The last ferry left for the mainland and residents took shelter as Hurricane Earl closed in on North Carolina’s dangerously exposed Outer Banks today with 105mph winds.

Heather Graham is teaming up with former The West Wing star Jimmy Smits and Big Love actresses Mary Kay Place and Tina Majorino to perform at the Nantucket Film Festival in Massachusetts this weekend.

Peter Benchley, whose novel Jaws terrorised millions of swimmers, has died.

Tourists helped save the lives of more than 40 pilot whales who had beached themselves on a Cape Cod beach.