The power of Coronation Street.

It's nice to see Cliff Richard in the Daily Mail for two consecutive days. Proves that he's not dead. Don't get me wrong, I think that he has a fine voice and is a great performer.

I was concerned to read that Coronation Street was one of the reasons why he was and still is a svelte figure.

‘I’d been touring America with the Shadows in 1960, and it was pretty hard work, driving from one city to another overnight, and living on junk food,’ he says. ‘We’d always stop somewhere for breakfast around 5am — cornflakes with lots of creamy milk and sugar. I must have put on about 10lb.’

And he admits he was in denial. ‘When I watched The Young Ones, I thought I looked a bit stocky in some scenes, but I convinced myself they’d used my stand-in for them’.

But as he prepared to make Summer Holiday, a remark on TV’s Coronation Street by the character Minnie Caldwell, jolted him into reality. ‘I love that chubby Cliff Richard,’ she remarked from her seat in the snug bar of the Rover’s Return.

The thought of Minnie and Bobby the cat settling down to watch Cliff live at the London Palladium on a Sunday night and then discussing the outcome with Ena Sharples in the Snug over a half of stout at the Rovers return the next night.......Ah....the Snug!

Today's controversy surrounds the fact that as Cliff does his calendar for 2014, that this year he has not provided a topless photo for his legion of fans.

He has, however, given them many a glimpse of his chest brought his unbuttoned shirt....oh the tease.

Here's a reminder of what you are missing ladies from only 4 years ago.

Maybe at least Cliff, who's calendars outsell Justin Biebers.......has decided that age may have caught up with his body....but not his voice. Imagine the meeting with the photographer......."Do you think I should cover up and tease my army of blue rinsed followers or get myself a set of gold braces?

Good decision Cliff.

Meanwhile...........

 

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Oh Madonna, what have you done now?

Madge. Pop icon, constant mistress of reinvention. When is it time to say enough is enough?

Recent photos in the press show that at the age of 55 has gone for braces. Not ay old braces but gold braces. The curse of every teenager in the land...but in a 55 year old?

We are aware that the girl works out and keeps fit for concerts etc but there has always been the concerned about her muscles/veins and I'm afraid that her body is not a nice as it once may have been either

Trust me girlfriend, that arm ain't doing it for any of us.

I remember thinking how great she looked when making the True Blue album. Now I am three years younger than her and probably looked much better at the time too!

Other people have weathered the tests of time much better without routing to body building and naff gold braces. Actresses in their 50's and 60's include.......

Michelle Pfiffer. Not just from her Batman days, but she looks good. No sign of a baseball hat on backwards here!

Kim Cattrall. From her days at Porky's to Sex in the City....no sign of skimpy hot pants or baggy skater boi trousers.

Ellen Barkin, a great, under rated actress, no low cut top or excessive jewellery here.

Sigourney Weaver. I think any Alien would still find her attractive......no crop top or boob tube in sight.

Madonna. No she hasn't gone down the drink and drugs route.

Grow old gracefully girlfriend so that we can remember you that way.

 

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The trouble with being fat!

A Saudi Arabian man who officials say weighs 1,345 pounds has been fork-lifted out of his house on the orders of the king for treatment.

King Abdullah paid for a specially-equipped plane to take Khalid Mohsin Shaeri, who has become one of the heaviest people in the world, to hospital.

He has not been able to leave his bedroom in two and a half years and part of his home had to be demolished so he could be brought out from the second floor.

-----------------------------

The trouble is for most people, obesity is becoming more and more of a problem. Even though we may not think its the case, we have more money than our grandparents did and we spend more money on food. We throw more food away. We eat much larger portions and do less exercise.

Weight is simple case of mathematics. What goes in, must go out. If the amount of calories in exceeds what we work off then we put on weight. "But what about metabolism and being big boned?" ....excuses.

I thought that with a summer at home that I would try to lose weight. Change my diet.

Breakfast , fruit and fibre, yoghurt, milk...a glass of prune juice....just to help things on the way. Lunch a cup of soup with oatcakes to fill. Dinner....something involving vegetables, pasta, rice.

It's been four weeks and I have not gone near any spirits or a bottle of wine.

Not had a crisp. (Both of these things have been exceedingly difficult for me is they are all too regular vices.)

Not bought any chocolate to eat.

Also tried to do a 15 minute abdominal stretch workout each opening plus the occasional walk during the day.

Reducing my intake of carbonated drinks. There's a jug of water in the fridge for the cold squash.

The juicer is making a fruit smoothie to take me through the afternoon.

Result - put on a couple of pounds!!!

Mentally I think why am I going without the things that I love if its not going to have an effect?

The problem is therefore portion control. Eat better but learn to eat less. Rome wasn't build in a day so keep on trying.

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But what about Khalid.

When did he stop trying? Apparently the lad is not even 20 yet.

Where are his family and friends to council and support? Having read the article I can't see a photo of the parents.

Cases like this make the media all too frequently. I watched Jerry Springer do a special where they interviewed the person in their bed before they removed the wall to forklift them out of the house and onto a truck to get them to the hospital. In this case the wife was also quite a large woman but could at least walk and get into the bedroom door. she would come in with a tray (yes tray) covered in fried food to feed her husband who was so obese that he couldn't get out of bed.

....now this is the thing that bothers me. The person is so fat that they can't move. Can't get out of bed. So the food has to come to them.

If the wife had the guts to only bring in small portions of fruit and veg then maybe the husband would have had less guts in total.

Remember folks. The family that deep fries together -Dies together.

Where is someone like Paul McKenna, or someone with medical experience to use hypnosis to change he mindset of the patient?

Isn't it all a shame that in times of financial hardship, we spend too much money on food, eat it till we have health problems and in some cases can't work to earn money to buy more food and then become a financial burden on the state in order to get rid of the weight. It would be interesting to go back and see some of these people after they have come out of hospital having been given a second chance....and then a few years later.

For the relatively wealthy, there are fitness coaches who train with and devise exercise plans and dietary advice for busy people who do to have the time to exercise fully so need to exercise effectively. I can see a growing need for people like this to help support more and more.

What is the cost of saving Khalid's life and changing his mindset so he can live a normal life?.......compared to the amount of food that the lad has stuffed down his throat in just 20 years? A waste of money on both counts.

.....but to some people eating is a drug. how many times have alcoholics had liver transplants, only to go back to drinking.

......how many times have the lovely Kim and Aggie came round and turned festering pig styes that you and I wouldn't let a pig sleep in back into clean, habitable houses......only to turn up and find that the person has fallen back into their old ways. Too many clothes to go in a wardrobe so they leave the first item just lying on the floor and so the circle starts again.

How many times do we read about super hoarders who can't throw anything away so that their entire house ends up so full that you can hardly manoeuvre through it. Some people have died under landslides of rubbish or had so much that it has caused the floor to cave into the flat below.

Whilst all this makes good t.v. for those of us fortunate enough to not be in the same boat, I can't imagine our grandparents having to deal with these problems on the scale that ŵe see them today.

 

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Marion Bartoli retires.

At the age of 28, 40 days after her Wimbledon success, Marion Badtoli has retired.

 

Bartoli, who beat Germany's Sabine Lisicki in the Wimbledon final in July, said her Achilles, shoulder, hip and lower back hurt continually when she plays.

She added: "It's never easy, but that was actually the last match of my career. I just can't do it anymore."

After her 6-1 6-4 win at Wimbledon, Bartoli hinted that the physical demands of the sport were taking their toll. "That was probably the last little bit of something that was left inside me," she said on Wednesday.

The 2007 Wimbledon runner-up had won her first Grand Slam at the 47th attempt - the longest wait in women's tennis before a maiden Grand Slam.

Martina Navratilova, the former Wimbledon and Multi Grand Slam winner was very supportive. Nine-time Wimbledon singles champion speaking to BBC Radio 5 live.

"Sometimes your body just basically says 'that's it, I've had enough'.

"I was fortunate enough to retire on my timetable but many athletes can't, they retire when their body gives out and it sounds to me like she was in constant pain everywhere.

"It wasn't like it was the knee, or the hip or the shoulder it was like the whole body said 'I'm out of here'.

"Once you are in pain, I had bad knees for a few years, it takes all the fun out of playing because every step you take is painful.

Her victory at Wimbledon was overshadowed by John Inverdale's comments that she was "not a looker."

John has a face for radio...lets hope that Marion gets some work in the media and can show her experience, ability and grace....something that Mr Inverdale will never have.

 

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Death, violence and hooliganism through London streets.

Scotland V's England at football.

Something that didn't happen since 1999. ....and even then, we won at Wembley. The home fixture was of a concern as my tickets went missing in the post for which my mate Roger got HIS picture in the local papers.

We live in a world where football still suffers from hooliganism and violence. Even this season Blackpool v Bolton in the Carling cup had a pitch invasion.

England thought that they were too good for the home internationals which were an event that we all looked forward too playing Wales and Ireland on the Saturday and Monday the looking forward to the big one on the second Saturday.Who can forget some of the great victories that we had (there were defeats but we can't really remember them.

1977 and the goal posts.

Even Rod Stewart was there to enjoy the moment.

Sadly, Alex Torrance, the man who broke the crossbar wasn't there to see victory repeated. he died at the age of 54 of the effects of alcoholism. rod provided quotes to the Daily Ranger in September 2010 when e passed away.

Trafalgar square turned into a tartan haven as it used to every two years.

W

There may have been some rubbish left behind but it was all recyclable as tins of lager and the plastic bags to carry them from the off licence can go in the green bins.

Rather than violence, full makes to the chap who filled the fountain with washing up liquid. Perhaps the first bath he'd had since 1999.

Game got off to a good start with James Morrison squeezing one under Joe Hart.

Sadly the 3-2 defeat left some fans " sent homeward tae think again"

There are so many meaningless friendliest that neither the teams, players or fans rally want.

Lets get the home internationals back on the calendar for the week after the league finishes. Fine. England will win. But every now and again, we might just sneak a victory. An away day at Wembley once every two years? Now trees something to look forward too.

 

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Vladimir Putin's diary

Dear diary I have been busy running the country but everyone needs a little time off

I have made lads of new friends

I have spend my time making new friends

I did not want to be disturbed.

I am very good with children

I used my medical knowledge to save a life.

I do it like competition.

I am a fully qualified pilot.

I am always willing to help out in a crisis.

I sometimes get unwanted attention.

But I am not stupid.

 

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Politicians egged on

It seems that an egg was thrown at the Milliband lad.

Police rounded up the usual suspects.

I'm Kaiser Sohse.

 

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Darwin Award time.

Hairdresser suffered horrific injuries after being hit by train when she climbed on to the tracks to get her £20 handbag.

Kirsty Owen, 22, from Anglesey, north Wales, caught by steps of train cabin. Screams of pain were so loud they alerted neighbours of empty station. Doctors had never seen anyone alive with such a massive injury. 'It was a moment of madness - I still can't believe I'm alive,' she said. A hairdresser has described the horrifying moment she was hit by a train after climbing onto railway tracks to retrieve a £20 handbag.

She was the only person on the platform at the time, but her screams of pain were so loud they alerted people living near to the small, un-manned station in Llanfairpwll near Bangor, North Wales. Kirsty needed three litres of blood when she arrived at hospital and needed 10 operations. Experts told her she would probably never walk again. But five weeks after the horrendous accident, she has begun to take her first steps. Lucky escape: Doctors said they had never seen anyone alive with such a massive injury. She had had a few drinks before a friend’s father dropped her at the station for the 30-minute train ride home. She was the only person on the platform at the time. She said: 'It was a stupid thing to do, I can’t believe I did something so foolish.

......really.....well we can.

......This boys and girls is natural selection at work.

.........I'm concerned that at no stage have we seen a photo of the handbag. hat handbag can be worth losing your life for. a centimetre the other way and it could have all been over, but sadly the girl only gets an honourary Darwin.

..........The Darwin awards are given out to those who manage to kill themselves in incredibly stupid ways.

...........if you had done something dumb...and it was your own fault....would you really want a whole article in the paper?

......the only other worry was....she was a hairdresser......who had done something incredibly dumb and then agreed to be photographed in the paper.......it's a shame that she couldn't show off her hairstyling skills.

 

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