The white-suited, chest hair-baring, blue contact-wearing men posing with fans outside the showroom of the former Las Vegas Hilton do not want to be called Elvis impersonators.

The correct term is Elvis tribute artist – or ETA for short – to distinguish their studied performances from the dime-a-dozen characters trolling the Strip.

Some three dozen ETAs took their gyrating hips and curled lips to the stage over the weekend to see who could do the most convincing portrayal in the Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist competition during Elvis Week.

Adam Fitzpatrick, 29, from Penticton, British Columbia, won the top prize and $2,500.

Pistorius ‘sorry’ for nightclub row

South African Olympic and Paralympic track star Oscar Pistorius was involved in an argument at a nightclub over the weekend, his spokeswoman said yesterday, days after his lawyers wrapped up their defence in his murder trial.

The Star newspaper said Pistorius had an altercation with businessman Jared Mortimer at a club in Johannesburg’s upmarket Sandton business district after the athlete made disparaging comments about Mortimer’s friends.

Pistorius’s spokeswoman Anneliese Burgess said the argument started after Mortimer started to “aggressively interrogate” Pistorius about the murder trial, which has attracted huge domestic and international attention.

“Our client regrets the decision to go into a public place and thereby invite unwelcome attention,” she said in a statement.

The 27-year-old, known as Blade Runner because of the carbon-fibre prosthetic running legs he uses, is on trial for the murder of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, whom he shot and killed at his luxury Pretoria home on Valentine’s Day last year.

Shaun the Sheep is best baa none

Shaun the Sheep has topped a poll of favourite children’s characters over the last 70 years – beating a host of older creations such as Sooty and Sweep and The Wombles.

The Aardman creation, who made his debut in the 1995 Wallace and Gromit film A Close Shave, triumphed in a poll of the best BBC children’s characters though the decades.

The shortlist featured shows such as The Magic Roundabout, Paddington, Willo The Wisp, Teletubbies and In The Night Garden, from the 1950s to the current decade.

Shaun – who was given his own animated TV series in 2007 – knocked Postman Pat into second place.

Gore blimey! Rodeo boss injured

The co-founder of Rodeo Alaska is recovering after he was gored – but still managed to win a prize – at his own event.

Frank Koloski, 43, was competing in the “double mugging” event, the Anchorage Daily News said.

In that contest, one cowboy on a horse ropes a steer while another on foot tries to wrestle the animal to the ground.

Koloski said the bull’s horn punctured his stomach and went in 4.5in (11.4cm) deep. He tried to trot out of the arena afterwards but became light-headed and fell.

An ambulance took him to hospital and he is recovering after surgery. He won the event, which gave him a $1,000 cash prize and a belt buckle.

Keeper ponders coloured pandas

Two rare red pandas are the first of their kind to be born at a zoo.

The twins, a boy and a girl, were born at Drusillas Park in Alfriston, East Sussex, and were discovered by head keeper Mark Kenward during his early morning rounds.

Female red pandas are fertile for just one day a year and can delay implantation until conditions are favourable, a zoo spokeswoman said. They give birth to between one and four young at a time and the cubs are born with pale fluffy fur.

This darkens to the distinctive red colouration of the adults over the first three months, she said.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.