Colin O’Brady took on the elements, a relentless rival and weeks of isolation as he walked solo and unassisted across the southernmost continent

Having trekked hundreds of miles into Antarctica in late 2018, American Colin O’Brady reached a memorable landmark: the south pole. It was only a waypoint on the way to O’Brady’s pursuit of a record – the first-ever unaided, unsupported solo crossing of the continent. Yet when he made it to “due south”, it was time for an impromptu celebration. He did a handstand, posing as if he was holding up Earth.

“I was at the south pole, the bottom of the world,” O’Brady tells the Guardian. “It was a moment of riding high. My emotions were on top of me … I’m thankful I let myself experience that positive moment.”

Related: ‘I’m absolutely elated. It’s a miracle we made it,’ says polar hero Louis Rudd

As authors from Chaucer to Hollinghurst have shown, sex reveals our emotions, instincts and morals. The question is not why write about sex, claims author Garth Greenwell, it’s why write about anything else?

There is a widely held belief, among English-language writers, that sex is impossible to write about well – or at least much harder to write about well than anything else. I once heard a wonderful writer, addressing students at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, say that her ideal of a sex scene would be the sentence: “They sat down on the sofa …” followed by white space. This is a prejudice I can’t understand. One of the glories of being a writer in English is that two of our earliest geniuses, Chaucer and Shakespeare, wrote of the sexual body so exuberantly, claiming it for literature and bringing its vocabulary – including all those wonderful four-letter words – into the texture of our literary language. This is a gift not all languages have received; a translator once complained to me that in her language there was only the diction of the doctor’s office or of pornography, neither of which felt native to poetry.

More than this, surely it is absurd to claim that a central activity of human life, a territory of feeling and drama, is off-limits to art. Sex is a uniquely useful tool for a writer, a powerful means not just of revealing character or exploring relationships, but of asking the largest questions about human beings.

Australian National Audit Office evidence to Senate appears to contradict Morrison’s claim that he provided no authorisation

The prime minister’s office asked Bridget McKenzie to seek Scott Morrison’s “authority” for intended recipients of $100m of sports grants and coordinate the announcement with Coalition campaign headquarters, according to new evidence to the sports rorts inquiry.

The evidence from the Australian National Audit Office to the Senate inquiry contradicts Morrison’s claims that McKenzie, the former sports minister, was the ultimate decision-maker for the grant program, and that changes were not made after parliament was dissolved.

The millions of unemployed in Thailand due to the coronavirus include elephants dependent on tourists to feed their voracious appetites. With scant numbers of foreign visitors, commercial elephant camps and sanctuaries lack funds for their upkeep and have sent more than 100 of the animals trudging back to their natural habitats.

It's been years since Coyote Peterson was stung by a Japanese giant hornet -- a subspecies of the Asian giant hornet -- but the American wildlife educator vividly remembers how the sting immediately felt like a 'red hot fire poker' being shoved into his skin, followed by residual, almost unbearable pain that lasted for hours.

Rochelle Humes has revealed that she is expecting her third child with husband Marvin in an Easter themed Instagram post.

The singer said their post had been badly timed

The actor and his wife Sabrina both tested positive for Covid-19 last month

Sheen's uncanny performance got the seal of approval from the four-year-old

The This Morning presenter made the most of the sunny weather with a spot of gardening

The Hotter than Hell singer has revealed her new 'do in a sweet Instagram post

The actress had her hair dyed shortly before the lockdown

The Smile singer has often talked candidly about her previous alcohol and drug use

Renowned Bollywood actor Rishi Kapoor has died of cancer aged 67.

The radio DJ is expecting a baby with her boyfriend Brian Barry-Murphy

The Britain's Got Talent judge tells Standard Online why she likes to "keep surprising people"

Luxury self-isolation

All profits from the £20 bag will go directly to NHS Charities Together, a not-for-profit conglomeration of 250 good causes attempting to raise £1 million every day for hospitals

Take a walk on the wild side

Always consult your midwife and get kitted out online — resident expert Karen Dacre has a guide to growing a human in lockdown

Mantelmania continues as The Mirror And The Light makes it to the final stages of the 2020 Women's Prize for Fiction

If you were born in March or April, our condolences ...

How does your isolation garden grow? The smart guide to keeping it in full bloom

All profits from the tote bag will go directly to NHS Charities Together, a not-for-profit conglomeration of 250 good causes attempting to raise £1 million every day for hospitals

Travellers may have to quarantine for two weeks on arrival to UK - but why hasn't this been implemented sooner?

They travelled the length of Central and South America for the BBC's Race Across the World, so who better to ask for travel tips?

Make friends while you spin

Your family could be made into a Beano comic if you win

For the latest episode of At Home With... pop star Justin Jesso Zooms with Amira Hashish from his family home and gives an exclusive performance of his new single

It's a wonder ingredient – and not just for fending off illness

'Practising mindfulness is like going to a gym, you have to exercise the muscle and it works with anxiety'

These snazzy steals are guaranteed smile-inducers

Broadcaster considers plans to restart production on many TV series halted by pandemic

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The BBC could put actors and directors in quarantine and remove the studio audience from Strictly Come Dancing under plans to help restart television production after the coronavirus pandemic shut down much of the industry.

The proposals, which could affect everything from EastEnders to light entertainment and high-end dramas, are being considered as broadcasters face up to the prospect of enormous gaps in their schedules after much of British television production was stopped dead in mid-March.

Related: No Señor Agüero, but BBC Bitesize kicks it out of the park

Related: How TV news hosts get camera-ready in lockdown

Pokemon GO (Free) from Niantic has been improving with letting people play the game in one place or at home. …

Continue reading "PokeCoin System Changes Are Coming to ‘Pokemon GO’ as Niantic Begins Testing in Australia"

I love everything from developer Gionathan Pesaresi aka Neutronized, but I have an especially soft spot for the Super Cat …

Continue reading "Fantastic Platformer ‘Super Cat Tales 2’ Updated with Third and Final Story Chapter"

The director has candidly discussed the troubled 2015 comic book adaptation in a new interview.

The comic book character was killed off in the finale of last year's Avengers: Endgame.

Chris Hemsworth admits that being a father is his priority and means more to him than being a movie star.

January Jones wanted to give her followers a more "personal experience".

The 'Die Hard' actor has been in Idaho with the 'Ghost' actress and their children, Rumer, 31, Scout, 28, and Talluhah, 26, for the past

The 28-year-old model-and-actress has "capitalised" on her stunning looks in order to "survive" and gain stability, but she wasn't expecting to become a