Koko Camden: Fire engulfs famous music venue
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One of London’s most famous music venues has been badly damaged in an overnight blaze.
The dome on the roof of Koko in Camden has been destroyed by fire, according to the London Fire Brigade.
Sixty firefighters helped fight the flames after the blaze broke out just before 21:00 GMT on Monday and no injuries have been reported.
The venue which began life as the Camden Theatre in 1900 has hosted stars including Madonna, Coldplay and Prince.
Station commander Jon Lewis said the fire was brought under control at about 02:30 on Tuesday, adding: “Firefighters’ quick action and hard work in the early stages meant the fire was contained to the roof and saved the rest of the building.”
Koko owner Olly Bengough said he was “deeply saddened” by the blaze, adding: “We’ll be doing our best to get the redevelopment of this iconic building back on track.”
The fire in the building’s roof was brought under control in the early hours of Tuesday
Crews will remain at the scene throughout the day and have warned people to stay away from the area.
Koko which was closed for refurbishment, was also previously known as the Camden Palace and Camden Hippodrome and has been one of the capital’s most iconic live music venues for decades.
The Rolling Stones, The Clash and Ed Sheeran are among other star names to have performed at the venue, which is close to Mornington Crescent underground station.
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Oliver Cooper
About 60 firefighters helped tackle a fire at Koko in Camden High Street
It was reportedly the last venue where AC/DC’s Bon Scott was seen drinking before his death from alcohol poisoning in 1980.
In the early 80s it served as a major venue for the punk and New Romantic scene, with singer Steve Strange of the band Visage holding club nights.
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Opening night at Camden Palace 1981 with Steve Strange (left)
Members of the public have been sharing their Koko memories on Twitter.
Marc Rustic was “absolutely gutted” having seen his first grime gig at Koko.
“MoStack was performing and it was honestly the best night of my life,” he added.
Veteran DJ Tony Blackburn who held his legendary soul nights Shakatak also tweeted about the fire.
Koko and the nearby Roundhouse effectively “bookended” Camden’s music scene, according to music writer Carl Allen.
In between the two are 60 music venues including the Dingwalls and Electric Ballroom, as well as restaurants and pubs.
On Twitter the Roundhouse said it was “really sad” to hear the news about our Camden neighbours.
Camden Council leader Georgia Gould said: “Heartbreaking watching the Camden Palace/Koko up in flames this evening, a building that holds so many memories and means so much to us in Camden.”
The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan thanked the fire brigade for its quick response.
The venue was set to reopen in the spring after a “major state-of-the-art” refurbishment, after the purchase of two adjacent buildings.
The venue hosted the BBC’s Electric Proms in 2007
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Koko has hosted some of music’s biggest names including Madonna, The Rolling Stones and Prince
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Norwich City v Crystal Palace
TEAM NEWS
Norwich midfielder Kenny McLean is a doubt to face Crystal Palace because of a foot problem.
Josip Drmic is not expected to return until the weekend, while Ben Godfrey and Timm Klose are long-term absentees.
Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson is again expected to be without a host of first-team players.
Christian Benteke, Gary Cahill, Scott Dann, Jeffrey Schlupp, Andros Townsend, Joel Ward and Patrick van Aanholt are all on the sidelines.
Hodgson has revealed that Martin Kelly played with a muscle strain against Southampton, while Cheikhou Kouyate has said he has a groin issue.
MOTD COMMENTATOR’S NOTES
@chriswisey: There has been a VAR hurricane swirling around the Premier League in recent days, and both Norwich and Crystal Palace found themselves in the eye of the storm.
The devil was very much in the detail of the offside calls against Teemu Pukki and Wilfried Zaha, which denied their respective teams important goals on Saturday.
Norwich really do need to start making marginal gains on those above them. They were the only team in the bottom three not to win during the festive period.
Unsurprisingly, history doesn’t favour teams bottom of the table at the start of the new year. But the Canaries are determined to prove that their attractive, attacking approach is the method to escape the minefield.
VIEW FROM THE DUGOUT
Norwich City head coach Daniel Farke: “The quicker we can get 25 points, the easier we make the period where the mind games begin.
“That is why we go game to game. Don’t be too down or too high with each result.
“We know our situation and what we are trying to achieve. We are the only self-funded club on this level, and compared to the other teams we were not able to spend any money.”
LAWRO’S PREDICTION
There’s a real spirit about Crystal Palace. Roy Hodgson’s side have come from behind to pick up points against Brighton and West Ham recently.
Norwich are not playing badly and are creating lots of chances. They’re also due a win and went close to beating Tottenham on Saturday.
Prediction: 2-1
Lawro’s full predictions v Britain’s Got Talent comedian Kojo Anim
MATCH FACTS
Head-to-head
- Norwich have won only two of the past 18 league meetings.
- Palace have won three of their last four away league games against Norwich, as many as they managed in their previous 15 visits to Carrow Road.
Norwich City
- Norwich have their worst record after 20 matches of a top-flight campaign (W3, D4, L13).
- They have won just one of their last 15 league games and are winless in seven.
- Daniel Farke’s side have conceded at least twice in nine successive top-flight home games, the second longest such run in Premier League history behind Wolves’ 11 in 2012.
- They were the only Premier League side without a win in December, despite leading in five of their seven matches. The Canaries dropped 12 points from winning positions, the most by a team in a single month in Premier League history.
- The side bottom of the Premier League going into a new year has been relegated in 23 of the previous 27 seasons, though three of the four to avoid relegation have done so in the past six seasons.
Crystal Palace
- Crystal Palace have won just one of their last six Premier League away games, after winning five of the previous seven.
- Roy Hodgson’s side are unbeaten in their 10 matches against the teams who start 2020 in the bottom nine (W6, D4).
- They have scored just four first-half goals this season, with a league-high 78% of their goals coming after the break. The fastest league goal by the Eagles this season was a Luka Milivojevic penalty in the 21st minute against Norwich on 28 September.
- Fourteen of the Eagles’ 20 league games this season were goalless at half-time, which is six more than any other side.
Croydon stabbing: Man, 60, found injured in street dies
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The victim was found suffering from stab wounds outside a property in Woodcroft Road
A 60-year-old man has been stabbed to death in a residential street in south London.
Police and ambulance crews were called to reports of a stabbing in Woodcroft Road, Thornton Heath, Croydon, at 21:30 GMT on Monday.
The victim was found outside a property with knife injuries and was pronounced dead at 21:49, the Met Police said.
A 50-year-old man was arrested at the scene on suspicion of murder and taken into custody.
The suspect became unwell while in custody and was transferred to hospital where he is in a stable condition, police said.
Det Ch Insp Simon Harding said: “The victim was found injured in a residential street. While it is not a heavy footfall location, there may have been members of the public travelling through Woodcroft Road who saw something.
“I urge those people to come forward and speak to my officers without delay.
“No matter how insignificant you think it may be please do make the call.
“We are building the sequence of events leading up to and immediately following this attack which has led to a man’s death, your call could complete the picture.”
Inquiries into the circumstances continue.
Love Island host Caroline Flack to stand down
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Caroline Flack is due to appear at Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court on 23 December
Love Island host Caroline Flack has stood down from the show after being charged with assault by beating.
“I feel the best thing I can do is stand down for series six,” she said, describing ITV2’s Love Island as “the best show on telly”.
Police were called to the 40-year-old’s home in Islington, London, last week, where she lives with her partner, tennis player Lewis Burton.
She was bailed and will appear before magistrates on Monday.
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“There have been a significant number of media reports and allegations into my personal life,” she said in her Instagram story on Tuesday.
“While matters were not as have been reported, I am committed to working with the authorities and I can’t comment further on these matters until the legal process is over.”
The star, who was due to present the forthcoming winter edition of the popular ITV2 show – which is expected to start on 12 January – added: “However, Love Island has been my world for the last five years, it’s the best show on telly.
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PA
Love Island won a TV Bafta award last year
“In order not to detract attention from the upcoming series I feel the best thing I can do is stand down for series six. I want to wish the incredible team working on the show a fantastic series in Cape Town.”
Flack began presenting Love Island in summer 2015, having fronted the 12th series of The X Factor alongside Olly Murs, and winning Strictly Come Dancing in 2014.
An ITV spokesperson said: “ITV has a long-standing relationship with Caroline and we understand and accept her decision.
“We will remain in contact with her over the coming months about future series of Love Island.”
She won Strictly Come Dancing in 2014
On Monday, Burton wrote on Instagram that his girlfriend had been subject to a “witch hunt” since being charged, describing her as “the most lovely girl”.
“I’m tired of the lies and abuse aimed at my girlfriend. This is not a witch hunt, this is someone’s life,” he wrote.
The TV star mentioned him personally online, writing: “My boyfriend Lewis… I love you.”
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Flack and boyfriend Lewis Burton
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The Shard’s festive lights return for 2019
London’s tallest landmark has been lit up in the lead up to the end of 2019.
Between 16:00 and 01:00 the next morning until 30 December, the top 20 floors of The Shard will be illuminated as part of three nine-minute sequences.
The designs have been created by the school children.
London Bridge attack victim Saskia Jones ‘was perfect soul’
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A woman who was stabbed to death in the London Bridge attack was a “fearless warrior” determined to do good, friends have said.
Saskia Jones, 23, from Stratford-upon-Avon, was killed by convicted terrorist Usman Khan, 28, as she attended a prisoner rehabilitation event .
Her friend Sebastian Lefeuvre described the Cambridge University graduate’s death as senseless.
“She was just the most perfect soul and she’s gone,” he said.
Ms Jones and Jack Merritt, 25, who was also killed at the Cambridge University organised conference, are being remembered at a vigil and service in London.
Mr Lefeuvre, who had been friends with Ms Jones since they were teenagers, said he met her at a gym, adding she was as “relentless” with her workouts as she was in other areas of life.
“She had the drive and determination to become something,” he said.
“At 23 years old she had accomplished things that people hadn’t done in their lifetime.”
Sebastian Lefeuvre said Ms Jones saw the best in people
Ms Jones studied criminology at Anglia Ruskin University before doing a masters at Cambridge University, where she carried out voluntary work with inmates at HMP Grendon.
She was applying to become a police officer.
Colleen Moore, a criminology lecturer at Anglia Ruskin who became her friend, described her as a “lovely woman” who was “fearless and a warrior”.
“She stood out above everyone – partly because she wanted to, she wasn’t afraid to say anything,” she said.
“There was no fooling her. She was really funny, she had a wicked sense of humour, she was cheeky and she was mischievous.”
Colleen Moore said Ms Jones was passionate about criminology
Mr Lefeuvre said the death of his friend “doesn’t make sense”.
“I just feel really, really sad. Usman Khan got a second chance and Saskia didn’t and that’s it,” he said.
“She hadn’t even entered the real world yet. She was a young women ready to just get out there – and she’s dead.”
Jake Partridge, another friend from Stratford, said Ms Jones was quiet until you “got to know her”.
“She was loud then, she was vibrant,” he said.
“She’d have a joke with you and would put you in your place when you were wrong.”
He said he was “heartbroken”, adding: “It’s not fair, this world has changed.”
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Bloxham School
Bloxham School, which released this picture of Ms Jones as a pupil, said she would be remembered for her generosity and kindness
Bloxham School near Banbury, where Ms Jones had attended, said it was “deeply shocked and saddened” by her death.
“Saskia was a much loved member of our community and will be remembered fondly for her generosity, kindness of spirit and commitment to serving others,” it said.
Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-Avon held a minute’s silence and has opened a book of condolence.
Rev Patrick Taylor said some of Ms Jones’ friends had visited the church as well as strangers who felt that “something that often feels a long, long way away.. suddenly has an affect on a local community”.
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Flowers were left near the scene of the attack
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Joseph McCann trial: Woman ‘kidnapped outside shop’
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Joseph McCann denies 37 offences against 11 victims
A 71-year-old woman was punched in the face before being sexually assaulted in her car by a serial rapist, a court has heard.
Joseph McCann allegedly kidnapped the woman as she was about to drive out of a supermarket car park on 5 May.
She was then driven to an industrial estate car park where he raped her, the Old Bailey heard.
Mr McCann, 34, from Harrow, north-west London, denies 37 offences against 11 victims.
In a police interview played to a jury on Monday, the 71-year-old woman said she had finished shopping at Morrisons when Mr McCann allegedly approached her car.
“He got into the passenger seat. I shouted, ‘get out, get out’ and that is when he punched me in the face,” she told Greater Manchester Police.
“He said he wanted a lift. He said, ‘I don’t want to hurt you. I have got a knife. I have killed somebody’.”
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The woman said she initially drove on the M66, but said she was made to switch seats with McCann as he wanted to buy cigarettes.
After they stopped at a service station, the woman said she was driven to an industrial estate, where she said the defendant started drinking from a bottle of wine.
In the interview she said: “We got into this car park and he said, ‘we’ll have sex now whilst we are waiting’.”
The woman claimed she was made to partially undress and forced to perform a sex act on Mr McCann.
He later drove to a cash machine where he used her bank card to withdraw money.
A “little girl” then got into the back seat with Mr McCann, the court heard.
The woman said she was ordered to drive to Manchester, but said that because Mr McCann was “messing about” he was not looking where they were going.
She told police she drove in the wrong direction, and eventually pulled up to a service station to get fuel.
The woman then ran out of the car and the girl in the back seat also ran. She said Mr McCann grabbed the car keys and drove off.
The trial continues.
Eddie Jones wary England’s Saracens stars may focus on club relegation fight
England head coach Eddie Jones fears some Saracens players could skip the Six Nations campaign to help their club avoid relegation after a 35-point deduction for salary cap breaches.
The deduction leaves the Premiership champions bottom of the table. They have also been fined £5.36m.
Sarries supplied six of the team who started for England in the 32-12 defeat by South Africa in the World Cup final.
“It could have a significant impact,” Jones told BBC Sport.
“It’s something we need to weigh up and look at very carefully.”
Saracens have decided not to appeal against the punishments imposed upon them for infringements over the past three seasons so go from third place to bottom of the Premiership on -22 points, 26 behind second-bottom Leicester.
Jones selected six of their players for the final in Yokohama, led by captain Owen Farrell. The others were Mako and Billy Vunipola, hooker Jamie George, second row Maro Itoje and full-back Elliott Daly, who is yet to play for the club after his summer move from Wasps.
“Obviously there may be some dislocation between Saracens players and the rest of the clubs,” said Jones, who was Saracens’ director of rugby in 2008-09. “That’s a reality.
“So we may have to work to mend those relationships a bit harder, and there might be some Saracens players who feel like they’ve got to play for their club instead of their country, to make sure they don’t go down. So we’ll weigh all those up as they come about.”
Former Sarries and England scrum-half Kyran Bracken believed Jones was correct to be concerned.
“Country comes first traditionally, but the players will feel a sense of loyalty to the club having won so much with them,” the 47-year-old told the BBC News Channel.
“The thought of potentially leaving comrades in the lurch and leaving young guys to it… some will decide to concentrate on Saracens.”
‘I didn’t realise how strong the class structure was’
Ensuring any issues between Saracens players and the rest of the squad do not do any damage is the latest challenge Jones must face as England coach.
Earlier he told BBC Radio 5 Live that the biggest hurdle he faced when he first took the job in January 2016 was getting to grips with the cultural differences within the group.
“I didn’t realise the how strong the class structure was in England, and how that affects the relationships between the players,” the Australian said.
“When you look at the England team from the outside it looks like a very homogeneous group but in fact it’s very diverse and there probably hasn’t been enough understanding of the diversity of the group.
“We spent a lot of time in our World Cup prep making sure we understood the value of diversity.”
A report this year revealed that 37% of male British rugby union internationals came from fee-paying schools.
Jones, who hails from a working class suburb of Sydney, was asked whether the difference came down to the stereotypical rugby divide of “posh public schoolboys and state school kids”.
“Something like that, yeah,” he said.
“If you’ve got a group of people in here now and you’ve got five Japanese people, five Australians and five South Africans, they’ll tend to congregate together and that’s OK if they’re not playing as a team.
“But if those 15 are playing as a team then you want that to be completely mixed, and they’re the subtle things I was reasonably slow to pick up on.”
General election 2019: Greens supporting Labour in Chingford
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Iain Duncan Smith has been MP for the area since 1992, when the constituency was known as Chingford
The Green Party has stood down its candidate to help Labour try to unseat former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith.
Mr Duncan Smith has been MP for Chingford and Woodford Green since 1997, and has a majority of 2,348.
The Green Party, Liberal Democrats and Plaid Cymru formed an electoral pact earlier this month. Supporting Labour in Chingford does not form part of that pact, the Greens said.
The Conservatives have been contacted for comment.
In a statement the local Green Party said the decision for John Tyne not to contest the election was made with the “ultimate hope of favouring the campaign of the Labour candidate” Faiza Shaheen.
A Green Party spokesperson it “was a decision taken by the local party”.
However, they added: “If Labour were serious in their concern for the environment they should reconsider their isolationist position on arrangements.”
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Faiza Shaheen will contest the constituency for Labour
Ms Shaheen, head of the Centre for Labour and Social Studies, said she was “so grateful” for the decision.
She said: “I will continue to fight hard for climate policy and democratic reform.”
The Liberal Democrats have selected Dr Geoffrey Seeff as their prospective parliamentary candidate for the constituency.
Mr Duncan Smith has been MP for the area since 1992, representing Chingford until 1997 when the boundaries were re-drawn to include Woodford Green.
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N’Golo Kante in Chelsea squad to face Ajax in Champions League
Chelsea midfielder N’Golo Kante is back in the squad for Tuesday’s Champions League Group H game with Ajax.
Kante, 28, has made just five starts in an injury-hit season, most recently suffering a groin problem.
“We’ve been able to get some work into him, he’s in the squad and he’s available,” said manager Frank Lampard.
Midfielder Ross Barkley (ankle) and defender Andreas Christensen (thigh) are also in training after injury lay-offs last month.
Victory at Stamford Bridge would see Chelsea go three points clear of Ajax in Group H and put them in a strong position to progress to the quarter-finals, with games against Valencia and Lille remaining.
“I said at the start that this group would be tight because all the teams could take points off each other. That has been proved to be correct,” said Lampard.
“After losing the opening game against Valencia, which was disappointing, we have shown a great reaction from that.
“I have to accept it’s expected of Chelsea to go through and that is no disrespect to any other teams. I have said already how hard the group is but it is more about our own expectations.
“That is maybe why we had that reaction. We wanted to prove ourselves, we wanted to go to Ajax and Lille and get results, and we did.
“But we won’t get carried away with ourselves in this group.”
Can Chelsea maintain 100% record against Dutch sides? – the stats
- Ajax have never lost an away Champions League match in England (W1 D3 L0), winning most recently away at Spurs in April 2019. Their last away European Cup defeat on English soil was in April 1980, a 2-0 semi-final defeat against Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest side.
- Chelsea have a 100%-win record in Champions League matches against Dutch opponents, beating Feyenoord twice in the 1999-2000 season and Ajax this season.
- Ajax have won their last five away Champions League matches – prior to this run, the Dutch side had won just four of their previous 38 away games in the competition (W4 D13 L21).
- Ajax manager Erik ten Hag has managed more away UEFA Champions League games without losing than any other manager (seven games), winning five and drawing two. Only two managers have lost none of their first eight away games in the competition – Louis van Gaal (first 14 games) and Pep Guardiola (first 11 games).
- Chelsea striker Michy Batshuayi has scored one goal every 47 minutes for the Blues in the Champions League (3 goals in 141 minutes) – the best minutes per goal ratio of any Chelsea player in the competition.
- Dusan Tadic has been directly involved in eight of Ajax’s last 14 goals scored in the group stage of the Champions League (five goals, three assists), including six of their last seven away from home (three goals, three assists).