The Daily: August 24

We scour the news so you don't have to.

Martin Luther King tape uncovered
A pristine recording of the late Martin Luther King, leader of the Civil Right Movement, has been uncovered in a Tennessee attic more that 50 years after it was first recorded. The ten-minute tape was found when Stephon Tull was sorting through possessions of his father, who had interviewed King way back in December 1960. The recording is due to go to auction next week; its new proprietor, Morgan of a Manhattan Gallery had remarked that its discovery was like ‘finding a unicorn’. It’s estimated that the tape could fetch anything from £12,000 to £37,000.
 
From hero to zero, Lance Armstrong to be stripped of titles
Lance Armstrong, winner of 7 Tour de France races and survivor of testicular cancer, has announced that he will no longer contest the charges brought against him by USADA. The United States Anti- Doping Agency is pushing to implement a lifelong ban and strip Armstrong of his titles. The doping allegations against him have stretched back as far as 1996 with Armstrong branding the latest attacks, a ‘witch hunt’. The cyclist, who retired last year, launched a foundation several years ago that’s fundraising has eclipsed £500 million thanks to the sale of the yellow ‘live strong bracelets’.

Fifty Shades to fry?
Clare Phillipson, of Wearside Women in Need, has launched an attack on the trilogy under the slogan ‘fifty shades of abuse’. The group claim that the books glorify domestic abuse and have the potential to inspire a generation of violent men. With the view that they celebrate abuse, the charity hopes to burn up to 50 copies of the erotic bestseller on Bonfire Night, on the 5th November. Whilst the publisher, Random House, has stated that the ‘sex scenes are entirely consensual’ it seems to have fallen on deaf ears. Phillipson propounds the allegations and insists, “We are burning the depiction of an abusive man as a romantic hero.”

Bemused over bermuda for pigeons
Pigeon owners have been left bemused by the disappearance of over 200 racing pigeons in a recent race beginning in Thirsk, North Yorkshire. Only 13 of the 232 pigeons released on Saturday made it back to Galashiels in Selkirkshire. As well as being of sentimental value, the birds are often of considerable financial value and many owners are simply not prepared to race again until reasons arise. Masses loses have been recorded since April, when the season became and no rhyme or reason has yet be ascertained.

Search for Richard III’s grave begins
Richard III was the last Platagenet, whose death at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485 has been immortalised by Shakespeare with the line ‘a horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse!’ Today, excavation begins in Leicester to find the grave where Richard was buried over 500 years ago. The site in question, a council car park, is believed to have once been home to the Church of Franciscan friars where records imply Richard’s remains are. Richard III’s defeat in 1485 at the hands of Henry VII paved the way for the Tudors.