The football manager and pundit talks about his family My dad was a miner until the age of about 60, but then he had to come out of the mines and worked for his last five years as a boiler-maker. He couldn’t run five yards because of working down the mines and he used to smoke, so if there was any sporting talent in the family genes it must have come from many, many generations back. My self-belief comes from him . He had a tough upbringing and fought in Burma during the war. He said: “I don’t want you to end up working down the mines like me.” But he was cautious. His favourite saying was, “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket, son.” I had 11 of my dozen in one basket and one in the other because to really make it as a footballer you have to be totally focused and believe in yourself even when other people don’t. I used to use my brother as a goalpost. My sister was three years older but Michael was eight years younger, so my mum used to give me the job of looking after him. I
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Actor who made West End debut in 1960 and had lengthy television career suffers heart attack at Surrey allotment Trevor Bannister, who played the role of ladies’ man Mr Lucas in the department store comedy Are You Being Served? has died at the age of 76. He suffered a heart attack on Thursday at his allotment in Thames Ditton, Surrey, his brother John told the BBC. “He was a good lad, we were all very fond of him,” he said, adding that the actor had been doing some repair work on his shed when he became ill. Bannister had a lengthy career including appearances in the long-running police drama Z Cars, and more recently a stint in Last of the Summer Wine. He also made regular appearances in the theatre and in pantomime. In 2009, he gave a reading at the funeral of his co-star Wendy Richard, who played Miss Brahms in Are You Being Served? and later Pauline Fowler in EastEnders. Born on 14 August 1936 in the village of Durrington, Wiltshire, Bannister enrolled at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts after two years’ national service. His first break in theatre had come when he was hired for a repertory company in Folkestone at 15, and his West End stage debut was in 1960 when he appeared in Billy Liar, with Albert Finney. Are You Being Served? ran from 1972 until 1985, but Bannister left the show in 1980 when it was at the height of its popularity, going on to play Peter Pitt in the 1988 BBC sitcom Wyatt’s Watchdogs. He also had minor roles in Keeping Up Appearances, The Saint and The Avengers and played three different characters in Coronation Street. Five years ago he played Sir John Tremayne in the 70th anniversary production of the Noel Gay musical, Me And My Girl, which toured the UK. Frank Thornton, who appeared as Captain Peacock in Are You Being Served?, said he had “many, many happy memories” of Bannister. “He was a very good friend over a long time,” he said. “We often met with him and his wife – he was recently at my 90th birthday celebrations in January and that was the last time we saw him. We shall miss him sorely.” His agent, David Daly, said: “I have known and worked with Trevor Bannister as his agent for 24 years. He has been a wonderful friend as well as a very talented client and I shall miss him greatly.” Television Theatre guardian.co.uk
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Princess-to-be will spend last night as a commoner with mother and sister at hotel with a rich heritage of royal visitors One of London’s finest – and usually most discreet – hotels, where Kate Middleton will spend the night before her wedding has taken advantage of its royal connection to release promotional film footage to broadcasters. The Goring Hotel ‘s initiative is the latest commercial venture linked to the royal wedding on 29 April – hot on the heels of a petfood company’s plans, announced on Friday , to create a 68kg cake for dogs, to be made in the shape of a corgi. A spokeswoman for the hotel said the film had been made available in anticipation of a deluge of media requests. Asked whether the Goring was expecting a dramatic increase in customers interested in booking the suite where Middleton, her mother Carole and sister Pippa, will stay, she replied: “Who knows?” The five-room suite has been newly redecorated, apparently as part of a general refurbishment of the hotel following its centenary last year. It contains Queen Victoria’s silk bridal gown and tiara, framed in a wardrobe, a grand piano, an original 19th-century toilet and, bizarrely, hanging above the bath, what appears to be a cartoon picture of the television character Edmund Blackadder kissing the hand of Elizabeth I. Unauthorised photographs of the suite, some showing boxes of furnishings still to be unpacked, have been published in the Sun . “I could not tell you how much the room will cost after the wedding,” the spokeswoman said. “That is to be decided, but it will be in line with comparable hotels.” The Middleton family will be staying at a hotel with a rich royal heritage: previous visitors have included Queen Mary, the wife of George V, who would take afternoon tea there, and the Queen Mother, whose last outing before her death was to the Goring. The hotel is still in the ownership of the family that opened it in 1910: the current chief executive Jeremy Goring, a surfer and former rock drummer, is the great-grandson of the founder.The hotel is in a quiet sidestreet a short walk from Buckingham Palace. Furnished in the style of a London club or a wood-panelled English country house, it is usually a haunt of diplomats, politicians and American bishops. The 71 rooms at the Goring cost upwards of £400 a night, while a suite can set guests back up to £1,525 a night, according to previously published tariffs. The Middletons’ suite is at the top of the hotel, overlooking a quiet internal garden square. Clarence House insisted that staying there was the family’s personal choice, in preference to Buckingham Palace. Perhaps they had heard the story of a Norwegian crown prince who stayed at the Goring instead of the palace when he was attending a coronation, saying that at least there he would not have to share a bathroom. On a normal day the half-mile trip to Westminster Abbey could take 15 minutes along Victoria Street by car, but, even allowing for a detour up the Mall, across Horseguards Parade, down Whitehall and round Parliament Square, timings for the royal wedding released on Friday allow only nine minutes for the journey on the day itself. Middleton and her father Michael will leave at 10.51am – to be driven to the abbey for the ceremony at 11am. The schedule issued by St James’s Palace is astonishingly precise – life is so much easier with no other trafficto worry about. The abbey will be open to the congregation from 8.15am. Prince William and his brother – and best man – Prince Harry will leave Clarence House at 10.10am and arrive at the church five minutes later, followed by his father and stepmother who leave home at 10.38am and arrive at 10.42am. The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh will depart from Buckingham Palace at 10.40am and arrive at the abbey’s west door five minutes later. The service finishes at 12.15pm, after which the newlyweds will ride to Buckingham Palace in a carriage. The kiss on the palace balcony is scheduled for 1.25pm and five minutes later there will then be an RAF flypast and Battle of Britain memorial flight. Ooh factor The Goring hotel was opened by Otto Goring in 1910, just a few yards from Buckingham Palace and boasted that it was the first hotel in London not only to have central heating in the bedrooms but en suite bathrooms with every room – all for seven shillings and six pence a night in its early days. Nowadays the amenities are slightly more exotic: a Daily Telegraph journalist staying at the hotel this year noted the lights in her room registered four levels: bright, calm, cosy and ooh – the latter, she noted, was a sex light. Beside its frequent royal visitors, Winston Churchill was a guest and his mother, Jennie, actually moved in in 1919. During the second world war it was a command centre for General Dwight Eisenhower, the chief of allied forces. Jeremy Goring, the chief executive, said last year: “Some of our guests still come here on a Friday night and get a little hammered.” Royal wedding Monarchy Weddings Kate Middleton Hotels Stephen Bates guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Princess-to-be will spend last night as a commoner with mother and sister at hotel with a rich heritage of royal visitors One of London’s finest – and usually most discreet – hotels, where Kate Middleton will spend the night before her wedding has taken advantage of its royal connection to release promotional film footage to broadcasters. The Goring Hotel ‘s initiative is the latest commercial venture linked to the royal wedding on 29 April – hot on the heels of a petfood company’s plans, announced on Friday , to create a 68kg cake for dogs, to be made in the shape of a corgi. A spokeswoman for the hotel said the film had been made available in anticipation of a deluge of media requests. Asked whether the Goring was expecting a dramatic increase in customers interested in booking the suite where Middleton, her mother Carole and sister Pippa, will stay, she replied: “Who knows?” The five-room suite has been newly redecorated, apparently as part of a general refurbishment of the hotel following its centenary last year. It contains Queen Victoria’s silk bridal gown and tiara, framed in a wardrobe, a grand piano, an original 19th-century toilet and, bizarrely, hanging above the bath, what appears to be a cartoon picture of the television character Edmund Blackadder kissing the hand of Elizabeth I. Unauthorised photographs of the suite, some showing boxes of furnishings still to be unpacked, have been published in the Sun . “I could not tell you how much the room will cost after the wedding,” the spokeswoman said. “That is to be decided, but it will be in line with comparable hotels.” The Middleton family will be staying at a hotel with a rich royal heritage: previous visitors have included Queen Mary, the wife of George V, who would take afternoon tea there, and the Queen Mother, whose last outing before her death was to the Goring. The hotel is still in the ownership of the family that opened it in 1910: the current chief executive Jeremy Goring, a surfer and former rock drummer, is the great-grandson of the founder.The hotel is in a quiet sidestreet a short walk from Buckingham Palace. Furnished in the style of a London club or a wood-panelled English country house, it is usually a haunt of diplomats, politicians and American bishops. The 71 rooms at the Goring cost upwards of £400 a night, while a suite can set guests back up to £1,525 a night, according to previously published tariffs. The Middletons’ suite is at the top of the hotel, overlooking a quiet internal garden square. Clarence House insisted that staying there was the family’s personal choice, in preference to Buckingham Palace. Perhaps they had heard the story of a Norwegian crown prince who stayed at the Goring instead of the palace when he was attending a coronation, saying that at least there he would not have to share a bathroom. On a normal day the half-mile trip to Westminster Abbey could take 15 minutes along Victoria Street by car, but, even allowing for a detour up the Mall, across Horseguards Parade, down Whitehall and round Parliament Square, timings for the royal wedding released on Friday allow only nine minutes for the journey on the day itself. Middleton and her father Michael will leave at 10.51am – to be driven to the abbey for the ceremony at 11am. The schedule issued by St James’s Palace is astonishingly precise – life is so much easier with no other trafficto worry about. The abbey will be open to the congregation from 8.15am. Prince William and his brother – and best man – Prince Harry will leave Clarence House at 10.10am and arrive at the church five minutes later, followed by his father and stepmother who leave home at 10.38am and arrive at 10.42am. The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh will depart from Buckingham Palace at 10.40am and arrive at the abbey’s west door five minutes later. The service finishes at 12.15pm, after which the newlyweds will ride to Buckingham Palace in a carriage. The kiss on the palace balcony is scheduled for 1.25pm and five minutes later there will then be an RAF flypast and Battle of Britain memorial flight. Ooh factor The Goring hotel was opened by Otto Goring in 1910, just a few yards from Buckingham Palace and boasted that it was the first hotel in London not only to have central heating in the bedrooms but en suite bathrooms with every room – all for seven shillings and six pence a night in its early days. Nowadays the amenities are slightly more exotic: a Daily Telegraph journalist staying at the hotel this year noted the lights in her room registered four levels: bright, calm, cosy and ooh – the latter, she noted, was a sex light. Beside its frequent royal visitors, Winston Churchill was a guest and his mother, Jennie, actually moved in in 1919. During the second world war it was a command centre for General Dwight Eisenhower, the chief of allied forces. Jeremy Goring, the chief executive, said last year: “Some of our guests still come here on a Friday night and get a little hammered.” Royal wedding Monarchy Weddings Kate Middleton Hotels Stephen Bates guardian.co.uk
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Rise in prison numbers unsustainable, says justice secretary, who blames media for creating image that prison life is easy The rate of jail sentencing is “financially unsustainable”, the justice secretary, Kenneth Clarke, has said, delivering a defiant riposte to critics within his own party and the tabloid press who have suggested that his plans to overhaul the penal system are soft on crime. Clarke last year unveiled a green paper on sentencing as part of government plans to cut the £4bn prison and probation budget by 20% over four years, promising to end a Victorian-style “bang ‘em up” culture and reduce high reoffending rates by tackling the root causes. But after facing sustained criticism, he used an interview with The Times to dismiss characterisation of him as a minister who is “soft on crime.” He is preparing to publish a bill next month which will include proposals to allow for large sentence discounts in return for early guilty pleas and diverting the mentally ill away from jail. The goal is a 3,000 cut in the record 85,000 jail population in England and Wales in four years. “[The rise in prison numbers is] financially unsustainable. That is not my principal motivation but it is pointless and very bad value for taxpayers’ money,” Clarke said. He blamed the media and lobby groups for helping to create a public perception that prison life was easy, adding: “Prisons are not hotels, they are not comfortable, they are overcrowded, they are noisy. Anyone who visits a prison soon realises the prevailing atmosphere is one of stupefying boredom on the part of inmates. “It is just very, very bad value for taxpayers’ money to keep banging them up and warehousing them in overcrowded prisons where most of them get toughened up.” He said that too many prisoners sit idly in their cells when they could be doing something more productive with their time. “I would like to see prisons where there is a working environment, where people get into the habits of the rest of the population.” Private firms would be encouraged to operate in jails and help endow inmates with skills that would make them employable when they entered into free society again. “The firms are cautious about advertising it because the newspapers write them up as ‘employing jailbirds’,” he said. However, Clarke did pledge to make community punishments tougher by insisting offenders do unpaid work for eight hours a day. “I want them to be more punitive, effective and organised. Unpaid work should require offenders to work at a proper pace in a disciplined manner rather than youths just hanging around doing odd bits tidying up derelict sites,” he added. Kenneth Clarke UK criminal justice Prisons and probation Ben Quinn guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Rise in prison numbers unsustainable, says justice secretary, who blames media for creating image that prison life is easy The rate of jail sentencing is “financially unsustainable”, the justice secretary, Kenneth Clarke, has said, delivering a defiant riposte to critics within his own party and the tabloid press who have suggested that his plans to overhaul the penal system are soft on crime. Clarke last year unveiled a green paper on sentencing as part of government plans to cut the £4bn prison and probation budget by 20% over four years, promising to end a Victorian-style “bang ‘em up” culture and reduce high reoffending rates by tackling the root causes. But after facing sustained criticism, he used an interview with The Times to dismiss characterisation of him as a minister who is “soft on crime.” He is preparing to publish a bill next month which will include proposals to allow for large sentence discounts in return for early guilty pleas and diverting the mentally ill away from jail. The goal is a 3,000 cut in the record 85,000 jail population in England and Wales in four years. “[The rise in prison numbers is] financially unsustainable. That is not my principal motivation but it is pointless and very bad value for taxpayers’ money,” Clarke said. He blamed the media and lobby groups for helping to create a public perception that prison life was easy, adding: “Prisons are not hotels, they are not comfortable, they are overcrowded, they are noisy. Anyone who visits a prison soon realises the prevailing atmosphere is one of stupefying boredom on the part of inmates. “It is just very, very bad value for taxpayers’ money to keep banging them up and warehousing them in overcrowded prisons where most of them get toughened up.” He said that too many prisoners sit idly in their cells when they could be doing something more productive with their time. “I would like to see prisons where there is a working environment, where people get into the habits of the rest of the population.” Private firms would be encouraged to operate in jails and help endow inmates with skills that would make them employable when they entered into free society again. “The firms are cautious about advertising it because the newspapers write them up as ‘employing jailbirds’,” he said. However, Clarke did pledge to make community punishments tougher by insisting offenders do unpaid work for eight hours a day. “I want them to be more punitive, effective and organised. Unpaid work should require offenders to work at a proper pace in a disciplined manner rather than youths just hanging around doing odd bits tidying up derelict sites,” he added. Kenneth Clarke UK criminal justice Prisons and probation Ben Quinn guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Florida State Sen. Gary Siplin’s long quest to get the law behind baggy pants bans is nearing fruition. Siplin’s bill to make it illegal for students on campuses to wear clothes exposing their underwear has passed the state Senate, and a similar bill is making its way through the House,…
Continue reading …A London bar has found itself embroiled in controversy after kicking out a gay couple for kissing. Jonathan Williams and James Bull were on their first date at the John Snow pub when the landlady asked them to leave, accusing them of “obscene” behavior. The event has sparked much public…
Continue reading …Now that the “Is Sarah really the mother of Trig?” question is back in play, an Anchorage Daily News columnist issues a plea: “Make it stop.” Julia O’Malley dismisses a Kentucky journalism professor’s paper on the matter as heavy on “innuendo” and Photoshopped images, while devoid of facts. “The journalists,…
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Crowds spill on to the pavement for the first sale of ‘distressed property’ in Ireland The Irish property bubble burst in such spectacular fashion that it will cost Irish taxpayers for years to come. But an IMF bailout and swingeing austerity measures do not appear to have dented the Irish enthusiasm for a property deal. The crowds spilled on to the pavement at Ireland’s first ever auction of “distressed property” today as an estimated 1,200 would-be buyers flocked to the swish Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin in search of a bargain. But with 84 keenly priced lots, ranging from a three-bed semi priced as low as €22,500 (£20,000) to a four-bed mews house in Dublin’s most salubrious district going for €600,000, it was probably always going to be busy. Quick-thinking auctioneers despatched a man with a microphone to the steps of the hotel to relay bids from the pavement back into the ballroom, where would-be investors, solicitors, estate agents and young couples looking for their first home gathered for an event estate agent Majella Rippington from Corporate Lettings described as “historic”. The police, however, were not impressed and the auction was briefly suspended to allow the Garda to disperse the crowd outside. It was merely a brief hitch. Nothing could have halted the most keenly awaited auction since the recession began. Inside, the atmosphere was bristling with excitement as the hammer came down on the first lot – a 500 sq ft studio apartment in the centre of Temple Bar, Dublin’s equivalent of Soho, a touristy district best known for boozy stag and hen parties. There were at least a dozen bidders, including a man who claimed to live upstairs from the flat and said it would have fetched €350,000 at the peak. Today it had a reserve price of €80,000, but was swiftly sold for €127,000 to businessman Douglas Taylor, who wanted it for his student daughter. “It’s a charming apartment, needs lots of work – but nothing that can’t be put straight,” said Taylor, who has several businesses, including cleaning, security and recruitment. “I nearly missed out – I left my ID in the car and then, because of the crowds, couldn’t get back in again. I was lucky.” Taylor is not a novice in the property business: he owns three properties in Ireland – all in negative equity – and four in London, which are not. “I think this will help establish the floor and get the market going again,” he said. And the auction found the floor for Ballsbridge – Dublin’s most sought-after residential district. The biggest shock of was the four-bed mews house that did not attract a single bid at the guide price of €600,000. There were gasps as the hammer came down at just €550,000. “I’m feeling a bit of elation and nervousness,” said the successful bidder, who gave his name only as Patrick. “I thought it would go for in excess of €700,000.” He is a returning émigré and plans to live in the house himself. The purchase will send shivers down the spines of his new neighbours. In 2006 a similar mews house sold for €2.5m while in 2007 another sold for €1.5m – a sign of how far and fast property prices have tumbled in Dublin in the last four years. While Ballsbridge might now be on its uppers, other parts of Dublin generated brisk trade, particular city centre apartments. Michaela Masojada from London was thrilled when the hammer came down on her €345,000 bid for a three-bed penthouse in Bride Street, just minutes from her lectures at the Royal College of Surgeons on St Stephen’s Green. Her bid valued the property at 50% more than the reserve price of €230,000. “I’m so happy. I screamed at the auction. You’d never get a place like this in London,” she said. Portlaoise, an unprepossessing midlands town about an hour away from Dublin, also generated some surprises. Best known for its high-security prison – home to IRA prisoners in the 1970s and 1980s – it became a commuter belt town in the boom as spiralling prices in Dublin pushed out young families. Two apartments with guide prices of €35,000 sold for €61,000 and €62,000 – putting them among the star performers of the day. “I’m glad it’s done a little bit better than expected. Anything that moves this depressed market is a good thing,” said Rippington, who says the market has been paralysed by the fear that prices would fall further. UK auctioneers Allsop, which spent a year putting the auction together with local partner Space, were thrilled with the result and are planning a second auction in the summer with hundreds more properties. After six hours Allsop auctioneer Gary Murphy realised €15m for the banks. “It was unbelievable,” he said. Just three properties remained unsold. “I don’t think we’re disappointed about [the mews house] in Ballsbridge,” said Allsop partner Michael Linane. “The key was to sell it. This is not about us telling the Irish or anyone else what property is worth, it’s about saying ‘you decide’. “If you market the auction right and generate enough interest you’ve done what you can. And as you can see the interest is phenomenal.” John Howard from UK company Auction House, a rival to Allsop, was also at the hotel. He was surveying the opportunities for his own firm and thinks there is going to be a surge of repossession auctions in Ireland and the UK. “Last time this happened in the 1990s interest rates were really high. Now they are at 1% in the UK and 1.25% in Ireland. There are also an awful lot of buy-to-let customers in both countries that we didn’t have in the last recession. I think this is going to take off. It is a learning curve for everyone.” Ireland Europe European debt crisis European banks Lisa O’Carroll guardian.co.uk
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