Legislature last week approved the redrawing of congressional districts at the behest of Trump, upending the traditional process, to help Republicans gain up to five seats in the 2026 midterms. Their California counterparts landed on the opposite side of the gerrymandering coin — their maps, which will go before voters in November, target Republican congressional members.

Texas Republicans and California Democrats are both banking on Latinos to be the swing votes that make their gambits successful. That’s understandable but dangerous. If ever a voting bloc fulfills the cliche that to assume something makes an ass out of you and me, it’s Latinos.

Despite President Reagan’s famous statement that Latinos were Republicans who didn’t know it yet, they rejected the GOP in California and beyond for a generation after the passage of Proposition 187 in 1994. When Hillary Clinton supporters whispered during the 2008 presidential race that Latinos would never vote for a Black candidate, they gladly joined the coalition that put Barack Obama in the White House. Trump increased his Latino support each time he ran — to the point that in 2024, a bigger proportion of Latinos voted for him than for any previous Republican presidential candidate — even though Democrats insisted that Latinos couldn’t possibly stomach a man that racist.

Many Latinos hate being taken for granted and don’t like the establishment telling them how to think. It’s classic rancho libertarianism, the term I created in the era of Trump to describe the political leanings of the people with whom I grew up: Mexican Americans from rural stock who simultaneously believed in community and individualism and hated the racist rhetoric of Republicans but didn’t care much for the woke words of Democrats, either.

Such political independence exasperates political leaders, yet it’s long been a thing with Latino voters across the U.S. but especially in Texas and California, where Mexican American voters make up an overwhelming majority of each state’s Latino electorate. As Republicans in the former and Democrats in the latter launch their initial redistricting volleys, they seem to be forgetting that, yet again.

Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas), poses for a portrait in the Rayburn House Office Building in 2021.

(Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times)

The GOP is hoping voters in South Texas, one of the most Latino areas of the U.S., will carry their Trump love to the 2026 congressional races. There, two of the three congressional seats are held by Democrats Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez, despite a swing from most of the region’s 41 counties supporting Hillary Clinton in 2016 to just five going for Kamala Harris eight years later.

In their new maps, Texas legislators poured more Republican voters into those South Texas districts. They also configured new districts in the Houston area and central Texas so that Latinos are now the majority, but voters favored Trump last year.

But a lawsuit filed hours after the Texas Senate moved the maps to Gov. Greg Abbott for his approval alleged that all the finagling had created “Potemkin majority-Latino districts.” The intent, according to the lawsuit, was to dilute Latino power by packing some voters into already Democratic-leaning districts while splitting up others among red-leaning districts.

The legislators especially threw San Antonio, a longtime Democratic stronghold that’s a cradle of Latino electoral power, into a political Cuisinart. Three Latino Democrats currently represent the Alamo City and its metro area: Cuellar, Joaquin Castro and Greg Casar. Under the new maps, only Castro is truly safe, while Casar is now in a district represented by Democratic Rep. Lloyd Doggett, who has announced he will retire.

“We have three Hispanic-predominated districts in South Texas that we believe we can carve out for Republican leadership,” state GOP Rep. Mitch Little bragged on CNN this month. “It’s good for our party. It’s good for our state. And we need to ensure that Donald Trump’s agenda continues to be enacted.”

The thing is, fewer and fewer Latinos are supporting Trump’s agenda. In Reuters/Ipsos polls, his Latino support dropped from 36% in February to 31% this month. Only 27% of Latinos approved of his performance in a Pew Research Center poll released this month.

If this slide continues through next year and Latinos continue to reject MAGA, Texas Republicans would have done Trump’s gross gerrymandering and sparked a nationwide legislative civil war for nothing.

In California, Latino voters are also crucial to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s redistricting push — but Democrats are hoping they’ll be GOP spoilers, despite their recent tack to the right.

Republican Rep. Kevin Kiley’s district would swing into Sacramento, picking up many more Latino voters than he now has in the majority white Eastern Sierra.

Proposed districts for Democrats Josh Harder and Adam Gray in Central California and Derek Tran in Orange County, all of whom the party is trying to buttress after they squeaked through in close elections in the fall, also include areas with more Latinos. A new congressional district in southeast L.A. County would probably be filled by a Latino Democrat.

Powerful Latinos in the state have already come out in favor of Newsom’s so-called Election Rigging Response Act, and the governor is counting on them to convince Latino voters to approve the maps in November.

But all this shuffling is happening a year after those very voters jolted state Democrats. Although the party still holds a super-majority in Sacramento, Democratic legislators serve alongside the largest number of Latino GOP colleagues ever. The biggest swings to Trump happened in areas with larger Latino populations, according to a Public Policy Institute of California report published last month.

The president’s popularity is especially souring in California due to his deportation deluge — but whether Latinos will support redistricting is another matter.

Although 51% of Latinos support Newsom’s performance, only 43% said they would vote yes on his redistricting push — the lowest percentage of any ethnic group, according to a UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll conducted for the Los Angeles Times. The poll also found that 29% of Latinos are undecided on redistricting — the highest percentage of any group.

Such skepticism is the bitter fruit of a generation of Democratic rule in Sacramento, at a time when blue-collar Latinos are finding it harder to achieve the good life. Politicians blaming it all on Trump eventually created a Chicken Little situation that pushed those Latinos into MAGAlandia — and Newsom, by constantly casting redistricting as a necessary uppercut against Trump, is in danger of making the same mistake.

California Latinos have helped to torpedo liberal shibboleths at the ballot box more often than Democrats will ever admit. A Times exit poll found 45% of them voted to recall Gov. Gray Davis in 2003 while 53% voted yes on the anti-gay marriage Proposition 8 in 2008 even as a bigger majority voted for Obama. So egghead arguments about how redistricting will save the future of democracy won’t really land with the rancho libertarians I know. They want cheaper prices, and Trump isn’t delivering them — but neither is Newsom.

Latinos, as another cliche goes, aren’t a monolith. They could very well help Republicans win those extra congressional seats in Texas and do the same for Democrats in California.

But any politician betting that Latinos will automatically do what they’re expected to … remind me what happens when you assume something?

Djokovic, who hasn’t won a Grand Slam title in two years, was far from his best against Learner Tien in the opening round at Flushing Meadows.

Novak Djokovic delivered a lesson in Grand Slam tenacity to Learner Tien in the first round of the US Open, as he battled past the American teenager 6-1, 7-6(3), 6-2 and launched his latest quest for a record 25th major title.

Competing in his first singles match since reaching the Wimbledon semifinals last month, and swapping the whites for a sleek all-black outfit, the 38-year-old Serb fought through physical issues on Sunday to secure his 80th win at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Victory also meant Djokovic became the first player since the sport turned professional in 1968 to win 75 straight opening-round matches at the Grand Slams, with 55 of those wins coming in straight sets.

“It was a strange kind of match,” said Djokovic, who looked to be struggling with an injury midway through the match.

“The first set was 20 minutes, and then the second one was one hour and 20, quite the opposite sets we played. It was key for me to hold my nerve in the second set and clinch it in a tie-break.

“After that, I started feeling better. I can always do better, but it’s a great way to start this year’s campaign.”

The seventh seed shrugged off a time violation to consolidate an early break at the start of the contest, and a heated debate with the chair umpire shortly afterwards spurred him on to wrap up the opening set in double-quick time.

The 19-year-old Tien, on a near-impossible mission to hand Djokovic his first opening-round loss at a Grand Slam since the 2006 Australian Open, had his chances to draw level during a draining second set but crumbled in the tie-break.

After treatment for a right foot blister, Djokovic produced heavy groundstrokes from the baseline to break for a 3-1 lead in the third set. The four-time New York champion never looked back from there, booking a match-up with American Zachary Svajda.

“Good thing is that I have two days off. It’s slightly a concern. I don’t have an injury or anything. I just struggled to stay in long exchanges and recover after points,” Djokovic said.

Djokovic has not won a Grand Slam title since the 2023 US Open.

Spain is tackling several major wildfires in one of its most destructive fire seasons in decades, fuelled by climate change, as the end of a severe 16-day heatwave and expected rainfall raised hopes that an end may be in sight.

Thousands of firefighters aided by soldiers and water-bombing aircraft continued on Tuesday to fight fires tearing through parched woodland that were especially severe in northwestern Spain, where the country’s weather agency AEMET reported a still “very high or extreme” fire risk — particularly in the Galicia region.

Authorities have suspended rail services and cut access to roads in the regions of Extremadura, Galicia, and Castile and Leon.

Firefighting units from Germany arrived in northern Spain on Tuesday to help fight the blazes, Spain’s Ministry of the Interior announced. More than 20 vehicles were deployed to help fight an ongoing blaze in Jarilla in the Extremadura region that borders Portugal, the ministry said.

Visiting the fires in Extremadura, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said the government would declare many of the affected areas as emergency zones, which in practice means they will be eligible to receive aid for reconstruction.

Blaming the fires on the effects of climate change, he also said he would propose a plan next month to turn climate emergency policies into permanent state policies.

“We’re seeing the climate emergency accelerate and worsen significantly, particularly in the Iberian Peninsula, each year,” he said.

Opposition leaders have said his proposal is a way to divert attention from his government’s poor handling of the fires.

AEMET, which on Monday declared the end of one of the longest heatwaves in the past five decades, now expects temperatures to fall and humidity to rise. However, it said that adverse conditions would remain in southern Spain, including in part of Extremadura.

The fires in Spain have killed four people this year and burned more than 382,000 hectares (944,000 acres) or about 3,820 square kiolometres (1,475sq miles), according to the European Union’s European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS).

Many fires have been triggered by human activity. Police have detained 23 people for suspected arson and are investigating 89 more, Spain’s Civil Guard said.

The Spanish army has deployed 3,400 troops and 50 aircraft to help firefighters, while the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Slovakia have sent hundreds of firefighters, vehicles and aircraft.

Along the Iberian Peninsula in Portugal, more than 3,700 firefighters were tackling blazes, including four major ones in the north and centre.

Wildfires there have burned about 235,000 hectares or 907 square miles, according to EFFIS — nearly five times more than the 2006-2024 average for this period. Two people there have died.

“The devastation [from the wildfires] is enormous, it looks like an apocalyptic landscape,” said Al Jazeera’s Sonia Gallego, reporting from Coutada, Portugal.

“What is of immense concern to the firefighters is not just putting out the flames, which have gone out of control … but also the danger of reignition,” said Gallego.

Another challenge facing firefighters, she noted, is accessing “a source of water which is close enough where they can collect water and extinguish those flames.”

Most of Southern Europe is experiencing one of its worst wildfire seasons in two decades.

Europe has been warming twice as fast as the global average since the 1980s, according to the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service. Scientists say that climate change is exacerbating the frequency and intensity of heat and dryness in parts of Europe, making the region more vulnerable to wildfires.

Spain has deployed a further 500 soldiers from the military emergency unit to support firefighting operations as it battles 20 major wildfires across the country during a heatwave that began last week.

“There are still some challenging days ahead, and unfortunately, the weather is not on our side,” Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said at a news conference on Sunday in Ourense, one of the most affected areas, in northwestern Spain.

He announced an increase in military reinforcements, bringing the total number of soldiers deployed across Spain to 1,900.

Firefighters are tackling 12 major wildfires in the northwestern region of Galicia alone, all of them near the city of Ourense, the head of the Galician regional government Alfonso Rueda also said during the news conference.

“Homes are still under threat, so we have lockdowns in place and are carrying out evacuations,” Rueda said.

The announcements came as authorities awaited the arrival of promised aircraft reinforcements from other European countries.

National rail operator Renfe said it suspended Madrid-Galicia high-speed train services scheduled for Sunday due to the fires.

Galician authorities advised people to wear face masks and limit their time spent outdoors to avoid inhaling smoke and ash.

Southern Europe is experiencing one of its worst wildfire seasons in two decades with Spain among the hardest-hit countries.

In the past week alone, fires there have killed three people and burned more than 1,150sq km (445sq miles) while neighbouring Portugal also battles widespread blazes.

Temperatures are expected to reach up to 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit) in some areas on Sunday, Spain’s national weather agency, AEMET, said.

Virginia Barcones, director general of emergency services, told Spanish public TV that temperatures were expected to drop from Tuesday, but for now, the weather conditions were “very adverse”.

EU help on its way

“The fireplanes come in from all sides, but they don’t come here,” Basilio Rodriguez, a resident, told the Reuters news agency on Saturday.

Spain was expecting the arrival of two Dutch water-dumping planes that were to join aircraft from France and Italy already helping Spanish authorities under a European cooperation agreement.

Firefighters from other countries are also expected to arrive in the region in the coming days, Barcones told public broadcaster RTVE.

Ministry of Interior data show 27 people have been arrested and 92 were under investigation for suspected arson since June.

In neighbouring Portugal, wildfires have burned about 1,550sq km (600sq miles) of vegetation so far this year, according to provisional data from the Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests – three times the average for this period from 2006 to 2024. About half of that area burned just in the past three days.

Thousands of firefighters were battling eight large blazes in central and northern Portugal, the largest of them near Piodao, a scenic, mountainous area popular with tourists.

Another blaze in Trancoso, farther north, has now been raging for eight days. A smaller fire just east of there killed a local resident on Friday – the first death this season.

Portugal is set for cooler weather in the coming days. A national state of alert due to wildfires was imposed on August 2 and was due to end on Sunday, a day before two Swedish firefighting planes were to arrive.

As in Spain, Portugal’s resources have been stretched. On Sunday, more than 4,000 firefighters and 1,300 vehicles were deployed as well as 17 aircraft, the Civil Protection Agency said.

Wildfires also burning in Turkiye

Greece, Bulgaria, Montenegro and Albania have also requested help from the European Union’s firefighting force in recent days to deal with forest fires. The force has already been activated as many times this year as during all of last year’s summer fire season.

In Turkiye, where recent wildfires have killed 19 people, parts of the historic region that includes memorials to World War I’s Gallipoli campaign were evacuated on Sunday as blazes threatened homes in the country’s northwest.

Six villages were evacuated as a precautionary measure, the governor of Canakkale province, Omer Toraman, said.

About 1,300 firefighting personnel backed by 30 aircraft were battling the blazes, according to the General Directorate of Forestry.

Turkiye has been struck by hundreds of fires since late June, fuelled by record-breaking temperatures, dry conditions and strong winds.

Europe has been warming twice as fast as the global average since the 1980s, according to the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service. Scientists said climate change is exacerbating the frequency and intensity of heat and dryness in parts of Europe, making the region more vulnerable to wildfires.

France’s most devastating wildfire in decades remains active despite being brought under control, officials announced, as firefighting efforts continue with hundreds of personnel.

The massive blaze in Aude has scorched more than 17,000 hectares (42,000 acres) – an area larger than Paris – killing one person, injuring another 13 and destroying numerous homes.

Approximately 2,000 firefighters remain deployed to combat the flames, which were declared under control on Thursday night.

“The fire will not be declared extinguished for several days,” said Christian Pouget, Aude’s prefect. “There is still a lot of work to be done.”

Officials have restricted access to the devastated forests until at least Sunday due to hazardous conditions, including fallen power lines and other dangers.

Pouget confirmed that roughly 2,000 evacuees still await clearance to return home, with hundreds sheltering in school gymnasiums and community centres throughout the region.

This wildfire is the largest in France’s Mediterranean region in at least 50 years, according to government monitoring agencies. The southern area is particularly susceptible to such fires.

At its peak, the blaze consumed about 1,000 hectares (2,500 acres) per hour, Narbonne authorities reported. Shifting strong winds over two days made the fire’s behaviour unpredictable.

A 65-year-old woman who refused evacuation orders was found dead in her burned home, while 13 others were injured, including 11 firefighters.

Prime Minister Francois Bayrou, visiting the affected area on Wednesday, called the wildfire a “catastrophe on an unprecedented scale”.

“What is happening today is linked to global warming and linked to drought,” Bayrou said.

Environment Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher wrote in a post on X that this was France’s largest fire since 1949. The country has experienced approximately 9,000 wildfires this summer, primarily near the Mediterranean coast.

Aude has seen increasing burn areas in recent years, exacerbated by reduced rainfall and vineyard removals that previously helped slow fire progression.

In Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse, the hardest-hit village, thick smoke continued rising on Thursday from pine-covered hills overlooking vineyards where dry grass still burned.

With Europe facing new August heatwaves, many regions remain on wildfire alert. Portugal extended emergency measures on Thursday due to heightened fire risks.

Near Spain’s Tarifa, fire crews secured areas around tourist accommodation after controlling a major blaze that destroyed hundreds of hectares.

Climate experts indicate that global warming is driving longer, more intense and more frequent heatwaves worldwide, creating more favourable conditions for forest fires.

Martin Frizell, the husband of former TV presenter Fiona Phillips, has been sharing heartbreaking updates about her battle with Alzheimer’s

The husband of Fiona Phillips has revealed that the former TV presenter has not cooked in years and has no time for her dressing room of designer clothes as she battles Alzheimer’s.

Martin Frizell said all his wife’s favourite hobbies and interests are now gone – she has not cooked in two years and wears the same T-shirt and trousers every day.

He asked The Telegraph: “What do I do with all these clothes?” And of her previously beloved cookery books, which now lay piled in the basement: “Do I take them to the dump?… She’s never going to open one again.”

But he’s determined not to let her favourite interests – of looking glamorous and eating delicious food – to completely disappear and he regularly helps her to get her hair coloured and nails done.

And he said the best thing his friends could do is to cook for them, leaving something on the doorstep, reports MailOnline.

The ex-GMTV host, 64, was diagnosed with the brain disorder in 2022, aged just 61. It came after she left the former ITV breakfast show in 2008 to care for her father, who suffered from it too, and died in 2012. Her mother also passed away from the disease in 2006.

Martin, 66, left his job as Editor of ITV’s This Morning after 10 years in February to care for Fiona. She has now written a memoir, Remember When: My Life With Alzheimer’s, with the help of her husband and journalist friend Alison Phillips, about her diagnosis.

Ahead of its release on July 17, Martin has now spoken out about some of the most heartbreaking impacts of the disease, which is the most common cause of dementia. There is currently no cure but there are medicines which can somewhat alleviate symptoms.

Martin, who married Fiona in 1997 and shares two children, Nathaniel, 26, and Mackenzie, 23, with her, started by contributing a few paragraphs to his wife’s memoir but ended up generating more than 24,000 words.

He recalled when she was diagnosed and given a leaflet on living with the disease that had a old couple with a Zimmer frame on it. It completely jarred with how young she was, having only just turned 61, Martin said: “She was wearing skinny jeans and high-heeled boots. This was a degenerative disease for old people like the ones on the leaflet,” he said.

The couple first put her symptoms – brain fog, social withdrawal, mood swings, depression and anxiety – down to the menopause.

His wife has always been active – so Martin wondered if her diagnosis could have been caused by stress.

At one point, during her turn on GMTV from 1993 to 2008, she was starting work at 3am, taking part in Strictly Come Dancing, bringing up her young sons, and caring for her parents, who lived far away in Wales.

But he also thought it could be their lifestyle in their younger years – which saw them regularly drink a bottle of wine each every night.

Martin, who has also edited GMTV and Loose Women, now cares for her full-time at their home in London. He revealed she has declined considerably over the last 12 months, needing help with basic tasks like brushing her teeth, developing more confusion, pain, delirium and psychosis and mostly staying inside

Martin appeared on This Morning on Friday, July 11 to tell hosts Alison Hammond, 50, and Dermot O’Leary, 52, about his wife’s progress.

He shared how challenging family life has been since Fiona’s diagnosis three years ago.

He said: “In the book, there’s a picture of her at the end of our road, the most recent picture I took, only a few weeks ago.

“And she’s looking great and she’s smiling and she’s got her coat on. And what you don’t know is she thought I’d kidnapped her. This was us going out.

“Because you get delusions because you get so worked up. She keeps saying, ‘I want to go home’.”

Asked by Alison if she still recognises him, he said: “She does recognise me most of the times. Doesn’t quite know that I’m her husband but she knows who I am.”

This Morning is on ITV1 weekdays at 10am and ITVX

Seven-time champion Novak Djokovic battled back from a sluggish start to overcome an inspired Alex de Minaur and reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals.

With longtime rival Roger Federer watching on from the Royal Box, Serbia’s Djokovic put in a error-strewn opener and had to fight back from 4-1 down in the fourth set to win 1-6 6-4 6-4 6-4.

The 38-year-old endured an uncomfortable three hours and 18 minutes on Centre Court against Australian 11th seed De Minaur but he is now within three wins of another piece of history.

Djokovic is bidding to equal Federer’s record of eight men’s singles titles at Wimbledon, as well as a standalone record 25th Grand Slam title.

He will face Italian 22nd seed Flavio Cobolli for a place in the semi-finals, where he could meet world number one Jannik Sinner.

More to follow.

Two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz produced an impressive fightback to overcome Andrey Rublev and set up a Wimbledon quarter-final against Britain’s Cameron Norrie.

Alcaraz edged a step closer to becoming only the fifth man in the Open era to win three consecutive Wimbledon titles with a 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 6-4 6-4 victory over the Russian 14th seed under the Centre Court roof.

The 22-year-old Spaniard clinched his only break point in both the second and third sets to turn the match around, before a single break of serve again proved enough to end Rublev’s admirable resistance in the fourth.

Alcaraz will face Norrie for a semi-final place after the British number three withstood a fightback from Chilean qualifier Nicolas Jarry to win in five sets.

More to follow.

When Jarry’s symptoms began, he was ranked inside the world’s top 20 and on the rise, having reached the Rome Masters final, where he was beaten by Alexander Zverev.

Jarry was told it would take three weeks to recover but still has episodes a year on. Tennis is a good form of rehabilitation, given the hand-eye coordination it requires, but he has struggled for wins, falling to 143 in the world and suffering six successive first-round Grand Slam exits.

He recalled feeling like everything was “moving like a tornado” in Rome, but it quickly dissipated.

A similar feeling at the French Open before a match left him “not connecting with the ball” and “reading the game bad” before he returned home to Chile, where he experienced the worst incident to date.

Jarry also plays table tennis to help with his recovery, and a positive run at Wimbledon can only be encouraging.

Emotional on court after beating teenage talent Joao Fonseca in four sets on Friday, Jarry said: “It’s amazing to put in my best performance here at Wimbledon, my favourite tournament of all.”

There is a reason this tournament means so much to him.

This run to the fourth round matches that of his grandfather Jaime Fillol, who reached the same stage at Wimbledon in 1974.

“I came here with him when I was 10 and 11 years old. Since then, I’m in love with this tournament,” Jarry said.

“It has been very tough physically, emotionally, psychologically.

“I have been trying to get back to my level and trusting myself again.”