Peaky Blinders superfan says he gets mobbed by fans mistaking him for Tom Hardy
Meet the Peaky Blinders superfan who bears a striking resemblance to Tom Hardy’s character and says he’s regularly mobbed by fans mistaking him for the star.
Aron Walker, 37, is a huge fan of the BBC drama and started donning a flat cap, long coat and full beard – to look like his favourite character, Alfie Solomon, played by Tom Hardy.
Aron didn’t initially see the resemblance but says strangers came up to him in the street mistaking him for the star.
He says he and his friends – who also dress up as characters from the show – even infiltrated the Peaky Blinders set in Castle field, Manchester, in June, 2022 causing confusion.
Aron’s friend, Scott Blowers, 50, an installation manager, is also often mistaken for Tommy Shelby – played by Cillian Murphy – and his other pal, Steve Pritchard, 42, a Truck Driver, is the spitting image of Arthur Shelby, played by Paul Anderson.
Aron has even turned being a doppelgänger into a career and has once earned £600 working as a performer where he does meet and greets as well as working behind the bar.
Aron, a barman, from Liverpool, Merseyside, said: “What we’ve done is finding the best of the best of people that look like characters from the show.
“You also have got to make sure they are right person for the job.
“The job we do, and we never take it too seriously, it’s all about having fun as well.
“It’s important to get things exactly right. The better the costume, the better it’s going to look and when we are entertaining the crowd which is brilliant.”
In June, 2022, Aron and his crew were heading for a photoshoot at the same time as the Peaky Blinders were filming in the area of Castle field, Manchester.
These security guards mistaken them for the main characters and let them through on set which caused disruption with the fans.
Aron said: “It was very surreal, and we went down for a photoshoot round the area where they were filming. As we were walking up and the securities looked at us and waved us straight in and we had the free run of the set.
“There was big piles of coal and Shelby signs everywhere and it was so cool. We were there for an hour and a half, and we looked on social media and people were saying the peaky blinders of us on Twitter, and we went viral.
“There was about 250 people following which I didn’t really like too much.”
Along Aron’s journey he has also been gifted some accessories that he can use when he goes to these events.
He has been gifted shoes from Loake as well as rings and he even an Alistair Cook long coat which is a prominent outfit in the series.
Aron’s career kickstarted in the Peaky Blinders bar in Liverpool where he was spotted as a really good Alfie Solomon’s. Next he then opened the Peaky Blinders bar in Manchester and the rest is history.
Aron said: “We did bar work and then between that we did private events over in Benidorm and done cruises over in Amsterdam and done Peaky blinder nights at a gold club on the Isle of white.
“There is always something to do and It’s something I’ve done for quite a while but I do enjoy it, If I wasn’t enjoying it, I would’ve stopped doing it.”
Bizarre London sign giving directions to California corrected – after 15 years
A bizarre sign in south London pointing to destinations in the USA has finally been corrected – after going unnoticed for nearly 15 years.
Most locals who passed the baffling sign – which indicates which lane to be in to get to Malibu or Laurel Canyon in sunny California – say they never even noticed it.
But the roadsign, which locals believe was altered around 2010, has now finally been corrected by Southwark Council after the error was pointed out.
A similar sign on the opposite side of the road points drivers to lanes for the correct destinations of Rotherhithe and Peckham, with the corrected sign now mirroring these directions.
The sign had directed drivers to the famed beach city of Malibu and the mountainous neighbourhood of Laurel Canyon in the Hollywood Hills, where 60s music icons such as Jim Morrison, Joni Mitchell and Frank Zappa lived.
Southwark Council suggested the fact that Rotherhithe was a popular place to live, like Malibu and Laurel Canyon, might have been the reason it had gone ‘under our radar’ for so long.
Joyce Kirton has walked past the sign for nearly 30 years but admitted she’d never before noticed that the destinations it pointed to were half the world away from her home city.
“I have never noticed that – and I’ve lived here for 30-odd years,” the 60-year-old said.
“Maybe it’s a joke, but I walk this way loads and I’ve never noticed it before.”
Christy, from Ireland, now lives opposite the sign and said it had been there throughout all three years he’s lived in south London.
“It has always been here,” the 29-year-old, who works in marketing, said.
“I don’t know if it’s an inside joke or something.
“I guess it’s a bit of a laugh. I noticed the Malibu sign but, myself not being British, I didn’t know if there was somewhere in southeast London called Malibu.”
Gabriel and Lorena, from the Italian island of Sardinia, said that they, too, presumed Malibu and Laurel Canyon were in London.
“I thought maybe it was twinned with somewhere else,” Lorena admitted.
“We have that in Italy. I thought it was a genuine sign for somewhere in London.”
Gabriel joked: “Maybe Malibu really is in that direction.”
Christy’s housemate, who only moved in a few months ago, added: “I spotted it as soon as I moved in.
“It reminds me of being in LA.”
But locals who never noticed it are now too late, as Southwark Council has since replaced Malibu and Laurel Canyon on the sign with Peckham and Rotherhithe.
Cllr James McAsh, Cabinet Member for Clean Air, Streets and Waste at Southwark Council, said: “You’d be forgiven for confusing Rotherhithe with Malibu or Laurel Canyon as popular places to live where history and nature meet.
“That might explain why the sign has gone under our radar and we are now in the midst of amending it.”
Adorable kitten nursed back to health after being found without a tail or ears
An adorable kitten has been nursed back to full health after being found without a tail or ears.
The tiny stray feline, which was named Kiara, was just ten weeks old when a good Samaritan discovered her wandering wearily through the streets.
They then took the cold and hungry cat to the nearby Woodgreen Pets Charity, in Cambridgeshire, to be assessed by their staff.
On arrival, she was transferred straight to its veterinary team for a thorough examination, and they identified wounds where her ears and tail should have been.
These wounds had already started to scab, so thankfully she didn’t need any treatment.
A charity spokesperson did not know how Kiara sustained her lesions but added: “It may have been frostbite or happened because of a traumatic injury.”
Kiara also had a nasty infestation of fleas and worms so she was given treatment to get rid of them and was then kept under supervision for the following days.
But after she was provided with plenty of food, warmth and care, all of which she accepted enthusiastically, she made a remarkable recovery.
Kiara has since been rehomed with an adoring new family.
A spokesperson from Woodgreen Pets Charity said: “Despite her unknown start in life, young Kiara was surprisingly full of confidence and very sociable.
“She craved constant affection from everyone around her.
“Kiara stayed with one of Woodgreen’s Cat team for a couple of days, before going to stay with a foster carer, which helped prepare her for life in her new home.
“Two weeks after arriving at Woodgreen, Kiara was rehomed to a loving family.”
They added: “Sadly, Woodgreen has seen an increase in stray cats and kittens coming to its centre.
“Over the past 12 months the charity has taken in 205 stray cats/kittens, compared to 150 over the previous 12 months.”
Female mechanic, 21, owns a garage – defying men who ask “are you the cleaner?”
Meet the 21-year-old female mechanic who owns her own garage – defying bloke who ask her “do you just clean the cars then?”
Marijke Booth said she’s used to working in a ‘man’s world’ – and when she started in the trade she couldn’t even get boots to fit.
But after stuffing out the end of her steel-toe boots with socks she’s got stuck into being a full-time mechanic.
She hassled a local garage into giving her a job as a mechanic, built her own car and scored a place working for a race team, and now owns her very own garage.
Marijke said it’s been far from easy – male customers often defer to her male colleagues and advertising is dominated by male faces.
But she’s glad to be running her own business in the trade and being the role model to other women that she always wanted.
Marijke, from Thirsk, North Yorkshire, said: “I feel very fortunate and I’m very proud.
“I just love cars, and working on engines, and the business is doing really well.
“I found my niche and decided to go for it and it took off: we have lots of happy returning customers.
“I had saved all the money I ever had – I’m not a spender, and I’ve re-invested everything we’ve made back into the business.
“I’m a single-focus person. I knew this is what I wanted and I put 100% of my energy into achieving it.
“If I asked for work and they said ‘no’ I just kept pestering: I’m very persistent.
“I just worked for nothing: I wasn’t payed, I just really wanted to be there.
“Outside my jobs I tinkered on my own car, or I went round other garages and watched them work so I could learn new skills.
“I didn’t read books or magazines. I just got my hands dirty and watched and learned, and created opportunities for myself.
“From a very young age women aren’t encouraged to work with cars: posters are all men fixing cars and women waiting for the work to be done.
“Everyone wants to have someone to look up to: I didn’t have that, but I’m really glad to have become the roll model for others that I always wanted.”
Marijke, who achieved 11 A*s at GCSE and taught herself A-levels while pursuing her career, said: “It’s so important to follow your dream if you find your niche.”
Marijke always enjoyed watching Top Gear with her dad when she was young.
Something clicked into place when she helped her friend James fix his car in 2019.
She went to a local garage and asked them for work experience, but initially they said ‘no’.
Marijke showed up at the forecourt every day to watch the mechanics at work, and kept asking, and eventually she was taken on as an mechanic.
At first her bosses had to order in special kit to fit her small frame.
She’s been laughed at, and called a cleaner, and said even other women tell her she won’t be able to stick at her job.
She said: “There are always comments: it’s not conscious, I don’t think people even realise they’re doing it.
“Mum and I went to buy my work clothes and we were just stared at the whole time – nothing fit me.
“I had to pad out my steel-toe boots with socks because I couldn’t get them in a size six, or even a seven.
“None of the gloves at work fit my hands.
“My bosses and colleagues have always been great, but in previous jobs I’ve had customers say I’m a distraction to my work mates.
“There were so few women working in motor sport, it’s shocking: people used to laugh and make jokes about me cleaning the cars.
“Even if I’ve been the one to fix someone’s car customers still gravitate to my male partner to talk about technical stuff.
“And women always tell me I’ll get tired of being in the workshop and will eventually prefer to be in the office: I just don’t agree.
“I do feel very on my own, and that I don’t belong, but that will change and I’m pleased to be a part of that change.”
She started building her own car – to race in the 116 trophy series – and caught the attention of a race-team organiser.
Offered a place, she went to work fixing and maintaining race cars for BMW motor sport team JC Racing, in 2021, and helping in the pits at weekends.
Soon Marijke found she was constantly responding to people’s enquiries about their cars, so she and partner Daniel Clad, 22, decided to set up shop together.
They hired a unit and started their own BMW specialist garage, Element Performance, in April, and Marijke says the business is going from strength to strength.
The pair work ten-hour days six days a week.
Mom gives birth to baby weighing over 11 pounds
Mom Nicole Taylor was stunned to give birth to a baby boy weighing a whopping 11 lbs 7 oz and said, “I’m glad I had a C-section.”
Nicole – who is just 5’2″ – says the size of her second son George even shocked surgeons when he was delivered on October 17.
The average weight of a newborn baby boy in the U.S. is around 7 lbs 8 oz, meaning George was almost 50% heavier than the average newborn.
She and her husband, 6’1″ Tommy, 33, had to remove the newborn insert from their car seat to bring George home from Leeds General Infirmary, as it was too small for him.
He was also instantly in size two diapers and 0-3 month clothes because none of his newborn clothes fit him.
Legal PA Nicole, 30, who wears a size 10-12, said, “The week before I was due, I decided to go for a C-section as they told me about all the risks associated with having him naturally.
“I’m so glad I did, as I think it would have been horrific.
“I was really shocked because he looked so big. All the surgeons were saying, ‘He’s massive!’ They couldn’t wait to get him on the scale.
“They said he could be the biggest baby born at LGI in five years. Tom and I were like, ‘Oh my god, he’s massive.’
“I was a bit concerned there might be something wrong with him being so big, but he’s had all his checks, and he’s fine.”
Mom-of-two Nicole, from Leeds, said she’d been told during her pregnancy that George was likely to be big.
She had started to show quite early in the pregnancy, and the couple’s first son, Leo, now eight, weighed 8 lbs 12 oz when he was born.
But she was left stunned by George’s size when he was delivered.
She added, “I started to show quite early, but people were saying, ‘You do show quicker with your second,’ so I didn’t think anything of it.
“At the scan, they were saying he’s a big baby and measured him at 9 lbs 2 oz at 39 weeks. One of the nurses said, ‘You must just make big babies.’
“He’s lovely, he’s thriving, he just won’t stop having a bottle. He has a five-ounce bottle every two hours, and it’s not enough for him.”
Nicole and George were allowed home two days after the birth, and the baby is now settling into family life.
The beaming mom added, “Leo was so good; he was excited to be a big brother.
“He was in school when George came, and they announced it in assembly, and everyone cheered.
“He is heavy. We’ve had lots of visitors, and they still can’t believe his size. Some people have struggled to hold him for long.
“He’s chunky but beautiful. I’m just absolutely over the moon. He’s absolutely beautiful, and such a nice baby.”
Rare theatre token from 1766 found and on sale for over $6,000 and still valid today
A rare “loyalty card” theater token created to help fund the construction of a famous theater in 1766 is expected to sell for over $6,080—and is still valid today.
The small silver token was one of only fifty produced in 1766 to help fund the building of the new Bristol Theatre—now the Bristol Old Vic.
It entitled the bearer to watch every performance played there. Of the 50 minted, only 20 silver tickets and one gold one are known to exist.
“It’s a very special piece of history,” says auctioneer Jay Goodman-Browne.
“To think that this silver token was instrumental in the creation of one of the most important theaters in the world is remarkable.”
The original owner of the token was Daniel Harson, known to be a dissenting minister from 1758 until his death in 1779.
In 1816, the ticket and relevant share were recorded as being held by one John Palmer, also of Bristol.
In the 19th century, the token changed hands several times, including Theater Lessee’s James Henry Chute in 1861 and Andrew Melville in 1887.
In 1925, the Final Dividend List shows ticket 31 as being owned by A. A. Levy-Langfield, and it stayed in the family until being purchased by the current owner in 2009.
The auction house confirmed with the Heritage department of the Bristol Old Vic whether or not the token is still valid, and Bristol Old Vic was happy to confirm that it would still be honored if presented.
“Only a handful of these have ever come up for auction,” adds Jay. “The fact the Bristol Old Vic will still honor them is wonderful and could potentially make this a very wise investment for any theater lover!”
Token No. 31 carries an estimate of $6,080 to $12,160 and goes under the hammer on November 21 at Bristol-based saleroom Auctioneum.
It can be viewed on the auction house’s website, www.auctioneum.co.uk.
Britain’s youngest racing driver is four-year-old with eyes on Formula 1
Britain’s youngest racing driver is a four-year-old boy who can zoom around in a kart at 40mph before he can read and write.
Little Raef Virdee has only just started school, and is already being tipped to become a future racing star by current F1 drivers.
Raef takes driving lessons every week at MPH Karting Academy, Solihull, West Mids., watched on by his proud parents Lionel and Armadeep.
The pint-sized speedster got into racing after watching F1 on TV with Lionel, 35.
The property developer said: “I think racing is in our DNA. My dad worked at Jaguar developing engines and I’ve always loved cars.
“Raef would always be playing with toy cars and whizzing around in the electric cars he had.
“When he was just one he was reciting the names of his favourite drivers like Schumacher, Barrichello, Raikkonen and Massa.
“His interest and ability has grown and he has a real talent for knowing how a kart handles and he has no fear.”
Talented Raef, from Birmingham, has already caught the eye of Mercedes F1 driver Frederik Vesti during a one-to-one session.
The Danish driver, who started racing aged eight, said: “He’s four years old, so he has got a big advantage on me.
“He’s already quite impressive and it’s just cool to see.
“The next step is going racing against other kids of course, learning to pedal, try to overtake and defend, eventually winning his first race.”
Raef will be old enough to compete with other young drivers in January when he turns five.
Recently he smashed the record at the Midlands Sutton Hill track with a lap time of 45.18 seconds.
Speaking after Vesti put him through his paces on the track, Raef said: “It was fast. I wanted to overtake him.
“I want to be a Formula 1 driver and zoom and win the World Championships and all the races.”
Raef met Vesti after his dad Lionel met the driver at the Goodwood Festival of Speed last year and told him about his son’s hobby.
Raef now has a full-time coach, Harry Darby, who trains him each week at MPH Karting Academy in Solihull, West Mids.
Harry said: “The lap times never lie, and he’s producing some extremely quick lap times, to the point where I’m having to do some practising to make sure that he doesn’t beat me.
“He’s our fastest bambino driver that we’ve ever had in the last five years.”
Proud mum Amardeep, 36, is also keen on racing and often watches Raef whizzing round the track.
She said: “Raef is so talented and we want to support his dream.
“Outside of racing he’s happy playing with his cousins, meeting with extended family and friends, having play dates and going to the park.”
Detectorist unearths nugget of gold shaped like Britain
A detectorist has made the ”discovery of a lifetime” after unearthing a nugget of gold – shaped like Britain.
Jonathan Needham, 54, found the gold on the Staffordshire and Derbyshire border – and believes it was formed naturally beneath the ground there.
The nugget – shaped like England, Wales and Scotland – is almost 3cm in length and over 1cm wide and weighs 10.3 grams.
Retired tree surgeon and treasure seeker Jonathan says his ”Holy Grail” find on November 1 is his ”most interesting ever”.
He is now in the process of confirming whether the piece of gold is natural or smelted.
The nugget as scrap could be worth around £800 – but if it is evidence of gold mining in the Midlands in the past it will be worth much more.
History buff Jonathan said: “I really could not believe it. I have dug gold before but I was not expecting to find a nugget of gold.
“When you are detecting in England to find a nugget of gold is exceptional.
“When I dug it I could see it was gold coloured and I knew straight away that it was gold – but I thought it could have been some bit of jewelry but it is not.
“It was quite funny – when I started cleaning it and turned it around I thought ‘that looks just like England’.
“It is rare enough to find a piece of gold but to find one that looks exactly like England is crazy.
”The jury is out whether its natural or whether its part of a smelting process and the gold was smelted and then dropped.
”People are saying it’s natural – if it is natural then I found this on the Derbyshire Staffordshire borders. It could open up a whole can of worms.’
“Some experts are going to have to look into it and if it is natural gold it is going to be worth a lot more money than scrap gold.
“I am hoping it is a natural nugget and if it is it would be extraordinary because not many get found in this country.
“If it is natural gold it will be one in a life time.”
He is now hoping to return to the same area to see if he can discover more similar finds there.
He added: “I will be checking out the area very carefully to see if I can pull any more out – it is an amazing find.”
Last year Jonathan discovered a “one in a billion” Bronze Age artefact – after founding the 3000-year-old dress or cloak fastener on a patch of land in Staffs.
Jonathan wanted to be a treasure hunter decades ago after watching TV about finds.
He is passionate about ancient history and loves watching The Detectorists.
But he was always too busy working – so had to wait until after arthritis forced him to go part-time to take up the hobby.
And now his hobby has turned into a profession.
“This is what I do. I am a treasure seeker I don’t do anything else – this is my job,” concluded Jonathan.
He now runs a YouTube channel where he shares his metal detecting adventures called The Detector-hist: https://www.youtube.com/@TheDetector-Hist
Family’s $1,460 fly-tipping fine after bin bag stolen from their home and dumped
A young couple has been slapped with a massive $1,460 fly-tipping fine – after one of their bin bags was stolen and dumped 30 feet from their home.
Abigail Swinn, 24, and partner Travis Raggo, 25, left two bags full of domestic waste and old clothes for collection.
Thieves pinched the bag and ripped it open to steal the clothes before dumping the rubbish 30 feet from their home in Boston, Lincolnshire.
Days after the theft, an enforcement officer from Boston Borough Council knocked on their door.
The officials said they had used letters found in the rubbish to trace it back to the couple, and Abigail and Travis were both fined $730 each.
Abigail, who has a three-year-old daughter Lexi, says she now fears the couple will be unable to afford to pay for Christmas.
The nursery worker said: “It’s ridiculous to think we would fly-tip outside our own home when it was bin day.
“I’d even checked on the council website, which stated you can leave up to four bin bags out with your bin.”
Abigail and Travis had been renovating their bedroom and loaded bags of rubbish which they took to the tip.
They could only fit nine in their car, so left two bags out with their bins on Monday, October 28, ahead of Wednesday’s collection.
Two days later, they were each slapped with a fixed penalty notice, and the council even shamed them by posting a picture of one of their bin bags on Facebook.
Abigail added: “We’d just thought the bins had been collected, but one day an enforcement officer knocked on our door and accused us of fly-tipping.
“I have no idea how the bin bag was ripped open. At first, I thought it could have been a fox, but there was no food in the bag.
“I looked on Facebook, and apparently the day before, a man had been pictured stealing someone else’s bin bags.
“I’ve heard other incidents of people’s rubbish bags being stolen for any clothes which might be inside.”
Abigail has reported the theft of the bin bag to Lincolnshire Police, which has confirmed a report of anti-social behavior.
She added: “We haven’t paid the fines, and I’m trying to ask the council to cancel them because it is just not fair. We haven’t done anything wrong.
“We might have to pay up though because if we lose any court case, we’d face a criminal conviction or up to a $62,000 fine.
“We can’t risk doing that; we don’t want a criminal conviction.”
Boston Borough Council has cracked down on fly-tipping, and culprits can be issued fixed penalty notices (FPNs) of up to $1,220.
In July, the council vowed to “eradicate” the problem and boasted it had issued 237 FPNs in 12 months.
A spokesperson said: “We take allegations of environmental crime offenses very seriously as it impacts the cleanliness and safety of our community.
“If a member of the public contacts us regarding a fixed penalty notice, we are committed to reviewing the circumstances around each case and ensuring that the correct process is being followed.”
Couple say “I D-ewe” as they wed – surrounded by sheep
This loved up couple said “I d-ewe” on their wedding day – by spending it surrounded by sheep.
Paula Sassen met husband Klaas when she bought a bottle-fed lamb from him and the couple hit it off instantly.
They bonded over their love of Herdwick sheep, which is native to the Lake District.
The couple, in their forties, hoped to marry at Yew Tree Farm in Coniston, Cumbria, which was owned by Beatrix Potter and is known for breeding the breed of sheep.
But as they didn’t have enough time to arrange the necessary paperwork, they tied the knot at a registry office in nearby Kendal.
And they had their wedding reception at the farm on August 7, surrounded by the adorable sheep, sipping champagne and posing for photos.
Paula, of Ouddorp in the Netherlands, said: “Yew Tree Farm was the perfect place for us to celebrate our wedding.
“The history, the sheep, and the breathtaking scenery made everything feel so meaningful and magical.
“A real highlight of our day was sipping champagne surrounded by the very sheep that had brought us together.”
Paula, a teacher, and Klaas, an engineer, now hope to return to the Lake District in the future to celebrate their anniversary.
Klaas, an engineer, said: “Our day was absolutely perfect – just us, surrounded by the Herdwicks we love, at a place with so much meaning.
“The whole experience felt like a dream come true, and we couldn’t have asked for a more memorable way to start our married life.”
Jo McGrath, who runs Yew Tree Farm with husband Jon Watson, said Paula and Klass’ wedding day was “really exciting.”
She said: “It was a really exciting day and the weather was on our side too.
“We were delighted to help Paula and Klaas celebrate with their two guests, who enjoyed an afternoon tea and a champagne toast in the field with our wonderful sheep.”
