Story 1:A student had a magical time when she snaffled the snitch in her first muggle Quidditch game. Rowena Francis, who lives in Purley, was one of several Oxford students who took part in the Harry Potter-based sport. The university has started inter-college games of Quidditch which has been adapted from the novels in which witches and wizards fly around on broomsticks. Instead, participants have a broomstick between their legs and use volleyballs to try and score goals. Miss Francis, 19, said ‘It was not as hard as I thought it was going to be, but it was though and there were a lot of one hand throwing and catching – and a lot of dropping the ball.” The Philosophy and German student found out about the game after seeing an advert in her college newspaper. She said “I saw the advert and decided to go along because I wanted to try something new just having started my first year. I am not obsessive, but they are my favourite books. In knew the rules but they were really complicated and I was not sure if I would be able to play.” The game was organised by Angus Berry, founder of the first college team at Oxford. He is hoping the sport will grow and eventually become big enough for a varsity game against Cambridge.

This article is interesting to me because the books it originates from are my favourites, and also it is a very humorous game which is not what you’d expect to see in a paper.

Media values: Proximity, currency, human interest and odd/unusual.

Story 2:Lindsay Lohan's bad luck with cars continues after a woman who claims she was struck by the actress' sports car has issued a lawsuit over her injuries.Nubia Del Carmen Preza claims she was struck by Lohan's Maserati while walking through a West Hollywood intersection in September 2010.Preza's lawsuit states she has suffered "disabling and serious personal injuries, pain, suffering and anguish" and that she is seeking damages for all her medical expenses and lost time at work. A call to her lawyer, Gregory Picco, seeking additional details was not immediately returned.It is the second lawsuit filed against Lohan this month involving an car mishap.A paparazzo sued Lohan, claiming that he was struck in January 2010 by a vehicle in which Lohan was riding. Grigor Balyan claims he was trying to shoot pictures of the actress in Hollywood when he was hit.Preza's lawsuit states Lohan was driving when she was allegedly hit on the afternoon of September 1 2010, at an intersection just south of the Sunset Strip. At the time, Lohan lived near the intersection.Lohan's spokesman Steve Honig said neither Lohan nor her lawyers had been served with the lawsuit and could not comment on it.The model and actress remains on probation for a 2007 drunken driving case filed after she was arrested twice that year on suspicion of driving while impaired.One of the incidents sparked two civil lawsuits after Lohan chased a vehicle she thought was carrying her former assistant on Pacific Coast Highway. One of the cases has settled. The other, filed by three men who were in the SUV Lohan was driving, may go to trial in March.

This story interests me because it is recent and about a celebrity who you wouldn’t expect to be in the news for a bad reason.

Media values: prominence, currency, human interest, odd/unusual.