Stephen Fry sues tech conference organisers for £100,000 over fall from stage

Stephen Fry is suing two companies that organised a tech conference where he was injured in 2023 after falling off the stage, high court documents show.The actor and presenter broke his hip and had multiple breaks in his right leg, pelvis and ribs when he attended the CogX festival at the O2 Arena, where he delivered a talk on artificial intelligence on 14 September 2023.Now, court documents show he is suing CogX Festival Ltd and Blonstein Events, bringing a claim for damages due to injuries sustained at the event.“The incident was caused by the negligence and/or breach of statutory duty of the defendants, its servants or agents, in failing to ensure that the stage and backstage area were safe, adequately lit and properly protected to prevent a fall from height,” the document reads.“The claimant claims damages for personal injuries and consequential losses up to £100,000, which includes an award for pain, suffering and loss of amenity exceeding £1,000, together with interest on damages … and costs

Jimmy Kimmel on the Trump administration: ‘They’ve hit peak ridiculous’

Late-night hosts roasted King Charles’s state visit and Donald Trump trying to push the cost of his $400m gilded ballroom on to taxpayers.Tuesday was “another weird day”, said Jimmy Kimmel on his most recent show. “There’s so much nonsense – and I mean that in a very literal sense of the word: non-sense happening. And at the same time, there are also so many awful and scary and flat-out unbelievable things going on. The world has been turned upside down, mostly for no good reason

Letter: Desmond Morris obituary

I often saw Desmond Morris and his wife, Ramona, when attending Oxford United FC home games at the Manor Ground, before its move to the present Kassam Stadium in 2001. He was a season ticket holder and at different times a director, vice-chairman and vice-president of the club. Some of these roles were taken up when Robert Maxwell owned the club, but they eventually fell out.However, Morris is probably best remembered for the creation of the inspirational club logo of an ox head, based on a powerful Minoan bull. His undoubted artistic talents have been deployed by the club since 1978 and the logo continues to be used on the shirts worn by players and coaching staff, and related merchandise

Boom! A melodrama fit for Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton’s doomed love affair

“My very first memory is of pain.” More than a touch dramatic, the words could easily be lifted from the script of Boom! Instead, they are a real-life confession by its leading lady, Elizabeth Taylor.When it comes to pain, Taylor is the poster child-star. In her long life, the actor underwent more than 30 surgeries and was supposedly hospitalised on more than 100 occasions. After a bout of pneumonia almost took her out in 1961, it was the pain of nearly losing her that led to her best actress sympathy win at the Oscars

Jon Stewart on White House correspondents’ dinner: ‘We can’t even pull off a dinner that shouldn’t have existed in the first place’

Late-night hosts responded to the White House correspondents’ dinner shooting and Donald and Melania Trump’s attempts to blame political violence on Jimmy Kimmel’s jokes.Jon Stewart resumed his Monday night chair at the Daily Show less than two days after the shocking attack at the White House correspondents’ dinner on Saturday night, which resulted in the arrest of one man and, thankfully, no injuries. “It was supposed to be an evening of fun and merriment until, like most things in America, it was interrupted by gunfire,” Stewart said. “This is why we can’t have nice things. And to be perfectly frank, it’s not even a nice thing

Antiquities dealer who exposed thefts at British Museum dies aged 61

The academic turned antiquities dealer who exposed the theft of hundreds of artefacts from the British Museum has died aged 61.Dr Ittai Gradel, from Denmark, alerted the British Museum and the police after he was able to buy dozens of museum artefacts on eBay over the course of several years.Gradel died of renal cancer days after receiving a rarely presented medal from the museum in recognition of what its director called his “very significant contribution”, according to the BBC.A police investigation is still ongoing, more than three years after the museum reported the thefts to Scotland Yard after pressure from Gradel. Before his death in a Danish hospice, Gradel – who would have been a key witness in any trial – told the BBC it was “a bit annoying” he wouldn’t live to see the resolution of the case