Voeckler retains yellow after 14th stage

34-year-old Victorian conceded 27 seconds to Olympic champion Samuel Sanchez, who finished runner-up on the 14th stage to the unheralded Belgium Jelle Vanendert (Omega Pharma Lotto), who earned his maiden professional win.

More importantly Evans only lost two seconds to his main threat Andy Schleck (Leopard Trek), with Alberto Contador of Saxo Bank seemingly not making inroads and clearly still troubled by knee soreness following his earlier crashes.

Both Andy Schleck and Sanchez of Euskaltel-Euskadi remain behind the Australian in the general classification that sees defiant Frenchman Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) hold onto the yellow jersey a sixth day straight.

"I tried to keep things under control," Evans after the stage, which included six brutal climbs.

Andy Schleck of Luxemburg was third, at 46sec, two seconds ahead of Australia’s Cadel Evans who headed the group containing the main contenders.

There were several attempts by the leaders to shake off rivals on the final 15.8km climb and Schleck’s late burst allowed him to make up two seconds.

French Europcar rider Thomas Voeckler retained the leader’s yellow jersey 1min 49 ahead of Frank Schleck with Evans still third at 2:06 and Andy Schleck at 2:15.

As Alberto Contador survived a major test of his right knee injury, Voeckler stunned everyone by countering a number of accelerations by the Schlecks and Italian Ivan Basso.

The Frenchman started the stage already prepared to hand over the race lead and came over the finish line shaking his fist in celebration.

‘‘I don’t really know what to say. I’m really surprised,’’ said Voeckler.‘‘I didn’t expect to still have the jersey today.’’

After three days in the Pyrenees the Tour continues on Sunday with the 192.5km-long 15th stage from Limoux to Montpellier that has just one category four climb.

Monday is a rest day and the yellow jersey battle will resume during three consecutive days in the Alps starting on Tuesday’s stage 17.

Tyson Goldsack

Tyson Goldsack, born 22 May 1987 is a professional Australian rules football player currently playing with the Collingwood Football Club in the Australian Football League.
Originally from Pakenham, Victoria, he played with Gippsland Power at TAC Cup level in 2005-06, in-between completing a pre-season with Hawthorn. He showed good speed at the Victorian State Screening Session with a 20m Sprint time of 3.00sec. A good second season in the TAC Cup as a mature aged player would see him become one of few 19-year-olds drafted at the 2006 AFL Draft.


AFL career
Collingwood selected Goldsack in the fourth round of the draft with pick 63.
In 2007, he played four games with the reserves side in the Victorian Football League as a defender, making an impression, being emergency for the round 7 clash against Carlton, before making a surprise AFL debut against the Western Bulldogs at Telstra Dome. He impressed to keep his spot, but made a name for himself in round 12 when he played an effective containing role on Michael O'Loughlin of Sydney, and then on Hawthorn spearhead Lance Franklin a week later. He would continue to play the role, missing one game through a rest,[citation needed] for the rest of the season, including the final series. He once again nullified O'Loughlin in round 21, where he had 25 disposals and 8 marks, and earned a AFL Rising Star nomination. He would concede 30 goals in 17 games played on direct opponents.
Goldsack was recalled for the 2010 Grand Final replay, replacing Leon Davis. Goldsack kicked the first goal of the game.

Brayshaw queries AFL over Goldsack case

Collingwood star Tyson Goldsack has been cleared of wrongdoing in an AFL investigation into betting that came down hard on team-mates Heath Shaw and Nick Maxwell.

Goldsack's mother won $400 after placing a bet on her son kicking the first goal in last year's grand final replay.

The AFL has confirmed it found Goldsack did not pass on any sensitive inside information that gave his mother an advantage.

Team-mate Heath Shaw has begun an eight-week suspension after an investigation found he bet on captain Nick Maxwell kicking the first goal in Collingwood's win over Adelaide in May.

Maxwell was fined because he did not tell them they were not allowed to use the information for gambling.

The bets prompted a plunge on Maxwell's odds, from $101 to $26, but he did not kick the first goal.

Goldsack's mother Wendy had placed a $5 bet - at 80-1 - on her son kicking the first goal of last year's grand final replay.

The defender came off the bench and kicked the first goal.

Goldsack said after the match he had joked with his mother that he would go forward and kick the first goal.

AFL spokesman Patrick Keane said there was no suspicious activity around the replay.

"Thequestion was raised with him (Goldsack). He said he had not spoken to anybody," Keane told the Sunday Herald Sun.

Collingwood's third betting drama of the week is not the only issue confronting the competition leaders following Mick Malthouse's explosive TV interview on Thursday night.

Malthouse agreed in 2009 to step down as coach after 2011 and serve as director of coaching for another three seasons under new senior coach Nathan Buckley, his current assistant.

But Malthouse has since guided the Magpies to the 2010 flag and they're on track for another triumph this year.

Malthouse has left open the slight possibility of leaving the Magpies next year to coach at a rival club, unless he's satisfied his yet-to-be-finalised role isn't "insignificant".

Maxwell denies he had begged Malthouse to stay on as senior coach in 2012.

"We're excited about Nathan taking over because I know he's going to be a very, very good coach," Maxwell told Seven's AFL Game Day.

"I definitely want Mick to be part of the football club in 2012. I have no doubt that he'll be there next year.

Beautiful Lies De Vrais Mensonges review

Audrey Tautou in Pierre Salvadori's 2006 romantic comedy Priceless, you will warm to this sparkling film, which delivers a similarly complex web of deceit and misunderstandings as one little white lie compounds. With its atmospheric port town setting, a cleverly constructed script and appealing performances, this is a case of beautiful and tantalising lies, indeed.

The premise is set with eloquent precision, describing the secret passion that pathologically shy maintenance man Jean (Bouajila) harbours for hair salon owner Emilie Dandrieux (Tautou). He watches her adoringly from afar, daring only to put poetic prose to paper anonymously.

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Like the protagonist in Priceless, Jean is a dreamer who inadvertently becomes sucked into Emilie's well-meaning plan. The plan concerns her mother, Maddy (Baye), who has wanted to wallow in sadness (and track pants) since her sculptor husband left her for a younger woman. We rub our hands in glee when Emilie retypes Jean's flowery letter of longing, addressing it to Maddy in the hope it will rekindle her zest for living. However, expectations are raised but cannot be delivered.

Challenging the more traditional romantic comedy, Beautiful Lies slightly bends its well-trodden format. Darker in tone with a faintly melancholic (and perhaps incestuous) feel, its attempt to remove itself from the predictability of genre is thwarted partially by Salvadori’s ‘borrowing’ from Tautou’s success of Amelie, attempting to embody a similar aesthetic and character, with the short hair, eccentricity and quirkiness, yet stylistically, it feels too forced in places. In a recent interview with Tautou, she claims to prefer acting in French film, as opposed to Hollywood, because of the more unconventional roles available: “they propose me great characters in great movies, and it’s not easy to find very interesting female characters in the Hollywood film industry.” Perhaps. But Emilie’s character is too try-hard, with her hipster decor, general un-likability and at times, megalomaniac demeanour. In the opening scene, we see Emilie hacking of a client’s fringe, against her almost teary plea not to. It is a puzzle to why Jean adores her.

Regardless of the slightly darker elements not usually associated with the romantic comedies, including the strange issues of morality of sharing a man, this doesn’t refrain from the elements of predictability and blandness that meander throughout and require only a half-focused vegetation. Few moments are genuinely amusing; most tilt towards awkward titters. A very drunk Emilie, swigging from a bottle of vodka for inspiration as she attempts to continue the love letters, (albeit far less eloquently), is one of the limited humourous moments. Beautiful Lies isn’t so much of a comedy as it intended, but reduced a montage of awkward moments that are often wincingly painful to watch, particularly from gushing cougar Maddy. Although the film is well under two hours in length, it drags uncomfortably.

Despite the lacklustre elements, Beautiful Lies is slightly redeemed by excellent casting. Nathalie Baye portrays the desperate, overly zealous mother perfectly, as she hungrily falls for her daughters employee, whilst Stephanie Lagarde as Emilie’s salon partner Sylvia offer little handfuls of realist bolster preventing the Beautiful Lies from getting lost in the realms of disbelief.

Beautiful Lies is an average comedy sadly let down by its try-too-hard and slightly unbelievably script, yet fans of romantic comedy (particularly French) and Audrey Tautou won’t be let down too greatly.

Beckhams a 'bad example' for families

People have assumed that it's just because it was my shirt number that I wore for many years… but that wasn't the main reason," Beckham said on his Facebook page.

Beckham said he and Victoria believed seven was a lucky number.

"It symbolises spiritual perfection, seven wonders of the world, seven colours of the rainbow and in many cultures around the world, it's regarded as a lucky number," he said.

The soccer player said they were also inspired by Victoria's favourite book, To Kill a Mockingbird.

Population debate has often been overshadowed by what is seen as the disastrous and often inhumane experiment by China, with its notorious one-child policy, and with sensitivity about being seen to criticise birthrates in underdeveloped countries. But campaigners point to the fact that it is the populations of the developed world who use the vast majority of the world's resources.

Lucas said the Green party was not afraid to raise the subject because it was "fundamental" to wellbeing. "The lesson to be learned from China is surely that efforts to curb population growth in a way that restricts individual liberty are dangerous and come at huge human cost," she said. "Policies that focus on increasing access to birth control for all who want it, reducing poverty and inequality, improving food security and tackling environmental degradation are where we should be focusing our attention.

"At its heart, this is a debate about poverty and inequality, as well as about sustainability – and we believe that strong policies to reduce the yawning gulf between rich and poor should underpin every effort to address it.

"I don't believe that government incentives or laws to that effect are what we need. As a richer country, we face different challenges when it comes to population than those in the developing world, where high birth rates are linked to dire poverty and inequality. It's an equally important issue for both richer and poorer nations – this is a global debate which affects us all.

Googie Withers dies in Australia aged 94

Googie Withers, who died on July 15 aged 94, was a leading lady of British stage and screen in the 1940s and 1950s, with a famously long 62-year marriage to the Australian actor John McCallum, her regular co-star in 10 popular films of the time.

Through talent and determination, she succeeded in carving out a varied career despite a name that seemed forever to consign her to light comedy roles. Born in Karachi, she was given the nickname Googie by her Indian nanny and it stuck. A Hindi word, it meant (according to who was telling) "dove" or "crazy". Subscribers to the latter view held that it reflected her antic behaviour as a child.

As an actress it undeniably held her back. In the inter-war years, the influential critic James Agate missed no opportunity to upbraid her for it. How could she hope to be taken seriously as an actress, he thundered, with such a name? For many years he was right. The studios dyed her hair blonde and typecast her as maids or dolly birds, with supporting roles in George Formby and Tommy Trinder farces.

The actress stood firm. She had used the name for a long time and it had brought her luck. Why abandon it? Ginger Rogers, after all, was proof that an actress could have a nursery name and still win an Oscar (for Kitty Foyle in 1940).

She was the first non-Australian to be awarded an Officer of the Order of Australia and was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

Her last role was in the Oscar-nominated 1996 Australian movie Shine.

Withers's family moved back to Britain from India and she began acting at age 12.

She had been given her nickname Googie by her Indian nanny.

She was working as a dancer in a West End production in London when she was offered work in 1935 as a film extra in The Girl in the Crowd.

Withers, who had three children, appeared in dozens of films in the 1930s and 40s.

She played Blanche in 1938's The Lady Vanishes, opposite Margaret Lockwood and Michael Redgrave.

Later in her career she appeared in several television productions, including prison drama Within These Walls on ITV and the BBC's Hotel du Lac and Northanger Abbey.

In 1958, Withers moved to Australia with her husband, Australian actor John McCallum - he helped create the classic television series, Skippy the Bush Kangaroo.

The couple co-starred in 10 films, and they lived together in Sydney until McCallum died last year at the age of 91.

Googie Withers

Georgette Lizette "Googie" Withers CBE, 12 March 1917 – 15 July 2011 was an English theatre, film and television actress who was long a resident of Australia with her husband, the actor John McCallum, with whom she often appeared.

Biography

Withers was born in Karachi—then part of British India—to an English sailor and a Dutch mother. She was named "Googie" by her Sindhi nanny, a name she would go on to retain for the rest of her life. As a child, she learned Urdu and began acting at the age of twelve. A student at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts, she was a dancer in a West End production when she was offered work as a film extra in Michael Powell's The Girl in the Crowd (1935). She arrived on the set to find one of the major players in the production had been dismissed, and she was immediately asked to step into the role.

During the 1930s she was constantly in demand in lead roles in minor films and supporting roles in more prestigious productions. Her best known work of the period was as one of Margaret Lockwood's friends in Alfred Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes (1938). Among her successes of the 1940s was the Powell and Pressburger film One of Our Aircraft Is Missing (1942), a topical World War II drama in which she played a resistance fighter who helps British airmen return to safety from behind enemy lines. She is well remembered for her role as the devious Helen Nosseross in Night and the City (1950), a classic film noir.

While filming The Loves of Joanna Godden (1947), she met her co-star, the Australian actor John McCallum, and they were married on 24 January the following year. They remained married until McCallum's death on 3 February 2010.

She first toured Australia in the stage play Simon and Laura. When McCallum was offered the position running J.C. Williamson Theatres, they moved to Australia. Withers starred in a number of stage plays, including Rattigan's The Deep Blue Sea, Desire of the Moth, The First 400 Years (with Keith Michell), Beekman Place (for which she also designed the set), The Kingfisher, Stardust, and Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard and Wilde's An Ideal Husband for the Melbourne Theatre Company; both productions toured Australia. They appeared together in the UK in The School for Scandal at the Duke of York's Theatre in Londons West End and on the subsequent British Council tour of Europe in 1983–4 and in W. Somerset Maugham's The Circle at the Chichester Festival Theatre.

Googie Withers starred on Broadway with Michael Redgrave in The Complaisant Lover and in London with Alec Guinness in Exit the King. During the 1970s, Withers appeared as prison governor Faye Boswell in the television series Within These Walls. (She was so well known from Within These Walls that she was asked to play the role of the Governor of the Wentworth Detention Centre in Prisoner, a job which she declined.)

In 2004, Withers came back into the news when a character on the ITV soap Coronation Street, Norris Cole, quipped that "Googie Withers would turn in her grave". Granada Television was forced to apologise a week later when they realised that she was very much alive.

In October 2007, aged 90 and 89 respectively, she and John McCallum appeared in an extended interview with Peter Thompson on ABC TV's Talking Heads program.

McCallum died in 2010. Googie Withers died on 15 July 2011 at her Sydney home, aged 94.

Honour

Withers was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2002.

Family

Googie Withers and John McCallum were the parents of three children, actress Joanna McCallum, art director Nicholas and Amanda.

Filmography

Windfall (1935)

The Girl in the Crowd (1935)

The Love Test (1935)

All at Sea (1935)

Dark World (1935)

King of Hearts (1936)

Accused (1936)

Her Last Affaire (1936)

She Knew What She Wanted (1936)

Crown vs. Stevens (1936)

Crime Over London (1936)

Pearls Bring Tears (1937)

Action for Slander (1937)

Paradise for Two (1937)

If I Were Boss (1938)

You're the Doctor (1938)

Kate Plus Ten (1938)

The Lady Vanishes (1938)

Paid in Error (1938)

Strange Boarders (1938)

Convict 99 (1938)

The Gang's All Here (1939)

Murder in Soho (1939)

Dead Men are Dangerous (1939)

Trouble Brewing (1939)

She Couldn't Say No (1939)

Busman's Honeymoon (1940)

Bulldog Sees It Through (1940)

Jeannie (1941)

Back-Room Boy (1942)

One of Our Aircraft Is Missing (1942)

The Silver Fleet (1943)

On Approval (1944)

They Came to a City (1945)

Dead of Night (1945)

Pink String and Sealing Wax (1945)

The Loves of Joanna Godden (1947)

It Always Rains on Sunday (1947)

Miranda (1948)

Traveller's Joy (1949)

Once Upon a Dream (1949)

Night and the City (1950)

White Corridors (1951)

The Magic Box (1951)

Lady Godiva Rides Again (1951)

Derby Day (1952)

Devil on Horseback (1954)

Port of Escape (1956)

Nickel Queen (1971)

Within These Walls (TV series, 1974–1978)

Time After Time (1986)

Country Life (1994)

Shine (1996)

End of an era for 'Potter' fans

Final instalment in the film series of JK Rowling’s best-selling books, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two, is already breaking box office records across the Atlantic and is set to do the same in the UK.

Vue cinema in Cardiff’s City Centre experienced some of its busiest days yet since the film’s release on Friday, with the five screens sold-out.

Marketing manager Andrew Millar said that the cinema marked the release of the final schoolboy wizard movie with a double-bill that included a midnight showing of the new movie.

He said: “We had people in the cinema for about six hours, these were the fans that have followed the whole series from the beginning, so they’re not teenagers anymore. They are a similar crowd to Twilight.

“But at all the other showings we’ve had a broad spectrum of ages, we’ve had in school groups, families, teenagers.

Think we are going to be busy for at least another five or six weeks with Harry Potter, because as well as the die-hard fans, there are the people who want to see it, who don’t want to be in a packed out cinema.

For the college-bound teens who crowded the theaters this weekend, Harry Potter has been the erstwhile friend they grew up with. The fact that the film's cast grew up in real time made fans connect with J.K. Rowling's novels all the more.

Josh Robinson, 18, who stood in line at the Chino Hills Harkins Theatres for 15 hours to see the midnight show, read the first Harry Potter book when he was just 4. Robinson's mother had purchased the book on a trip to England, a year before it was published in the United States.

"I'm not sure if I understood it all, but I thought it was real," Robinson said.

"So you thought once you turned 11, you'd get a letter?" asked his friend Katelynn Richmond, 18

"Yeah, I thought that was a possibility," Robinson said.

For Robinson, Harry Potter was like Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny. Except Robinson never grew out of Harry Potter.