World briefs

A thief with a well-known name has been banned from all shops in a city centre after being convicted of numerous shoplifting offences.

Winston Churchill, 48, of Nottingham, has a history of shoplifting offences and in 2012 received eight separate convictions.

Churchill was arrested after stealing items of clothing during December last year and January this year, and admitted the crimes. He was convicted of three counts of theft and was jailed for 33 weeks at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court.

Churchill was also handed a two-year Criminal Anti-Social Behaviour Order, which bans him from entering any shop or retail outlet within Nottingham city centre until June 30, 2015. (PA)

Facebook funeral of former Marine

More than 200 strangers attended the funeral of a former Royal Marine after a vicar put out a plea on Facebook amid fears that he would be buried without mourners.

James McConnell died last month at the age of 70 and staff at his care home in Southsea, Hampshire, thought they would be the only people at his funeral, as he did not have any close family.

But after Reverend Bob Mason posted a message on Facebook and contacted the Royal Marines Association, hundreds of people braved freezing temperatures to attend the ceremony at Milton Cemetery in Portsmouth. (AP)

Hairy men moan about shaving adverts

Hairy-chested men in Brazil have complained about body-shaving adverts run by razor-maker Gillette.

The advertising industry regulator is investigating. A spokesman said the complainants claim the campaign “encourages prejudice against hairy men”. The online commercials show beautiful women telling men they should shave their chests to please their girlfriends.

Elaine Moreira, a spokeswoman for Gillette parent company Procter & Gamble, says the campaign was “an irreverent way to say that women prefer hairless men and that the company never meant to offend consumers”. (PA)

Haunting East End images on show

Images of East End characters snapped by world famous photographer David Bailey have been put on show for the first time, more than 50 years after they were taken.

East End Faces features ordinary people and scenes of east London in the 1960s, the area where Bailey grew up.

The exhibition goes on display at the William Morris Gallery in Walthamstow, east London, as part of a programme of events to encourage more visitors.

Of the two previously unseen-in-print portraits, one features an urchin-like boy carrying a crate of bottles on his shoulder in the same area in 1961. (AP)

Shoeshine man gives shining example

A shoeshine man has given a Pittsburgh children’s hospital a total of more than $200,000 (€151,680) in tips that he has collected over the past 30 years.

Albert Lexie has been shining shoes at the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh since the early 1980s. He said most customers tip him a dollar (€0.75).

WTAE-TV said Mr Lexie gives all his tip money to the hospital’s sick children. He has donated more than a third of his lifetime salary to the Free Care Fund, which helps parents who cannot afford to pay their children’s medical costs.

Mr Lexie, who has been shining shoes since the 1950s, said: “It’s good to be a hero.” (PA)