shed

Amanda Barrie used to fear that her sexuality would cost her her role on Coronation Street and is certain she would have been sacked if bosses found out

Amanda Barrie used to fear that her sexuality would cost her her role on Coronation Street. The actress, who will celebrate her 90th birthday this weekend, is best-remembered by fans of the world’s longest-running TV soap as Alma Halliwell, and initially appeared in 1981 for a brief stint before appearing regularly from 1988 until 2001.

Over the years, viewers watched the supermarket worker marry fellow legend Mike Baldwin (Johnny Briggs), and will also recall her partnership with Gail Platt (Helen Worth) when they ran the café for a number of years and her long friendship with Gail’s mother Audrey Roberts (Sue Nicholls). In 2001, she left the programme for good when her character succumbed to cancer, and in 2003, Amanda came out as bisexual.

But the TV star, who married former Mirror journalist and crime novelist Hilary Bonner in 2014, is now certain that had she come clean about her sexuality any sooner, she would have been dismissed from the programme, although she appreciates now that she has no evidence to back up this claim.

READ MORE: TV legend Amanda Barrie says she’s spillling the beans with tell-all memoir as she turns 90READ MORE: Corrie’s Amanda Barrie: ‘I’m sworn off pork after op to put pig valve in my heart’

During an appearance on Thursday’s Good Morning Britain, she told hosts Kate Garraway and Ed Balls: “Somebody shopped me to the press. I should’ve known better but I never kept my life from anybody, all my friends know everything.

“I think people thought it was catching, you were pushed away and whispered about in corners. They would not, and I swear to God, I’ve said this but I can’t back it up, I know that I would’ve been sacked from Coronation Street.

“They would’ve got rid. You couldn’t have said ‘It would’ve been that person who did it or that…’ it would’ve been ‘Oh we don’t want anything to do with that, darling.'”

Once Amanda, who has just released her memoir I’m Still Here, had come out, she actually got a pleasant surprise with the reaction she received, having anticipated the worst.

She explained: “I expected to be stoned in the street, I got a lot of hugs. What was I in such a state about? Because it was just ‘Oh, I see, oh…'” before adding: “You automatically revert to the way you’d always behave, lurking about with your head down editing your life is what you do. You change they, he, she, all that editing…”

Amanda and Hilary, who live between Covent Garden and Somerset, are amazed how much public attitudes have changed over the years. For Amanda’s adamant she could never have come out before Alma’s death on Corrie in 2001, but now appreciates the inclusion and diversity within the show.

She said: “It wouldn’t have been the bosses who caused a problem so much as some of the other cast,” she reveals. ”My close friends like Helen Worth all knew the truth. But you heard other people say certain things….Not naming names.

“Now there are so many LGBTQI characters on the show I often joke they should rename it Canal Street! [after Manchester’s gay bar district]. What happened after I left? It’s not contagious, you know!”

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A HOMEOWNER has left people stunned after sharing a video of their disastrous attempt to get a garden shed in their new garden.

After moving in to their new house, they enlisted the help of two friends to try and get the shed over a gate frame and into the back garden.

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The three men decided on a daring attempt to lift the shed – holding it above their heads.

However, in scenes that were predicted by those watching the TikTok video in horror, the shed ended up going a bit too high.

And as it did so, it fell heavily over the fence and into next door’s garden, much to the horror of the men carrying it.

The trio realised in seconds what had happened, and tried to look through the fence to inspect the damage next door.

“Moving day carnage,” Rea captioned the video on her TikTok page.

The gate frame also took part of the brunt of the shed disaster, as a panel was seen slipping down as the structure crashed to the ground.

Commenting on the video, a woman called Leonie wrote: “My partner is the one who got out the car to help, I thought I recognised them!”

“That was never ending well,” another added in the comments section.

“The only 3 people that didn’t see that happening,” a third laughed.

“Great start with the neighbours,” someone else sighed.

“The 2 at the front is at fault, him at the back was doing it properly!” another insisted.

“What the hell? This was hard to watch,” someone else said.

While others imagined what the conversation would be between the homeowners and their new neighbours.

“Can you imagine saying my shed fell in your garden?” one gasped.

“Excuse me Mister, can we have our shed back please?” another joked.

“Knocks on door, ‘hey Mr. I accidentally threw my shed in your yard. Can I go back there and get it?'” a third laughed.

But there were some people in the comments section who wondered what would have happened if there was someone on the other side of the fence.

“Omg what would have happened if a child or elderly person was other side of the fence?” one wrote.

“I would dread to think!”

“Imagine it fell on the neighbours plants or the poor old neighbour sitting in their back garden,” another added.

“Or a baby!”

“What if there was a toddler running around other side?” someone else commented.

A WOMAN has revealed how Mounjaro didn’t just help her shed weight, it also saved her son’s life.

Shell Giles took to social media to share her transformation after admitting she had tried countless diets in the past that didn’t work.

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She said: “A year ago I was 110kg (17.3st).”

Shell then shared a picture of herself before her weight loss as she explained: “After many diets and gym sessions and swimming, nothing was working (I am 42, everything slows down).”

But the mum revealed that she wasn’t just losing weight for herself, she also needed to do it to save her son’s life.

She revealed that her 17-year-old needed a new kidney and while she was a match, she needed to lose weight to go through with the operation.

Shell said she needed to get down to 80kg (12.5st) so decided to give Mounjaro a go.

In just seven months, she was able to lose 5.5st and go down to 11.8st.

Shell explained that she stopped taking in Mounjaro in March and donated her kidney in April.

Now, the mum has been off the drug for six months and says she has only put on 3kg.

“My body seems to have stabilised at this weight and I’m more than happy as I look great, and saved my son’s life,” she added.

She also updated those who commented, saying: “My son and me have recovered well to those who asked and my kidney has bedded into his body well! It was all worth it!”

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Shell shared her story on the Facebook group, mounjaro ozempic wegovy weight loss support.

The post soon went viral and many congratulated the mum and her son in the comments.

One person wrote: “What a woman, what a mother, you gave life to your son twice.”

Another commented: “Best story I’ve read to lose weight. Well done you.”

“Aww that’s a wonderful story! So happy to hear both are doing well,” penned a third.

Meanwhile a fourth said: “How amazing are you! You should be immensely proud of yourself not just because of your weight loss (and you look amazing) but because of saving your son.”

“Wow what a fantastic story,” claimed a fifth

Someone else added: “You look incredible and what an amazing gift to give your son.”

Tommy John surgery was never supposed to go this far.

It was once a cross-your-fingers-and-pray fix for a career-ending injury. Now, MLB teams cycle through as many as 40-plus pitchers a year, knowing that surgery is a phone call away.

Just ask John himself, a left-hander who never threw all that hard, only reaching the mid-80s on his sinking fastball. The soft-throwing lefty was having his best year as a Dodgers starting pitcher in 1974.

He didn’t have the strikeout acumen of teammate Andy Messersmith, or the ace makeup of future Hall of Famer Don Sutton. But what John did have was consistency. John consistently pitched late into games, and sent opposing hitters back to the dugout without reaching first base.

“The game of baseball is 27 outs,” said John, now 82. “It wasn’t about throwing hard. It’s, how do I get you out?”

He was the first to go under the knife. The first to lead pitchers through a dangerous cycle of throwing as hard as possible, knowing the safeguard is surgery.

“I threw one pitch and boom, the ligament exploded,” John said.

John’s arm injury left a sensation akin to what an amputee feels after losing a limb. In 1978, he told Sports Illustrated, “It felt as if I had left my arm someplace else.” He didn’t feel pain. He felt loss. His left arm was his career. It was the direct cause for his toeing the Dodger Stadium mound in the first place. Then, John went on to pitch another 15 years in MLB.

It’s the same loss that Hall of Fame Dodgers left-hander Sandy Koufax felt when he retired at age 30 after numerous arm injuries, which could have likely been fixed if current elbow and shoulder surgeries had existed in 1966.

It’s the same loss that Texas Rangers team physician Keith Meister sees walking daily into his office.

Today, Meister can view MRI scans of elbow tears and can tell pitchers where and how they hold the baseball. The tear patterns are emblematic of the pitches being thrown in the first place. The solution — Tommy John surgery, a once-revolutionary elbow operation — replaces a torn or partially damaged ulnar collateral ligament in the elbow with a tendon from somewhere else in the body. The operation is no quick fix. It requires a 13- to 14-month recovery period, although Meister said some pitchers may require just 12 months — and some up to 18.

Meister, who is currently tallying data and researching the issue, wants to be part of the change. Midway through an October phone interview, he bluntly stopped in his tracks and asked a question.

“What is the average length of a major-league career for a major-league pitcher?” he said.

Meister explained that the average career for an MLB pitcher is just 2.6 years. Along with numerous other interviewees, he compared the epidemic to another sport’s longevity problem: the National Football League running back.

“People say to me, ‘Well, that sounds like a running back in football,’” Meister said. “Think about potentially the money that gets saved with not having to even get to arbitration, as long as organizations feel like they can just recycle and, you know, next man up, right?”

Orthopedic surgeon Keith Meister, in his TMI Sports Medicine & Orthopedic Surgery office in Arlington, Texas, in 2024, has advocated for changes to mitigate pitching injuries.

(Tom Fox / The Dallas Morning News)

Financial ramifications play close to home between pitchers and running backs as well. Lower durability and impact have led to decreasing running-back salaries. If pitchers continue to have shorter careers, as Meister puts it, MLB franchises might be happy to cycle through minimum-salary pitchers instead of shelling out large salaries for players who remain on the injured list rather than in the bullpen.

The Dodgers and the Tampa Bay Rays have shuffled through pitchers at league extremes over the last five years. In the modern era — since 1901 — only the Rays and Dodgers have used more than 38 pitchers in a season three times each. Tampa used 40-plus pitchers each year from 2021 to 2023.

Last year, the Dodgers used 40 pitchers. Only the Miami Marlins tasked more with 45.

The Dodgers have already used 35 pitchers this season, second-most in baseball. The Rays tallied just 30 in 2024 and have dispatched just 23 on the mound so far this season. What gives?

Meister says the Rays may have changed their pitcher philosophy. Early proponents of sweepers and other high-movement pitches, the Rays now rank near the bottom of the league (29th with just 284 thrown) in sweeper usage entering Saturday’s action, according to Baseball Savant. Two years ago, the Rays threw the seventh most.

Tampa is rising to the top of MLB in two-seam fastball usage, Meister said, a pitch he says creates potentially much less stress on the elbow. Their starting pitchers are second in baseball in the number of innings, and they’ve used just six starting pitchers all season.

“It’s equated to endurance for their pitchers, because you know why? They’re healthy, they’re able to pitch, they’re able to post and they’re able to go deeper into games,” Meister said. “Maybe teams will see this and they’ll be like, ‘Wait a minute, look what these guys won with. Look how they won. We don’t need to do all this crap anymore.’”

The Dodgers, on the other hand, rank ninth in sweeper usage (1,280 thrown through Friday) and have used 16 starting pitchers (14 in traditional starting roles). Meanwhile, their starting pitchers have compiled the fewest innings in MLB. Rob Hill, the Dodgers’ director of pitching, began his career at Driveline Baseball. The Dodgers hired him in 2020. Since then, the franchise has churned out top pitching prospect after top pitching prospect, many of whom throw devastating sweepers and change-ups.

As of Saturday, the Dodgers have 10 pitchers on the injured list, six of whom underwent an elbow or shoulder operation — and since 2021, the team leads MLB in injury list stints for pitchers.

“There are only probably two teams in baseball that can just sit there and say, ‘Well, if I get 15 to 20 starts out of my starting pitchers, it doesn’t matter, because I’ll replace them with somebody else I can buy,’” Meister said. “That’s the Yankees and the Dodgers.”

He continued: “Everybody else, they’ve got to figure out, wait a minute, this isn’t working, and we need to preserve our commodity, our pitchers.”

Outside of organizational strategy changes, like the Rays have made, Meister has expressed rule changes to MLB. He’s suggested rethinking how the foul ball works or toying with the pitch clock to give a slightly longer break to pitchers. He said pitchers don’t get a break on the field the same way hitters do in the batter’s box.

“Part of the problem here is that a hitter has an ability to step out of the box and take a timeout,” Meister said. “He has to go cover a foul ball and run over to first base and run back to the mound. He should have an opportunity take a break and take a blow.”

Meister hopes to discuss reintroducing “tack” — a banned sticky substance that helps a pitcher’s grip on the ball — to the rulebook, something that pitchers such as Max Scherzer and Tyler Glasnow have called a factor in injuries. Meister has fellow leading experts on his side too.

“Myself and Dr. [Neal] ElAttrache are very good friends, and we talk at length about this,” said Meister.

Meister explained that the lack of stickiness on the baseball causes pitchers to squeeze the ball as hard as possible. The “death grip on the ball,” Meister said, causes the muscles on the inner side of the elbow to contract in the arm and then extend when the ball is released. The extension of the inner elbow muscles is called an eccentric load, which can create injury patterns.

The harder the grip, the more violent the eccentric load becomes when a sweeper pitch, for example, is thrown, he said.

“Just let guys use a little bit of pine tar on their fingertips,” Meister said, adding that the pitchers already have to adjust to an inconsistent baseball, one that changes from season to season. “Not, put it on the baseball, not glob the baseball with it, but put a little pine tar on their fingertips and give them a little better adherence to the baseball.”

According to the New Yorker, MLB is exploring heavier or larger baseballs to slow pitchers’ arm movements, potentially reducing strain on the UCL during maximum-effort pitches.

Meister, however, said there does not seem to be a sense of urgency to fix the game, with a years-long process to make any fixes.

In short, Meister is ready to try anything.

For a man who has made a career off baseball players nervously sitting in his office waiting room, awaiting news that could alter their careers forever, Meister wants MLB to help him stop players from ever scheduling that first appointment.

“To me, it’s not about the surgery any more as much as it is, what can we do to prevent, and what can we do to alter, the approach that the game now takes?” Meister said.

“It’s very, very dangerous.”

The trail hugs every curve of the cliffside. On my left, the Mediterranean Sea swirls beside craggy rocks, while flowering plants unfurl on my right. A quarter of France’s coast is lined with similar sentiers des douaniers (customs officers’ paths), which were once used to patrol the sea. The difference on this trail is that I’m wearing nothing but my backpack.

Off the coast of the southern French resort town of Hyères, Île du Levant is home to the only naturist community of its kind, the Domaine Naturiste d’Héliopolis. For 93 years, this rustic Eden has lured free-spirited lovers of nature and authenticity, as unabashedly naked as Adam and Eve before they ate the forbidden fruit. On every visit, I’ve found that when people shed their clothes, they shed their pretence. Unlike traditional naturist retreats where nudity is de rigueur, Héliopolis is peppered with clothing-optional spots. This makes it the ideal place for travellers to dip their toes into the naturist way of life.

Online store Buy Sheds Direct has cut the cost of a shed in its summer sale.

The storage solution has had its price slashed from £459.99 to £294.99 – that’s a saving of 35%.

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6′ x 4′ Forest 4Life Double Door Pent
Wooden Shed £294.99 (was £459.99)

With most of the summer stretching out ahead of us, it’s a great time to get the garden set up and ready for frequent use, and a shed can really come in handy.

The Forest 4Life Windowless Double Door Pent Wooden Shed is on sale at Buy Sheds Direct, an online retailer that specialises in garden storage.

It’s described on the listing as ‘tough and durable’, with a timber roof design that rainwater runs off, and it’s also pressure-treated to avoid the problem of wood rot.

Thanks to the treatment, there’s a 25-year guarantee, which is great for peace of mind when you’re making a larger purchase.

Even the site’s most affordable sheds have impressive discounts, and you can now snap one up for under £300, while they can be much more costly elsewhere.

The size of shed you’d need depends on your garden and also your storage needs – for a few items like gardening tools and a lawnmower, the 6ft x 4ft size is probably big enough, without taking over your space.

It comes with a free Yale combination padlock worth £15 too, so you can start using the shed immediately without worrying about security.

There is an end date for the sale though, so you’ll need to be quick if you want to get yourself a new shed before the discounts come to a close on Monday (June 9).

You will need to put the shed together yourself, because it’s delivered as interchangeable panels which means you can choose the placement of the doors to suit the layout of your garden.

The UK’s unpredictable weather can’t be avoided, and the shed’s timber roof design allows for rainwater to run off easily.

Owning a garden shed means you can tuck away your BBQ, parasol or any garden furniture at a moment’s notice, without having to lug anything into the house.

The brand also sells tiny homes like log cabins, garden offices, and playhouses, which are ideal if you’re thinking about making the most of your outdoor space without costly house extensions or rearrangements.

6′ x 4′ Forest 4Life Double Door Pent
Wooden Shed £294.99 (was £459.99)

Keen gardeners will also appreciate the space to store tools, lawnmowers and strimmers, without worrying about bringing dirt or mud inside.

If tackling the garden is the next task on your to-do list, you might want to have read of our list of the best chainsaws, as tested by The Sun’s Gardening Editor.

Amazon’s bestselling Flymo lawnmower is also on sale right now, if yours is due a replacement.

Or if you’re staying outside until late to really make the most of your outside space, we’ve tried out the best solar lights for the garden.

Alternatively, you could head to our garden and tools hub for more deals.

BRITAIN’S most unhealthy high street sandwiches have now been revealed.

Brits will be shocked to know that most of their favourite lunchtime meal deals have more saturated fat and sugar than fast food and desserts.

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Most of them also have more calories than McDonald’s cheeseburgers and a bar of DairyMilk chocolate.

Leading the list of unhealthy sandwiches, Pret’s Posh Cheddar & Pickle Baguette sandwich contains a whopping 643 calories.

That is more calories than two McDonald’s cheeseburgers combined, which come at 295 calories each.

Even a Big Mac has almost 150 fewer calories than Pret’s flagship lunchtime meal.

Meanewhile, Waitrose‘s No1 The Perfect Ploughman’s Cornish Cheddar Sandwich comes 13.1g of saturated fat – making it one of the unhealthiest items on the list.

This is again more than two McDonald’s Cheeseburgers combined, which come with just 5.4g of fat each, according to a DailyMail analysis.

Next comes M&S’s Farmhouse Cheddar Cheese Ploughman’s sandwich with 11.3g of saturated fat.

To give some context, a Big Mac burger has just 8.8g of fat.

Both these sandwiches contain more than half of the NHS‘s daily saturated fat limit for women, which is 20g.

When it came to unhealthy sugar content, Sainsbury’s Brie Bacon & Chilli Chutney Sandwich topped the charts with 19.7g sugar.

To put that into perspective, one would need to have two KitKat chocolate bars with 10.3g of sugar in each to beat the Sainsbury’s sandwich.

M&S’s All Day Breakfast Sandwich – a popular choice of meal on the go – has almost 10.1g of sugar.

That’s slightly less than a Krispy Kreme Original Glazed Doughnut that comes with 12g of sugar.

NHS recommends that adults only consume a maximum of 30g of sugar each day to lead a healthy life.

Most of the sandwiches sold on Britain’s high streets are also far saltier than fast food.

For instance, Pret’s Ham & Grevé Baguette contained 3.85g of salt, making it saltier than four large portions of McDonald’s fries (0.82g of salt each).

And surprisingly, even M&S’s Farmhouse Cheddar Cheese Ploughman contained 1.78g – slightly more than two large McDonald’s fries.

Adults are advised to consume less than 6g of salt per day, according to the NHS.

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But as most of the supermarket sandwiches are unhealthy options for lunch, Brits can choose to swap them for healthier meals.

For example, a Cheese Ploughman’s sandwich from Boots comes at just 429 calories, making it the healthiest option so far.

And if you feel fancy, you can also try Itsu’s King Prawn Rice Box salad, which comes at just 407 calories.

It’s a filling option thanks to wholegrain brown rice, veggies, prawns and seeds.

Meanwhile, a Tuna Melt Panini from Starbucks packs in an impressive 28g of protein and has just 443 calories.

But if you are really conscious about your health and want to keep things below 400 calories, then Greggs‘ Pesto and Mozzarella Pasta can be your saviour.

This tasty option from Greggs is just  375 calories, even though its packed with cheese.

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