A SPEEDING drink driver has had his vehicle impounded after being caught at 160km/h on the Hume Highway.
The 27-year-old man was intercepted near Wangaratta early Friday while travelling interstate.
He returned a blood alcohol reading of about 0.1 and will be without his car for a month.
Acting Sergeant Darren Kalish said police would have an increased focus on dangerous driving as Easter draws closer.
A SERIOUS car accident has closed the Hume Highway southbound between Tumbarumba Road in Kyeamba and Little Billabong Road in Little Billabong.
Southbound motorists are diverting onto Tumbarumba Road and then onto Little Billabong Road to rejoin the Hume Highway.
This diversion is suitable for all vehicles.
Motorists are advised to allow additional travel time.
Emergency services and traffic crews are on site working to free a trapped occupant, and a helicopter has also landed at this location.
All northbound lanes remain open.
Emergency services remain at the scene.
Parents have been allowed to pick up their children from a Melbourne school after a lockdown was lifted following reports of a gunman.
Beveridge Primary School was put in lockdown after a gunman was reportedly spotted near the grounds of the school on the northern fringe of Melbourne, Victoria.
A Victoria Police spokeswoman said that the lockdown had now been lifted after police responded to reports of a man with a firearm near the school.
The police contained the area and performed a search for the man.
“The school activated its emergency management plan as a precautionary measure,” she said.
“No threat has been made and no injuries reported.”
Earlier parents were told not to get out of their cars to pick up their children.
Four students claimed to have been threatened by a man wearing a ski mask and carrying a gun. Streets around the scene were cordoned off.
Police are appealing for witnesses after a motorcyclist died following a two-vehicle crash near Goulburn on the weekend.
About 5.50pm (Sunday 13 March 2016), an 18-year-old man was riding a motorcycle south along the Hume Highway.
As the man approached Yarra, near Goulburn, he collided with the rear of a Toyota sedan travelling in the same direction, and he was thrown from the motorcycle.
Emergency services were called and the motorcyclist was treated at the scene, before being airlifted to Canberra Hospital in a critical condition.
The 26-year-old female driver of the Toyota was uninjured and taken to Goulburn Base Hospital for mandatory testing.
Yesterday (Monday 14 March 2016), the man died in hospital.
Officers attached to The Hume Local Area Command are investigating the incident, and are appealing for any witnesses who have not yet spoken to police to come forward.
A report will be prepared for the Coroner.
A man has died and his wife has been flown to hospital following a crash on the Hume Highway.
Emergency services were called to the highway between Wangaratta and Glenrowan about 2.40pm on Tuesday.
The couple’s Queensland registered car, which was towing a Victorian registered caravan, rolled onto its side leaving the couple trapped.
The man died as he was being freed by emergency services and his wife was flown to a Melbourne hospital.
The couple are believed to be aged between 60 and 70 and it is not known where they were from or where they were travelling to.
Their vehicle appeared to travel in a straight line before hitting a tree and did not brake, and police are investigating the cause.
People would pay $80,000 to have their dead bodies frozen under a plan to set up Australia’s first cryonics storage centre at Holbrook.
A proposal to establish a warehouse, for bodies preserved in liquid nitrogen in anticipation of being brought back to life through medical improvements, is being considered by the Greater Hume Shire.
It is the idea of Statis Systems Australia, a company formed through ten investors each contributing $50,000.
The firm’s secretary, Matt Fisher, said Holbrook was chosen for logistical reasons.
“The Hume Highway has liquid nitrogen deliveries all along it and we wanted somewhere that was geographically stable and safe from floods, fires and earthquakes and somewhere away from the big cities to make it economically appealing,” Mr Fisher said.
“The land at Holbrook met all those requirements and the council have been very helpful.”
Mr Fisher said a block in Enterprise Drive cost $57,000 and $200,000 to $300,000 would go on fitting it out.
He said if planning and regulatory approvals went as expected the building could be operative by June 2017.
Greater Hume mayor Heather Wilton expected the shire to support the plan at its April or May meeting.
“There hasn’t been any adverse comment whatsoever, there’s surprise, but I haven’t had anyone rush up and knock me off my feet because it’s a stupid idea,” Cr Wilton said of the public response.
The Holbrook resident said the idea of having her body frozen did not appeal.
“I won’t be lining up, it’s not something that rattles my cage,” Cr Wilton said.
“It’s an interesting concept…I’ve researched it a fair bit and I think it will be an interesting addition to what we offer in Greater Hume Shire.”
Mr Fisher said life insurance was likely to be used by participants.
“There’s no ongoing cost,” Mr Fisher said.
“There’s the one-off payment of around about $80,000 and that goes into an interest-bearing investment to pay for ongoing storage costs which are primarily liquid nitrogen top-ups.
“They are currently about $200 to $300 a year.”
Mr Fisher said those interested simply wanted to continue to live.
“The central thrust of cryonics is that medical progress and medical technology will continue to improve, barring some global disaster and the capabilities of future technology are difficult to put an upper limit on,” Mr Fisher said.
“There were people saying heavier than air flight was impossible after the Wright brothers had flown.
“I find that anyone who says something is impossible is proven wrong in the long run.”
Two of the great voices of British pop, Leo Sayer and Lulu, are joining together for the first time for a tour of Australia.
Lulu was just 15 when she recorded her first UK hit, a version of the Isley Brothers’ Shout, and in 1967 her stunning performance of the theme tune from the film To Sir, With Love (and in which she also appeared alongside Sidney Poitier) took her to the top of charts around the world. Hits like The Boat I Row, Let’s Pretend and Love Loves to Love, Love established her as one of the most dynamic voices of the era and the way she lit up a screen made her a natural for television events like the Eurovision Song Contest (which she won in 1969 representing the UK).
Born a few months before Lulu, Leo Sayer broke through as a singer and songwriter with a string of hits including The Show Must Go On, One Man Band, Long Tall Glasses and Moonlighting. His career went into overdrive in 1977 with two global chart-toppers, the disco-fired You Make Me Feel like Dancing (a Grammy winner for best rhythm and blues song) and the ballad, When I Need You. Sayer had phenomenal nine Top 20 albums and 14 Top 20 singles from 1973 to 1983 and has sold more than 80 million albums worldwide, and in 2006 a remix of his 1977 hit Thunder In My Heart took him back to the top of the UK charts. Leo has lived in Australia since 2005 and became an Australian citizen in 2009.
In 2015 after promoters suggested that Leo and Lulu tourtogether Lulu went to see Leo performing in London and was blown away by his vital stage presence and a voice that could match her own soulful delivery. In fact, she was so impressed she joined him on stage that same night! The two music legends hit it off so well that the Leo & Lulu tour was on.
“I am beyond excited to be coming to Australia for these gigs and sharing the stage with Leo. Leo Sayer is musically the real deal so bring it on I can’t wait ” said Lulu from the backstage of her first show of her current 35 date UK tour.
Leo added “Lulu was already an icon when I came on the scene and I’ve been a huge fan ever since. We’re good pals and I can’t wait to welcome her to Australia.”
The tour commences at Sydney’s State Theatre on 23 June before heading to some of Australia’s finest theatres around the country, with these two icons of the industry performing all their hits separately and together.
LEO & LULU
Thursday, 23 June 2016
State Theatre, Sydney, NSW
Tickets available from 9.00am, Monday 14 March from Ticketmaster
Friday, 24 June 2016
Hamer Hall, Melbourne, Vic
Tickets available from 9.00am, Tuesday 15 March from the Arts Centre and Ticketmaster
Wednesday, 29 June 2016
Festival Theatre, Adelaide, SA
Tickets available from 9.00am, Tuesday 15 March from Bass
Thursday, 30 June 2015
QPAC Concert Hall, Brisbane, Qld
Tickets available from 9.00am, Monday 14 March from QPac
Sunday, 3 July 2016
Concert Hall, Perth, WA
Tickets available from 9.00am, Monday 14 March from Perth Concert Hall and Ticketmaster
LULU
Lulu has always found ways to reinvent herself as a performing artist, songwriter and entertainer – from TV variety show host to recording with David Bowie as producer and her 1993 return to the charts with Relight My Fire, a collaboration with Take That. In 2002 she returned to the UK charts with a cover of Bob Seger’s We’ve Got Tonight, a duet with The Voice Australia judge, Ronan Keating.
While ever-popular in the UK through touring, stage musicals and TV appearances including regular spots on Absolutely Fabulous, Lulu returned to the studio for the first time in 10 years for last year’s Making Life Rhyme, mostly self-penned and acclaimed as one of the finest albums of her career. The album was followed by a string of sold-out dates in the UK and a storming set at Glastonbury alerted new generations that before there was Adele and Amy Winehouse, there was Lulu.
Lulu was born in 1948 and raised, as Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie, in a tough working-class part of Glasgow. She was first discovered as a schoolgirl singing in a band, with a mighty voice that was the opposite of her diminutive build.
That drive led to her solo career and classics like her 1967 smash with the theme tune for To Sir, With Love. She made her acting debut in that film, a warm and wise exploration of issues such as racial discrimination and the class divide, with Lulu playing one of the young classmates to Sidney Poitier’s brilliant performance as an idealistic teacher imparting life lessons in a London high school.
She was just 20 when she married Maurice Gibb in 1969, the year she won the final of the Eurovision Song Contest with Boom-Bang-a-Bang. That year she recorded the New Routes album at the scene of many legendary soul music recordings, Muscle Shoals Studios in Alabama, with a crack band including Duane Allman on guitar and producers Jerry Wexler, Tom Dowd and Arif Mardin. The album included a fine version of the Bee Gees’ song Marley Purt Drive. Gibb and Lulu remained on good terms after their divorce, later performing on TV together. Lulu’s 2015 UK tour included songs in tribute to the Bee Gees.
In 1974, Lulu had a secret liaison with David Bowie, who produced her version of the Bowie classic The Man Who Sold The World, a top 10 hit in the UK. She was also learning from the best as a songwriter and in 1993 she wrote a worldwide hit for Tina Turner, I Don’t Want To Fight. The song gave Lulu the title for her autobiography, published in 2002.
“I’ve been through a lot in my life, a lot of struggles,” she says. “I’ve been one of the luckiest people but I’ve been thrown from pillar to post, emotionally .” These experiences provided the fuel for the songs she wrote for Making Life Rhyme, a soul album for the 21st century that sounds just as relevant and contemporary as anything from younger artists. “Making Life Rhyme is about how I’m living my life now,” she says. “I’ve dealt with demons, I’ve dealt with anxiety, I’ve dealt with sadness. Now I like who I am … I feel like I have grown up in a way.”
Lulu has been in the music business for 51 years. Yet she seems utterly undimmed by time; slim, vivacious and energetic, with an appealing combination of bright eyed sprightliness and a very adult, no-nonsense directness. “I was thrown into this business in my childhood. It’s a minefield, you see so many people harmed by believing in their success. You think you’re invincible, then crash, it all comes down. I’ve managed to look like I’m holding it together but it ain’t been easy. This is what I’m talking about, everything that I’ve been through in my life. It’s really about going beyond the problems everyone’s got. I’ve been there, done it but now I’m living in the solution. That’s what it’s about!”
LEO SAYER
Leo Sayer’s life is packed with extraordinary stories, from his early meeting with songwriter Dave Courtney (one of the first songs they wrote together, Giving It All Away, was a massive solo hit for Roger Daltrey of The Who), to the studio jam with LA session masters Larry Carlton and Ray Parker Jr which grew into You Make Me Feel Like Dancing.
Sayer has seen all the highs and lows of a life in the spotlight, always able to adapt to the ever-changing musical landscape.
Sayer was raised in Sussex where he studied graphic design before hooking up with musician Dave Courtney. Together they wrote Giving It All Away, which became the first solo hit for Roger Daltrey of The Who in 1973. But it was Sayer’s memorable TV performance of The Show Must Go On, dressed in Pierrot mime costume and make-up, which announced the arrival of a major new force in British music.
His 1977 singles You Make Me Feel Like Dancing and When I Need You took him to No 1 in the US and in many other countries, and his 1979 compilation The Very Best of Leo Sayer gave him his first UK No 1 album and seventh consecutive top 20 album. Sayer fought back from legal disputes with former management and record companies with the weapon he has always had, the enormous energy of his live performances. Sayer has lived in Sydney since 2005, is now an Australian citizen, and continues to tour the world.
Last year he released his first album of new material in six years, Restless Years, featuring a reunion with his When I Need You co-writer Albert Hammond. The album was followed by sold-out theatre shows here in in Australia and UK.
A man has been charged over the alleged possession of a large amount of child abuse material in Albury.
About 2pm (Friday 4 March 2016), officers attached to Albury Local Area Command attended a home on Olive Street, Albury, where they spoke with a 56-year-old man.
During a search of the home, police found a laptop that allegedly contained a large amount of child abuse material.
The laptop was seized from the property and is undergoing further examination.
The man was arrested and taken to Albury Police Station, where he was charged with produce, disseminate or possess child abuse material.
He was refused bail to appear before Albury Local Court today (Saturday 5 March 2016).
Police have charged two men over the alleged supply of cannabis in the Wagga Wagga area, following two separate incidents yesterday.
In December 2015, police from Wagga Wagga Local Area Command launched Strike Force Jokic, to investigate the supply of prohibited drugs in the local area.
Following further investigations, police yesterday (Friday 4 March 2016), executed a warrant at a home on Laurel Road, Lake Albert.
While searching the house, police allegedly located an amount of cannabis, prohibited weapons and property suspected of being proceeds of crime; all of which was seized and will undergo forensic examination.
A 21-year-old man was arrested at the home and taken to Wagga Wagga Police Station, where he was charged with supply commercial quantity of prohibited drug.
He was refused bail and is due to appear before Wagga Wagga Local Court today (Saturday 5 March 2016).
In a separate incident, about 8am yesterday (Friday 4 March 2016), police stopped a Holden Rodeo on the Sturt Highway, near Bolton Park.
The driver, a 28-year-old Forbes man, was subjected to a random breath test, which returned a negative result.
He also underwent a random drug test that returned a positive result.
During a subsequent search of his vehicle, police allegedly discovered approximately 1.3kg of cannabis concealed in a bag.
The man was arrested and later charged with supply prohibited drug (indictable quantity), and was granted conditional bail to appear before Wagga Wagga Local Court on Wednesday 20 April 2016.
A woman has been charged for alleged drug-driving and drug possession, while a three-month-old baby was in the vehicle.
About 2am today (Friday 4 March 2016), Traffic and Highway Patrol officers stopped a vehicle on Kooringal Road in Wagga Wagga for random breath and drug tests.
The 24-year-old female driver passed the alcohol breath test. She was then tested for drugs and returned a positive result for methamphetamine.
Officers searched the vehicle and located 5.27 grams of a crystal-like substance believed to amphetamines.
They also saw the three-month-old child in the backseat of the car.
Relatives of the child attended the police station and the child was handed over into their care.
The woman was arrested and taken to Wagga Wagga Police station, where a second drug test returned a positive result for methamphetamines.
She was charged with possess prohibited drug, deemed supply prohibited drug and prohibited from driving for 24 hours.
Bail conditions are still being determined.