Two Francis Bacon self-portraits are going on public display for the first time after they were rediscovered in a private collection.
Experts knew of the existence of the works, but had no idea who had bought the paintings soon after they were completed around 40 years ago. Now descendants of the original collector have decided to sell the portraits, which are estimated to fetch £15 million each at auction.
Self-Portrait 1975, painted at the height of Bacon’s career, and the triptych Three Studies for Self-Portrait (1980), will go on show at Sotheby’s in London and New York before going under the hammer in July.
Driver followed by his stolen truck
A man driving to work noticed that his stolen truck was following him, setting off a chain of events that included a pursuit, a crash and an arrest.
Police in Piedmont, Alabama, said a man called 911 after noticing he was driving in front of the truck that had been stolen from him earlier that morning. Police attempted to stop the stolen vehicle, but the driver did not stop and a pursuit ensued.
The driver crashed the vehicle and was ejected as the truck rolled over, he was then captured after a chase on foot. He has been charged with theft and possession of burglary tools.
Drags freezer past sleepy attendant
Police said a thief worked for 15 minutes to drag a freezer full of ice cream past a sleeping attendant at a filling station near Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Surveillance cameras captured a man walking up to the Oakland Park store to find the clerk sleeping. Authorities say the man opened the freezer, peered at the employee, looked directly into the camera and flashed a middle finger.
After a few minutes, he carefully pulled the $2,500 freezer through the store’s doors. Police later arrested Dennis Norman on grand theft charges.
Finds lost ring after half a century
A man in his 60s has been reunited with his high school class ring nearly 50 years after he lost it at a beach.
Dan Toomey, originally from Massachusetts, was at the beach with friends in 1966 when he lost the 10-carat Amesbury High School class of 1967 ring.
Dan now lives in Anchorage, Alaska, and says he had not thought about the ring for a long time before he learned a tourist had found it on the same beach buried under eight inches of mud. The tourist took the ring to the school, and employees did some detective work and found its shocked owner.
Solo kayaker to paddle for charity
A solo kayaker is aiming to paddle to all of Scotland’s lifeboat stations to raise money for charity.
Nick Ray will set off on the 2,015-mile trip on May 1 and expects to take between three and four months to complete the challenge. He will visit 47 lifeboat stations on the journey and hopes to raise thousands of pounds for the RNLI.
The 51-year-old, who has been living on a yacht in the marina on the Isle of Kerrera, just off Oban, will start at Kippford on the Solway Firth and travel clockwise before finishing in Eyemouth in the borders.
Prolific bra bandit strikes again
A prolific bra bandit has apparently struck again at a US shopping mall.
Police say someone stole 25 bras this week from a Victoria’s Secret store at the Wyoming Valley Mall in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Police said 94 bras had already been taken from display drawers.
The stolen bras are valued at more than $7,700. Police have not identified any suspects and are not sure if the thefts are the work of a lone bandit, several people working together or random thieves.