Typhoon Saola swept across southern China on Saturday after tearing down trees and smashing windows in Hong Kong, although the megacity avoided a feared direct hit from one of...

The Rugby World Cup and new series of Strictly Come Dancing are both set to kick off soon – and one man who knows just how hard both of them are is Ugo Monye. “Strictly is gruelling,” says the former rugby pro-turned-pundit, who played with Harlequins and England before taking part in Strictly in 2021. “At times you’re training for 12 hours a day. So, you could go for a period of three or four days where all you do is wake up, go to the studio, go to sleep, wake up, go to the studio, go to bed.” He recalls recently telling his friend, comedian Eddie Kadi, all about this, the night before he was announced as a contestant for this year’s show. And because of the demanding schedule, taking care of yourself becomes a top priority. “You try and eat right, try and get as much sleep as possible. The biggest initial challenge everyone will find is their feet, because they wouldn’t have been used to dancing for 11 hours a day,” adds Monye, 40, who was partnered with Oti Mabuse on the show. Trading his rugby boots for ballroom shoes came with some challenges, but he still completed five weeks on the show (Monye and Mabuse finished in 11th place that year). “I remember when I did the quickstep, I had my smart watch on, which showed that I danced over 45km in five days,” he recalls. “I remember the first week or two, just the nervousness of rolling out of bed and putting my feet on the carpet because you didn’t know how they would feel.” Having played such a physically demanding sport for 13 years at pro level, Monye was not in bad shape. But Strictly was another “type of pressure”. “When I retired in 2015, I never thought that I’d be dancing, dressed in a low cut, electric pink, short sleeve shirt doing the samba. It’s something I’m actually really proud of,” he adds happily. Like lots of people, Monye, who has two daughters – Phoenix Lilly, six, and Ruby, three, with his ex-wife Lucy – recalls how his approach to self-care has evolved over the years. “Going back to the early 2000s, I was living the dream, right? I was 18 and I got a professional contract playing for my boyhood club, and within a year I travelled the world playing for England,” he says. “I was all, what mental health? I’m flying, right?” Things shifted with time, however, and he began to see the importance of having a proactive approach to maintaining his mental wellbeing. “I remember speaking to a friend, who is really interested in mental health, [about how] people often seek [mental health support] after something bad or traumatic has happened to a point where they actually need it. But it’s more like how you have to go and get an MOT on your car and service it,” he explains. “I think towards the end of my career, I became more aware of it. I have now definitely paid more attention to it and I absolutely love psychology, so I love understanding how the mind works.” Since his retirement, Monye – who has teamed up with Samsung ahead of the World Cup, which starts on September 8 – he has been busy being a dad, alongside jumping into a vibrant broadcast career. Having daughters made him reflect on his own upbringing too – going from being raised by a single mother on a London council estate, to a rural boarding school in Hampshire where he had his education funded (Monye secured a sports scholarship when he was 13). He attributes a lot of his success to his schooling. “I think the person I am now was born at age 13. Everything I was surrounded by was slightly different in that world. It was where I first was introduced to rugby, which then has quite clearly gone on to shape my career, the pathway that I have now, but also my personality. “I think I rely upon myself, I back myself. I had to depend on myself and try and get things done,” he reflects. “I think my personality traits, good and bad, were all developed at boarding school.” Having spent large chunks of his childhood away from family, how does he manage his own work-life balance as a parent now? “How do you manage your work-life balance? Well, you stand in the middle of the park taking a phone call,” he jokes (Monye is in the playground with his girls while we talk). “The time I have with them is absolute quality. For the World Cup, I’m going out for like three or four stints. I’d love them to be able to come out, but with school, it is a bit more difficult. “But I have said to Phoenix already that next year is the Olympics, and she loves gymnastics, so she’s going to be getting on the Eurostar with me. She is watching a lot of clips of Simone Biles at the moment on YouTube and she’s obsessed.” He wants to see his daughters inspired by brilliant women. “I love to watch sports with my daughters,” says Monye. “And we loved watching the Women’s World Cup. I had to get them to come and watch incredible women just do it.” Ugo Monye has teamed up with Samsung to help the nation see the new laws clearly and watch the match in supersize, thanks to the Samsung 98” Q80C TV (samsung.com/uk/big-screen-tv). Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live As Simon Cowell shares positive therapy experience, how can it help even if you aren’t in crisis? Project launched to bust myth that cancer is a ‘white person’s disease’ 10 slick ways to kit out your student digs

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The long-running hunt for missing Madeleine McCann returned to headlines last week, during a three-day search of a Portuguese reservoir. Acting on tip-offs, police searched the remote Barragem do Arade reservoir in Portugal, an area that prime suspect Christian Brueckner frequented from 2000 to 2017. Although police are remaining tight-lipped about the details, they said they recovered “a number of items”, which will be evaluated in the coming days and weeks in the hunt for evidence in the mystery of Madeleine’s disappearance on 3 May 2007. Prosecutor for the city of Braunschweig, Christian Wolters, said: “Whether some of the items actually relate to the Madeleine McCann case cannot yet be confirmed.” Earlier this week, officers said “materials collected” during the search had already been sent to Germany for analysis. One “relevant clue” was found during the police operation in the Algarve last week, Portuguese newspaper Correio da Manha reported. Separately, investigators are set to widen the search again after photographs belonging to 46-year-old Brueckner were also said to have revealed clues. With help from Portuguese police, and with Scotland Yard detectives watching on, German investigators scoured the beauty spot 16 miles from Silves, near the southern coast of the country. Starting on Monday last week, investigators sealed off a mile-long peninsula jutting into the reservoir and set up tents as an operations base. They then spent three days digging with shovels, cutting back swaths of undergrowth and using rakes and pickaxes to sweep the banks of the reservoir, leaving behind piles of rubble. At the main 160sq-ft excavation area, they flattened a concentrated area of woodland with heavy machinery, and dug holes 2ft deep. Using sniffer dogs to hunt the surrounding grassland for clues, detectives in a rigid-hull inflatable boat also examined the water. A no-fly zone in place in the skies overhead allowed police drones to survey the region undisturbed. A track leading to the search area was cordoned off with police tape and marked vehicles from Portugal’s National Republican Guard. What appeared to be evidence bags were removed from the scene. The dam, which is 31 miles northeast of the Praia da Luz coastal resort from which Madeleine disappeared, was built in 1955 and is fed by the Arade river. Specialist divers had previously searched the reservoir in 2008, paid for by Portuguese lawyer Marcos Aragao Correia, who claimed to have been tipped off by criminal contacts that Madeleine’s body was there. Two other areas near Praia da Luz could also be searched by police, The Sun reported. Investigators looking through more than 8,000 photographs belonging to Brueckner said they had yielded more clues. Brueckner, who denies any connection to Madeleine, is in jail in Germany for the rape of a 72-year-old American woman two years before the three-year-old vanished at the same resort. German prosecutor Christian Wolters said the investigators were looking for a body, as well as anything that could help the investigation, such as clothing. He said co-operation between German, British and Portuguese authorities went “excellently and very constructively”. And enquiries will continue out of the public eye, he added. The probe into Brueckner is expected to continue for a long time, Mr Wolters said on Thursday. As that investigation goes on and as analysis of the recovered items begins, Madeleine’s parents’ 16-year wait for answers continues. Read More Madeleine McCann news – latest: Investigators set to widen search after new photos reveal ‘clues’ Madeleine McCann case: Timeline of the missing child’s disappearance Sixteen years and countless heartbreaks: Where are Madeleine McCann’s family now? What happened to Madeleine McCann? Sixteen years and countless heartbreaks as Madeleine McCann’s family wait for answers Items seized in Madeleine McCann search ‘cannot yet be linked’ to disappearance

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