"I love wearing leather shorts at aged 70 – you should never give up on yourself"
By Emma Dunn
Meet the 70-year-old who isn’t afraid to don leather shorts and mini skirts and says you should "never give up on yourself".
Faye Browne, who turns 70 at the end of the month, has always loved fashion and follows the latest trends – wearing mini skirts and slinky dresses.
The fashion designer says clothing makes her feel “confident” and she never leaves the house without feeling put together.
Faye describes her personal style as “classic but edgy” and wants to inspire other women to “wear everything”.
She often gets told she looks 20 years younger and says she doesn’t feel her age.
Faye, creative director at Motto Fashions, from Melbourne, Australia, said: “Most people are shocked to find out my age.
“They think I am 50 or 55.
“I don’t know what a 70-year-old feels like.
“A lot of people don’t think they can still wear a pair of shorts.
“I wear anything going.
“You can too – as long as you wear it in your style.
“Never give up on yourself.”
Faye has loved fashion ever since she was a little girl – growing up around Italian women who always looked “sensational”.
She started sewing when she was just aged 10 and set up Motto Fashions in 1984.
Faye said: “I grew up believing I was ugly.
“I always wanted to make myself look beautiful.
“When I got to 60 I looked back at the photos and thought 'why did I think I was ugly?'
“Once you wear clothing in a certain way you can feel a difference. You have confidence.”
Faye has always been “trendy” and feels clothes have an impact on how others see you.
She said: “The way you look is important.
“The way you dress yourself has a bearing on how people treat you.
“I feel like the way you dress tell the world everything.
“I always want to be put together.
“I can’t leave the house without being put together.
“I can go without make-up but I have to have the shirt and shoes look.”
After surviving breast cancer and undergoing a mastectomy before she turned 50, Faye gained a new perspective on life.
She said: “You have to love yourself no matter what.”
Faye believes you can wear what you want – no matter your age.
She said: “It’s nothing to do with age.
“I wore a sexy outfit on my 70th birthday.
“Who cares about the wrinkled neck?"
Faye stays young and fit by staying active - lifting weights twice a week and going on regular hikes and walks.
She doesn't smoke or drink and eats a healthy diet.
Faye said: “I’m OK with ageing.
“I celebrate everyday.
“My mantra is - the older I get, the better I get.
"I love life the way it is.
"I don't intend to retire."
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Owners build secret dog door in fence for "best friend" dogs
By Hannah Van De Peer
Two dogs who became "best friends" are now able to see each other whenever they like - after their owners built a secret door in their fence.
Pooches Fritz and Trapper, both five years old, have been next door neighbors for the last two years.
Having both struggled with anxiety, their owners, Miranda Stockton, 45, and Whitney Tipton, 35, built the door to encourage the pups to play.
Now they can’t get enough of each other with Golden Retriever Trapper constantly sticking his nose under the fence to signal he wants to see his best friend, Fritz, a German Shepherd.
Miranda, a software engineer, from San Francisco, USA, said: “Fritz and Trapper are best friends - despite having super different personalities.
“I see Trapper popping his head under the fence - so Whitney and I will text each other and ask if we can unlock the door.
“Our partners both thought it was weird at first - but they already played together at the dog park, and Trapper would just break my heart whenever he’d come looking for Fritz.”
Miranda rescued Fritz in 2022 from the Humane Society and he had a number of anxiety issues which stopped him socializing with other dogs.
Around the same time, Whitney adopted Trapper - who she says has “boundless energy”.
The next-door neighbors decided to introduce their dogs to each other - hoping they’d bond.
Miranda said: “As they grew up, Fritz and Trapper would smell each other under the fence.
“Their personalities are so different - Trapper is a big, sweet, blundering idiot with a goofy smile.
“While Fritz is a very smart dog - and you can just tell he’s judging you.
“I think they really bonded on the fact that they were both a bit funky with other dogs.”
At first, the pair would take Trapper and Fritz to the local dog park - where they’d “aggressively” play with each other.
But after a while, Trapper started to stick his head under the fence to look for his friend.
“I asked Whitney if we could build a dog door,” Miranda said.
“I couldn’t take Trapper under the fence anymore, it was killing me.
“She said ‘no - it’s too weird’.
“I said 'it’s not weird'. They already play together - and Trapper would always squish his little nose under the fence to see Fritz.”
Miranda messaged Whitney’s husband, Joe Parks, 35, with screenshots of dog door pictures on Pinterest.
He loved the idea and the pair tried to convince Miranda’s own husband, Josh Levenson, 47, to get on board.
After calling a carpenter and getting quoted for $600, Josh and Whitney decided to go for it.
Miranda said: “We worked with him to design it - I shared my Pinterest photos with the carpenter.
“He made a door to replicate the photos I had on my board - a perfectly-framed, little wood door with mini locks on both sides for privacy.
“It was only $300 each - Whitney and I paid half-and-half.”
Now, Whitney and Miranda often unlock the door when they get home from work, and allow the dogs to play with each other.
“Fritz has grown so much in confidence because of this,” Miranda said.
“He’ll come up to Trapper and now they’ll just start playing.”
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Puppy left covered in sugar puffs after tearing into cereal boxes
By Samuel Wightwick
A cheeky pup tore into boxes of cereal - with her fur left covered with sugar puffs.
A hilarious video shows owner Heather Hunt, 51, coming home to discover her two-year-old Zuchon Crumpet completely covered from head to toe.
Heather can be heard shouting "For the love of God! Who has left the cereal cupboard open?"
She later discovered her son Ryan had managed to trap the other two dogs, George and Mildred, in the front room and left Crumpet in the kitchen with the cereal cupboard door wide open.
Heather, a head of year at a secondary school in Oldham, Greater Manchester, added: "I came back in from shopping and it was all over the floor everywhere. I went mad.
"She got into two other cereal boxes too but the sugar puff cereal is covered in honey so it stuck to her fur like tar."
Heather tried to get the cereal out of Crumpet's fur but it proved to be lodged very deep.
She added: "I couldn’t get them out. I tried to wet them but it just turned them into wallpaper paste.
"When I finally decided to take her to the groomers, it took them them nearly three hours to wash her, cut all of the cereal out and make her look like a dog again.
"She looked like an completely different dog - almost like a different breed.
"She was shaking and everything afterwards, as she was so used to her thick coat."
This isn't the first time Crumpet has gotten herself into mischief as Heather says she is always up to something.
She said: "She’s always getting into trouble.
"I have an artificial grass garden with no mud in it at all and somehow she managed to come back with a her face caked in mud!
"Her and the other two dogs are always in the shopping too, I can't leave a bag unattended as they'll be straight into the ham.
"They drive me insane but I love them to death."
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Terrifying moment man is 'kidnapped' and thrown in van in broad daylight
By George Mathias
Police are hunting a gang of kidnappers after footage emerged of a man being pulled into a van in broad daylight.
CCTV footage shows a red van pulling up outside a house before three men get out and head down an alleyway.
Moments later, the three are seen dragging a man into the van as he tries desperately to escape before they make off, in Bradford, West Yorkshire.
Ali Rafiq, 40, whose CCTV camera caught the assailants, at 11am on March 6, said: "I was in total shock when I saw it.
"I felt guilty as I had been at home at the time and thought I heard somebody moaning and groaning - but I just thought it was an argument.
"It was only when I watched the footage back I realised what had happened and immediately phoned police.
"Had I not been at home and watched it back nobody would have known it happened - it's very scary."
West Yorkshire Police said: "Police are investigating a report of kidnap after a man suffered injuries on Westcroft Road, Bradford at around 11.10am on Wednesday 6 March.
"The victim suffered injuries to his jaw and ribs.
"Enquiries are ongoing by Bradford CID."
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"I spent £4k on an eyebrow transplant using hair from back of my head"
By Emma Dunn
A woman spent £4k on an eyebrow transplant – just like Chrissy Teigen – and says her new brows make her feel “younger” and more “confident”.
Siham Cyrine, 29, had hair from the back of her head transplanted onto her face.
She decided to have the four hour operation after feeling self-conscious of her thin eyebrows which she had overplucked as a teenager.
She previously tried microblading and spent 45 minutes every day just doing the make-up on her brows.
After researching and seeing the likes of Chrissy Teigen getting an eyebrow transplant she decided to go for it herself.
Siham had the transplant in November 2023 and is now delighted with her new full brows.
Siham, a content creator, from LA, California, said: “I had thick eyebrows growing up.
“I plucked a lot. I started to lose my eyebrows in my 20s.
“Eyebrows are so important to me.
“Now I love them so much.
“I feel so much more confident.”
Siham had naturally thick eyebrows growing up but after being bullied for them she ended up plucking them a lot.
She said: "People said 'you have a unibrow' and laughed."
She found her eyebrows never grew back and started thinning out even more in her 20s.
Siham tried microblading but found the ink bled out and didn’t give the desired shape she wanted.
She said: “I started researching other options. So many people overplucked, I thought there had to be a solution.
“I started seeing more about eyebrow transplants. Chrissy Teigen did it.”
Siham went for several consultations before settling on Dr. Ducu clinic in Westminster, London.
She had consultations to draw up the perfect eyebrow shape before a small portion of hair was taken from the back of her head.
The hair follicles were then placed carefully on Siham’s face in a four hour procedure.
Siham said her brows looked "really odd" at first and they scabbed over before her hair fell off.
She said: "You're back to where you started."
Siham's eyebrows then started to regrow in December 2023 and now four months later are nearly fully grown.
She said: “I used to spend 45 minutes on my eyebrows alone. When I didn't have make-up on my eyebrows were and insecurity.
“Now I only take ten minutes.
"I feel more myself.
"They make me feel a bit younger."
Siham says her eyebrows will take nine months to fully develop but she's already happy with the results.
She said: "Eyebrows are such a big part of your face and identity."
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Dad buys terminally-ill 18-year-old son "dream" $20k Mustang before he dies
By Ben Barry
A dad bought his dying teenage son his $20k dream car - as he doesn't have long enough to save for it himself.
Joseph Tegerdine, 18, started experiencing knee pain in 2019 when he was 13 years old but his parents Joe, 49, and Kerry, 46, put it down to "growing pains".
The pain persisted for a few weeks and started to keep Joseph up at night so he went for an x-ray and MRI at Methodist Richardson Medical Centre in Richardson, Texas, US.
The MRI results showed Joe had a synovial sarcoma - a rare type of cancer that tends to occur near large joints, mainly the knees - and he started chemotherapy 10 days later.
In May 2019, Joseph finished the treatment and went for a rotationplasty - a surgical procedure used to treat bone tumours in children that occur near the knee.
Joseph was given a 70 per cent survival rate but, in January 2022, Joseph was told the cancer had spread to his lungs and his hip and he had months to live.
After his terminal diagnosis, Joe went out and bought his son a 330 horsepower Ford Mustang as he had always dreamed of owning his own.
Delighted Joseph told his dad: 'I'm going to squeeze a few extra months of life just to be able to drive this'.
Now the family are making the most of the time they have left and have visited Los Angeles to see Taylor Swift, Florida to swim with Dolphins and are currently in Tokyo.
Joe, a businessman, from Springville, Utah, said: "Joseph had been talking about owning a Mustang for a couple of years.
"He was always talking to me about buying one but we kept putting it off.
"Once he got his terminal diagnosis I spoke to my wife and said there was no way he has enough time to save money - so I went out and bought him one.
"He was so excited, he told me he wants to squeeze out a few extra months of life to drive the car.
"He really wants to live life to the fullest. He is not interested in spending the last few months hooked up to machines.
"He wants a high standard of living."
The family was devastated when Joseph was first diagnosed.
Joe said: "They said they could see a growth.
"We then had an MRI and that same day we got a call.
"My wife knew it would be bad news and they confirmed it was a synovial sarcoma.
"It was so devastating because not only did the doctor say it was one of the worst cancers and the hardest to treat.
"You didn't have Google to know that the statistics for survival were not good.
"We knew he would need to have his right leg amputated - it was horrible we just didn't know what the outcome looked like."
Joseph started chemotherapy on February 14, 2019 at Medical City Dallas Hospital, Taxes.
Then on May 3, 2019, he went for a rotationplasty.
Joe said: "Part of the treatment was that he would need an amputation.
"After the surgery, he had more chemotherapy until October 2019.
"He was the healthiest kid, he had never seen the inside of a hospital.
"His body was very strong and all the information they give you from when they take out the tumour looked very good."
In January 2022, scan results showed Joseph's cancer had spread to his lungs which took his survival rate from 70 per cent to 10 per cent.
He then underwent two surgeries to remove the tumour in his lungs which were successful.
Joe said: "After we got the all clear, Joseph started a drug trial where they would inject listeria bacteria into his body and programme them to kill the cancer cells.
"Unfortunately, in February 2023 his cancer spread to his hips.
"The doctor told us that we were talking about months and not years.
"Just a few weeks ago, doctors found a large tumour in his lungs and Joseph has now started radiation to prolong his life."
When he was growing up, Joseph had always dreamed of owning a Ford Mustang.
After his parents found out Joseph was dying they bought him his own car so he could drive around in it before he died.
Joe said: "He has been talking about it for a few years and constantly looking and searching for the perfect car.
"After our last hospital visit, I spoke to his mum and said there is no way he will save enough money in time to buy it so we bought him it ourselves.
"When we collected the car, Joseph was able to drive it home and he turned to me and said: 'dad, I'm going to squeeze a few extra months of life just to be able to drive this'."
The family have been making sure Joseph lives his final months to the fullest and is currently on holiday in Tokyo, Japan and are planning a trip in the summer depending on how well Joseph is.
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“Britain’s smartest dog” knows the names of all 231 of his toys
By Hannah Van De Peer
Meet “Britain’s smartest dog” - a border collie who knows the names of all 231 of his toys.
Martin Morris, 48, has been teaching seven-year-old Max the names of his toys since he was 12 weeks old.
Along with his wife, hospital cleaner Helen, 49, Martin has spent £1,115 on toys for Max - and now claims he can recognise every single one.
They shout the name of a toy - such as 'Hector the hedgehog' - from another room, and Max can root through seven bags of toys to find the correct one.
Martin, a taxi driver from Shrewsbury, Shropshire, said: “Max is a very talented boy - we think he should be famous.
“We’ve got seven wash baskets, overflowing with toys. We’re at 231 now, and he knows every one of their names.
“You can test him all you like - even with toys that haven’t seen the light of day in a while. He’ll still recognise it.”
Martin and Helen adopted Max - born from two working sheepdogs - from a farm in Manchester.
The “name game” has become a nightly ritual ever since - and the couple insist it keeps the pup sharp.
Martin said: “It’s taken us seven years to get to this stage - we read about the US collie called Chaser, who knows the names of 1,022 toys.
“But I don’t think any dog in the UK has managed to surpass 231 - making our boy the smartest.
“We’d buy Max a toy pretty much every week - Hector the Hedgehog, Sophia the Squirrel and Deeno the Dino, to name a few.
“And every night, before we go to bed, we play the name game.”
The “name game” involves Martin and Helen calling to Max from their bedroom, after lining a selection of his toys up on the floor.
They shout a name to him, and he has to run and identify the toy.
Martin says the hound has always been able to do this without treats, or any other incentive.
“We’ll go, ‘where’s…’ in an exaggerated voice - and then say the name of the toy.
“And off he’ll pop, looking for toys on the floor.
“He’ll smile at us afterwards, with this big smile that looks like a human’s.”
The couple have no plans to stop testing Max any time soon - and still buy a new toy for him every week. .
Martin added. “His favorite is Leo the Lion - he’s the first one we ever bought for him, and he still remembers him.”
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Family mortgage-free after selling UK home and buying “dream” £7k rural idyll in Bulgaria
By Emma Dunn
A British family “escaped” the UK for Bulgaria for their “dream” home and are now living mortgage free after buying an abandoned house for just £7k.
Laura Phoenix, 33, and her husband Anthony, 32, moved 1,941 miles to Strazhitsa, Bulgaria, in September 2023 with their daughters – Cecelia, four, and Nova, two.
The couple wanted to live off-grid to be sustainable after seeing the state of plastic waste on beaches in Thailand.
But Laura and Anthony, a stay at home dad, couldn’t afford a rural home in the UK and decided to look in Bulgaria for their dream place – after seeing others do the same on YouTube.
The couple found and bought an abandoned three-bedroom property in Strazhitsa for £7,000.
They sold their UK two bedroom home for £85k and moved from Darlington, County Durham to Bulgaria in September 2023 and have been renovating the property ever since.
Since moving Laura says her skin condition has vanished and the family feel “free”.
Laura, an online English teacher and writer, said: “We bought a home on a whim.
“But it’s our dream home. We don’t have any mortgage.
“I developed a skin condition and had bad flare ups.
“When I got here it just vanished.
“I feel we were pushed out of the UK.
“I feel like we had no choice.
“We don’t want to both work hours for 40 hours a week just to exist.
“In England it is so unattainable.”
Anthony said: “Even if you own a property in the UK the cost of living is so much higher.
“We’ve always decided when we want to do something we jump at the opportunity.”
Laura and Anthony had always had a love for travelling but were devastated when they saw the state of the beaches in Thailand.
Laura said: “There was too much plastic everywhere.”
They came back to the UK and set up an eco-friendly and refillable shop in 2018 and managed to buy a fixer upper old council house for £55k.
But the pair had a dream to live off-grid together with their kids but after seeing prices around £500k for what they wanted they started to look abroad.
Laura said: “We were trying to find land for an affordable price.
“We were binge watching YouTube and dreaming of somewhere we could be free.”
After seeing other Brits move to Bulgaria, the couple set their sights on doing the same and spent two weeks finding their family home in May 2022 – falling in love with the town of Strazhitsa, Bulgaria.
They sold their business and Darlington home to buy their Bulgarian dream outright and moved in September 2023.
Laura said: “The garden had a whole mattress in it.
“Anthony demolished the top floor.
“We removed all the rats and vermin.”
The family are currently living in one side of the house with a temporary kitchen while they wait for the harsh winter to pass to continue renovating.
They have spent less that £2k so far and hope to be have it completed in the next three years.
The couple have a quarter of an acre where they have already started to plant seeds to grow spinach, onion, and garlic.
They also have a blueberry, raspberry and strawberry bushes.
Laura said: “We want to grow as much as we can.”
The family want to be as self-sufficient as possible and are looking at getting composting toilets and solar panels. They currently have to drive 40 minutes to their closest supermarket.
They have a well on the land that they hope they can use for their water supply in the future.
But Laura said it hasn’t all been plain sailing – as the family have had to get used to the harsh winter and deal with paperwork to gain residency.
Laura said: “Bulgarian winter can be quite harsh.
“I don’t want everyone to think it is easy because it is not.
“I don’t think everyone would have what it takes to come here but you can if you’re tough and you want to escape.”
Anthony's parents - Laura, 61, and Eddie Phoenix, 71, are also buying the neighbouring home for £3k and will be using it as their holiday home.
Laura said: "It will be like a family compound."
Laura and Anthony are homeschooling their children and “don’t believe” in the school system.
Laura said: “I was told if I went to university I’d be set for life but I wasn’t.
“It’s frowned upon in Bulgaria to home educate.
“We’re teaching them to grow things and learning the language.
“They are constantly visiting towns and museums.”
The family also have a campervan they hope to get back on the road so they can travel Europe as a family.
Laura said: “I walked outside my door before in the UK and there would be thumping music.
“Now it’s birds tweeting.
“It’s just different here.
“We live in such a noisy society but here everything is quiet.”
Phoenix family costs in the UK and Bulgaria -
Mortgage in the UK - £180 a month
Gas and electric - £25 a week on a pay as you go meter - £100 a month
Council tax - £120 a month
Bulgaria Mortgage - £0
Electric - £60 a month
Wood for heating for all winter - £118
Council tax - £60 for two years (plus fines)
Saving £4,168 a year
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Mum creates wholesome workshop for dads to learn how to style their daughters’ hair
By George Mathias
A mum runs hairdressing workshops teaching dads how to style their daughters hair because it's "not just a job for women".
Sarah Eaton, 38, teaches men how to brush hair, tie it back, style it and do plaits and braids.
She got the idea after she started lessons showing mums how to do elaborate braids - and many said their male partners would like to brush up on their skills too.
Now she runs hour-long Dad & Me workshops at her local community centre where they learn how to do the basics like ponytails, bunches and buns on their kids.
Sarah, a hairstylist, from Armadale, West Lothian, said: “It’s for any child with long hair and acts as a safe environment where they can ask any questions.
“I teach them the basics of how to brush their hair and how to use de-tangle spray.
“At the end of the hour session they are all able to do the basics and every dad has said to me how much more confident it has made them feel.
“The look of admiration on their face after each session is amazing.”
Sarah, who runs her own company Bonnie Braids, came up with the dad workshop idea after trying to dress up her two daughters Ella, nine, and Aisling, seven, for Halloween in 2022.
She bought them both them red synthetic wigs which she planned to braid but was surprised to find how hard it was to do.
After chatting to mums in her town, Sarah decided to launch a workshops to show mums how to do Dutch and French braids.
Sarah said: “It went really well, and then a few mums started telling me how their husbands wanted to learn how to tie and brush hair, so I decided to set one up for them.”
Sarah has run three sessions so far, and says they are only getting more and more popular.
“It’s usually the mums who are signing the dads up, but then the dads come and the reaction of their face when it finally clicks is so nice to see," she said.
One of the activities in the workshop which draws the most laughs is when the dads are learning how to do the high bun.
Sarah added: “We get the kids to stand up, the dads hold the hair up high and while the girls spin around, the kids are so happy because dad can do a bun for their ballet.
“It’s all about overcoming the fact that doing hair is a female goal, it’s not.”
Sarah runs the workshops on an “ad hoc basis” with a maximum of eight dads per session.
“It just goes to show who valuable it is to break down stigmas," she said.
"Dads should feel just as able to do their daughters hair in the morning before school.”
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Pet rooster climbs into owner's bed to wake him up at 7am every morning
By Leo Black
A pet rooster climbs into his owner's bed every morning to wake him up at 7am.
A video shows Rourou the rooster clattering down the hallway, jumping on the sofa and on its owner's bed to let out an ear-splitting crow.
Owner Qi Wentong adopted Rourou, three, after his previous owner fell ill.
Rourou has been living with Qi in Tangshan in China's Heibei Province and is allowed to roam freely around the house.
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