It wasn’t all bad

A David Hockney painting that was sold by the Royal Opera House for £13m in October to save the institution from financial disaster was, it has emerged, bought by the venue’s chairman, who is giving it straight back. Mobile phone billionaire David Ross, who also chairs the National Portrait Gallery, said he had bid for the 1971 portrait of former RoH boss Sir David Webster, “to secure it for the British public” and to keep the arts “as accessible as possible”.

A 21-year-old endurance athlete from Florida has become the first person with Down’s syndrome to complete an Ironman event – swimming 2.4 miles, cycling 112 miles and running a 26.2-mile marathon. Chris Nikic finished the gruelling challenge in his home state in 16 hours and 46 minutes, and has earned official recognition from Guinness World Records. He started training three years ago by completing a single push-up, after his father noticed he was becoming increasingly sedentary. “Goal set and achieved,” he posted online after the race. “Time to set a new and bigger goal for 2021.”

In a rare tribute, more than 100 circuit judges, barristers and Lord Justices of Appeal have honoured a man believed to be Britain’s longest-serving court watcher – a member of the public who takes a keen interest in proceedings from the public gallery. Andrew Mollison, who died earlier this month, aged 74, spent 42 years observing cases in his home city of Sheffield, and further afield. Eulogies at the crown court are normally reserved for judges and barristers, but Mollison was described as a much-loved “institution”.