Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Names and faces
■ Actor Daniel Radcliffe came to the aid of a man who was mugged by moped-riding attackers in London. Former police officer David Videcette told the Evening Standard newspaper that two moped riders attacked a man just off the upmarket
King’s Road in west London, slashing him across the face and making off with a Louis Vuitton bag. He said he saw 27-year-old Radcliffe consoling the victim after the attack. A spokesman for Radcliffe confirmed Tuesday that the Harry Potter star had been present but gave no other details, calling it a police matter. The Metropolitan Police force said officers were called Friday to reports of a robbery in the area, in which a man in his 50s suffered a cut to the face. There have been no arrests. ■ Two hundred years to the day after Jane Austen died, a new 10-pound note featuring an image of one of England’s most revered authors has been unveiled — right where she was buried. At the unveiling Tuesday of the new “tenner” at Winchester Cathedral in southern England, Bank of England’s governor, Mark Carney, said the new note celebrates the “universal appeal” of Austen’s work. Austen, whose novels includePride and Prejudice, Emma and Sense and Sensibility, chronicled English country life and mores in the Georgian era. Combining wit, romance and social commentary, her books have been adapted countless times for television and film. “Our banknotes serve as repositories of the country’s collective memory, promoting awareness of the United Kingdom’s glorious history and highlighting the contributions of its greatest citizens,” Carney said. The new note is to go into circulation on Sept. 14. Apart from Queen Elizabeth II, whose portrait is on all U.K. currency, Austen is only the third woman to feature on a modern-day British bank note, after medical innovator Florence Nightingale and social reformer Elizabeth Fry. As well as a portrait of Austen, the note features a quote from Pride and Prejudice : “I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading!”
■ Nathan Bartling, an American expatriate in Thailand who is a YouTube star with
3.29 million subscribers, is in hot water for posting a video of flattening coins on railroad tracks. Bartling, whose YouTube series is called “My Mate Nate,” was detained by police after a news conference Monday during which he apologized and said he would try to make amends by promoting the state railway. The 24-year-old from Chino Hills, Calif., had already taken down the video after an online hubbub claiming he risked derailing a train. Police charged him with railway obstruction, trespassing and damaging railway property. The myth-busting website snopes.com as well popular science blogs agree that a coin placed on a rail won’t derail a train.