Brian Blessed appeared as a guest on ITV’s Lorraine this morning and shocked viewers with his thoughts on coronavirus.

In the middle of a rant about the pandemic, the actor said: “This Covid virus – I really want to say one swear word – bugger off!”

The British actor and TV personality continued: “We will beat it, it will go away. I believe in the human spirit and we are showing immense courage in this country, down to the NHS.”

Host Christine Lampard, who was standing in for Lorraine Kelly, hurried to apologise for the actor’s bad language.

“It has been the most extraordinary time,” she said, adding: ”I’m sure some of us would use even a stronger word than that, but obviously we can’t and we will apologise for any bad language.”

The video of Blessed’s ...

Jonny Bairstow helped England move into an unassailable lead against Ireland in the Royal London series on Saturday with a barnstorming 82 from 41 balls before admitting he hopes to earn a Test recall through the Bob Willis Trophy.

Bairstow needed just 21 balls to reach his fifty at the Ageas Bowl to equal the record for the fastest one-day international half-century by an England batsman first set by Eoin Morgan against Australia two years ago.

The Yorkshireman’s departure sparked a middle-order wobble that saw England lurch from 131 for three to 137 for six, but Sam Billings (46no) and David Willey (47no) put on an unbroken 79 to lead the hosts t...

Argos has announced it is bidding farewell to its iconic shopping catalogue after almost 50 years of circulation.

The bi-annual publication has been a staple in people’s homes since 1973, with over one billion copies and 93 editions printed in its 47-year tenure.

However, having concluded that its website and app offer customers “greater convenience” than its printed catalogue, Argos has decided to axe the shopping resource and continue to “invest in in-store technology”.

“Today, Argos is now an innovative multi channel retailer...

Whether it’s Kevin Bacon unexpectedly getting an arrow through the throat while lying in bed in Friday the 13th, Ted Danson’s waterlogged walking corpse in Creepshow, or a zombie getting the top of its head sliced off by a helicopter blade in Dawn of the Dead, Tom Savini is responsible for some of horror cinema’s greatest moments. Yet not everybody realises that a lot of this iconic gore was inspired by the special effects guru’s traumatic time serving as a field photographer in Vietnam.

“I saw some pretty horrible stuff,” the horror legend, now 73, tells me soberly. “I guess Vietnam was a real lesson in anatomy...

Branden Grace has been ruled out of next week’s US PGA Championship after testing positive for coronavirus during the Barracuda Championship.

The 32-year-old South African was in a share of second at the PGA Tour event in Nevada but withdrew ahead of the third round and will now go into isolation for 10 days.

“I felt great all week,” Grace said. “Last night, I was tired and thought it had to do with the altitude. This morning, I notified the PGA Tour about my symptoms before going to the golf course.

“I wanted to get tested out of respect for my peers and everyone involved with the tournament...

Details have been revealed about how Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg planned to buy Instagram.

Emails were revealed as part of a series of antitrust hearings with Apple CEO Tim Cook, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, as well as Zuckerberg.

The documents provided to the committee showed how Mark Zuckerberg emailed David Ebersman, Facebook’s chief financial officer, in February 2012 about buying competitors including Instagram and Path.

“These businesses are nascent but the networks established, the brands are already meaningful, and if they grow to a large scale the could be very disruptive to us,” he wrote.

“Given that we think our own valuation is fairly aggressive and that we’re vulnerable in mobile, I’m curious if we should consider going after one or two of th...

Fontaines DC’s debut album, Dogrel, was a bold depiction of life in Dublin. The Mercury Prize-nominated record traded on frontman Grian Chatten’s heightened powers of observation, delivered in a voice that bit as well as barked. The guitars had a strut to them, as did Chatten’s often exaggerated delivery of songs about characters who were bored, lost, frustrated, arrogant, drunk – or all of the above.

New album A Hero’s Death was written immediately after that debut was completed, a reaction from a group now craving reassurance that – whatever happened after Dogrel’s release – they would be the same band as before. The five-piece turned their gaze inwards, away from the rain-flecked grey stone of their hometown, and towards their own doubts.

An air of suspicion has been ...

Didier Drogba drew a large crowd on Saturday to watch him submit his candidacy before the deadline for next month’s Ivory Coast Football Federation elections.

The 42-year-old former African Footballer of the Year is one of four candidates seeking the presidency of the West African country’s football association.

But he is still not certain to be on the ballot for the 5 September vote.

On top of needing nominations from three of the 14 Ligue 1 clubs and two from the lower divisions, Drogba must have the endorsement of any of five special interest groups: coaches, doctors, current and former players and referees.

They have not all made publi...

The second significant religious festival of Islam, Eid al-Adha, has begun.

The first of the two observances is Eid al-Fitr, which was observed in May to mark the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

“Eid al-Adha is one of two Eids, or days of celebration for Muslims worldwide, in a year,” a spokesperson for the Muslim Council of Britain tells The Independent.

They explain that the festival coincides with the completion of Hajj, “which millions of people partake in every year”.

However, this year, in light of the coronavirus pandemic Hajj commenced with just 1,000 pilgrims, as opposed to the typical 2.5 million.

Known as the “festival of sacrifice”, Eid al-Adha commemorates the prophet Ibrahim’s readiness to sacrifice his son in order to demonstrate his dedication to God.