2017 “Superbrands” announced
British Airways has held off Apple, Microsoft and PayPal to be crowned the top business superbrand of 2017. Despite successive strikes making the headlines and unpredictable poll results disrupting the economy BA was ranked top in a survey of marketing experts and thousands of British business professionals. The airline outperformed nearly 1,500 others in the sixteenth annual poll, with Apple retaining second spot and, in its strongest performance since 2011, US tech giant Microsoft moving up to third. Fellow US tech giants, PayPal...
Taboo Review – “Best piece of television I have seen in a decade”
Having just watched the last two episodes of Taboo back to back as part of my Sunday evening wind down, I can only conclude that it is a tour de force by Tom Hardy, his writer Steven Knight ( who wrote the unusual, excellent and wonderfully named film 'Locke') his Father Ed 'Chips' Hardy, the superlative cast and the BBC. This is what TV is supposed to be, a visceral experience that leaves you desperate for the next episode. Taboo...
The day the music dies: What happens to unwanted pianos?
Getting rid of a beautiful grand piano may seem sacrilegious. But sometimes, sadly, they just aren’t usable anymore. Even working pianos can be difficult to sell, and as transporting them is a difficult and dangerous task for anyone other than professional piano movers armed with “heavy duty slippers, shoes, blankets, skids, trolleys and ramps”, they can soon become elephants taking up vital room in your home. Old pianos, particularly those that are beyond repair, are extremely difficult to sell. Robert...
Storm Doris showed what Mother Nature is capable of
Unless you live under a rock you will have no doubt heard about the devastating effects of the recent storm named Doris to visit our shores on Thursday. We Brits are renowned for talking about the weather at any given opportunity, so it was no wonder that the recent storm was the topic on most people lips over the past few days. Storm Doris made her presence known up and down the country. With gusts of up to 100 mph...
Two mums sexually abused as children by same man join forces thirty years later to ensure he stays on offenders’ register
Two mums who were sexually abused as children by the same man joined forces thirty YEARS later to ensure their abuser remains on the sex offenders register. Kate Taylor, 37, and Kerrie Jones, 35, were abused by their Catholic primary school teacher Gerard Kelly now 59, when they were just six years old. In February 1999, 14 years after the abuse took place, Kelly was convicted of indecent assault against seven underage schoolgirls – including Kate and Kerrie – and...
Jail House Rock! “Elvis impersonator stole cancer charity cash at mother-in-law’s FUNERAL”
An Elvis fanatic has been accused of stealing a charity cash sum at his own mother-in-law’s funeral. Christopher Martin Burrows, a devoted fan and impersonator of the rock legend, even belted out of his songs at the service, singing “The Wonder Of You,” however he has been accused of stealing the show and stealing a charity collection raised by mourners. Burrows, denied the charge of theft at Leicester Crown Court on Thursday 23rd February. However, he is accused of stealing...
LaLa Land: Awards and Applause
La La Land doesn’t deserve the awards, but it does deserve our applause Of his work, Busby Berkeley once said that he just “wanted to make people happy, if only for an hour”. The early 1930s was a time of great societal darkness; the world consumed by financial uncertainty & political discontent. Audiences were hungry for entertainment – they needed an escape – and Berkeley’s elaborately choreographed & unapologetically grand dance numbers, which defined such pre-Code musical classics as Dames,...
Skeleton found at the bottom of Greek well is missing British tourist
A skeleton found at the bottom of a well on a Greek island has been confirmed as a missing British tourist who disappeared almost 12 years ago. Tragic Steven Cook vanished while out with friends on the first night of his holiday in Malia on Crete in September 2005. The 20-year-old was last seen in a bar asking for directions to his hotel but walked off in the wrong direction at the end of a night out. Last week Greek...
World’s oldest McDonald’s set to close
The world's oldest McDonald's based in a 12 century medieval building will serve its last Big Mac tomorrow as its closes for the last time. The restaurant branch, which opened in 1982, features wooden balconies, stained glass windows as well as exposed stone walls. The historic McDonald's, on Pride Hill, Shrewsbury, will shut for good as the fast food giant believes the ancient building "isn't suitable to meet their future plans". With parts of the structure dating back to the 1100s...