When authorities in Thailand were assembling a group of rescuers to search for a soccer team lost in a flooded cave, one of their first calls went to a retired firefighter and an IT consultant in England.
Richard Stanton, left, John Volanthen, center, talks to U.S. Special Operations Command Pacific Search and Rescue team personnel in Mae Sai, Chiang Rai province, northern Thailand, Tuesday, July 3, 2018. The 12 boys and soccer coach found in a partially flooded cave in northern Thailand after 10 days are mostly in stable medical condition and have received high-protein liquid food, officials said Tuesday, though it is not known when they will be able to go home. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
Rick Stanton and John Volanthen were the first to reach the 12 boys and their coach inside the Luang Nang Non Cave in Chiang Rai province on Monday.
It is their voices that can be heard talking to the boys and giving them calm reassurance in a dramatic video released by the Thai navy. They are working with Thai navy SEALs, who are leading the rescue operation.
Stanton, the retired firefighter from Coventry, and Volanthen, who does IT consulting work in Bristol, have years of experience in cave rescues and have helped map the Luang Nang Non Cave.
"Brits are probably one of the best cave-diving teams," said Dinko Novosel, head of the European Cave Rescue Commission, even before the search mission proved successful.
Chris Jewell, a member of the British Cave Rescue Council, confirmed that the divers on the video were Stanton and Volanthen.
It's not the first time they have lent their expertise to an international rescue effort.
Stanton, who was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire, or MBE, in 2012, previously described his most memorable lifesaving effort as the 2004 rescue of six soldiers trapped by rising floodwaters in Mexico.
Richard Stanton, left, and John Volanthen arrive in Mae Sai, Chiang Rai province, in northern Thailand, Tuesday, July 3, 2018. The 12 boys and soccer coach found in a partially flooded cave in northern Thailand after 10 days are mostly in stable medical condition and have received high-protein liquid food, officials said Tuesday, though it is not known when they will be able to go home. (AP Photo)
"They were trapped for nine days, and we had to teach a few of them to dive through a considerable length of passage to get them out," Stanton told the Coventry Telegraph newspaper in 2012. "It took about nine hours to get them all out."
Stanton also tried to rescue French cave explorer Eric Establie in 2010. Establie's remains were discovered in southern France after a dramatic eight-day operation.
Alex Daw, a West Midlands Fire Service watch commander who supervised Stanton for six years, said his experience as a firefighter serves him well. Besides that, Stanton also is known as an tinkerer — a technician always making sure his equipment will help him go "farther, further under water, in the dark."
"If the kids have got someone there like him, they're safe," Daw said without hesitation. "He's cool, calm and collected."
Volanthen was Stanton's partner on the French rescue attempt.
Volanthen told the Sunday Times in 2013 that cave diving is not the pursuit of those who crave thrills.
"The flight response now isn't always appropriate," he said. "Panic and adrenaline are great in certain situations, but not in cave-diving. The last thing you want is any adrenaline whatsoever."
Both men are members of the South and Mid Wales Cave Rescue team. A third Briton, Robert Harper, is working with them in Thailand after Thai authorities contacted the British Cave Rescue Council for help when the boys disappeared June 23.
The British divers left London on June 26 with special rescue equipment, including radios designed to work in caves.
British cavers have helped survey and catalog many caves in Thailand because there are only a few people with such experience in the country, the council said in a statement last week.
"Many British cavers, including specialist cave divers, active on such expeditions, also serve as volunteers in cave rescue teams across Britain and Ireland and bring with them valuable knowledge of the layout of overseas cave systems," the council said.
The euphoria of finding the soccer team and their coach alive has quickly turned to the sober reality of how to extract them from the cave. Heavy rains are forecast, and that could worsen the flooding in the cavern, possibly forcing authorities to have them swim out through a narrow, underwater passage.
Gary Mitchell, the assistant vice chairman of the British Cave Rescue Council, said that helping the boys dive out could take time, particularly since they are assumed to have no diving experience and because they will be in a weakened state.
"They may start to dive them out in small batches into small, into other chambers, other pockets of air, and do that over a staggered period of time," he told the Associated Press. "Obviously, the biggest risk really is current rainfall. If it keeps raining or starts to rain and water levels rise then there's a bit more immediacy required."
Drilling an opening would be a problem because of the need for determining with pinpoint accuracy where they are inside the cave. While stressing that the Thai military is in charge, Mitchell believes they are working under the assumption that the group is about 800 meters to a kilometer below the surface — meaning the need to drill through solid rock.
"Drilling from the top of a jungle mountain ridge is really tricky," he said.
Thai searchers also have been searching for a fissure that might lead to a shaft that could be a kind of "back door" to where the soccer team is sheltered. So far, they have not found one that goes far enough.
For Stanton, such curiosity about finding the right path in a cave seems to motivate him.
He once told the online site Divernet: "I'm only interested in the cave, where it's going and how it ends. I suppose that's what motivates me - I don't know why, but that's it."
The Golden Globes bill themselves as Hollywood’s booziest bash. This year, is anyone ready to party?
Political tension and industrywide uncertainty are the prevailing moods heading into Sunday night's 83rd Golden Globes. Hollywood is coming off a disappointing box-office year and now anxiously awaits the fate of one of its most storied studios, Warner Bros.
A celebratory mood might be even more elusive given that the wide majority of the performers and filmmakers congregating at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California, oppose the policies of President Donald Trump. Likely to be on the minds of many attendees: the recent U.S. involvement in Venezuela and the fatal shooting of 37-year-old mother Renee Good in Minneapolis by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
But through their ups and downs, the Globes have always tried to put pomp over politics. Host Nikki Glaser has vowed as much.
“You’d be surprised that half the room had no clue why I was saying ‘Venezuela,’” Glaser told The Associated Press earlier in the week, referring to her comedy-club warm-ups. “People aren’t getting the news like we all are.”
Glaser, a comic known for her roast appearances, has promised to go after A-listers in her second time hosting.
“We’re going to hit Leo,” Glaser said. “The icebergs are coming.”
Here’s what to look for at this year’s Globes:
The Golden Globes kick off at 8 p.m. EST on CBS while streaming live for Paramount+ premium subscribers. E!’s red carpet coverage begins at 6 p.m. EST.
The Associated Press will be have a livestream show beginning at 4:30 p.m. Eastern with a mix of stars' arrivals, fashion shots and celebrity interviews. It will be available on YouTube and APNews.
The overwhelming Oscar favorite “One Battle After Another” comes in with a leading nine nominations. It’s competing in the Globes’ musical or comedy category, which means the drama side might be more competitive. There, Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners,” Chloé Zhao’s “Hamnet” and Joachim Trier’s “Sentimental Value” are all in the mix.
But thus far, “One Battle After Another” has cleaned up just about everywhere. Much of Paul Thomas Anderson’s cast is nominated, including DiCaprio, Teyana Taylor, Sean Penn, Chase Infiniti and Benicio Del Toro.
If it and “Sinners” take home the two biggest prizes, it will be a banner night for Warner Bros. even as its future hangs in the balance. The studio has agreed to be acquired by Netflix is a deal worth $82.7 billion. Movie theaters have warned such a result would be “a direct and irreversible negative impact on movie theaters around the world.”
The merger awaits regulatory approval, while Paramount Skydance is still trying to convince Warner shareholders to accept its rival offer.
After an audacious promotional tour for “Marty Supreme,” Timothée Chalamet is poised to win his first Globe in five nominations. In best actor, comedy or musical, he’ll have to beat DiCaprio, a three-time Globe winner, and Ethan Hawke (“Blue Moon”).
In best actress, comedy or musical, Rose Byrne is the favorite for her performance in the not especially funny A24 indie “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You.” One prominent nominee in the category, Cynthia Erivo (“Wicked: For Good”), won’t be attending due to her schedule in the West End production “Dracula.”
Jessie Buckley (“Hamnet”) is the clear front-runner in best actress, drama. In the star-studded best actor, drama, category, the Brazilian actor Wagner Moura (“The Secret Agent”) may win over Michael B. Jordan (“Sinners”) and Joel Edgerton (“Train Dreams”).
In the supporting categories, Teyana Taylor and Stellan Skarsgård come in the favorites.
The Globes, formerly presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, have no overlap or direct correlation with the Academy Awards. After being sold in 2023 to Todd Boehly’s Eldridge Industries and Dick Clark Productions, a part of Penske Media, the Globes are voted on by around 400 people. The Oscars are voted on by more than 10,500 professionals.
But in the fluctuating undulations of awards season, a good speech at the Globes can really boost an Oscar campaign. Last year, that seemed to be the case for Demi Moore, who won for “The Substance” and gave the night's most emotional speech. Mikey Madison (“Anora”), however, scored the upset win at the Oscars.
A few potentially good moments this year went instead in a Golden Eve ceremony earlier this week. There, the Cecil B. DeMille and Carol Burnett honorees, Helen Mirren and Sarah Jessica Parker, accepted their awards.
One to watch, if he wins, will be the Iranian director Jafar Panahi. His revenge drama “It Was Just an Accident” is up for four awards. Panahi has spent most of his career making films clandestinely, without approval of authorities, and was until recently banned from leaving the country. Last month, he was sentenced to a year in prison, which would be only his latest stint behind bars if Panahi returns home to serve it. This week, protests over Iran’s ailing economy have spread throughout the country in a new test to Iran's leaders.
For the first time, the Globes are trotting out a new podcast category. The nominees are: “Armchair Expert,” “Call Her Daddy,” “Good Hang With Amy Poehler,” “The Mel Robbins Podcast,” “SmartLess” and “Up First.”
In TV, HBO Max’s “The White Lotus” — another potential big winner for Warner Bros. — leads with six nominations. Netflix’s “Adolescence” comes in with five nods.
But the most closely watched nominee might be “The Studio.” The first season of Seth Rogen’s Hollywood satire memorably included an episode devoted to drama around a night at the Globes. (Sample line: “I remember when the red carpet of the Golden Globes actually stood for something.”) “The Studio” is up for three awards, giving three chances for life to imitate art.
For more coverage of this year’s Golden Globe Awards, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/golden-globe-awards
Timothee Chalamet arrives at the 83rd Golden Globes on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)
Amy Poehler, left, and Joel Lovell arrive at the 83rd Golden Globes on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
Owen Cooper arrives at the 83rd Golden Globes on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
Teyana Taylor arrives at the 83rd Golden Globes on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)
Teyana Taylor arrives at the 83rd Golden Globes on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)
Stellan Skarsgård, left, and Megan Everett-Skarsgard arrive at the 83rd Golden Globes on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
Colman Domingo arrives at the 83rd Golden Globes on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
Selena Gomez arrives at the 83rd Golden Globes on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
Nikki Glaser arrives at the 83rd Golden Globes on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
Maura Higgins, from ledt, Gayle King, and Mona Kosar Abdi arrive at the 83rd Golden Globes on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
Derek Hough arrives at the 83rd Golden Globes on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
Tessa Thompson arrives at the Golden Globes Golden Eve on Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026, at The Beverly Hilton Hotel, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
Nikki Glaser rolls out the red carpet during the 83rd Golden Globes press preview on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
