British Grand Prix: 20 years since Irish ‘lunatic’ invaded the track at Silverstone
“Oh my goodness me!” screamed ITV’s lead Formula 1 commentator James Allen, words struggling to comprehend the sheer craziness of what was being witnessed. “We’ve got a lunatic on the track!” When a group of protestors from Just Stop Oil invaded the circuit last year during the opening lap of the British Grand Prix, it wasn’t Silverstone’s first run-in with track invaders. Contrarily, 20 years ago, the 2003 British Grand Prix was 10 laps in before deranged Irish priest Neil Horan sprinted up the fiercely quick Hangar Straight. Many drivers had to swerve to avoid him as Horan, dressed in a brown kilt, madly ran into the racing line of F1 cars speeding at 200mph while waving banners which read: “Read the bible” and “The Bible is always right.” The result could have been catastrophic if it wasn’t for the quick awareness of the drivers and the marshal stationed at position ‘Hangar 1’. Volunteering at the British Grand Prix once again, Stephen Green ran into the void of the unknown. “I didn’t really think, adrenaline just kicks in,” Green, now 72, tells The Independent. “I made the decision anyway to wait until most of the pack had gone past. I actually watched it last week on YouTube – it seems like the guy is running up there forever and a day before I get to him. “I think I just barged into him! Then he fell over and I just grabbed his wrists and dragged him. There was a white transit van with security waiting behind the debris fence. I remember what I said to him but it’s not printable!” It was an astonishing scene. While pitch invasions and streakers have for many a long year popped up at various sporting events across the country, a live racetrack is an entirely different situation altogether. More so than any wider cause, lives in the immediacy are at risk. For Green, though, it brought a sense of notoriety not familiar to the men and women in orange suits. Soon after, once the police investigation had subsided and Horan was charged with “aggravated trespass”, the marshal was the second man awarded the BARC (British Automobile Racing Club) Browning medal for outstanding bravery. The first was David Purley, 21 years earlier, following his attempts to save Roger Williamson from a fire at Zandvoort. Meanwhile Horan, laicised by the Catholic Church, did not stop there; in fact, Silverstone was just the start of his bizarre interventions. A year later, at the 2004 Athens Olympics, he ran into the path of lead Brazilian runner Vanderlei de Lima in the men’s marathon and pushed him into the crowds, ruining his path to gold. Months earlier, he was caught by police at the Epsom Derby. He also appeared on Britain’s Got Talent in 2009, performing an Irish jig. Yet that day 20 years ago brought together two very different people from two very different walks of life. A point not lost on Green when, peculiarly, Horan got in touch. “Strangely enough, he emailed me five years ago to ask how I was,” Green says. “We exchanged a couple of emails and that’s about it. “Strange chap, shall we say!” The subject of protestors is top of the agenda at Silverstone this weekend. If not for last year’s near-catastrophe, then for Just Stop Oil’s recent interventions at Twickenham, the World Snooker Championship, the Ashes and just this week, Wimbledon. “At a national event, you always run the risk of idiots turning up and doing whatever they’ve got in mind to do,” Green says. “There was a huge tightening of security after the 2003 incident. “Last year I just got messages from my mates saying ‘why are you not at Silverstone?!’ There is a difference between Just Stop Oil and Horan though, I think everyone would say that Just Stop Oil are actually trying to achieve something. “Motorsport is lucky in many ways that we don’t get as much as we could’ve done. It is very tightly controlled – given F1 goes all over the world, I think it does pretty well.” Green, who still marshals at events across the UK after previous F1 stints in the Middle-East as well as Silverstone, had the rarest of race interactions on that day in ‘03. F1 and the police are on red-alert this Sunday to ensure a repeat does not occur, with the threat level at an all-time high. Read More Lewis Hamilton supports ‘peaceful’ protests at British Grand Prix this weekend Just Stop Oil ‘vital’ says Dale Vince as sports fans are backed to intervene Arrests at Wimbledon after Just Stop Oil protesters storm court twice Lewis Hamilton must be ‘cold-blooded’ in new Mercedes contract negotiations F1 release 2024 calendar with radical change to start of the season F1 descends into farce again after results shake-up – the FIA has to be better
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Hugh Jackman bemuses fans after sharing his ‘criminal’ cheat meal
Hugh Jackman has amused and confounded his followers after sharing a photo of his recent “cheat meal,” a plate of waffles topped with savoury mushrooms. Over the weekend, the Wolverine star took to Instagram to share photos of himself enjoying a meal at a waffle restaurant in England. The album began with an excited-looking Jackman holding up a fork, before including a photo of the menu at The Waffle House in Norwich. The post also included a photo of a plate of waffles topped with sauteed button mushrooms, and what appeared to be a red meat sauce and smoked ham cheddar cheese sauce. The dish was then garnished with herbs. The savoury waffles weren’t the only item ordered by the actor, however, as the post also included a photo of Jackman’s strawberry milkshake and one of his order of sweet waffles, which were topped with chocolate flakes, banana, peanut butter and powdered sugar. “Happy cheat meal to me! Nooo! I did not share. And I’m not sorry,” the actor captioned the photo album. However, in the comments, many of Jackman’s fans were confused by the first waffle combination, with some questioning the unique pairing. “MUSHROOMS ON WAFFLES? IS THIS THE WOLVERINE DIET?” one person jokingly asked, while another wrote: “Third pic is criminal.” “A cheat meal NEVER includes mushrooms,” someone else claimed, as another critic wrote: “Sweet waffle yes! Savoury, nooo!” Despite the concern from some of Jackman’s followers over the savoury-topped waffle, others said they’d happily indulge in the actor’s cheat meal. “OMG! I’ve never had a savoury-topped waffle but that looks delicious!! You deserve to enjoy all of your cheat meal so I’m glad you didn’t share,” one person commented, while another said: “Just give me those mushrooms and I’ll be in heaven.” The meal also prompted some to compare the savoury dish to chicken and waffles, with one viewer urging a critic to try the popular dish “with a side of mashed potatoes”. This is not the first time Jackman has shared insight into his unlikely “cheat meals,” as the actor previously told E! News that he enjoys “sort of weird simple stuff like lasagna”. “It’s sort of weird simple stuff like lasagna,” he said. “I like breakfast cereal at 11 at night, all that kind of easy simple stuff. In Australia, it’s meat pies.” Read More Fiona Phillips explains why she hid Alzheimer’s diagnosis from her children Woman exits plane after tirade about passenger who is ‘not real’: ‘Final Destination vibes’ The Witcher star says they’ve struggled to deal with Henry Cavill announcement Simple summer salads: Roquefort, rocket and pink grapefruit Joey Chestnut successfully defends title at Nathan’s annual hot dog eating contest How to make protein pancakes without flour
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British Tomato Fortnight: Three perfect pasta recipes
In the face of mounting pressure from labour shortages, supply delays and skyrocketing energy prices, celebrating British produce is more important than ever. If you’re in a supermarket during the next two weeks, look out for a British Tomato Fortnight sticker. Running until 11 June, the campaign hopes to shine a light on locally grown varieties and encourage consumers to buy British. Not only is that a boon to your carbon footprint and your health, but also to your plate – juicy and packed full of flavour, British toms are an extremely versatile cooking ingredient. They go especially well in this pasta puttanesca, which takes no more than 30 minutes to get onto the table, as well as the tomato, lemon zest and sage risotto with burrata – ultimate comfort food that’s balanced by the natural sweetness of the whole toms. Lastly, in the saffron chicken, tomato, orzo and squash stew, the toms are left whole and added it right at the end for a delightful sweet note. Get stuck in. Piccolo pasta puttanesca This dish doesn’t take much longer than the 30 minutes needed to roast the Piccolo cherry tomatoes. Perfection. Serves: 4 Ingredients: 750g Piccolo cherry tomatoes Olive oil 300g spaghetti 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped 1 red chilli, finally chopped 1 tsp tomato purée 100g pitted black olives, roughly chopped 8 anchovy fillets in oil, drained, roughly chopped 2 tbsp capers, drained 1 heaped tbsp chopped fresh basil To serve: Freshly grated parmesan Fresh basil, to garnish Method: Preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 5. Tip the Piccolo cherry tomatoes onto a baking tray and drizzle with a tablespoon of olive oil. Roast for 30 minutes. Cook the spaghetti according to packet instructions. Heat a dash of olive oil in a saucepan, add the garlic and red chilli and cook for a few minutes until aromatic. Add the tomato purée and cook for another minute. Remove the roasted tomatoes from the oven, pour any excess liquid into a bowl and set aside. Add the tomatoes (along with the chopped olives, anchovies and capers) to the pan with the garlic and chilli. Sprinkle over the chopped basil. Add a splash of the excess tomato liquid if necessary. Drain the spaghetti and serve with the puttanesca sauce topped with freshly grated parmesan and extra basil. Tomato, lemon zest and sage risotto with burrata The ultimate in comfort food, this risotto really packs in the flavour, balanced by the natural sweetness of the whole Piccolos. Serves: 4 3 tbsp olive oil 2 shallots, finely chopped 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped 1½ tbsp tomato purée 280g risotto rice, such as Arborio Knob of butter 100ml white wine 1 litre stock (made with 1 vegetable or chicken stock cube) 1 lemon, zest only 10 sage leaves, chopped 50g Parmesan, finely grated 250g Piccolo cherry tomatoes, left whole, stalks removed if preferred 115g burrata, divided into quarters 1 heaped tbsp toasted pine nuts Extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling Method: Heat the oil in a large pan. Add the shallots, stir well then cover and cook over a low heat until soft and lightly browned. Add the garlic and tomato purée and cook for another minute. Stir in the rice with a knob of butter, continue to stir and cook for another minute. Pour the wine into the pan and bring to a simmer. Cook for a minute for the rice to absorb the liquid. Add a quarter of the stock and cook to allow the liquid to be absorbed – keep adding more stock as it is absorbed. Stir from time to time. Add the lemon zest and chopped sage. Cook uncovered, stirring from time to time, for about 20-25 minutes, or until the rice is tender and very creamy. Finally, stir in the Parmesan cheese. Meanwhile, heat another pan with a dash of olive oil and cook the tomatoes over a high heat until softened. Divide the risotto among four plates, topped with the Piccolo cherry tomatoes, a quarter of the burrata for each serving, some toasted pine nuts, and a drizzle of olive oil. Saffron chicken, tomato, orzo and squash stew Piccolo cherry tomatoes are left whole and added right at the end of this stew to retain their shape and add a delightful sweet note. You will not be disappointed! Serves: 4 Time: 40 minutes Ingredients: 2 tbsp olive oil 1 onion, finely chopped 4 garlic cloves, sliced 2 boneless chicken breasts, cut into chunks (about 400g total weight) 1 small butternut squash (about 600g/1lb 4oz), peeled and chopped Generous pinch saffron 500ml chicken stock 150g orzo400g whole Piccolo cherry tomatoes Salt and freshly ground black pepper Small handful roughly chopped flatleaf parsley, to serve Method: In a large pan, heat half of the olive oil, then fry the onion for five minutes, or until the onion is softened. Add the garlic and cook for a couple more minutes. Remove from the pan. Add the chicken to the pan and cook on all sides until nicely browned. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper Add the chopped squash and cook for a further few minutes. Add the saffron and chicken stock and return the onion and garlic to the pan. Cook at a simmer for about 5 minutes. Increase the temperature to a boil, tip in the orzo and turn the heat back to a simmer. Cook for a further 10 minutes, adding a splash more water if it starts to dry out. Tip in the Piccolos and cook for a further few minutes to soften. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper, and serve garnished with parsley. Learn more about British Tomato Fortnight at britishtomatoes.co.uk/british-tomato-fortnight Read More These recipes will keep you hydrated on hot days Uncorked: How do I keep my wine cool at a picnic? Banging brunch recipes worth getting out of bed for Think pink: Three ways with rhubarb to make the most of the season ‘Indian food is so much more than rubbish chicken tikka masala’ This vegetarian kebab won’t have you missing meat
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Between Brexit and Covid, London’s food scene has become a dog’s dinner – can it be saved?
London holds a special place in the hearts of food enthusiasts. In the halcyon days of the UK’s place in the European Union, it could even be said that the capital was one of the best cities in Europe – if not the best – for food. Despite it being beaten out by Paris in the Michelin guide (the French capital boasts 119 Michelin stars compared to London’s 74), the city’s sheer diversity made it stand out, with nearly every cuisine under the sun available somewhere in its streets. But recently it hasn’t really felt this way, and the people have noticed. Last week, Lily Allen tweeted: “Having been in New York for most of the time since Covid, I’ve spent long enough away to notice how far the standards have slipped in London’s restaurant scene… Delivery food and takeaways are even worse. Dunno if it’s Brexit or ghost kitchens or inflation or whatever, but it’s a terrible shame.” It’s evident from social media posts and online reviews that a lot of patrons feel the same. The restaurant industry has taken blow after blow in recent years, beginning with the UK’s messy divorce from the EU in 2016. And as it was trying to recover from Brexit, which resulted in increased costs, new bureaucracy and staff shortages, Covid hit. Restaurants were forced to shutter their doors for unknown periods of time, deal with confusing new rules, and magic whole new delivery systems out of thin air. Now, the industry is having to weather the cost of living crisis. In the face of all this, it might be a little cruel to denounce London’s usually thriving food landscape as “mediocre”. But, as painful as it might be, there is some truth to it. Ben Orpwood, a former contestant on the BBC reality series The Great British Menu, tells me that Allen’s observation, while perhaps a bit strongly worded, wasn’t completely wrong about the state of the industry. Orpwood, who was previously the executive chef at Gordon Ramsay’s Lucky Cat, has been cooking in some of the world’s finest kitchens for nearly two decades. But he says he’s never seen anything like the state of affairs at his latest opening, 20 Berkeley in Mayfair. “Normally when you first open a restaurant, the drop-off from the opening team [staff] is something like 20 per cent,” he explains. “You lose people who applied for something they’re not really ready for and opening week is very intense – so they go. But after we opened 20 Berkeley in June, apart from my core team, we had 100 per cent turnover. I’ve never seen anything like it.” He says that staff are leaving even with benefits like getting two meals a day, days and nights off, at least £13.50 an hour for employees with no prior experience, and a nice, conducive kitchen environment to work in – a far cry from the shouting and screaming he endured earlier in his career. “I had a pastry chef that left last week who worked 3pm-11pm, five days a week, no double shifts – he didn’t like how much work there was,” Orpwood marvels. “I can’t get my head around that mentality. The talent and the drive is just not there anymore, there are very few talented young chefs around and all the good restaurants are scrapping over them. When you’re going through that as a new restaurant, it makes it so much harder.” The chef, who has more than two decades of experience under his belt, explains that the aftermath of Brexit and Covid are primarily to blame. Brexit caused an exodus of EU citizens, many of whom questioned whether or not they were welcome in the UK. When Covid hit, more people returned to their home countries and discovered new work opportunities there, opting not to come back to British shores. “Then the government goes, ‘We’ll plug the shortage with young British workers’, except that they introduced needless academic requirements to apprenticeships with a minimum wage that people can’t pay their rent on,” Orpwood adds. The national minimum wage for apprentices aged 21 in their first year is £5.28 an hour, while the average rent for a room in London has rocketed to almost £1k a month. To say that we’re mediocre, I don’t really think it’s a fair reflection Ben Mulock Of course, some industry folk are more optimistic. Ben Mulock, executive chef of Balans, says: “The London food scene for me is still vibrant, it’s still innovative. We still have some great authenticity to it.” However, even the most positive outlook can’t ignore the biggest, most glaring problem restaurants currently face: the skills shortage. “I’ve been cooking since I was 14, and it’s never been like this throughout my entire career,” Mulock laments. “But we are striving and pushing our standards higher to try and give people the experience of years gone by with this new workforce. So, to say that we’re mediocre, I don’t really think it’s a fair reflection.” He adds that people who live in the capital have “some of the most discerning palates globally” and that feeding a London crowd “isn’t an easy thing to please”. “But when you get it right, it’s a wonderful, wonderful feeling,” he says. Perhaps, for anyone who lives outside of London, the bar has been set at an artificial high. Influencers invited to restaurants that have a marketing budget are more likely to post gushing reviews, complete with mouthwatering visuals as they stuff their gobs. Meanwhile, restaurant critics for broadsheets have been recently criticised for platforming establishments in more affluent areas, or only if they’ve been invited. Given some publications don’t pay for reviewers’ meals, this is unavoidable – but it generates a false economy in which readers believe those are the best places to eat. In his essay “London Finds Itself”, Vittles editor Jonathan Nunn wrote about the decline of reviews and the rise of simplified maps that pinpoint places to eat, which also manifests itself in lists. It’s why the algorithm adores those “10 stunning places to eat in London” videos, and why publications are desperate to churn out recommendation lists. He wrote: “The review is too discursive, too expensive to produce, written by people who demand to be paid properly. Far better to shop it all out to a freelancer who can google a bunch of stuff and stitch it together without context.” One has to wonder if this, too, has contributed to restaurants falling short of expectations – perhaps no one is looking closely enough. But Hugh Smithson-Wright, a communications specialist for restaurants, says that the food scene is no more mediocre than it’s ever been; in fact, there have always been plenty of middling eateries around. “Not everyone can be so great,” he says. “Some of my favourite restaurants have been places where food is absolutely fine.” But there’s a distinction to be made here. “Fine is OK if it’s not costing you a lot of money. Expensive is fine if the food is incredible. But now, with everything being so much more expensive for everyone on every income level, the places that are fine are getting more expensive, with smaller portions and cheaper produce, and that’s what we’re not tolerating.” Smithson-Wright points to the fate of Prezzo as a perfect example of this reduced level of tolerance. In April, the Italian restaurant chain closed 46 of its 143 branches and said it was due to soaring energy and food costs – but Smithson-Wright adds that its uninspired food was also a factor. “Prezzo was only fine – it wasn’t great or innovative, but as those prices go up, OK is not good enough. It’s these types of mid-range restaurants, whether chains or independent, that will find they have nowhere to go. They can’t suddenly make their food luxurious, and equally, they can’t suddenly charge the prices they perhaps need to be charging to keep the lights on.” Price is a painful topic right now, resulting in a bitter stand-off between some patrons and restaurateurs. But Britons have historically been averse to paying more for their food, lulled into a false sense of security by the cut-throat price war between supermarkets. Or a sense of: if I can spend less than £5 on a Sainsbury’s ready meal, why are restaurants charging three, four, or five times that for a main course? But, as Smithson-Wright points out, the “bravest thing a restaurant can do is charge what they need to” without fear of empty seats. “In some ways, restaurants punish themselves by not charging what they should and now they’re stuck in a mediocrity trap,” he says. “And they’re not helped by the psychological barrier people have over what they will pay for things.” So what does this mean for the future of food in London? The restaurant industry, as a whole, isn’t about to die any time soon. As Orpwood says, this is a resilient industry and will “just get on with it” until it comes out the other side with hopefully greener grass. Smithson-Wright adds that the current situation sounds a death knell for mid-level restaurants, many of which will not survive this period. But Mullock tries to offer a sunnier disposition. “The London food scene is alive and it’s doing some really good things. Everyone’s just pursuing deliciousness.” Read More Sorry lads, we just can’t afford any more reckless, middle-aged adventurers The dish that defines me: Alex Outhwaite’s Vietnamese bun cha Nappy changes and tantrums over Michael Gove: I took my one-year-old to a music festival Sunak rules out any new EU trade deal that undermines Brexit freedoms Tory MP broke rules over £150,000 loan from Russian businessman What is the future of the Conservative Party?
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