News Round Up
by Patrick O’Connor
I wouldn’t do that if I were you…
A poll by Wren Kitchens & Bedrooms, reported in the Daily Mail, claims that tempers reach boiling point when men try to muscle in on women while they’re cooking.
The survey suggests that men who turn into ‘back seat drivers’ and persistently interfere with the preparations for dinner are hugely irritating, with almost a quarter of women polled saying it infuriates them.
A third said men who attempt to help but end up making a mess riles them, while 27 per cent said those who leave their other halves to do the washing up were the most annoying.
The Daily Star tells us that Manchester is now regarded as the most multi-cultural community for its size in the world.
200 languages are spoken in the city including Lingala, Igbo, and Yoruba, all from Africa. Locals also speak Creole, commonly heard in the American south and the Caribbean, as well as Pashto, which originated in Iran.
Professor Yaron Matras, of the Multicultural Manchester project, said: “Companies like Google or Apple can find someone who can do programming, but who can also speak Tamil or whatever.
“You can train someone to be a customer relations assistant in a few weeks but you can’t train them to be fluent in Urdu in that time.”
Good news for apple lovers, says the BBC, quoting the Royal Horticultural Society who say this year’s weather has created the ideal conditions for a bumper crop. The society said last year’s wet autumn followed by the icy spring and a hot summer were perfect for apple growing.
Jim Arbury, fruit specialist at the RHS’s Wisley garden in Surrey, said: “Apples evolved in central Asia to suit a continental climate of hot summers and very cold winters and need to be exposed to a certain amount of cold weather each winter or they won’t flower or fruit properly.”
‘Pure musical history’ is the phrase used in the Daily Mirror, after a rare poster promoting a performance by The Beatles, before they became global superstars, has been found by railway staff.
The 1962 poster advertises the band as a support act to Little Richard and it has been valued at £5,000.
The poster, promoting a gig at New Brighton Tower Ballroom, near Liverpool, was discovered under wooden cladding on a platform wall by workmen refurbishing Bidston station on the Wirral.
Doug Darroch, curator of the Merseybeat Story museum in New Brighton, said: “A finding like this is pure musical history. It’s significant because it shows how Brian Epstein, the band’s manager, was trying to push The Beatles. Part of that strategy was bringing in big stars like Little Richard and putting The Beatles on as the second biggest act.”
The 1982 Steven Spielberg film ET the Extra-Terrestrial was the winner when pollsters phoned homes throughout Britain to find the nation’s favourite films from their childhood, says The Independent.
And Spielberg was also named the UK’s favourite director, in a comprehensive survey asking 1,500 people about their film-viewing habits and preferences. Action and Adventure was named Britain’s best movie genre, with Comedy second and Science Fiction third.
It would appear that the average worker suffers ‘desk rage’ twice a day, says a story in the Daily Telegraph.
The survey was commissioned by Old Jamaica Extra Fiery Ginger Beer and it revealed that colleagues taking credit for work, computers crashing and rude clients or customers were the most likely causes. Also likely to cause upset were bust-ups over who makes the tea and not being able to find time to grab a lunch break.
Other niggles include people talking when you are trying to concentrate, being overlooked for a pay rise in favour of someone else, and the printer going into meltdown.
42 per cent of workers are most het up and impatient on a Monday – finding themselves totally fed up by noon.
Gavin Herbert, from Old Jamaica Extra Fiery Ginger Beer, said: “British adults are renowned for their work hard, play hard attitude, which means that when they are in the office, they are used to coping with heavy workloads and lots of pressure. When working in this type of highly stressed environment, smaller niggles can get heightened and appear to be a big deal. And on a Monday, many people will be tired and grumpy after a weekend, which adds to the likelihood of them blowing a fuse if someone skips the tea round or the printer stops working.”
More tales of woe from the world of professional football, says the Guardian.
Apparently tax authorities are to start spot checks on earnings following allegations by mascots that they were not paid.
They will be writing to dozens of top British clubs to warn them they must pay the minimum wage of match staff including mascots, physio interns and ball boy supervisors, or face a £5,000 fine and potential prosecution. Oh dear, does that mean that some footballing superstars will have to take a pay cut to help out?
Further evidence that eating burgers could be unhealthy.
The Daily Star says that 25 year old Nicola Peate dislocated her jaw whilst eating a triple-patty ‘Kids in America Burger’ – containing pretzels and candied bacon – on a night out with work colleagues at Almost Famous in Parr Street, Liverpool.
Nicola was treated at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital, where a doctor popped her jaw back into place using his thumbs.
Better late than never…
A story in the Daily Mail reveals that James Barnard had to wait 17 years for a prize he was due to collect when he was 11 years old.
When Nestle was running a ‘Golden Polo’ competition in 1996 with cash prizes for customers who found different coloured sweets with their white mints, James was delighted when he found a green sweet and sent off a letter to the company – along with his prizewinning Polo – and expected to receive his £10 reward.
The money never came and James, from Surbiton in Surrey, forget all about it until last week when he remembered the competition and again wrote to Nestle to complain that they still owed him the money.
To his surprise, Nestle duly sent him the cheque for £10 – along with a packet of complimentary Polos and a letter of apology.
He said: “To receive a reply, a cheque for £10 and a huge box of Polos was fantastic – even if it was 17 years late.”
The original rules of the game of football are to go on display as one of Treasures of the British Library, says the Daily Mirror.
The Football Association Minute Book was written in 1863 and has been hailed as one of the most important documents of all time.
It will go on display in the Sir John Ritblat Gallery, which features everything from sacred religious texts to handwritten lyrics by The Beatles.
The book was selected by Lord Melvyn Bragg as one of the ‘Twelve Books That Changed The World’ thanks to the global impact it had. It had previously been valued at more than £1million – but is estimated to be worth more than double that now.
Nine year old cousins Rose Powell and Flame Brewer are the world’s youngest formation wing-walkers, says the BBC.
They flew above Rendcomb airfield in Gloucestershire and became the third generation of their families to wing-walk on the bi-planes, which are owned by pilot and grandfather, Vic Norman.
Rose said: “It’s quite scary when you take off but if you like mega funfair rides I think you’ll find the take-off really cool. The best bit was probably taking off or doing the Superwoman pose.”
Flame added: “It was really fun and really windy. The best bit is just being in the air.”
Reference lists:
The Guardian (www.guardian.co.uk)
The Independent (www.independent.co.uk)
Daily Mail (www.dailymail.co.uk)
Daily Mirror ((www.mirror.co.uk)
Daily Star (www.daily star.co.uk)
Daily Telegraph (www.telegraph co.uk)
BBC (www.bbc.co.uk)