Gentleman John Sergeant

Just in case you've been under a rock all day.....


Ex-political journalist John Sergeant has pulled out of BBC One's "Strictly Come Dancing" because winning would have been "a joke too far", he has said. The 64-year-old has received strong support from the public since the show started, but the judges have been critical of his dancing.

I fully support John in his decision and his timing.




He told a press conference he was quitting but would return on Saturday's show for a "farewell dance".


Sergeant said dancing on the show was "a wonderfully enjoyable thing", particularly with his Russian partner, Kristina Rihanoff. "But if the joke wears thin, if in fact people begin to take it very seriously, and if people really are getting so wound up that it's very difficult to carry off the joke, then I think it is time to go. It's like when you decide when you leave a party, and the time to leave a party is before the fight starts, and I think that's really what's happened on this occasion," he added.

Rupert Adams, of bookmaker William Hill, told the BBC News website that Sergeant had gone from being a 66/1 outsider to win the series on Saturday morning, to a 10/1 shot by Wednesday morning.

The programme's co-host Bruce Forsyth said he felt "very sorry" for Sergeant. "He was put in the most awkward position, looking at the other dancers and knowing they were better than him. He must have felt guilty in a way. It's a bit sad - the whole team adore him," added the entertainer.


Cluadia introduced an hour long "Strictly - It Takes Two" on Wednesday night as the shock news travelled across the nation.


Sadly, the controversy continued.... Half the people are now saying that he shouldn't have left.... The very same people, like James Jordan, who were complaining last week that he was still in! I've really gone off James - I wonder what Ola seems in him!


Just so you get my point of view - Nobody else has the right to make John's decision for him. So the decision must, therefore, be the right one. And thank you to him and Kristina - a brilliant dancer and choreographer - and all the entertainment they gave us.

Bar-tailed Godwit creates new record

A Bar-tailed Godwit has achieved a new record for non-stop, muscle-powered flight, flying from Alaska to New Zealand in eight days. A study published in October reports that godwits can fly as many as 7,242 miles without stopping in their annual fall migration from Alaska to New Zealand. The previous record, set by an Eastern Curlew, was a 4,000-mile trip from eastern Australia to China.

The birds flew for five to nine days without rest, a few landing on South Pacific islands before resuming their trips, which were monitored by satellite in 2006 and 2007. As a feat of sustained exercise unrelieved by sleeping, eating or drinking, the Godwit's migration appears to be without precedent in the annals of vertebrate physiology.

As astounding as the feat is, it actually represents a highly evolved solution to a problem. The non-stop, over-water route is free of predators and substantially shorter than a hopscotching route down the eastern coast of Asia, which is the alternative. Landing and eating -- literally, refuelling -- would expose the birds to disease and parasites when they are probably somewhat immune-suppressed. Refuelling also would add weeks to the trip and itself take energy. All in all, flying non-stop across most of the north-south span of the Pacific Ocean is the safest thing to do. The death rate during the migration is unknown but presumably low, as the population of bar-tailed godwits, estimated at 100,000, has been stable and long-lasting.

"This system would not have perpetuated itself if mortality were a big problem," said Robert E. Gill Jr., a biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, who headed the study, published in October by The Royal Society.

(Top marks to anyone who spotted my photo is of a Black-tailed Godwit; I haven’t got a picture of a Bar-tailed Godwit!)

Never Steal a Student's Laptop

A thief learned the mistake of trying to steal a law student's laptop last week. Armed with a baseball bat, the intruder, Gabriel Saucedo, allegedly climbed through an open window into Alex Botsios' apartment at Arizona State University, waking the student and threatening to smash his head in.

Botsios was willing to let Saucedo take his wallet and guitars. Then the robber made the mistake that ultimately landed him in the hospital -- he went for the laptop. According to Botsios, he said "Dude, no -- please, no! I have all my case notes...that's four months of work!" Saucedo, obviously underestimating the fury of an overstressed, overworked first-year, was unsympathetic. That's when Botsios could take no more. Wrestling Saucdeo to the floor, Botsios separated the bat from the thief and repeatedly punched him in the face.


When it was all over, police had to get Saucedo (above) stitched up before charging him with armed robbery and kidnapping, while Botsios only suffered some scrapes and a bruised knuckle. Most importantly, at least to the student, is that his laptop, which he called "his baby," escaped unharmed. Next time, Saucedo might want to try robbing a third-year student, as they're generally considered more docile.

Strictly Votes

Oh dear, the controversy continues. John was once more saved by the public. As a result the dance off was between Cherie and James and Lisa and Brendan.




Craig voted to keep Lisa, Arlene voted to keep Lisa, then Bruno voted to keep Cherie... That left the casting vote to a very grumpy Len who thought John should not have escaped his fate. Grumpy Len voted for Lisa so Cheri left the competition in week 9...



Can’t wait for next week.

Rare rhino birth

A rare eastern black rhino calf is the newest arrival at Chester Zoo. Keepers at Chester Zoo are celebrating the successful birth of a rare black rhino calf. The calf, an endangered Eastern Black Rhino, is the first to be born at Chester Zoo in the last 10 years. The calf and her mother Kitani are currently being kept inside the Tsavo rhino house at the zoo but are expected to be on show to visitors shortly.

The black rhino suffered a 96% decline in numbers between 1970 and 1992 and with only 700 eastern black rhino's left in the wild an international breeding programme is aiming to boost numbers, Kitani's calf will eventually become part of this and return to Africa.


It's Kitani's first calf and the zoo hopes it won't be the last calf born at the zoo, "For a first time mum, she is proving to be a natural and we are delighted with the progress Kitani and her calf are making in these first fragile few days," said Kevin Buley, Chester Zoo's Head of Zoo Programmes.

Strictly

John and Katrina danced their best dance of the series – an American Smooth - further complicating the “Should he still be there” debate which has torn the country in half (almost literally).


Meanwhile Rachel and Vincent, in the dance off last week after the weird public voting, went to the top of the leader board, performing a super Rumba. Austin and Erin’s Tango, Christine and Matt’s Viennese Waltz and Tom and Camilla’s Salsa wer amongst the best dances of the series making it a very good evening’s dancing. The standard is improving.

Ice-Age rhinoceros remains found

The BBC have reported - The remains of an Ice Age rhinoceros have been unearthed by a five-year-old girl at a Gloucestershire water park. Emelia Fawbert found the fossilised carcass at the Cotswold Water Park near Cirencester during a fossil hunt. Emelia and her father James, 33, from Bussage, near Stroud, dug up the atlas vertebra of the woolly rhino which roamed the area about 50,000 years ago.

Emelia was among a group of fossil hunters searching a freshly-excavated gravel pit at the park on 26 October. The atlas vertebra, which once supported the head of the animal had been sticking up through the clay which was exposed by the gravel excavations. The pair used a trowel to dig the bone from the mud. It has now been sealed in a special protective covering before being donated to a museum.

The hunt, involving 75 people, also unearthed the leg bone and vertebra from an Ice Age deer and belemnites, the remains of squid-like creatures from the Jurassic period, some 150m years ago. Emelia, who wants to become a palaeontologist, had joined the fossil hunt for the first time. It was organised by the Cotswold Water Park Society and led by Swindon palaeontologist Dr Neville Hollingworth who also found the remains of a woolly rhinoceros in a gravel pit near Swindon in 2004.