IT looks as if crisps are no longer the favourite snack for Brits. The Daily Mirror quotes analysts Kantar Worldpanel as saying that tortillas and cheese biscuits are now very much on the menu.
Latest figures show that we spent £947.9 million on savoury snacks in the past year and crisps sales slumped 1.7% to £923.2m.
Sales of nuts rose by 6.6% to £403.9 million and KP Snacks branded sales director Andy Riddle says crisps have been affected by price cuts as the discounters win a growing share of the market.
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Fascinating article in The Guardian about the Regent Street cinema in London where in 1896, 54 people witnessed the first pieces of moving footage to be shown in the UK.
The silent, grainy, 40-second scenes of ordinary life, hand-cranked through a projector, were shot by the Lumiere Brothers who, says the paper, later declared that there was “no future in cinema”.
Now, 35 years after the Regent Street Cinema closed its doors to the public, the venue has been restored to its original purpose at a cost of £6m.
All the art deco features from the cinema’s first renovation in the 1920s have been restored, as has the building’s domed ceiling and even the original 1936 John Compton organ, used to soundtrack silent films.
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It's an unusual claim to fame but 17 year old Grant Ferguson, from East Dunbartonshire, Scotland has, reports the Daily Mirror, become the first in the UK to pass his driving test - using a SATNAV.
His local driving test centre was chosen as one of 20 in the UK to trial the revised practical exam with the help of a GPS navigation system.
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Heart-warming story in the Daily Mail about Griffin, a golden retriever dog who is the perfect companion for 26 year old Clare Syverston from Northolt, London, who suffers from a degenerative bone condition which can leave her with dislocated joints from the slightest movement.
Griffin is an 'assistance dog' who helps Clare get dressed, loads the washing machine, flushes the toilet and even helps her change the television channels. He has also been trained to open and close doors for Clare, and help her to transfer from her electric wheelchair to a manual one.
Outside the home, he presses the buttons at road crossings, puts her fruit and vegetables into separate bags, grabs items on low shelves that she can't reach and hands her purse over to the cashier.
Clare said: “Having Griffin around has given me my confidence back. I really couldn't live without him.”
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What a lucky woman! The Daily Mirror tells us about 23 year old Briony Elson from Tywyn, North Wales, who bought a lottery scratchcard after her boyfriend won £2 - and netted £250,000.
She commented: “I don’t normally buy scratchcards but I felt really lucky. My boyfriend Kieron bought the £2 scratchcard earlier in the day and won £2.
“As I went to collect the winnings for him I just felt lucky - so I put the £2 back into buying another card. I kept scratching and could not believe what I was seeing.”
Reference list:
The Guardian (www.guardian.co.uk)
Daily Mail (www.dailymail.co.uk)
Daily Mirror (www.mirror.co.uk)