Oscar-winner Dame Helen Mirren is to be honoured by Bafta with its highest award.
The actress will be presented with a Bafta Fellowship at this year’s awards ceremony at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, on February 16.
Other recipients of the prestigious award include harlie Chaplin, Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Spielberg and Elizabeth Taylor.
Her career, which has included critically-acclaimed roles in Prime Suspect and The Madness Of King George, has seen her win four Baftas. She won the best actress Oscar in 2006 for playing the title role in The Queen. (PA)
Smoking ‘kills’ Marlboro man
Eric Lawson, who portrayed the rugged Marlboro man in cigarette ads during the late 1970s, has died in California. He was 72.
Lawson died on January 10 at his home in San Luis Obispo of respiratory failure due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, his wife, Susan Lawson said.
A smoker since the age of 14, Lawson was an actor with bit parts on such TV shows as The Streets Of San Francisco when he was hired to appear in print Marlboro ads from 1978 to 1981.
A few actors and models who advertised Marlboro cigarettes have died of smoking-related diseases. They include David Millar, who died of emphysema in 1987, and David McLean, who died of lung cancer in 1995. (AP)
Giant barbecue on highway
A California highway became one giant barbecue after a truck carrying 76,000 lbs of beef ribs caught fire.
The rear wheels of the truck overheated on Interstate 40 in Ludlow and by the time firefighters arrived it was engulfed in flames.
A police spokesman said the fire gave off “a wonderful BBQ beef rib odour”. (AP)
A onesie a day for a cancer charity
A 46-year-old pub manager plans to wear a onesie every day for a year in an attempt to raise money for a cancer charity.
Chris Kiff, who runs the Nags Head in Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, hopes to raise thousands of pounds in donations for Macmillan Cancer Support.
Kiff, who is nearly 6ft tall, says he will not return to his normal shirt and trousers until January 2015. “I’m walking around in an adult babygro. It’s completely against what I would normally wear,” he said. “But I’ve had friends and family who had to deal with cancer. I think the people at Macmillan are just great.” (PA)
New river dolphin in Brazil
Scientists say they have discovered the first new river dolphin species in nearly 100 years inhabiting the Araguaia River in Brazil’s vast Amazon rainforest.
The discovery of the Inia araguaiaensis was officially announced in a study posted online by the Plos One scien-tific journal.
Biologist Tomas Hrbek works at the Federal University of Amazonas in Manaus and is the lead author of the study. He said the new species is the third found in the Amazon region. (AP)