World Leaks

WEMBLEY, MARACANA, Stadio Olimpico, Tunbridge Wells Sports Centre.

All of these venues will have one thing in common come Monday. They will have hosted a World Cup final.

Facebook/English Subbuteo Association

The Subbuteo World Cup is coming to Tunbridge Wells[/caption]

Facebook/English Subbuteo Association

Players from 26 nations will battle it out[/caption]

Facebook/English Subbuteo Association

Tunbridge Wells will host more than 300 players[/caption]

It seems odd that a commuter town 30 miles outside London should stage the climax to a huge international football tournament.

But if you’re into Subbuteo it’s no surprise at all. This weekend, 300 players from 26 nations plus hundreds more fans are flocking to a leafy part of Kent to see the famous table-top game ‘come home’.

Subbuteo was devised by former RAF man Peter Adolph in 1947, in the village of Langton Green on the outskirts of Tunbridge Wells.

It is still regarded as the cradle of a unique game which has stood the test of time and seen off the challenge of video games to be bigger than ever.

The Subbuteo World Cup is everything that a real one is, with the exception that the players are one inch high plastic figures being flicked around a piece of cloth by fully grown adults in two halves of 15 minutes. Thankfully, there is no VAR.

Other than that it is much the same as any modern day FIFA World Cup, boasting all the colour, controversy drama and passion of the man-size game.

Tournament host and English Subbuteo Association ‘technical director’, Stewart Grant told SunSport: “We have players coming over from Australia, Brazil, Singapore and Japan and even a player from Ukraine.

“He is actually French but he lived out there before the war so he is playing for Ukraine. And there’s a team from Tunisia – the only African nation being represented.

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“There are multiple categories. There are groups, seedings and then like any other World Cup it goes into a knockout format and on to the final.

“It can get very passionate, it really can. It’s very intricate in how players flick the ball and move forwards.

“It moves at such speed that when players score they will run off pumping their arms, chests and running around.

“In the team event players bundle each other like you see on a real pitch. Players curse when they scuff a shot.

“The passion levels can get very high and there will be disagreements like there is in real football. Especially among the Continentals, who take it very seriously. This year we want that passion. We want to get in people’s faces.

“It never comes to pushing and shoving but there have been instances at local and national level where players have disagreed with something on the pitch, picked up their players and walked off.

“We are actively encouraging people to come down in England kits, bring flags. And if a goal goes in, cheer it.

“When we have gone abroad to places like Italy they all cheer their team on so much that it can be intimidating.

“This is our chance to give it back and create a cauldron, so when people play us they are scared and are nervous.

“We have got to semi-finals and quarters. But now we have the players that with the right draw, can go on and win it.”

‘THREE CENTIMETRE LIONS’

England have yet to lift any of the numerous trophies up for grabs in the Veterans, Women’s, Individual, Team, Under-16 and Under-12 categories in the now biennial tournament.

The ‘Three Centimetre Lions’ have a top squad and even staged training camps in Milton Keynes to make sure nothing is left to chance or a badly positioned digit.

Vastly experienced campaigner Justin Finch once had his flicking finger insured for £50k.

Ruby Matthews is a huge star in the Under-16 category. Hadley Chapman has been playing only 18 months but is already team captain for the U12s.

The event has made it to broadcast with it being streamed live on X.

Grant, also a Youtuber, said: “There is a multi camera set up and even guest commentaries. In Tunbridge Wells they are so passionate about this game originating there.

“There are museum exhibitions, walking tours. They are so proud that the game came from there. The fact it is ‘coming home’ has brought everyone together.  We have brought Subbuteo back to where it was born.

“That’s why it’s the biggest World Cup there has ever been. It is in our backyard.”

The draw is on Friday and England have their work cut out to be crowned world champions like they were on home soil in ‘66 at Wembley under Bobby Moore.

Spain has a great player in Carlos Flores but he can’t make it. There’s a lot of relieved people out there

Stewart Grant, English Subbuteo Association ‘technical director’

Grant said: “The Italians are the best in the world. The Belgians have a great youth set up with a lot of players coming through.

“Spain has a great player in Carlos Flores but he can’t make it. There’s a lot of relieved people out there.

“Some outsiders worth watching include the Maltese, who are very professional. Their national association is recognised by their Olympic Committee. They get a lot of funding.

“Subbuteo’s a cross between football, chess and snooker. It’s sport in miniature.

“If anyone thinks we are grown men playing with toys, come down on Saturday and Sunday and you will see a completely different approach.”

Facebook/English Subbuteo Association

The Subbuteo World Cup 2024 is set to take place this weekend[/caption]

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THE Bayesian superyacht sank with Mike Lynch’s two hyper-encrypted hard drives that may contain MI5 secrets, reports say.

The billionaire businessman tragically died with his daughter on board the doomed yacht off the coast of Sicily last month when the vessel was hit by a tornado.

EPA

The Bayesian sank off the coast of Sicily last month killing seven[/caption]

EPA

Businessman Mike Lynch and daughter Hannah died on board the vessel[/caption]

EPA

Divers are continuing to search the wreckage[/caption]

PA

The boat had the tallest aluminium mast in the world[/caption]

Reports claim the tech entrepreneur had a pair of hard drives that held secret information on the world’s most powerful spy agencies on board.

Divers are now scouring the sea floor for the crucial disks at the bottom of the sea before they fall into the wrong hands, La Repubblica reports.

Sources told the paper the disks held: “the great digital archive of the IT entrepreneur whose clients included the British MI5, the American NSA and the Israeli services”.

The Italian newspaper said the “super drives” are protected by “cutting-edge encryption”.

But the drives now could be a target for the hostile spy agencies of Russia, China, and Iran as they seek to steal valuable secrets.

Lynch reportedly did not trust the cloud to save his high level business secrets so always had the hard drives on him.

The billionaire partly made his wealth by creating algorithms and software widely used by top Western security agencies.

His company Autonomy won high-profile contracts with governments, including a deal to provide infrastructure to the US Homeland Security for the post-9/11 war on terror.

The Bayesian is also reported to hold other documents in the ship’s safe that could also be highly valuable.

James Bond obsessive Lynch also co-founded cybersecurity company Darktrace and employed high-ranking intelligence agents for the firm.

Investigators from Palermo have pulled no personal effects of the seven victims and 15 survivors from the ocean yet.

But last week, divers recovered surveillance equipment from the yacht that will hopefully be able to shed light on its final moments afloat.

Divers have also recovered the ship’s hard drives as they continue their investigation.

However, the ship had no black box and there are worries the Bayesian’s hard drives may not be water resistant.

The captain of the doomed Bayesian, James Cutfield, 51, is being investigated for manslaughter.

Kiwi Cutfield, along with two other members of his crew, are being investigated by Italian authorities for culpable shipwreck and multiple manslaughter.

Prosecutors are also probing ship engineer Tim Parker-Eaton, from Clophill, Beds, and sailor Matthew Griffith, 22 under the same charges.

The 184 ft Bayesian was carrying 22 people when it sank within minutes of being hit by a downburst – a strong, localised wind – while anchored in Porticello near Palermo.

The luxury vessel was caught up in a tornado which caused it to sink in the early hours of the morning.

Fifteen of those on board were rescued on a life raft, while the yacht’s cook Recaldo Thomas was discovered dead in the water shortly afterwards.

Specialist divers recovered the bodies of billionaire Lynch, 59, and four of his guests, from the first cabin on the left.

Officials said the victims had scrambled to reach air pockets in the yacht, which sank 164ft stern-first before rolling onto its right side on the seabed. 

Investigators are understood to be rifling through CCTV footage and photographs taken by locals on the night of the storm to understand why the boat sank so quickly. 

Chief Prosecutor Ambrogio Cartosio said the victims would have been asleep when a tornado-like waterspout struck the boat, leaving them unable to escape.

Lynch had just won a court case over the sale of Autonomy to tech giant HP after being accused of fraudulently raising the price.

The 59-year-old had been living under house arrest in San Francisco, US, with just his beloved dog Faucet for company, for well over a year.

He was finally acquitted just months ago and spoke about longing to spend time with his wife, Angela Bacares and their two daughters.

In 1996, he started software company Autonomy, which would be used to analyse huge swathes of data from unstructured sources like phone calls, emails and videos.

Describing his small team he said: “Eccentric people working really hard on a project. No bureaucracy. No admin. Lots of late nights, lots of eating cold pizza”.

Autonomy became an instant success and benefitted from the dotcom boom, which led it to join the FTSE 100 of top UK listed companies. 

The achievements with Mike, the chief executive officer, at the helm led to considerable praise including receiving an OBE for services to enterprise in 2006. 

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Jonathan and Judy Bloomer who also tragically died[/caption]

PA

Survivors got to shore in an inflatable emergency lifeboat[/caption]

PA

Lynch was celebrating his legal victory on the Bayesian[/caption]

ARGOS shoppers are rushing to buy garden and children items after the retailer launched its latest sale.

Among the items on sale is a 3ft trampoline for children that’s now £25, down from £45.

Argos

Argos is selling this trampoline for just £25[/caption]

Argos

You can buy the PAW Patrol Rescue Wheels Tower for £66[/caption]

The trampoline is suitable for children aged three to six years old and can be placed both indoors and outdoors.

Another popular toy on sale at Argos is the PAW Patrol Rescue Wheels Tower – and you can save one third of the price as it now costs £66, down from £100.

The tower stands nearly 1.2-metres tall, with lights and sounds, for an immersive experience and includes one playset, one vehicle and one chase figure.

If you have a Nectar card, you can earn five times the normal amount of points if you buy either the trampoline or the PAW Patrol tower from the retailer.

Argos is also selling a baby walker for half price – now costing £22.50, down from the original price of £45.

The retailer says the product features “textured wheels, easy grip handle and durable design giving all the support your little one needs.”

Among the garden items on sale there is a two-seater folding wooden bench that costs £45 – down from £55.

The bench can be folded away when not in use, which is ideal if you only need it over the summer.

As part of the retailer’s garden clearance, you can also get a three-seater sofa set for just £159, down from £192.

The set also includes cushions and a glass table top you can use for your snacks and drinks.

A shopper shared the trampoline deal on the Extreme Couponing and Bargains UK Facebook group, writing: “Argos are doing three-foot trampolines for £25 should be £45.”

A fellow customer was disappointed to have missed the deal, as they shared: “Devastated I’ve just paid 60 for one from Amazon.”

It comes after a shopper found thermal curtains on sale at Argos for just £12.50 – down from £25.

And other shoppers were amazed after the retailer cut the price of its Argos Home Premium 6 Burner Gas BBQ from £290 to £225.

Argos

The retailer is also selling a baby walker for £22.50[/caption]

Argos

As part of the garden furniture sale, you can get this bench for just £45[/caption]

Argos

Argos is also selling a three-seater garden corner sofa set for £159[/caption]

Always remember to shop around when buying something like this as you might find it cheaper elsewhere.

You can use websites like Price Spy and Trolley to compare prices on thousands of products across different retailers.

The Google Product tab is helpful for running a quick scan across the internet too.

Also bear in mind that if you order online, you might need to pay extra for delivery, so you need to add that price to the total cost too.

How to save money at Argos

There are a lot of ways to save money while shopping at the retail giant.

Checking for other vouchers and coupons can be a great way to discover hot deals.

It is always worth looking up at Argos’ website because there may be a voucher or code that will get you a discount.

Argos has a webpage dedicated to voucher codes which are valid on top of any discounts that might already be applied.

At the moment, the retailer is running at least eight different promo codes across a plethora of electronic goods and home appliances that could get you some discount.

It is also worth checking The Sun’s vouchers to get the best discounts while shopping at the retail store.

Another way to save money at Argos is to shop in the clearance section.

The big yellow part of the website is where the retailer discounts the last few products in ranges that aren’t going to be restocked.

While the products might not be the latest model, they are always brand new – and offered at heavily slashed prices.

As well as discount vouchers and codes, you can also get paid to shop at Argos.

Cashback sites like Quidco will pay you to spend at Argos as long as you click on their link.

Sites like these make their money by charging the retailer a fee for every customer referred to them by their website.

But it means that customers can make some easy money while they shop.

Buying Argos’ own products can also save shoppers some money as they are usually cheaper when compared to big brands.

The retailer stocks its value range of products to help you save even more cash.

The discount store sells its basic range in all departments including homeware, DIY and electricals.

Do you have a money problem that needs sorting? Get in touch by emailing money-sm@news.co.uk.

Plus, you can join our Sun Money Chats and Tips Facebook group to share your tips and stories

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