The summer after A-levels. I had promised myself that once all the cramming was over, I would buy 'Lolita'. I felt both furtive and outrageously adult as I purchased it in The Totnes Bookshop. I nurtured hazy notions of a racy read to ease my brain after all the Chaucer, imagining this was 'The Valley of the Dolls' with class.

Twenty-five years ago, Lifes Rich Pageant found R.E.M. metamorphosing from what was effectively a turbo-charged folk-rock cult indie outfit into a proper rock band capable of filling stadia.

Council officers are investigating an incident in which a swan was left decapitated.

Accompanied by the voices and period instruments of the Theatre of Early Music, celebrated countertenor Daniel Taylor here presents a collection of songs drawn from, or influenced by, Shakespeare, composed by the likes of Gibbons, Purcell and Dowland.

Twenty-three dead swans have been discovered close to where eight others were found shot with an air gun last week, bringing the total killed to 31 in just a month.

Britain's two species of migratory wild swans, which come from the far north to spend the winter here and add grace and charm to many lakes and pools, are undergoing contrasting fortunes which are beginning to worry conservationists.

Early and late goals saw the Championship's match of the day end 1-1 at Carrow Road where Michael Chopra set up Jon Parkin to give Cardiff City a seventh-minute lead against Norwich City with a meaty drive. Canaries pressure on the Bluebirds' goal paid off in the final minute of normal time when Russell Martin scored at the far post.

It was the happiest start to the year, after the most miserable of Christmases, for a large group of swans, finally released back into the wild in Somerset.

After a midweek win at Leeds, the Sven-Goran Eriksson effect quickly wore off for Leicester City when they met a stiffer Championship test at the Liberty Stadium where Swansea City's second-half substitute, Marvin Emnes, on loan from Middlesbrough, made an immediate impact with a 50th-minute goal. The Swans' 2-0 win was wrapped up in injury time by Scott Sinclair. The result took Brendan Rogers' side up to fourth; Leicester are a point above the bottom three.

What's less believable than the plotline of the last instalment of Lost?