Aaron Tshibola headed a late equaliser as Aston Villa fought back to draw with Newcastle in a meeting of two of last season's Premier League sides.

Newcastle dominated the first half and led when Tommy Elphick turned DeAndre Yedlin's cross into his own net.
Dwight Gayle and Mo Diame both missed chances to double Newcastle's lead.
Mile Jedinak had a header ruled out for offside and Jordan Ayew hit the post for Villa, before substitute Tshibola met Ayew's corner at the far post.
Villa had already lost nine points from winning positions this season, more than any other team in the Championship, after conceding a host of late goals.
But it was Newcastle who were left feeling deflated after not taking a series of chances to put the game out of the hosts' reach.
Villa, who left out Jack Grealish while an internal investigation continues into the midfielder's part in an all-night party at a Birmingham hotel, were second best for long spells and trailed when Elphick sliced into his own goal.
The Villa captain then lost possession to put Gayle clean through but the striker saw his shot saved by keeper Pierluigi Gollini, before Diame sliced wide from six yards after the break.
Villa improved in the closing stages and were denied an equaliser by a correct offside flag when Jedinak headed in Ayew's free-kick, before the Ghanaian forward curled a brilliant shot against the post.
But Tshibola's first goal for the club rescued a point as Villa drew for the sixth time in nine league games this season.
Aston Villa manager Roberto di Matteo:
"Against (Nottingham) Forest we turned the game around but unfortunately we conceded an equaliser.
"Today we got it back and pushed on to find the second. There's certainly a degree of belief that we're still in the game and can win.
"Our challenge is to turn the draws into wins because we have drawn too many games and that's what the table reflects."
Newcastle manager Rafael Benitez:
"We were so dominant in the first half we could've finished the game and now we're talking about another thing.
"That's football, you have to take your chances and we didn't do it.
"We made some mistakes defending in the second half and we have to give credit to them but, for me, the positives were the first half and the negatives were the mistakes in the second half and that we allowed them to stay in the game."
Match ends, Aston Villa 1, Newcastle United 1.
Second Half ends, Aston Villa 1, Newcastle United 1.
Corner,  Aston Villa. Conceded by Cheick Tioté.
Corner,  Aston Villa. Conceded by Cheick Tioté.
Corner,  Aston Villa. Conceded by Matz Sels.
Attempt saved. Rudy Gestede (Aston Villa) left footed shot from outside the box is saved in the bottom left corner. Assisted by Pierluigi Gollini.
Hand ball by Aleksandar Mitrovic (Newcastle United).
Jonathan Kodjia (Aston Villa) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Jonjo Shelvey (Newcastle United).
Goal!  Aston Villa 1, Newcastle United 1. Aaron Tshibola (Aston Villa) header from the right side of the six yard box to the bottom right corner. Assisted by Jordan Ayew with a cross following a corner.
Corner,  Aston Villa. Conceded by Jonjo Shelvey.
Attempt blocked. James Chester (Aston Villa) header from the left side of the six yard box is blocked.
Corner,  Aston Villa. Conceded by Ciaran Clark.
Foul by Mohamed Diamé (Newcastle United).
James Chester (Aston Villa) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Substitution, Aston Villa. Rushian Hepburn-Murphy replaces Ashley Westwood.
Attempt missed. Tommy Elphick (Aston Villa) header from the centre of the box misses to the left. Assisted by Jordan Ayew with a cross following a corner.
Corner,  Aston Villa. Conceded by Paul Dummett.
Attempt blocked. Matt Ritchie (Newcastle United) left footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Aleksandar Mitrovic.
Matt Ritchie (Newcastle United) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Foul by Jordan Ayew (Aston Villa).
Offside, Aston Villa. Rudy Gestede tries a through ball, but Jordan Ayew is caught offside.
Substitution, Newcastle United. Aleksandar Mitrovic replaces Dwight Gayle.
Aaron Tshibola (Aston Villa) is shown the yellow card.
Aaron Tshibola (Aston Villa) has gone down, but that's a dive.
Attempt blocked. Dwight Gayle (Newcastle United) right footed shot from the left side of the box is blocked. Assisted by Yoan Gouffran.
Delay over. They are ready to continue.
Substitution, Newcastle United. Cheick Tioté replaces DeAndre Yedlin because of an injury.
Delay in match DeAndre Yedlin (Newcastle United) because of an injury.
Jordan Ayew (Aston Villa) hits the right post with a right footed shot from outside the box. Assisted by Jordan Amavi.
Foul by Matt Ritchie (Newcastle United).
Jordan Amavi (Aston Villa) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Attempt missed. Rudy Gestede (Aston Villa) header from the centre of the box misses to the left. Assisted by Jordan Ayew with a cross following a corner.
Corner,  Aston Villa. Conceded by Paul Dummett.
Offside, Aston Villa. Jordan Ayew tries a through ball, but Mile Jedinak is caught offside.
Foul by Dwight Gayle (Newcastle United).
Jordan Ayew (Aston Villa) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by DeAndre Yedlin (Newcastle United).
Jordan Amavi (Aston Villa) wins a free kick on the left wing.
Attempt missed. Mohamed Diamé (Newcastle United) right footed shot from the centre of the box misses to the right. Assisted by Jonjo Shelvey.


UK regulator Ofcom is proposing cutting what BT charges for its leased telecoms lines, which could see significant price cuts for those who buy them.

That includes broadband operators, schools, universities and libraries. Ofcom said that the savings could be passed on to consumers.
It follows a review that found the former state monopoly had "significant" market power.
BT said that more regulation could damage investment in infrastructure.
"These are proposals for discussion, so we'll be making our views known to Ofcom. We don't expect a final decision for some time," the company said in a statement.
"We believe there should be less regulation in this market, not more, as businesses already have diverse and growing choice amongst a large number of providers."
The consultation - which runs until July - will consider a form of charge control that aims to bring prices down over a three-year period.
The charge controls relate to two groups of services - older leased lines that offer speeds up to 8Mbps (megabits per second) and newer Ethernet lines that offer speeds up to 1Gbps (gigabit per second).
"The slow speed traditional service on up to 8Mbps leased lines is not likely to help mobile and other broadband operators, since slow lines like this are not sufficient for modern backhaul," said Andrew Ferguson, editor of broadband news site ThinkBroadband.
"The real market is the Ethernet sector where the price reduction will be very welcome by those buying these lines."
But he added: "There is also the real risk that BT - if revenue is reduced in one area -  will seek to maintain profits by increasing prices elsewhere."
Ofcom is also proposing that companies providing leased lines should be granted access to BT's networks through a process known as dark fibre.
This would involve BT giving competitors physical access to its fibre-optic cables, allowing them to take direct control of the connection.
It is called dark fibre because the cable would not be lit using BT's electronic equipment. Instead the competitor would install its own equipment at either end of the cable.
Ofcom expects to publish its decision in the first quarter of next year, with any price cuts coming into effect in April 2016.


Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini says his side deserved their Premier League crown after snatching the title with a

Media playback is not supported on this device
City scored two stoppage-time goals to get the win they needed to pip Manchester United on goal difference.
"We have beaten Unitedtwo times, we have scored more than them and conceded less so we deserve it," Mancini said.
"I never gave up. It was a crazy finish to the game and the season but the best team won the title."
Mancini publicly wrote off his side's chances when City trailed United by eight points on 8 April but says that privately he never lost hope.
"When I said the title was over a few weeks ago it was because I wanted to take the pressure off," Mancini explained.
"I was sure we would have another chance. We now need to improve and I am very happy because for an Italian to win the title here in England is fantastic for all Italian people."
While United faltered, Mancini's side won their last six games - including vital wins over their neighbours and Newcastle in the past fortnight - to draw level on points at the top of the table.
That left City knowing a a victory over QPR on Sunday would deliver a first league title since 1968.
City led 1-0 at half-time but QPR hit back with two second-half goals and, even after the visitors had Joey Barton sent off, the home side could find no way through against the 10 men.
Manchester City will hold an open-top bus tour in Manchester on Monday 14 May to celebrate their first Premier League title.
A bus carrying the team will departing from Albert Square at 18:30 BST before taking a 1.8 mile route through the city centre.
With time running out, and United beating Sunderland, Edin Dzeko levelled from a corner before Mario Balotelli set up Sergio Aguero for a 94th-minute winner that decided the outcome of the title race.
"It was just incredible but the result was right and we deserved to win this game," added Mancini, who wrapped himself in an Italian flag at the final whistle.
"I never gave up. I always hoped that Sunderland could score a goal but it was a crazy finish to the game and the season. I have never seen one like this.
"I have never known a moment like this when we scored those two goals and I am so proud of my players because they wanted to win this title so much. They wanted to win this title until the last minute of the season and they proved it here.
"To beat a strong team like United is fantastic. We have changed the history of this club and for that we should be proud. We deserved this and so do all our supporters.
Media playback is not supported on this device
"It was good that Mario Balotelli was involved in the assist for Sergio's goal and it was right that Sergio should score the goal.
"This is an incredible moment. We wanted this title and we deserve to win this title. This is for all our supporters, the club, the chairman and the owner. This is the perfect finale for a crazy season."
City's assistant manager David Platt admitted his side made it as difficult as possible for themselves against Rangers but says they want to build on their title success.
Platt told BBC Radio 5 live: "In the space of 20 minutes in the second half we were staring down the abyss.
"But football has astonished me today. It's been absolutely bizarre. I can't put my emotions into words. We now have the experience of winning something, and we'll enjoy it now.
"For Roberto Mancini, he'll enjoy it tonight but tomorrow this will be gone. We go again."


Preston will repay fans who travelled to Saturday's Championship defeat at Sheffield Wednesday from fines issued to Eoin Doyle and Jermaine Beckford.

The two North End strikers were sent off near the end of the 2-1 loss at Hillsborough for fighting each other as their side chased an equaliser.
Supporters who made the trip can claim back the cost of their match ticket.
The club have also confirmed that they will not be appealing the red cards and subsequent three-match bans.
Preston manager Simon Grayson told the club website: "The fans who travelled to Sheffield Wednesday were let down by the actions of Jermaine Beckford and Eoin Doyle.
"It is only right that the fines imposed on the players are used to refund the cost of the ticket money for the fixture.
"It has been made very clear to the players and the squad as a whole that this behaviour is not acceptable by any employee of Preston North End.
"A swift and strong response was important, however, it has now been dealt with and the matter is closed."
Media playback is not supported on this device
The two players have also issued a public apology for their actions.
In a joint statement, they said: "Our behaviour was not acceptable in any walk of life, let alone on a football pitch.
"We let down the management, our team-mates and most importantly the supporters, who had spent a lot of money to support the team.
"We have apologised to the manager, the staff and our team-mates and hope that the supporters accept our total remorse for the incident.
"It is our intention to now put this behind us and to give our all for the benefit of Preston North End going forward."
With Wednesday temporarily down to nine men following Fernando Forestieri's sending off and Will Buckley off the field receiving treatment to a shoulder injury, Preston had been in with a chance of levelling the game after Doyle had pulled a goal back.
But Beckford took exception to Doyle's decision to pass to Marnick Vermijl, who shot over the bar in the 90th minute.
The pair clashed and had to be pulled apart by team-mates before both were sent off.
Speaking to BBC Radio Lancashire after the game, Grayson said: "You expect it in the playground between four or five-year-olds, not from two professionals who've been in the game a long time.
"They've let themselves down, but that's the least of it.
"They've let our supporters down who've travelled here, and ultimately cost us the potential of getting a point or maybe three points. At 11 against 10, we were on top and we had them.
"For something like that to happen is embarrassing. It's a joke, it's a disgrace."


Councils in England will be banned from charging people to take part in weekend fun runs under rules being proposed by the government.

Free events, organised by the Parkrun group to encourage fitness, attract thousands of runners on 5km courses (3 miles) in parks across the country.
A parish council near Bristol last year proposed charging entrants Â£1 each, citing the cost of upkeep of paths.
Communities Secretary Sajid Javid is to consult on the proposed legislation.
The proposals would make it illegal for local authorities to charge Parkrun or junior Parkrun, which organises 2km runs for children, for the use of a public park.
Ministers will also examine whether the plans should be extended to other organisers of fun runs, and to different users of parks such as professional dog walkers and personal trainers.
The consultation says that "local authorities quite legitimately charge for a variety of different events and specific activities that take place in local parks".
It continues: "However, the government does not consider it appropriate for a local authority to charge a volunteer community seeking to provide a free weekly event for the use of a public park, overturning our long standing convention of free access to parks for their everyday use."
Parkrun, a not-for-profit company which organises free, weekly, timed runs around the world, began life in 2004 with an event in Teddington, south-west London.
Olympic Gold medallist Dame Kelly Holmes was among those who condemned the decision by Stoke Gifford Parish Council's to charge Parkrun competitors a fee in April last year.
The council said the three-year-old event had led to "increased wear on the park". But Parkrun closed the event over the decision saying its ethos was to stage it at no financial cost to each entrant.
The government has said it supports the principles behind the runs - community and volunteer led opportunities for people to get involved in healthy exercise.
Mr Javid added: "These sporting events offer a fantastic opportunity to bring people together and improve their fitness too. These new rules will make sure this continues and prevent any council from charging for the everyday use of public parks."
Tom Williams, chief operating officer for Parkrun UK, said not being charged for access was key to sustaining the runs set up by the group.
He added: "It's fantastic to see the government committed to protecting the principle of free community access to public parks.
"However, it's just as important that local authorities receive the support required to ensure these wonderful areas of open space are available for future generations.
"This consultation represents a fantastic opportunity for us all to consider the most appropriate strategy for increasing engagement across our parks whilst protecting their future."


Michael Harriman's second-half strike earned a win over Mansfield Town which takes Wycombe Wanderers into the final League Two play-off place.

The hosts had the better of a game lacking quality and full of wayward finishing.
Chris Clements and Matt Blair were off target for the Stags and Ryan Sellers missed a great chance for Wycombe.
But the home side took maximum points when Harriman showed great footwork before curling in a cross-come-shot.
The victory takes Wycombe a point above seventh-placed Leyton Orient, while Mansfield drop to 14th, eight points adrift of the play-offs.


A selection of the best photos from across Africa this week:


An Asian elephant has been born at Chester Zoo, increasing its herd to seven.

The unnamed female calf was born to 12-year-old mother Sundara after a 22-month gestation.
Keepers at the zoo said both mother and daughter were doing well and visitors would be able to see the new arrival.
The calf is the 19th elephant to be born at Chester Zoo in its 85-year history, with five, including the new calf, part of the same family.
Richard Fraser, assistant team manager of elephants at the zoo, said: "As soon as Sundara began showing early signs of labour, you could see the rest of the family knew something special was about to happen.
"She delivered her calf on to soft sand with all the family gathered around.
"Sundara then gave her a series of little kicks to gently stimulate and encourage her to her feet.
"Minutes later, the new arrival was up and standing and making her first attempts to suckle."
Elephants are born into captivity in the UK only once or twice a year, and Asian elephants are listed as endangered.
Living to about 50 to 60 years old, there are between 35,000 and 40,000 in the wild and managed breeding programmes.


A teenager who nearly died from meningitis has shared photos of her rash-covered body in an attempt to raise awareness of the disease.

Charlene Colechin, 18, described how her organs failed, causing her "to die" until doctors managed to save her.
The hair stylist, from near Chesterfield in Derbyshire, has been in hospital for a month and spent nine days in a medically induced coma.
She still faces surgery to remove her toes and possibly her feet.
Speaking from Sheffield Hospital, Miss Colechin said she felt lucky to be alive.
"I was screaming because I was in that much pain," she said.
"I kept throwing up, then I had a really bad headache like a migraine, and all my body was aching."
Miss Colechin had bacterial meningitis - which is rarer but more serious than viral meningitis.
She said she had been vaccinated, but the jab did not protect against the type of meningitis she had.
Claire Donovan of Meningitis Now said the rash on Miss Colechin's body would have been caused by septicaemia, which some people get as a result of certain meningitis bacteria.
Source: Meningitis Now
Paramedics were called out on 6 September but thought the teenager had flu because she did not have any marks.
However, her condition worsened and marks appeared the following day, when paramedics rushed her to hospital.
"Within minutes I was on a drip in the ambulance on the way to Chesterfield Hospital," she said.
"I was in a coma for nine days because all my organs were failing.
"I did die but obviously they brought me back."
She is now waiting for tests to see what parts of her feet will need to be amputated.
"My heels are black," she said. "That could mean dead tissue, which could be infected and which could go up my legs."
She hopes that sharing her photos will prevent other people from suffering the life-changing effects of the disease.


A man who was arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving after a woman was run over near a supermarket has been bailed.

A white BMW 420 coupe struck the woman under a railway bridge on Bradford Road, Dewsbury, West Yorkshire on Saturday, police said.
The road was closed for four hours, with a section of the nearby Lidl car park also cordoned off.
The 21-year-old man has been bailed pending further inquiries, said police.


Dundee University is to offer a free course allowing learners to step into the shoes of a forensic investigator.

The university's latest Massive Open Online Course is based on a story by crime author Val McDermid, concerning a mystery body found on a city hillside.
Through the six-week course users pick their way through the plot, solving mysteries presented through evidence and video footage to identify the body.
Anyone can sign up to the free course through the FutureLearn platform.
Filming for the course briefly sparked an alert after locals spotted police tape and people in uniform on the Law and thought there had been an actual incident.
Project manager Dr Helen Meadows said the course would give a "real insight" into the work of the university's Centre for Anatomy and Human Identification.
She said: "At CAHID we work on this kind of investigation all the time, helping police in criminal investigations and identifying bodies in all manner of different circumstances.
"What we are doing with this course is giving everyone a chance to get a taste of that. We know from the millions of people who watch programmes like "CSI" or read crime writers such as Val that there is an incredible level of interest in forensic sciences and their relationship to helping solve criminal cases or mysteries.
"This course will give a real insight into the work we do. It is also set at a level where people don't require any prior specialist knowledge and it is suitable for anyone from 14 to 114."
The course will start in September, and will be accessed entirely online. The story by Val McDermind which underpins it will also be available to download once the course is completed.
The course is the second MOOC launched by the university through FutureLearn, which reaches almost two million people in 190 countries around the world.


Veteran Italy and Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon has said he intends to retire after the 2018 World Cup finals in Russia.

Buffon, who turns 38 on Thursday, helped Italy win the 2006 World Cup and has collected six Serie A titles with the Italian champions.
He told reporters at an awards ceremony in Milan: "If I can push myself up to the 2018 World Cup then I'll go on.
"After that I'll close the door and stop playing football," he added.
Buffon, who has played a record 154 times for Italy, is expected to be first choice at this summer's European Championships in France. Italy are in Group E with the Republic of Ireland, Belgium and Sweden.
He remains the world's most expensive goalkeeper after his £32.5m move from Parma to Juventus in 2001.


Spain's banks will need an injection of 59.3bn euros ($76.3bn; £47.3bn) to survive a serious downturn, an independent audit has calculated.

The amount is broadly in line with market expectations of 60bn euros, and follows so-called stress tests of 14 Spanish lenders.
Much of the money is expected to come from the eurozone rescue funds, the current EFSF and the future ESM.
Spain said in July that it would request eurozone support for its banks.
The Spanish banking sector has been in difficulty since the global financial crisis of 2008, and the subsequent bursting of the country's property bubble and deep recession.
The European Commission welcomed the announcement, saying in a statement that it "is a major step in implementing the financial-assistance programme and towards strengthening the viability of, and confidence in, the Spanish banking sector".
It added: "The necessary state aid provided to Spanish banks will be determined in the coming months."
The Commission also said that it expected the first Spanish banks to start recieving the loans "by November."
By Laurence KnightBusiness reporter, BBC News
An independent audit of the banks confirmed on Friday that the banks are short of some 59bn euros, or almost 6% of Spanish GDP.
This "hole" is the amount of capital that must be injected by the authorities to absorb the losses that the banks (especially regional savings banks) might suffer on all the loans they made to property developers and mortgage borrowers during the housing boom of the last decade.
Some of the 59bn may also be provided by private sector investors, or by writing off the amount owed to some existing investors in the banks.
The housing bubble has burst and many of those loans cannot be repaid.
The eurozone has already made 100bn euros available from its rescue funds to plug this hole, although many investors suspect that the banks' needs may (eventually) exceed even this total.
For Spain, the question isn't just the size of the banks' losses.
It is still not clear who will ultimately bear them. Will it be the entire eurozone, through its 100bn-euro investment (as Madrid hopes), the Spanish government itself, or the (mostly Spanish) private sector investors in the banks?
The Irish government was sunk by the losses incurred by its own banks after it foolishly offered to guarantee them. Spain hopes to avoid the same fate.
Six burning questions for Spain
Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, praised the independent valuation of Spain's banks, saying it had been "thorough and transparent".
She added: "Public funding of the banks' actual capital needs, which are expected to be lower than the amounts identified in the stress tests, can be financed comfortably under the recapitalisation programme supported by Spain's European partners."
The audit calculation that Spain's banks will need 59.3bn euros is a worst-case scenario, and does not take into account any future plans by the lenders themselves to raise their own capital.
The country's economy minister Fernando Jimenez  Latorre indicated that it may need to borrow about 40bn from the eurozone rescue funds.
Bankia was found to be the bank most in need of additional capital, requiring 24.7bn euros. It was followed by Catalunya Bank (10.8bn euros), Novagalicia (7.2bn euros), Banco de Valencia (3.5bn euros), Banco Popular (3.2bn euros), Banco Mare Nostrum (2.2bn euros), and Ibercaja-Liberbank-Caja (2.1bn euros).
Seven Spanish banks have no need for extra capital - Santander, BBVA, Caixabank, Kutxabank, Sabadell, Bankinter, and Unicaja.
The audit was also based on a number of assumptions, including that Spain's economy will contract by 6.5% between 2012 and 2014.
The Open Europe think tank suggested many of these were overly optimistic, however.
"These tests do look to be more intense than the previous ones but ultimately the optimistic assumptions do instantly raise questions over their credibility," the group said.
"The prediction that unemployment will peak at 27.2% seems optimistic given that there is plenty more austerity and internal devaluation to come while the structural labour market reforms are yet to take effect."
It added that a worsening economic situation would also increase the number of loans which are defaulted on and hit the value of the foreclosed properties which banks own.
The bigger question remains whether the Spanish government will have to follow Greece, Portugal and the Republic of Ireland and request a full international bailout, involving loans that have to be paid off by the state, as well as close monitoring of its economy by its international creditors.
While Madrid continues to publicly deny this, the markets consider it only a matter of time.
On Thursday, the Spanish government announced its latest austerity budget. Against a backdrop of violent protests, it outlined new spending cuts, but protected pensions.
Spain is struggling with a shrinking economy and 25% unemployment.
Comments from its central bank earlier this week indicated that the country's recession deepened in the past three months.
As tax revenues fall and benefits payments rise in a recession, this will make it even harder for Spain to get its finances under control.


Chimpanzees can change their grunts to communicate better with new companions, according to a study of two groups that were housed together in Edinburgh.

In 2010, nine new arrivals from a Dutch safari park used an excited, high-pitched call for apples - while the locals used a disinterested grunt.
By 2013, the Dutch chimps had switched to a similar low grunt, despite an undiminished passion for apples.
This is the first evidence of chimps re-learning such "referential calls".
The findings, reported in the journal Current Biology, suggest that when chimp grunts refer to objects, they can function in a surprisingly similar way to human words - instead of simply being governed by how the chimp feels about the object.
Indeed, our ability to learn new "words" from our peers might date back to a shared ancestor with chimpanzees, some six million years ago.
Dr Katie Slocombe, the paper's senior author, is a lecturer in psychology at the University of York.
"One really powerful way to try and understand how language evolved is to look at the communication systems of animals that are closely related to us," she told the BBC's Science in Action.
"What kind of basic communication skills were in that common ancestor? And what really is unique in humans, and has evolved since?"
In their work with captive chimpanzees, Dr Slocombe's team had already seen that different grunts could refer to specific foods - for example, apples and bread. Other chimps would respond to those calls by looking for the corresponding food.
But those grunts closely matched the emotional value of the food.
"Previously it'd always been assumed that although chimps and other monkeys have these referential calls... that the structure of those calls was basically a read-out of emotion," Dr Slocombe explained.
To challenge this idea, she and her team took advantage of the unique situation at Edinburgh Zoo, where nine chimps from the Netherlands' Beekse Bergen Safari Park were moved in with an existing group of nine adults in 2010.
Crucially, they found a "word" that differed strikingly between the two groups.
The Edinburgh chimps were not especially partial to apples and used a low-pitched grunt to refer to them; the Dutch newcomers, on the other hand, "really loved apples and gave much higher-pitched calls".
One year later in 2011, the scientists' monitoring showed disappointingly little change. Both groups used the same old calls - but looking closely at their social behaviour, it was also apparent that they weren't getting on very well.
"They weren't spending much quality time together, and there weren't many friendships," Dr Slocombe said. "So they didn't seem to have any motivation to change their calling."
By 2013 however, the groups were getting on famously. There were firm Scottish-Dutch friendships and the chimps had essentially formed one big group of 18.
Along with that social bonding, there had been a remarkable shift in one key aspect of their communication: "The Dutch chimps had actually adopted the Edinburgh call for apples."
What is more, this had happened without any shift in preferences. The Dutch animals were still much more partial to apples than their Edinburgh-raised companions.
This is the first time that scientists have seen this sort of flexibility in an established primate "referential call".
Scottish accent?
The reason for the change, Dr Slocombe concedes, is difficult to pin down precisely.
The Dutch chimps may have changed their grunt purely in order to communicate better - rather like learning a new word. Or they may have made the adjustment for social reasons: "If you tend to mimic someone's accent, they tend to get on better with you and they like you more. So it could be something similar to that, that we're seeing in the chimps."
Whether the change is in vocabulary, accent, or a little of both, it appears to be a striking example of vocal learning.
"This is the first bit of evidence which might suggest that actually, it's a much older capability, that maybe our last common ancestor might also have had," Dr Slocombe said.
Prof Klaus ZuberbÃ¼hler, an expert on language evolution at the University of Neuchatel in Switzerland, told BBC News the findings were "really, really interesting".
He noted that other studies have shown similar "acoustic convergence" in primates, but that previous examples were all social noises - either long-distance hoots or contact calls - that do not refer to particular objects.
Prof ZuberbÃ¼hler added that some alternative explanations for the change are difficult to rule out.
"Obviously, a lot of things happen over three years when these new animals are being integrated," he said. For example, the new arrivals may have been particularly anxious at feeding time, and only slowly become more relaxed in their new home.
"That's the thing with observational studies in general - there's usually a whole bunch of other stuff happening that you can never really properly rule out.
"To me, the key point is that they did these social network analyses, showing that the more the chimps interacted, the more their calls became similar."
Follow Jonathan on Twitter


QPR have signed Cardiff City defender Steven Caulker for an undisclosed fee.

The 22-year-old, who only joined the Bluebirds from Tottenham last summer, has signed a four-year deal.
Caulker used to play under Harry Redknapp at White Hart Lane and is a long-term admirer of new team-mate Rio Ferdinand.
"Harry was a big factor and Rio was also a big draw," he said. "It was important for me to be back playing in the Premier League."
Caulker played all 38 Premier League games for Cardiff last season, scoring five goals as the Bluebirds were relegated to the Championship.
The centre-back was part of Redknapp's squad at Tottenham, but did not make a Premier League appearance during the manager's tenure.
"Harry was very keen for me to join and that was a big plus, knowing the manager wants you," he added.
"As for Rio, he has been a role model of mine for many years and to have the opportunity to play alongside him was something I felt I couldn't miss out on."
Caulker has made one England appearance, in November 2012, scoring in a 4-2 friendly defeat by Sweden.
QPR boss Redknapp believes he has got a player who will only improve.
"Steven is young, he's a good age and he's already a fine player - but he has so much more potential and it's a really excellent signing for the club," he said.
"He's got everything to be a top, top centre-half, so I couldn't be more pleased to have him."


A £360,000 project to help protect critically endangered pearl mussels in Shropshire has begun.

The project, which is being carried out by the Shropshire Hills Area Of Natural Beauty Partnership, is taking place on the River Clun.
Colonies of the protected species were depleted because of habitat changes and inadequate water quality.
The work will take about four years to complete and includes creating or improving sites to establish habitats.
It follows work that was carried out in 2012 to prevent silt getting into the river which was suffocating the species.
The new project will also repair sites in the river where the mussels can establish habitats.
The partnership said the work would, "provide a... refuge for this critically endangered animal".
WREN Biodiversity Action Fund, the Woodland Trust and the Severn Rivers Trust have funded the project.
The partnership's project officer, Alison Jones, said: "Besides the obvious wildlife benefits, a healthy river corridor and farm woodland delivers a lot more.
"Restoring the river habitats will add to green infrastructure."


The Scottish government has withdrawn its financial support for the country's largest rural youth organisation.

The Scottish Association of Young Farmers' Clubs (SAYFC) said its annual grant of Â£66,000 had been cut.
It represents an 11% loss in annual income, according to a spokeswoman for the organisation which has more than 3,500 members across Scotland.
The government said ministers will invite SAYFC leaders to talks to discuss how to support their work.
It is the first time in almost 70 years that it will receive no government financial support, according to the association
Chief executive Penny Montgomerie said: "We are disappointed that the Scottish government has taken this decision to no longer support SAYFC.
"The association offers a crucial network for many young people in rural Scotland as well as unique personal development opportunities.
"The association is currently growing from strength to strength with membership now higher than it has been since 1998."
Young people aged between 14 and 30 can be members of young farmers clubs.
They are encouraged to take part in events, competitions, training and travel, "which help reduce rural isolation and increase confidence and skills".
Ms Montgomerie said: "Looking to the future we are optimistic that although there are tough financial times ahead over the coming months we will continue to focus on ensuring we can develop member services, and have a relevant organisation that youth in rural Scotland want to be part of."
A spokeswoman for the Scottish government said more than 100 organisations, including many youth work groups, have been awarded grants from a Â£12m fund.
She added: "All organisations who were unsuccessful in the application process have been offered support from Lloyds Foundation to consider alternative funding sources, including other relevant government funds
"We value the work of the Scottish Association of Young Farmers Clubs and are committed to helping to increase opportunities for young farmers.
"Ministers will be inviting SAYFC leaders to meet to discuss how the Scottish government can help support their good work in light of the panel's decision in relation to their application for youth work funding."


Tyson Fury defeated Dereck Chisora on points to become the new British and Commonwealth heavyweight champion after a brutal fight at Wembley Arena.

Chisora rocked Fury in the second round with a left and two further rights but it was the only time the champion looked like he might win the fight.
Fury, 23, looked fresh throughout and picked his opponent off at ease to earn a wide unanimous decision.
Two judges scored the fight 117-112 with the other scoring it 118-111.
"This is a dream come true and it means the world to me," said Fury.
Victory for the unbeaten Fury -  the 15th of his professional career  - could now open the door to a potential world title shot against either of the Klitschko brothers.
Wladimir Klitschko, WBO, IBF and WBA champion, openly discussed the prospect of facing the winner in the build-up to the Wembley Arena showdown, and now Fury can dream of a shot at the big time.
This is a dream come true and it means the world to me
Chisora has had two proposed bouts with Ukrainian Klitschko cancelled within the past eight months but he looked a long way short of a fighter ready to mix in such exulted company.
Manchester's Fury started the fight on the front foot and looking sharper than 27-year-old Chisora, who looked rusty and like a boxer that had not fought for nearly a year.
And certainly Chisora's pre-fight weight of 18st 9lb - the heaviest of his career - seemed to suggest the Finchley-based boxer had taken a less than professional approach to training for the fight.
It was the Fury jab that proved the most effective punch, with his short clubbing left also finding the target throughout.
The previously unbeaten Chisora rocked Fury in the second and had his man in trouble in the third and fourth but the challenger cleared his head and dominated from there on in.
Fury boxed well throughout, throwing some beautiful combinations while never looking like ending the fight early, with Chisora cutting a battered, bloodied and disheartened figure as the fight wore on.
At one stage his corner threatened to pull Chisora out of the fight in an attempt to spark him into life, but it made little difference.
He was constantly worn down by Fury's physical dominance and relentless work rate and despite a 30-second burst from Chisora in the 10th, he never looked liked turning the fight around.
The champion knew he needed a stoppage in the final round but he lacked energy and intensity as Fury managed to keep the disappointing Chisora at length to take the fight and British and Commonwealth titles on points.
Ashley Theophane overcame a difficult start to stop Welsh veteran Jason Cook in the 10th round of the first defence of his British light-welterweight title at Wembley Arena.
Cook, whose career record slips to a potentially final 28-4-1, unsettled the Londoner early on with some intelligent pressure fighting and Theophane's frustration was clear when he was docked a point for low blows in round five.
But the champion, now 30-4-1, regrouped, finding his range with a number of sharp combinations before flooring his foe conclusively with a left hook to the body in round 10.


Gateshead have signed winger Toby Ajala after he rejected a new deal at fellow National League club Torquay United.

The 24-year-old former Bristol City trainee, who only re-joined Torquay on a short-term contract in January, has signed a one-year deal with Gateshead.
He made 49 league starts over two separate spells with the Gulls, either side of a four-month spell at Dover.
"I'm happy to be moving north. I wanted to move on and enjoy my football again," Ajala told the club website.


South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS) has been rated "good" by the government health watchdog, despite missing response targets for critically-ill patients.

A Care Quality Commission (CQC) report praised the trust for outperforming targets for non-urgent calls.
SCAS is the first ambulance trust in England to receive a "good" rating.
The CQC said "improvements are needed" over issues including higher-than-average call waiting times.
Chief executive of the service Will Hancock said: "This is fabulous news for our organisation as we are the first and only ambulance trust to get a good rating across ambulance trusts in England."
"Good" is the CQC's second highest of four rankings - showing a service is performing well and meeting its expectations.
The CQC report was based on inspections carried out in May. The trust provides ambulance services to Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Hampshire.
All ambulances in the UK are supposed to respond to at least 75% of Red 1 calls - when someone becomes unresponsive and has a life-threatening condition like a cardiac arrest - within eight minutes.
The same target is set for Red 2 calls - when a person has a potentially life-threatening condition such as a stroke.
SCAS responded to 73.67% of Red 1 calls within eight minutes and 71.53% of Red 2 calls in May 2016.
Deputy chief inspector Professor Edward Baker said: "Through no fault of the ambulance services, its vehicles are often facing prolonged delays at some acute hospitals' emergency departments.
"For people needing an urgent response, the consequences can be serious."
In June it was reported that ambulances were forced to queue at some hospitals in the region due to lack of space at hospital accident and emergency (A&E) departments.
The CQC reported that at times, 16 ambulances were stacked up at Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth, a third of the overall ambulances in the Hampshire region.


A university has been fined after a worker suffered serious injuries when a cluster bomblet he was trying to deactivate exploded.

Swindon Crown Court heard no risk assessment for the activity had been carried out at Cranfield University.
The institution pleaded guilty and was fined £80,000 with £75,000 costs.
The employee suffered severe chest and abdominal injuries and had surgery to remove metal from his colon after the explosion on 4 February 2011.
He also suffered cuts on his face and shoulder, and nerve damage to his right hand.
Updates on this story and more from Oxfordshire
Cranfield University said the worker returned to work three months later.
The Health and Safety Executive said three employees at the Defence Academy on the Shrivenham Campus were deactivating military cluster bomblets.
An investigation found "no suitable risk assessment had been carried out for this type of activity and therefore the system of working was unsafe".
Evan Bale of the HSE said: "The worker's injuries were life threatening and could have been avoided had a thorough assessment of the risks been carried out.
"As the university admitted, the task should not have been carried out in this manner.
"Cranfield University is properly recognised internationally for its explosives research and teaching, but in this particular case the standards for managing safety fell far short of what should have been in place."
Cranfield University said: "We deeply regret this incident and have co-operated fully with the health and safety investigation, as was accepted by the court.
"This was an isolated incident."


A bag of rock salt has been dropped through the windscreen of a moving van from a motorway bridge.

It was being driven by a 40-year-old man between junctions 5 and 6 on the M4, near Langley, Berkshire, on Tuesday when the 5kg sack was hurled down.
A group of teenagers was seen on the footbridge before one of them pushed the sack over the railing.
Police said the "reckless" act smashed the windscreen and the driver had been fortunate to escape injury.
PC Callum Brown, from Thames Valley Police, described the behaviour of the youths as "stupid", and said it could have had "extremely serious consequences".
"It is very fortunate that the driver of the vehicle which was hit was uninjured and was able to safely pull over to the hard shoulder," he added.
"I would like to hear from anyone who was driving on the motorway at the time and saw a group of two or three teenagers on bicycles on or near the footbridge."


A Margate secondary school has appealed for calm amid fears of growing racist tension after Britain voted to leave the EU.

Hartsdown Academy has pupils from 30 countries, with a third speaking English as a second language.
Head teacher Andy Somers said "ugly things" had been said to students by people in the Kent town.
He said the vote to leave the EU and political propaganda had led people to think racism had become acceptable.
Mr Somers said the school saw racist incidents 10 years ago but built a community by celebrating culture, talking about ethos and looking at how people lived together.
The referendum tipped that on its head, he added.
He said: "Thursday and Friday were very difficult days. I had groups of students feeling sick and scared and, on Friday, feeling very much not welcome.
"We also had some ugly things said to students over the weekend by people in the community who seemed to think that, because of the vote ... that it's OK to be racist."
He added: "We need to have calm and we need students to understand that nothing is going to happen."
Other incidents across Kent have included reports of offensive social media posts, verbal abuse directed at a taxi driver and a voter shouted at in a polling station.
In Medway, a man tweeted excrement was put through his letter box when he flew a Belgian flag from his house.
Kent Police said it remained committed to stamping out all crime motivated by hate and prejudice.


A campaigner is planning a group action aimed at trying to recoup the losses of Santander customers caught out by fraudsters.

Richard Emery, who has worked in civil litigation for 20 years, said he would take a group complaint to the ombudsman or the courts.
He believes that a loophole in Santander's security system was exploited by fraudsters.
But Santander said that victims failed to keep a passcode private.
One of these victims was Alex Luke, from London, who had £180,000 stolen from her account.
"I had a call from someone I thought was BT," she told the BBC. "They had all my personal details and they said that they needed to put security on to my computer to prevent me losing everything.
"So they got me to log on to my Santander account and get a security code."
She later discovered that nearly all of her money had gone from her account. Her bank managed to recover £40,000 but Santander refuses to compensate her for the rest of the missing money.
Mr Emery, who runs 4keys International, argued that there was a loophole that allowed fraudsters, posing as BT, to gain access to the money - and others had suffered the same fate.
"If Santander customers create a new account payee, they have to authorise it with a One-Time Passcode system or OTP. But there was a huge loophole - you could amend an existing payee, changing their account and sort code numbers," he said.
"All other banks prevent a change to existing payees' account details. They should now compensate all customers affected. Whilst the customer holds the first key to the door, Santander holds the second key and in these cases they left the door open and the crooks exploited it."
But Santander does not agree.
"We refute Mr Emery's position that there is a loophole," a spokesman said.
"The security for amending a payee and a new payee was the same. If the customers had not given access to their account and shared their individual one-time passcode with a third party, then they would not have lost their money."
However, within three weeks of Mr Emery's objections, which were broadcast on BBC Radio 4's Money Box, Santander had upgraded its security.
Mr Emery said he was planning to take a group case to the Financial Ombudsman or, if that failed, file a collective civil action against Santander.
Fraudsters are continually changing the way they target bank customers, according to Action Fraud - the UK's national reporting centre for fraud and cyber-crime.
Thieves have been stealing large sums of money from victims' bank accounts by intercepting calls, or tricking people into revealing details of texts sent by banks, as in the case of Alex Luke.
Meanwhile, many companies are having their coffers emptied by scam emails, such as community football club Laurel Park FC, in Lower Earley, near Reading in Berkshire, which supports 400 young players in 27 youth teams.
It was conned out of nearly £30,000 when the club's treasurer received what seemed to be a genuine email from the chairman along with invoices from a supplier, which he paid.
But the account details were those of a fraudster and despite pleading with their bank, Barclays, the club has taken a big financial hit and faced closure
Ian Jobson, the club's development officer, said: "Because we requested the payments to be made, Barclays believed we were liable for the loss. The fraudsters got away with it."
Barclays said they had already warned businesses and community projects of rising "CEO fraud".
"This scam is a tragic case of criminal theft by a fraudster impersonating the chairman in an email to an employee within his business. We acted swiftly to recover any funds that remained in Barclays accounts at the time this was reported. We hope that the police urgently investigate this matter and bring the criminal to justice," the bank said.


Major Tim Peake made history when he became the first British person to walk in space.

And now an eight-year-old Swansea schoolboy is to quiz him about how it felt via Twitter.
Rhys Maguire-Stokes was among 25 pupils from Blaenymaes primary at a live link-up with the International Space Station on Tuesday.
It was one of 10 UK schools - and the only one from Wales - at the event in Liverpool.
While there was not time for Rhys to ask his question live, it has been tweeted to the astronaut to answer.
Class teacher Amy Smith said Rhys was chosen to be the school representative to ask Maj Tim as he floated 264 miles above Earth: "How did it feel to walk in space?"
"It's a shame there wasn't time for him to ask his question live but we've tweeted Major Peake and will wait for his answer," she said.
"The kids have had a fabulous day and as soon as they saw Major Peake on the screen, their faces just lit up."
Mrs Smith entered the school into a competition run by the Times Education Supplement's website to be one of those gathering at the World Museum, as part of the "Cosmic Classroom" event.
The feed was then relayed to other schools around the country; in all 10,000 children were taking part.
As well as answering pupils' questions, Maj Peake also demonstrated a number of scientific activities in space, which the children could copy in their classrooms.
"He was absolutely brilliant and did lots of tricks for them, showing how he floated and doing tricks with water to make it go into bubbles," said Mrs Smith, who took pupils from years 4 and 5.
"The children were very excited and have been since the moment they were told they were going.
"I think it's fantastic for him to take time out of his mission in space to talk to the children and he has really inspired them. A few of them are now saying they want to go into space too and be able to float."
The children have been studying space as a topic since Christmas and will be holding a class assembly and creating a class book to mark their time with Maj Tim.
The European Space Agency astronaut launched to the orbiting platform on 15 December and is due to stay aboard until June. The International Space Station is currently above the south Atlantic
He described his first walk in space as "exhilarating".


The cause of a "horrible" smell reported in parts of Cardiff city centre and Cardiff Bay has been investigated by Cardiff Council.

People in the Welsh capital took to social media on Tuesday to question the cause of the stench.
Welsh Water said it "sent an inspector to investigate" and was satisfied the odour was not linked to its network.
A spokesman for Cardiff Council said it had "contacted partners to ascertain the cause of the smell".


A 12-month "trial" partnership will take over the monitoring of Denbighshire council's town centre CCTV system.

It had planned to scrap monitoring footage to save £200,000 a year.
But now the council, North Wales Police and Rhyl, Prestatyn and Rhuddlan town councils will pay for it to continue.
There are 81 cameras located across the three towns, together with a small number on council land and buildings.
They are all linked to a control room in Rhyl police station.
Graham Boase, Denbighshire's head of planning and public protection, said: "We recognised the need to potentially have some kind of alternative provision.
"I'm confident we can work together over the next 12 months to look at developing the partnership so that the arrangements can become permanent."


Auschwitz prisoner Ron Jones, the 100-year-old who is Britain's oldest poppy seller, has been honoured in the Queen's birthday honours list.

Mr Jones, from Newport, has been awarded a British Empire Medal while Malcolm Walker, founder of Wales-based food store Iceland, has been knighted.
Former Welsh Assembly chief executive Claire Clancy has been made a dame.
Hilary Boulding, ex-principal of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, is also given the title.
Former AM Peter Black becomes a CBE.
Harry Potter author JK Rowling, who went to comprehensive school in Chepstow, and celebrity chef Delia Smith, whose mother is Welsh, are awarded the Companion of Honour.
Mr Jones, from Bassaleg, was captured during the Second World War in the Middle East before arriving at Auschwitz in October 1943. There he was held in a prisoner of war camp.
He has sold poppies for 30 years and is chairman of the Royal British Legion's Bassaleg and Rhiwderin branch.
"I haven't a clue why I've been nominated, my poppy selling I expect," he said.
"I've done it for about 30 years, for two weeks a year. I've got nothing to do so sometimes I'm there selling all day.
"It takes me back to my days in the army and is my way of doing my bit. I'll go again this year if someone takes me, as long as I'm fit."
Former Liberal Democrat AM, the former deputy minister in the assembly, and current Swansea councillor Mr Black receives a CBE for services to politics and public life in Wales.
Former Wales football international and Cardiff City Ladies manager Michele Adams has been awarded an MBE for her services to girls' and women's football in Wales.
"Seeing the youngsters you've helped coach reach the dizzy heights along the way is excellent," said the 59-year-old, who won five Welsh Cups during her record-breaking reign at Cardiff.
As Wales Under-19 girls coach, Miss Adams also helped nurture current Wales internationals Jess Fishlock, Tash Harding and Sophie Ingle.
"To know you have been part of their success story is great," she added. "This is the highlight but it is very much for them as well as it is for me."
Major Denis Burton, band master for the Regimental Band and Corps of Drums of The Royal Welsh, has been appointed an MBE.
The Pontypridd musician leads the armed forces band around the pitch before Wales' Six Nations games.


The SNP is giving "serious consideration" to a request to reinstate Edinburgh West MP Michelle Thomson, party sources at Westminster have told BBC Scotland.

Ms Thomson withdrew from the SNP whip last year amid an ongoing police investigation into property deals.
She has been sitting as an independent MP in the House of Commons since then.
But a meeting of SNP MPs on Tuesday evening asked the party's national executive to consider the matter.
It is understood that the motion received unanimous backing from those present.
Ms Thomson denies acting unlawfully after being linked with property deals involving a solicitor who has since been struck off.
The transactions were said to have been carried out before Ms Thomson was elected as an MP in May 2015.
Speaking shortly after the allegations were first published by the Sunday Times newspaper, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said they would represent "behaviour that I find completely unacceptable" if they were proven to be true.
Ms Thomson has been linked with property deals involving Christopher Hales, a solicitor who was struck off for professional misconduct by the Scottish Solicitors' Disciplinary Tribunal (SSDT) in May 2014 in connection with 13 transactions in 2010 and 2011.
The SSDT said Mr Hales failed to provide mortgage companies with key information used to prevent fraud and must have been aware that there was a possibility he was facilitating mortgage fraud, whether or not it occurred.
Prosecutors subsequently instructed police to carry out an investigation into alleged irregularities relating to property deals in the year 2010/11 after the case was referred to the Crown Office by the Law Society of Scotland.
Responding to the calls for Ms Thomson to be reinstated by the SNP, Scottish Labour MSP Neil Findlay said: "There are still many questions to be answered about this case. But given what we do know, it would be wrong for Michelle Thomson to return as an SNP MP."


Scientists in Peru have managed to reconstruct the face of a powerful ancient female leader using 3D printing.

The woman, known as the Lady of Cao, belonged to the Moche culture in northern Peru and died 1,700 years ago.
Her preserved remains were found in 2006 at a mud-brick ruined pyramid known Huaca Cao Viejo, near Trujillo.
Scientists were able to replicate her face after analysing her skull structure and remains.
The Lady of Cao was buried with a crown, and gold and copper items.
The grave also contained a number of weapons, including two massive war clubs and 23 spear throwers.
A modern autopsy revealed she had been in her 20s when she died, probably of childbirth or pregnancy complications.
Her feet, legs and face were tattooed with magic symbols of serpents and spiders.
The richness of her burial site suggests she might have been a priestess or even a political ruler.
The discovery challenged the belief that only men held high positions in ancient Moche society.
Peru's minister of Culture, Salvador del Solar, said the reconstruction had revealed an oval face with high cheekbones, which many Peruvians shared and would recognise.
"We are privileged to announce this strange combination of the future and the past: technology has allowed us to see the face of a political and religious leader from a culture from the past."
Oval face and high cheekbones - a close-up of the replicated face


A report on business trends has found signs of "encouraging economic prospects" for Scotland over the next six months.

The study by business advisers BDO LLP found optimism among manufacturers had reached a 20-month high.
It said confidence in the services sector had risen to a 14-month peak.
Martin Gill, head of BDO in Scotland, said: "The economy seems to be remarkably resilient both in Scotland and the UK as a whole."
Mr Gill said: "Businesses are surprisingly confident about the short term, encouraged by the opportunities our cheaper currency and a better-performing global economy have created.
"These have provided a much-needed short-term boost for our economy, particularly our manufacturers."
He added: "Government still has much to do in these uncertain times if the UK is going to stay on the right economic track."
Meanwhile, another report has found that Scotland's top private firms have suffered a drop in combined profits.
The annual Scotland Ltd report by financial and business advisers Grant Thornton assesses the commercial performance in the past year of Scotland's top 100 privately-owned limited companies.
It reveals total combined profits of Â£16.6bn in 2016, down from Â£20.8bn in 2015.
A total of 110,632 people are working for the top 100 firms, down from 116,284 in 2015.
But the success of Scotland's food and drink sector is reflected in the report, containing the highest share of businesses in the top 100.
James Chadwick, head of food and drink at Grant Thornton in Scotland, said: "The industry deserves the credit it is receiving worldwide. Hard work and serious collaboration has resulted in a complete turnaround in perceptions and revenues.
"However, there is no doubt that Brexit and other political uncertainties will have an impact. To an extent, we're holding our breath, waiting to see what might happen to exports and trading conditions."


Burnley are close to signing striker Chris Wood from Championship side Leeds United for a fee of about £15m.

The 25-year-old has scored 44 goals in 88 appearances for Leeds since joining from Leicester City on a four-year deal for an undisclosed fee in July 2015.
The New Zealand international will have a medical with the Premier League club on Sunday, with the deal expected to be completed early next week.
Wood ruled himself out of Leeds' match against Sunderland on Saturday.
"Due to strong interest from a Premier League team, the ongoing discussions with the club, and given it has always been my ambition to play at the highest level, I don't feel it is right that I play today," he posted on Twitter.
Wood has turned out three times for Leeds this term, scoring one goal.


Former New Zealand Rugby League chairman Andrew Chalmers and ex-Wigan coach Graham Lowe have been confirmed as the new owners of the Bradford club to replace the liquidated Bulls.

The pair were selected by the Rugby Football League from a number of potential bidders.
The new club will retain the Bulls' place in the second-tier Championship division, with a 12-point deduction.
However, existing head coach Rohan Smith has left by mutual consent.
The 35-year-old Australian was appointed by Bulls in May on a three-year deal after James Lowes stepped down for personal reasons.
"We appreciate all he did for the Bradford Bulls and the support he has given the playing group," Lowe said.
"We are focused on bringing in a new proven and experienced coach as soon as possible and the recruitment process is underway."
Their season begins at Hull KR on Sunday, 5 February.
The group came close to taking the Bulls out of administration at the end of 2016, when a bid they made was rubber-stamped by the RFL, only to be rejected by the administrator.
Chalmers registered the name Bradford Bulls 2017 at Companies House.
RFL director of operations and legal, Karen Moorhouse, said: "The RFL is confident that the consortium selected to run a new club in Bradford will provide an exciting and stable future for rugby league in the city."
The first task awaiting Chalmers and Lowe will be to replace Smith and get a squad together to compete in the Championship, and in particular tie down the existing players and staff members to new contracts, after their old deals were made null and void by the liquidation.
First-grade players such as Leon Pryce and Omari Caro had said they were committed to staying with the Bradford club, but others - including Kris Welham, Adam O'Brien, James Clare and Alex Mellor - have already signed with other teams.
"We are under no illusion of the enormity of the task that is ahead of us and that it is our job to win the trust of supporters and deliver a club that they are proud of," Chalmers said.
Lowe added: "We do not see this as a quick fix and we will work through the immediate issue of offering full-time playing contracts to the team.
"Following that, we will look at bolstering the playing squad as necessary to replace those players who have secured contracts elsewhere."
In addition to a coaching career in the southern hemisphere, Lowe will be familiar to rugby league fans for his work in establishing Wigan as a major force in rugby league in the late 1980s.
His team featured stars such as Ellery Hanley, Joe Lydon and Shaun Edwards, winning a championship and Premiership final and Challenge Cups during his stint - as well as the World Club Challenge against Manly in 1987.
Coincidentally, it was at Manly where Lowe and Chalmers worked on the former's return to Australia.
Chalmers was a reserve grade player at Manly and Balmain before quitting the game because of injury. He also served as a director at Salford Red Devils.
There has been a rugby league presence in the city of Bradford since before the birth of Northern Union in 1895. Two local clubs, Bradford FC and Manningham, were among the founding members.
Northern continued the legacy after being founded in 1907 and enjoyed success in spite of a reformation of their own in 1964, winning the Challenge Cup and establishing the careers of stars such as Welsh ex-union convert Trevor Foster, Hanley and Brian Noble.
Meanwhile, the Bulls were groundbreakers in terms of marketing and on-field success in the Super League era before their recent downturn in fortunes.


Partick Thistle will continue to press for compensation after accepting that a fixture list they claim damages the club financially cannot be altered.

The Premiership fixtures for the coming season gave Thistle, Motherwell and Hamilton Academical fewer guaranteed games against Celtic and Rangers.
Thistle will meet the Scottish Professional Football League this week.
"As fixtures can't be changed, the question of compensation remains live for clubs affected," said Thistle.
"We look forward to a positive and robust exchange of views on this matter at the meeting.
"We are also in touch with the other clubs in the league and will be arranging to meet them at a separate time."
Thistle and Motherwell had both expressed anger that they would only have one home game against both Celtic and Rangers before the Premiership splits into two for the final five fixtures.
Dundee, Hearts and Inverness Caledonian Thistle will have two home games against both the Glasgow clubs.
Thistle and Motherwell have complained that it not only left the financially disadvantaged because of the Old Firm's travelling support but would hamper their search for league points.
"Reluctantly, we accept that there will be a sporting disadvantage in the coming season," Thistle said in a website statement.
"However, we will press the SPFL to show how it intends to avoid this recurring in future.
"Contrary to press reports suggesting the SPFL has already decided there will be no compensation or fixtures changed, Thistle has secured a meeting with the SPFL this week to discuss the situation in more detail.
"The board hopes that, despite media comment suggesting otherwise, the SPFL would not have agreed to a meeting if minds have already been made up on this important matter."


Sixteen runners are set to line up for the 237th running of the Derby at Epsom on Saturday.

Here's a look at some of the potential story lines which could be making the headlines.
The unbridled joy of Frankie Dettori after silencing the harbingers of gloom about his career by steering home the John Gosden-trained Golden Horn to victory in 2015 will live long in the memory.
Media playback is not supported on this device
That day, after a striking success in the Dante Stakes at York, the pressure was massive for the Dettori/Gosden axis to deliver; 12 months on however, as the pair team-up with Wings Of Desire, expectations are somewhat different.
The improving colt, owned by his breeder Lady Bamford, also won the Dante, but only narrowly, and this time there's a long list of plausible alternative fancies.
But, for the sport, a third victory in the race for such a highly-recognisable figure as 45-year-old Dettori - riding in his 21st Derby - would be priceless in terms of exposure during an action-packed summer of sport when the struggle for coverage is intense.
WATCH: BBC Radio 5 live's 60-second Derby preview
As he looks for a fourth Derby success in five years - and sixth overall - Irish trainer Aidan O'Brien saddles practically a third of the field, all owned by the Coolmore racing and breeding empire, although this isn't actually his biggest challenge.
In 2009, O'Brien's prolific Ballydoyle Stables in County Tipperary provided six runners, and two years earlier no fewer than eight of his horses lined up - but he didn't win the prize either time (it was Sea The Stars and Authorized, respectively).
What the size of the squad - four of them sons of Coolmore's champion stallion Galileo - indicates is the open nature of the 237th Derby, in which you could support anyone of about 10, and not look entirely ridiculous.
Unbeaten US Army Ranger, very narrow winner of the Chester Vase on only his second start, has long looked like the team's figurehead, and is the choice of Coolmore's number one jockey Ryan Moore, a tip in itself for many.
But Port Douglas, second at Chester when conceding a small amount of weight, and Deauville, runner-up to Wings Of Desire at York, also have solid credentials.
And it's another significant 'family' day for the O'Briens. While the trainer's jockey-son Joseph, rider of Derby winners Camelot (2012) and Australia (2014) has retired, his younger brother Donnacha, 17, makes his Epsom Derby debut on outsider Shogun.
An eight-length win in a maiden race at Newbury started the Ulysses bandwagon rolling towards Epsom, although it was six uncharacteristically bullish words from his five-time Derby-winning trainer Sir Michael Stoute that sent it into something approaching overdrive.
The trainer of winners Shergar (1981), Sharastani (1986), Kris Kin (2003), North Light (2004) and Workforce (2010) said he was "certainly very hopeful of his [Ulysses'] chances".
That was interpreted as a big shout-out for the offspring of 2001 Derby winner Galileo and Light Shift, successful in the Oaks of 2007.
While Stoute's apparent enthusiasm has made Ulysses a major Derby fancy, it's his booking of jockey Kieren Fallon to partner Across The Stars, the stable's other big-race contender, that has caught the eye.
The six-time champion, rider of Kris Kin and North Light, has found himself with a lower profile in recent seasons, but his aptitude for navigating the notoriously tricky twists and turns of Epsom is legendary, and is why for fans he remains 'King Kieren'.
Sheikh Mohammed's vast Godolphin racing and thoroughbred breeding network has won the Derby twice, but never yet with the jockey wearing the distinctive silks that have seen the global, Dubai-based operation dubbed 'The Boys in Blue'.
Both Lammtarra (1995) and New Approach (2008) ran in the colours of other members of the Sheikh's family, and how he'd relish the opportunity to remedy that situation. This is perhaps the year for it to be done as two live chances are aimed at the Classic, historically known as the 'Blue Riband'.
Although neither is part of Godolphin's in-house training set-up, both Cloth Of Stars, the Prix Greffulhe winner from French-based Andre Fabre's string, and Moonlight Magic, part of the Jim Bolger team in Ireland, boast admirable credentials, particularly maybe the latter.
With his upward trajectory and being a nephew of Derby winners Galileo and See The Stars, this beautifully-bred colt, ridden by a blue-clad Kevin Manning, could easily fulfil Sheikh Mohammed's dream.
Were that to occur, it would certainly be a most significant step in - and perhaps the completion of - Godolphin's rehabilitation following the infamous doping scandal of 2013 - at about the time actually that these two horses were being born.
With a total purse of £1.55m, the 2016 Investec Derby will go down in history as the most valuable race ever staged in Britain, because of an unprecedented four supplementary - late - entries, each costing £75,000.
Cloth Of Stars is one late-comer to the party, along with Wings Of Desire - who'd been entered but then removed, having demonstrated little promise until as recently as mid-March - while the other two are Humphrey Bogart and Red Verdon.
Humphrey Bogart, named by his owners at Chelsea Thoroughbreds after the star of the iconic film Casablanca, and a first runner in the race for both trainer Richard Hannon junior and jockey Sean Levey, put his name in bright lights with success in the Derby Trial race at Lingfield.
Meanwhile, the Ed Dunlop-trained Red Verdon, the latest in a long line of horses owned by Hong Kong businessman Ronnie Arculli to have the colour red in their names, has earned his place with impressive wins at Chester and Haydock. Champion jockey Silvestre de Sousa will take only his second Derby mount on the colt.
Considering he was runner-up in the 2000 Guineas, Massaat makes a relatively unheralded appearance in the Epsom line-up.
But the Sheikh Hamdan al Maktoum-owned colt, in the care of rookie trainer Owen Burrows, a former jump jockey and, more recently, right-hand man to Stoute, seems to tick plenty of boxes, with the possible exception of his stamina over the mile-and-a-half-long course.
The Massaat team will be hoping for more luck than that enjoyed by Barry Hills, Burrows' predecessor at his stables in Lambourn, Berkshire: not only did Hills never win the Epsom Derby, but to make matters worse he was second four times.
Not much has been said or written about Harzand, trained for the Aga Khan by Dermot Weld in Ireland, and the winner of both of his races in 2016, one the prestigious Ballysax Stakes at Leopardstown in good style.
Recent rain at Epsom, which has affected the going quite considerably, will favour this colt, one of three in the field sired by Sea The Stars.
Ground conditions are also encouraging those around the David Simcock-trained Algometer, whose second place behind one-time Derby favourite Midterm at Sandown in April, would seem to put him right in the mix.


The gender pay gap in the UK will not close until 2069 based on current salary progression, research suggests.

Accountancy firm Deloitte said the hourly pay gap between men and women of 9.4%, or about Â£1.30, was narrowing by just two-and-a-half pence a year.
It also found men were paid more than women at the start of their careers.
It said more women should be encouraged into science and technology jobs, where salaries are more balanced but women make up just 14.4% of the workforce.
The Deloitte analysis, based on data from the Office for National Statistics, found women earn an average of 8% less in graduate starting salaries than their male counterparts across all science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects combined.
This compares with 9% less across all other industries.
Among those professions with the most pronounced difference was health care, where women earned Â£24,000 on average in graduate starting salaries, compared with Â£28,000 for men - a difference of 14%, the report said.
But the Deloitte report showed there was no pay gap in starting salaries across medicine, dentistry, engineering and technology.
It added it was "too simplistic to explain the gender pay gap in terms of pay inequality", and that it was party due to differences in career paths, which are affected by academic choices and the subjects that each gender studies.
Six ways to tackle the gender pay gap
Four ways the gender pay gap isn't all it seems
Emma Codd, managing partner for talent at Deloitte, said it was known that jobs demanding a "blend of cognitive, social and technical skills" were typically among the most highly paid, with pay inequality less in STEM-related roles.
"Therefore, if more women study STEM subjects and pursue related careers, they will increase their earnings potential in the early years of their working lives and, should they remain in their careers, the later ones," she said.
"This in turn should serve to reduce the gender pay gap. A great deal of progress has been made in the past half century, but we should not wait another 53 years for full parity."
Speaking to BBC Radio Four's Today programme, Helen Byrne, a mathematical biologist at the University of Oxford, said it was important for women to have role models in the STEM professions.
She added: "I think often children in schools don't really understand what it's like to be a maths professor.
"How can you use your maths, physics, chemistry, different disciplines, what does that look like?
"What I do isn't what I imagined a mathematician did when I was at school. It's much more fun."
A government spokeswoman said: "The gender pay gap is the lowest on record but we are committed to eliminating it completely in a generation.
"We're taking action to require businesses to publish their gender pay gaps for the first time ever from April next year and we agree that getting more girls into STEM subjects can play a part.
"We are continuing to encourage more girls to study these subjects and last year, 12,500 more girls sat A-Levels in STEM subjects compared to 2010."


A Labour attempt to scupper government plans to cut the top rate of income tax from 50% to 45% has been defeated in the Commons.

The opposition amendment to the Finance Bill was defeated by 323 votes to 256.
It came after Ed Miliband called tax changes in the Budget a "shambles" during prime minister's questions.
But David Cameron defended moves to freeze age-related tax allowances for pensioners, curb relief on charitable donations and put VAT on pasties.
He claimed the effect of Labour's amendment would be to leave those earning more than Â£150,000 paying an even lower, 40p, rate.
Mr Miliband accused him of "talking rubbish" and a Labour source later accused the PM of having "deliberately misled" the public.
The prime minister faced a succession of questions from Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs about George Osborne's controversial package of tax proposals.
The Labour leader said the plan to cut the top rate of income tax would give a Â£40,000 tax cut for 14,000 millionaires, while changes to age-related tax allowances and working tax credits would leave the majority of pensioners and families with children hundreds of pounds worse off.
He also criticised plans to cap tax relief on charitable donations which he said were an "insult" to philanthropists and would make charities "worse off".
Referring to the Budget as an "omni-shambles", he said: "We have a prime minister who is unfair, out of touch and incompetent. Never mind 'we are all in it together', when is he going to get a grip on his government?"
Mr Cameron did admit it had been a "tough" time for the government since the Budget.
But he said it was a "competitive" package which would lift two million of the lowest-paid out of income tax, cut tax for business and give more than 20 million people a cut in income tax by raising their personal allowances.
On curbing tax reliefs, the PM said it was "not good enough" that 300 millionaires were only paying a 10% tax rate. On the 50p rate, he said the tax "had not raised anything" and pointed out that Labour had had a 40p top rate between 1997 and 2009 when it was in government.
Mr Cameron also sought to contrast his government's problems over the Budget with the challenges facing the Labour leader.
"He talks about my last month, I accept a tough month, but let's have a look at his last month. He lost the Bradford by-election, he showed complete weakness when it came to the fuel strike... that is his last month, as ever completely hopeless."
The PM also defended plans to levy VAT on sales of freshly baked products such as pasties after Lib Dem MP Stephen Gilbert questioned its fairness, telling MPs there was no VAT levied on caviar.
Mr Cameron acknowledged "feelings were running high" on the issue in parts of the country but said existing rules on VAT on hot food were inconsistent and the "boundaries need to be redrawn".
The two leaders also clashed over last month's fuel strike dispute, with Mr Miliband accusing ministers of "irresponsibility" and "causing panic at the pumps". But Mr Cameron said the Labour leader could not condemn the actions of unions because he was "in their pockets".
In the debate on the Finance Bill later, Exchequer Secretary David Gauke said reducing the top rate of income tax was "understandably controversial", but MPs "should look at the evidence, not Labour's rhetoric".
"The 50p rate did not raise the revenues intended and what money it did raise came with a cost of damage to growth and competitiveness," he said.
"This is not a sustainable position so we are reducing the rate to 45p... This change is good for our long term tax revenues, it is good for our economy and it is good for the UK as a whole."
But shadow treasury minister Owen Smith said: "We don't think for a moment that the minister has justified this... nor do we think you have justified claims the 50p rate has raised practically nothing at all, as the prime minister slightly curiously told the House earlier today."
He said Mr Gauke had conceded in his address that it had raised Â£700 million - and accused the government of engaging in "voodoo economics".


The father of world 100m champion Justin Gatlin says the booing of his son is "disrespectful to the sport".

Media playback is not supported on this device
American Gatlin, who has served two doping bans, was booed before and after Saturday's World Championship final at London Stadium, and when he was presented with his medal.
"He served his ban and he worked his heart out doing what he could," said Willie Gatlin.
"He worked to come back, and he worked his way back to championship form."
Gatlin, 35, clocked 9.92 seconds as he beat second-placed compatriot Christian Coleman and legendary Jamaican Usain Bolt, who was third.
Bolt, 30, was unable to secure a 20th global gold in his final individual 100m race before retiring.
Lord Coe, president of the International Association of Athletics Federation, told BBC Radio 5 live's Sportsweek Gatlin's victory was "not the perfect script".
He added: "I'm not eulogistic that someone who has served two bans has walked off with one of our glittering prizes."
Willie Gatlin said he was not "upset" by his son being booed because "I know what kind of son I raised, what kind of character he has".
He added: "The fans booing is disrespectful to the sport. The sport has always been here and is going to be here after he leaves.
"He created a memory that is going to be in people's minds a long time."
Media playback is not supported on this device
In 2001, when he was still at college, Gatlin was given a two-year suspension for taking a banned amphetamine.
He successfully argued this was due to medication he took for attention deficit disorder and was allowed to return to competition after a year.
Then, in 2006 - having won the 100m and 200m double at the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki - he tested positive again, this time for testosterone.
Gatlin was banned for eight years, avoiding a lifetime ban in exchange for his co-operation with doping authorities. This suspension was halved to four years on appeal.
"For the youngsters coming up, he is trying to help to tutor and help to be good, clean athletes," added his father.
"He is trying to teach good character and good sportsmanship about themselves.
"I don't think he has regrets, it is a lesson learned. Everything happens for a reason and it gives you teaching moments. We have been through it all and we bear it all."
Toni Minichello, who coached Britain's former Olympic heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis-Hill, says fans are entitled to express their opinions - but adds the authorities also need to be held to account.
"It's not his [Gatlin's] fault in any way shape or form," he said. "It's the fault of the federations and Wada [the World Anti-Doping Agency] for putting the rules down in such a way that allows him to return.
"Really, if you want to boo somebody, boo Wada, boo the federations."


A car which is thought to have been stolen crashed into a level crossing after failing to stop for police.

The Vauxhall Corsa smashed into barriers in Langworth, Lincolnshire, at about 14:30 GMT.
Its driver was airlifted to hospital, while other occupants inside the car suffered less serious injuries, police said.
Damage was also caused to a residential building, but the crash did not involve a train, officers added.
Motorists have been advised to avoid the area.


Seven-time Grand Slam winner Venus Williams beat Misaki Doi 6-4 6-2 to win the inaugural Taiwan Open on Sunday.

Top seed Williams, 35, overcame the Japanese player to claim the 49th title of her 21-year professional career.
The American, who exited the Australian Open at the first-round stage in January, did not drop a set during the tournament in Kaohsiung.
Williams broke her second-seeded opponent three times in each set to win the final in one hour and 26 minutes.
Williams' latest victory leaves her seventh on the all-time list of tournament wins in women's singles.
Martina Navratilova leads the way on 167 titles, while Venus' younger sister, world number one Serena Williams, has 69 career tournament victories.


Turkey's former armed forces chief has been jailed for life for plotting to overthrow the government, after five years of trials involving officers, lawyers, writers and journalists.

Gen Ilker Basbug was among dozens of people convicted of involvement in the so-called Ergenekon plot.
Critics of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan have accused him of staging show trials to eliminate his enemies.
His supporters say the trials have pushed the military out of politics.
Gen Basbug, who led the military between 2008 and 2010, was among at least five generals to be jailed for life on Monday at a specially constructed courtroom west of Istanbul.
After the verdict, he wrote on his Twitter page: "Those on the side of the truth and righteous, that is on the side of justice, have a clear conscience. That is how I am."
By James ReynoldsBBC Turkey correspondent
The Ergenekon trials are based on a belief that there is a lingering "deep state", said to be a network of army officers, business leaders, secularists and arch-nationalists who seek to undermine and even overthrow elected governments.
In the Ergenekon case, the administration of Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused the "deep state" of conspiring to cause social unrest which would then provoke a military coup. The court in Silivri has now largely agreed with the government's argument.
The heavy sentences given to retired military officers are another sign that the Erdogan administration has changed the nature of the relationship between civilian governments and the military. For decades the military was the final arbiter in Turkish politics. Between 1960 and 1997, the armed forces removed four civilian governments. But Mr Erdogan has asserted civilian supremacy over the military.
The prime minister's critics argue that he has overestimated the threat posed by the deep state - and used it as a pretext to suppress valid opposition.
At least 21 people were acquitted, but dozens of others received lengthy sentences:
The plot allegedly aimed to topple the government led by Mr Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP).
The defendants faced charges ranging from membership of Ergenekon, an alleged underground terrorist network, to illegally possessing weapons and instigating an armed uprising against the AKP.
Prosecutors had demanded life imprisonment for Gen Basbug and 63 others, including nine other generals.
The court is sitting at the high-security Silivri prison complex, west of Istanbul, where the general is being held.
Hundreds of riot police fired tear gas to disperse some 1,000 protesters who were marching outside the court.
Akif Hamzacebi, an MP with the Republican People's Party, said the nation would not accept Gen Basbug's conviction.
"If you are trying someone who has been the commander of the Turkish armed forces for being a member of a terrorist organisation, that means you are targeting and trying the army of the Republic of Turkey," he said.
The case is being seen as a key test in Mr Erdogan's showdown with secularist and military opponents.
Since he came to power in 2002, hundreds of military officers - serving or retired - have been arrested.
Critics say there is little evidence for the charges and accuse the government of trying to silence its secularist opponents.
Mr Erdogan has denied any political interference in the case.
By Guney  YildizBBC Turkish
The court case that changed Turkey
Monday's sentencing hearing is the culmination of a number of trials that began in 2008.
As the investigation widened, dozens more suspects were held, and their cases were eventually folded into the main trial.
Some of the suspects have been in custody awaiting verdicts for five years.
Rights groups have raised concerns over the conduct of the trials.
Turkey's military has long seen itself as the guarantor of the secular constitution.
It staged three coups between 1960 and 1980 and has a history of tension with the AKP.
The AKP is considered a successor to the Welfare Party, an Islamist party that led a government forced to resign by an army-led campaign in 1997.


A cyclist is planning to ride about 36,000 miles (57,936km) to set a new record for the greatest distance cycled by a woman in one year.

Kajsa Tylen, 39, from Nottingham, will begin her attempt to beat Billie Fleming's 1938 record, in January.
Ms Tylen began planning the feat following Mrs Fleming's death last year.
She said she wants to motivate people to exercise rather than raise money for charitable causes.
Billie Fleming, who died aged 100, pedalled for 29,603 miles (47,641km) to set the record and inspire others to adopt a healthy lifestyle.
It has not been bettered in 77 years but Ms Tylen, who said she did practically no exercise until she was 26, has taken up the challenge.
She said: "I felt really inspired by her and the whole challenge and I thought 'I could do that' and it planted a seed."
Ms Tylen got in touch with Mrs Fleming's stepson who said she would have been "delighted" someone else was attempting the feat.
Since then the business analyst has been getting up at 04:30 and doing three hours of training before she starts work.
Her evenings have been spent building up her core strength and sorting out the paperwork that Guinness World Records requires.
Ms Tylen, who is originally from Sweden, will be assisted by her mother who will follow her, with a caravan, across England and mainland Europe.
"She's a bit nuts but loves adventure," said Ms Tylen.
The cyclist is hoping to put some distance between her attempt and Mrs Fleming's record by cycling about 100 miles (160km) a day.
She said: "I'll see how my body reacts, see if it's possible to do more, I'll listen to my body."
Kajsa Tylen is due to start her challenge at Wollaton Hall, Nottingham, on New Year's Day.
Who was Billie Fleming?
Source: Cycling Weekly


Cricket Ireland have announced the appointment of Australian Rob Cassell as their new assistant head coach.

The 34-year-old has agreed a three-year deal and will also act as national fast bowling lead to bowlers at all levels in Ireland.
Cassell has been coaching South Australia for the past five years and has helped the state to reach the last two finals of the Sheffield Shield.
Ireland coach John Bracewell says the appointment is "a big step forward".
A former Victoria and South Australia bowler, who also represented Australia at the 2002 Under-19 World Cup, Cassell will move to Ireland later in the summer, subject to a successful work permit application.
During his time in South Australia, Cassell is credited with developing a formidable bowling attack, with the likes of Chadd Sayers, Joe Mennie, Daniel Worrall, Kane Richardson and Adam Zampa all working under his tutelage.
His appointment marks the end of an exhaustive search by Cricket Ireland to find a replacement for Peter Johnston, who was appointed as Cricket Ireland's national academy and performance manager in February.
"I'm incredibly excited about the role and I'm looking forward to developing the current and next generation of cricketers alongside John Bracewell and the support staff," Cassell said.
"It is an important and exciting time for cricket in Ireland and I'm determined to help continue to build an environment where we can achieve long term success on and off the field.
The appointment comes ahead of the opening game of Ireland's one-day international tri-series, against Bangladesh in Malahide.
"The appointment of Rob is great news not only for the senior men's team but for all of Irish cricket," said Bracewell. "He leaves exactly the same position in South Australia, where he ran not only the bowling programme but also worked with their men's team bowling group.
"I am reliably informed that within two seasons in the role as bowling coach he has turned their bowling group into the best in the country," Bracewell added. "This appointment is a big step forward for our promising crop of bowling groups at all levels, from the senior squads right down to the emerging academy prospects."


The CEO of United Airlines has apologised for the "truly horrific" incident in which a passenger was forcibly dragged, screaming, from an overbooked flight.

Oscar Munoz said he "continues to be disturbed" by the incident, captured on a video that went viral on Twitter.
He said the company would "fix what's broken so it never happens again".
The family of the passenger, David Dao, issued a statement expressing gratitude for the "outpouring of support".
He is undergoing treatment at a Chicago hospital.
The footage taken inside the airliner shows a man being pulled out of his seat and dragged, screaming, down the aisle. He is later seen with blood on his face.
The flight from Chicago to Louisville, Kentucky, on Sunday evening had been overbooked - a fairly common practice - so the airline wanted to get four passengers to leave the flight to make room for four staff members.
United Airline's public relations disaster
Why do airlines overbook?
Three passengers agreed and left the plane.
But Dr Dao said he worked in a hospital and needed to see his patients the next day, an eyewitness tweeted.
A video that appears to show him dazed and with blood around his mouth, saying "just kill me", having run back on the plane, also emerged online.
Earlier, Mr Munoz had defended employees' conduct and said the passenger had been "disruptive and belligerent". Employees were "left with no choice but to call Chicago Aviation Security Officers to assist in removing the customer from the flight", he added.
He came under intense criticism online and the incident reached the ears of the White House press secretary, Sean Spicer, who called it "troubling".
Would you change your flight for money?
The statement released on behalf of Dr Dao said the family "wants the world to know that they are very appreciative of the outpouring of prayers, concern and support they have received".
It said the family was at present only concerned with Dr Dao's medical care and would not be making further statements until he was discharged.
One of the aviation security officers involved in removing Dr Dao from the plane has been "placed on leave", the Chicago Department of Aviation said, and his actions were "obviously not condoned by the department".
It also said it would carry out a review into the incident, which it said was "not in accordance with our standard operating procedure".
The US Department of Transportation is reviewing whether United complied with rules on overbooking.
US media say David Dao is a medical doctor from Elizabethtown, Kentucky.
United earlier said it was trying to talk to him directly in order to "further address and resolve this situation".
United's parent company's share price plummeted on Tuesday.
Stock in United Continental Holdings dropped by more than 4% at one point with nearly $1bn (Â£800m) wiped off its value, but the share prices later recovered and were down just 1% when markets closed.