Reader's Digest UK Jan 2019

OUR WORLD IS YOUR PLAYGROUND

Features

16 IT’S A MANN’S WORLD

Olly Mann embarks on a mission to find a new cat

ENTERTAINMENT

20 INTERVIEW: STEVE COOGAN

The sardonic actor on Brexit, playing one of his heroes and “dealing with idiots”

30 “I REMEMBER”: DON MCCULLIN

The infamous photojournalist looks back on a lifetime of capturing conflicts

HEALTH

38 SEX AFTER 50

Here’s why your best sex could happen later in life

INSPIRE

54 SCIENCE OR FICTION?

Is there anything but fantasy behind paranormal encounters? Cris Andrews investigates

64 FINDERS KEEPERS

Tom Browne explores the unique joys of metal detecting

TRAVEL & ADVENTURE

74 BEST OF BRITISH: BABY IT’S COLD OUTSIDE

We’re embracing the cold snap with the best ice-themed activities Britain has to offer

84 ACTS OF FAITH

Inside Jerusalem, where Jews, Muslims and Christians meet

90 ICELAND’S UNIQUE CURE

Could we stand to learn a thing or two from the great Icelandic tradition of outdoor bathing?

Dear Readers,

As we enjoy this festive season we are reminded of change and fresh starts as we see in 2019. Reader’s Digest Tickets is here to help you get an early start on filling some dates in your diary with our top picks of new shows to see next year.

If you’re looking for a fun and fabulous night out then pour yourself a cup of ambition and book to see 9 TO 5 THE MUSICAL from January. Inspired by the cult film, this uproarious new West End show stars Louise Redknapp, Amber Davies, Natalie McQueen and Brian Conley, featuring an original Oscar, Grammy and Tony award-nominated score by country legend and pop icon Dolly Parton. The Tony® Award winning COME FROM AWAY will land for its UK premiere at London’s Phoenix Theatre also from January. This joyous new musical shares the incredible real-life story of the 7,000 air passengers from all over the world that became grounded in Canada during the wake of 9/11, and the small Newfoundland community that invited these ‘come from aways’ into their lives.

Returning to London from July is JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR, the multi award-winning production by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber. Playing just 60 performances at the Barbican following two sell-out seasons at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, this gorgeous, thrilling, heavenly musical is an almighty revelation.

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In This Issue…

It’s that time of year when we’re all resolving to be better versions of ourselves and, in these pages, you’ll find plenty to inspire your mission of self-improvement.

There’s a masterclass in getting comfortable in your own skin on p90 as a trip to Iceland finds one of our writers baring all, while a day of metal detecting on p64 extols the virtues of patience and fresh air.

Perhaps the best resolution to form after reading about the connection between science and the paranormal on p54 and our discovery that for many people, the best sex of their lives begins only after they turn 50 on p38, is that we could all stand to be a little more open-minded. Now that’s a resolution that could make the world a better place.

Anna Eva

…And while we’re on the subject of becoming a better person in the new year, you might want to take a leaf or two out of Steve Coogan’s book. As we were chatting about his new film, Stan and Ollie on p20, the notorious comedian revealed some surprisingly profound musings on life, including the importance of kindness, keeping yourself in check and always working towards a better future for everyone, regardless of the circumstances—a sentiment that fuels his strong stance against Brexit. Whatever your opinion on this controversial matter is, however, it’s a comforting conversation that reveals a settled, harmonious side of the Alan Partridge creator that we haven’t seen before.

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Over To You

LETTERS ON THE NOVEMBER ISSUE

We pay £50 for Letter of the Month and £30 for all others

Letter of THE MONTH

Thank you so much for the feature “23 Ways Salt Is Making You Sick” in the November issue. I only ever use salt when boiling vegetables and refuse to put a salt cellar on the table at mealtimes—much to my family’s annoyance! Your article gave me the written evidence I needed to prove salt can be dangerous for their health.

My husband suffered heart failure last year after having undiagnosed hypertension and is currently on six different daily medications to keep his condition under control—so your advice was invaluable to him. He did also point out to me your other health feature, “Healthy

Hydration” as—I have to admit—I don’t consume enough water. After reading the tips and benefits, I feel my health too will improve!

Melanie Lodge, West Yorkshire

Thank you for your article on salt, detailing the dangers of having too much. It certainly got me thinking about my diet and all the hidden salt I’ve been unwittingly consuming. I also started to ponder all the other things that are bad for us, such as: sugar, saturated fat, the sedentary lifestyle, and stress.

A theme began to emerge... Like salt, all these “baddies” begin with the letter “S”, and my name is Shaun. Should I be worried? I suppose I will be OK if I stick to fresh produce and make meals from scratch!

Shaun Gardner, Bristol

DANCING QUEEN

I thoroughly enjoyed the interview with Anton du Beke who is one of my heroes. I’m a huge fan of Strictly Come Dancing and have been since it began—Anton has always been one of my favourites. He appears to be a real gentleman on the show, and this article confirms it. I loved reading about his life, upbringing and how he struggled to finance his love of dance. He’s the epitome of getting out there and making your dreams come true—and the love he feels for his wife and twins certainly shows.

SINK WHILE YOU THINK

Olly Mann’s article “The Lazy Mann’s Load” was quite opportune as I read it while having my weekly bath. Yes, the shower is fine when you have a time limit, but research has shown how beneficial a soak is for your mental health. And what better way to relax than to get in the tub with a copy of Reader’s Digest—it’s just the right size and weight (very important when you have to hold it out of the water!) and just enough content before the water gets too cold.

Sylvia Franklin, Staffordshire

I only hope that Anton wins the future, so he can finally hold the glitter ball trophy he deserves. A wonderful interview that made me smile.

Geraldine Miller, Liverpool

LEARNING ON DISPLAY

I read with interest “If I Ruled The World: Nicholas Coleridge” in November’s Reader’s Digest Nicholas says, “I’d make visiting museums as compulsory as going to school”, and it brought to mind the wisdom of such words. As small children, my brother and I were taken to visit a place of interest—usually a museum—once every eight weeks. The mode of transport was a motorbike and sidecar, my mother the pillion rider. Parking was not a problem as my father, a Metropolitan police officer, knew all the best places. After an afternoon at the museum, we’d be treated to tea and cakes— which seemed enormous after wartime austerity.

The forethought of my parents in taking us on these visits ensured that my brother and I have had a lifelong love of enquiry and learning.

Gillian Crutchley, Hampshire

I agree with Nicholas Coleridge in “If I Ruled the World” (November 2018) that making a phone call to any company using an answering machine is a nightmare. Technology improves our lives in many ways but not in this case. All those options with different buttons to press are exasperating, while the incessant music is enough to drive one up the wall. Furthermore, this system does not appear to be infallible. When that automated voice asks the reason for the call it often misconstrues and connects with the wrong department— more frustration!

To make a similar call years ago was so much easier. Remember those wonderful words, “Please hold, I’ll put you through.”

Sheila Chisnall, Devon

See

…differently

The visitors of the Cau Vang bridge in Vietnam are literally in good hands! The 500ft-long structure is located in the TruongSon mountain range and swings out to rise 4,500ft above the valley below. Although the bridge appears to be supported by huge stone hands, in reality they’re steel meshes coated in fiberglass while pillars running through them are responsible for the design’s structural integrity.

You’ve Got To Be Kitten Me

This month Olly Mann embarks on a surprisingly complex mission to find some new furry friends…

We are in the market for a new cat. To write such a thing feels like an act of betrayal, because our current cat (can one have a “current” cat? Is it like having a “current” wife?), Coco, is very much alive. I adore her. For the first five years of our relationship, she literally slept between my legs on a nightly basis.

But I have to face facts: she is now 15 years old. We require perhaps not a Coco replacement, then, but a Coco replenishment; a feline companion for her twilight years, who will assume pole position only in the hopefully-distant-event of her death. An heir apparent. A Prince of Wales cat.

Olly Mann presents Four Thought for BBC Radio 4, and the award-winning podcasts The Modern Mann and Answer Me This!

The problem is that our criteria for choosing a successor cat differ wildly from Coco’s criteria for cohabiting with a creature whom she won’t want to claw to death. This is a little hard for me to get my dumb human head around, because Coco is fairly low maintenance in her dealings with us. For instance, she nonchalantly endures a romp around our sitting room, pursued by my toddler wielding a toy hammer, on a daily basis. She survived virtually the whole winter in a kitchen cupboard when our house was being refurbished, and didn’t run away. She genuinely appears to enjoy our company, typically choosing to curl up wherever we are, despite numerous alternative sofas and beds in the vicinity. She’s easy-going.

But, on those occasions when a neighbour’s cat has appeared in the garden, she turns primal. The back arches up, the tail thrusts and a submammal screech sounds from her

BY HELENA PÉREZ GARCÍA

With this in mind, I made the gentlest of enquiries with Doctor Google, searching to see what kind of cat could be paired with a senior female. The cat-obsessed community responded resoundingly that the best choice would be a male—girls tend not to get on, apparently, and Coco would likely feel less threatened by an opposite sex companion. A younger cat would be preferable too, they said; Coco might even feel

her they are acquainted (eg, putting bits of his fur around the house before they meet, so she comes to know his scent).

All this seemed like sensible advice but the plot soon thickened. “Don’t leave an adult cat alone with a kitten!”, insisted one commenter, whose avatar was a blue-eyed Persian.

“The youngling would drive her nuts,” said another. “Get two male kittens!” That way, the two young cats can keep each other amused, and Coco can get on with enjoying our underfloor heating into her dotage.

As it happened, there’s an animal rescue centre down the road. A splendid afternoon meeting its residents revealed a number of cuddly fluffbundles ready for rehoming. But, they had a strict “no toddler” rule. After much hand wringing, I felt it would be wrong to put my own son up for adoption just so we could get a couple more cats. So, reluctantly, we moved on to the next cat home—and discovered their policy was to keep groups of siblings together, so we would be gut. I don’t speak cat, but it’s fairly clear what the sound means, and it’s not printable in a family publication. Nothing in her demeanour on these occasions suggests she would, given the opportunity, invite said intruder into the house to share her food and drop fleas in her basket.

So it was that we found ourselves looking not for a cat, but a kitten; and not one kitten, but two. Where to begin? The internet no longer felt like the appropriate place: there are some dodgy types out there, and I don’t want to reward unscrupulous breeders mass-producing boxes of kittens to make a quick buck.

“After much hand wringing, I decided it would probably be wrong to put my own son up for adoption just so we could get a couple more cats”

expected to take three, or four, or possibly even five kittens.

Five kittens! Not an option: as we all know, take on any more than three cats and you magically turn into that oddball who hangs around the RSPCA charity shop wearing a cat jumper.

Some more digging revealed a third cat home, who required a home-check as part of the adoption process. But their inspector said our house was too close to the main road

to be considered suitable. Finally, we found a fourth cat home who were comfortable with, a) supplying two male kittens, b) allowing said kittens to live alongside an older female cat, and c) a toddler. They also conducted a home-check, but this time we passed (we’re miles away from a main road, their inspector said. Bizarre.)

So, we’re on the waiting list, and by the time you read this, we may well be a three-cat household. It’s a process that’s already involved far more checks and consideration than bringing our own child into the world, but, at any moment now, the phone might ring, and some kittens that fit “our profile” might be moving in.

But I guess it does, symbolically, mean curtains for Coco. I’m going to sit with her on the sofa awhile, and try not to think about it.

QUIZ: HOUSE OF CARDS (AND COMEDY)

Can you guess the politician based on screenwriter and satirist Charlie Brooker’s brutal insult? Answers below:

1. “He resembles a cling film parcel of Frankfurter meat that’s been kicked through a yellow cobweb”

2. “A haunted art gallery owner”

3. “The human equivalent of a pop-up advert you just can’t click away”

4. “So posh he probably weeps champagne”

5. “A man so bland he made Ed Miliband look like David Miliband”

ANSWERS:

1. DONALD TRUMP, 2. THERESA MAY, 3. NIGEL FARAGE, 4. GEORGE OSBORNE, 5. OWEN SMITH.

“I Try To Find The Good In People” Steve Coogan

British actor and comedian Steve Coogan gives Eva Mackevic an unlikely lesson in “dealing with idiots” and achieving the coveted state of inner zen as you get older

Steve is exhausted. Last night saw him parading up and down the red carpet in a kilt at the London premiere of his new film, Stan & Ollie, and he’s been doing interviews since this morning. He’s also going to a BAFTA Q&A after this, his publicist informs me as I shuffle back and forth outside of Steve’s hotel suite, waiting for him to finish a phone call. Obviously, I think, he’ll be irritable and try to get rid of me as soon as possible. When I’m finally beckoned in, I find him slumped in a massive Edwardian chair, stretching lazily like a cat. He’s wearing

a cosy, grey jumper, and my eyes are immediately drawn to his goofy socks with big, red blotches. He jumps up to shake my hand, and gallantly fixes a drooped cushion on my chair.

“My parents used to read Reader’s Digest,” he says, sitting down across from me. “Nowadays we have all these different search engines, all this malarkey, but Reader’s Digest was a great way of curating and getting out stories that wouldn’t

“[I was difficult] early on, when I didn’t know what I was doing,” he tells me in his deep, characteristically nasal voice, INTERVIEW:

I can tell by the frequent stuttering and surreptitious yawns that Steve’s clearly tired, he exudes peace and warmth. Not exactly what I expected from a notoriously caustic satirist who’s verbally demolished everyone from Jeremy Clarkson to Donald Trump. Does he consider himself difficult to work with, I wonder?

That’s why I don’t do social media—because it’s dealing with people who are idiots” “

older—you don’t know this yet—you realise it’s not just right to be nice to people, it’s actually easier. I try to find the good in people and give them the benefit of a doubt.”

“It’s such hard work though,” I mutter in response.

“I know!” he exclaims. “That’s why I don’t do social media. Because it’s dealing with people who are idiots. I know that I would waste a lot of time getting sucked into an argument with someone I don’t need to argue with.

Acerbic comedy is as enjoyable as giving the finger to somebody— ultimately it doesn’t make you feel better” “

is right, an argument will very rarely resolve something. The way to communicate with people, I think, is to tell stories. If you tell a story that moves someone, you may make them think about things in a slightly different way.”

THE STORY OF LAUREL AND HARDY—the subject of Coogan’s new film in which he plays Laurel—is one such story, I observe. Their wholesome and innocent brand of slapstick comedy feels almost alien today. “That’s very true,” Steve concurs. “I like that it’s very un-cynical. I’ve done acerbic, biting, edgy comedy and it’s really enjoyable. But it’s only enjoyable like giving the finger to somebody is enjoyable,” he laughs. “Ultimately it doesn’t make you feel better. It might make you feel better in that instant

and I feel that’s the case with a lot of comedy, but with Stan and Ollie, it’s very timeless, it sees the humanity in people, it tries to lift people up rather than push them down.”

He admits that he was flattered to be considered “good enough” to play Stan Laurel. It’s a challenging role which involved portraying the famous comedian as both how he was on screen and in real life. Not to mention the technically challenging dance routines, make up and costumes. Did Steve relate to Stan Laurel on a personal level?

“Stan Laurel was obsessive about getting the comedy right and I can be like that with my own stuff, being a perfectionist. I’d rather destroy something and have no one ever see it than do something that’s just acceptable. And I think he was like

that as well. In a way, that sometimes came before other stuff in his life. I’ve sometimes done that in such a way that hasn’t been entirely healthy for me, for my personal life. But that was in the past. I feel like I’m in a pretty good place now.”

“I’m also not quite as disastrous as him, personally,” he chuckles. “I think he was married about seven times—I was only married once. But there are echoes of me in all the characters I play. People look at me and they go, ‘Oh, you’re a bit like Alan Partridge’, and I say, ‘Well, that’s inevitable.’ ”

IN

OTHER WAYS,

however, he couldn’t be more different from his most famous character. As opposed to Partridge, who, according to Coogan, almost certainly voted for Brexit, the actor himself has been a vocal opponent of Britain leaving the EU, and our conversation inevitably turns in that direction.

“We’re in a very volatile world. There was a World War 70 years ago or so, and when we came out of that war, there was

a collective enlightenment between the European nations which was a global force for good. And if you fracture that and break it up, then what are we?” This is the first time in the conversation that Steve sits up straight, his face agitated and his voice raised.

“I think there’s a romantic notion of Britain held by people who have this misty-eyed view that we’re still somehow an empire or a world power. But we’re not anymore. We’re a small country. If we’re to have any kind of influence, we need to be a part of this greater cultural force in the world. And that means being part of the EU—shared culture, shared traditions, shared values, that go back a thousand years and more. And to me, that’s what’s worth preserving. [Brexit] is backward-looking, regressive and insular— philistinism of the worst kind. It’s an unholy alliance between romantic delusional fascists and ignorant people who think that you can do one thing

fix everything.”

I hold my breath, waiting for a continuation of this fervent speech, but

“

Brexit is backwardlooking, regressive and insular— philistinism of the worst kind”

instead, Steve says, “That was good, wasn’t it?” and laughs. We get up to say our goodbyes and right before I leave, he takes a closer look at my hair and curiously strokes the shaved bit on the side. “Oh, you’ve got this bit shaved off? Does it grow back?” he asks. “Well, yeah, it’s human hair,” I reply, and we both laugh. I leave the hotel with a smile on my face, happy in the knowledge that the Steve Coogan I met turned out to be everything I didn’t expect him to be: down to earth, polite and kind. And he touched my hair.

Stan and Ollie is out in cinemas across the UK on January 11

GET YOUR SHAKESPEARE FIX AT THE RSC THIS WINTER

This winter is your chance to see Shakespeare’s rarely performed, darkly comic tragedy Timon of Athens in his hometown of Stratford-upon-Avon. Director Simon Godwin tells us a bit more about his production and having award-winning actress Kathryn Hunter in the title role.

The last RSC production of Timon of Athens was in 2006. What made you want to take on this play?

The play is a striking fable but a challenging one. It was, we think, written with Middleton so it’s not a ‘pure’ Shakespeare, but a collaboration, and there’s an unfinished feel to it. This gives you more licence to be political, bold and contemporary with it.

It’s often perceived as one of Shakespeare’s ‘problem’ plays that doesn’t have a simple message: it doesn’t easily fit into a specific genre. It’s edgy, hard to compartmentalise, di cult to define.

It’s a story of somebody that trusts, only to discover their trust was misplaced. A story which asks, is humanity a force for good or a force for bad? These are relevant questions, but they are also timeless ones.

It’s a play about a breakdown, a breakdown of trust, a breakdown of faith, a breakdown of optimism. And about anger, something we are very much in touch with today. A sort of confusion about what we are angry about – who’s to blame, and

FOR MORE INFORMATION

what do we do in the face of this political divisiveness and polarisation.

Kathryn Hunter is taking on the title role, a part traditionally played a male actor.

How did that come about?

The solution to this lies in o ering parts that are traditionally played by men to women. By doing that you, in fact, discover that Shakespeare really was more interested in what’s humane, what’s universal, than what’s gender specific.

In my experience (for example, when I directed Tamsin Greig as Malvolio in Twelfth Night at The National Theatre), people do notice it. Then you realise that Shakespeare has bigger fish to fry, and you stop noticing.

I don’t want re-gendering to have any additional significance. I just want it to be seen as natural and normal.

Does it feel di erent directing a lesser known Shakespeare, compared to directing a play like Hamlet?

It’s a di erent kind of pressure. Hamlet is liberating and great because you know the play works. You can prune it, but fundamentally it is a well-oiled, well proven machine. Directing Timon very much feels like my old days working at the Royal Court when you’re working with a play that’s not finished, not perfect – a play that needs nurturing. It’s about how to give it the best context to help it flourish. ■

Timon of Athens plays in the Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon from 7 December. Tickets are from £16, for more information and a full performance schedule please visit rsc.org.uk

TIMON ATHENS OF

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

Starring award winning actress Kathryn Hunter

READERS DIGEST DINNER AND DRAMA OFFER

Enjoy a two or three-course pre-theatre meal in the relaxed and informal atmosphere of The Other Place before taking a short stroll to the Swan Theatre to watch Timon of Athens in January.

A two-course meal plus ticket to the show is £30, or upgrade to three-courses for £35. To book your exclusive o er, call the RSC box o ce on 01789 331111 and quote ‘Readers Digest O er’.

The o er applied to selected evening performance in January 2019 booked before 31 December 2018. This o er is subject to availability. Terms and conditions apply. O er does not apply to tickets already purchased. Only valid on 7, 14, 16, 21, 22, 28, 30 and 31 January 2019. Tickets must be booked by end of business on Monday 31 December 2018. Box O ce opening hours are 10am – 6pm Monday to Saturday, excluding bank holidays.

Don McCullin

I REMEMBER…

Celebrated photographer, Sir Don, 83, has captured iconic images everywhere from Vietnam to poverty-stricken London. A major exhibition of his work is set to open at the Tate Britain

…WATCHING A DOODLEBUG FLY OVER OUR BACK GARDEN during the Second World War. You could hear the burring of the engine and see the flames coming out of it. The Germans were trying to bomb Finsbury Park railway station which was near where we lived. Luckily, our street never got hit.

The bombing made me feel nervous but excited. I was too young to understand the devastation it brought with it. You’d go to school in the morning and pick up bits of

shrapnel from ack-ack guns. Today, children get a thrill from looking at their phones.

…IF MY MOTHER GAVE YOU A CLOUT, YOU KNEW WHAT TIME IT WAS. My father was invalided with chronic asthma and could barely breathe, so she was the strong one in the family. She had proper muscles. When she ran out of cigarettes, you took cover.

Mum worked in a factory making aircraft parts to support us, but there

wasn’t much money around. We lived in a two-room flat with no central heating or bathroom. Finsbury Park was a ghetto, full of violence, back then. Fights in the street; fights at school. I suffered and practised the violence myself—you couldn’t let anyone walk all over you. It’s amazing how I emerged with a totally different, liberal mindset.

…BEING EVACUATED TO IDYLLIC SOMERSET. I lived in a labourer’s cottage for about 18 months. There were cows and slow-flowing streams.

It was like a calendar. The county never left my thoughts and I moved back there permanently 35 years ago. My sister never left. My mother gave her away to the wealthy family who’d looked after her.

When I was seven I was shipped up to a chicken farm in Lancashire. The man didn’t want me there and locked me out until ten o’clock at night, then made me sleep on a mattress on bare boards. I had my head shaved and was forced to wear clogs, which was part of the local culture. If I didn’t eat the disgusting boiled potatoes, which

(Clockwise from top left) Don as a boy; with his bike; playing in the yard with his brother

“My life has always been about adventures. Being on edge all the time helps my photography”

…BEING INSPIRED BY ART IN UPMARKET LONDON.

I left the trains when I cut my hand with a big knife. I got a job in Mayfair as a messenger boy for an animation studio, delivering cans of film. One of my calling places was the Fine Arts Society, an art gallery that showed work from the turn of the century. It had a really huge influence on my imagination.

still had their jackets on, at Sunday lunch, the man would punch me.

When I left, I threw a couple of chickens in the stream. I didn’t drown them, though.

…SEEING MY FIRST STRIP SHOW, AGED 15.

My father had died a couple of years before and I’d left school to work in the dining car on trains from London to the North. We’d sleep in dormitories by the railways and, one night, this boy who used to clean the trains with a big brush took me to a performance in Liverpool.

There were about 12 women arranged in a tableau based on one of Ruben’s paintings. They weren’t allowed to move, in those days. But they were naked from the waist up. It was quite a lift off for a 15-year-old. It was extraordinary, and even moving, to be away from home in this secret musical place.

When I was called up for National Service, I spun this yarn that I worked in the movie industry—they didn’t know I was just a messenger boy. So I was put in the air force, renumbering old wartime film stock. Later, I spent time in photographic units in Kenya and Egypt, where we were worked printing maps of the Suez Canal zone.

My National Service didn’t really lead me to my chosen career, though. I took a trade test to become a photographer before leaving, but failed. I couldn’t read the theory paper as I have terrible dyslexia.

…GETTING MY BIG BREAK WITH THE GUVNORS.

They were my mates, a gang of boys from Finsbury Park, and we used to go to a dance hall called Greys Dance Academy. It had a speakeasy, bad reputation—so girls would come from miles around! One night, in 1958, some lads from Islington got into a fight with my friends. One of the Islington boys, Ronald Marwood, killed a policeman who tried to stop it.

A little while later, I took a photograph of the Guvnors and people told me I should take it to the Observer. Marwood had been hung and the murder was still very much in the news. The paper asked me to take more, published them on the Sunday and by Monday I was being offered every photographic job in England.

Frankly, I didn’t really know anything about photography. I’d just been taking snaps. I had to learn very quickly.

…REALISING I WAS CUT OUT FOR WAR. I was sent to cover the conflict between the Turks and the Greeks in Cyprus in 1964 and found myself in the middle of a running gun fight that went on for two days. For the first time in my life, I wasn’t watching a battle in a Hollywood movie. I was in it. But I wasn’t scared. I was on a high. The only thing that scared me was not getting good pictures.

…REALISING I WASN’T CUT OUT FOR CELEBRITY PHOTOSHOOTS. I was booked to spend a day photographing the Beatles in 1968.

(Top) Don’s parents; (above) self-portrait in his RAF uniform; (right) with his brother

I did my best, and the group were good guys. But it wasn’t my cup of tea. It was all a bit inconsequential.

Yoko Ono was a nasty little bully, telling me I was standing in the wrong place. I’d recently seen soldiers killed and maimed in front of me in the Battle of Hue in Vietnam. Her opinions meant as much to me as treading on a cigarette.

…A CAMERA MAY HAVE SAVED MY LIFE. I was imbedded with some Vietnamese troops fighting the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, in 1970, and they were being mown down by gunfire. I ran across a paddy field to escape. Ordnance was exploding everywhere; bullets snapping by at the speed of sound. When I eventually stopped, I noticed a gaping great hole in my Nikon. I didn’t hear the bullet hit it. It was just part of the battlefield symphony.

…BEING ARRESTED BY THE SWIMMING

POOL IN UGANDA. There had been an attempt to overthrow Idi Amin and he went completely mad, blaming everyone. Journalists were spies. I had a ticket to fly out that night, but some thugs turned up at my hotel, made me pay my bill, then took me away to a military prison.

There were a lot of serious-looking people in there, waiting for what they knew was most-likely going to be their end. The soldiers were

“Yoko Ono was a nasty little bully… her opinions meant as much to me as treading on a cigarette”

murdering people with sledgehammers. It was pretty frightening. Eventually, the British High Commission managed to get me out and I was deported. I’ve never been so pleased to be kicked out of somewhere.

…A TRAGIC WEDDING DAY. I found my first wife, Christine, dead in bed from cancer the morning my son was getting married. We were separated, but I was staying in her house for the night. I had to knock on my children’s doors and tell them their mother was gone. There weren’t that many happy family days for a long while.

But we’ve regrouped. I’ve got five children and one of the nicest days of my life was recently when another of my sons got married. All my lovely grandchildren are trying to wipe out the effects of that horrible time.

…HAVING DINNER WITH FORMER CANNIBALS. Mark Shand, Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, her brother,

and I had travelled to meet remote tribes in Indonesia. One of those tribes we encountered had been cannibals, maybe a decade earlier. It was very tense. They wanted things like our belts, T-shirts and money. I wanted to photograph them.

They killed a pig in our honour— though we had to pay for it—and boiled it down into blubbery stuff we couldn’t eat. We were starving.

…BEING

INSPIRED BY THE SOMERSET LANDSCAPE. It’s been the subject of my photography for 30 years. There’s a patchwork of fields and hedgerows, the county’s still rural and full of dairy farming, and is steeped in mythology, with stories about King Arthur and Glastonbury Tor. It has a lot of history and energy.

…MY WIFE,

CATHERINE, CAME ALONG AT JUST THE RIGHT TIME. My second marriage had ended and

I was feeling pretty low. I met Catherine, a travel journalist, at a party. She was 28 years younger than me and very glamorous. I thought she’d get bored with me, but, strangely, we’ve been together for 17 years.

People call her the gatekeeper, because she deals with people who are trying to contact me and does all the computer stuff. I’ve never switched one on in my life. I don’t really know how to work my phone. I’ve always got about 60 messages.

…PHOTOGRAPHING ETHIOPIAN TRIBESMEN WHO DRANK CATTLE BLOOD, ABOUT TEN YEARS AGO.

These people lived on cattle and would go to war with other tribes over

“I’ve never switched a computer on in my life and I don’t really know how to work my phone”

(L-R) Grenade Thrower, Hue, Vietnam 1968; The Guvnors in Finsbury Park, 1958; receiving his knighthood in 2017

cattle, too, using AK47s. You heard gun battles at night. But my life has always been about such adventures and being on edge all the time. It helps my photography.

…MY JOURNEY HAS BEEN LONG AND HARD, BUT I FEEL OVERREWARDED. Not many photographers are knighted. I went to Prince Charles’ 70th birthday, recently. A huge privilege. Life started with a lot of broken parts, but it’s picked up a bit.

As told to Simon Hemelryk

The Don McCullin retrospective is at Tate Britain from February 5 to May 6. For tickets and more details, visit tate.org.uk

SEX AFTER 50:

"This is my time and no one should judge me"

Sex in later life can be a time of discovery and reinvention, bringing even more intimacy, sensuality and satisfaction than before. Amanda Riley-Jones meets four people whose sex lives began to thrive after their half century

It’s all changed since our parents’ time when people of our age were seen as past it and sexless. Today’s over-fifties are more youthful, openminded and continuing to enjoy loving, fulfilling sex lives.

I was brought up in the 1950s in the north of Scotland, where sex was seen as an evil necessity in order to have babies— perish the thought it was anything to do with pleasure or desire!

“I feel sexy in a way I never did in the past.” 63-year-old TV presenter Aggie MacKenzie is divorced and dating. The mother of two says she feels more liberated and experimental than ever.

“I certainly feel more libidinous in my older age. I was brought up in the 1950s and 1960s in the north of Scotland, where sex was seen as an evil necessity in order to have babies. Perish the thought it was anything to do with pleasure or desire! But I think it's very healthy to have a good sexual appetite.

I was divorced eight years ago and not having sex had become my normal. By 2014, I hadn’t been in a relationship, or even kissed anyone, for ten years. I was a bit frightened of being exposed, being hurt—having to deal with a relationship, a man and sex. If you’re not doing it, you feel safe and comfortable.

I feel guilty saying this, but after my mother died in 2012 I felt strangely liberated—as if I had come of age. I thought to myself, I can do whatever I like now. There was a man who I knew had fancied me for a long time. At first, I was seeing all the negatives, thinking, He’s too old, plus, there's that one over-long eyebrow hair—you know, all the little faults

After a few glasses of champagne, I let my guard down, relaxed into it and became very turned on

SEX IN LATER YEARS: THE STATISTICS

you look out for to stop you from baring yourself.

Then I thought to myself,  Ags, for the love of God, just go for it. After a few glasses of champagne, I let my guard down, relaxed into it and became very turned on. It was as if a rocket had gone off in my head—and my nether regions!

Because I’ve been doing yoga for 12 years, I’m very flexible and and fit. Yoga relaxes you and brings you in touch with your body much more.  I have a lot of body strength which makes me feel very powerful and healthy. I feel sexy in a way I never did in the past.

Now I’m in my sixties, I feel much more experimental and liberated. I’ve been out with quite a number of men and I have relationships for me. I’m not looking for husband material or even a long-term relationship. I’m economically independent and in charge of my life. This is my time and no one should judge me. That might be an aphrodisiac in itself.”

“A landmark study by the University of Chicago found that, while sexual frequency does decline after 60, many people continued to enjoy sex with their partner. In the 57-64 age bracket, it was 84 per cent of men and 62 per cent of women. In the 65-74 age range, it was 67 per cent of men and 40 per cent of women,” confirms Michael Castleman, sexuality journalist and publisher of greatsexguidance.com.

Even octagenarians can still enjoy an active sex life, according to a report by Dr David Lee of Manchester University’s School of Social Sciences and Professor Josie Tetley from Manchester Metropolitan University. Using results from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, they reported that the emotional side of sex (closeness and compatability) appeared to be more fulfilling for respondents who were over 80.

“While it’s true that ageing brings sexual changes, for many people sexual desire remains a fundamental part of who they are,” Castleman continues. “For some people, sex in later years represents an improvement on younger sex— bringing more appreciation for sensuality, more emotional intimacy, more sexual satisfaction.

“I still have fantastic orgasms but in a different way.” Divorcee Sarah Morris, 68, thought her sex life was over—until she fell in love with Stephen a year and a half ago.

“I was divorced a long time ago and, apart from one fling, I’d gone 11 years without sex. My life was fun and I had male friends but I missed physical intimacy. It made me really unhappy to think that my sex life was over.

I met Stephen at the golf club and fancied him for a year before we got together. The first time he came over for dinner, we were kissing on the sofa and he said he had something to tell me. He explained that he had a colostomy bag and I just thought,

I can cope with that. He said there was no reason we had to wait. How about now?

I felt a bit shy when I went upstairs to find he’d already whipped his clothes off and was in my bed! I’m 11.5 stone and trying to lose weight. I have varicose veins. But he said I was beautiful and made me feel good. He’s no Adonis but none of that matters. Age makes you more tolerant and less insecure.

I don’t want the head-bangingon-the-headboard, intense type of sex I had when I was younger. I can’t get into the positions I got into when I was that age and I now have a sensitive bladder!

I still have fantastic orgasms but they're different now. The style of sex I want now is much gentler and we use our hands more. I’d much rather have an erotic massage.

I'm nothing like my mother when she was 68—I look better now than she looked at 48. Our generation is much youngerthinking and acting

At this stage of life, you have to be understanding and have a sense of humour. Men sometimes have problems maintaining an erection and women often need lubrication. I use a hormone cream a couple of times a week.

I’m nothing like my mother when she was at 68. I look better now than she looked at 48. Our generation is much younger-thinking and acting. Stephen and I are always kissing and hold hands when we walk down the road. Now I have the missing part of my life back again, I am utterly happy.”

“Sex is more relaxed and intimate” Sarah’s partner, divorcee Stephen Phelps, will be 70 on his next birthday. He’d been single for three years before they got together.

“I wasn’t particularly looking but I always felt it was a possibility that I’d have another physical relationship. And all I can say is that Sarah and I are having a wonderful time!

As you get to a certain age, there’s the feeling that you’re not going to have that many more relationships and you want to enjoy every day. Of course, you’re both nervous whether it’s going to work mechanically. Worrying and erection problems can be a vicious cycle. Men have Viagra now. I bought some but only used it once.

From the male point of view, you feel more manly if you get an erection. But, as you get older, it’s not going to happen 24/7. Sometimes you think you’re able to do a lot more than you are and erections are not reliable. And, of course, your energy levels are diminished too. But it doesn’t affect the pleasure that we’re able to give each other. We do other things and there’s more cuddling and fondling. It’s a broader definition of sex. You’re not going to bed to have sex, it’s more to be intimate.

When I was younger, I don’t think I ever asked my partner "Am I doing it right?" But it’s easier and less embarrassing when you’re older and really trust each other. The conversation removes any misunderstanding and results in 100 per cent better intimacy afterwards. Both men and women can be selfish when they’re younger. But now sex is more about caring for each other deeply and wanting to please your partner rather than just thinking about what you want.

Sex is more relaxed now too. When you’re younger, you feel under pressure to have sex within a certain time frame. For me, it was mainly Saturday and Sunday and even then there wasn’t always enough time to properly enjoy it.

Sarah and I often say that we feel like we’re permanently on holiday! The best time is in the morning when you no longer have to get up and go to work.

Sarah and I sometimes spend the whole Sunday in bed with the papers and it’s rather wonderful to sneak off in the afternoon with some decent champagne. Having more time for each other feeds into the physical intimacy. I feel very lucky and happy that Sarah and I found each other.”

“Sex is better than ever— we know what we want.”

53-year-old Ann Kenwood has been married to Adam, 56, for 11 years. They have raised four children.

“I’m short and wear glasses and, when I was young, I never saw myself as attractive. I was too bothered about turning partners on visually and too insecure to enjoy my body. When I was in my thirties, I was trying to hang on to being young and worrying about my lines.

I was in my forties when Adam and I got together as a couple. We both have a high sex drive and the relationship was very physical from the start. When we had a house full of children, we resorted to going into the garage and doing it behind the car!

Now I’m over 50, I’ve lost any self consciousness and think, I am what I am. Everything is sagging but sex with Adam is as good as ever. In fact,

WILL YOUR SEX DRIVE LAST?

Want to know if you’ll still have the urge after 60? Castleman says that— aside from the challenges of illness, divorce or losing your partner—if you enjoyed sex regularly in your forties, it’s likely you will still be enjoying it in your sixties.

Sex is less about putting myself on display and it's more about getting on with it—it's less visual now, and more physical

it’s better, more intimate. I know what I want and what he wants and we're able to talk about it.

Sex is less about putting myself on display and more about getting on with it. It’s less visual and more physical. I’m confident that my husband wants to have sex with me—despite my long scar and baggy stomach from having three children.

These days, there’s a lot of kissing and more foreplay, and less of the actual action. Your knees go and it doesn’t last as long! But there’s a real intimacy between us. I don’t look at him and think, You’re gorgeous. He’s nearly 60. He has bad teeth and he’s balding. It’s more about the mind connection between us and I’m turned on by what he can do

physically for me. I still wake him up at two or three in the morning to have sex. We probably do it three or four times a week and every day when we’re on holiday.

Adam is quite energetic and physically fit and he’s a generally lovely person. We love each other and say that we love each other every day. I like the idea of growing old with him and sex is still the thing I most enjoy in life!”

RISING TO THE CHALLENGES

Of course, there are inevitably some physical difficulties which occur more frequently with age. 18 per cent of men in their fifties experience erectile dysfunction (ED), for instance.

But, as Castleman says,“ED is more treatable than ever with medication.” He advises men to become familiar with middle-age sexual changes, live a healthy lifestyle and “understand that sex involves more than just your penis. A lot more. The best sex involves the whole body. Most women know this intuitively, but for many men it’s a real leap.”

He adds, “Many woman experience libido loss during the early years of menopause. But during late menopause many woman experience a sexual rebound. For women, the only sex problem that increases with age is vaginal dryness. 27 per cent of women in their fifties reported it but this can be easily ameliorated with sexual lubricants.”

ROYAL RESTRAINT

When Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip got married in 1947, even royalty couldn’t escape the post-war rationing. To pay for her dress, Elizabeth conserved her rationing coupons and received a gift of 200 coupons from the British government to purchase the material needed.

SOURCE: NYPOST.COM

9 Easy-To-Keep Resolutions

To get you on the path to wellness, here are some ultra-simple New Year health suggestions:

1 Stretch when you wake. When you open your eyes each morning, stretch your muscles to reconnect with your body. Are there any tight areas? How does your neck feel? Are your shoulders and back OK? Focus on your body before you begin to think about everything else you’ve got to do that day.

2 Make porridge the night before. It’s tempting to skip breakfast, but this makes you more inclined to eat too much later on. If you prepare your oats before you go to bed, there are no excuses. Just cover some quick oats with water, add flax or hemp seeds for protein and berries or honey for sweetness.

3 Spend time outside every day. Heading outdoors doesn’t just help

Susannah Hickling is twice winner of the Guild of Health Writers Best Consumer Magazine Health Feature

you feel at one with yourself and nature; it also helps you to get some very necessary vitamin D from sunlight, provides exercise and boosts mental health.

4 Only eat ingredients you understand. If you’re thinking New Year: New Diet, then it could be time to think differently. Instead of counting calories, ditch processed foods with artificial flavours and colours and other confusing additives, and eat only foods that contain natural ingredients.

5 Focus for two hours on one project. Set aside a couple of hours a week and work on a personal goal. Switch off your phone, ignore emails and social media, and be fully present, whether that’s prepping healthier food or learning a language. This ability to be singleminded will boost your performance and your productivity.

6 Connect with others. Experts are warning that loneliness could be the

next epidemic. Social isolation has been found to disturb sleep, push up levels of the stress hormone cortisol, and even lead to death. Plan a monthly supper club with a few friends or schedule a regular phone call with a relative.

7 Take a long, hard look at your habits. Some of the things we do routinely can be downright harmful. Are those three glasses of wine a night really good for you? Is getting up at the crack of dawn to go for a run beneficial if it then makes you feel exhausted all day? Score how you feel out of ten and be honest. You might want to make some healthy changes.

8 Make time for self-reflection. Ask yourself a few non-judgemental questions with the aim of learning and feeling better about yourself. At the end of each day ask, “What am I grateful for today?”, “What annoyed me?”, “How was I feeling?”, “What would I do differently in the future?”

9 Set an alarm to get you to bed. Too many of us find things to do rather than turning in when we need to. Setting an alarm to remind yourself to start your bedtime routine could help your sleep hygiene. Give yourself 30 minutes to do something calming, like drinking a herbal tea, taking a bath or following a guided meditation app.

How To Banish Bad Breath

It’s well known that some foods and drinks— garlic, coffee and alcohol, for starters—can cause less than pleasant mouth odours. But what should we be eating and drinking if we want to banish halitosis?

Water Aim to drink eight glasses of H2O a day. Not only is it good for hydration and your digestive system, it also flushes bacteria off your teeth and out of your mouth, giving you fresher breath and a lower risk of cavities and gum disease.

Ginger Credited with the ability to dispense a huge range of health benefits, this tangy spice also increases an enzyme in saliva that breaks down smelly, sulphurcontaining compounds, according to German scientists.

Apples Chewing on raw apple can banish garlic breath, researchers from Ohio State University found. They concluded that the enzymes in the raw apple helped get rid of the smell, and then the phenolic compounds in the fruit were able to destroy the substances that cause the halitosis in the first place. Which just goes to show that an apple a day is beneficial in more ways than one.

Lettuce The same study found that lettuce was also effective in deodorising garlic breath. Once again, it was better eaten raw.

Milk More research from Ohio State University found that drinking milk with a garlic-laden meal could also help reduce whiffy breath. That might look odd on a date, of course, but worth bearing in mind! Whole milk worked best.

Yogurt Japanese researchers found that volunteers who ate traditional, sugar-free yogurt twice a day had an 80 per cent drop in malodorous volatile sulphide compounds after six weeks. The vitamin D it contains is good for your bones too.

And finally…eat less An Israeli researcher found that overweight people were more likely to have unpleasant smelling breath and the more overweight they were, the worse the problem was.

Ask The Expert: Clutter

Helen Sanderson

Helen Sanderson works as a personal declutter coach and is the creator of the Home Declutter Kit

How did you first become a decluttering expert?

I started by sorting out friends and found I had a gift for it. I have a background in the arts, interior design and psychotherapy. I strongly believe that when working with the home you are working with the whole person, not just their clutter.

When might people need help to clear out?

I work with pregnant mums, people who are downsizing after their kids have left home, busy mums who can’t cope, people who have divorced. A pile of clutter represents decisions that haven’t been made, perhaps because people haven’t felt emotionally ready.

At what point does clutter become a real problem?

When it holds you back, when you’re constantly thinking about it, when there’s no space in your cupboards and things fall out and are not put

back again, when rooms are taken over as storage units, when you feel ashamed about inviting people round.

What tips can you offer people who want to organise their home?

Don’t subscribe to doing just ten minutes a day. Make it a project. Devote two or three days to it. Get a friend to help. Start with the easy things where you can see results straight away. Start by culling some books. A cluttered home is like an overgrown garden—your first task is the weeding, looking for what you can let go of. Step two is categorising the “keep” pile. Step three, create order and harmony with what you have left.

How can people keep their home tidy after decluttering?

Have a philosophy of one in, one out. Not everyone has the gift of order, so start off by keeping one room tidy and create homes for everything.

Visit helensanderson.com for more details

Sexual Healing

Max Pemberton confronts the awkward taboos surrounding the subject of sex in the medical world

Sex. There, I’ve said it. It’s one of those topics that just isn’t talked about openly in polite society. Certainly not when you meet someone for the first time, unless you like them very much indeed. Doctors aren’t immune from social etiquette (although I can think of a few notable exceptions that I’ve met, but that’s another column) and while we’re sanctioned to enquire about the most intimate bodily processes, sex is still a topic that tends to be shied away from in the consulting room. Outside of the Sexual Health clinic, it’s something that, if at all possible, is best avoided. It seems a little too intrusive, a little too personal and isn’t easy to drop into conversation when talking to a patient without it sounding out of place. This is made worse by the fact that once it becomes obvious that the

Max is a hospital doctor, author and columnist. He currently works full time in mental health for the NHS. His latest book is a self-help guide to using CBT to stop smoking

topic should be raised, there is the inevitable stuttering, gazing at the shoes and going scarlet from the doctor. Using euphemisms is rarely effective and inevitably ensures the consultation descends into a script for Carry On Doctor. Some of the embarrassment stems from the fear of being misconstrued as a pervert, but often it’s never discussed because doctors don’t think about it as a legitimate area of enquiry. It’s the realm of glossy magazines and late night Channel 4 television programmes. It’s not a “medical” area. And yet, it’s something that is important, and something that people want help with. But their embarrassment, and that of their doctor, ensures that it rarely raises its head as a topic of conversation.

The problems start at medical school. Certainly we dissected the male and female sexual organs in anatomy classes—although if the truth be told, it was mainly the girls that dissected the penis and testicles, while the boys watched with pained expressions, squirming about while

their eyes watered. We were taught about sexual diseases, and spent alarming afternoons gaping at revolting pictures in textbooks in the library which made several people take vows of celibacy. But people as sexual beings and the actual mechanics of sex, the way that things can go wrong, and things that can be done to put them right, were not so readily discussed.

I’m seeing Mr Gillespie in the clinic because he’s depressed. We talk a bit about his life, and then he suddenly looks me in the eyes and says, “If you really want to know why I’m depressed, it’s because I can’t have sex any more.” I splutter. I wasn’t expecting that one. Mr Gillespie is 76, and if the sexuality of any group is inevitably ignored, it’s that of the older generation. There seems to be a feeling that, come a mythical, unspecified age you’re deemed “old,” and therefore, by default aren’t having sex anymore—you’re making jam and listening to The Archers radio instead. Mr Gillespie has diabetes and he’s had a stroke and an operation on his prostate. And now he’s

depressed. All of these things are going to adversely affect his ability to have sex. His wife died ten years ago, and since then he has, in his own words, been “dating.” It wouldn’t have occurred to me that someone of his age would have girlfriends, and that his inability to have sex would be the cause of his depression. If he hadn’t volunteered the information, I’d never have asked. For the first few moments, I’m embarrassed, but after a while, I find it’s not too bad and actually rather interesting. My own prejudices are slowly fading away as I learn all about the older people’s dating scene, which is apparently thriving. I explain that given his medical problems, I suspect there’s not much I can do to help him, but I take a detailed sexual history—

blushing—and refer him to the urologists. I have to confess that through his openness and honesty he’s helped me more than I’ve helped him. He made me see that sex is not only something that warrants attention from the medical profession, but that it can be relevant to all sorts of people, regardless of their age.

The Doctor Is In

Dr Max Pemberton

Q: My ten-year-old daughter has just been diagnosed with haemochromatosis, which means her body accumulates iron. I’ve been told that she should follow a low iron diet and will be monitored again for iron levels. It seems a much more common condition than I had realised. Could you shed some more light on what to expect in the future? - Marion, 53

A: Haemochromatosis is indeed fairly common. It’s an inherited condition caused by a faulty gene that affects the way the body absorbs iron from food. There’s no cure for haemochromatosis but with advances in medicine we’re now good at spotting the condition long before the iron builds up and causes problems. This means that they can change their diet to reduce the amount of iron they are eating and start treatment when necessary. In general, people are advised to avoid certain foods such as breakfast cereals that contain added iron. Most people do

manage the diet changes without major problems but if your daughter is struggling then it’s worth asking the doctor she sees to refer her to a specialist dietician who can help her with what she’s eating and make some suggestions.

While I imagine the diagnosis must have come as a shock to you and your family it’s actually really good that you discovered this while your daughter is so young. We know that when it’s diagnosed and treated early like this, then haemochromatosis is unlikely to result in serious problems or affect life expectancy. Sometimes children feel upset that they can’t eat all the same things that their friends do so it can be helpful for them to talk to other youngsters with the condition.

The Haemochromatosis Society is a patient-run UK charity that offers a help line as well as face-to-face support groups.

Got a health question for our resident doctor? Email it confidentially to askdrmax@ readersdigest.co.uk

New Year, Better Memory

Regular mental exercise is a resolution that everyone would benefit from, our memory expert Jonathan Hancock explains

I’VE BEEN FASCINATED BY MEMORY ever since I realised it’s not really something you have, but something you do. It’s an active process, and you can train yourself to do it better. And, just like exercising the rest of your body, if you do the right things often enough, your brain gets stronger and more flexible— you feel more confident as a result.

Neuroscience has shown that our brains are like plastic: we change their shape and function according to how we use them. True, plenty of things can get in the way of remembering—stress, tiredness, illness, disease—but there are also things you can do to get your brain into the best shape possible, and keep it there.

So, get active. Do a mini mental workout whenever you have a moment. Start stretching the thinking skills that control the kinds of memory you use every day; in particular, your ability to concentrate on information, to visualise it, and to manipulate it in your head.

Look out for real-life mental challenges to practise these memory-sharpening skills, and try ideas of your own in spare moments. And, why not resolve to follow @ReadersDigestUK on Twitter and Facebook for a memory exercise from me every day? Make brain-training your healthy new addiction for the new year ahead.

CONCENTRATE on a mental maths problem. Break it into bits, narrate it in your head, ignore any distractions… and practise focusing on the numbers until you’ve got the answer. What’s 58 + 67? 8 x 39? 3 x 456? Make them as hard as you can handle!

VISUALISE a word and spell it backwards. Practise keeping the letters in focus in your mind’s eye. Splitting them into syllables might help. Try doing it with days of the week, months of the year—and then longer words: RESOLUTION, REMEMBERING, VISUALISATION…

MANIPULATE information in your brain. What would your phone number look like if the digits were in order? (Start with the dialling code first, then progress to the rest of it when you’re ready). Arrange the days of the week alphabetically. Work out anagrams in your head—like these three liquids: CAR DUST; MAP CHANGE; IN REAL EGG.

Science Versus The Paranormal

BY CRIS ANDREWS

Long ago, our ancestors worshiped the elements as if the elements were sentient beings. Primitive humans devised practices they hoped would persuade their gods to keep them safe and free from hunger. They told stories about these beings and other fantastic creatures to explain how the world worked and how people should live. Then, they developed structures, systems and civilisations based upon their beliefs.

Over time, rational thought replaced belief and science gradually replaced superstition. We devised technology to protect ourselves from the elements and to harness their power. Today, we dismiss as ludicrous, anything that cannot be explained scientifically.

they’ve never had a personal experience.

Rational types, sceptics and “muggles” dismiss all this as children’s stories dreamed up by delusional fantasists with over-active imaginations.

According to Professor Chris French (above) from London Goldsmith’s University, we believe in the paranormal because of the fundamental way our minds work. French, an expert in the psychology of the paranormal and a leading sceptic, says, “We know that our cognitive systems aren’t perfect. Under certain circumstances we misremember, misperceive and we misinterpret.”

TODAY, WE DISMISS AS LUDICROUS ANYTHING THAT CAN’T BE SCIENTIFICALLY EXPLAINED “

Despite this, hardly a day goes by without someone, somewhere, reporting that they’ve had a paranormal experience. This could be a reported encounter with a ghost, UFO, witch or demon. Or more commonplace experiences such as déjà vu, intuition or foresight. Many more people believe in the paranormal, even though

French adds that paranormal believers tend to also be susceptible to false memories, prone to making quick emotional judgements and can become overly engrossed in what they’re doing, dissociating themselves from the outside world.

“Belief in the paranormal implies there’s something more to life than meets the eye, more than science can explain”, he says. “A whole other aspect to reality that some lucky individual has had a glimpse of.” However, should we be so quick to

dismiss the paranormal?

After all, some of what was once considered paranormal has since been explained by science. UFO encounters have been put down to sightings of top-secret military aircraft and ball lightning. And poltergeists, to: water turbulence, seismic activity and hallucinations, for example. The amazing idea that there might ever have been such things as werewolves and that they appear during a full moon, can be traced back to more lucid analysis of certain strains of mental illness and criminal behaviour. And of course, the rather obvious fact that during

the times when werewolf legends became popular, the only time you’d actually be able to see a wolf at night was when the moon shined bright in the sky.

Over the years, researchers have given us DNA proof that yetis are actually bears, conducted tests that show psychic powers can be explained by probabilities and illustrated how magnetic fields generated by electrical equipment can stimulate temporal lobes in the brain so as to conjure up seemingly ghostly apparitions.

Alice Gregory (above), Professor of

DURING

SLEEP PARALYSIS, PEOPLE ALSO SOMETIMES REPORT SEEING HUMANS OR SENSING A PRESENCE

Psychology, also at London Goldsmith’s, believes that some reported paranormal experiences might actually be caused by sleep paralysis. Many people who report that they’ve been abducted by aliens, or encountered some sort of ghostly, demonic creature, also report being

frozen in bed, unable to move.

Gregory, author of Nodding Off: The Science of Sleep from Cradle to Grave explains that during sleep paralysis, features of REM (rapid eye movement) sleep such as vivid dreaming—continue into waking life.

“You feel awake yet you might experience dream-like hallucinations and struggle to move,” she says.

“During sleep paralysis people also sometimes report instances of seeing humans, inanimate objects or sensing a presence.”

So far, these explanations, all point to distortions in the perceptions of the observer. But there are also experts out there, who believe that science can explain actual

paranormal phenomena.

Provided, of course, that the accepted boundaries of mainstream science are pushed just a little bit.

Telepathy, for instance, has long been the domain of mutant superheroes and celebrity psychics. Or, as sceptics might put it, of fantasists and fraudsters. However, according to Rupert Sheldrake (above), a former Cambridge University biologist, turned author, telepathy is actually a completely normal biological process that explains how members of animal groups communicate— including humans.

others’ intention or needs, why we often think of someone and then bump into them straight away, or they call us on the phone. And, how we can feel someone staring at us, even when we can’t see them.

“We see things, not by producing 3D images inside our head, as mainstream science tells us”, Sheldrake says. “But instead, by projecting the image outwards to where the person or object being observed, actually is. Our mind reaches out to touch them, they feel uneasy, feel something is there and they turn to face it.”

Sheldrake explains that all selforganising living things inherit a collective memory from all previous things of their kind.

“Whenever there’s a social group with bonded members, there’s a (connective) field between them”, he says. “You see this most clearly when starlings change direction quickly without bumping into each other. Each bird knows where the others are going to go.”

Sheldrake calls this “morphic resonance” and adds that when bonded individuals move apart, the field stretches, like an elastic band, but continues to connect them. He believes that this is how certain dogs know when their owners are coming home, how people can pick up on

Indigenous peoples, Eastern philosophers and New-Agers in the West have long believed in invisible energies that surround the human body giving us life, consciousness and the ability to connect, heal and perceive beyond our senses. Some call it “chi”, others “aura”, or “soul.” People like inventor and engineer, Stanley Jungleib, who grew up in California during the peace-loving Sixties, have another name for it—vibe.

This is the same Stanley Jungleib whose lab, Seer Systems, developed the first commercial software synthesiser in the early 1990s and held the first patent that made it possible for a mobile phone to use a ringtone. Aged 65, Jungleib’s latest,

WHENEVER THERE’S A SOCIAL GROUP, THERE’S A CONNECTIVE FIELD BETWEEN THEM “

and he says, probably his last, patent is for a machine that he believes can actually identify the human vibe. Not only that, but also collect, store and transmit it.

Jungleib explains that our vibe accompanies our physical and

verbal expression as supplementary information in the same way that overtones attend a musical note. “It also has the potential to influence that energy by radiating at specific frequencies”, he says. Jungleib believes that this is how healers,

heal, by transmitting this energy. He also thinks it could explain other forms of extra-sensory perception. “The human body functions like a radio”, he says. “The heart produces a magnetic field, and our sweat glands contain tiny crystals that can act as radio receivers.”

Jungleib thinks our “vibe” is transmitted by way of subtle energy, invisible to the naked eye. He’d like to see more investigation into this— from other, younger experts.

What Jungleib says that he does know, is that the sensors on his machine detect energy from the human body. And that each person registers differently. “When a particular vibe is played back through the machine, it affects different people in different ways”, he says, adding that the machine picks up nothing from mobile phones. This, he believes, proves that the machine isn’t just picking up nearby electromagnetic activity.

Stanley Jungleib and Rupert Sheldrake aren’t mere nerds who’ve watched too much sci-fi. Nor impressionable types who see menace in their own shadow every time they step outside their front door. Neither is Joe Kirschvink, a Caltech scientist who thinks he’s discovered that humans have a magnetic sixth sense. Kirschvink is currently investigating whether this might be caused by magnetoreceptors inside the brain and whether, without knowing it, we might have the same connection to the Earth’s magnetic field as birds, fish and other migratory animals.

WHENEVER SOMEONE DOES SHOW EVIDENCE, SCEPTICS SAY IT’S NOT ENOUGH AND WANT MORE “

French says. Rupert Sheldrake replies that whenever someone does show evidence, sceptics say it’s not enough and want more. They see it as debate which takes us away from the real issue at hand, which is essentially a disagreement over the nature of reality and the scientific process through which we understand it.

Accept

mainstream science and the accompanying belief that that which can’t be proven can’t be real, and you have a world in which the paranormal can’t exist, and in which healers and psychics are deluded or charlatans.

Former computer geologist, Gregg Braden has long believed this is the case and that our magnetic connection with the Earth influences our immune systems and even our perception of reality. Many NewAge thinkers say this is why we are affected by the changes in the Earth’s magnetosphere during solar storms.

Sceptics don’t accept such things are possible. “Show me the evidence and I’ll change my mind”, Chris

However, what if we entertain the possibility that we might have got our science wrong, maybe because it has been overly shaped by materialist concerns? Or that there are things that defy analysis, simply because we don’t yet have technology sophisticated enough to analyse them? Believe this, and the possibility remains, that some of what we call paranormal today, might one day be explained away as rationally as the elements that our ancestors once worshiped as gods.

SERIOUSLY SORRY…

Canadians say “sorry” so much that The Apology Act was passed in 2009, declaring that an apology can’t be used as evidence of admission of guilt.

SOURCE: BUZZFEED.COM

DISCOVERING THE DETECTORISTS

BY TOM BROWNE

If metal detecting is something you briefly did as a child, then take another look. Social media, TV exposure and high-profile discoveries have given this distinctly British hobby a whole new lease of life

The words to a familiar song are going round in my head: "I seem to have left an important part of my brain somewhere / Somewhere in a field in Hampshire." Except, in my case, it’s a field somewhere near Colchester. And instead of my brain, it could be my heart.

I’m here at the invitation of Brentwood and District Metal Detecting Society, one of hundreds of such societies across the UK dedicated to uncovering Britain’s history, one soggy trowel at a time. This particular location (which I’ve

sworn not to reveal) consists of over 140 acres of freshly ploughed fields, not far from an old Saxon graveyard and Roman settlement. Gold coins have been discovered here, although not today.

John, who’s been detecting for 40 years, shows me his recent finds: a brooch pin, a few coins, some cut pennies and various fragments. It’s one of those drizzly days that threaten to turn into full-blown rain. "Does that affect the equipment?"

I ask. "No, not at all," replies John, explaining that last summer’s heat wave, which turned the ground hard

and dry, was far worse. By contrast, "water helps the signals transmit through the ground."

Thus encouraged, I make my way across the fields, towards the ranks of detectorists (their preferred term) silently combing the earth in boots and floppy hats.

Metal detecting is something you may remember from childhood. Poke around in most attics and chances are you’ll uncover a rusty old detector, purchased on a whim 30 years ago and then forgotten about when it didn’t immediately uncover priceless treasure. Thankfully, the 50 or so detectorists here today are more pragmatic.

"You could be lucky and find something first time out," says John. "But you probably won’t find anything, at least nothing of any significance or importance." Karen, chairwoman of the society, is more blunt: "A good 90 per cent of the time, you pick up absolute rubbish."

My childhood experience was pretty similar, even though our family metal detector probably saw more action than most. Still, the things that appealed to me then continue to resonate now: the joy of the unknown, the element of romance, the hope that each bleep could be the start of something extraordinary. One of John’s own finds—a medieval gold ring— currently resides in Epping Museum,

and most of the people I talk to speak proudly of cherished discoveries, even if they weren’t life-changing.

Indeed, the popularity of detecting is on the rise. Social media has connected enthusiasts and given them more visibility than ever before. Big finds by detectorists, such as the Galloway Hoard or the Staffordshire Hoard, generate enormous news coverage, sending sales of equipment through the roof ("The manufacturers rub their hands in glee whenever that happens," says one enthusiast with a smile). And then there’s the BBC’s recent comedy series The Detectorists, an

MOST OF THE PEOPLE I TALK TO SPEAK PROUDLY OF CHERISHED DISCOVERIES, EVEN IF THEY WEREN'T LIFE-CHANGING

affectionate portrayal of the hobby that’s gained a cult following—not least among detectorists themselves.

Of course, these hobbyists haven’t always been viewed with affection. Along with famous finds come stories of "nighthawkers" (illegal treasure hunters) damaging Hadrian’s Wall or other sensitive sites, and many responsible enthusiasts have been lumped in with a small minority of criminals. There’s always been a certain tension between professional archaeologists and amateur detectorists; much irritation is directed towards the Channel 4 series, Time Team, which

lauded the work of archaeologists while often ignoring or even disparaging the contribution made by detectorists.

In truth, most of the time they occupy different roles. "Archaeologists tend to concentrate on structures," one of the Brentwood group tells me. "They don’t often find artefacts, apart from pottery and odd bits and pieces. So if they’re excavating a Roman villa, chances are we’ll find more stuff in the fields around the villa, because that’s where rubbish was dumped. Or we uncover things that were lost in open countryside. We’re generally not on archaeological sites."

In other words, as long as the rules are respected, the two strands complement each other. The National Council for Metal Detecting (NCMD), in particular, has done a

lot to promote best practice— most specifically by endorsing the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS), which encourages amateurs to report all significant discoveries (not just treasure) to their local Finds Liaison Officer (FLO). This scheme, along with proper valuation of finds, is generally seen as a success that other countries want to emulate—a workable middle ground between an outright ban on detecting (as in the Republic of Ireland) and an unregulated free-for-all.

A great example of the PAS in action is the excavation of the Frome Hoard, a collection of 52,503 Roman coins discovered in Somerset by Dave Crisp, a member of the Trowbridge

Metal Detecting Club. Leading up to the find, Dave had uncovered around 60 Roman siliqua coins, dating from the third century, in a grass field near a Roman road. Realising this was treasure, although not valuable, he first informed the farmer before phoning Katie Hinds, his local FLO. The following week, his appetite whetted, he was back detecting in the same area.

"It was fantastic!" says Dave, who still speaks with boyish enthusiasm about the fateful moment in April 2010. "I got this faint signal and dug into the soil, but there was nothing there. So I dug deeper and realised the signal was coming from underneath the subsoil. When I dug into the clay, I found a bronze coin, about 100 years older than the siliquas. A bit further down I pulled out 20 more, all stuck to the clay. It was then I realised there was a pot of coins down there."

At this point, Dave made "both the hardest decision and the easiest decision" of his life: he stopped digging, covered up the hole and contacted the PAS. "I knew what the archaeologists really needed were the details of how the pot was in the ground and where the coins were," Dave explains, although he insisted on being present when the site was properly excavated—a job that ended up taking three days.

‘They weren't expecting a big pot, just a small one,’ he continues.

WHEN I DUG INTO THE CLAY, I FOUND A BRONZE COIN, ABOUT 100 YEARS OLDER THAN THE SILIQUAS. A BIT FURTHER DOWN I PULLED OUT 20 MORE, ALL STUCK TO THE CLAY

Dave's hoard now resides in the Museum of Somerset

"They've got lots of them in the British Museum—someone's going into town and they bury their money so they don't get robbed. I honestly thought it was going to be a beer mug full of coins. But it turned out to be the equivalent of a beer barrel."

Dave had, in fact, stumbled across one of the largest hoards ever found in Britain, eventually valued at £320,250. And his diligence in not disturbing anything meant that experts were able to investigate why and how the hoard was buried. Too heavy to carry to the site without breaking, it’s now believed the pot was put in the ground first and then filled with coins, perhaps as an offering to the gods.

The impact of the find also changed Dave’s life. "I never dreamed of going on TV or anything like that," he says, remembering the numerous talks he’s done on the Frome Hoard since 2010. "It brought me out my comfort zone, and I've never gone back to it."

Back in Colchester, all talk of hoards seems rather remote. The rain is getting heavier, which may be doing wonders for the signals but isn’t helping my mood. There’s regular bleeping from across the field, but metal fragments and common "grots" (grotty coins) are the order of the day.

Not that I should be surprised.

MOST OF THOSE PRESENT ARE JUST HAPPY TO BE OUT IN THE FRESH AIR AND IN GOOD COMPANY

Most of those present are just happy to be out in the fresh air and in good company. Andy, a taxi driver, originally took up the hobby as a relief from the strains of learning the London Knowledge, while Karen tells me, "I’d do it every day of my life if I could." In the words of Dave Crisp, "There’s nothing better than walking across the countryside at a nice, slow

pace. That’s what metal detecting does—it really de-stresses you."

I stumble back towards the camp, shielding my eyes from the rain, and in the process nearly trip over a lump of rusted metal. I bend down for a closer look. It seems pretty old to me, although I can’t tell what it is. Excited, I dash over to the nearest society member.

"How about this, then?" I shout, proudly displaying my find. "Is it valuable?"

He gives it a cursory glance before replying, "It looks like a scaffold clip to me."

"Not a Roman scaffold clip?" I ask, a bit disheartened.

"No," he says shortly, before disappearing into his tent.

Oh well, better luck next time.

WHAT IS HAPPINESS?

Celebrities define their idea of happiness in the famous Proust Questionnaire:

John Cleese: "The demise of the London Daily Mail"

Donatella Versace: "Family, friends, laughter, and music so loud you feel it inside"

Donald Trump: "Good health and being with a great person"

David Bowie: "Reading"

Dolly Parton: "A big loaded baked potato and a good book with time to eat it and read it"

Lauren Bacall: "Waking up in the morning"

Aretha Franklin: "It’s never going to be absolutely perfect. There will always be something you would change if you could"

SOURCE: VANITYFAIR.COM

Gourmet adventures in Paris and London

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BRITAIN On Ice

As the colder weather closes in, we've sought out activities that will make you want to embrace the frost

BY ANNA WALKER

Ice Village CATHEDRAL GARDENS, MANCHESTER

Featuring an ice sculpture cave, ice bar, ice rink and woodland market complete with winter games, Manchester’s Ice Village is the ultimate frosty destination.

Designed by the renowned Hamilton Ice Sculptors—who have undertaken commissions for Chanel, Beyoncé and the Royal Family—the project will see an entire village carved from some 250 tons of solid ice. Highlights include a steam train, arctic animals and the frozen history of Manchester, including nods to famous local figures such as the suffragette, Emmeline Pankhurst.

Says Manchester City Councillor Pat Karney, “The Ice Village is the first of its kind in the UK and it will transform our family-friendly area in Cathedral Gardens. We waited for months to announce the incredible event and I can’t wait to be transported to a magical land of ice!”

If you want to experience the icy kingdom for yourself, act fast—the attraction closes on January 5. icevillage.co.uk

Ice Skating

SKYLIGHT ROOFTOP, LONDON

Europe’s only rooftop ice skating rink offers stunning views across London—especially by night. Situated atop the Tobacco Dock in Wapping, the Skylight project includes three floors of bars, street food and live entertainment, so there’ll be plenty more to do once you pull off your skates.

Larger groups can book out elegant “igloo” spaces to warm up after a stint on the ice, with plenty

of mulled wine, blankets and delicious raclette on offer.

Says events director Scott McVittie, "While Skylight might not be the largest ice surface in London, it is certainly the most unique. Being able to see the full London skyline out in front of you as you glide around the real ice really does bring out that special kind of feeling you can only find in London." skylightlondon.com

Ice Climbing LOCHABER, SCOTLAND

For those with a taste for adventure, this is as up close and personal as ice experiences get. Challenge yourself to progress from novice to ice-wall-climbing daredevil at this unique experience day hosted at Scotland’s renowned National Ice Climbing Centre.

Made from around 500 tons of snow and ice, the wall is a dizzying 40ft high, with graduated routes for beginners through to professionals.

Says Dave Macleod, one of the world’s top climbers, “This is your one and only opportunity to experience what ice climbing really feels like without waiting ages for the right weather, walking miles up snowy mountains, or serving your apprenticeship in winter mountaineering skills. You just step in a big fridge and start swinging some ice tools.”

redletterdays.co.uk

The Ice Academy

TORFAEN, WALES

Ever admired the detailed beauty of an intricate ice sculpture and wondered just how they do it? Keen visitors can discover the tricks of the trade for themselves with a guided taster class in ice sculpting at Cardiff’s Ice Academy.

Working in -10°C, visitors are wrapped up in ski-wear and offered plenty of hot drinks to keep warm as they learn the various chisel and

power tool techniques required to create their own icy masterpiece, during a two to three-hour session.

The Academy also offers bespoke workshops for clients who wish to create their own ice sculpture for a special event—the perfect activity for a couple before their wedding day or to create a memorable centrepiece for an anniversary or birthday party. theiceacademy.co.uk

Curling

TUNBRIDGE WELLS, KENT

Fenton’s Rink, located just outside of Tunbridge Wells, is England’s only dedicated curling rink, and the perfect place for beginners to try the sport for themselves.

Originating from Scotland in the 16th century, curling was first played by rolling stones across frozen ponds and it has been recognised as a Winter Olympic sport since 1998.

Fenton’s Rink features a full Olympic sized ice pad, friendly

coaches and space for up to 30 players on the ice, although bookings can start from as few as eight. For solo players, senior groups offer special curling cues for those with bad backs and rubber ice-gripping shoes for those less certain on their feet.

Says the rink's owner, Ernest Fenton, “Our 170ft-ice rink has been specially designed for curling, so everyone gets to try the real thing, complete with curling stones, brushes and shoes, just as you would see on televised games.”

fentonsrink.co.uk

Sled Dogs

CAIRNGORMS, SCOTLAND

It’s a scene you might expect to stumble across in Lapland—not Scotland— but there's a surprisingly thriving sled dog scene in the Cairngorms.

Situated at the foot of the mountain range, The Cairngorms Sled Dog Centre has a top-class team of snow dogs who are constantly in training for international events and mountain excursions. It’s the only daily working sled dog centre in the UK and one of just five in wider Europe.

Guests on the sled dog safari can enjoy the breathtaking scenery of the Cairngorm, passing herds of red deer and panoramic views of two mountain ranges, before stopping off at a camp for tea and snacks for the hardworking pups. More adventurous guests can also opt for an overnight experience using state-of-the-art night vision goggles to take in the spectacular surroundings of Scotland’s most remote forests.

Says owner Alan Stewart, “Visitors get a real insight into how my family have lived and trained Alaskan Huskies at the foot of the Cairngorm Mountains for 17 years.” sled-dogs.co.uk

Ice Hockey

ALEXANDRA PALACE, LONDON

Already beloved across Canada, Russia and the United States, ice hockey is winning over more and more fans here in Britain. In terms of live attendances, it has now become the most watched indoor sport in Britain according to the UK’s Elite Ice Hockey League.

The sport is dramatic as well as skilled, with players colliding for vicious tackles at speeds of up to 35mph and pucks hitting the back of the net at up to 100.

Book tickets to cheer on the venue’s home team, the Haringey Huskies, in the beautiful surroundings of Alexandra Palace, or cheer for your own local team, with opponents travelling to compete from places as far afield as Cardiff and Southampton. alexandrapalace.com

Do you have a unique way of enjoying the icy weather? Email us about it at readersletters@readersdigest.co.uk

Actress Samantha Womack is best known for playing Ronnie Mitchell in EastEnders. An accomplished stage performer, Samantha, 46, is currently starring in a theatrical adaptation of thriller The Girl On The Train

IF I RULED THE WORLD

Samantha Womack

We wouldn’t be hung up on education as a means of testing a child’s abilities. Research is showing that sometimes children who don’t perform well academically can do incredibly well with other things. The pressure that’s put on kids means they start to feel like failures before they’ve even reached their 17 or 18th birthdays. As parents we should encourage them but not add to that pressure.

Politicians would be made to answer questions. I’m sure most people would agree that the avoidance of real answers is the most frustrating thing about how our politicians behave. It would be nice to hear something other than bullet points and evasions. Actual answers to actual questions please!

I’d do away with inverted snobbery.

I hate being told what to do just

because someone is in a position to do so. Self-appointed status really gets on my nerves. I get really cross about inverted snobbery and that sense of people lording things above you. There’s a lot of that in my industry and a lot of it in the world. We’re advocates of designer labels and affording kitchen extensions and what have you—little things that we use to look down on other people.

Public transport would be cheaper. Performing in The Girl On the Train has reminded me of my romantic interest in trains. I used to live in Brighton, where I had a train track at the bottom of my garden, and I’m a big advocate for public transport. But, since most of the companies were privatised, fares have become extortionate compared to the service we’re actually getting.

I’d ban eating in cinemas and theatres. I don’t see why people decide that for the two hours they’re watching a show or a film they need to stuff their faces. It drives me to distraction, both as a performer and a viewer. The other week I went to see A Star is Born and there was a woman with a giant crisp packet that was so noisy I was close to committing some sort of terribly aggressive act.

Everyone would be paid fairly. On EastEnders, I was paid the same as my male counterparts. I do think

there are scenarios where disparity between wages is acceptable but sex should not be one of them. Experience should be rewarded and if you’re younger I’d expect wages to be lower, but to differentiate simply because of gender is appalling.

Young people would spend more time away from their screens. My son is 17 and my daughter is 13 and when they come off social media they have more anxiety—almost as if that gateway into everyone else’s lives has a negative effect, because they’re not getting the same validation. There’s also too much information coming at them too quickly, with one video after another and all this stuff to take in. It’s too much for an adult brain, let alone a child’s.

TV would nurture new talent. I’d like to see more opportunities for new talent, new writers, new directors and new ideas rather than just a rehashing of old ones. It would also be so much better if television companies weren’t under pressure to get involved in ratings wars. Having success deemed by how many people watch something makes them panic about the choices they make.

As told to Simon Button

Samantha Womack is touring in The Girl

On the Train from January 21. For more information visit girlonthetrainplay.com

For centuries in Jerusalem, followers of Islam, Judaism, and Christianity have prayed, mingled, and clashed

TEXT AND PHOTOS BY PAUL ROBERT

Crossroads Faith of

Men attend Sabbath prayers at the Western or “wailing” Wall of the Temple Mount. The women’s section is behind the curtain on the right.

Top: Students examine and discuss religious texts in the study room of a Jewish religious school on Valley Street. The 19th-century school was abandoned after the Arab-Israeli war of 1948, but was reinstated when Israel occupied Jerusalem during the six-day war of 1967. Bottom: Tensions are always tangible on 650m-long Valley Street, where heavily armed members of the Israeli border police maintain order and patrol between police posts placed within eyeshot of each other.

Valley Street and Via Dolorosa run together here, at the fourth stage in the Stations of the Cross. Tradition says it’s where Christ met his mother as he carried his cross to the place of his crucifixion. The golden cupola is the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount, from where Muhammed is believed to have ascended on his nightly journey to heaven.

Two Palestinian women converse outside the bronze doors of the Dome of the Rock. During the week, the holy complex around the dome is an oasis where Muslims pray, study the Koran, or simply escape the noise and bustle of the old city.

Top: On Fridays, tens of thousands of Muslims enter the Temple Mount complex to attend the weekly sermons and prayers. Hours after their departure, the Jewish Sabbath begins, and Orthodox Jews pass Valley Street on their way to the Western Wall of the Temple Mount. Bottom: Overcome with emotion, a woman worships near the entrance to the tomb of Christ in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, believed to encompass the site of the Crucifixion and the tomb from which he is said to have arisen.

Can the secret to the country’s happiness be found in its communal pools?

Iceland’s Water Cure

BY DAN KOIS

The Blue Lagoon, a popular tourist destination

On a frigid February day in Reykjavik, I stood barechested and dripping wet just inside the dressing room at the Vesturbaejarlaug pool, facing a long, cold walk to the outdoor hot tubs. My host was stoic, strong, a Viking. I was whining.

“I just don’t want to go out,” I said. “How do you make yourself do it?”

“You must, to swim in the pool,” Valdimar Hafstein said with a shrug. He’s a folklorist at the University of Iceland who studies the country’s pools. “Kids hate it, too. I have to haul mine kicking and screaming.” I took a deep breath. Wearing only a Speedo—I’d packed three, in honour of the island’s reputation as one of the company’s most avid markets—I stepped out onto the deck. It was a few degrees below freezing.

Imagine the feeling you get when you hold an ice cube tight, that combination of sting and ache. Now imagine it all over your nude body. Battling my long-ingrained instincts never to run at a swimming pool, I fell into a brisk trot, aiming for the large set of hot tubs in the centre of the complex. I’m sure I looked ridiculous, yet I’d never been less concerned about my appearance while wearing almost nothing in public.

Snowflakes glittered in the sky, which at 4pm was already darkening toward dusk. I reached the largest hot tub and sank to my chin. For one glorious moment, m ymind

went blank: there was just my body enveloped in warmth, the cold wind on my ears heightening my delight. Behind me, Valdimar ambled across the deck, saying hello to a neighbour.

Every Icelandic town, no matter how small, has its own pool. There are ramshackle cement rectangles squatting under rain clouds in the sheep-strewn boonies. There are fancy aquatic complexes with multilevel hot tubs and slides. All told, there are more than 120 public pools—usually geothermally heated, mostly outdoors, open all year long—in Iceland, a country with a population of just over 350,000.

“If you don’t have a pool, it seems you may as well not even be a town,” the mayor of Reykjavik, Dagur Eggertsson, told me. I interviewed him, of course, as we relaxed together in a downtown hot tub.

These public pools, or sundlaugs, serve as the communal heart of Iceland, sacred places whose affordability and ubiquity are viewed as a kind of civil right. Families, teenagers and older people lounge and chat every day, summer or winter. Despite its cruel climate, its remoteness and winters of 19 hours of darkness per day, Icelandic people are among the world’s most content.

The more local swimming pools

I visited, the more convinced I became that Icelanders’ remarkable satisfaction is tied inextricably to the experience of escaping the fierce,

freezing air and sinking into warm water among their countrymen. The pools seem to be, in fact, a key to Icelandic well-being.

I swam in 14 pools all over the country. I met recent immigrants to the Westfjords town Bolungarvik as they mingled with their new neighbours. I saw parents splash with their kids to calm them before bedtime. I heard stories of divorcing couples splitting their local pools along with their possessions. I watched four septuagenarians swim laps in a northern Iceland pool while the sunrise lit up the mountains behind them and an attendant brought out foam cups of coffee balanced on a kickboard.

“I think the swimming pools are what make it possible to live here,” the young artist Ragnheidur Harpa Leifsdottir explained to me. “You have storms, you have darkness, but the swimming pool is a place for you to find yourself again.”

to learn to swim was a muddy ditch located downstream from the hot spring where the women of Reykjavik did laundry.

Inspired by that hot spring, and using a heavily mortgaged drill originally bought to search fruitlessly for gold, the city soon tapped the underground hot water generated by Iceland’s volcanic underbelly.

“For one glorious moment, I felt my mind go blank—there was just my body enveloped in warmth”

Iceland’s first geothermal heat flowed into 60 homes and three civic buildings: a school, a hospital and a swimming pool. The national energy authority offered no-risk loans to villages across the country to encourage geothermal drilling, and within a generation, the ancient turf house had nearly disappeared from Iceland, replaced by modern apartment buildings and homes, all of them so toasty warm that even on winter nights most Icelanders leave a window open.

For centuries, Iceland was a nation of sea men who regularly drowned within sight of shore. One local newspaper reported in 1887 that more than 100 fishermen drowned in a single winter. Such incidents fostered an enthusiasm for swimming education. At the time, the only place

With hot water flowing through the country and a populace eager to take a dip—swimming education was made mandatory in all Icelandic schools in 1943—pools soon popped up in every town.

“Because of the weather, we don’t have proper plazas in the Italian or French style,” the writer Magnus Sveinn Helgason explained to me. “Beer was banned in Iceland until

1989, so we don’t have the pub tradition of England or Ireland.”

The pool is Iceland’s social space: where families meet neighbours and where rivals can’t avoid one another. It can be hard for introverts, who “don’t typically talk to their neighbours in the store or in the street,” to forge connections, Mayor Dagur told me. (Icelanders generally use patronymic and matronymic last names and refer to everyone by first name.) “In the hot tub, you must interact. There’s nothing else to do. Not only must you interact; you must do so in a state of quite literal exposure. Most Icelanders have a story about taking visitors, often American, to the pools and then

seeing them balk in horror at the strict requirement to strip naked, shower and scrub their bodies with soap from head to toe.

Men’s and women’s locker rooms feature posters highlighting all the regions you must lather assiduously: head, armpits, undercarriage, feet. Icelanders are very serious about these rules, which are necessary because the pools are only lightly chlorinated; tourists and shy teenagers are often scolded by pool wardens for insufficient showering.

Icelanders are quite un-selfconscious about nudity in the service of pool cleanliness. This was made most clear to me, perhaps, in a dressing room in the town Isafjordur,

Myvatn Nature Baths, situated in a nature reserve

Hofsós infinity pool, one of the country’s most beautiful pools

where a chatty liquor-store manager named Snorri Grimsson told me about the time a beautiful girl asked him to go to the pool but then revealed that she doesn’t shower before swimming. He mugged a look of comic horror, then brought home the kicker: “It was a difficult decision. Thankfully, the pool was closed!”

I could tell this bit killed with his fellow Icelanders. My own appreciation was somewhat impeded by Snorri’s delivery of it in the nude, his left foot on the sink, stretching like a ballet dancer at the barre.

“It’s wonderful,” an actress named Salome Gunnarsdottir told me one evening. “Growing up we see all kinds

of real bodies. Sixty-five-year-olds, middle-aged, pregnant women. Not just people in magazines or on TV.”

Her friends nodded in enthusiastic agreement. “It’s so important,” Salome said earnestly. “You get used to breasts and vaginas!”

I will never forget the uniquely Icelandic experience of shaking hands with handsome Mayor Dagur and minutes later interviewing him as we each bared all. I found this disconcerting at first, but eventually there was something comforting about seeing all those other chests and butts and guts—which for the most part belonged to normal bodies, not sculpted masterpieces. And that

comfort extends out into the pool, where you might be covered—but are still on display.

But near-nudity, by encouraging a slight remove from others, also allows the visitor to focus, in a profound and unfamiliar way, on his own body, on its responses and needs. Despite it being a social hub, the pool also cultivates inwardness.

Results of a questionnaire distributed by Valdimar’s research team suggested that women in particular go to the pool to seek solitude. According to women I talked to, everyone respects the posture of aquatic reverie—head tilted back, eyes closed, mouth smiling a tiny smile of satisfaction—that you adopt when you want to be left alone.

Sigurlaug Dagsdottir, a graduate student researching the pools, speculated that the sundlaugs’ social utility in Icelandic communities derives in part from the intimacy of the physical experience: in the pool, she said, you can “take off the five layers of clothing that usually separate you from everyone else.”

As such, the pools are a leveller. The filmmaker Jon Karl Helgason, who’s shooting a documentary about the pools, said, “In the pool, it doesn’t matter if you’re a doctor or a taxi driver. Everyone’s dressed the same.”

On the way from Reykjavik to Keflavik airport is the Blue Lagoon, a luxurious hot-water spa that’s one of Iceland’s

most popular tourist destinations. For 54 euros, you can shower in private stalls and float in mineral-rich water.

My final day in Iceland, I turned off the highway just after the Blue Lagoon and instead drove into one of those towns, the port Reykjanesbaer. The lobby of the town’s pool is dotted, fittingly, by a series of porthole-like windows. The woman working at the desk asked, “Is this your first time in an Iceland swimming pool?”

“Nope,” I said with some pleasure. I snapped on my Speedo, steeled my courage and exited the warm lodge into the chill.

The hot pot was full of enormous men with Bluto-type physiques and also a small girl in a pink ruffled bathing suit. The largest of the Blutos rose from the water, picked up the girl and carried her, giggling, to the family pool. His biceps sported a tattoo of a roaring bear consumed by flames.

This time I didn’t approach anyone, didn’t ask any questions. I didn’t speak at all. I concentrated on the water pressing lightly on my skin, the wind prickling my beard. All around me was the soft white noise of a community. The conversation; the connection; the freedom, within that flurry of sociability, to withdraw and simply be within yourself.

The sun was low on the horizon, bright but evanescent. The only other thing in the crystal-blue sky was the contrail of a jet, pointed to the west. I closed my eyes. I was in the pool.

OUR WORLD IS YOUR PLAYGROUND

OUR WORLD IS YOUR PLAYGROUND

Paris • Sao Paulo • London • Shanghai • Dubai • Sydney • Hong Kong

Paris • Sao Paulo • London • Shanghai • Dubai • Sydney • Hong Kong

My Great Escape: “

Ha Long Bay

Samah Khan from London grapples with mischievous monkeys and admires the natural beauty of Ha Long Bay in Vietnam

Don’t move!” whispered my aunt from the blue kayak behind me. I turned nervously and noticed the troop of monkeys to my right on the large boulder. I’m not sure how I ended up so close to their home but my palms were getting sweaty at the thought of one jumping into my kayak. I quietly lifted my paddle and gently rowed away, fearing they would smell the crisps in my bag. Fortunately, my

snacks survived another day and I was able to continue paddling in the water.

I was travelling in Vietnam and my first stop was Ha Long Bay, a Unesco World Heritage Site in Quang Ninh. After arriving at midday, I climbed aboard the cruise boat and was given a run through of the day’s events.

Ha Long Bay, known for its mystery, tranquility and natural beauty, means “descending dragon.” It is believed that the bay protected the country

against invaders. I was mesmerised by the story and by the large brown and green boulders dotted around in the open water. They’re predominantly made of limestone, some with hollow centres creating caves inside. We approached one of the boulders and kayaked around, encountering those small groups of monkeys enjoying their day. What a beautiful place to call home. It was fortunate that I managed to escape with my crisps in tow!

As the boat reached the Sung Sot cave, we climbed out and walked inside Ha Long’s largest cave. It was a light brown colour with intricate limestone formations, created from erosion and weather patterns over many years. Most of the shapes inside the cave have names based on their appearance. I did see a few interesting ones, including “thumb”, “elephant” and “flower.”

Our final destination was a pearl farm where we were given an insight into the cultivation of pearls. They’re the only jewels to be created by a living animal. I refrained from buying any as I still had a two-week journey to fund around Asia!

The trip back to the dock was one of the most memorable experiences of my travels. It was around 6pm and the sun was slowly setting as our boat was cruising along the calm water. I found myself sitting crosslegged at the front of the boat gazing out at the serenity in front of me, listening to the gentle sound of the waves. If you ever find yourself in this part of the world, it’s well worth it to escape the madness of city life, if only for a day!

Tell us about your favourite holiday (send a photo too) and if we print it we’ll pay £50. Email excerpts@readersdigest.co.uk

ACTIVE BREAKS

FOR WALKERS: CENTRAL ITALY

A privately-taken hiking tour available from March, “Hilltop Towns of Italy,” visits 2,500-year-old Civita di Bagnoregio, accessible only via footbridge, and the caves and medieval tower houses of Pitigliano (utracks.com).

FOR CYCLISTS: COUNTY KERRY

Pedal around three peninsulas on the extremes of south-western Ireland in May. The half-asleep Beara abounds with thatched houses, Iveragh is all spectacular peaks and Dingle promises beaches and great seafood (wildernessireland.com).

FOR CRAFT-MAKERS: OAXACA

Thread Caravan’s calendar of art workshop holidays includes hammock-making group trips. Lessons from a veteran specialist are accompanied by trips to mountaintop mineral springs and a mezcal farm (threadcaravan.com).

FOR CANOEISTS: INDIA

Four-day trips kayaking Kerala’s backwaters—a maze of idyllic lagoons and canals—promise delicious cuisine and homestays amid gentle days spent bobbing along. Travel is best between August and May (responsibletravel.com).

FOR SKIERS: COPENHAGEN

Scoring lots of Scandi-cool points, Copenhill is a new artificial ski slope, recreational hiking area and viewing platform built atop the Danish capital’s new green waste management centre. Ski equipment can be hired (copenhill.dk).

by Richard Mellor

Travel app of the month

LOOK & BOOK , FREE, IOS

This could be risky: should the destination fit, this new easyJet travel app lets users purchase flights based simply on favourite photos in their Instagram feed.

NEW YEAR, NEW OPPORTUNITIES

How your property wealth could help you reach your New Year’s resolutions

Don’t waste the momentum of the New Year. If you’ve resolved to make changes to your life, then converting even a portion of your home’s value into tax-free cash could be the perfect way to fund them.

Whether you plan on finally sorting out the garden, converting the loft, or modernising the house, unlocking money from your home with a Lifetime Mortgage is an alternative to dipping into hard-earned savings. In fact, this is the UK’s favourite way to convert on-paper wealth because it allows them to retain full homeownership, without required monthly repayments.

By releasing equity, you can enjoy secure access to your property wealth without limiting your budget. The loan is secured against your home, with interest simply rolling up over time. The entire amount can then be repaid through the sale of your home when you and your partner either pass away or enter long-term care.

When releasing equity from your home, it is essential to understand your financial situation. This is because using a portion of your home’s value now may reduce your estate’s value in time and could affect your entitlement to means-tested state benefits. An adviser can provide you with a personalised illustration, allowing you to pick the most suitable plan for you.

If you’re searching for a way to fund your New Year resolutions, then releasing a portion of your equity could offer the perfect solution. Contact Reader’s Digest Equity Release for your free guide to Lifetime Mortgages, and start putting your legacy into action today.

Easy Energy Savings

Has it been a while since you switched your energy supplier? Andy Webb explains why it might be worth switching it again soon…

Gas and electricity prices have been increasing sharply over the last few months. Along with the winter weather you’d think it would be enough of a nudge to get you switching and save some money. Yet more than half of households are still on the default variable rate tariffs, usually the most expensive option, according to regulator Ofgem.

In fact, only one in five households switch suppliers each year, and three in five have never switched, or have only switched once. That’s a lot of people losing out on a lot of money. The most recent figures show the average saving for switching and fixing is a huge £320 a year. That’s just one year.

Andy Webb is a personal finance journalist and runs the award-winning money blog, Be Clever With Your Cash

So what’s stopping you from making that kind of saving? This month I’ll take you through what you need to do. It’s easy, I promise.

First, let’s bust some myths. When you switch energy supplier, there’s no disruption to your home or interruption to your supply. No one needs to come to your home and fit new pipes or wires, for a start. And the same gas and electricity will flow as before. It’s all the same infrastructure, whoever you get your energy from. The only real difference is who you receive your bill from.

The second major myth is around loyalty. It certainly doesn’t pay when energy companies are concerned. And some of the lowest prices are from new suppliers. Of course, this comes with a fear of smaller companies going bust. Though this has happened, you won’t get cut off. Ofgem will find a replacement supplier and you’re free to shop around and switch to a cheaper option.

Switches

don’t take long either. You should be moved within 21 days. And as soon as the switch happens you’ll stop paying your old supplier and start paying the new one. There’s no crossover. Just make sure you give a meter reading so you get the most accurate final bill.

Finally it’s not hard to get the information you need to switch, and comparison sites can do all the calculations for you. You just need the name of your current supplier and tariff and how much energy in kilowatts (Kw) you used in the last year. All this information can be found on your bill.

Four easy ways to switch

1 Call your energy company

This is the quickest way to knock some pounds off most bills. If you’re on a standard variable tariff there’s every chance you’re on your

provider’s most expensive option. So call them up to see if they can move you to a cheaper rate. This normally involves locking you in for 12 months at a lower rate. Of course, if prices drop you could end up paying more, but this is less likely.

2 Get an instant comparison

On every energy bill you’ll find a square made of symbols known as a Quick Response—or QR—code. This block contains all the information you need to analyse your bill in a comparison site. You can download an app from Uswitch to scan the code and in a few seconds you’ll see all the available options.

3 Get switched automatically

There’s an increasing number of companies who will automatically move you when you can save on your bills. Services like WeFlip and

Switchcraft are free, while Flipper and Switchd charge a fee—but with them all you should still be making a saving on your bills.

4 Do it yourself

The above options are all quite convenient, but they probably won’t earn you the biggest savings. To ensure you’re on the best deals possible you should really put in a little bit more effort. I’m not talking about much time or grey matter. You should be able to go through the full process in less than 30 minutes.

My pick of comparison sites is CheapEnergyClub.com. You get to

see all the available tariffs from all the different energy companies, unlike most others which initially hide results they don’t get paid for.

Have a quick look through the different options and pick whichever one works best for you. You can filter by customer service ratings, go for dual fuel or separate utilities, look for green energy and even make some extra money via cashback.

Once you’ve entered your information for the first time and made a switch, the website continues to monitor your tariff. If a cheaper deal comes along, you can switch again to save even more money.

Money Site Of The Month

KAYAK.CO.UK/HOTELS

JANUARY IS ALWAYS A POPULAR TIME TO BOOK HOLIDAYS—no surprise with the long, dark nights and post-Christmas blues. When it comes to choosing your hotel, sites like Trip Advisor are handy to read reviews (if they can be trusted), but my top website to save you money is a comparison site called Kayak.

total of your stay. There’s an option to have all local taxes and fees included too—handy so you don’t get caught out by extra costs when you check out.

Other filters you can select include review score, free parking and free internet. When you find the hotel and price you want, you simply click through to secure your room.

You can enter a destination or a specific hotel directly into the search bar, and Kayak will display the prices at all the major hotel booking websites, including Booking.com, Expedia and Hotels.com.

You can choose for results to be displayed by price per night or by the

One option to consider as well as lowest price is free cancellation. This is a really useful condition for your booking. Not only will you avoid any charges if you change your plans, but you can also keep an eye out for cheaper deals closer to your holiday. Simply search again and if there’s a better deal, cancel the original booking and nab a new room at a lower rate.

You can also use Kayak to find the cheapest flight, package and car hire deals, making this a great website to ensure you’ll be jetting away for the cheapest holiday possible.

WHAT WAS YOUR BIGGEST PROBLEM WHEN YOU WERE 11?

“All the library books I forgot to return and had hidden under my bed”

“Not receiving my letter to go to Hogwarts”

“Choosing between a Tweety Bird and a Sylvester fake tattoo for my ankle”

“Whether Stacey likes me back or not”

“Running into quicksand”

SOURCE: REDDIT.COM

FOOD

Baked Gnocchi With Blue Cheese And Spinach

This comforting January dish is made all the better by using up nub ends of the Christmas cheeseboard. A white sauce is an excellent vehicle for leftover stilton, just grate hard cheeses so they melt into the sauce

Serves 4

• 50g butter

• 50g plain flour

• 500ml milk

• 50g blue cheese, crumbled

• 50g hard cheese (cheddar, pecorino), grated (plus extra for sprinkling)

• ½ tsp fresh grated nutmeg

• 500g supermarket gnocchi

• 200g fresh spinach

• 50g walnuts

To serve:

• Italian salad (ideally bitter red leaves, eg, radicchio)

• 2L baking dish, greased with butter

• ½ lemon, squeezed

Rachel Walker is a food writer for numerous national publications. Visit rachel-walker.co.uk for more information

1. Start by making the sauce. Melt the butter in a pan and when it starts to foam add the flour and use a wooden spoon to mix it into a thick, walnutsized paste. Cook this until it turns a golden-straw colour and gives off nutty aromas.

2. Take the pan off the heat as you add the first slosh of milk and whisk it until combined. Keep adding the milk bit by bit, until it has all been used up and then return the sauce to the heat, stirring until it’s silky-thick. Take the pan off the heat, add the cheese and let it melt in the hot sauce, add the nutmeg and then set to one side.

3. Next, bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Add the gnocchi and cook for 2 minutes. Use a slotted spoon or sieve to remove the gnocchi from the water and transfer to a colander. Next, add the fresh spinach to the water and simmer for 45 seconds until it wilts. Drain and then stir the gnocchi and spinach into the cheese sauce. Transfer into a greased baking dish, top with a little extra grated cheese. Put the baking dish in an oven (200°C) cook for 10-12 minutes until bubbling and golden round the edges.

4. Sprinkle walnuts over the baked gnocchi and serve with a simplydressed Italian salad.

BY TIM & ZOË HILL

Drinks Tip…

A robust red goes brilliantly with the blue cheese sauce. Berry Bro’s & Rudds’ Good Ordinary Claret is excellent and it comes in a half bottle size, ideal for exercising a modicum of restraint after the Christmas excess

WINTER FRUIT SALAD

I don’t know about you, but round this time of year I’m done with indulgent desserts… And bright, exotic fruits —mango, kiwi, pineapple—seem too summery for the winter months. There is a lot of elegance in poached or dried fruit, spiked with winter spices. Keep this winter fruit salad in the fridge and serve with a good (stem ginger) ice cream or mascarpone for dessert, or with yogurt and granola for breakfast.

1. Put the prune juice, honey and water in a small saucepan.

2. Add the dried fruit and then all the botanicals (it’s not mandatory to use all the above—pick and choose a combination if you don’t have them in your pantry shelves).

3. Bring to a rolling simmer for 15 minutes, add the lemon juice and then leave to cool to room temperature.

4. Add the prunes and then refrigerate.

5. Either serve cold with mascarpone and crumbled ginger biscuits, or warm gently and serve with ice cream.

SERVES 4

• 3tbsp prune juice (from tin of prunes in fruit juice)

• 1tbsp honey

• 200ml water

• 200g dried apricots, dried figs, sultanas

• 1 cinnamon stick

• 1 star anise

• 2 cardamom pods, crushed

• 2 strips of orange zest

• ½ lemon, juiced

• 175g pitted prunes (from tin)

Neurozan® is a comprehensive supplement with over 25 nutrients and amino acids to support your daily intake. Including pantothenic acid which contributes to normal mental performance.

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Sparkling Setting

Hosting a New Year’s Eve party? Ring in 2019 in style by throwing a celebration full of glitz, glitter and glamour

THomes and gardens writer and stylist Cassie Pryce specialises in interior trends and discovering new season shopping

his New Year’s Eve, make sure your festivities go off with a bang by dressing your home to impress and hosting an evening to remember. Whether you’re planning a sophisticated soirée or a fun-filled games night for the whole family, this is the time of year to introduce a little sparkle and extravagance into your party decorating.

When it comes to serving your chosen tipples, it’s easy to give existing glassware a NYE makeover— tie a simple gold ribbon around the base of a champagne flute, for example, or adorn each drink with a stylish stirrer for an added flourish.

Display glassware, bottles and barware on a pretty tray to section off a bar area and why not write a list of cocktail ideas on a chalkboard to encourage guests to get creative?

Dressing your home will really help set the party scene, whether that’s a stylish table-top display or adding balloons and garlands to the walls, too. If, after the Christmas period, your budget won’t stretch far, it’s easy to incorporate DIY elements to help keep costs down. Why not have a go at making your own confetti by holepunching sheets of tissue paper and using the dots to fill balloons to be popped at midnight, or using them as a pretty table scatter? For another quick trick, make an elegant centrepiece by upcycling empty wine bottles into vases or candleholders using metallic spray paint and dipping the bases in glitter for a sparkling finishing touch.

Party Time

Glitterati disco ball paper plates, £5.50 for 12; Glitterati canape paper plates, £4 for 12; sharing party cracker, £13; Glitterati party poppers, £5.50 for eight, all Talking Tables

How To Create A

Handy GardenHerb

January is a great time to reaquaint with your garden. Jessica Summers uncovers the best herbs you can grow to boost your wellbeing in 2019

Research disproving the benefits of daily multivitamin pills is growing. Experts agree that— while, at times, a specific supplement is needed for an individual—a generic multivitamin does not prevent disease and, according to the NHS, could actually cause serious harm.

The best way to consume your essential daily dose of micronutrients is through natural ingredients, and what could be more gratifying than growing them yourself?

Herbs love to bask in the springtime sun, but they will still thrive indoors with the right care. Make sure you put them in a place that gets plenty of light such as—close to, but not touching—a south-facing window, house them in separate pots with drainage holes (lay saucers underneath) and be sure to use quality soil with the correct pH for

each herb. When watering, allow the soil to dry out a little before quenching their thirst again. Herbs tend to enjoy the same temperatures as us, but basil is slightly fussier: ensure it has constant warmth and adjust its environment appropriately to prevent the leaves wilting.

Once your herbs are flourishing and the weather is sunnier, feel free to move them into a cosy herb patch outdoors should you prefer. In the meantime, enjoy your home-grown flavours bursting with goodness.

WHICH HERBS TO CHOOSE:

BASIL full of vitamin K, A, iron and calcium

DILL rich in copper, zinc, iron and calcium

OREGANO provides potassium, folate and is also an antioxidant

PARSLEY an antioxidant with folic acid

PEPPERMINT plentiful in vitamin A, C, iron and zinc

THYME high in magnesium, iron and vitamin B6

FASHION & BEAUTY

Closet

Cleanse

ILisa Lennkh is a banker turned fashion writer, stylist and blogger. Her blog, The Sequinist, focuses on sparkle and statement style for midlife women

've made enough trips around the sun to not buy into the "New Year, New You" business. I don't really want a new me, I'd just like a slightly more organised and mindful version of who I am the rest of the year. This especially applies to my closet.

William Morris famously said, “If you want a golden rule that will fit everything, this is it: have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.” Nowhere is this more appropriate than in your closet. Take a hard look at everything you have in there; if it brings you joy and you believe it is beautiful, keep it. If it is useful, like a chunky warm wear-with-everything cardigan that has pockets, keep it. If it does not fall into either category, donate it. Do not be seduced by the standard closet cleansing categories of

keep, maybe, mend, and donate. Be ruthless. Every item is either beautiful, useful, or a no.

For years, I had a wardrobe packed with things in neither category; I allowed far too much to sneak in under the guise of "maybe useful" which is my brain's way of justifying and renaming a past bad decision. Excess clothes took up space in my closet that was far better used as breathing room for my truly useful and beautiful things. If you can't see it, you don't wear it. For instance, in my last wardrobe purge, I ran across some beautiful winter scarves that I didn't wear last year because I couldn't see or find them in my stash. Or, sometimes I pull out a shirt or coat to wear which is so full of creases from being crammed in my closet that I simply put it back and wear something else that doesn't need an iron to revive it.

After my now-annual new year purge, everything is organised and has room to breathe. It's almost like having new clothes, but I actually have less! In the spirit of making my wardrobe a happier place, I looked back over the things that I bought last year and tried to narrow it down to one item that fits the William Morris rule perfectly. It would have to be this Helen Moore rainbow bucket bag. It's a joyful statement accessory that lifts every outfit.

I wish you a 2019 full of beautiful and useful additions to your wardrobe!

New Year’s Beauty Resolutions

Jenessa Williams' three simple skincare tips are bound to pay dividends in the new year

Ditch the packaging and go ethical

In a beauty bid to save the planet, swap single-use face wipes and cotton pads for reusuable hot cloths or sponges. Make scrubs and masks from common ingredients you already have in your home, or try out new products that use eco-friendly packaging.

British fragrance brand Floral Street is now selling its bottles in 100 per cent compostable boxes and sugar cane tubes, while the likes of Dior, Burts Bees and Orveda have all made significant pledges towards reduced plastic use.

Embrace natural beauty

No more frying your hair with daily straightening—learn to love what you have and take the time to care for it properly with tailored products. When it comes to cosmetics, a "less is more" approach is slowly becoming de jour, with brands such as Glossier, Afterglow and Tarte all championing

ingredients that accentuate the face rather than mask it.

Stay hygienic

It’s time we all kept our make-up bags as clean as our homes. Avoid bacteria build up by making it a habit to clean make up brushes regularly and store products in the conditions suggested on the packaging. Where possible, avoid exceeding expiration dates; gel and liquid eyeliners should only be kept around six months, and lipsticks for no longer than two years.

Hero Products

1 Floral Street Eau De Parfum in Wild Vanilla Orchid, £55 for 50ml

2 Burt’s Bees Burt’s Balm Jar, £9.99

3 Clinique Make Up Brush Cleanser, £14 for 236ml

PERSONALISED NUTRITION FOR THE OVER 50’S

A healthy, well balanced diet combined with exercise is key to making the most of our life in the prime of our life. But many of us are lacking many key micronutrients and therefore supplementation with a well formulated range of supplements is a healthy addition to our diet.

Prime Fifty have formulated and tailored unique supplements that include a combination of carefully selected, scientifically researched nutritional ingredients to combat nutrient deficiencies in the over 50’s and support the health and wellbeing of those in their senior years.

ENERGY SUPPORT

Maintaining energy levels through the day is more and more di cult as we age, so we need to ensure that our nutrition is healthy, as this is a major contributor to how we feel from day to day. Getting those essential B Vitamins is important if we are to ensure that our energy producing metabolism is at its best.

Fighting Fatigue Supplement

30 tablets, 1 month supply: £8.50

BONES SUPPORT

Bone mass decline begins in our late 30’s and significantly speeds up in post-menopausal women, though men do not escape bone loss with age either. Maintaining bone health is vital for movement and strength and this unique formula contains key nutritional ingredients to help your bones remain strong and in prime condition.

Strong Bones Supplement

30 tablets, 1 month supply: £6.50

JOINTS SUPPORT

As we all age, our joints can become sti and give us pain from time to time and in some cases the pain can be considerable. This formula contains not only a combination of the main front line joint health ingredients, but also key micronutrients that have been proven to help support healthy tendons and ligaments.

Healthy Joints Supplement

30 tablets, 1 month supply: £14.50

THE FAVOURITE

Psychotic women, Machiavellian mind games and sexual tensions running agog—what could possibly go wrong?

Kick off the new year in naughty, naughty fashion by plunging into the deranged, decadent and dramatic world of director Yorgos Lanthimos. The maker of The Lobster and The Killing of a Sacred Deer travels back to 18th-century England this time, telling the story of the histrionic Queen Anne and her two confidants, Lady Sarah and maid Abigail, who viciously compete for her attention.

While there are many things to love about The Favourite, the cast is undeniably its biggest asset. Olivia Colman is brilliant as the unhappy, childishly erratic queen whose mood

swings are as ferocious as her appetite for food, games and sex. Her primary source of happiness, however, is her advisor Sarah (Rachel Weisz)—a manipulative, fiendishly clever woman who uses Anne’s affection to shape the political climate of the country to her liking. Yet Sarah’s influential position is threatened with the arrival of the charming Abigail (Emma Stone) who quickly works her way up from a lowly servant to the queen’s key lady-inwaiting. Sweet, doting and kind—or at least posing as such—she’s the answer to everything Anne longs for in the dominant, steely Sarah.

Buckle up: it’s a wonderfully manic, over-the-top, often gross and hilarious two hours of hedonistic pleasure.

COMEDY: STAN AND OLLIE

Steve Coogan and John C Reilly step into the shoes of one of the most iconic comedy duos in the world, Laurel and Hardy, as they embark on a toilsome farewell tour of post-war Britain. While the script lacks a certain spark, it’s a generally agreeable biopic, largely thanks to the very capable cast. John C Reilly delivers a faithful portrayal of the booming “Babe”, and Coogan works wonders as the eternal perfectionist, Steve Laurel. But the real scene-stealers here are their wives: the cartoon-voiced Lucille Hardy

played by Shirley Henderson, and Nina Ariadna as the blunt-as-a-meat axe Russian, Ida Laurel. Paired together in a scene, they make for a delightful comedy duo in their own right.

DRAMA: BEAUTIFUL BOY This harrowing drama tells the true story of Nic Sheff—a young man coping with addiction, and the devastating effect it has on his nearest and dearest. Featuring astounding performances from Steve Carell and rising star Timothée Chalamet, as well as a fantastic soundtrack spanning everything from Nirvana to Górecki, it’s a heart-rending portrayal of addiction and a thought-provoking take on parenthood.

H H H H H

BIOGRAPHY: COLETTE It may not be the world’s most ground-breaking biopic, but with its sumptuous settings, gorgeous costumes and opulent cinematography, Colette is nevertheless a truly dazzling one. Keira Knightley plays the famed French novelist amidst a long, tortuous journey towards finding her own voice—a role that brings out a new, refreshing side of the actress. However, it’s the standout performance from Dominic West that truly makes this film. As Colette’s much older, worldly husband, Willy, he achieves a subtle balance between irresistible charm and blatant boorishness.

by Eva Mackevic

INFORMER (BBC1; BBC IPLAYER)

What is it? A drama about the fraught relationship between a London detective (Paddy Considine) and the British-Asian informant he recruits (Nabhaan Rizwan) in the hunt for a terrorist cell.

Why should I watch it? For an altogether more nuanced take on contemporary race relations than last year’s Bodyguard offered.

Best episode? An already taut plot gets properly complicated in episode four, and positively gripping thereafter.

FRESH OFF THE BOAT (AMAZON

VIC & BOB’S BIG NIGHT OUT (BBC4)

What is it? A triumphantly silly return for the UK’s premier lightentertainment double-act (sorry Ant and Dec), following Christmas 2017’s one-off.

Why should I watch it? To witness Andrew Neil promoting his new CD

My Benidorm Bender, and two grown men being spooked in a public lavatory by the ghost of tuna supremo John West. Told you it was silly. Where did we leave it?

Let’s say episode three of four, in which Vic becomes possessed by Bruce Forsyth.

Best episode? Vaun Earl Norman’s depiction of Tom Cruise as a tracksuited Geordie would be hard for anyone to top— no wonder the actual George Ezra appears semibaffled.

by Mike McCahill

WHAT TO STREAM THIS MONTH:

PRIME) This goofily subversive sitcom about a ChineseAmerican clan putting down roots in Florida—is now available for binging.

THE KOMINSKY METHOD (NETFLIX)

Alan Arkin and Michael Douglas negotiate the perils and pitfalls of ageing in this well-crafted new comedy from sitcom guru, Chuck Lorre.

LODGE 49 (AMAZON PRIME)

Escape the winter blues further via this sunny, funny, one-of-a-kind about a Long Beach surf dude drawn into the eccentric world of Masonic ritual.

ALBUM OF THE MONTH:

25LIVE@25 BY SKUNK ANANSIE

Plunge back into Nineties’ Britrock by revisiting the music of one of its most show-stopping, uncompromising products, Skunk Anansie who— to celebrate their 25th anniversary— are releasing a career-spanning collection of live performances. A lot has happened in those 25 years: six studio albums, a break-up in 2001 followed by several solo projects, and the subsequent reunion in 2009. As is often the case with rock bands, their sound grew softer and more overproduced as the years went by, and that’s why 25LIVE@25 is the perfect opportunity to remind yourself how fierce and unique their blend of hard rock, metal and electronica was back in the 1990s.

Fronted by the tall, black, androgynous vocalist, Skin, Skunk Anansie made everyone stop and listen back in 1995, when they arrived on the scene with their debut album, Paranoid and Sunburnt and ripped the joint apart with audacious guitar riffs, expressive bass lines, operatic vocals and provocative lyrics about racism, politics and forbidden sexual desire, peppered with copious amounts of very strong language.

It’s the perfect medicine for when you’re feeling a bit moody or frustrated—just make sure you turn the volume up to the max.

by Eva Mackevic

READER RADAR: SYLVIA FRANKLIN, RAIL TRAINING MANAGER

WATCHING: THE GOOD WIFE

AMAZON PRIME

Catching up, a few years late— I missed it the first time around. The US just seem to be able to make a good drama last.

READING: FACTORY GIRLS: VOICES

FROM THE HEART OF MODERN CHINA

BY LESLIE T CHANG Who actually makes all our trainers, phones and designer handbags?

ONLINE: SWARM (APP)

It’s a check-in site which helps me keep in touch with my daughter and son-in-law, who live in New York.

LISTENING: THAT PETER CROUCH PODCAST As a novice podcast listener, I’m very much enjoying the relaxed conversation approach about the behind-the-scenes life of a professional footballer.

January Fiction

A rousing return to the whodunit tradition and a compulsive read from a master storyteller are our top literary picks this month

The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley (HarperCollins, £12.99)

One publishing trend predicted for 2019 is the return of the more conventional whodunit after years of psychological-thriller dominance. And if that leads to more books like The Hunting Party, we’re in for a treat.

Nine old university friends, now in their thirties, are spending New Year together in the Scottish Highlands when, in the traditional way, a snowstorm cuts them off from the outside world—and means that, when one of them is murdered, the killer must be in their midst…

But, in fact, this isn’t just a whodunit but also a whowasitdunto. The body is discovered on the first page—yet, as we flash back to the previous days’ events, Lucy Foley

James Walton is a book reviewer and broadcaster, and has written and presented 17 series of the BBC Radio 4 literary quiz

The Write Stuff

tantalisingly refuses to reveal whose body it is. Meanwhile, she deftly adds a few psychological-thriller devices to the mix as well, including multiple narrators and the theme of how little we really know other people. She’s very good, too, on the unspoken rivalries, even dislike, that can underlie long-term friendships. Fortunately, though, the solution to the murder always remains the novel’s main driving force—and Foley serves up her clues, red herrings and eventual answer with irresistible aplomb.

The Wall by John Lanchester (Faber, £17.99)

John Lanchester’s last novel, Capital—which became a hit BBC drama series—combined a thoughtful analysis of modern Britain with bags of great story-telling. His new one now pulls off a similar trick, although in a very different way. Most

obviously, instead of careful social realism, we get a futuristic tale— or possibly parable— about a Britain surrounded by a huge coastal wall. This has been designed to keep out “the Others”, who are looking for sanctuary after a global climatic catastrophe known as “the Change”. The narrator is Kavanagh, just starting his two-year stint as a Wall Defender that all young Brits are obliged to carry out. In the opening chapters, every aspect of life on the Wall is powerfully imagined; although for a while it’s difficult to see how this will be enough for a 280page novel. But then… well, I won’t give away what happens—except that the book develops into a thrilling, action-packed adventure, without abandoning its broader anxieties about our divided world. The result is a rare blend of the unputdownable and the deeply melancholy.

Name the author

Can you guess the writer from these clues (the fewer you need the better)?

1. As a lawyer, he defended the underground magazine Oz against obscenity charges.

2. His most famous character was also a lawyer…

3. … called Horace Rumpole.

Answer on p126

Paperbacks

Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House (Abacus, £8.99)

One of the most talked-about books of 2018 comes out in paperback—although it isn’t for the faint-hearted.

We Own the Sky by Luck Allnutt (Trapeze, £7.99)

Novel about a couple whose child is diagnosed with cancer. Sharply observed and emotionally affecting, it’s a complete tear-jerker.

Stable Lass by Gemma Hogg (Pan, £7.99)

A revealing and often very funny account of working in a top Yorkshire horse-racing yard.

The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gower (Vintage, £8.99)

A beautifully-written novel about the racier side of 18th-century life that made a suitable splash in hardback.

With the End in Mind by Kathryn Mannix (William Collins, £9.99)

Reflections on the process of dying that draw heavily on the author’s experiences as a doctor of palliative medicine. Not a cheerful read, exactly— but a wise, compassionate and ultimately important one.

RD’S RECOMMENDED READ

The Art Of Ageing

If back pain and pills are all you can think of when it comes to old age, think again. With grace and elegance, Bolder reveals the unexpected beauty of growing older

Have you ever thought how different the world would look if so many middle-aged women didn’t dye their hair? As for why they do, though, the answer is pretty obvious. Looking old (even if it’s just the age you are) is generally agreed to be a very bad thing. And, as Carl Honoré points out in this coolly impassioned new book, the belief that looking good means looking young is only part of a much wider—if equally widespread—idea: that growing old is a straightforward story of decline.

But according to Honoré, there are at least three problems with this idea. First, it can be self-fulfilling.

Bolder: Making the Most of Our Longer Lives by Carl Honoré is published by Simon & Schuster at £16.99

How we feel about ageing affects the way we age—and if we absorb the notion that the only way is down, it’s far more likely that that’s where we’ll head. Second, it makes us fear ageing, even though it’s “the most natural thing in the world”. (After all, every one of us is doing it right now.) Third, it’s simply not true.

Honoré doesn’t deny that we slow down as we age—or that certain faculties become less sharp. On the other hand, our emotional intelligence increases, we develop an ability to see the bigger picture that

makes us better at many jobs and we become more at ease with other people and ourselves. Not only that, but according to British surveys it’s the over-60s who have the highest levels of happiness.

Without ever wishing away the difficulties that remain, Honoré reaches the cheerful conclusion that “this is the best time in history to be old”. Along the way, he throws in lots of great quotes (see sidebar) and meets plenty of older people who demonstrate the truth of his theory that the key to happy ageing is to “never stop exploring”. He also makes a plea for more mingling among the generations—as in this Dutch nursing home called Humanitas, where some local students live too…

‘‘

At Humanitas, the students run workshops on everything from street art to wheelchair breakdancing to using a tablet. One staged an Xbox soccer tournament in the dining hall, while another raced a resident on mobility scooters and uploaded the footage to YouTube. [Student] Patrick Stoffer, a mean cook, slips unfamiliar foods onto the menu where some become fixtures. The older residents have even learned a few drinking games, with one eightysomething now so good at beer-pong that everyone clamours to have him on their team.

Everywhere you look in Humanitas you see friendship blossoming across

Some Quotes On Ageing From Bolder :

“Ageing is an extraordinary process whereby you become the person you always should have been.”

David Bowie

“You don’t stop laughing when you grow old, you grow old when you stop laughing.”

George Bernard Shaw

“The man who views the world at 50 the same as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life.”

Muhammad Ali

“Everyone wishes to reach old age, but nobody wishes to be old.”

Bernadino of Siena, 14th century Franciscan missionary

“If a young or middle-aged man, when leaving a company, does not remember where he laid his hat, it is nothing; but if the same inattention is discovered in an old man, people will shrug their shoulders and say, ‘His memory is going’.”

Dr Samuel Johnson (in 1783)

“I’m at an age when my back goes out more than I do.”

Phyllis Diller, American comedian

generational lines. Sunday dinner in the main hall is a cheerful affair with much fist-bumping between young and old. Two accordion players belt out classic tunes as Stoffer weaves among the tables, handing out his homemade cheese sticks, chatting and flirting as he goes. His closest friend here is Harry Ter Braak, a 90-year-old former barber with tidy white hair and a roguish smile. You often find the duo cooking together in the communal kitchen or shooting the breeze over a few beers. Ter Braak is a charmer, always on the verge of cracking a joke or playtackling someone. ‘We talk about girls and life in general,’ says Stoffer. ‘I hang out with Harry like I would a guy my own age.’

The students benefit from all this age mingling, too. The slower pace at Humanitas helps them rethink the speed of their own lives. ‘In the outside world people want things as fast as possible but here you come through the front door and everything slows down—even the elevator,’ says

And the name of the author is…

John Mortimer, creator of Rumpole of the Bailey—as played in the TV version by Leo McKern.

“ If someone asks how your day went, they really want to know ”

Stoffer. ‘If someone asks how your day went they really want to know and I like that. It has taught me to stop rushing through my own life and to pay more attention to the small things.’ Another student, Sharmain Thenu, is showered with romantic advice by the female residents, who urge her not to rush into marriage.

Of course, it’s not all harmony at Humanitas. The students sometimes grumble when their hard-of-hearing neighbours crank up the volume on their television sets. Yet no one wants to turn the home back into an age silo. On the contrary, the older residents love the injection of youthful energy. Often they are rising for breakfast just as the students are returning from a night on the town. If one is spotted bringing home a new companion, everyone in the building knows by lunchtime. ‘They love gossip,’ says Stoffer. ‘We give them stories they can share with each other and their families.’ Ter Braak tells me this offers welcome relief from the standard nursing home chats about pills, pains and medical appointments. ‘Letting young people live here was the best decision ever,’ he says.

Books

THAT CHANGED MY LIFE

Having found fame in 1982 with “Walking in the Air”, Aled Jones, 48, is known for singing and TV presenting. He’s currently touring his new album In Harmony. Visit aledandrussell.com

Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland

BY LEWIS CARROLL

I’d never read anything like it in my life when I opened it for the first time as a child. It introduced me to a world that just blew my mind. The whole idea of the Cheshire Cat and the Mad Hatter’s tea party—my God. As a kid I just wanted to be at that party. I also remember reading it and being almost scared because it’s quite unusual. It opened up a part of my brain that had never been opened before… Up to that point I’d read books such as Oliver Twist and A Christmas Carol—equally brilliant of course, but this was different. There’s a madness to it.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

BY J K ROWLING

This book had a similar impression on me, but as an adult. I remember my friends and

I saying to each other, “You’re only doing one chapter tonight”, and no one was allowed to go ahead. It’s one of those books that you don’t want to end. It introduced me to a world that was so magical.

The fact that everyone was talking about it meant you felt that it wouldn’t be as good as the hype, but it was just incredible. Even now, I’ve got [the whole series] upstairs and the kids are reading them—they’re absolutely brilliant.

Killing Floor

BY LEE CHILD

I really love the thriller genre, and in particular the Jack Reacher series, for the simple reason that these books take me somewhere that isn’t my life—where I’m not stressed about work or anything else. These are the books that I go on holiday with. They are what they are, and that is pure escapism—I’ve read every single one. As told to Jessica Summers

Feel-Good Tech

For a brief moment when the Christmas decorations come down, the tech world stops flogging us their tablets and TVs and tries to help us get fit. Now is that moment—and here’s what’s worth a look

GET ALL FORTY WINKS

Ditch those scuzzy foam earplugs you once nicked from Business Class and invest in some Bose Sleepbuds (£229.95)— rechargeable earphones designed specifically for bedtime. Comfortable to wear even as you toss and turn, or sleep on your side, they play ten pre-loaded soothing sounds that mask external noises, such as snoring or drilling. As morning comes, the companion app can pipe an alarm directly into your earholes, without waking your partner.

Olly Mann presents Four Thought for BBC Radio 4, and the award-winning podcasts The Modern Mann and Answer Me This!

SMARTEN UP YOUR SCALES

As if that post-festive weigh-in wasn’t traumatic enough, modern scales don’t just reveal your weight, but also your body fat, water percentage and BMI. Sigh. The MyZone MZ0-20 Scales (£49) are reasonably priced and look cool in your bathroom, but if you want a bells-and-whistles upgrade, go for the QardioBase 2 (£129), which accurately analyses your muscle mass, sends the data to your phone, and even recognises different members of the family (though, I must admit, a personalised greeting from my bathroom scales is a little too Space Odyssey for me).

GET ON YOUR BIKE

Mitigate road rage with the Bkool Smart Bike (£999)—a spin bike with an attractive metal wheel and nearsilent operation. Pedal along with simulations of races, routes and fitness classes on your phone, tablet or PC, as the collected data reliably tracks your progress. There are, annoyingly, no physical buttons to change gear—you need to use the app, a bit fiddly during a workout— but this is good value for a decent training bike.

BOOST YOUR MOOD

Aromatherapy is often derided as “hippy”—but the study of smell goes back centuries, and we can surely all testify to the Proustian power of scent. Moodo (£119) is, basically, the Nespresso of diffusers. It looks like a small broadband router, and pumps out up to four evocative scents (“Wood Royale”, “Sea Breeze”, etc.), which you can activate separately, or in different combinations, using your smartphone; so, spritz some citrus as you go to work, or lavender at bedtime. Beware, however, that replacement capsules are £17 a pop; significantly more than standard plug-in air fresheners.

You Couldn’t Make It Up

Win £30 for your true, funny stories! Go to readersdigest. co.uk/contact-us or facebook.com/readersdigestuk

MY HUSBAND'S ELDERLY UNCLE recently struggled to carry his vacuum cleaner upstairs, all the while thinking he must be weakening because it felt so much heavier.

Only after he plugged it in in his bedroom did he realise that he had actually lugged his log-effect electric fire all the way upstairs from the sitting room.

CHRISTINE WALKER, Cumbria

MY GOOD FRIEND AND HER HUSBAND recently went out to a local restaurant to celebrate her 40th birthday. All the way their three children were arguing loudly on the back seat.

"It would be a lovely birthday present for me if you would all stop arguing and shouting today", she announced.

"Too late Mummy", her youngest retorted. "I've already bought you something else."

CATHERINE

HISCOX, Hertfordshire

MY LATE FATHER WAS A STRANGER to the kitchen, except that he often

made the breakfast pot of tea. He'd put four or five spoons of loose tea in, add the hot water, then immediately pour himself a cuppa and declare that he made the best tea. It was always too strong for us.

One day I made tea the proper way and, as I poured it, he said to me “It’s a good job you poured that tea”.

“Why?” I asked.

“Because it’s not strong enough to pour itself!”

DIANA EVANS, Yorkshire

"Don't touch the sides"

AN ELDERLY NEIGHBOUR we hadn't seen for a while had lost a notable amount of weight and I congratulated him on his success.

My mother then asked him how he had managed it and he replied, "I started taking my teeth out at 6pm every evening!"

DAN PALFREY, Manchester

I WAS WALKING ALONG ONE sunny day with my sons when my youngest, James, said, "Daddy, when I was in Mummy's tummy, didn't my shoes hurt her?"

Trying not to laugh I tried to think of a suitable answer to his question.

My eldest son Robert beat me to it and said, "Don't be silly James, they would have made you leave your shoes outside."

ROBERT PEMBROKE, Essex

MY SIX-YEAR-OLD GRANDDAUGHTER was sat watching me at my dressing table as I applied moisturiser to my face. She asked me what I was doing and I told her it was to stop me from getting wrinkles.

"Oh Nana," she cried. "It's not working is it?"

JAN SIMPSON, Devon

LAST YEAR I WENT ON A CRUISE with my wife. It was rather uneventful except for one incident when my wife slipped and fell down a stairway between decks. I called, "Steward, I think my wife's broken her leg!"

He replied, "Blimey, you'll get £4,000 from the shipping line's insurance for that!"

"Oh, darling," my wife said animatedly. "Just think, we'll be able to afford double glazing after all!"

I asked the steward, "Can you give me a hand, I've got to get my wife back upstairs."

He replied, "Oh, your cabin's up there is it, Sir?"

"No", I said. "But I'd like her to try for patio doors and a new sun lounge as well!"

DAVID WEBB, West Sussex

MY UNCLE, A RATHER ROUND

FELLOW, was chatting about sporting activities when a few people commented that he probably didn't play any outdoor games himself.

"Nonsense," he replied. "I played dominoes in the pub garden just the other day."

HAZEL

BYRON

, Liverpool

WHEN MY HUSBAND SHAUN AND I moved home I said, "There may be stairs but at least there won’t be mice!"

My grandmother, who lives two floors below, was adamant she doesn't have mice. Although she admitted she gets a different type of vermin. She was trying to remember the name, "It’s a sh…sh…. you know, long pointy noses?" When the word came to her she triumphantly pronounced them "SHAUNS!"

You should have seen my husband's face as he said, "I think you mean shrews."

JENNIE GARDNER, Bath

Each must-read monthly issue covers life,

YES I want to subscribe to Reader’s Digest Magazine for just £3 for 3 issues (a saving of £8.37 on the shop price of £11.37 based on the cover price of £3.79 per issue). I understand that if I do not wish to continue receiving Reader’s Digest after my first 3 issues I can simply cancel my subscription by contacting customer services. If I do want to continue to subscribe after my first 3 issues I need do nothing and my subscription will automatically be renewed at the low rate of £7.50 for every 3 issues until I decide otherwise. Name: Address: Postcode:

IT PAYS TO INCREASE YOUR

Word Power

As the world marks the 406th anniversary of the death of Sir Thomas Bodley, founder of the Bodleian Library in Oxford, on January 28, we’re testing your familiarity with all things book-related. Answers on next page

BY HARRY MOUNT

1. octavo n.—A: library shelf. B: small book size. C: noise in library

2. Boolean adj. A: related to searching for books. B: specialised. C: computerised

3. monograph n. A: lost volume. B: very long book. C: book on a single subject

4. periodical n. A: regularly published magazine. B: occasional article. C: out-of-print book

5. carrel n. A: reading cubicle. B: monk librarian. C : library door

6. thesaurus n. A: silence notice. B: library accountant. C : book of related words

7. abstract n. A: page turner.

B: summary. C : broken book spine

8 folio n. A: library assistant.

B: big book size. C : illustrated book

9. ISBN n.—A: Irregular Sorting Book Nomination. B: International Standard Book Number.

C : Individual Sort of Book Notion

10. microfiche n. A: turned-down corner. B: tiny book. C : collection of photographed pages

11. glossary n. A: library stairs.

B: valuable book. C : list of specialised words

12. shelfmark n. A: dirty shelf.

B: book-location device C : bookend

13. bibliography n. A: book obsession. B: history of books.

C : list of books consulted in writing a book

14. quarto n. A: mid-sized book.

B: library safe. C : librarian’s desk

15. Dewey n. A: book mould.

B: library classification system.

C : leather binding

Answers

1. octavo—[B] small book size. “Octavo books are made by folding a page three times to produce eight equal pages.”

2. Boolean—[A] describes a way of searching for books. Named after George Boole, a renowned 19thcentury British mathematician.

3. monograph—[C] book on a single subject. “Monographs are generally short due to their limited subject.”

4. periodical—[A] regularly published magazine. “Reader’s Digest is Kevin’s favourite periodical.”

5. carrel—[A] reading cubicle. “The library at the University of East Anglia is lined with lake view carrels.”

6. thesaurus—[C] book of related words. “Peter soon became more verbose with the help of his pocket thesaurus.”

7. abstract—[B] book summary.

8. folio—[B] big book size. “Folio books are made from folding paper once to make two pages.”

9. ISBN—[B] International Standard Book Number.

10. microfiche—[C] collection of photographed pages. “The fauna guide I bought last week included some lovely microfiches.”

11. glossary—[C] list of specialised words. “The extensive glossary helped Dalia to understand her complicated new cookery book.”

12. shelfmark—[B] book-location device. “The shelfmark can usually be found at the bottom of the book’s spine.”

13. bibliography—[C] list of books consulted in writing a book. “Iris was careful to mention the collected works of William Shakespeare in her bibliography.”

14. quarto—[A] mid-sized book. “Quarto books are made by folding a sheet twice to produce four pages.”

WORD OF THE DAY*

TRABOCCANT: Abundant or excessive

Alternative suggestions: “Someone who is useless with toboggans”

“A Scotsman who sells cigarettes”

“An East German car that won’t start”

15. Dewey—[B] library classification system. “Dewey is a decimal system.” Named after Melville Dewey, the American inventor of the system.

VOCABULARY RATINGS

9 & 11: Getting there

12–13: Impressive

14–15: Word Power wizard

By the people behind Faulty Towers The Dining Experience!

Fresh from the people behind the worldwide smash hit, Faulty Towers The Dining Experience

New to London’s West End – the show you’ve all been asking for!

This fully immersive comedy transports audiences to The Nags Head to meet the pride of Peckham in a night of eating, wheeling and dealing. It’s a t’riffic night out with some cushty pub grub – and you’d be a plonker to miss it!

The fun starts from the moment you join the Trotters and their friends for a knees-up, but they’re trying to drum up some cash and make a cheeky saving on the side. So why is the pub closed on the busiest night of the week? There’s money to be made and debts to be paid!

Every Friday and Saturday at 7:30pm from 5 October Radisson Blu Edwardian Grafton, 130 Tottenham Court Road, Fitzrovia, London W1T 5AY tickets.readersdigest.co.uk | 0207 400 1238

*Only Fools The (cushty) Dining Experience is a wholly original immersive theatre show written by ITI in loving tribute to the BBC’s Only Fools & Horses TV series. All tickets include a 3-course meal.

Brainteasers

Challenge yourself by solving these puzzles, then check your answers on p139

PARTY AT CHARLIE’S

You’ve been invited to a party at Charlie’s house. As part of the fun, you’ve agreed to solve a puzzle to figure out where he lives. He has seven friends who live nearby. They’ve given you a map showing all of their houses and Charlie’s house, along with the following information:

NDaniel: I can’t see Benita’s house because Greta’s house is in the way.

Amrit: I live directly (not diagonally) across the street from Daniel.

Benita: Elena lives due west of me.

Elena: I have to cross three streets to walk to Franco’s house.

Hao: Amrit lives as far from me as he does from Benita.

Where does Charlie live?

TOY WORKSHOP

You own an artisanal toy-making studio with two employees.

n Carving a toy takes two hours. Painting one takes one hour. Packaging one takes one hour.

n You can’t paint a toy until it’s been carved. Similarly, you can’t package one until it’s been painted.

n Both of your employees are capable of doing any of the three tasks, but they can’t both work on the same task for the same toy at the same time.

What would be the lowest possible number of hours during which your employees could carve, paint and package three toys?

TOP DRAWER

You need to empty the contents of two of the five boxes listed below into a bag. Which two will give you the best chance at drawing a red ball at random from the bag?

Box A: 3 red balls, 5 white balls

Box B: 5 red, 6 white

Box C: 7 red, 9 white

Box D: 1 red

Box E: 4 red, 7 white

FIRST IN

Place the letters

A, B and C into this grid so that each letter appears exactly once in each row and column, with two cells in each row and column left blank. Each letter outside the grid indicates the letter that must appear first in its respective row or column (reading inward from the edge of the grid closest to the letter and skipping any blank cells).

STAR SEARCH

Place stars in seven cells of this grid so that every row, every column and every outlined region contains exactly one star. Stars must never be located in adjacent cells, not even diagonally.

Answers

PARTY AT CHARLIE’S

£50 PRIZE QUESTION

Answer published in the February issue

Which of these words is the odd one out?

TOY WORKSHOP

Six hours.

TOP DRAWER

Boxes B and D, which give you a probability of 6/12 (50 per cent) of getting a red ball.

FIRST IN

STAR SEARCH

The first correct answer we pick wins

£50!* Email excerpts@ readersdigest.co.uk

ANSWER TO DECEMBER’S PRIZE QUESTION

AND THE £50 GOES TO… William Cheung, London

Laugh!

Win £30 for every reader’s joke we publish! Go to readersdigest. co.uk/contact-us or facebook.com/readersdigestuk

MY NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION this year is to become more assertive if that’s OK with you guys?

SEEN ON TWITTER

I HAVE NO IDEA HOW CERTAIN foods got invented. Like butter. You need to churn butter. Who messed around with dairy long enough to figure out what was going to happen? And maple syrup. Who saw a tree leaking one day and said, “Check it out, pancake sauce”?

COMEDIAN TIM ROSS

MY UBER DRIVER DIDN’T SAY a word to me during our 45 minute car ride. It’s truly upsetting that they’d

Canine Coppers

Vancouver police’s canine unit released an adorable calendar of their doggy detectives for 2019… (via boredpanda.com)

employ someone like this without giving me the option of rating him six stars.

COMEDIAN NAT BAIMEL

I’VE COME TO UNDERSTAND the essential truths in life: the Indiana Jones films gave me unrealistic body expectations for male archaeologists.

SEEN ON REDDIT

NEW YEAR’S EVE IS ABOUT AS primitive as we get: a bunch of people chanting numbers as our planet completes a revolution around the sun.

SEEN ON REDDIT

I’M A GROWN MAN WHO IS WELL aware of his weaknesses. So when I

eat spaghetti with lots of sauce, I take off my shirt.

And no one at Prezzo understands.

SEEN ON REDDIT

I DON’T WATCH SPORTS, so my idea of fantasy football would just be a bunch of athletic men apologising for bullying me in secondary school.

SEEN ON REDDIT

THEY SAY TO DRESS FOR THE JOB you want, not the job you’ve got, but I suspect walking around dressed like an astronaut clown might close more doors than it opens…

COMEDIAN JOHN GREGORY JR

I WENT TO THE DOCTOR THE OTHER day and he told me that I have an enlarged heart. Call me an optimist, but I like to think that I got that enlarged heart from loving too much.

The doctor assured me it was from binge-drinking and too much sugar, but in my defence I really love both of those things.

COMEDIAN CLINT WERTH

SOMETIMES I WONDER WHAT my grandfather would think about what I do. He spent his whole life working in the kebab business and was buried alongside all his equipment.

He’s probably turning in his grave.

COMEDIAN STEWART FRANCIS

I GOT RECOGNISED TODAY in Dixons. A member of staff came over to me and said, “Hey, you’re that mad bloke off the telly.”

I said, “Yes, that’s me.”

He replied, “No, you’re that mad bloke. Off the telly!”

COMEDIAN LEE MACK

A GEORDIE FRIEND OF MINE advised that when judging southerners, we must always remember that they have not had the benefit of our disadvantages.

COMEDIAN HARRY PEARSON

I WENT TO PARIS RECENTLY, nothing funny happened there.

“So Sarah, why are you telling us about it?”

Hey Big Spenders

We’ve all daydreamed about how we’d spend lottery winnings. Here are some Twitter suggestions:

@KevinTJackson: “I would pay Morgan Freeman to travel around with me and narrate my activities.”

@DaveHolmesTV: “I would finally get my own Netflix subscription and stop using my ex’s password.”

@EwokAbby: “I would pay off all of my student loans and then with the extra £4 I would buy a whopper meal from Burger King.”

@Wood_DRO: “I would buy a rocket ship, fill it with all the mosquitos in the world, then launch it directly into the sun.”

@ChrisOram10: “I would fly the people who believe the Earth is flat into outer space just to point at the Earth and say, ‘Look dummy!’ ”

CROSSWORD ANSWERS

Because otherwise that trip isn’t tax deductible.

COMEDIAN SARAH PASCOE

ONE OF MY EARLIEST MEMORIES is seeing my mother’s face through the oven window. As we played hide and seek she said, “You’re getting warmer.”

COMEDIAN MILTON JONES

THREE PSYCHIATRISTS WHO ARE attending a convention decide to take a walk. “People are always coming to us with their guilt and fears,” one says, “but we have nobody to go to with our problems. Since we’re all professionals, why don’t we hear each other out right now?”

The first psychiatrist confesses, “I’m a compulsive shopper and deeply in debt, so I overcharge my patients as often as I can.”

The second admits, “I have a drug problem that’s out of control and I frequently pressure my patients into buying illegal drugs for me.”

The third chimes in, “I know it’s wrong, but no matter how hard I try I just can’t keep a secret…”

HEIDI CLARK, Yorkshire

I’VE FOUND A NEW WAY TO KNOW IF you’ve put weight on. There’s a car park near me which has a barrier that goes up when it senses a car.

I suppose I was carrying two bags of shopping but still…

COMEDIAN SARAH MILLICAN

Across: 9 Shampoo, 10 Rubella, 11 Prattle, 12 Worried, 13 Italicise, 15 Amaze, 16 Respectable, 20 Nehru, 22 Sun Yat-Sen, 24 Beanbag, 26 Unequal, 27 Destroy, 28 Steamer

Down: 1 Aseptic, 2 Sahara, 3 Upstairs, 4 Loneliness, 5 Brew, 6 Iberia, 7 Ultimate, 8 Waddled, 14 Extinguish, 16 Rehearse, 17 Bracelet, 18 Anybody, 19 Anglers, 21 Unborn, 23 Slummy, 25 Guys.

60-Second

Stand-Up

We chuckle with provocative comedian, Daniel Sloss

WHO INSPIRES YOUR COMEDY? People like John Mulaney, Bill Burr, Mike Birbiglia, a lot of other comedians and my family.

WHAT’S THE BEST PART OF YOUR CURRENT SHOW? I do some funny bits on tampons...

DO YOU FIND ANY PARTS OF THE COUNTRY TO BE FUNNIER THAN OTHERS? They’re not necessarily funnier, but Scotland is always good fun because—being Scottish— anywhere is like a homecoming gig and they’re all absolutely f*****g mental. Wales is always fun too.

WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE ONE LINER? My mum’s sister is antiabortion which is a cruel nickname, but she’s had five.

DO YOU HAVE A MOST MEMORABLE HECKLE? No, I would actively never encourage hecklers. If you see a comedian who seems to be enjoying them on stage, I guarantee you they are just very good actors.

WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE OF YOUR OWN JOKES? My jokes are quite long but my favourite is probably one I did about religion that’s on my special, DARK. It was the first time I ever wrote a joke where I thought, You know what, this is actually a very good joke.

WHICH SUPER POWER WOULD YOU HAVE? Oh, I’d be like Wolverine. But, you would never want me to have superpowers, I would genuinely kill half the people on this planet.

IF YOU WERE A FLY ON THE WALL, WHOSE WALL WOULD IT BE?

Donald Trump, I’d like to see if he’s mental in private. I reckon he’s sad in his private life, and I would really get a kick out of watching him just weeping into a hamburger.

Daniel Sloss: X is touring nationwide, get tickets at danielsloss.com. You can watch his comedy specials DARK and JIGSAW on Netflix now

Beat the Cartoonist!

Think of a witty caption for this cartoon—the three best suggestions, along with the cartoonist’s original, will be posted on our website in mid-January. If your entry gets the most votes, you’ll win £50 Submit to captions@readersdigest.co.uk or online at readersdigest.co.uk/fun-games by January 7.

We’ll announce the winner in our March issue.

November’s Winner

Our cartoonist was left trailing in joint last place this month with his caption: “Please drink responsibly”. Our wise-cracking reader Patricia Lowther managed to knock him off the top spot with her caption: “So Gary, remember all those times you commanded me to beg?” With 68 per cent of the vote, she’s our clear winner. Enter online and you could be the next reader to steal our cartoonist’s crown.

In the February Issue

Interview:

Richard E Grant

The Withnail and I star on friendship, drugs and clothes shopping

“I Remember”: Dr Jane Goodall

The world’s foremost chimpanzee expert looks back on her life

Plus

BEST OF BRITISH: ROMANTIC SPAS

With Valentine’s Day approaching, these are the most romantic spas for a loved-up weekend

LAUGH

...what a way to make a livin’

LOUISE REDKNAPP AMBER DAVIES and BRIAN CONLEY

Music & lyrics by DOLLY PARTON

Book by PATRICIA RESNICK

NATALIE M c QUEEN

Directed by JEFF CALHOUN

Based on the 20th Century Fox Picture. Originally produced on Broadway by Robert Greenblatt, April 2009

OUR WORLD IS YOUR PLAYGROUND