Pressure is mounting in the UK on disgraced former HBOS bosses amid anger over mammoth pension pots and nearly £1m of “bonuses for going bust”.

Former HBOS chief executive James Crosby has stepped down as non-executive director of catering firm Compass Group and said he wants to be stripped of his knighthood in the light of last week’s scathing report into the bank’s collapse.

Reese Witherspoon will star in a new film penned by Nick Hornby.

A man has been arrested over alleged threats to a football fan who got a tattoo about the Hillsborough disaster.

London: Health and beauty chain Alliance Boots has announced the shock resignation of boss Andy Hornby after less than two years in the role.

Health and beauty chain Alliance Boots has announced the shock resignation of boss Andy Hornby after less than two years in the role.

THE old cricket verse, At Lord’s, puts it better than we ever could: O my Hornby and my Barlow long ago.

London: Model train-maker Hornby said sales of its Airfix model kits doubled after a BBC programme featured a life-size model of a Supermarine Spitfire fighter aircraft.

Demand for anti-ageing creams today helped Alliance Boots report a surge in sales growth at its health and beauty arm.

Former bosses at bailed-out UK banks Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and HBOS said they were "profoundly sorry" today and admitted they under-estimated the extent of the financial crisis.

Around 250 directors and senior staff of Halifax Bank of Scotland snapped up more than £6m (€7.7m) worth of the bank’s shares the day after last week’s dramatic price collapse.

British actor Orlando Bloom has upset movie bosses on his latest film 'An Education' - after he pulled out of the project just days before it began shooting.

To say the expectations for Led Zeppelin’s one-off gig were high would be an understatement.

Model train maker Hornby said today it was on the right track after sales continued their recovery over Christmas and Airfix joined the business.

UP TO 10 stingrays have been found dead and mutilated on Australia’s eastern coast since Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin was killed by one of the animals last week, an official said yesterday, prompting concerns of revenge attacks on the normally docile fish.

The widow of “Crocodile Hunter” Steve Irwin thanked staff at his wildlife park today, in her first comments on his death, as she considered whether to accept the offer of a state funeral or hold a more private ceremony.

Substituting baseball for soccer, The Perfect Catch (Fox, €24.99) is based on Nick Hornby’s Fever Pitch.

THE boss of the retail arm of banking group HBOS is to receive shares worth €3.2 million as part of a plan to persuade him to stay with the company, it was confirmed yesterday.

The boss of the retail arm of banking group HBOS is to receive shares worth £2.2m (€3.1m) as part of an incentive plan designed to persuade him to stay with the company, it was confirmed today.

Supporting your club is a lifelong experience, but now, it seems, it carries into the afterlife also. Joe McNamee and Mark Gallagher reports on the latest fan craze.

Gwyneth Paltrow is set to star in a US remake of Nick Hornby’s best seller Fever Pitch which switches the obsession with soccer to baseball.

Nick Hornby's How To Be Good has been named the UK's favourite novel of the year at the WH Smith Book Awards.

John Cusack is to star with Minnie Driver in the American movie version of Fever Pitch.