What a moment.

Teabags! Post-it notes! What would we do?

When we think of great inventions we assume it takes years of trial and error, hours of experimentations, tweaks and retests. And for the most part we would be right. After all it took Thomas Edison over 10,000 attempts to finally nail the light bulb.

British actor Alan Rickman almost turned down the role in which he made his first major film appearance.

Los Angeles Lakers great Kobe Bryant, arguably the best NBA player of his generation, will retire at the end of this season.

You can’t find a single sentence, in anything Donald Trump has ever said, that might constitute any kind of appeal to the better angels of our nature, writes Fergus Finlay

He may have a fair way to go to be in the Willie Mullins league, but Gordon Elliott is getting there - and quickly writes Pat Keane.

The NFL and the UFC have a lot in common. Both are vaudevillian nightmares that shouldn’t work but really seem to manage just fine, says John Riordan.

Check out our spoiler-free guide to what to watch tonight.

Hollywood moguls, sports stars and rappers have all voiced interest in taking over the Los Angeles Clippers after the NBA urged owners to expel disgraced Donald Sterling in the wake of a racism row.

V Stiviano, the woman whom Donald Sterling was talking to when he made racist remarks, is "very saddened" by his lifetime NBA ban, and she didn’t release the recording of their conversation, her lawyer said.

Last Monday, Nate Silver re-launched his website, fivethirtyeight.com, writing a lengthy manifesto to accompany the new-look site, which features an equally lengthy list of new writers.

In the last couple of weeks some pretty tasty players have called it a day.

Silver Gauntlet is a hopeful nap choice in the Irish Stallion Farms’ EBF Median Auction Maiden on, at least from a punting point of view, a horrible card at Roscommon tonight.

There seems to be no shortage of statistic boffins emerging from the US, and the latest numbers genius to catch the zeitgeist seems to be Nate Silver, now well known from the FiveThirtyEight Blog at the New York Times.

It was not just a victory for President Barack Obama, it was validation for the number-crunchers and statistical model geeks, including a New York Times blogger who became a target for conservatives.

Seeing is deceiving. Look beyond the obvious and you might glimpse writer-director Rodrigo Cortes’s sleights of hand in this intriguing thriller, which follows two paranormal investigators as they debunk fraudulent mediums, mind readers and ghost hunters through the appliance of rigorous science.

Dick Van Dyke has married his 40-year-old girlfriend Arlene Silver.

Robbie Power looks set to maintain his partnership with Big Zeb when the former champion goes for a second straight victory in the Paddy Power Dial-A-Bet Chase at Leopardstown on December 27.

Silver By Nature has been given the go-ahead to run in the John Smith’s Grand National following discussions between owners Geoff and Joyce Brown, trainer Lucinda Russell and her partner, former champion jump jockey Peter Scudamore.

David Pipe feels Comply Or Die has his best chance of winning a race since he famously landed the Grand National back in 2008 when he lines up in tomorrow’s totesport.com Eider Chase at Newcastle.

SILVER TURN was limited to just one start as a juvenile but she is making up for lost time now and can strike gold in the Enhanced SP’s At bluesq.com Handicap at Wolverhampton.

WILLIE MULLINS’ Golden Silver, a proven mud-lark, showed he is just as effective on a sound surface when landing the Boylesports.com Champion Chase at Punchestown yesterday.

This Saturday’s Coral Scottish National has suffered a second blow with the loss of Silver By Nature from a leg injury.

Jim Goldie is one of Ayr's greatest supporters and he set a new personal best score when Something Silver led his rivals a merry dance in the Victor Chandler Handicap Chase.

The woman sexually assaulted by Roman Polanski when she was a child is urging a court to dismiss the case against the film director, saying the media attention has made her ill.

Robert Downey Jr gave US cinema bosses a sneak preview of his new take on Sherlock Holmes, which turns the cerebral detective into a wisecracking action hero who is handcuffed naked to a bed.

ACTOR and political activist Ron Silver, who won a Tony Award as a take-no-prisoners Hollywood producer in David Mamet’s Speed-the-Plow, died on Sunday at the age of 62.

Tom Hogan intends running both last year's third Silver Jaro and Kirkbybroguelantern, who is dropping back to two miles, in the Pierse Handicap Hurdle at Leopardstown on Sunday.

Numbersixvalverde will not bid to recapture his John Smith’s Grand National crown in April after being ruled out for the season.

JOHN SMITH’S have boosted prize money in the Grand National by £100,000, meaning the 2008 renewal of the world’s most famous race will be worth a record £800,000 to the winner.

Ante-post favourite Clan Royal and Racing Post Chase hero Innox are among 122 contenders remaining after the first forfeit stage for the John Smith’s Grand National.

Eden Rock is 4-1 favourite for the Royal Hunt Cup at Royal Ascot at York following the five-day confirmation stage today.

Legendary singer Diana Ross amazed bosses at a teenage community centre when she offered to perform a fund-raising gig in its benefit for free.

Relatives of a motorcycle champion who was battered to death hit out today after his killer was told he must serve at least 10 years in jail.

It was created by a former English teacher and uses operating theatre technology – but a strapless and backless bikini unveiled today is set to become the sexiest sight of the summer.

Best-selling US author Stephen King was expected to remain in a Maine hospital for several days as he recovers from pneumonia, a spokesman said.

WASHINGTON and Paris may have their differences over Iraq but the Hollywood stars of The Matrix Reloaded had no argument with France yesterday.

The most hyped movie release of the year came to Cannes today with the European premiere of The Matrix Reloaded.

IT MUST be the longest hang-over in history, but whatever the outcome of the brandy and cigars episode, if there is one, there is a very important point which should not be lost on Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, and about which there is absolutely no doubt.

America is to get a new TV reality show that will search for action film stars.

Funnyman ROBIN WILLIAMS is shedding his family image to play a bitter children’s show host in a new comedy Death To Smoochy.