A Lucian Freud nude portrait has sold at auction for more than £35 million after four bidders became locked in a battle to buy the modern masterpiece.

Benefits Supervisor Resting, a depiction of one of the artists’s regular models Sue Tilley, sold at Christie’s in New York. The work, which went for £35.7 million, had never been offered at auction before and was eventually bought by a bidder in the room after a four-way race drove the price up.

The British painter, a towering name in modern art, commands huge prices for his best work and last year a series of unpublished letters written while he was a student went for more than £100,000.

Orange juice may help the brain

Drinking orange juice every day could help improve brain function in elderly people, research has suggested.

A small study, which saw 37 adults with an average age of 67 consume 500ml of orange juice daily for eight weeks, found they had an eight per cent overall improvement in cognitive function compared with a group who consumed a control drink.

At the beginning and end of the eight weeks their memory, reaction time and verbal fluency was measured by carrying out eight tests. One of the tests of verbal memory required learning a list of words to be recalled immediately, and again after a 30-minute delay.

Wheel wars: women are better

Driving’s battle of the sexes appears to have been won by women, according to a survey.

Female drivers outscored males not only in in-car tests but also when observed anonymously using one of the UK’s busiest junctions – Hyde Park Corner. But another part of the survey – from Privilege Insurance – found only 28 per cent of women reckoned they were better drivers than men, with only 13 per cent of men thinking women were superior behind the wheel.

A sample of 50 drivers faced in-car assessment while 200 were watched at Hyde Park Corner. Marked on 14 different aspects of driving, women scored 23.6 points out of a possible 30, while men managed to chalk up only 19.8 points.

Mature student graduates at 94

A 94-year-old man will become one of the oldest graduate in the history of West Virginia University when he receives his diploma this weekend.

Anthony Brutto, who studied on and off for 75 years, will be awarded his Regents Bachelor of Arts degree. He first entered the university in 1939 when tuition was $50, but was drafted in 1942 and served in the Army Air Corps until the end of the Second World War. Brutto then re-enrolled in 1946 but could not finish because he had to care for his sick wife.

A machinist by trade, Brutto said graduating from college was always important to him. He jokingly said he will take a break before pursuing a master’s degree.

Selfie statue has phone cut off

A statue erected in a Turkish city of an Ottoman prince taking a selfie with a mobile phone met swift and violent criticism.

Days after it was erected, vandals – perhaps offended by disparagement of Ottoman history – hacked off the phone and the prince’s sword. The mayor’s office in Amasya, an hour south of the Black Sea coast, said police have been ordered to guard the disarmed prince.

The statue, intended to attract tourists, has its defenders – as intended, some people have been mugging for their own selfies with the eccentric prince – but the municipality has asked prosecutors to investigate the vandalism and to press charges against people who have supported the attack on social media, under laws against “praising a criminal act”.

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