Scotland, UK - 17th Nov 04: One Scottish man claims to be at the end of his tether, having been kept awake almost every night for the last month - by the ghost of Rock and Roll legend Elvis Presley! Tam MacMillan, a resident of the Highland village of Glen Lachart moved into his new home in October and discovered his uninvited spectral house guest almost immediately.

Elvis Haunting a Chimney

"I'd been lugging all my heavy furniture in for days, so on that first night in the house I went to bed early," Tam explained. "Just about an hour after I'd dropped off, I was woken up by what sounded like muffled singing."

Tam got up and searched the house for the owner of the voice, but could find no-one. It was only as he searched the living room that Tam finally realised where the voice was coming from - his chimney. What's more, Tam claims, the singing wasn't being done by just any old voice, but by a rather special singer.

"It was the King," MacMillan insists. "It was the King of Rock and Roll!"

Each night since then, Tam - known to friends and relatives as "Mad Tam " - has been kept awake by Elvis' warblings, despite several unsuccesfull attemps to lure the elusive Hillbilly Cat out with cheeseburgers, prescription drugs, and double thick chocolate milkshakes.

"The worst of it is," sighed Tam, "he doesn't even do his own songs - he just sings all this modern rubbish you hear on the radio nowadays. I wouldn't mind if he'd sing something good."

Though MacMillan maintains the singing is so loud it can be heard in every room of his house, next-door-neighbour and local postman, Alvin King, claims "never to have heard a thing, baby", despite his living room wall backing directly onto Jethro's.

In a last-ditch attempt to "get some fecking sleep", Tam has drafted in village Priest Father Malcolm Brown, who will shortly be performing an exorcism of the three bedroom property.

LONDON - 18th Nov 04: Richard Branson is in talks with leading British and American casino operators discussing deals aimed at putting the Virgin brand name over one or more of the new giant casinos to be permitted when the Gaming Bill becomes law.

"It is an area we are closely looking at," Will Whitehorn, Mr Branson's main spokesman, said. "We have had a number of approaches, from both sides of the Atlantic, about using our name in casinos."

The Bill, which is currently going through Parliament, will legalise large-scale gambling establishments on the scale which has applied in Las Vegas and Australia for some years.

The latest thinking is that there will be nine or 10 such casinos throughout Britain, on a regional basis. They will each house 1,250 slot machines as well as tables offering poker, blackjack and roulette.

Las Vegas operators such as Caesar's Palace have joined their British counterparts in expressing an interest in running these outlets. However, there has been considerable opposition from pressure groups keen to resist the original proposals for a free-for-all.

"We have not decided to do anything yet," Mr Whitehorn said. "It's early days and we will definitely wait until the outcome of the Bill." Nevertheless, Mr Branson has been running an online gaming business for the past 10 weeks, and his company has joined the British Casino Association. These are seen by industry insiders as telling signs that Mr Branson is preparing to enter the sector in a significant way.

The Virgin name is highly attractive to operators who want to appeal both to experienced gamblers and to novices, as Virgin is already well-known and trusted through its mobile phones, records, financial services and airlines.

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