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A marine conservation photojournalist’s “magical” picture shining a light on the underwater world of a tadpole species has earned him the title of Wildlife Photographer Of The Year.

Shane Gross, from Canada, captured the western toad tadpoles while snorkelling through lily pads in Cedar Lake on Vancouver Island, British Columbia.

He managed to snap a cloud of the amphibians, which are a near-threatened species due to habitat destruction and predators, while avoiding the visibility-reducing layers of silt and algae covering the bottom.

Titled The Swarm Of Life, the photograph has been crowned the winner of the Natural History Museum’s prestigious Wildlife Photographer Of The Year 2024 competition out of a record-breaking 59,228 entries, from 117 countries and territories.

Kathy Moran, chair of the jury, said they were “captivated by the mix of light, energy and connectivity between the environment and the tadpoles”.

This is the first time the species has been featured in the competition, which is now in its 60th year, she added.

Life Under Dead Wood

Life Under Dead Wood.
Pic: Alexis Tinker-Tsavalas/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Alexis Tinker-Tsavalas, from Germany, was awarded the title of Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year, for an up-close image featuring slime mould on the right, and a macroscopic animal called a springtail on the left, taken in Berlin.

Tinker-Tsavalas used a technique called focus stacking, combining 36 images with different areas of focus together.

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Judges said it showed great skill and “incredible attention to detail, patience and perseverance”.

To celebrate the 60th anniversary of the competition, impact awards for both adult and young photographers were introduced this year, recognising conservation success.

Recording By Hand

Liwia Pawłowska watches as a relaxed common whitethroat is gently held by abird ringer.Liwia is fascinated by bird ringing, and has been photographing ringing sessionssince she was nine.

The young impact award was given to Liwia Pawłowska, from Poland, for her image of a common whitethroat taken during a bird ringing, a technique that records length, sex, condition and age to help scientists monitor populations and track migration.

Hope For The Ninu

Hope for the Ninu 
Pic: Jannico Kelk/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

In the adult category, Australian photographer Jannico Kelk picked up the prize for a picture of a greater bilby, a small marsupial also referred to as the ninu, which was one near extinction due to predators such as foxes and cats. Fenced reserves, however, have allowed the population to grow.

Here are the other category winners.

Free As A Bird – Alberto Roman Gomez, Spain (10 and under)

Free As A Bird - Alberto Roman Gomez/ Wildlife Photographer Of The Year

Alberto watched from the window of his father’s car at the edge of the Sierra de Grazalema Natural Park, in Cadiz, Andalusia, to take this picture – managing to capture the stonechat bird as it was perched, between trips to gather insects.

An Evening Meal – Parham Pourahmad, USA (11-14)

An Evening Meal.
Pic:Parham Pourahmad/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Parham visited the Ed R Levin County Park in Milpitas, California, most weekends over a summer to take photographs showing the wildlife living in a busy city park. This picture shows a young Cooper’s hawk eating a squirrel in the last rays of sunset.

Frontier of the Lynx – Igor Metelskiy, Russia

Frontier of the Lynx.
Pic: Igor Metelskiy/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

A lynx stretches in the early evening sunshine in the Lazovsky District in Primorsky Krai, Russia. The remote location and changing weather conditions meant access was tricky, and it took more than six months of waiting for Metelskiy to capture the image of the elusive animal.

On Watch – John E Marriott, Canada

On Watch.
Pic: John E Marriott/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

This image also features a lynx, this one with its fully grown young sheltering from the wind behind it. Marriott had tracked the family group for almost a week through snowy forests in Yukon.

Practice Makes Perfect – Jack Zhi, USA

Practice Makes Perfect 
Pic: Jack Zhi/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

A young falcon practises its hunting skills on a butterfly above its sea-cliff nest. This was taken in an area in Los Angeles, California, visited by Zhi over the past eight years.

A Tranquil Moment – Hikkaduwa Liyanage Prasantha Vinod, Sri Lanka

A Tranquil Moment.
Pic: Hikkaduwa Liyanage Prasantha Vinod/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

This picture shows a young toque macaque sleeping in an adult’s arms, taken after a morning of photographing birds and leopards at the Wilpattu National Park. Vinod spotted a troop of the macaques moving through trees above, and used a telephoto lens to frame this moment as a young monkey slept between feeds.

Wetland Wrestle – Karine Aigner, USA

Wetland Wrestle.
Pic: Karine Aigner/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Karine Aigner was leading a tour group when she noticed an odd shape in the water along the Transpantaneira Highway, in Mato Grosso, Brazil – binoculars confirmed she was looking at a flash of a yellow anaconda, coiling itself around the snout of a yacare caiman.

The Demolition Squad – Ingo Arndt, Germany

The Demolition Squad.
Pic: Ingo Arndt/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Arndt’s image shows the dismemberment of a blue ground beetle by red wood ants – carving the dead animal into pieces tiny enough to fit through the entrance to their nest in Hessen, Germany.

The Artful Crow – Jiri Hrebicek, Czech Republic

The Artful Crow
Pic: Jiri Hrebicek/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

This perching carrion crow, pictured in Basel, Switzerland, looks almost like an impressionist painting, judges said. To create the effect, Hrebicek moved his camera in different directions, while using a long shutter speed.

A Diet of Deadly Plastic – Justin Gilligan, Australia

A Diet Of Deadly Plastic - Justin Gilligan

A mosaic created from some 403 pieces of plastic found inside the digestive tract of a dead flesh-footed shearwater, taken on Lord Howe Island, New South Wales. Gilligan took the picture while documenting the work of Adrift Lab, which brings biologists from different countries together to study the impact of plastic pollution on marine ecosystems.

Old Man of the Glen – Fortunato Gatto, Italy

Old Man Of The Glen - Fortunato Gatto/ Wildlife Photographer Of The Year

Gatto captured these pale “old man’s beard’ lichens on a gnarled birch tree in the pinewoods of Glen Affric, in the Scottish Highlands. The lichens indicate it as an area of minimal air pollution – in a forest which has stood for at least 8,300 years, according to pollen analysis.

Under the Waterline – Matthew Smith, UK/Australia

Under the Waterline 
Pic: Matthew Smith/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Smith used a specially made extension he designed for the front of his underwater camera housing to create this split image of a leopard seal beneath the Antarctic ice in Paradise Harbour. The young seal made several close, curious passes, he said. “When it looked straight into the lens barrel, I knew I had something good.”

Tiger in Town – Robin Darius Conz, Germany

Tiger in Town.
Pic: Robin Darius Conz/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

A tiger sits on a hillside against the backdrop of a town where forests once grew in Nilgiris, Tamil Nadu, India. Conz was following the big cat as part of a documentary team filming the wildlife of the Western Ghats.

Dusting for New Evidence – Britta Jaschinski, Germany/UK

Dusting for New Evidence
Pic: Britta Jaschinski/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Jaschinski spent time at the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) border force department, where confiscated animal products are tested. This image shows a crime scene investigator from London’s Met Police dusting for prints on a confiscated tusk at Heathrow Airport.

Dolphins of the Forest – Thomas Peschak, Germany/South Africa

Dolphins of the Forest.
Pic: Thomas Peschak/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Peschak documents the relationship between endangered Amazon river dolphins, which are also known as botos or pink river dolphins, and the people with whom they share their home in the waters of both Brazil and Colombia.

The Serengeti of the Sea – Sage Ono, USA

A clutch of tubesnout (Aulorhychus flavidus) eggs on display, carefully nestled in the crooks of giant kelp. With the changing seasons of Monterey Bay come all the little signs of new life. The ruby-red eggs and golden kelp in the darkness of the nutrient-rich, summer water take on the appearance of carefully arranged jewelry in a shop window. Looking closer at the ordinary happenings in the environment reveals the meticulous beauty of the natural world. Taken in 2022 in Monterey Bay, USA.

Sage Ono decided to take up underwater photography after being inspired by stories told by his grandfather, a retired marine biologist. This image, taken in the kelp forests in the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, California, shows tube-snout fish eggs sparkling next to the glowing kelp.

The Wildlife Photographer Of The Year 2024 exhibition opens at the Natural History Museum, London, on Friday 11 October

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Joy star James Norton on the ‘postcode lottery’ of IVF – and playing the scientist who was part of creating the first ‘test-tube baby’

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Joy star James Norton on the 'postcode lottery' of IVF - and playing the scientist who was part of creating the first 'test-tube baby'

Actor James Norton, who stars in a new film telling the story of the world’s first “test-tube baby”, has criticised how “prohibitively expensive” IVF can be in the UK.

In Joy, the star portrays the real-life scientist Bob Edwards, who – along with obstetrician Patrick Steptoe and embryologist Jean Purdy – spent a decade tirelessly working on medical ways to help infertility.

The film charts the 10 years leading up to the birth of Louise Joy Brown, who was dubbed the world’s first test-tube baby, in 1978.

James Norton stars in Joy. Pic: Kerry Brown/ Netflix
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In the UK, statistics show the proportion of IVF cycles paid for by the NHS has dropped from 40% to 27% in the last decade

Norton, who is best known for playing Tommy Lee Royce in the BAFTA-winning series Happy Valley, told Sky News he has friends who were IVF babies and other friends who have had their own children thanks to the fertility treatment.

“But I didn’t know about these three scientists and their sacrifice, tenacity and skill,” he said. The star hopes the film will be “a catalyst for conversation” about the treatment and its availability.

“We know for a fact that Jean, Bob and Patrick would not have liked the fact that IVF is now so means based,” he said. “It’s prohibitively expensive for some… and there is a postcode lottery which means that some people are precluded from that opportunity.”

Bill Nighy, Thomasin McKenzie and James Norton star in Joy. Pic: Netflix/ Kerry Brown
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Bill Nighy, Thomasin McKenzie and James Norton star in Joy. All pics: Netflix/ Kerry Brown

Now, IVF is considered a wonder of modern medicine. More than 12 million people owe their existence today to the treatment Edwards, Steptoe and Purdy worked so hard to devise.

But Joy shows how public backlash in the years leading up to Louise’s birth saw the team vilified – accused of playing God and creating “Frankenstein babies”.

Bill Nighy and Thomasin McKenzie star alongside Norton, with the script written by acclaimed screenwriter Jack Thorne and his wife Rachel Mason.

The couple went through seven rounds of IVF themselves to conceive their son.

James Norton and Thomasin McKenzie star in Joy. Pic: Kerry Brown/ Netflix
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Norton portrays scientist Bob Edwards, while McKenzie plays embryologist Jean Purdy

While the film is set in the 1970s, the reality is that societal pressures haven’t changed all that much for many going through IVF today – with the costs now both emotional and financial.

“IVF is still seen as a luxury product, as something that some people get access to and others don’t,” said Thorne, speaking about their experiences in the UK.

“Louise was a working-class girl with working-class parents. Working class IVF babies are very, very rare now.”

In the run-up to the US election, Donald Trump saw IVF as a campaigning point – promising his government, or insurance companies, would pay for the treatment for all women should he be elected. He called himself the “father of IVF” at a campaign event – a remark described as “quite bizarre” by Kamala Harris.

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Bill Nighy ‘proud’ of new film on IVF breakthrough

“I don’t think Trump is a blueprint for this,” Norton said. “I don’t know how that fits alongside his questions around pro-choice.”

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In the UK, statistics from fertility regulator HEFA show the proportion of IVF cycles paid for by the NHS has dropped from 40% to 27% in the last decade.

“It’s so expensive,” Norton said. “Those who want a child should have that choice… and some people’s lack of access to this incredibly important science actually means that people don’t have the choice.”

Joy is in UK cinemas from 15 November, and on Netflix from 22 November

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Cillian Murphy and wife Yvonne McGuinness buy cinema Oscar winner visited as a child

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Cillian Murphy and wife Yvonne McGuinness buy cinema Oscar winner visited as a child

Cillian Murphy and his wife Yvonne McGuinness have bought a cinema the Oscar-winning actor used to visit as a child.

The couple will refurbish The Phoenix Cinema in Dingle, County Kerry, south-west Ireland, next year.

The venue, which had previously been used as a dance hall, had been in operation for more than 100 years, and on the market for three before Murphy and McGuinness bought the building.

Oppenheimer and Peaky Blinders star Murphy, from Cork, said: “I’ve been going to see films at The Phoenix since I was a young boy on summer holidays.

“My dad saw movies there when he was a young man before me, and we’ve watched many films at The Phoenix with our own kids. We recognise what the cinema means to Dingle.”

McGuinness added: “We want to open the doors again, expand the creative potential of the site, re-establishing its place in the cultural fabric of this unique town.”

FILE - Cillian Murphy poses in the press room with the award for best performance by an actor in a leading role for "Oppenheimer" at the Oscars in Los Angeles on March 10, 2024. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)
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Murphy won big this awards season. Pic: AP

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The Phoenix is the only cinema in the tourist area of the Dingle Peninsula, and without it, the closest other movie theatre for residents of the town is in Tralee, almost 30 miles away.

It opened in 1919 and was reconstructed twice in the decades that followed, after fires damaged the building.

Its previous owners struggled to keep The Phoenix going amid the COVID-19 pandemic and shut the cinema’s doors in November 2021, citing rising costs, falling attendance and challenging exhibition terms.

Murphy took awards season by storm this year, winning a Golden Globe, a Bafta and an Oscar for his performance as the titular character in Oppenheimer.

Next year, he will reprise one of his most well-known roles by playing Tommy Shelby in a movie version of Peaky Blinders.

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Ed Sheeran ‘helped Ipswich sign player’ before appearing on stage with Taylor Swift

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Ed Sheeran 'helped Ipswich sign player' before appearing on stage with Taylor Swift

Ed Sheeran helped Ipswich Town to sign a player over the summer just before getting on stage with Taylor Swift, according to the club’s chief executive.

Mark Ashton claims the pop star got on a video call to encourage a prospective new signing to seal his move to the East Anglia outfit.

He did not reveal the player’s name, but said he is “certainly scoring a few goals” and is a fan of Sheeran, who is a minor shareholder at his hometown club.

“Ed jumped on a Zoom call with him at the training ground, just before he stepped on stage with Taylor Swift,” Ashton told a Soccerex industry event in Miami.

“Hopefully that was a key part in getting the player across the line.”

Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran perform onstage during "Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour" at Wembley Stadium on August 15, 2024 in London, England. (Photo by Gareth Cattermole/TAS24/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management )
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Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran at Wembley Stadium. Pic: Gareth Cattermole/TAS24/Getty Images

Sheeran and pop icon Swift were on stage together on 15 August at Wembley Stadium, one day before Sammie Szmodics signed from Blackburn.

After scoring an overhead kick in Ipswich’s 2-1 win over Tottenham this month, he shared a picture of himself with Sheeran on Instagram.

“Overhead kick, Win & a smudge with big ed. GET IN THERE,” Szmodics wrote alongside the post.

Ashton joked Sheeran is now “officially a part of our recruitment team”, adding he is a “local man” and “global superstar”.

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Sheeran has been the club’s shirt sponsor since 2021 and is regularly seen at matches at the club’s Portman Road stadium.

Ipswich host giants Manchester United on Sunday, a match that’s particularly notable for being Ruben Amorim‘s first game in charge of the Red Devils.

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