South Africa cheers Mandela's 93rd birthday with a song

Millions of South African schoolchildren have raised their voices in song to celebrate Nelson Mandela's 93rd birthday, leading a worldwide chorus of birthday wishes for him.

More than 12 million students sang a special version of Happy Birthday before lessons began on Monday.

Mandela also received birthday wishes from South African leaders and from Barack Obama. In a statement, the US president called Mandela "a beacon for the global community, and for all who work for democracy, justice and reconciliation".

Mandela, who has retired from public life, is expected to spend the day with his family in his home village of Qunu, approximately 600 miles (965km) south of Johannesburg.

People around the world have been asked to mark the occasion by giving 67 minutes of their time to work in their local community – one minute for every year of Mandela's public service. He became South Africa's first black president after spending 27 years in prison for his fight against apartheid. He was awarded a Nobel peace prize for his efforts.

For many South Africans, the elder statesman is also thought of as a beloved family member and referred to by his clan name, Madiba.

Students at the Johannesburg School for the Blind and Partially Sighted sang and danced on Monday morning as they wished their "Tata Mandela" a happy birthday.

President Jacob Zuma, who planned to visit Mandela in Qunu after meeting with visiting British Prime Minister David Cameron in Pretoria, used the occasion to call for greater efforts to end poverty.

"We have achieved a lot, but we must still work further to eradicate poverty and improve especially the lives of children, because Madiba loves them so much," Zuma said, using Mandela's clan name.

Zuma was also expected to launch a drive to increase membership in the ruling African National Congress "as part of realising ANC stalwart Mandela's dream and that of his organisation."

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged the world to observe Mandela's call to carry out volunteer work.

"Everybody remembers and, indeed, needs an inspirational figure who has played a signal role in their lives. Nelson Mandela has been that role model for countless people around the world," Ban said.

Increasingly frail with age, Mandela was last seen in public just before his 92nd birthday, when he and his third wife Graca Machel made an appearance at the football World Cup final in Johannesburg.

As South Africa's first black president, Mandela is revered for having ushered in democracy and for his personal sacrifices in fighting the apartheid regime.

On his release in 1990, he led negotiations that paved the way to elections in 1994. He used his warmth, dignity and self-deprecating humour to help heal racial divisions and opened a process of reconciliation.

Nelson Mandela

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, born 18 July 1918 served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC). 

In 1962 he was arrested and convicted of sabotage and other charges, and sentenced to life in prison. Mandela served 27 years in prison, spending many of these years on Robben Island. Following his release from prison on 11 February 1990, Mandela led his party in the negotiations that led to multi-racial democracy in 1994. As president from 1994 to 1999, he frequently gave priority to reconciliation.

In South Africa, Mandela is often known as Madiba, his Xhosa clan name; or as tata (Xhosa: father). Mandela has received more than 250 awards over four decades, including the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize.

Early life

Nelson Mandela belongs to a cadet branch of the Thembu dynasty, which reigns in the Transkei region of South Africa's Eastern Cape Province. He was born in Mvezo, a small village located in the district of Umtata. He has Khoisan ancestry on his mother's side. His patrilineal great-grandfather Ngubengcuka (who died in 1832), ruled as the Inkosi Enkhulu, or king, of the Thembu people. One of the king's sons, named Mandela, became Nelson's grandfather and the source of his surname. However, because he was only the Inkosi's child by a wife of the Ixhiba clan (the so-called "Left-Hand House"), the descendants of his branch of the royal family were not eligible to succeed to the Thembu throne.

Mandela's father, Gadla Henry Mphakanyiswa, served as chief of the town of Mvezo. However, upon alienating the colonial authorities, they deprived Mphakanyiswa of his position, and moved his family to Qunu. Despite this, Mphakanyiswa remained a member of the Inkosi's Privy Council, and served an instrumental role in Jongintaba Dalindyebo's ascension to the Thembu throne. Dalindyebo would later return the favour by informally adopting Mandela upon Mphakanyiswa's death. Mandela's father had four wives, with whom he fathered thirteen children (four boys and nine girls). Mandela was born to his third wife ('third' by a complex royal ranking system), Nosekeni Fanny. Fanny was a daughter of Nkedama of the Mpemvu Xhosa clan, the dynastic Right Hand House, in whose umzi or homestead Mandela spent much of his childhood. His given name Rolihlahla means "to pull a branch of a tree", or more colloquially, "troublemaker".

Rolihlahla Mandela became the first member of his family to attend a school, where his teacher Miss Mdingane gave him the English name "Nelson".

When Mandela was nine, his father died of tuberculosis, and the regent, Jongintaba, became his guardian. Mandela attended a Wesleyan mission school located next to the palace of the regent. Following Thembu custom, he was initiated at age sixteen, and attended Clarkebury Boarding Institute. Mandela completed his Junior Certificate in two years, instead of the usual three. Designated to inherit his father's position as a privy councillor, in 1937 Mandela moved to Healdtown, the Wesleyan college in Fort Beaufort which most Thembu royalty attended. At nineteen, he took an interest in boxing and running at the school.

After enrolling, Mandela began to study for a Bachelor of Arts at the Fort Hare University, where he met Oliver Tambo. Tambo and Mandela became lifelong friends and colleagues. Mandela also became close friends with his kinsman, Kaiser ("K.D.") Matanzima who, as royal scion of the Thembu Right Hand House, was in line for the throne of Transkei, a role that would later lead him to embrace Bantustan policies. His support of these policies would place him and Mandela on opposing political sides. At the end of Nelson's first year, he became involved in a Students' Representative Council boycott against university policies, and was told to leave Fort Hare and not return unless he accepted election to the SRC. Later in his life, while in prison, Mandela studied for a Bachelor of Laws from the University of London External Programme.

Shortly after leaving Fort Hare, Jongintaba announced to Mandela and Justice (the regent's son and heir to the throne) that he had arranged marriages for both of them. The young men, displeased by the arrangement, elected to relocate to Johannesburg. Upon his arrival, Mandela initially found employment as a guard at a mine. However, the employer quickly terminated Mandela after learning that he was the Regent's runaway ward. Mandela later started work as an articled clerk at a Johannesburg law firm, Witkin, Sidelsky and Edelman, through connections with his friend and mentor, realtor Walter Sisulu. While working at Witkin, Sidelsky and Edelman, Mandela completed his B.A. degree at the University of South Africa via correspondence, after which he began law studies at the University of Witwatersrand, where he first befriended fellow students and future anti-apartheid political activists Joe Slovo, Harry Schwarz and Ruth First.Slovo would eventually become Mandela's Minister of Housing, while Schwarz would become his Ambassador to Washington. During this time, Mandela lived in Alexandra township, north of Johannesburg.

Political activity

After the 1948 election victory of the Afrikaner-dominated National Party, which supported the apartheid policy of racial segregation, Mandela began actively participating in politics. He led prominently in the ANC's 1952 Defiance Campaign and the 1955 Congress of the People, whose adoption of the Freedom Charter provided the fundamental basis of the anti-apartheid cause. During this time, Mandela and fellow lawyer Oliver Tambo operated the law firm of Mandela and Tambo, providing free or low-cost legal counsel to many blacks who lacked attorney representation.

Mahatma Gandhi influenced Mandela's approach, and subsequently the methods of succeeding generations of South African anti-apartheid activists. (Mandela later took part in the 29–30 January 2007 conference in New Delhi marking the 100th anniversary of Gandhi's introduction of satyagraha (non-violent resistance) in South Africa).

Initially committed to nonviolent resistance, Mandela and 150 others were arrested on 5 December 1956 and charged with treason. The marathon Treason Trial of 1956–1961 followed, with all defendants receiving acquittals.From 1952–1959, a new class of black activists known as the Africanists disrupted ANC activities in the townships, demanding more drastic steps against the National Party regime. The ANC leadership under Albert Luthuli, Oliver Tambo and Walter Sisulu felt not only that the Africanists were moving too fast but also that they challenged their leadership. The ANC leadership consequently bolstered their position through alliances with small White, Coloured, and Indian political parties in an attempt to give the appearance of wider appeal than the Africanists. The Africanists ridiculed the 1955 Freedom Charter Kliptown Conference for the concession of the 100,000-strong ANC to just a single vote in a Congressional alliance. Four secretaries-general of the five participating parties secretly belonged to the reconstituted South African Communist Party (SACP). In 2003 Blade Nzimande, the SACP General Secretary, revealed that Walter Sisulu, the ANC Secretary-General, secretly joined the SACP in 1955 which meant all five Secretaries General were SACP and thus explains why Sisulu relegated the ANC from a dominant role to one of five equals.

In 1959, the ANC lost its most militant support when most of the Africanists, with financial support from Ghana and significant political support from the Transvaal-based Basotho, broke away to form the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) under the direction of Robert Sobukwe and Potlako Leballo.

Armed anti-apartheid activities

In 1961 Mandela became leader of the ANC's armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe (translated Spear of the Nation, and also abbreviated MK), which he co-founded. He coordinated sabotage campaigns against military and government targets, making plans for a possible guerrilla war if the sabotage failed to end apartheid. Mandela also raised funds for MK abroad and arranged for paramilitary training of the group.

Fellow ANC member Wolfie Kadesh explains the bombing campaign led by Mandela: "When we knew that we sic going to start on 16 December 1961, to blast the symbolic places of apartheid, like pass offices, native magistrates courts, and things like that ... post offices and ... the government offices. But we were to do it in such a way that nobody would be hurt, nobody would get killed. Mandela said of Wolfie: "His knowledge of warfare and his first hand battle experience were extremely helpful to me.

Mandela described the move to armed struggle as a last resort; years of increasing repression and violence from the state convinced him that many years of non-violent protest against apartheid had not and could not achieve any progress.

Later, mostly in the 1980s, MK waged a guerrilla war against the apartheid government in which many civilians became casualties.Mandela later admitted that the ANC, in its struggle against apartheid, also violated human rights, sharply criticising those in his own party who attempted to remove statements supporting this fact from the reports of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Until July 2008 Mandela and ANC party members were barred from entering the United States—except to visit the United Nations headquarters in Manhattan—without a special waiver from the US Secretary of State, because of their South African apartheid government era designation as terrorists.

Arrest and Rivonia trial

On 5 August 1962 Mandela was arrested after living on the run for seventeen months, and was imprisoned in the Johannesburg Fort. The arrest was made possible because the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) tipped off the security police as to Mandela's whereabouts and disguise. Three days later, the charges of leading workers to strike in 1961 and leaving the country illegally were read to him during a court appearance. On 25 October 1962, Mandela was sentenced to five years in prison.

While Mandela was imprisoned, police arrested prominent ANC leaders on 11 July 1963, at Liliesleaf Farm, Rivonia, north of Johannesburg. Mandela was brought in, and at the Rivonia Trial they were charged by the chief prosecutor Dr. Percy Yutar with four charges of the capital crimes of sabotage (which Mandela admitted) and crimes which were equivalent to treason, but easier for the government to prove. They were also charged with plotting a foreign invasion of South Africa, which Mandela denied. The specifics of the charges to which Mandela admitted complicity involved conspiring with the African National Congress and South African Communist Party to the use of explosives to destroy water, electrical, and gas utilities in the Republic of South Africa.

Bram Fischer, Vernon Berrange, Joel Joffe, Arthur Chaskalson and George Bizos were part of the defence team that represented the main accused. Harry Schwarz represented Jimmy Kantor, who was not a member of the ANC or MK; Kantor was acquitted long before the end of the trial. Harold Hanson was brought in at the end of the case to plead mitigation.

In his statement from the dock at the opening of the defence case in the trial on 20 April 1964 at Pretoria Supreme Court, Mandela laid out the reasoning in the ANC's choice to use violence as a tactic. His statement described how the ANC had used peaceful means to resist apartheid for years until the Sharpeville Massacre.That event coupled with the referendum establishing the Republic of South Africa and the declaration of a state of emergency along with the banning of the ANC made it clear to Mandela and his compatriots that their only choice was to resist through acts of sabotage and that doing otherwise would have been tantamount to unconditional surrender. Mandela went on to explain how they developed the Manifesto of Umkhonto we Sizwe on 16 December 1961 intent on exposing the failure of the National Party's policies after the economy would be threatened by foreigners' unwillingness to risk investing in the country. He closed his statement with these words: "During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to the struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. 

I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.

All except Rusty Bernstein were found guilty, but they escaped the gallows and were sentenced to life imprisonment on 12 June 1964.

Imprisonment

Mandela was imprisoned on Robben Island where he remained for the next eighteen of his twenty-seven years in prison. While in jail, his reputation grew and he became widely known as the most significant black leader in South Africa. On the island, he and others performed hard labour in a lime quarry.Prison conditions were very basic. Prisoners were segregated by race, with black prisoners receiving the fewest rations.Political prisoners were kept separate from ordinary criminals and received fewer privileges.Mandela describes how, as a D-group prisoner (the lowest classification) he was allowed one visitor and one letter every six months. Letters, when they came, were often delayed for long periods and made unreadable by the prison censors.

Whilst in prison Mandela undertook study with the University of London by correspondence through its External Programme and received the degree of Bachelor of Laws. He was subsequently nominated for the position of Chancellor of the University of London in the 1981 election, but lost to Princess Anne.

In his 1981 memoir Inside BOSS secret agent Gordon Winter describes his involvement in a plot to rescue Mandela from prison in 1969: this plot was infiltrated by Winter on behalf of South African intelligence, who wanted Mandela to escape so they could shoot him during recapture. The plot was foiled by British Intelligence.

In March 1982 Mandela was transferred from Robben Island to Pollsmoor Prison, along with other senior ANC leaders Walter Sisulu, Andrew Mlangeni, Ahmed Kathrada and Raymond Mhlaba. It was speculated that this was to remove the influence of these senior leaders on the new generation of young black activists imprisoned on Robben Island, the so-called "Mandela University". However, National Party minister Kobie Coetsee says that the move was to enable discreet contact between them and the South African government.

In February 1985 President P.W. Botha offered Mandela his freedom on condition that he 'unconditionally rejected violence as a political weapon'. Coetsee and other ministers had advised Botha against this, saying that Mandela would never commit his organisation to giving up the armed struggle in exchange for personal freedom. Mandela indeed spurned the offer, releasing a statement via his daughter Zindzi saying "What freedom am I being offered while the organisation of the people remains banned? Only free men can negotiate. A prisoner cannot enter into contracts.

The first meeting between Mandela and the National Party government came in November 1985 when Kobie Coetsee met Mandela in Volks Hospital in Cape Town where Mandela was recovering from prostate surgery. Over the next four years, a series of tentative meetings took place, laying the groundwork for further contact and future negotiations, but little real progress was made.

In 1988 Mandela was moved to Victor Verster Prison and would remain there until his release. Various restrictions were lifted and people such as Harry Schwarz were able to visit him. Schwarz, a friend of Mandela, had known him since university when they were in the same law class. He was also a defence barrister at the Rivonia Trial and would become Mandela's ambassador to Washington during his presidency.

Throughout Mandela's imprisonment, local and international pressure mounted on the South African government to release him, under the resounding slogan Free Nelson Mandela! In 1989, South Africa reached a crossroads when Botha suffered a stroke and was replaced

Mandela was visited several times by delegates of the International Committee of the Red Cross, while at Robben Island and later at Pollsmoor prison. Mandela had this to say about the visits: "to me personally, and those who shared the experience of being political prisoners, the Red Cross was a beacon of humanity within the dark inhumane world of political imprisonment.

Release

On 2 February 1990, State President F. W. de Klerk reversed the ban on the ANC and other anti-apartheid organisations, and announced that Mandela would shortly be released from prison. Mandela was released from Victor Verster Prison in Paarl on 11 February 1990. The event was broadcast live all over the world.

On the day of his release, Mandela made a speech to the nation. He declared his commitment to peace and reconciliation with the country's white minority, but made it clear that the ANC's armed struggle was not yet over when he said "our resort to the armed struggle in 1960 with the formation of the military wing of the ANC (Umkhonto we Sizwe) was a purely defensive action against the violence of apartheid. The factors which necessitated the armed struggle still exist today. We have no option but to continue. We express the hope that a climate conducive to a negotiated settlement would be created soon, so that there may no longer be the need for the armed struggle."

He also said his main focus was to bring peace to the black majority and give them the right to vote in both national and local elections.

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.