All posts tagged: realised

John Robins shares moment he realised he was an alcoholic: ‘Lou Sanders said I needed help’

John Robins shares moment he realised he was an alcoholic: ‘Lou Sanders said I needed help’

Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture email Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter John Robins has opened up about giving up alcohol after decades of heavy drinking – revealing that after a string of failed relationships, Last One Laughing star Lou Sanders told him to get help. The comedian and broadcaster announced in 2023 that he was an alcoholic, sharing the news in an episode of his podcast with Elis James, How Do You Cope. He’s now detailing his journey to sobriety in his new book, Thirst. Speaking about his relationship with alcohol in a new interview, Robins said that he finally accepted that he was an alcoholic after meeting up with friend and fellow comedian Lou Sanders. According to The Guardian, he told her: “I want to die. I want alcohol to be the thing that kills me. I’m going to drink myself to death.” Sanders then held his hand, the pair cried …

‘I visited castle in Spain then realised cost of ticket was so cheap’ | UK | News

‘I visited castle in Spain then realised cost of ticket was so cheap’ | UK | News

Castillo de Colomares,Benalmádena (Image: Getty) While some travellers are happy to spend a week soaking up the sun, others prefer to dive into a destination’s history and culture. But one woman was left laughing at herself after mistaking a popular Spanish attraction for an “ancient castle” – only to discover it’s actually far more modern than it looks. Content creator Alisatata, known as @iam_alisatata on social media, shared how she paid just €3 (around £2.69) to visit Castillo de Colomares after relocating to Spain. She was immediately impressed by the intricate design of the structure, which sits in the coastal town of Benalmádena — but her amazement quickly turned to disbelief when she learned the truth behind it. Despite its grand, historic appearance, the building was actually constructed between 1987 and 1994, meaning it’s nowhere near as old as she had assumed. Read more: New airport rules comes into force but 1 thing keeps catching people out Sharing the moment on TikTok, she joked: “Admiring this ancient castle and wondering how the ticket was so …

The moment I knew: as soon as we parted I realised Hitomi was the one. I waited years to see her again | Relationships

The moment I knew: as soon as we parted I realised Hitomi was the one. I waited years to see her again | Relationships

In my early 20s I quit my job in New Zealand and moved to Sydney to study martial arts. In 1982, after competing in the World Pugilist championships in Hong Kong, I hitchhiked around Japan for a month or so, then headed for Korea via ferry in January 1983. I’d heard air fares were cheap from Korea. No internet back then! While boarding, I was approached by a very attractive Japanese woman, with limited English, who told me that if I bought one box of bananas and a bottle of Johnnie Walker Black label, I could pay for most of my trip in Korea. These items were very much in demand back then. Her name was Hitomi. We ended up talking on the ferry – I had absolutely no Japanese, and she was learning English as a hobby. She and her friend were travelling to Korea to buy clothes and accessories to sell in Japan. I didn’t know anything about Korea so she suggested we travel together. Hitomi and Kerry Cox in Tokyo circa 1990 …

Ancient humans were seafaring far earlier than we realised

Ancient humans were seafaring far earlier than we realised

Malta is one of the Mediterranean’s most remote islands. The nearest land is Sicily, about 85 kilometres north. Today, with ferries and planes, getting there is light work, but in the distant past, Malta was difficult to reach. It’s far enough from Sicily that you can’t see it over the horizon, at least from ground level – and paddling there in a canoe would take over 24 hours, so you would have to navigate by starlight after the day turned dark. In short, if you try to imagine somewhere that Stone Age peoples were able to reach, Malta probably isn’t at the top of the list. Yet reach it they did. We know this because archaeologist Eleanor Scerri at the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology in Jena, Germany, and her colleagues excavated a sinkhole in northern Malta, from 2021 to 2023. They found traces of humans: ash from hearths, stone tools and butchered deer bones. Carbon dating showed that people were living there 8500 years ago, the team reported in Nature in April 2025. At …