Mail On Sunday

Winston Churchill was in one of those 'black dog' depressing periods in his life, the 'wilderness years', as he called them, when he was frustrated, nothing was going right and there seemed no outlet for all that potential for greatness he felt inside him. He was out of Parliament following the rout of the Tories in the 1929 general election and broke, having lost a fortune in the Wall Street Crash that same year. He threw himself into a heady social life. He drank and gambled and holidayed abroad as the guest of his chum, the wealthy newspaper magnate Lord Beaverbrook. At Beaverbrook's villa in France in the spring of 1930, he was introduced to the sassy Doris Delevingne, a society temptress who happens to be the great-aunt of supermodel Cara Delevingne.

Handbag dogs are out of fashion again, and now massive mutts are back in. Lizzie Jones, who has two Newfoundland dogs, says they're scared of the cat despite being more than 6ft from nose to tail. Kirsty Simms, a dog walker, claims her Neapolitan Mastiff Ugo is a gentle giant who craves custard creams, and Lisa Thorne (pictured with Leonberger Mr Moose) says her pooch hogs the sofa so she ends up on the floor.

RICHARD EDEN can disclosed that Heston Blumenthal, 51, has become the father of a baby with French estate agent Stephanie Gouveia. The child was born just a few months after his divorce from Zanna, 52, with whom he has three children. During their marriage, he had an affair with American cookery writer Suzanne Pirret, who has said her favourite things are 'food and sex'.

Stephen Fry (pictured arriving at LAX airport in Los Angeles yesterday) has been seen in public for the first time since speaking out about his cancer diagnosis. He appeared in high spirits following the release of a heartfelt video online where he spoke candidly about being diagnosed with the deadly disease. In the film, he said: 'Cancer is just something that rings in your head. 'I've got cancer', I went around saying to myself; 'Good heaven's Stephen you're not the sort of person who gets cancer'.'

Despite the efforts in bringing grooming gangs to justice, sexual exploitation is still rife with perpetrators showing 'remarkable persistence' in targeting victims, a report has found. The serious case review by barrister David Spicer also identifies failures by police and social services, who repeatedly let down victims by not dealing with the abusers until a change of approach in 2014. Operation Sanctuary ultimately resulted in 112 offenders being jailed for a total of almost 500 years. Among them was an 18-strong grooming gang in Newcastle (pictured), whose members were found guilty of rape, sexual assault, trafficking and inciting prostitution.

Zoe Ball has left her beachfront mansion in Brighton (top) for an eighteenth-century property in the quiet village of Ditchling, East Sussex (bottom). Miss Ball, 47, whose boyfriend Billy Yates (pictured together, top right) took his own life last year, had been living two doors from her ex-husband Norman Cook, in a villa they bought in 2012. She revealed her excitement at moving house on her Radio 2 show last weekend, saying: 'I don't know if any of them are listening, but thank you to my new neighbours. I've just moved over the Downs a little bit into a lovely village and I have been inundated with cards and flowers from people, which is so lovely.'

Daniel Kaluuya the fourth black Londoner to be nominated for an acting Oscar or Golden Globe in as many years. Not so long ago, the identikit Oscar nominee from these shores was cast from a very distinct mould. Well-spoken, posh and possessed of a peculiarly British charm, they were also white. Today, that mould has been not so much broken as shattered into fragments, courtesy of a generation of extraordinary actors. Last week Daniel Kaluuya, the 28-year-old son of Ugandan immigrants, won a Bafta as Rising Star - voted for by the public. But that might prove to be merely a curtain-raiser for something even more dramatic. Next weekend, he will take his place at the Oscars in the running to win the Academy Award for Best Actor.

Beatrice Mayhew was proud to call herself a model, straight-A student. She took her studies seriously and her diligence and exemplary attitude earned her respect among teachers and pupils alike. When it came to selecting a head girl, the 15-year-old was an obvious choice. Sensible and level-headed were words that were readily used to describe Beatrice. She hadn't even had a boyfriend - nor did she really want one - and, as for the sexually charged antics of other girls her age, she was smart enough to steer well clear. She was coerced into sending pictures to Liza, but she was, in fact, Cambridge University graduate Dr Matthew Falder (left, right), who was this week sentenced to 32 years in prison for committing a catalogue of vile, paedophilic crimes online.

Shocking new footage (left) has emerged of the moment witnesses frantically rush towards the two boys who were killed by a suspected drink-driver. Two-year-old Casper Platt-May and his brother Corey, six, (top right) were out on a half-term trip to the park with their mother, Louise, and their aunts and cousins when the tragedy unfolded. The group were crossing a residential street in Coventry when a hatchback allegedly ploughed into them, smashing a pushchair the younger boy was sitting in to pieces. The newly released footage shows the moment shortly before and after the collision, with a black car caught travelling along the road on CCTV. The moment of impact was not caught on camera but people are then seen rushing over to the two boys. Two people were also spotted being arrested after the incident (inset).

Henry Bolton told the nation he had split up with model Jo Marney after it emerged she said Meghan Markle's African heritage would 'taint' the royal family last month. But today the politician admitted he lied about distancing himself from her in a bid to keep his job and revealed he and his 25-year-old girlfriend had never left one another's side. The pair put on a united front as they left the Radisson Blu Edwardian Hampshire Hotel in Leicester Square earlier tonight hand in hand (pictured).

Major Robert Campbell (left), 45, said he had been left 'broken' after the Ministry of Defence told him and two other soldiers they would be dragged before a judge-led inquiry. One of his colleagues is said to have resigned from the Army in fury after being told he faces a public grilling over the incident. Major Campbell, along with his comrades, has been relentlessly investigated - and repeatedly cleared - over the drowning of 19-year-old Said Shabram (inset) in May 2003. They have now been told they will be forced to give evidence in public to the Iraq Fatality Investigations (IFI) to satisfy human rights laws. Pictured right: a Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal (top right) and Iraq Campaign Medal (bottom right), which were among the service medals handed back by Major Campbell.

Martin Paine, director of Mercia Investment Properties (MIP), which owned the freehold of Blythe Court in Coleshill, Warwickshire, has been called a 'crook' in the Commons. The firm's management of the block is said to be one of the worst examples of a freeholder imposing 'unjustified and onerous' terms on buyers. But Mr Paine enjoys the spoils of his property investments with his wife Margaret Anne Kirmond at a gated barn conversion in the idyllic Cotswold village of Lower Slaughter, where the average house price is £867,000. By the time the lease on one flat bought for £58,000 three years ago ends in 2110, the current yearly rent of £8,000 will be £8million.

The woman who was found dead on the M20 has been named as 32-year-old Dominque Worrall (pictured), a mother of two from East Sussex. Horrified motorists raised the alarm earlier this week when her body was discovered on the busy motorway near Ashford, Kent, on Tuesday night. Police are treating the death as unexplained and are said to be investigating whether she was killed at a holiday camp before being dumped on the motorway. It is understood she was struck several times by passing cars and lorries but it is unclear whether or not the woman had already passed away. Her devastated friends today have paid tribute to the woman they described as being 'happy go lucky' and 'the best mother in the world'.

British snowboard sensation Billy Morgan landed two huge jumps in the Big Air event to win bronze and make Pyeongchang TeamGB's most successful Winter Games ever. The 28-year-old maverick had the audience - including Ivanka Trump - on the edge of their seats as he sailed through the air in his third and final jump making a 'double grab' of his board before a perfect landing.

The 1920s bungalow in Ibthorpe, Hampshire has been transformed by engineer James Kater and his TV producer partner Georgina Wilson who were looking for land to build a house on in 2011. The couple, who are originally from Australia have managed to double the floor space available in the property with a massive extension to the rear - which cannot be seen from the road. The couple paid £400,000 for the property in November 2011 and spent £150,000 and nine months on the transformation. While the bungalow retains it original facade, the plumbing and electrics have been replaced. Even the garage has been doubled in size - which now features a newly-installed guest bedroom. To the rear of the property, the house has 10-foot high folding doors which open up the back of the extension during the summer. The new extension also has an air source heat pump and under-floor heating.

All over the world, there are strange and baffling playground designs that couldn't possibly have been designed with real, living children in mind. There are those that seem incredibly dangerous. There are others that are highly inappropriate, with shapes that look like genitals. And there are those that are the stuff of nightmares, with creepy characters and chilling that are sure to scare anyone of a jungle gym for life.

Sickening CCTV footage shows the moment thug Mark Quigley repeatedly stamps on his defenceless victim as he lies unconscious on the floor of a pub in Cumbria. The father-of-four was jailed for nearly 7 years for the attack, which began when the victim said something that offended him. Quigley dragged Ryan Burns off his stool, slammed him to the ground then stamped on him. The 43-year-old Quigley's wife, a nurse, came to Mr Burns assistance but he told her to 'let him bleed out'.

Police have charged the boyfriend musician of the model daughter of Holby City star John Michie with manslaughter, after she was found dead at a music festival. Ceon Broughton, 28, from Enfield, north London, has been charged with the manslaughter of Louella Eve Fletcher-Michie who died at the Bestival music festival in September, Dorset Police said.  The body of Louella Eve Fletcher-Michie, 25, was found off a path next to a secluded wooded area on the edge of the Bestival site in Dorset at 1am on September 11 last year.

Tens of thousands of Haitians are still living in limbo eight years later (pictured: Haiti's historic Port-au-Prince Iron Market which was hit by a fire last week). NGOs had billions of dollars in donations to spend, but now Haitians are asking: 'Where did the money go?' Jonathan Katz, author of The Big Truck That Went By: How The World Came To Save Haiti And Left Behind A Disaster, says there were lots of good intentions, but that huge sums were squandered on tent cities, bags of rice and the salaries and air fares of aid workers. Crucially, and appallingly, there was no long-term planning.

Lukas Mikoliunas, 18, was remanded in custody having been found guilty of attacking his former teacher Christian Dawson on March 18, 2017 outside a petrol station in Hull. The 40-year-old father-of-one suffered extensive injuries and was blinded for 24 hours following the attack. Mikoliunas attempted to appeal his conviction at Hull Crown Court. He will be sentenced next month for the attack and a separate burglary offence. Mikoliunas was remanded in custody until his sentencing hearing.

A wave of deadly attacks by the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad and his Russian ally on eastern Ghouta has left nearly 100 children dead and scores of others needing hospital treatment. The Syrian 'White Helmet' volunteers have been taking wounded children to hospitals (left). Among those treated are two girls (top right), including one with a blood stained face. A nurse at a hospital cleans up a child hurt in the five day onslaught (bottom right). The White Helmets captured images of what they say were missiles loaded with flammable liquid raining down on the city of Hamouria in eastern Ghouta, Syria.

In the depths of a mountainside in Texas, a 200ft tall 'cuckoo clock' is being constructed which is designed to outlive our civilisation. Costing £30million and backed by an internet billionaire, the 10,000 Year Clock will sit in a massive man-made shaft with giant cogs (bottom right) and a titanium pendulum (left) installed inside the mountain. Its giant components are already being assembled. The timepiece is intended to run for thousands of years with little, if any, maintenance by humans. Jeff Bezos (top right), the founder of online marketplace Amazon, is investing part of his £75billion fortune in the scheme.

Writer Charlotte Bingham's father, John Bingham, worked for MI5 and was the inspiration for John le Carré's spy George Smiley. In a fascinating - and hilarious - new memoir she recalls how she was just 18 when she learned about his secret life of guns, burglaries and 'bogeys', and how he insisted she work at MI5 as a secretary. Left: John Bingham in 1958; right: Charlotte Bingham.

Motorists making their way home could be forgiven for having to take a second glance in their mirrors after a toy car was spotted strapped to the back of a recovery lorry. The Little Tikes Cozy Coupe was pictured along a stretch of the M77 south of Glasgow, fastened to the back of a recovery vehicle. Social media users have been quick to jump on the bandwagon and share the hilarious image.

Despite his size and lack of experience, nine-year-old Suffolk Punch horse Craikhow Hall Jensen has proven to be an adept jumper and has even gone out with the local hunt in Leicestershire. Until the horse was bought by Bruce McKim, pictured in all three photographs riding him, he had only been used for breeding but after three days he was being ridden and soon after was jumping. After getting fit and shifting a few pounds, he made his debut at the local hunt three weeks ago.

Grandfather-of three Bruce Ropner (left), from Beadale, Yorkshire, was crowned the 1962 British two-man bobsleigh champion just three years after jumping in a toboggan for the first time. The octogenarian has the only privately owned, dry bobsleigh push-start track in the country at his son's estate, where he still jumps in for a slide (bottom right). And despite two false hips and two new knees he still slides on ice, and last hurtled down a terrifying full-size luge at 75mph last year in Austria. The former Welsh Guard has not met any other sliders anywhere near his age - and reckons he is the only person in the world to bobsleigh in seven different decades. Pictured top right: Bruce (back) and his brother Jeremy Ropner at the 1962 World Championships in Germany.

Commuters waiting for a Tube in Canary Wharf station formed a perfect queue while passengers prepared to alight from the Jubilee line train in an unusual display of civility.

This is the humiliating moment two British tourists are forced to apologise after fighting with a tuk-tuk driver - because he couldn't find them a ladyboy. The pair were riding around in the local's rickshaw for several hours while trying to find a transsexual prostitute in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. But the taxi driver said the pair became aggressive when their search was unsuccessful. A tall blonde tourist was filmed making a grovelling apology to the driver while police in green uniforms calmed the situation.