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Fifty years ago, on November 7, 1974, the dead body of a children’s nanny, Sandra Rivett, was discovered in a mail sack in the basement of a Belgravia townhouse.
The chief suspect was the father of the children, an Eton-educated gambler called Richard John Bingham, the seventh earl of Lucan, who had vanished.
While most of Lord Lucan’s friends and family insisted that he had taken his own life, no body has ever been found. The manhunt for Lucan has lasted decades.
Read More: Is Lord Lucan alive? Computer expert says elderly man in Australia’s face is ‘conclusively’ same as vanished killer
Read More: Three missing Cluedo cards discovered in Lord Lucan’s car deepen nanny murder mystery
Who was Lord Lucan?
Richard John Bingham was the seventh Earl of Lucan, whose great-great-grandfather ordered the Charge of the Light Brigade, and whose father was a socialist peer who served in Clement Atlee’s government.
Born in 1934, Lucan went to Eton, did National Service in the Coldstream Guards, and briefly worked at Brandt’s merchant bank in London.
A spectacular win at chemin de fer (worth £26,000, when his annual salary was only £500) convinced him to become a professional gambler. He did not thrive: his nickname, “Lucky”, was ironic.
Even so, he lived a ritzy lifestyle, driving powerboats, racing bobsleighs and owning race horses; his suave demeanour led to him apparently being considered for the screen role of James Bond.
How was his marriage?
Lord Lucan was a snob who reportedly refused to talk to people who “didn’t have proper shoelaces”, but he still married a middle-class woman, Veronica Duncan, in 1963; she was the sister-in-law of his friend Bill Shand-Kydd.
Soon after, his father died and he succeeded to the earldom. The couple had three children, but Lady Lucan suffered from postnatal depression and the marriage gradually fell apart.
He tried to have her committed to a psychiatric hospital, and they separated in 1973. A bitter custody battle ensued; Lucan became obsessed with the idea that she was incapable of raising his children, but he lost the court case, running up huge legal fees in the process.
Police officer outside the home where Sandra Rivett was murdered.
Picture:
Getty
What happened on the night of Thursday 7 October 1974?
At around 9:45pm, Lady Lucan stumbled from her home on Lower Belgrave Street into the nearby Plumber’s Arm. drenched in blood and screaming: “Help me, help me, help me! I have just escaped from being murdered! He’s in the house! He’s murdered the nanny!”
It transpired that at around 9pm, she had asked her nanny, Sandra Rivett, 29, to make a cup of tea. Rivett had gone down to the basement kitchen. When she did not reappear, Lady Lucan had gone down to investigate, and had been attacked by a man whose voice she said she recognised as her husband’s.
After fighting him and convincing him to stop the attack; she said that he admitted to having killed Rivett (by mistake). After he had taken her up to her bedroom, she managed to escape. When the police arrived, they found Rivett’s body in a sack, with a bloody lead pipe that had been used to beat her to death.
What Lucan did after the attack?
He left London and arrived at his friend Ian Maxwell-Scott’s home, in Uckfield in Sussex, at 11:30pm.
His told Susan Maxwell-Scott that he had had a “traumatic night of unbelievable coincidence.” While passing the family house he seen an intruder struggling with his wife in the basement. He had run in to help, and the man had run off.
Realising that his wife would accuse him of being responsible and that the evidence looked damning, he said he had decided to “lie doggo for a while”.
The last confirmed sighting of Lucan was him leaving Uckfield in the early hours of Friday. His car was found near the harbour in Newhaven, 16 miles away; it had been parked between 5am and 8am.
What is the evidence against him?
In a landmark inquest in June 1975, it took a jury just 31 minutes to find that Lucan had murdered Rivett. This was based on Lady Lucan’s testimony, and on a wealth of other details.
The car Lucan was using, a Ford Corsair, was found splattered with blood types matching both Rivett and Lady Lucan, along with another length of pipe, similar to the murder weapon.
Lucan had borrowed a car, perhaps because it was less conspicuous than his Mercedes, and had found out from his daughter that the nanny’s night off was on Thursdays, though she in fact swapped her days that week.
He knew that his wife made a cup of tea at 9pm; a light bulb had been removed in the basement.
Lucan’s friend Greville Howard later told police Lucan had told him that killing his wife would save him from bankruptcy, because he would reclaim his house, and that he could dump her body in the Solent; she “would never be found”.
What happened to Lucan?
Initially police believed he had fled to Africa. Some speculated that the peer’s wealthy friends, dubbed “the Clermont set”, had helped spirit him away, and perhaps killed him because he had become an embarrassment, or at least encouraged him to shoot himself before his body was fed to tigers owned by John Aspinall at Howletts, his private zoo in Kent.
There have been ‘sightings’ of the missing peer as far away as India, Mozambique and Australia.
The most plausible theory remains that he committed suicide shortly after the nanny’s death. Lady Lucan believed that he took a ferry from Newhaven and threw himself into the Channel.
In 2016, his son George Bingham said he believed his father had been dead since 1974, and that it was time to find “another Loch Ness monster out there”.
Neil Berriman, son of Sandra Rivett.
Picture:
Alamy
Why are people still fascinated by the case?
There has been a real human cost in this case and tragically people often forget that Sandra Rivett is the real victim
The BBC is to air a documentary series looking to solve the mysterious disappearance of Lord Lucan following the murder of his children’s nanny Sandra Rivett almost 50 years ago.
The three-part series follows Ms Rivett’s son, Hampshire builder Neil Berriman, who has been consumed by the case since he discovered his mother’s identity at the age of 40, having been put for adoption as a baby. In 2016, Lord Lucan’s son Lord George Bingham inherited his title as the eighth Earl after he applied for a death certificate 42 years after his father vanished, under the Presumption of Death Act, which came into effect in 2014.
Lady Lucan was estranged from her children and lived as a recluse, before killing herself in 2017.
Fifty years ago, on November 7, 1974, the dead body of a children’s nanny, Sandra Rivett, was discovered in a mail sack in the basement of a Belgravia townhouse.
The chief suspect was the father of the children, an Eton-educated gambler called Richard John Bingham, the seventh earl of Lucan, who had vanished.
While most of Lord Lucan’s friends and family insisted that he had taken his own life, no body has ever been found. The manhunt for Lucan has lasted decades.
Read More: Is Lord Lucan alive? Computer expert says elderly man in Australia’s face is ‘conclusively’ same as vanished killer
Read More: Three missing Cluedo cards discovered in Lord Lucan’s car deepen nanny murder mystery
Who was Lord Lucan?
Richard John Bingham was the seventh Earl of Lucan, whose great-great-grandfather ordered the Charge of the Light Brigade, and whose father was a socialist peer who served in Clement Atlee’s government.
Born in 1934, Lucan went to Eton, did National Service in the Coldstream Guards, and briefly worked at Brandt’s merchant bank in London.
A spectacular win at chemin de fer (worth £26,000, when his annual salary was only £500) convinced him to become a professional gambler. He did not thrive: his nickname, “Lucky”, was ironic.
Even so, he lived a ritzy lifestyle, driving powerboats, racing bobsleighs and owning race horses; his suave demeanour led to him apparently being considered for the screen role of James Bond.
How was his marriage?
Lord Lucan was a snob who reportedly refused to talk to people who “didn’t have proper shoelaces”, but he still married a middle-class woman, Veronica Duncan, in 1963; she was the sister-in-law of his friend Bill Shand-Kydd.
Soon after, his father died and he succeeded to the earldom. The couple had three children, but Lady Lucan suffered from postnatal depression and the marriage gradually fell apart.
He tried to have her committed to a psychiatric hospital, and they separated in 1973. A bitter custody battle ensued; Lucan became obsessed with the idea that she was incapable of raising his children, but he lost the court case, running up huge legal fees in the process.
Police officer outside the home where Sandra Rivett was murdered.
Picture:
Getty
What happened on the night of Thursday 7 October 1974?
At around 9:45pm, Lady Lucan stumbled from her home on Lower Belgrave Street into the nearby Plumber’s Arm. drenched in blood and screaming: “Help me, help me, help me! I have just escaped from being murdered! He’s in the house! He’s murdered the nanny!”
It transpired that at around 9pm, she had asked her nanny, Sandra Rivett, 29, to make a cup of tea. Rivett had gone down to the basement kitchen. When she did not reappear, Lady Lucan had gone down to investigate, and had been attacked by a man whose voice she said she recognised as her husband’s.
After fighting him and convincing him to stop the attack; she said that he admitted to having killed Rivett (by mistake). After he had taken her up to her bedroom, she managed to escape. When the police arrived, they found Rivett’s body in a sack, with a bloody lead pipe that had been used to beat her to death.
What Lucan did after the attack?
He left London and arrived at his friend Ian Maxwell-Scott’s home, in Uckfield in Sussex, at 11:30pm.
His told Susan Maxwell-Scott that he had had a “traumatic night of unbelievable coincidence.” While passing the family house he seen an intruder struggling with his wife in the basement. He had run in to help, and the man had run off.
Realising that his wife would accuse him of being responsible and that the evidence looked damning, he said he had decided to “lie doggo for a while”.
The last confirmed sighting of Lucan was him leaving Uckfield in the early hours of Friday. His car was found near the harbour in Newhaven, 16 miles away; it had been parked between 5am and 8am.
What is the evidence against him?
In a landmark inquest in June 1975, it took a jury just 31 minutes to find that Lucan had murdered Rivett. This was based on Lady Lucan’s testimony, and on a wealth of other details.
The car Lucan was using, a Ford Corsair, was found splattered with blood types matching both Rivett and Lady Lucan, along with another length of pipe, similar to the murder weapon.
Lucan had borrowed a car, perhaps because it was less conspicuous than his Mercedes, and had found out from his daughter that the nanny’s night off was on Thursdays, though she in fact swapped her days that week.
He knew that his wife made a cup of tea at 9pm; a light bulb had been removed in the basement.
Lucan’s friend Greville Howard later told police Lucan had told him that killing his wife would save him from bankruptcy, because he would reclaim his house, and that he could dump her body in the Solent; she “would never be found”.
What happened to Lucan?
Initially police believed he had fled to Africa. Some speculated that the peer’s wealthy friends, dubbed “the Clermont set”, had helped spirit him away, and perhaps killed him because he had become an embarrassment, or at least encouraged him to shoot himself before his body was fed to tigers owned by John Aspinall at Howletts, his private zoo in Kent.
There have been ‘sightings’ of the missing peer as far away as India, Mozambique and Australia.
The most plausible theory remains that he committed suicide shortly after the nanny’s death. Lady Lucan believed that he took a ferry from Newhaven and threw himself into the Channel.
In 2016, his son George Bingham said he believed his father had been dead since 1974, and that it was time to find “another Loch Ness monster out there”.
Neil Berriman, son of Sandra Rivett.
Picture:
Alamy
Why are people still fascinated by the case?
There has been a real human cost in this case and tragically people often forget that Sandra Rivett is the real victim
The BBC is to air a documentary series looking to solve the mysterious disappearance of Lord Lucan following the murder of his children’s nanny Sandra Rivett almost 50 years ago.
The three-part series follows Ms Rivett’s son, Hampshire builder Neil Berriman, who has been consumed by the case since he discovered his mother’s identity at the age of 40, having been put for adoption as a baby. In 2016, Lord Lucan’s son Lord George Bingham inherited his title as the eighth Earl after he applied for a death certificate 42 years after his father vanished, under the Presumption of Death Act, which came into effect in 2014.
Lady Lucan was estranged from her children and lived as a recluse, before killing herself in 2017.
The timing and planning of Gonzaga’s new basketball facility more than two decades ago was spot-on, mirroring so many of the key aspects that launched the program’s ascension to national prominence.
It took bold thinking to make it happen. Mark Few, early in his head coaching tenure, accompanied then-school president Robert Spitzer to Salt Lake City to request donations from brothers Phil and Tom McCarthey for GU’s athletic endowment.
Except Few drew up a new play and asked Rev. Spitzer to broach the idea of a new basketball arena when they huddled before a meeting with the McCartheys.
“ Mark laid it on the line: An investment in a new Kennel is going to help us with our recruiting, with our marketing and on down the line – all these things instinctively one would know,” Spitzer told The Spokesman-Review’s John Blanchette in 2009. “I knew right away for Mark that this was going to be essential for him as a coach.
“So I changed my pitch right away – I’ve told the McCartheys this story – and it became all about the arena. We didn’t have a design, we didn’t have an amount, we didn’t have anything, but we were pitching the arena.”
That meeting was one of many that led to the McCarthey Athletic Center, which opened 20 years ago in October 2004.
Gonzaga’s men have lost just 18 times and boast a 94% winning percentage on their home court, so there’s plenty of candidates for the top 20 McCarthey moments.
The Gonzaga Bulldogs in their first action at McCarthey Athletic Center, an exhibition game against Emporia State on Nov. 5, 2004. (The Spokesman-Review Photo Archive)
Timely
On-court highlights occupy most of this list, but, as mentioned earlier, the McCarthey Athletic Center came to be at just the right time.
Building materials were largely budget-friendly when the facility was being built.
“Garco (Construction) did a fantastic job and was willing to make an honest profit and we had great subcontractors,” Gonzaga athletic director Chris Standiford said. “At the time, the prices for (building materials) were really suppressed and then they came back to normal (after construction). Especially steel, it was really low.”
Size mattered
It’s a question Standiford and former AD Mike Roth probably have heard hundreds of times. Why didn’t the $25 million arena have more than 6,000 seats? The answer in a nutshell: It wouldn’t have been anywhere close to a $25 million price tag if the arena required expanding to seat even 8,000.
“Substantially more on a cost -per -seat basis,” Standiford said. “I know from the design, development phase, it was way more expensive to make the building bigger. We were really pressing to build that building and fund that building as it was.”
Turiaf thrives in new digs
Ronny Turiaf felt right at home inside the new arena. The charismatic forward scored 33 points in a win over Portland State on opening night.
He followed with 20 points against Montana before dropping 40 points in a victory over Idaho in the third game.
First ranked foe falls
No. 14 Washington, the first ranked opponent to visit the McCarthey Athletic Center, fell to the Zags 99-87 in December 2004.
Adam Morrison scored 28 points, Turiaf added 23 points and 13 rebounds and Derek Raivio made five 3-pointers while contributing 21 points.
Morrison magic
We could probably assemble a list of Morrison’s top 20 in the McCarthey. Instead, we combined several of his memorable moments for space reasons.
There was his fadeaway jumper in the final second in a 75-73 win over San Francisco in Feb. 2005. There was Morrison’s 42-point eruption against Portland in January 2006, still the McCarthey Athletic Center record.
Morrison had 23 points and earned MVP honors as Gonzaga rallied from 15 points down to edge Loyola Marymount 68-67 in the 2006 WCC Tournament title game. He celebrated by hopping on the broadcast table and hanging out in the Kennel Club after LMU’s Chris Ayer missed from close range in the closing seconds.
GameDay and more Morrison magic
When ESPN’s GameDay came to GU for the first time in February 2006, Morrison delivered 34 points, 12 in the final three minutes, in an 80-76 win over Stanford.
P-Mac’s triple, Morrison’s pass
OK, one more Morrison mention. He had 34 points in a 75-72 victory over San Francisco on Senior Night in February 2006. He had a hand in the game-winner with his lone assist leading to a Pierre Marie Altidor-Cespedes 3-pointer with two seconds remaining.
J.P. Batista hugs his brother Anderson during 2006 Senior Night at McCarthey Athletic Center. (Jed Conklin/The Spokesman-Review)
J.P.’s Senior Night surprise
Gonzaga center J.P. Batista, a native of Brazil, had no idea his older brother Anderson had made the long trip to surprise him on 2006 Senior Night.
The two shared an emotional embrace after Anderson walked onto the court. It had been four years since Anderson had seen his younger brother.
Gonzaga pulls rank on UW
No. 18 Gonzaga routed No. 13 Washington 97-77 on Dec. 9, 2006, in the first McCarthey Athletic Center contest between ranked teams. Raivio drained five 3-pointers and finished with 25 points.
First home defeat
Santa Clara toppled the Zags 84-73 in February 2007, ending GU’s 50-game home winning streak – the nation’s longest – that dated back to the Martin Centre.
It was an unsettling weekend for the Zags, who were without Josh Heytvelt and Theo Davis. Both were suspended after being arrested the night before the game on drug possession charges.
Zags come up short on Gray’s great day
Steven Gray tried to will the 11th-ranked Zags to victory, but No. 25 San Diego State’s Billy White and Kawhi Leonard had other ideas in a November 2010 showdown.
Gray scored 35 points, including 14 of the team’s final 15, but GU couldn’t overcome White’s career-high 30 points and Leonard’s 18 points and 12 boards. “Steven was superhuman,” Few said.
Pangos hits nine 3s vs. WSU
In his first start and second collegiate game, freshman Kevin Pangos put on a memorable shooting display in an 89-81 win over the Cougars in November 2011.
Pangos equaled Dan Dickau’s school record with nine 3-pointers and scored 33 points. He made 9 of 13 3s and handed out six assists.
Olynyk drops 31 on the Gaels
Kelly Olynyk was early in his breakout junior season when he scored 31 points in an 83-78 victory over Saint Mary’s, just days after his career high 33 points in a road win over Santa Clara in January 2013.
Olynyk and Pangos combined for GU’s last 16 points. The 7-footer made a pair of free throws with 13 seconds left after the Gaels had closed within 79-78.
BYU ends GU’s bid for perfection
It started like so many Gonzaga games in the 2017 season. The Zags methodically moved in front 18-2 on Senior Night and another blowout was seemingly in the works.
Not so fast. BYU rallied late to pull off a stunning 79-71 victory, handing GU its first loss after 29 straight wins. The Zags rebounded to win the WCC Tournament and five NCAA Tournament games before falling to North Carolina in the championship game.
Geno’s crossover
Geno Crandall introduced himself to the Kennel when he scored 28 points and nearly led North Dakota to a n upset before the Zags rallied for an 89-83 OT win in December 2017.
Crandall transferred to GU the following season and made this list with a remarkable move that bewildered BYU’s Nick Emery. He shook Emery with a behind-the-back dribble near the 3-point line, followed by a between-the-legs crossover that sent Emery stumbling in the wrong direction as Crandall finished with a layup.
Emery poked fun at himself, tweeting a video of the play with the comment: “If anyone is wondering, my ankles are okay. You win some, you lose some.”
Gonzaga forward Rui Hachimura celebrates with Kennel Club members after beating Washington at the McCarthey Athletic Center on 2018. (Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review)
Rui connects on game-winner
Washington rallied from an 11-point second-half deficit to pull even at 79, but Rui Hachimura countered with a 15-foot jumper with less than one second remaining for an 81-79 win in Dec. 2018.
Hachimura finished with 26 points and the Kennel Club chanted his name as he waited for a post-game interview with ESPN’s Bill Walton and Dave Pasch.
Blue bloods visit the Kennel
GU has entertained lots of power conference schools, but the anticipation meter was off the charts when two of the biggest names in the college hoops came to town.
In 2011, coach Tom Izzo and Michigan State pulled out a 74-67 victory powered by Draymond Green’s 34 points. Jud Heathcote, who led the Spartans to the 1979 national championship during a distinguished coaching career that began at West Valley High, retired in Spokane and watched from the stands.
The second-ranked Zags handled North Carolina, one of the bluest blue bloods, 94-81 in December 2019. Corey Kispert hit 5 of 6 3-pointers and scored 26 points.
The Tar Heels, playing without standout point guard Cole Anthony, suffered their fourth straight setback. “We want Wofford!” chided the Kennel Club, in reference to the team responsible for UNC’s third loss in the streak.
Timme torches Texas
The Longhorns’ visit in November 2021 was big by any measure, including AP rankings – Gonzaga was No. 1, Texas No. 5.
Drew Timme, a Texas native, conducted a post-move clinic with a 37-point effort, third in McCarthey Athletic Center history. He made 15 of 19 shots in GU’s 86-74 win.
GameDay visit, Gaels go down
In February 2023, ESPN’s GameDay returned to the Kennel for the first time in 14 years. About 12 hours after Mark Few sat down with the GameDay crew and the airing of Drew Timme’s 94 feet segment with Jay Bilas, the 12th-ranked Zags downed No. 15 Saint Mary’s 77-68, avenging a 78-70 loss in Moraga, California.
Timme had 19 points and Anton Watson added 17 as GU and SMC shared the regular-season title.
McCarthey Athletic Center’s impact
Brian Michaelson has a unique perspective on what the McCarthey Athletic Center has meant to the program. When the venue opened in 2004, he was a senior on the team. He joined Gonzaga’s staff in 2008 and he’s entering his 12th season as an assistant coach.
“The timing was absolutely perfect,” he said. “It was as early in the run as we could have done it and you needed it at that time. It has really helped take it to the next level. A bunch of us played in that old gym (Martin Centre) and it was really special, the atmosphere was special.
“But for the future, it was huge. The legitimacy of having a real arena was huge for the growth that came down the road.”
Teddi Mellencamp announced she’s filing for divorce from her husband, Edwin Arroyave, after 13 years of marriage. The “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” alum announced the news in an Instagram post on Saturday.
“After a great deal of care and consideration, I have made the difficult decision to file for divorce. My priority is my children and ensuring that every care is taken with their privacy and wellbeing throughout this new chapter,” Mellencamp’s statement began.
“Making a public statement is not something I wanted to do, but in an effort to protect my family from undue speculation and rumors, I felt being open, honest and vulnerable was the best path forward.”
Teddi Mellencamp announced she’d filing for divorce from her husband, Edwin Arroyave, after 13 years of marriage. David Livingston“My priority is my children and ensuring that every care is taken with their privacy and wellbeing throughout this new chapter,” Mellencamp said in a statement shared on Instagram. Charles Sykes/Bravo via Getty Images
It remains unclear as to why the Bravolebrity decided to end her marriage.
Reps for Mellencamp did not immediately respond to Page Six’s request for comment.
Mellencamp and Arroyave tied the knot in 2011, years after they first met during a night out at a Hollywood nightclub. They welcomed three children together: son Cruz and daughters Slate and Dove. They also share daughter Isabella, Arroyave’s child from a previous marriage.
It remains unclear as to why Mellencamp ended her marriage. Instagram/@teddimellencampThe couple tied the knot in 2011 after they originally met at a Hollywood nightclub. Instagram/@teddimellencamp
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“I thought after that night that that was just one of those … a story that you tell your girlfriends. Maybe I’ll hang out with him one more time,” Mellencamp told Yahoo Lifestyle in 2019 of her first meeting with Arroyave.
After they started seeing each other casually for some time, things became serious once the Skyline Security CEO introduced her to his daughter.
“For us, it took a while,” Mellencamp said. “We casually dated for a long time. Once I met Edwin’s daughter, it made our relationship feel a lot more real.”
“We casually dated for a long time. Once I met Edwin’s daughter, it made our relationship feel a lot more real,” the Bravolebrity said of their relationship. Getty ImagesThe couple welcomed three children together throughout the course of their 13-year marriage. They also share a daughter from Arroyave’s previous marriage. Getty Images
The estranged couple celebrated their tenth anniversary in December 2018. Mellencamp marked the special occasion with a heartfelt Instagram post showing their growth as a couple throughout their decade of life together.
“10 years ago today I met this boy @tedwinator. I assumed after one crazy night after a nightclub meeting we would never meet again. This is us then and throughout the last 10 years…We have become the very best of friends, traveled the world, built huge businesses, created a beautiful family and life that I am beyond proud of,” she wrote at the time.
“We also learned what it’s like to fight for each other. Life is not perfect. Marriage is not perfect, but, knowing you found the person that you are willing to fight for for the rest of your life when hard things happen makes my heart feel full. Thank you for being my person @tedwinator, I love you. We did it baby. 10 years and a lifetime to go.”
The Addicks are no longer owned by Roland Duchatelet, and they now play in League One rather than the Championship, but perhaps the biggest indication of how much they have regressed in the last 10 years is the average attendance at The Valley.
In November 2014, Charlton were inside the top ten in the Championship table under the management of Bob Peeters, with the form of new signings Igor Vetokele and Johann Berg Gudmundsson giving supporters a reason to believe that the 2014/15 season could turn out to be a memorable one.
Despite Peeters being sacked a few months later following a poor run of results, the Addicks managed to finish 12th in the second tier, after a respectable season in which players such as Frederic Bulot, Alou Diarra, and even Francis Coquelin had impressed for the South Londoners.
However, instead of pushing on and establishing themselves as a team that could finish in the top-half of the Championship on a regular basis, they were relegated the following year and have spent eight of the nine seasons since in League One.
The average attendance at The Valley during the 2014/15 season compared to now
Charlton‘s average attendance in the Championship during the 2014/15 season was 16,708, as per Transfermarkt.com, meaning that more than half of their 27,111 capacity stadium was filled on a consistent basis.
So far this season, the average attendance at The Valley for League One games is 12,453, showing that thousands of fans who regularly attended 10 years ago no longer show their support at home fixtures.
The difference between ten years ago and now could be even bigger if some fans had not been staying away from The Valley in protest of Roland Duchatelet’s ownership during the 2014/15 campaign.
More than 24,500 fans were at The Valley last weekend for the visit of Wrexham, and the 2-2 draw may have enticed some of the new visitors to return for another game before the end of the season, but in every other game so far this season the attendances have been lower than they were on average a decade ago.
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The average attendance in SE7 has slowly decreased each season since it was 15,592 during the Addicks’ 2021/22 League One campaign, while it has not been as high as it was 10 years ago.
It sounds obvious, but Charlton need to improve their performances on the pitch if the average attendance at The Valley is going to increase in the near future.
Their average attendance in the Championship during the 2019/20 season was 14,884, and a number of home games that season were behind closed doors, so it is clear that fans could return if the team played in a higher division.
The Addicks attracted an average of 17,402 spectators during their 2011/12 League One title-winning campaign, in which they accumulated an impressive 101 points, further highlighting that a successful team on the pitch is likely to lure more supporters to The Valley consistently.
Charlton currently find themselves three points outside the play-offs in 11th place in the third tier, so they will need to pick up some good results in their upcoming games if they are going to mount a promotion push this term and bring higher attendances at The Valley.
All figures taken before the weekend of 1-3 November
After operating for nearly four decades, You Xiang Teochew Noodles, beloved by many of its regular customers, closed its doors for good on Oct 23.
Run by Hu Ronghui (transliteration), 62, and his wife Chen Qiuyu (transliteration), 59, You Xiang Teochew Noodles had been serving noodle dishes at wallet-friendly prices to diners for the past 39 years.
Their popular menu items include their fishball noodles and minced meat noodles, which cost $2.70 and $3.50 respectively.
Explaining to Shin Min Daily News why they’d kept their prices so low all these years, Hu shared that as there are many elderly citizens that live in the area who might not have an active income, he had hoped to “ease their burden”. “Even though ourincome has decreased, what’s most important is bringing convenience to the public,” said Hu.
When asked about his hawker journey, Hu stated in the interview that he had started out by helping out at his friend’s noodle stall.
He eventually opened his own stall at a coffee shop in Potong Pasir.
He later moved his business to Bukit Panjang Food Centre, operating at the location for the past 10 years. By then, he had already accumulated a pool of regular customers.
Amy Khor, Senior Minister of State for Transport and Senior Minister of State for Sustainability and the Environment, had patronised You Xiang Teochew Noodles back in 2019, and urged diners to drop by the stall in her Facebook post.
“If you’re in the area, do pop by to enjoy the delicious noodles and other tasty local delights at the hawker centre!” she wrote.
According to Hu, over 300 loyal customers came to bid farewell on the stall’s last day of operation (Oct 23), most of them regulars.
Several of them were saddened by the fact that theywould no longer be able to get a taste of their favourite items from the stall.
Liao Jinfen (transliteration), 65, was one of them. Speaking to Shin Min, she stated that she and her mother were regular customers of the stall and would buyfishcakes from them twice a week.
“The couple is very friendly, and sometimes, there would bea queue forming in front of the stall even before they open,” said the schoolteacher, who had been living in the area for over 20 years.
On the evening of its last day, a Shin Min reporter spotted a long queue in front of the stall — reaffirming its popularity.
Later that night, the couple and their two children held a farewell party at the stall with friends and relatives joining in the celebration — marking a bittersweet end to a 39-year legacy.
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As for what his plans are post-retirement, Hu told Shin Min that he intends to travel, meet old friends and make up for lost time. He added that he had planned to retire a year ago — a decision which was met with support from his children.
“We’re not young anymore and get tired easily working long hours. Now that our children have graduated from university and no longer require constant care from us, it’s time to do something for ourselves,” he said.
LONDON — A British man who used artificial intelligence to create images of child abuse was sent to prison for 18 years on Monday.
The court sentenced Hugh Nelson, 27, after he pleaded guilty to a number of sexual offenses including making and distributing indecent images of children and distributing “indecent pseudo photographs of children.” He also admitted to encouraging the rape of a child.
Nelson took commissions from people in online chatrooms for custom explicit images of children being harmed both sexually and physically.
Police in Manchester, in northern England, said he used AI software from a U.S. company, Daz 3D, that has an “AI function” to generate images that he both sold to online buyers and gave away for free. The police force said it was a landmark case for its online child abuse investigation team.
The company said the licensing agreement for its Daz Studio 3D rendering software prohibits its use for creating images that “violate child pornography or child sexual exploitation laws, or are otherwise harmful to minors.”
“We condemn the misuse of any software, including ours, for such purposes, and we are committed to continuously improving our ability to prevent it,” Daz 3D said in a statement, adding that its policy is to assist law enforcement “as needed.”
Bolton Crown Court, near Manchester, heard that Nelson, who has a master’s degree in graphics, also used images of real children for some of his computer-generated artwork.
Judge Martin Walsh said it was impossible to determine whether a child was sexually abused as a result of his images but Nelson intended to encourage others to commit child rape and had “no idea” how his images would be used.
Nelson, who had no previous convictions, was arrested last year. He told police he had met like-minded people on the internet and eventually began to create images for sale.
Prosecutor Jeanette Smith said outside court that it was “extremely disturbing” that Nelson was able to “take normal photographs of children and, using AI tools and a computer program, transform them and create images of the most depraved nature to sell and share online.”
Prosecutors have said the case stemmed from an investigation into AI and child sexual exploitation while police said it presented a test of existing legislation because using computer programs the way Nelson did is so new that it isn’t specifically mentioned in current U.K. law.
The case mirrors similar efforts by U.S. law enforcement to crack down on a troubling spread of child sexual abuse imagery created through artificial intelligence technology — from manipulated photos of real children to graphic depictions of computer-generated kids. The Justice Department recently brought what’s believed to be the first federal case involving purely AI-generated imagery — meaning the children depicted are not real but virtual.
STAVANGER, Norway — Few chess players enjoy Magnus Carlsen’s celebrity status.
A grand master at 13, refusing to play an American dogged by allegations of cheating, and venturing into the world of online chess gaming all made Norway’s Carlsen a household name.
Few chess players have produced the magical commodity that separates Norway’s Magnus Carlsen from any of his peers: celebrity.
Only legends like Russia’s Garry Kasparov and American Bobby Fischer can match his name recognition and Carlsen is arguably an even more dominant player. Last month, he beat both men to be named the International Chess Federation’s greatest ever.
But his motivation to rack up professional titles is on the wane. Carlsen, 33, now wants to leverage his fame to help turn the game he loves into a spectator sport.
“I am in a different stage in my career,” he told The Associated Press. “I am not as ambitious when it comes to professional chess. I still want to play, but I don’t necessarily have that hunger. I play for the love of the game.”
Offering a new way to interact with the game, Carlsen on Friday launched his application, Take Take Take, which will follow live games and players, explaining matches in an accessible way that, Carlsen says, is sometimes missing from streaming platforms like YouTube and Twitch. “It will be a chiller vibe,” he says.
Carlsen intends to use his experience to provide recaps and analysis on his new app, starting with November’s World Chess Championship tournament between China’s Ding Liren and India’s Gukesh Dommaraju. He won’t be competing himself because he voluntarily ceded the title in 2023.
Carlsen is no novice when it comes to chess apps. The Play Magnus game, which he started in 2014, gave online users the chance to play against a chess engine modeled against his own gameplay. The company ballooned into a suite of applications and was bought for around $80 million in 2022 by Chess.com, the world’s largest chess website.
Carlsen and Mats Andre Kristiansen, the chief executive of his company, Fantasy Chess, are betting that a chess game where users can follow individual players and pieces, filters for explaining different elements of each game, and light touch analysis will scoop up causal viewers put off by chess’s sometimes rarefied air. The free app was launched in a bid to build the user base ahead of trying to monetizing it. “That will come later, maybe with advertisements or deeper analysis,” says Kristiansen.
While Take Take Take offers a different prospect with its streaming services, it is still being launched into a crowded market with Chess.com, which has more than 100 million users, YouTube, Twitch, and the website of FIDE the International Chess Federation. World Chess was worth around $54 million when it got listed on the London Stock Exchange.
The accessibility of chess engines that can beat any human means cheating has never been easier. However, they can still be used to shortcut thousands of hours of book-bound research, and hone skills that would be impossible against human opponents.
“I think the games today are of higher quality because preparation is becoming deeper and deeper and artificial intelligence is helping us play. It is reshaping the way we evaluate the games,” especially for the new generation of players, says Carlsen.
At the same time, he admits that two decades after becoming a grand master, his mind doesn’t quite compute at the tornado speed it once did. “Most people have less energy when they get older. The brain gets slower. I have already felt that for a few years. The younger players’ processing power is just faster.”
Even so, he intends to be the world’s best for many years to come.
“My mind is a bit slower, and I maybe don’t have as much energy. But chess is about the coming together of energy, computing power and experience. I am still closer to my peak than decline,” he said.
Chess has been cresting a popularity wave begun by Carlsen himself.
He became the world’s top-ranked player in 2011. In 2013, he won the first of his five World Championships. In 2014, he achieved the highest-ever chess rating of 2882, and he has remained the undisputed world number one for the last 13 years.
Off the table, chess influencers, like the world No. 2, Hikaru Nakamura, are using social media to bring the game to a wider audience. The Netflix series “The Queen’s Gambit” burnished chess’ unlikely cerebral sex appeal when it became one of the streamer’s biggest hits in 2020.
And in 2022 Carlsen’s refusal to play against Hans Niemann, an American grand master, who admitted to using technology to cheat in online games in the past, created a rare edge in the usually sedate world of chess. There is no evidence Niemann ever cheated in live games but the feud between the pair propelled the game even further into public consciousness.
Whether chess can continue to grow without the full professional participation of its biggest celebrity remains to be seen.
Football’s alcohol ban will be lifted in a trial during Women’s Championship matches, with two stadiums taking part in the test in the English second tier.
Booze is prohibited in sight of the pitch in all top five tiers of the men’s game, though allowed lower down the pyramid and in women’s football. Fans taking part in the trial will be able to take their drinks up to their seats while the match is being played.
Alcohol is sold in the concourses of stadiums before and during games but cannot be brought into the stands.
Nikki Doucet, chief executive of Women’s Professional Leagues Limited, said that the clubs and stadiums taking part in the trial had not yet been confirmed.
“We are testing that actually in a couple of teams in the Championship this season and we’ll see what we learn from it,” she said at Leaders Week London at the Allianz Stadium. “Our fan base and the behaviour is different to the men’s game.
“Ultimately it’s about being able to give our fans choices, while obviously maintaining the safety and what we need to do in terms of being responsible.”
The proposal is not a new concept, however. Former Sports Minister Tracey Crouch broached the idea of fans at League Two sides and below being able to drink inside the ‘stadium bowl’ in her 2021 Fan-led Review.
However, the idea was shot down by police chiefs despite support from fan groups and League Two bosses. The Sun claim that the police’s position has not changed on the matter in men’s football, though they are powerless to stop local forces from preventing such a trial in the women’s game.
In 2023, the EFL’s Head of Security and Safety Operations Bob Eastwood said there was a “lack of evidence” to support the outright ban when giving evidence in the House of Commons during a discussion on football safety.
Drinking in view of the pitch has been banned in the top five male divisions since 1985 and those caught breaking that law can even land three-month prison sentences.
In Scotland, the government confirmed that it was giving “serious consideration” to a decades-long suspension of alcohol in football stadiums. Supporters have been banned from drinking at games completely since 1980 when Celtic and Rangers fans stormed the pitch and threw beer cans during the Scottish Cup final.
“Things have moved on in football and we need to look at this as a way of helping football clubs be able to generate more money,” Minister for Parliamentary Business George Adam told MFR radio station.
“You already have alcohol at football games in corporate [sections], it’s just a case of finding other areas or zones in grounds to do that and make sure it’s a safe and controlled environment.”
