After enduring howls in the night and creaking staircases for the past three years, an Italian family is preparing to sue the previous owners of their house for not telling them it was haunted.

Gaetano Bastianelli, 57, and his wife Stefania paid €120,000 (£94,000) for the modern home in the Umbrian town of Spoleto in 2005 - encouraged by the fact that all the furniture and fittings were left by the owners, right down to the coffee cups. "We considered it the deal of the century," said Mr Bastianelli.

The couple claim they were unaware that the house in Santo Chiodo road had been built close to the disused Pozzi Ginori cemetery, or that strange goings-on at the address during the 1970s had necessitated an exorcism - and prompted a visit from Perugia University's paranormal research team.

"The ghosts started their haunting on the first night," said Mr Bastianelli, a former long-distance lorry driver. "I woke suddenly at around one or two in the morning. There was water seeping from under the bathroom door.

"The hot water tap was pouring out boiling water and the room was full of steam. My wife was stunned, because she had turned off everything before going to bed."

He claimed that by next morning, malevolent spirits had left "luminous green mould all over the walls".

After that things got worse. He said the sound of chains rattling had alarmed his 10-year-old daughter, and claimed that the lawnmower and his wife's car had spontaneously combusted.

Now Mr Bastianelli has engaged a lawyer, Antonio Francesconi, to sue the previous owners for failing to inform him that the house was haunted.

"We have a good case," said Mr Francesconi. "Under article 1490 of Italian law, you have to tell buyers if there is anything wrong. I think that the previous owners will settle out of court."

A local historian, Sergio Grifoni, confirmed that an exorcism had been performed on a girl in the house in 1977.

"The local papers at the time said a girl had been possessed by the devil and had been taken to the bishop. Nothing helped, until Pope John Paul II prayed for her."

The episode was confirmed by Fr Gabriel Amorth, the Vatican's senior exorcist, who said: "Pope Wojtyla carried out an exorcism on this girl who was rolling around on the floor of her house."

He could not confirm whether the house was the same one in Santo Chiodo road.

Tilly Trotter holds the bow she used to split one
arrow with another

BLIND LUCK HELPS ARCHER MAKE ON IN A MILLION SHOT

An archer has achieved a one-in-a-million feat of marksmanship after splitting one arrow with another. What makes the shot even more remarkable is that Tilly Trotter is blind.

The 74-year-old grandmother pulled off the shot, known among archers as a "Robin Hood", at a practice session of the Wellington Bowmen in Somerset.

Tilly Trotter holds the bow she used to split one arrow with another, an extremely rare feat known as a Robin Hood

Mrs Trotter, who has been an archer for two years at the invitation of granddaughter Charlotte, said: "The second arrow made such a noise going into the back of previous arrow I thought I had hit the ceiling or done some expensive damage.

"Then I heard people jumping up and down shouting that I'd done a Robin Hood.

"It was a one-in-a-million shot and a bit of a fluke really."

Mrs Trotter, from Uffculme, North Devon, lost most of her sight following a head injury 17 years ago. "I can see movement but I have no central vision," she said.

Her husband, Tony, is crucial to her success, telling her how near her shots are to the target each time she shoots.

"He isn't allowed to tell me to aim left or right before I let loose an arrow," Mrs Trotter said. "I can only make my own adjustments to my aim before I shoot."

She may dismiss the shot as a fluke, but she also won a gold medal at the British Blind Sports National Championship last year.

Peter Jones, a spokesman for the Grand National Archery Society, said: "It's a very rare feat - like getting two holes in one on the same round of golf."

(Telegraph)

LONDON, England (CNN) -- A Web site that encourages girls as young as seven to give virtual dolls breast implants and put them on crash diets has caused concern among parents and children's activists.

The provocatively named "Miss Bimbo" Web site launched in the UK last month and is described as a "virtual fashion game for girls."

Girls are encouraged to compete against each other to become the "hottest, coolest, most famous bimbo in the whole world."

When a girl signs up, they are given a naked virtual character to look after and pitted against other girls to earn "bimbo" dollars so they can dress her in sexy outfits and take her clubbing.

They are told "stop at nothing," even "meds or plastic surgery," to ensure their dolls win.

Users are given missions, including securing plastic surgery at the game's clinic to give their dolls bigger breasts, and they have to keep her at her target weight with diet pills, which cost 100 bimbo dollars.

Breast implants sell at 11,500 bimbo dollars and net the buyer 2,000 bimbo attitudes, making her more popular on the site.

And bagging a billionaire boyfriend is the most desirable way to earn the all important "mula" or bimbo dollars.

Working, it seems, is a bit of a chore in bimbo world.

The site says: "Bimbo dollars is 'the cabbage,' 'bread,' the 'mula' you'll need to buy nice things and to get by in bimbo world. To earn some bimbo cash you will have to (gasp) work or find a boyfriend to be your sugar daddy and hook you up with a phat expense account!"

The advice on feeding the dolls is even more spurious, encouraging them to feed the dolls "every now and then" even though they want to keep their Bimbos "waif thin."

The British version already has nearly 200,000 players, most of whom are girls aged between 7 and 17, according to the Web site.

Although it is free to play, when the contestants run out of virtual dollars they have to send cell phone text messages costing $3 each or use PayPal to top up their accounts.

In France, where "Miss Bimbo's" sister Web site, "Ma Bimbo," was criticized by dieticians and parents when it began last year, one parent threatened the creators with legal action after his daughter ran up a $200 mobile bill sending texts without his knowledge, according to the Times of London newspaper.

Parents' groups are horrified that the game is taking off in Britain, fearing it could send the wrong message about eating disorders and plastic surgery to young girls

Bill Hibberd, of parents' rights group Parentkind, told the Times the game sends a dangerous message to young girls.

He said: "It is one thing if a child recognizes it as a silly and stupid game.

"But the danger is that a nine-year-old fails to appreciate the irony and sees the Bimbo as a cool role model. Then the game becomes a hazard and a menace."

One parent also told The Times the creators were irresponsible. Nick Williams said he was appalled when he saw his daughters Katie, nine, and Sarah, 14, playing the game.

Williams, 42, an accountant, said: "I noticed them looking at possible breast operations and facelifts for their bimbos at the game's plastic surgery clinic.

"Katie is far too young for that kind of thing and it is irresponsible of the site's creators to be leading young girls astray. They are easily influenced at that age as to what is cool."

However, the creators of "Miss Bimbo" claim it is "harmless fun."

Nicolas Jacquart, the 23-year-old Web designer from Tooting, south London, who created it was quoted in the Daily Mail as saying: "It is not a bad influence for young children. They learn to take care of their bimbos. The missions and goals are morally sound and teach children about the real world."

He added: "The breast operations are just one part of the game and we are not encouraging young girls to have them, just reflecting real life."

The game's creators claim it is "harmless fun" and builds on the success of Barbie, the Bratz dolls and Tamagotchis, the virtual pets invented in Japan.

But parents' groups fear it will fuel teenagers' desire for plastic surgery and lead to eating disorders.

Bill Hibberd, spokesman for parents' rights group Parentkind, said: "It is one thing if a child recognises it as a silly and stupid game. But the danger is that a nine-year-old fails to appreciate the irony and sees the bimbo as a cool role model. Then the game becomes a hazard and a menace.

"Children will do what they have always done with Barbie dolls and the like, modifying them with new hair styles and clothing. But the technology has changed and so have the fashions and trends.

"Children's innocence should be protected as far as possible. It depends on the background and mindset of the child but the danger is that after playing the game some will then aspire to have breast operations and take diet pills.

"Many parents have no idea what their children are looking at on the internet and there are financial dangers for parents too if they do not know what their children are texting when they pick up mobile phones."

The game's creator, 23-year-old web designer Nicolas Jacquart, from Tooting, south London, said: "The game is structured in such a way that it simply mirrors real life in a tongue-in-cheek way. It is harmless fun."

The following story was reported in several newspapers yesterday.

This is from the Malta Star.

MAN IS FIVE MONTHS PREGNANT

A man who used to be a woman is five months pregnant, according to an article he has penned for an American magazine that features a picture of him at 22 weeks, with facial hair and a man’s flat chest above his swollen stomach.

Thomas Beatie, a transgender male, defines his choice of getting pregnant “has been met with discrimination and outright derision by health care professionals”.

The article, entitled Labour of Love, appears in the most recent issue of The Advocate, a Los Angeles-based magazine with a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender readership.

Beatie is legally male and lives with his wife, Nancy, in Bend, Oregon. They have been together for over 10 years and wanted to have a child together.

Mrs Nancy Beatie, however, was unable to conceive, having suffered severe endometriosis and undergone a hysterectomy, her husband writes.

So the couple decided Mr Beatie should try to carry a baby.

In the article Beatie says that he underwent a sex change but decided to limit the change to chest reduction and testosterone therapy and not making changes to his organs.

This means that Beatie was a male from the outside but the organs are still those of a female, hence his ability to get pregnant.

After a year, and nine different doctors, Thomas Beatie was able to get pregnant using frozen donor sperm but the pregnancy was eptopic and required surgery.

But a second pregnancy was a success and the couple's daughter is due on July 3, the article states.

Mr Beatie describes the process as a challenge, listing the difficulties they encountered en route, including hostility from doctors to a situation that “sparks legal, political and social unknowns”.

The first doctor they approached “told me to shave my facial hair”, Mr Beatie writes.

“Receptionists have laughed at us. Friends and family have been unsupportive; most of Nancy’s family doesn’t even know I’m transgender”.

“How does it feel to be a pregnant man?” he writes in the article.

“Incredible. Despite the fact that my belly is growing with a new life inside me, I am stable and confident being the man that I am. In a technical sense I see myself as my own surrogate, though my gender identity as male is constant. To Nancy, I am her husband carrying our child. “I will be my daughter’s father, and Nancy will be her mother. We will be a family.”

In the article, Mr Beatie says that to neighbours in “our quiet Oregon community”, he and his wife “are viewed just as we are - a happy couple deeply in love.”

Canada’s National Post said an editorial assistant with The Advocate confirmed it had verified the pregnancy with Mr Beatie’s gynaecologist. She added that the photograph of the pregnant man was Mr Beatie.

The Beaties, however, refused to give the Post further details, citing deals with American media outlets. “It’s a big deal and we want to be able to tell our story,” the Post reported Mrs Beatie as saying.

“We’d love everybody on board as long as they’re understanding and are going to tell our story and not their own.”

The 'man' is obviously still a woman, despite the facial hair, but his/her story sells newspapers.

Some people have said that the picture is a fake and others that it is a normal man with a 'beer-belly'.

PARENTS BLAMED FOR 'LITTLE PRINCESS' GENERATION

A growing number of children are being turned into spoilt "little princes and princesses" by their parents, a teachers' union leader has warned.

Many start school without proper moral boundaries because they are not being taught good behaviour in the home, said Amanda Haehner, president of the NASUWT.

She claimed full-time education - and large class sizes - represented a culture shock for such children who often go off the rails at school.

Addressing the union's annual conference in Birmingham, Miss Haehner said they were often "desperately unhappy" and searching for boundaries that would make them feel more secure.

She warned that the problem was fuelled by the testing culture in schools which risked producing a "Dickensian education system".

"If the message received by children is that their wants and desires are paramount, then being one of 30 in a class is always going to be a culture shock," she said. "The rise of 'the little prince' and, increasingly, his female sidekick is a cause for concern.

"The little prince never has to do anything he finds difficult or boring, he does not have to take any responsibility for his actions, anything negative that happens is someone else's responsibility and if this right to a stress-free existence is questioned, a doting relative will appear immediately to sort everything out."

The comments are the latest in a series of remarks by teaching unions criticising the lack of effort made by many parents to prepare their children for school.

Miss Haehner added: "Children will always model the behaviour and attitudes they see around them.

"A lack of manners and polite behaviour are not the preserve of the young - ask any of our colleagues working in customer service jobs. Too many children arrive at school with no sense of any basic social etiquette."

At a Zen Buddhist temple in southern Japan, even the dog prays.

Mimicking his master, priest Joei Yoshikuni, a one-and-a-half-year-old black-and-white Chihuahua named Conan, joins in the daily prayers at Naha's Shuri Kannondo temple, sitting up on his hind legs and putting his front paws together before the altar.

It took him only a few days to learn the motions, and now he is the talk of the town.

Mr Yoshikuni said today that Conan generally goes through his prayer routine at the temple in the capital city of Japan's southern Okinawa state without prompting, before his morning and evening meals.

The priest is now trying to teach him how to meditate.

Well, sort of - "It's not like we can make him cross his legs," he said.

(Daily Mirror)

I was suprised when visiting someone in our local hospital a few months ago to see that relatives around the next bed had brought along the family dog.

But the BBC reports that is what DID happen at a hospital in Hawaii.

A Hawaiian hospital has restated its rules on pets after a man took a horse up in a lift in a bid to cheer up a sick relative with his favourite steed.

Man and beast were stopped only after reaching the third floor, after apparently passing through the lobby unchallenged.

A hospital spokeswoman said there was a visitation policy for dogs and cats, but not for horses.

"We just hope people understand this is not a place for a horse," said Lani Yukimura at Wilcox Memorial Hospital. "It's a very dangerous thing. Our greatest concern is patient care."

The horse was not allowed into the ward and the well-intentioned relative and the animal were escorted to the grounds by security staff, who commented "The lift was only a little scuffed".

Later the patient was taken down to see his favourite stallion.

His reaction? "That's not my horse"!

NURSES TOLD TO RESPECT THE ELDERLY

Hospital staff are being urged to stop addressing patients by their first names.

The head of the British Medical Association said that too many nurses and doctors were making elderly patients feel uncomfortable by using first names, when many preferred to be addressed more formally.

Dr Hamish Meldrum said: "I have noticed it especially in residential homes, where you will get a wee young girl addressing a man of 90 by his first name, not realising that he is clearly uncomfortable with that."

The BMA chairman, who is a GP, urged every doctor and nurse to ask patients how they liked to be addressed.

(Telegraph)

It also reminds me of my twin-brother (an ex-military man) who, when in hospital, was asked by a young nurse whether she could call him 'Trevor'. "Certainly not", he replied, "You will call me Sir"!

Our youngsters have, over the years, had a terrible reputation abroad as over-sexed, beer-swilling lager louts.

However it seems that is now the over 50s who are letting our country down.

DRUNKEN 'SAGA LOUTS' CAUSING TROUBLE ABROAD

A new breed of older Britons is drinking too much on holiday and causing the sort of trouble normally associated with the younger generation, the Foreign Office warns today.

An increasing number of 50-somethings - known as "Saga louts" - are over-indulging in alcohol and food and becoming abusive to locals, an analysis of surveys shows.

Older generations could be risking their health by drinking too much and engaging in dangerous sports abroad such as bungee jumping.

The research, in which more than 1,000 were polled for the Know Before You Go campaign on behalf of the Foreign Office, shows that one in five Britons over 55 are taking risks abroad that they would never contemplate at home, such as water skiing or riding a moped.

As a result nearly one in five couples said that they or their partner had been injured.

But despite needing to make three times as many claims on their travel insurance as younger tourists, 65 per cent of older travellers admitted that they did not take out insurance on their last trip abroad.

More than one in 10 older travellers do not follow the same safety advice they would give to their children. More than half also drink more alcohol than usual.

This, according to British embassies in popular resorts, can lead to problems.

Rania Kossiori, the British vice-consul on the Greek island of Rhodes, said: "Most problems that we see with the older generation of Brits arise from over-consumption of alcohol and food. Drinking and staying too long in the sun can make you ill and undertaking strenuous activity like going swimming or snorkelling after a large meal can put you in unnecessary danger - people have drowned this way.

"After one too many drinks people can become abusive, for example shouting at resort staff," she said. "We've also had instances where a few too many drinks has led older guests to over-estimate their strength, for example going swimming in bad weather conditions, which has ended in tragedy."

Meg Munn, a Foreign Office minister, said: "The Foreign Office is all for over-55s having fun on holiday, but it is crucial that they make some simple preparations to help avoid encountering difficulties whilst abroad. Acquiring adequate travel insurance is a must and health scares abroad can be avoided by visiting a GP and having a health check before embarking on a holiday."

Steve Ashton, of Saga Insurance, said: "It's a misnomer that only the young can have new experiences on holiday or take part in exciting and often rigorous activities. Just because you're over 50 does not mean you have to put your surf-board into storage or hang up your salopettes. In fact, the experience of Saga Travel Insurance shows that in many ways older travellers are much more conscientious about ensuring the activities they take part in are within their capability."

The term "Saga lout" was coined by Dr Peter Rice, a psychiatrist, to describe heavy-drinking pensioners.

He said that the typical "Saga lout" acquired a taste for drinking at home as alcohol prices dropped in the 1970s and 1980s.

(Telegraph)

Just starting school: But some youngsters struggle even to string a sentence together

Half of children are unable to speak properly when they start primary school, it was claimed yesterday.

Up to 300,000 are struggling to string a sentence together or to understand simple instructions by the age of five.

Experts blame the growing problem on the death of conversation in the home, institutionalised childcare, "electronic babysitters" - where children are left simply to sit in front of the television - and the demise of the family meal.

They estimate it will cost the British taxpayer around £26billion to support those who suffer in later life because of their early language difficulties.

The shock findings emerged as part of a Government-commissioned review by Tory MP John Bercow of services for children with communication difficulties.

He has warned that youngsters with language problems are "slipping through the net or being cast adrift".

His report came as delegates at the Association of Teachers and Lecturers conference in Torquay yesterday suggested that some very young children hear only a handful of words such as "get up" and "bed" at home.

This means they are barely articulate by the time they reach primary school.

The children's communication charity I CAN, which sits on the review's expert panel, yesterday estimated that around 300,000 pupils start primary school each year with speech, language and communication problems.

Of these, 60,000 have specific disabilities such as stammering or suffer from other conditions including autism or cerebral palsy.

But 240,000 have "delayed" or impaired language skills due to social and environmental factors.

Their speech may be unclear, their vocabulary is smaller, sentences are shorter and "they are able to understand only simple instructions".

These youngsters are concentrated in disadvantaged areas, where up to half start school with language difficulties.

However, in Stoke-on-Trent, the figure has been found to be as high as 84 per cent.

The Bercow report warns there is a broad group of children and young people "whose needs may be primarily related to their social environment".

It says: "In some areas, particularly areas of social disadvantage, this group may be as large as 40 to 50 per cent of children at school entry."

Their needs can be addressed through "a language-rich environment", the report adds.

In a submission to the review, Jan Myles, assistant secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said that teachers are experiencing "underdeveloped parental language skills" in some deprived areas.

But she added: "In more affluent areas, it seems there are circumstances where some children experience a succession of childminders, because mum and dad are at work, or rely on the television or computer to babysit."

Mick Brookes, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said last night: "My colleagues in early-years settings talk about children who are fairly monosyllabic when they come into school.

"One of the emphases in the early-years foundation stage is development of language and listening to stories and exploring words. We know that other skills like reading and writing follow the linguistic ability of children."

Literacy consultant Sue Palmer said that the "electronic babysitter" is becoming more and more of a problem.

She added: "If a child is genetically predispositioned to a problem with language, if he or she is in an environment where they are not being talked to and sung to, then there's more chance of the problem kicking in harder.

"Parents who haven't been talked to much or sung to themselves are in the third generation now.

"The old wisdom used to be passed on that the best way to comfort a baby was to pick it up and sing to it, but now we can just use the electronic babysitter.

"We have had these huge sociocultural changes and forgotten the basic stuff - that little babies need to be loved and talked to and sung to and they need to play.

"All we are doing is looking for complex, sophisticated solutions to the problem, rather than recognising that these things have gone missing."

Hugh McKinney, chairman of the National Family Campaign, said: "There's no doubt that effective family support is crucial for the upbringing of children.

"A stable family life and effective communication can add to effective educational outcomes.

"But successive governments have failed to grasp this and until effective family policies are in place, this situation will only get worse."

But Virginia Beardshaw, chief executive of I CAN, said: "People talk about the decline in children's communication skills.

"It certainly cannot be attributed to any one thing, be that games or television. It's a reflection of the full impact of 21st century living."

An earlier report by the Basic Skills Agency found that the art of conversation is dying as families do not make enough effort to talk to their children.

All-day television, the demise of the family meal and even forward-facing pushchairs are conspiring to destroy regular chat.

Children's Secretary Ed Balls said yesterday: "It is vital that children and young people with speech and language difficulties are identified at the earliest possible stage and the right support is then put in place."

The influx of immigrant children is undermining teachers' ability to do their jobs because schools lack the resources needed to cope, the Association of Teachers and Lecturers warned yesterday.

Schools are under growing strain as teachers try to take classes where up to a third of children are arrivals with poor English, the union said.

Schools need more cash to help them assimilate thousands of pupils every year from Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa, the ATL's Torquay conference heard.

The warning follows the release of official figures showing that children with English as their first language are in the minority in more than 1,300 primary and secondary schools.

Delegates passed a motion calling for extra funds to "meet the extra educational demands on schools brought about by the recent influx of children of refugee and EU migrant families."

It also demanded more help for schools that accept "disproportionately large" numbers of pupils for whom English is an additional language.

(Daily Mail)

Britain's finest scientific minds have turned their attention to a problem that they claim is threatening the future of the entire planet - farm animal flatulence.

Experts at the Rowett Research Institute in Aberdeen say the average cow contributes as much to global warming as a family car that travels 12,000 miles.

The scientists are now trying to produce new foodstuffs that result in livestock producing less methane.

Professor Harry McArdle, of the institute, said: "Cattle and agriculture can be a very serious contributor towards the problem."

Although vehicles produce a far larger volume of noxious gases, methane is 24 times more harmful to the environment than carbon dioxide.

In total, methane is thought to contribute about 18 per cent towards the global warming effect

The Rowett institute is leading a European project to develop a feed additive that can inhibit the production of the foul smelling gas.

Fumaric acid is added to the animals' food, a chemical that traps hydrogen produced by their digestive systems and stops it being turned into methane.

Results of trials in lambs have far exceeded expectations, cutting the volume of methane by up to 70 per cent. A patent is now pending.

But cows have proved more stubborn, and the scientists have been frustrated so far in their attempts to substantially reduce their flatulence.

An institute spokesman said it was looking for commercial partners for the research, but said it was too early to say how its findings would be used or how the new feed would be distributed.

The New Zealand government briefly considered taxing farmers on their herds' methane output but the proposal had to be dropped following opposition.

The Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs considered introducing a system of tradable methane permits but the system was considered too complex.

Michael Russell, the Scottish Environment minister, said the SNP administration was not considering either option and wanted to help farmers.

(Telegraph)

"Moo - It wasn't me!"

SIGNS OF PANIC OVER 'CHINGLISH' IN BEIJING 2008

For years, badly translated signs have had the Englishman abroad in stitches. But for tourism officials in Beijing, a city preparing for the arrival of millions of visitors for the Olympic Games in August, the problem is far from funny.

The Beijing Municipal Tourism Bureau has hired English linguists to eradicate "Chinglish" from signs and shop fronts.

It has also instructed the city's 4,000 unrated hotels to translate their names, service hours, room rates, menus and notices into accurate English.

Restaurateurs have been given a list of the proper English names for the most commonly mistranslated items, including "virgin chicken" for a young chicken dish, "steamed crap" instead of crab, and "burnt lion's head" describing Chinese pork meatballs.

"These translations either scare or embarrass foreign customers and may cause misunderstanding on China's diet habits," the state news agency said

Some of the signs have been celebrated on websites and books, including one sign that greets Western visitors to a café with the words: "Welcome big nose friends" and another for the Tibetan "Reception Centre for the Unorganised Tourists".

English speakers in Beijing have been invited to visit "Racist Park" - more accurately translated as the Park of Ethnic Minorities - and warned to take care on wet roads as "the slippery are very crafty".

Doug Lansky, an American travel writer, said part of the charm of the direct translations - such as signs on lawns pleading "don't walk on me" - was that they revealed the Chinese way of viewing the world. "On one hand I can understand why they are doing it - they don't want people making fun of their language skills or culture, but on the other hand, it's a real shame," he said.

"The travelling experience should be a little bit quirky, and throw people off balance a bit."

(Telegraph)

P.S. The 'Sun' has a slideshow of 26 signs at:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article940992.ece

PRINCE CHARLES OPENS HIS HIGHGROVE GROCERY

The Prince of Wales became a local shopkeeper yesterday as he opened his new organic produce store. He and the Duchess of Cornwall welcomed guests to the Highgrove shop in Tetbury, Gloucestershire, just two miles from their home.

More than 700 items either sourced from Home Farm on the Prince’s estate or selected by him personally, were unveiled to an audience of local dignitaries and those who helped make the shop a reality.

Rosie Craig, serving at the opening, said: “The champagne, Lebanese soaps, fudge and chocolates are selling well already. The champagne is the same used at all his own functions. It is very, very good.”

Local joiner Geoff Harris, 46, who helped fit out the building, was happy to pay £29.95 for a bottle of the Prince’s personal tipple.

He said: “The champagne is very reasonably priced. I’ve also gone for the fudge. As my firm did all the joinery here, he asked me if the wood came from a sustainable source – it does.”

Among the other goods on sale are vegetables grown on the estate, including Charlotte potatoes and Happil strawberries.

Highgrove honey, made by royal bees which forage on clover, wild berries and dandelions, is on sale for £5.95, while a mug, bearing the image of a Highgrove hen, costs £14.95.

Lebanese soaps, which the Prince discovered on a foreign tour and which come from the world’s oldest factory, cost £5.95.

The most expensive item on sale today was a limited edition print of a painting by the Prince himself.

One of just 100 lithographs, a picture of the Pepperpot Pavilion at Highgrove is on sale for £2,500.

As with all the products on sale, the proceeds will go to his Charities Foundation.

Defending the prices, which are markedly more expensive than those in the Somerfield store opposite, commercial director Christine Prescott said: “You cannot buy this elsewhere. Everything is unique and has a genuine provenance, the money is going to good causes. That will tempt people to buy.”

Other items on sale are tea-cosies, gardening gloves, nesting boxes, a pair of tractor bookends, crab-apple jelly and apple chutney.

The Prince shows off his
leeks and swedes

(Telegraph)

P.S. What is the matter with English soap from Woods of Windsor - not far from where Mummy lives?

Woods also sell very nice mimosa-perfumed liners for drawers. He could get her some for a Christmas present.

At Deolali Camp

At the weekend the word "doolally' cropped up in conversation to describe someone who is a little mad or soft in the head.

I said I remembered it from my childhood as "Doolally Tat" - but I was wrong.

The expression is "Doolally Tap".

This is from Wikipedia:

Originally British slang "doolally tap", loosely meaning "camp fever", referring to the apparent madness of men waiting for ships back to Britain after finishing their tour of duty in India at the British Army transit camp, Deolali.

Also used in the south to refer to people. "Look at doolally over there."

There are interesting articles at:

http://www.far-eastern-heroes.org.uk/alberts_war/html/doolally_tap.htm

and

http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-doo1.htm

This is the first TV I saw - a Bush 9". Pictures were, of course only in black and white.

How many people in the UK do you think still only watch TV in black and white?

Well the latest official figures from the licensing authority show that in January this year there were 34,700 holders of black and white licences. This compares with 25 million colour licence holders.

I must confess that I still possess a small portable black and white TV and, after a while, you do not realise that you are not seeing colour.

Of course there is a difficulty in watching snooker in monochrome!

Last week it was announced that from 1 April the cost of a black and white licence will rise to £47.

This compares very favourably indeed with the £139.50 you have to pay for a colour licence.

So, if you want to save money, you could dump your present colour TV and go back to a black and white receiver - if you can find one.

There are still plenty of modern small ones, but the older ones, with larger screens are now becoming rare and expensive.

P.S. The registered blind receive a 50% discount on the cost of their TV licences - both black and white and colour.

'10-MINUTE WALK CAN BETTER QUALITY OF LIFE'

Overweight people can make a significant improvement in their quality of life simply by doing just 10 minutes of brisk walking every day, scientists said yesterday.

A study of obese or overweight women found that those doing an average of 70 minutes of light exercise a week showed substantial improvements in health and enjoyed better social lives than those who did no exercise.

The findings contradict Government guidelines that suggest taking 30 minutes of exercise five times a week.

They were presented at an American Heart Association conference in Colorado Springs and claim that shorter, less strenuous sessions can lead to improvements.

Angela Thompson, of the Pennington Biomedical Research Centre, Louisiana, said: "Walking a little bit every day will help tremendously. That is an important public health message.

I may have sneaked but I have never snuck.

In fact I had not heard of the word until fairly recently. Now it is cropping up everywhere.

I read this the other day: "Sneaking out of school was near impossible, but I pulled it off. And I snuck back in to prove it."

Admittedly that was in a US article, where the usage originated. It was introduced there, as an alternative to 'sneaked', as long ago as the late 19th century.

It is another Americanism that is being rapidly adopted in the United Kingdom!

However, it is not universally accepted in America and style guides at some of the biggest newspapers in United States and Canada - including the Globe and Mail (1998) and the New York Times (1999) - banned 'snuck'.

But things seem to be changing. President George W. Bush in his 2008 State of the Union address said:

"The people's trust in their government is undermined by congressional earmarks — special interest projects that are often snuck in at the last minute, without discussion or debate."

There is a helpful summary in 'The New Fowler's Modern English Usage' :

sneak (verb) Its origins are shrouded in mystery ... From the beginning, and still in standard British English, the past tense and past participle forms are sneaked. Just as mysteriously, in a little more than a century, a new past tense form, 'snuck', has crept and then rushed out of dialectal use in America, first into the areas of use that lexicographers label jocular or uneducated, and more recently, has reached the point where it is a virtual rival of sneaked in many parts of the English-speaking world. But not in Britain, where it is unmistakably taken to be a non-standard form.

So, I shall never use it - like 'Train Station' (American). The English is "Railway Station". It annoys me that my local council has, at considerable expense, replaced several of the original English direction signs around town with the American version.

What next? The favourite Edith Nesbit book, "The Railway Children", re-titled "The Train Kids"? - or worse "The Railroad Kids".

Click on image to enlarge

If you splashed out on a high definition television at Christmas, you're in for some bad news.

Japanese broadcasters and the BBC are already working on a successor which promises to deliver pictures in a quality 33 time better than the best HD sets on the market.

Super Hi-Vision is currently being tested by NHK, Japan's public broadcaster, but the BBC is planning to use the technology to screen the 2012 Olympics on big screens in city centres across the UK.

Experts say the new format could revolutionise the way in which people watch big sporting events, with every bead of sweat and straining muscle broadcast in perfect quality.

"It's as if you are actually at the stadium," said Vincent Letang, a senior television analyst at Screen Digest.

"It gives you an immersive feeling which standard high definition technology simply can't do."

Although still a relatively phenomenon, around seven million high-definition television sets were sold in the UK last year. However, Mr Letang said people who bought the sets had not wasted their money because the new technology was not being developed for the average living room.

"It's for big screen public broadcasts of concerts and sporting events. It's definitely not for the consumer market" he said.

"The improved quality won't be noticeable on a regular sized TV sets so people who have just bought high-definition sets really don't need to worry."

Masuru Kanazawa, a research engineer at NHK's Science and Technical Research Laboratory, agreed that format might not be suitable for the average viewer.

"It requires a screen size of at least 60 inches which means there are limits on the usage of the system," he said.

"It will depend on the viewing situation. Watching fast-moving images at close quarters could make people feel sick."

A spokesman for the BBC said: "We are collaborating with NHK with the possibility of using the technology for the big screen. It is not something for the average home."

Sharing a bed with someone could temporarily reduce your brain power, at least if you are a man, according to Austrian scientists.

When men spend the night with a bed mate their sleep is disturbed and this impairs their mental ability the next day. The lack of sleep also increases a man's stress hormone levels.

According to the New Scientist study, women sharing a bed fare better because they sleep more deeply.

So men should sleep alone?