as an eight—year—old boy, and that makes me so angry, thinking back about what was done to me, and how we were forgotten and basically told to go away and die. what i want the inquiry to do for me is provide accountability. i want to know who knew hiv and hepatitis c was coming into the country, when it was coming into the country, and what they did and specifically what they didn't do about it. i'm very positive about my future. i think i have come from a very dark place in my teens and very early 20s and sort of turned that around. so, yeah, i've got everything to look forward to now. matt merry there, and you can read much more about his story, just head to the bbc website. tributes have been paid to one of the oldest

surviving female pilots who flew in the second world war, who has died at the age of 101. mary ellis joined the air transport auxiliary in 1941 and delivered spitfires and bombers to the front line. up in the air, on your own, and you can do whatever you like. you know, iflew 400 spitfires, and occasionally i would take one up and go play with the clouds, which was so delightful and lovely! mary ellis delighted in flying. born in 1917, the year before the raf was created, her love of planes began early. she got her pilot's licence in 1938 and joined the air transport auxiliary — a civilian organisation which ferried aircraft from factory to front—line airfield. soon, mary and other women were flying bombers and fighters, to the amazement on one occasion, she recalled, of one ground crew. i said, "i am the pilot!" they didn't believe me,

and they actually went in the aeroplane and searched it to find a pilot. they came back and said, "there's nobody there, you must be!" after the war, mary ellis lived on the isle of wight, where she managed sandown airport for 20 years. of her time flying, she said, "i'd like to do it all over again." "there was a war on, but otherwise it was absolutely wonderful." mary ellis, who has died at the age of 101. that is all from us now, time for the news where you are. hello and welcome to sportsday. i'm mike bushell. dreaming of paris —

britain's geraint thomas is just three days away from glory, but a monster of a stage lies in wait tomorrow. a good night for steven gerrard as rangers win in croatia on a busy night of europa league qualifying matches. having committed solely to limited—overs cricket, adil rashid is selected in england's squad for the first test with india next week, and not everyone is happy about it. hello and welcome to sportsday. welsh cycling fans must be biting their nails as the end of this year's tour de france draws nearer and nearer. after yesterday's gruelling climb, some respite of sorts for the riders with today's 18th stage — a rather flat 171 kilometres into the city of pau.

geraint thomas held onto the leader's yellowjersey, and stays a minute and 59 seconds clear of second—placed tom dumoulin after a stage won by home favourite arnaud demarre, as nick parrott reports. after a ha rd after a hard mountain stage yesterday, this was a chance for tour leader geraint thomas to c0 nse rve tour leader geraint thomas to conserve his energy ahead of another big challenge tomorrow. the flat 106 mile stage to pau should have been trouble—free for the main contenders. while the lance kick didn't pose a challenge, riding in a large group is always hazardous. after winning yesterday's stage, brought back down to earth. running repairs brought back down to earth. running re pa i rs allowed brought back down to earth. running repairs allowed him to rejoin the main growth, but 30 riders have failed to make it this far, and the colombian who is the overall will be hoping his injuries don't end his race. at the sharp end, arnaud

demarre won the battle of the sprinters to take the victory. thomas crossed the line soon after. tea m thomas crossed the line soon after. team sky say the probability of winning the tour rests with him, as tomorrow's mountain stage will be chris froome‘s last chance to get back into contention for a fifth title. so there's been no change at the top of the general classification after stage 18. britain's geraint thomas still has a one minute 59 second lead over tom dumoulin, with sky team mate and reigning champion chris froome still third. tomorrow sees the final mountain stage of the race, before a time trial on saturday and the procession into paris on sunday. one of the big women's cycling teams — wiggle high five — has pulled out of the 2019 season. 0wner rochelle gilmore says she wants to spend more time on things other than cycling. wiggle high five‘s roster includes britons katie archibald and elinor barker, as well as australian annette edmondson. the team started out in 2013. it's been a busy night of football for teams hoping to qualify for the europa league.

burnley of the premier league scrambled a draw at scottish premiership side aberdeen. it finished 1—1 ahead of next week's second leg, but burnley‘s england goalkeeper, adam pope, went off with a shoulder injury. so fitness concerned over him. hibs staged the best comeback of the night to win 3—2 in the first leg of their tie at home to asteras tripolis. they were two down. it's probably all over for northern ireland's crusaders, who lost 5—1 in slovenia. but better news for steven gerrard and rangers, who have the advantage after alfredo morelus scored away in croatia, against 0siek, and that was the only goal of the night. and the welsh champions, new saints, were celebrating a late winner, thanks to blaine hudson's header, and that made it 2—1 in this home leg against the lincoln red imps, who are not from lincoln but from gilbraltar. former manchester united manager sir alex ferguson says he would "not be here today" without the "great

care" of hospital staff after his surgery for a brain haemorrhage in may. sir alex has spoken publicly for the first time since going home from hospital in a video on social media, released by manchester united, and he thanked all his well—wishers. hello. just a quick message first of all to thank the medical staff at macclesfield, salford royal and alexandra hospitals. without those people gave me such great care and i wouldn't be sitting here today. thank you from me and my family. thank you very much. it has made me feel so humble as all the messages i have had from all over the world wishing me the best and the good wishes do resonate very strongly with me. thank you for that support you have given me. lastly, i will be back later in the season to watch the team and, in the meantime, all of the best to jose

and thank you very much. good to see him looking well again. adil rashid has been picked for england's squad for the first test against india next wednesday, despite opting out of the longer form of cricket with his county, yorkshire, to focus on one—day and twenty20 matches. rashid hasn't played a test since facing india in 2016. former england captain michael vaughan called the decision to include rashid ridiculous, and yorkshire's chief executive, mark arthur, said he hopes england know what they're doing to adil and the county game. but national selector ed smith said earlier today that rashid's selection doesn't set a bad precedent and is a "one—off". moving forward, we are very clear. this is an unusual, of circumstances, which we have discussed. moving forward, for players to be eligible to play for

england in the test team, starting next year, they have to have a contract next year, they have to have a co ntra ct to next year, they have to have a contract to play red bull cricket in the championship of moving forward, it will not be the case that you can say, i don't would play championship cricket but i want to play test cricket. rashid understands that. he was “— cricket. rashid understands that. he was —— he knows that next year he will have to have a read all contract will have to have a read all co ntra ct if will have to have a read all contract if he wishes to be available for selection in test contract. now, he has already signed a white ball only contract with yorkshire, and that seems to be pretty much fixed so, as a result, we are prepared to consider him for selection for the summer and winter. middlesex chalked up a much—needed win in the t20 blast this evening. they beat hampshire by 22 runs at lord's. 0pener paul stirling provided the backbone of the home side's innings. he made 60 out of middlesex's 165—8. hampshire looked to be cruising at the halfway stage of their innings, but australian spinner ashton agar triggered a collapse. he took three wickets as hampshire collapsed to 143 all out. england can no longer qualify

automatically for the quarterfinals at the women's hockey world cup, after its second lowest ranked team — ireland — secured a shock victory over india. the green army beat the side ranked 5th in the world 1—0, thanks to anna 0'flanagan‘s deflected effort. the result means ireland — who are competing in their first world cup in 16 years — will top pool b and have guaranteed their place in the quarterfinals. england face ireland this sunday to determine where they will finish in the group. it's an absolute dream experience. we'll be pinching ourselves for a couple of days. it's brilliant for us, but it wasn't outside the realms of possibility for this team. we came in with the belief, we did a lot of homework and we played a lot

of teams in our pool before, and we knew we could get a result. an unbelievable experience. earlier, spain dominated south africa in their second group game of the tournament. two first—quarter goals started the upset. south africa only got a look in in the third quarter, pulling one back, but the spanish side was unstoppable. it finished 7—1. it moves them up to third in their pool, and leaves the south africans facing an uphill battle to qualify for the quarterfinals. there was an extraordinary finish in tonight's super league match, in which leaders st helens came from behind to beat warrington with the very last kick of the match. the scores were tied at 12—12 as the full—time hooter sounded, but saints‘ danny richardson kicked this penalty from inside his own half to secure a 14—12 win and extend their lead at the top to 12 points. england rugby union fullback ben foden has signed a deal to become player/coach at new york—based rugby united, who arejoining major league rugby next season. foden, who won 32 england caps between 2009 and 2013, is the highest—profile englishman

to play in the states. he's said rugby in america, "is there to be cracked". meanwhile, wasps‘ ashleyjohnson has been suspended from all sport for six months for doping. johnson tested positive for a banned substance following an out—of—competition test at the premiership club. the 32—year—old claimed he mistakenly consumed his wife's dietary supplement. johnson has almost served the ban already, as it has been backdated to the 7th february, the day of the test. that's all from sportsday. coming up in a moment, the papers. bringing us tomorrow.

for the sun, and jason beattie, who's head of politics at the daily mirror. many of tomorrow's front pages are already in. the financial times leads on facebook‘s woes, as more than $120 billion was wiped off the value of its shares — the biggest one—day fall in us history. the guardian has the same story, saying the social media site "pays the price" for the data scandal. and the times also has a facebook story, reporting that the social media site allows anti—semitic posts to remain on the platform after they've been flagged by users as offensive. the i leads on the home secretary's decision to allow medicinal cannabis to be prescribibed to patients with exceptional clinical need after parents fought for their

children's right to the drug. 0n the front page of the telegraph is work and pensions secretary esther mcvey saying more teenagers should take jobs in the summer holidays. it's the wrong type of sun for the metro, who report on the cancelled trains and tailbacked roads caused by the heatwave. and a new alzheimers drug makes the front page of the express. right. jason, would you start? let's go to right. jason, would you start? let's gotoa right. jason, would you start? let's go to a story about cannabis medicine on the nhs. quite a bit to this story, it's not as simple as it appears. the first thing is this is good news, and it will be welcomed by politicians from across the spectrum. the ridiculous thing we had was that, from 1971, the drugs

act, which is the basis for all of oui’ act, which is the basis for all of our legislation, it's responsible for deciding a medical decision, and this is a kind of home office deciding a medical decision, and finally sajid javid, the home secretary, and there's a bit of politics here, because this is a break with his predecessor, theresa may, who was home secretary once, he's woken up to common sense that there is a medicinal purpose for cannabis oil and it can help every delete —— help alleviate people with certain conditions. it's a common—sense verdict. it's not a free for all, and sajid javid is careful to say, look, this isn't going to be for recreational use. it's specifically for this medicinal area. yes, as i say, quite a few hurdles to overcome all this, and it's an example of what they called pa rent it's an example of what they called parent power. it was a mother, like