Brit Felicity Aston Skis Solo Across Antarctica
BRITISH adventurer Felicity Aston became the first woman to ski alone across Antarctica on Monday, hauling two sledges around crevasses and over mountains into nearly constant headwinds, past the South Pole and onward to the coastal ice shelf, persevering for 59 days in near-total solitude. She made it to her destination ahead of schedule, using [...]
Leo & Karen’s California View – January 2012
WHENEVER I go to the UK I always get that tingling feeling when the clouds clear long enough on the final approach to look down at that patchwork of fields in the countryside that’s our home!! Although I haven’t been back at this time of year for many years, I found the weather not much [...]
Stephen Hawking To Turn 70, Defying Disease
BRITISH SCIENTIST Stephen Hawking has decoded some of the most puzzling mysteries of the universe but he has left one mystery unsolved: How he has managed to survive so long with such a crippling disease. The physicist and cosmologist was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease when he was a 21-year-old student at Cambridge University. Most [...]
Prince Philip Remains In Hospital
PRINCE PHILIP spent a fourth night in hospital Monday, as he recovers from treatment for a blocked coronary artery. The Queen’s 90-year-old husband is making “good progress,” but will remain under observation at Papworth, a specialist heart hospital in Cambridge, a Buckingham Palace spokesman said Monday. The spokesman, who spoke on condition of anonymity in [...]
The Iron Lady Shows Thatcher Still Divides Brits
WITH HAIRDO, handbag and hubris, she dominated – and divided – Britain for a decade. Now a film about Margaret Thatcher is doing it all over again. The Iron Lady stars Meryl Streep as Britain’s first female prime minister, whose neo-Victorian values and free-market ideology helped transform a battered post-imperial country into an economically dynamic [...]
Gervais Dislikes Fame Hungry Society
COMIC Ricky Gervais has criticised British culture for stifling aspiration and hit out at today’s “fame-hungry” society. Gervais, 50, told Britain’s Radio Times that British children were not encouraged to pursue their ambitions. He said: “I never really thought about even having a career… Being a working-class Brit I believed it was better to never [...]
Eccentric UK Broadcaster Jimmy Savile Dies At 84
VETERAN BRITISH broadcaster Jimmy Savile, a famously eccentric culture figure, has died at his home in northern England. He was 84. Savile, known for his garish tracksuits, chunky gold jewelry and boundless enthusiasm for pop music and charity work, was the host of two long-running British television programs and claimed to have been a longtime [...]
Flying High: from Elstree Aerodrome to Hollywood
Special feature by James Bartlett FROM THE very first days of the movies, airplanes and airports have been the backdrop for stories of love, horror, comedy and action, but if you’re a director or producer, where exactly do you go if you want your stars to film in a 747, snag a seat inside Air [...]
Brad And Angelina Holidaying In Cornwall This Summer
THE PITT-JOLIE family have their summer holidays already planned apparently. According to the The Sun Brad and Angelina will be bringing their family to Cornwall while he shoots a movie in Falmouth. The city will act as a double for Philadelphia where the film – based on a book by author Max Brooks – is [...]
