World’s ‘fattest man’ Keith Martin who lives in London is 58-stone
By Nichola Jones
Last updated at 3:16 PM on 13th February 2012
A Briton who devours eight hotdogs for breakfast has won the dubious accolade of being named the world’s fattest man.
Keith Martin, 42, tips the scales at 58 stone, and is so large that he is bed-ridden.
His needs are putting an extra drain on NHS resources and costing the taxpayer thousands of pounds as he requires an army of 18 medical professionals to look after him, including ambulance staff, carers and nurses.
Weighty problem: Keith Martin, who eats eight hotdogs for breakfast, is putting extra strain on the NHS
Eight ambulance workers must be on hand to help hoist his giant frame to a reinforced vehicle for frequent hospital visits close to his home in Harlesden, North-West London.
Trips for health checks are the only occasions in the past ten years on which he has left his bed. He also requires four carers to visit him twice a day and four nurses three times a week to wash him and monitor his health as his staggering weight is putting massive strain on his heart and other internal organs.
Medics say he would need to shed half his bulk before he could even be considered for a gastric band to aid his weight loss.
Mr Martin took the crown of heaviest man on the planet after the previous title-holder – a 90-stone Mexican – went on a crash diet. Manuel Uribe, 44, is still listed as the heaviest man in the Guinness Book of Records but is believed to have shrunk to a relatively svelte 31st 6lb. Mr Martin has also overtaken another former world’s heaviest man, fellow Brit Paul Mason.
Record breaker: Mr Martin, pictured, has taken the crown of heaviest man on the planet from a 90-stone Mexican who went on a diet and slimmed down to 31st 6lb
Incapacitated: Eight ambulance workers are needed to lift him into a reinforced vehicle for regular hospital visits
Mr Mason, a 51-year-old former postman from Ipswich, slimmed down from 70st to 49st after being warned he was dangerously close to death.
At the height of his binge-eating, Mr Mason would consume in excess of 20,000 calories per day and would be wheeled to local takeaways daily by his carers.
By 2002, he was so big that a 5ft window at his former home had to be removed and a forklift truck brought in to lift him when he needed to go to hospital for a hernia operation.
Heavy: Mr Martin says his life of excess was triggered by the death of his mother when he was a teenager
Larger than life: Specialist ambulance crews are called to care for Mr Martin, who is too big to look after himself
Trimmed down: Manuel Uribe’s weight has dropped from 90st to 31st after going on a diet
But the subsequent fitting of a gastric band coupled with a healthy diet finally saw him reach a manageable weight.
HIS TYPICAL DAILY MENU
- Breakfast: Keith Martin typically starts the day with eight hot dogs and four slices of bread, or a pile of ham sandwiches followed by coffee with sugar.
- Lunch: A selection of chocolate bars, cakes, a packet of biscuits plus more coffees with sugar.
- Dinner: Two whole roast dinners with all the trimmings, or 16 sausages plus a family-sized bag of oven chips washed down with coffee.
Super-sized Mr Martin seems to have no plans to follow Mr Mason’s lead, and tells a Channel 5 documentary, due to be aired next week, that his life of excess was triggered by the death of his mother when he was a teenager.
‘My mother died when I was 16 and I didn’t care about anything after that and I couldn’t care less about what happened to me – I ate anything and everything,’ he said.
‘I blame myself. It was my fault and I hate what I have done to myself.’
Mr Martin has not had a girlfriend for 20 years and can no longer find clothes that fit him, as he is 5ft 9in with a six- foot waist.
He relies on round-the-clock support from carers and relatives with his two sisters taking it in turn to carry out house visits. He spends his days watching television and gorging on sweets, cakes, biscuits and sausages.
Mr Martin is one of several morbidly obese Brits to appear in the TV programme Big Body Squad, which aims to raise awareness of the plight of more than a million similarly overweight people who cost taxpayers millions of pounds in home help costs every year.
■ Big Body Squad begins on Wednesday, February 22, at 8pm on Channel 5.
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UK weather: Heathrow cancellations BEFORE London snow even fell and hundreds stuck on M40
- Central Line Tube train breaks down forcing passengers to walk along the tracks to the next station
- M25 grinds to a halt with some cars in gridlock for hours
- 200 flights will not take off today to ‘minimise disruption to passengers’
- 18,000 travellers could be affected by possible freezing fog at the airport
- Britain on amber alert – the Met Office’s second highest severe weather warning
By Christopher Leake, Russell Myers and Ted Thornhill
Last updated at 1:42 PM on 5th February 2012
Over six inches of snow fell yesterday and throughout the night bringing travel chaos to parts of Britain, with 100 vehicles stranded on the M40, huge tailbacks on the M25, hundreds of flights cancelled and severe disruption to train and Tube services.
With most of the UK on amber alert, the Met Office’s second highest severe weather warning, a string of sporting fixtures were also hit by the big chill.
Flurries fell over Scotland, northern England and the Midlands yesterday before moving down to London and East Anglia.
Making tracks: A picturesque scene near the village of Shipbourne in Kent this morning
Treacherous: Motorists make their along Winnats Pass, near Castleton, Derbyshire
Transformed: Snow covers a sign on the A217 near Epsom Downs in Surrey, left, while two walkers enjoy a picturesque Alexandra Park in London this morning, right
Winter wonderland: A man drags two sledges through the snow on the hill in Alexandra Park, north London this morning
Moo-ving sight: As snow begins to fall and temperatures plummet, cattle huddle together for shelter, near Buxton, Derbyshire
In a flap over the weather: Seagulls sit on a snowy railing next to the London Eye
Ice to see you: Springer Spaniel Tilly gets her first taste of snow after heavy falls in Essex, left, while Geese feed in a frozen lake in Johnstonebridge, Scotland, right
The south experienced the worst travel misery with around 100 vehicles stuck on the M40 for several hours between junction four at High Wycombe and junction nine at Bicester.
They only got moving again after snow ploughs came to the rescue.
Motorists Katie Jones told BBC News: ‘We were stationary for about seven and a half hours. We passed cars abandoned in the side of the road, having crashed off. We passed lorries jack knifed across two, three lanes of the motorway and it’s been impassable in large part.’
We’ve a nagging feeling he’s having fun: A horse rolls in the snow at a livery in Henton, Oxfordshire, this morning
It’s a slippery slope: People enjoying the snow on Primrose Hill in London this morning
Water sight: A reflection of St Stephen’s Tower housing the Big Ben clock in London is seen in the river Thames surrounded by snow this morning
Bad weather also caused traffic to grind to a standstill on parts of the M25.
Tom Jones, who was stuck for more than seven hours in the gridlock, told the BBC there was a ‘nose-to-tail standstill’ on sections of the motorway in Hertfordshire as he tried to make his way home to Harrow in north-west London.
‘We joined the back of a tailback, never realising we would be spending the night on the motorway,’ he said.
‘Everybody has been in here for a lot longer than they expected.’
Chilly: A woman carries her shopping through Great Chart near Ashford, Kent, following heavy snowfall
Sliding into trouble: A jack-knifed lorry blocks the A26 in Crowborough, East Sussex
Extreme weather: Dozens of motorists abandoned their cars on the M25 as large amounts of snow fell overnight
Snow joke: Cars grind to a halt on the M25 last night, left, while walkers on London’s Clapham Common brave the wintry weather, which left London blanketed in white
Lifting the gloom: Trapped motorists on the M25 built a snowman between the lanes, left, while youngsters in London had a snowball fight last night, right
London snow: ‘Man on a Sledge’ would have been a more apt film title
Mr Jones saw lorry drivers fall asleep in their cabs, having given up hope of getting out of the queue during the night.
He had to get out of his car at times to wake drivers up whenever the queue started morning.
Although Mr Jones was frustrated by the lack of information he had received from authorities, he conceded the Highways Agency was dealing with ‘some particularly special driving’.
Before the jam he saw many motorists were ‘hurtling’ along at unsafe speeds.
He reported seeing several cars stuck on the central reservation, many drivers unprepared for the treacherous conditions, and many vehicles blocking up the hard shoulder, all of which he said would have hampered the Highways Agency’s attempts to ease the problem.
The dangerous conditions on the roads were graphically illustrated at Crowborough in East Sussex, where a lorry jack-knifed, blocking the A26.
The Highways Agency said that overnight snow had cleared, but freezing temperatures remained in some areas.
Oopsy daisy: Two women slip on the snow-covered roads on a night out in Camden, London, last night
Sign of the times: Snow gathers on a London underground tube sign in Bethnal Green, east London
Wheely slippy: Snow in Birmingham caused problems for some motorists
A plane waits at Heathrow yesterday. Airport bosses have cancelled a third of today’s flights at Heathrow because of severe weather – nine hours before a flake of snow had even fallen
A spokeswoman said: ‘Our winter fleet is out spreading salt and ploughing lying snow, and we are working around the clock to keep the motorways and other strategic roads in England open.
‘Drivers are advised to pay particular care at locations where local conditions such as slopes, bends or overhanging trees could create an increased risk of slippery road conditions.
‘It is still necessary to drive with care, even after road surfaces have been treated with salt.’
CURRENT STATE OF TRANSPORT IN BRITAIN FOLLOWING LAST NIGHT’S SNOWFALL
Operations have resumed at Stansted, Luton and Birmingham airports with some delays.
Heathrow was also said to be ‘running with delays’ due to a combination of yesterday’s snow and heavy fog but both runways were open.
A total of six flights were cancelled yesterday in Birmingham, where some passengers were forced to spend the night in the terminal.
But a spokesman said the airport would ‘catch up’ today, providing temperatures did not drop too much further.
In Luton, flights were ‘fully operational’ with some delays due to snow clearing.
A couple of departures were cancelled at Stansted but a spokesman for the airport said there was ‘movement’ on and off the runway, adding: ‘Flights are subject to delays of up to about one hour’.
A Gatwick spokesman said all scheduled flights had taken off and arrived safely, despite three inches of snow. There were no cancellations.
In the capital, all bus routes were operating this morning following a few ‘curtailments’ to the night bus services, Transport for London (TfL) said.
Tube services were said to have started well but with ‘some issues’ on the outer reaches of the Central and Jubilee lines.
‘We are working hard to get these sections running as soon as possible,’ a spokesman said.
Train company C2C is reporting delays of around 30 minutes to its services in and out of London due to the poor weather conditions.
A North Yorkshire Police spokesman said there had been around 60 minor road collisions across the county since yesterday afternoon as a result of the weather.
He said road conditions were still ‘somewhat treacherous’ but were beginning to improve.
The A169 between Pickering and Whitby was closed for a short time yesterday as drivers had difficulty in the snow but the police spokesman said there were ‘no major issues with drivers being stuck’.
North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service said a crew returning to their base at Robin Hood’s Bay yesterday afternoon had helped several motorists who had become stuck in ‘severe’ snow drifts.
A message on Leeds Bradford Airport’s website this morning said the airport was open.
But it warned people to check with their airline or tour operator before travelling and allow extra time for their journeys.
The message read: ‘Leeds Bradford Airport is open. However adverse weather conditions are currently being experienced and may cause some disruption to flight schedules.’
Snowy rural Britain: Heavy snowfall brings Ashbourne in Derbyshire to a standstill but at least one resident remembered to take his Landrover to the pub
White city: People battle winds on a snowy Westminster Bridge in London, left, while flakes fall in front of Big Ben in Parliament Square at 7.20pm last night
Gridlock: Traffic comes to a standstill on the A50 trunk road through Stoke-On-Trent as vehicles struggle in heavy snow and people abandon their cars
Snow-go: This policeman is going no where in in Ashbourne, Derbyshire, left, after snow covers his squad car and right, the empty M6 motorway near Stoke-On-Trent
FOUR-DAY FORECAST
Tonight: Across much of the UK there will be plenty of low cloud, mist and fog around overnight with some patchy light rain and drizzle at times. Most of the rain and drizzle should fall across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, while much of Scotland should be dry with the best of the clear breaks. Cold with the risk of ice in many places, especially across the east.
Tomorrow: An icy start for many with some mist and fog expected. Across Wales, Northern Ireland and the southern half of England it then looks set to be rather cloudy with some patchy light rain and drizzle. Much of this should die away during the afternoon with the chance of some brighter spells developing in places. Scotland and remaining parts of England should stay largely dry with sunny spells and variable amounts of cloud.
Tuesday and Wednesday: A widespread frosty, icy start again on Tuesday. It will then be cold but largely dry with sunny spells and variable amounts of cloud. However, there will be the risk of some patchy light rain or drizzle edging into Northern Ireland and western Scotland. After a sharp overnight frost, it will another largely dry day with some sunshine. However, there may also be a fair amount of cloud around at times, particularly across southern and eastern England where the odd wintry shower is possible.
Source: Meteogroup UK
Parts of London’s Tube line were also disrupted with suspensions, delays and one Central line train breaking down completely, leaving passengers forced to disembark between Snaresbrook and South Woodford and walk to the next station along the tracks.
Driving was also treacherous in parts of Wales and in Scotland, which saw a two-inch layer of snow overnight, while in Nottinghamshire a 35-year-old woman had to be rescued from a frozen lake. She was taken to hospital to be treated for hypothermia.
Meanwhile, airport bosses came under fire last night after cancelling a third of today’s flights at Heathrow because of severe weather – nine hours before a flake of snow had even fallen.
Amid forecasts of six inches of snow and possible freezing fog, Spanish-owned operator BAA announced yesterday morning that 30 per cent of today’s flights from the world’s busiest airport – about 200 – would not take off to ‘minimise disruption to passengers’.
It means that the flights of up to 18,000 travellers could be cancelled or rescheduled as airlines scramble to adjust their flight plans. The decision was in stark contrast to airports across most of Europe where, despite arctic conditions, flights were due to take off as normal. Munich saw temperatures plunge to minus 27C on Friday night but the airport expected no disruptions today.
The BAA move evoked memories of Christmas 2010, when Heathrow shut for five days, ruining the holidays of tens of thousands of people because there were insufficient snow clearance vehicles to keep runways open.
Since then, BAA has increased its Heathrow snowplough fleet by 68 to 185 at a cost of £32.4 million – part of a £50 million investment programme in equipment and staffing levels.
But last night, as the Met Office placed most of Britain on amber alert, its second highest severe weather warning, the scrapping of flights by BAA prompted questions over why it had invested so heavily in equipment which appeared incapable of dealing with the weather.
The decision was met with derision by passengers at the airport, where by 7pm yesterday a light covering of snow was on the ground although runways remained clear.
Retired teacher Miriam Walters, 62, and husband Derek, 58, flew in on the 4.10pm flight from Moscow after visiting their daughter Penny.
Mrs Walters said: ‘The runways at Moscow were covered with snow and still we managed to leave and arrive at our destination with no bother at all. It’s only when you go to other countries that you realise how pathetic we are at coping with a little bit of extreme weather.’
Aimie Greggs, 29, a sales rep from Enfield, London, arrived from Hamburg on the 5.20pm flight. She said: ‘The UK seems useless at dealing with all sorts of weather, whether it’s too cold or too hot.’
BAA yesterday contacted London Mayor Boris Johnson’s chief of staff Edward Lister to explain why it had ordered the flight reductions, citing the threat of freezing fog as the main reason.
But in its official announcement, BAA said it expected reduced visibility during today and ‘possible freezing fog from 1800 (6pm)’.
If fog did hang over Heathrow later today, it could lead to more flights being grounded and force air traffic controllers to increase the time between each take-off and landing slot for safety reasons.
Heathrow’s chief operating officer, Normand Boivin, said: ‘This decision ensures the greatest number of passengers can fly with the minimum of disruption. It also means those passengers whose flights are cancelled will know in advance, and can make alternative arrangements or rebook in relative comfort.’
Because passenger volumes are below average in early February, airlines were confident that in many cases they would be able to offer alternative seats to passengers. This will enable airlines to fill empty seats on flights leaving at different times of the day.
Last night, Gatwick had still to decide on any flight cancellations. Stansted and London Luton had no cancellations planned for today. Neither did Southampton.
Flashback: A snowplough clears the taxi ways at Heathrow Airport in December 2010 following the heavy snowfall. The airport was shut for five days due to the bad weather
Heathrow passengers waiting outside Terminal 3 after the disruption caused by the snow in 2010 when the airport was closed for five days
At Manchester, officials said although there had been snow flurries, the comparatively milder weather there meant it was confident flights would not be disrupted.
In Scotland, Prestwick and Edinburgh expected to run a normal service today despite predictions of freezing temperatures overnight.
In Ireland, a number of flights were cancelled yesterday and more are expected to be axed today. Aer Lingus has cancelled 22 flights between Ireland and the UK over the past two days.
Across Europe, airport bosses said they were confident of coping with heavy snow and ice despite the record-breaking cold snap that has caused more than 200 deaths.
In Germany, no airport has shut down operations this winter because of snow. As well as Munich, flights were expected to operate normally at Berlin’s Schoenefeld and Tegel airports, Frankfurt, Cologne, Dusseldorf and Stuttgart.
Most northern European airports are better equipped to deal with snow than Heathrow because of massive investment in fleets of clearing machines and stockpiles of de-icing equipment.
Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, France, Denmark and Belgium, where the Siberian cold front has brought record lows, were reporting a virtually normal service.
In Britain the Department for Transport said: ‘BAA have taken an operational decision with airlines to cancel some flights on the basis of the best available weather predictions and Ministers will be keeping in touch with them over the weekend to check that their decisions are proportionate and in the best interests of the travelling public.’
Both the AA and the RAC have urged motorists to stay at home and to avoid the increasingly treacherous road network. The AA attended 15,000 callouts yesterday, more than double the normal figure for a Saturday. Most involved flat batteries.
The Department for Transport said it had stockpiled 2.4 million tons of grit – one million more than last year – and said it would not run out as it has done on previous occasions.
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Row over bonuses is making London the worst place to do business, warns leading bankers
- Government accused of joining ‘anti-business bandwagon’
- Nicola Horlick warns demonising the banks will ‘kill off the golden goose’ that saved the country
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 10:46 PM on 4th February 2012
The continuing storm over City bonuses is damaging Britain’s reputation as a place to do business, a group of leading international bankers has warned.
Government ministers have been accused of trying to gain public favour this week by stripping former RBS chief Fred Goodwin of his knighthood and pressurising current RBS chief executive Stephen Hester to reject a £1 million bonus.
One senior executive at a Wall Street bank told The Times: ‘London is now the worst major centre in the world to do banking.’
The City under attack: Could government pressure on financial institutions drive them out of the City of London for good?
The anti-banking bandwagon is only set to worsen in the next few days with the bonus announcement of Bob Diamond, Barclays chief executive.
Directors of privately-owned banks are concerned public pressure will be put on them to reduce or reject annual bonuses in the light of Mr Hester’s decision to waive a bonus this week.
Investment banker Nicola Horlick, a university friend of Mr Hester has warned against a ‘witchhunt’ towards bankers.
‘You shouldn’t underestimate the importance of financial services to the country,’ she told The Times. ‘Without it we would be in dire straits. Let’s not kill the golden goose that saved the country.
She said it was short-sighted to demonise Mr Hester when he was trying to raise the share price so the public could get its money back.
Mr Hester, chief executive of the 82 per cent publicly-owned Royal Bank of Scotland was the subject of sustained calls from government ministers and Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, to relinquish a bonus at such a politically-sensitive time.
‘Bashing people up doesn’t itself help’: Public pressure this week has seen former RBS chief Fred Goodwin have his knighthood removed and current RBS chief exec Stephen Hester forced to reject a £1 million bonus
Several top banks, including HSBC and Standard Chartered are concerned that attacks on bonuses will cause shareholders to push from a move away from the UK so they can still attract the best staff, who may be put off the UK by any blocks on windfalls.
Sir Philip Hampton, chairman of RBS told The Times the government and others had embarked on an anti-business bandwagon.
Let’s not kill the golden goose: Now an investment banker, Nicola Horlick has warned against the current witchhunt towards bankers
‘Bashing people who are actually there to help, doesn’t itself help. We knew there would be a reaction..but the scale of it took us by surprise. I think it took the Government by surprise too.’
A senior banker then compared David Cameron and George Osborne to Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by having one opinion out of the gaze of the public and another in front of the cameras.
‘They come out with all the right language to us in private. But they can’t resist the call of the mob. Has this reduced our respect for the coalition? The answer without a shadow of a doubt is yes.’
Ed Miliband and David Cameron have both given speeches in the last week criticising high City bonuses, with Mr Miliband trying to get the House of Commons to vote on Tuesday to end ‘bonus culture’.
Stuart Popham, head of pro-banking group TheCityUK, is worried the attacks will drive a rift between the financial world and the government, which is a vital relationship when the economy is struggling.
The fear is that banks will leave the City of London altogether, in favour of more favourable treatment in Asia or America. A move which would be catastrophic for the UK economy in terms of jobs and investment.
Will he or won’t he? The decision of Barclays chief executive Bob Diamond to take a bonus or not this year will have a huge bearing on the rest of the banking industry
The financial services industry accounts for 8.9 per cent of the total output of the UK, and contributes 2.8 per cent of GDP.
The Conservative Party is having to tread a fine line on this issue as it has always traditionally been seen as pro-business, and relies on the City for a large chuck of its funding.
In 2011 more than half of the £12.2 million donated to the party came from donors linked to the City.
Many supporters of the party are now calling for a softening in the criticism of banking practices.
RBS chairman Sir Philip Hampton has criticised the govenment’s attacks on the banks saying its has embarked on a ‘anti-business bandwagon’
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Four radical Muslims planned to blow up London Stock Exchange and discussed launching ‘Mumbai-style’ attack
- The conspiracy involved nine Muslim defendants
- They were all British, living in London, Cardiff and Stoke-on-Trent
By Ted Thornhill
Last updated at 11:31 AM on 1st February 2012
Four radical Islamists have admitted an al Qaeda-inspired plot to detonate a bomb at the London Stock Exchange.
The Muslim fundamentalists’ group wanted to send five mail bombs to various targets during the run up to Christmas 2010 and discussed launching a ‘Mumbai-style’ atrocity.
A hand-written target list found at one of the defendant’s homes listed the names and addresses of London Mayor Boris Johnson, two rabbis, the American Embassy and the Stock Exchange.
Guilty: The top picture shows (from l-r) ‘lynchpin’ Mohammed Chowdhury (from London), Shah Raham (from London), Omar Latif (from Cardiff), Gurukanth Desai (from Cardiff) and Abdul Miah (from Cardiff) while the bottom picture shows the Stoke four (from l-r) – Usman Khan, Abdul Shahjahan, Mohibor Rahman and Nazam Hussain
The total of nine men admitted various terror crimes at Woolwich Crown Court and will be sentenced next week.
‘Lynchpin’ Mohammed Chowdhury, 21, and his London accomplice Shah Rahman, 28, were followed by undercover detectives on November 28, 2010, observing Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, the London Eye and the Palace of Westminster.
The conspiracy involved nine defendants – the London duo, three from Cardiff and four from Stoke – but was stopped by undercover anti-terror police before firm dates could be set for attacks.
The terrorists met because of their membership of various hardcore Islamic groups and stayed in touch over the internet, through mobile phones and at specially arranged meetings – held in parks in a bid to make surveillance difficult.
Target: The London Stock Exchange was on a list of terror targets found by police
The nine, all British nationals, were due to stand trial at Woolwich Crown Court but changed their pleas at the 11th hour.
Chowdhury, of Stanliff House, Tower Hamlets and Shah Rahman, 28, of St Bernard’s Road, Newham, both London, admitted preparing for acts of terrorism by planning to plant an improvised explosive device (IED) in the toilets of the London Stock Exchange.
They admitted the crime after a Goodyear hearing was held to give them an indication of their maximum sentences.
Inspiration: The terrorists wanted to carry out a Mumbai-style attack. Pictured here is Mohammad Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving gunman of the 2008 atrocity
The judge, Mr Justice Wilkie told Chowdhury he would receive 18-and-a-half years and Rahman, 17 years.
But the duo will only serve in the region of six years – because five are served on licence, prisoners only serve half their term as standard and they have already been behind bars for more than 12 months.
Brothers Gurukanth Desai, 30, of Albert Street, and Abdul Miah, 25, of Ninian Park Road, both Cardiff, also admitted the same count.
The quartet aimed to plant the bomb ‘with the obvious attendant risk but without any intention to cause death or even injury but with the intention to terrorise, damage property and to cause economic damage’, said Christopher Blaxland QC, Chowdhury’s barrister.
Target: London’s Mayor Boris Johnson
Three of the Stoke defendants admitted a lesser, specific charge – engaging in conduct for the preparation of terrorism between November 1 and December 21, 2010 – namely travelling to and attending operational meetings, fundraising for terrorist training, preparing to travel abroad and assisting others in travelling abroad.
Usman Khan, 20, of Persia Walk, Mohammed Shahjahan 27, of Burmarsh Walk and Nazam Hussain, 26, of Grove Street, all Stoke, admitted attending those operational meetings in Roath Park, Cardiff on November 7 and in a Newport country park on December 12.
Omar Latif, 28, of Neville Street, Cardiff, admitted attending the meetings with the intention of assisting others to prepare or commit acts of terrorism.
The fourth Stoke defendant, Mohibur Rahman, admitted possessing an article for a terrorist purpose on December 20 2010.
Rahman, 27, of North Road, admitted being in possession of two editions of the al Qaeda magazine, Inspire, for terrorist purposes.
The nine were not members of al Qaeda but were inspired by the terror network and its former Yemeni boss, American-born Anwar al Awlaki, who was killed last year in a drone strike after leading al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
The nine defendants ‘were implementing the published strategy of AQAP’, said Andrew Edis QC, for the prosecution.
AQAP use internet propaganda to inspire radicals to carry out attacks against the nations in which they live.
Though no firm dates were set and no homemade bombs created, the defendants had the wherewithal to do it, it was alleged.
They possessed the al Qaeda magazine Inspire, which contained a feature: ‘Make A Bomb In The Kitchen Of Your Mom.’
The threats were not just facing London.
The Stoke quartet talked about leaving homemade bombs in the toilets of their city’s pubs and discussed travelling abroad for terror training.
Chowdhury and Rahman had Bangladeshi backgrounds like their Welsh accomplices, whereas the Stoke terrorists had Pakistani backgrounds.
They also discussed how to make a pipe bomb.
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London 2012 Olympics: Danny Boyle’s Shakespeare theme for £81m opening ceremony
- Hollywood director Danny Boyle chooses Shakespeare theme for £81m opening spectacular
- 27-ton bell inspired by Shakespeare will form the centrepiece of £27m opening ceremony
- Hundreds of NHS nurses and schoolchildren will be involved in event
- 20,000 performers will take part in Olympic and Paralympic opening and closing ceremonies
By Emily Andrews
Last updated at 1:43 AM on 28th January 2012
The opening ceremony of the Olympic Games will feature a performance by hundreds of nurses, it was revealed yesterday.
Artistic director Danny Boyle – the Oscar-winning director behind Slumdog Millionaire – said he wanted to celebrate everything that was ‘unique and special’ to the British Isles…including the National Health Service.
Europe’s biggest bell will be specially made to ring in the start of London 2012.
Our turn next: Mark Foster of the Great Britain Olympic men’s swim team carries his country’s flag to lead out the delegation during the Opening Ceremony for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics
The 27-ton bell will be a feat of engineering and twice the weight of Big Ben.
Mr Boyle said the ceremony will be called ‘Isles of Wonders’ after a speech in Shakespeare’s play The Tempest.
More than anything, he said, he wanted it to be a ‘people’s Games’ and to try to capture the very particular, and sometimes peculiar, British sense of humour.
A sense of humour that has, at times, been tested by the spiralling budget for the Olympic ceremonies – last month it doubled to £81million.
At the vast rehearsal studios in East London Mr Boyle gave a small glimpse of what 80,000 spectators and millions of TV viewers can expect on July 27.
The biggest ringing bell in Europe has been commissioned and will hang at one end of the stadium.
It will ‘ring in’ the start of the Games and will be inscribed with Caliban’s line from The Tempest ‘Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises’.
Shakespeare, NHS and schoolchildren will be at the centre of the Olympic Opening Ceremony display, Danny Boyle, pictured, revealed today
The half-man, half-monster Caliban is devoted to the island on which he lives – and Mr Boyle hopes to mirror that pride and patriotism in the ceremony.
Indeed he seemed to be rather keen on monsters – he said that last year’s production of Frankenstein at the National Theatre had allowed him to practise lots of ideas.
So perhaps we’ll see lots of prosthetics, green paint and pantomime costumes alongside runners from Kenya and gymnasts from Russia.
Another theme will be the cleansing and recovery of poisoned land – after the Olympic park site was cleaned of all its industrial pollutants.
Greatest show on earth: The spectacular Opening Ceremony in Beijing in the Bird’s Nest Stadium four years ago
One certainty is that there’ll be lots of flying – and flowers. A flying system that can lift 25 tons, the equivalent of five elephants, has been installed in the main stadium to enable some impressive aerial acrobatics.
‘EMPLOYERS UNPREPARED FOR GAMES ABSENCES’
Most employers have not drawn up plans for dealing with an expected surge in staff absence during the Olympics, months before the Games start, according to a report today.
A survey of 1,000 office workers by recruitment consultants Badenoch & Clark showed that two-thirds were employed in companies yet to draft a plan.
Among those who have agreed procedures in place, some said annual leave will be given on a first-come, first-served basis, while a small percentage have told staff they will not be allowed to take a break while the Games are held.
Employers in London are among those most likely not to have told their staff about holiday plans when the sporting event is held in the capital.
Nicola Linkleter, managing director at Badenoch & Clark, said: ‘Given the immense interest the London Olympic Games will create among workers, this is poor planning that could lead to employee discontent, confusion or threadbare cover.’
And Sebastian Coe, chairman of London 2012, dropped another hint by saying whenever he popped down to see rehearsals he kept tripping over buckets of flowers.
So it will be noisy, acrobatic, colourful and floral. What else?
Well, the only other confirmed part was that nurses will have a starring role in one ‘sequence’ as the NHS is one of the things that is ‘unique about us…along with our sense of humour’.
Featuring with them will be some 900 children from the six Olympic host boroughs who have been auditioning in recent weeks.
No details of performers were revealed – but again a hint that ‘everyone’ wants to take part. But we can expect the spectacular. And the unexpected.
Asked if the fear of technology going wrong had ensured they play safe, executive producer Stephen Daldry implied they would be pushing boundaries. He said: ‘The idea of jeopardy is one of the great fantastic tensions of the evening.’
Mr Boyle said only about a third of the budget would be spent on the opening ceremony, which was much less than the £65million the Chinese spent at Beijing 2008.
He said: ‘You are standing on the shoulders of giants when you do this kind of job. You cannot but live in the shadow of your predecessors.
Countdown: Sebastian Coe, Boris Johnson and David Cameron discuss the six-month countdown to the Olympic games in Davos yesterday
‘The spectacle of Beijing was just breathtaking. The sheer beauty of Athens is very inspiring but I have to say that Sydney has inspired us. It got the feel of a people’s Games right.
‘It is inevitable that people will compare us – and that is fine.
‘I think there is a sea change and we are lucky enough to be setting it. It will be spectacular but the reduction in scale is inevitable.’
London 2012 said it will release more details of the opening in the run-up to the Games to give people a flavour of what to expect.
Mr Boyle said he would have preferred to keep everything a ‘surprise’ but that was impossible when everyone ‘films everything on their mobiles’.
Estimates suggest the advertising spend during the ceremony, which will last three hours, could be worth £2billion globally.
‘LIKE 165 WEST END SHOWS AT THE SAME TIME’: FINAL PREPARATIONS FOR OLYMPIC OPENING AND CLOSING CEREMONIES
Staging the four showpiece opening and closing ceremonies for the London 2012 Games is ‘challenging, daunting but also incredibly exciting’, executive producer Stephen Daldry said today.
He described it as like putting on 165 West End shows at the same time.
Nurses, the biggest ringing bell in Europe inscribed with lines from Shakespeare, and children will be key features of the opening ceremony.
Here are some of the facts, figures and details behind the ceremonies.
For the Opening Ceremony there is:
- 15,000 square metres of staging – equivalent to 12 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
- A flying system that can lift 25 tonnes – that is the same as five elephants.
- There will be 12,956 props, which is more than 100 times more than used in a West End musical.
- A million-watt PA system using more than 500 speakers and 50 tonnes of associated sound gear – which is double the amount of speakers than on the main stage at Glastonbury.
- The design team have made enough scale model pieces to cover a 100m running track. Every performer has been represented by a plastic figurine.
- So far, 64 different supplier companies have been contracted to provide services and products.
- For all four opening and closing ceremonies there will be 25 containers full of scenery and props and 75 containers of costumes full of 23,000 costumes. Some cast members will wear more than one costume each.
- 15,000 volunteer cast across all four ceremonies. The people who have auditioned have been aged from 18 to 90 years old. They have come from across the UK and include people who watched the 1948 Games live, according to London 2012.
- A total of 12 hours of music working with an internationally renowned orchestra of around 60 musicians is part of the programme. Organisers will spend three months of recording time in the studio and spend 36 hours in dedicated drum tuition.
- The combined TV audiences for the four ceremonies is predicted to be more than four billion people. Sir Martin Sorrell has predicted that the equivalent airtime value of the four ceremonies will be worth between approximately £2bn and £5bn.
