School Gates shut for Grange Hill

After 30 years on our screens, the BBC has decided to axe the well loved kids’ show Grange Hill.

The broadcasters now want to focus on new dramas aimed at today’s modern audience.

First screened on 8 February 1978, the show has touched on many serious social issues such as drugs and teenage pregnancies.

The most controversial storyline was when Zammo Maguire started to take drugs in
1986, which lead to the famous “Just Say No” campaign and and a top 10 single, of the same name, for the cast.

Many famous faces have made their name through grange Hill. The most famous is Ex-Eastenders star Todd Carty who played Tucker Jenkins from 1978 to 1982.

There will be one more series of the tea-time children’s drama focusing on year six kids, which is to aired later this year.

The BBC has announced a series of new shows which will fill the gap on CBBC, which includes Half Moon Investigations, Paradise Café and Roy.

The north is party capital of UK.

It may be capital of England, but London certainly isn’t party capital of the British Isles, after a survey suggested people in the north listen to music with more beats per minute.

The survey, by Uncut magazine found a difference of 110bmp between Scotland and the south of England.

It also found a wide variety in tastes of music, with country music most popular in Northern Ireland while the Scots prefer Celtic rock anthems.

With every type of music having a different beat rate, all over the country everyone is bopping at a different speed.

In London, the average beats-per-minute is 90, while it increased to 190bmp in Hull and Scotland.

The survey, conducted by John Lewis, looked at sales at HMV across the UK, comparing regional music charts and the music played in clubs and at gigs.

It found that people in the Highlands prefer Country and Western music where as in Wales they prefer to rock out to metal, indie and folk.

Soundtracks are popular in Bristol, with more sold there than anywhere else in Britain.

Large parts of the north and Yorkshire enjoy Bloke, Folk sells well in Doncaster while people in
Sheffield prefer heavy metal and it is goth music for Leeds.

In the north-west, the most popular is indie, but also has large world and classical sales in the big cities such as Liverpool and Manchester.

London is a more versatile place, with most types of music being popular. In fact, jazz and classical music is the best sellers in London, selling better than the rest of the UK put together.

The midlands was more varied, with Birmingham and Coventry favoring reggae whereas in Nottingham it was heavy metal and hip-hop.

The south coast’s preference of European dance is thought to be influenced by European immigration.

The survey found that the heavy metal was the closest to a national genre of music.

More Weekend News…

Adele at Number 1 in Album Chart.

Hot new talent Adele appears to be living up to her reputation after her album, ‘19’, went straight to number on in the charts.

The 19 year old singer/songwriter took the number one spot with her album while her single ‘Chasing Pavements’ remains at number two in the singles chart for the third week.

Scouting for Girls’ album dropped one place to number two while Nickleback moved up from 10 to three with “All the Right Reasons.”

Basshunter’s floor filler ‘Now You’re Gone’ is still the number one single for the fourth week in a row.
Nickleback are at number three with their single ‘Rockstar’, R&B star Kelly Rowland’s ‘work’ is at number four and ‘Don’t Stop the Music’ dropped one to five for singer Rihanna.

Prince of the Papers.

Prince William is apparently being lined-up to go on work experience in a national newspaper newsroom.

Clarence house want to educate the second in line for the throne in ‘public life’ and make him more media savvy for when he is king.

The prince, who is currently undergoing flight training with the RAF could also be spending time at in a government department at the Foreign Office or the Church of England.

Jewish album hope for Mika.

Singer Mika is hoping to work with Amy Winehouse on her forthcoming album of Jewish Songs.

Winehouse is planning to make the record with friend and producer Mark Ronson, covering a Christmas and Hannukah tracks.

Now Mika, who is part-Lebanese, is hoping to join in on the yet to be named album.

Any more women for Cole?

Cheater Ashley Cole is apparently stayed in contact with Page 3 girl Jakki Degg after marrying Cheryl Tweedy.

The friendship apparently started when Cole was single and chased the glamour model for a date.

This is the third girl to come forward after hairdresser Aimee Walton and glamour model Brooke Healey both said they had sex with the star.

More heartache for Lily Allen.

Only weeks after suffering a miscarriage, Lilly Allen and boyfriend Ed Simons have spilt up.

The pair who met at a Chemical Brothers gig have been dating since September and announced they were expectation not long afterwards.The couple recently returned from a romantic £3,000 a day holiday in the Maldives but have now decided to go their separate ways.

Nigella eats Humble Pie

Nigella Lawson has denied that she intended to leave her children out of her will to understand the value of money.

In an interview with My Weekly magazine, the TV chef said:

"I am determined that my children should have no financial security. It ruins people not having to earn money.

"I argue with my husband Charles, because he believes that you should be able to leave money to your children. I think we'll have to agree to disagree."

However, Lawson published a statement on her website retracting the comments denying that she was cruel and suggested that her interview had embarrassed her daughter Cosima, 13 and 11 year old son Bruno.

She wrote:

‘You might have noticed in the press that I have (apparently) cut my children out of my will, cruel mother that I am.

‘I have never discussed the details of my will with anyone. The story that has been circulating is not a true reflection of my intentions.’

The star claims that the article was taken out of context from a comment made on working hard and learning the value of money by doing so.

Lawson and art collector husband, Charles Saatchi are reported to share a fortune of £110m and her mother, Vanessa Salmon, was heiress to the Lyons Corner House empire.

Having money didn’t stop the celebrity chef. She left Oxford University to work her way through Fleet Street to become senior editor at The Sunday Times, at just 26 years old, before becoming a food writer and TV presenter.

Read the full statement at:
http://www.nigella.com/news/detail.asp?article=3661&area=2

Spice Girls Split…Again.

Ten years on and the Spice Girls have split again.

The girls who are currently on tour were planning to travel to Australia, China, South African and Argentina for the final leg but have cut it short due to 'family and personal commitments'.

Posh, Scary, Baby, Sporty and Ginger will play their final concert in Toronto, Canada, on 26th February rather than June as planned.

A statement from the famous five said:

“We’ve had such an amazing time over the last 3 months. It’s been incredible being back together and seeing our fans again. We want to thank everyone who came to see us. It was all so mad the first time round, so we’ve really been able to appreciate it properly this time. There have been so many highlights and good times that we know it will be hard to be apart after Toronto. Really sorry if we didn’t get to see you this time round. We all have other commitments in our lives now but who knows what will happen next.”

But sources have claimed that Mel C is the real reason for the split because she wants to concentrate on her solo career.

A source told The Sun:

'Geri and Victoria have been loving the attention and adulation the tour has been bringing the girls in the UK and North America.

‘Mel B has really enjoyed being on stage and performing again. And Emma has found it hard with a young son but was prepared to carry on.

‘But Mel C is the one who always insisted the reunion should be only short-term. Now she wants to go back to doing her own thing.'

Whatever the reason, many dissapointed fans are going to miss out on the girl power.

The Sun article can be found at: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/bizarre/article753428.ece
Read the full Statement and announcement at: http://www.thespicegirls.com/news/080201announcement

Other News This Week...

Tuesday

Naked Pose for Posh.

Trendsetter Victoria Beckham has lost her clothes to pose naked for a T-shirt designed by Marc Jacobs in a campaign to raise awareness of skin cancer.

The 33-year-old Spice Girl is helping The Interdisciplinary Melanoma Cooperattive Group, who promote the use of sun protection to help prevent the disease.

The T-shirts go on sale next week.

Laughton wins Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack.

Scottish politician John Loughton has been crowned the winner of BB: Celeb Hijacked after beating Emilia Arata.

The 20-year-old Scot has bagged himself the £50,000 prize money after receiving 53.9% of the votes on the reality show.

However the new show wasn’t as popular as previous years with a huge drop in ratings for the final.

Wednesday

Author casts a spell at South Bank.

JK Rowling has been presented with South Banks Show, Outstanding Achievement in the Arts award for her ‘Harry Potter’ books.

With previous winners such as Helen Mirren, Richard Attenborough and The Who the award was the most sought after of the night and recognises her great literary success.

Wedding Shocker in HollyOaks.

HollyOaks is going to get nasty next month when Jake Dean tries to rape Nancy Hayton after their Valentines Day wedding.

The shocking scenes will show Jake (Kevin Sacre) violently force himself upon his new wife before his sister Steph arrives to cut it short.Nancy (Jessica Fox) is left too scared to say anything while her husband is trying to cover his tracks.

The episode will be shown on 14th February at 6.30pm on Channel 4.

Thursday

£2m ITV deal for Kay.

Vernon Kay has signed a £2m contract to stay with ITV for another 2 years.

The 33-year-old from Bolton who has recently hosted shows such as Family Fortunes and Celebrities Under Pressure will also be fronting a new primetime game-show called Beat The Star.

Devastated Cheryl leaves Ashley.

Last week The Sun newspaper revealed that Ashley Cole had cheated on wife Cheryl with hairdresser, Aimee Walton.

Now the distraught Girls Aloud singer has left the home they shared together for a few days to clear her head.

Chelsea star Cole returned to training last night and was reportedly carrying on as normal.

Friday

Fashion First for Louise.

First it was a book and then perfume but it seems now the new celebrity venture is to have your own fashion range.

Following in the footsteps of Kate Moss and Lily Allen, Louise Redknapp is the latest star to want her own line of designer clothes on the high street.

Winehouse’s New Addiction.

Amy Winehouse who went into rehab last week has reportedly swapped her addiction from drugs to ice lollies.

The 24-year-old singer has been sending security guards to the shop to keep her stocked up on the Ribena flavored treats.

She is currently at the Capio Nightingale Hospital in London although it is though she was taken to a private clinic on Harley Street to be put on a drip after becoming dangerously dehydrated.

Rhydian is no Phantom.

If coming runner-up on the X Factor wasn’t heart breaking enough, now Rhydian Robert’s hopes to star in the West End have been dashed.

The reality show runner-up claimed he was in talks with Andrew Lloyd Webber to play the lead role in the new Phantom Of The Opera.

But the musical mastermind has quashed these rumours because he has never heard Rydian sing.

Lloyd Webber is back on our screens in March with his new reality show ’I’d Do Anything’.

Like he did before with Sound of Music and Joseph and his Technicoloured Dreamcoat, Webber is looking for three kids for the lead role as an orphan and another to star as Nancy for the a West End production of Oliver.

The 59-year-old also made a camio appearance on HollyOaks this week promoting The Sound of Music with Maria now being played by Oak’s babe Summer Strallen.