Reader's Digest UK Jan 2020

THE PEOPLE WAGING WAR AGAINST WASTE Eco Warriors

“Acting Helped Me Open Up” DE NIRO Robert Ode To Beethoven 250 Years Of The Musical Genius CULTURE

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Contents

JANUARY 2020

Features

16 IT’S A MANN’S WORLD

Olly Mann celebrates the anniversary of his column with 48 quirky facts about himself

ENTERTAINMENT

20 INTERVIEW: ROBERT DE NIRO

The cinema heavyweight on being an actor, working with Scorsese and social media

28 “I REMEMBER”: AMANDA HOLDEN

The actor and TV presenter reminisces about her childhood and career

HEALTH

38 AGEING WELL

What really works and what doesn’t when it comes to growing older

INSPIRE

56 BEST OF BRITISH: NOURISHING RETREATS

The best places to visit in Britain when your mind and body need a break

68 GOING CARBON NEUTRAL

We meet four inspiring people who are fighting to reduce their carbon footprint

78 BEETHOVEN’S BIRTHDAY

Celebrating 250 years of great music that changed the world

88 RING LEADERS

Dive into the drama and theatrics of women’s wrestling

SENIOR EDITORS Anna Walker, Eva Mackevic

EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Jessica Lone Summers

ART DIRECTOR Richard Cooke

ADVERTISING Jigs Pankhania

MARKETING Sarah Hughes

HEAD OF FINANCE Santwana Singh

FINANCE MANAGER Irving Efren

MANAGING DIRECTOR Julie Leach

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In This Issue…

I’ve always hated the idea of wrestling. All that violence, all that male ego, the silly, tiny costumes. That is until I walked through the doors of London’s Pro-Wrestling: EVE and entered the domain of their “secret girl gang”. From the moment the pink-mohicaned host Emily took to the stage to the throw down of the final match, I was hooked. Women of every size and shape took to the stage—loud, confident powerhouses with control of the raucous crowd held comfortably in the palm of their hands. It’s no wonder that the stars cite wrestling with improving their mental health and self esteem, encouraging them to be loud and bold in a world that so frequently tells women to be seen and not heard. Turn to p90 to go behind the scenes of this one-of-a-kind community.

Music is a thing of wonder—it has the power to console, uplift, inspire and embolden. But most importantly, it’s one of history’s most potent tonics in times of pain or grief. And who, if not Ludwig van Beethoven, is a better example of astonishing art coming from a place of anguish and suffering? One of the original “tortured artists”, his music is complex, emotionally pulverising and all-consuming—but never without glimpses of light, hope and spiritual clarity. This year marks the composer’s 250th birthday and we’re celebrating it on p80 by taking a look at his complicated life, difficult relationships and most monumental works. Whatever your resolutions for the new year—try to make time for a bit of old Ludwig van.

Anna Eva

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Reader’sDigestis published in 27 editions in 11 languages

LETTER OF THE MONTH

What a shame Mick Hucknall

is not in

charge

of this country.

I particularly liked his thoughts on doing better by our youth. We are definitely failing young people, who are deeply concerned about our future.

Humanity is currently causing the sixth mass extinction of species and the global climate system is at the brink of a catastrophic crisis. Its devastating impacts are being felt by millions of people around the globe. Yet we are way off reaching the goals of the Paris Agreement. We have failed young people in the past. If we continue failing them in the future, young people will have to make the changes happen by themselves and that’s not fair.

SALI BURTON, Clwyd

IS THAT LOVE?

Being an avid Squeeze fan I really enjoyed reading “I Remember” with Glenn Tilbrook. Squeeze have experienced many incarnations over the years but Glenn along with writing partner Chris Difford are constants, and together form the band’s nucleus.

It was great to hear about Glenn’s belief that he would somehow make his mark in music despite being a working-class lad from a poor neighbourhood. I wonder if the same opportunities for struggling musicians exist today.

It is great that the band are still touring and fighting injustice for people struggling against poverty. Squeeze were always a band famed for their scathing social commentaries on tracks like “Cool for Cats” and “Up the Junction” and it seems the fire still burns bright in Glenn and the band.

SUSAN DUNLOP, Tyne & Wear

A BUNDLE OF JOY

I really enjoyed your article with Sir Ian McKellen, especially when he said, “Life would be boring without laugher”. I totally agree with him, the most wasted of days is one without laughter.

It was most interesting learning more about him. He’s a national treasure and the foremost actor of his generation and I was enthralled reading this article as he reflected on pride, humour and the power of getting older.

I love people who make me laugh. I honestly think it’s the thing I like the most. It cures a multitude of ills and it’s probably the most important part of a person. We should always find a reason to fill our time with merriment. It may not add years to your life, but will surely add life to your years!

JULIA SCOTT, London

LET’S KEEP ANTIBIOTICS WORKING

LET’S TALK ABOUT IT

Your article about antibiotic resistance made me sit up and take notice. I’m afraid I have been guilty in the past of wanting my doctor to write a prescription for antibiotics when I’ve been suffering from a bad cold/ ear-ache/sore throat/cough and always felt miffed when they didn’t.I now realise that the overuse of antibiotics—especially taking them when they’re not the appropriate course of treatment—promotes the growth of antibiotic resistance.

I noted your advice to combat antibiotic resistance and will be adhering to it in future. I realise I don’t wash my hands regularly enough with soap and water (for 20 seconds)—I now do this especially when I’ve been to the office, on public transport, or to the shops. From now on I will not ask my doctor for antibiotics, I will keep my vaccinations up-to-date and when I fall ill I will stay at home—to name but a few of your suggestions. Thank you for making me see sense.

LOUISE COOPER , Devon

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…differently

Nearly 3 million litres of water per second cascade over the Niagara Falls. Tourists from all over the world come to see this natural spectacle on the border of the United States and Canada. Even in the dead of winter the famous scenery is worthy of a visit. Icy temperatures of more than 20° C below zero ensure that parts of the waterfall freeze in the most spectacular ways. Especially at night, when the massive natural ice sculptures are hit with coloured spotlights and the waterfall transforms into a wintry landscape that seems straight out of a fairy tale.

Photo: © Jim w est/A LA my s tock

Photo

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

Getting To Know You

Astonishingly, it’s the fourth anniversary of this column. I’ve done 48 of these. Forty-eight! But there’s plenty in my head that, frankly, doesn’t justify the 850word treatment. Little fragments of experience that I have yet to share. So, to add to the pile of 48 things you already know about me, here are 48 more:

1 I collect fridge magnets.

2 I have seen every single episode of Dragon’s Den.

3 When I drink Benecol, I pretend it is a shot of vodka.

4 I have a Little Oxford Thesaurus on my desk. It’s not as good as thesaurus.com, but I always check it first, because I like the idea that it might be.

5 I don’t know when it’s appropriate to use cling film and when it’s best to use kitchen foil. I just guess. Every time I put leftovers in the fridge, I guess.

6 I adore NYTCheltenham, the font used by the New York Times.

7 Every time my mum says, "he's a real red under the bed", I can't help but cringe.

8 I never turn down the opportunity to order eggs florentine.

9 My first driving test had to be terminated in the interest of public safety.

10 There is, constantly, a song stuck in my head. Nine times out of ten, it is "Not A Day Goes By", from the uncelebrated Stephen Sondheim musical Merrily We Roll Along. I cannot account for this.

11 However, when I ring the doorbell at Grandma’s house, it is always the 2001 Sugababes single, "Run For Cover", because her chime makes the same sound as the piano in the intro.

12 Until I was 25, I believed buffalo wings were derived from buffalo meat.

13 I think Norton Juster’s 1961 fantasy novel The Phantom Tollbooth is a classic of children’s fiction and cannot understand why the UK resists it.

14 I tried watching Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy but all the men looked the same and then I fell asleep.

15 In my twenties I cut down on laundry by buying £5 T-shirts from H&M and wearing them twice before giving them to a charity shop. Not proud.

16 My career highlight has been meeting Kermit the Frog and this seems unlikely to change any

17 When I was a kid my best mate stole a giant Dairy Milk from KwikSave and I made him smuggle it back in under his jacket.

18 I work using a standing desk.

19 I have never smoked a cigarette.

20 I fail to understand how Factor Two sunscreen is still a thing.

21 I still keep photo albums.

22 As far as I’m concerned, Lindt Lindor chocolate balls are a miracle of capitalism. How can they be that good? And at such a reasonable price! They are quite clearly globalisation’s biggest win.

23 I was once at the same party as Jarvis Cocker

and the idea I could just go up and talk to him made me feel physically sick.

24 When my dad died, he left more than 30 Pritt Sticks. I have no need for them but can’t justify throwing them away.

30 I don’t really get Instagram.

31 I wear shortsleeve shirts from May until October.

32 I harbour an ambition to start a pickled cucumber business.

25 Rice pudding appalls me.

26 Sometimes I avoid reading out Irish names in case I mispronounce them.

27 I do not consider sport to be news.

28 I was once given too much cash at a Bureau De Change and ran off before they noticed. I told myself they would be insured.

29 A girl I liked at university gave me a chance to kiss her, but I was nervous, so I didn’t. This was in 2000. I still think about it.

33 Since holidaying in Normandy, I frequently now add marinated samphire to my burgers.

34 I started painting my shed, then got bored, so now have a half-painted shed.

35 I have a pair of

36 The main reason I enjoy going to the movies alone is not having to share my pick 'n' mix.

37 The hardest thing I have ever done is put fingerless gloves on a toddler.

38 If I ever meet the person who decided McDonald's don't serve mayo, I have a 30-year rant stored up and ready to launch.

39 I don’t like to use my resuable coffee cup in Costa because it’s a

Starbucks one and I can’t deal with the tension.

40 I must spend at least five minutes

per year Googling how to spell "guinea pig".

41 I like printing out invoices on coloured paper to make them seem more fun.

42 I always cry at that bit in The X Factor when Simon Cowell turns up in a limo and tells someone they’re through to finals in front of their nan.

43 I have stolen a mug from every radio station that I’ve worked at.

A Matter Of Perspective

44 My favourite gig ever was Barry Manilow at Wembley Arena.

45 I put mayonnaise on everything— even roast chicken.

46 Dogs do nothing for me.

47 I regularly donate to the Wikipedia page.

48 I enjoy writing lists. I presume, by now, that has become clear? n

The entire world population would only fill a fraction of the space in the Grand Canyon. The total volume of all humans would fill just 490 million of the Canyon's 4.17 trillion cubic metres.

We are surrounded by empty space—within our atoms as well as in the outside world. If we removed all that empty space, the entire world's atoms could fit into a grain of salt.

The world's eight richest people have the same amount of wealth as the world's poorest 50 per cent—that's eight people worth the same amount as 3.6 billion people combined.

Every week, London Underground escalators travel the equivalent distance of two journeys round the Earth.

The first fossil was discovered 25 years after George Washington's death, meaning he never knew dinosaurs existed.

Robert De Niro:

“You Don’t Leave This Business, It Leaves You”

Displaying the versatility that has led him to appear in over 100 movies, Robert De Niro talks Scorsese, reflects on five decades of cinematic brilliance, and surmises the vagaries of social media

Robert De Niro’s tenure at the top table of the movie world encompasses a greater breadth than almost any of his contemporaries. On-screen, he is unquestionably Vito Corleone, and undeniably Travis Bickle. He is Jimmy the Gent, or Jake LaMotta, or any number of the acclaimed characters he has inhabited like a second skin. And yet, for every moody gangster there is a jocular makeweight ensuring a slick equilibrium of dramatic turns.

Films like Midnight Run, Analyse That, and Meet the Fockers showed that his formidable screen persona can also revel in a comic setting. We

laugh simply because we are relieved his characters have a lighter side, even though that sense of menace is always present.

And yet, away from the camera, the Manhattan-born movie icon is known to shun the media and eschew tabloid interest in his private life. To those who grew up watching the actor deliver some of his greatest performances, this disinterest in the press and the paparazzi matters not one bit.

“I’m an actor,” he begins. “I pretend, in almost everything I do professionally. When I go home I can relax and be myself, and I think everyone wants to be themselves without interruptions. I’m flattered

IN THIS BUSINESS, YOU’RE ONLY EVER AS GOOD AS YOUR LAST COUPLE OF PICTURES “ ”

that people are interested in me, but really, it’s not necessary,” he laughs.

Ultimately, there are few actors in Hollywood so utterly dedicated to their craft. It is a devotion and unending drive to reinvent that makes Robert De Niro—or Bobby to his closest friends—one of our enduring acting greats.

But even now in his seventies, with a full five decades of cinematic success to his name, he remains wary of the fleeting nature of fame and fortune.

“The sad fact of this business is that you never ever leave it—it tends to leave you,” he muses. “You are only ever as good as your last couple of pictures, and if you’re causing the financial people to lose money, they don’t want to know. It’s not so much a race to get up to the top, it’s the effort to stay where you are without sliding all the way back down again.”

In truth, it’s been quite a journey since a ten-year-old De Niro first took to the stage as the Cowardly Lion in a school production of The Wizard of Oz. Having left education at 16 to pursue his dream of an acting career, the young hopeful managed a handful of supporting roles in the Sixties, before linking up with upand-coming director and fellow New Yorker Martin Scorsese for his 1973 mob flick, Mean Streets.

“We share the same roots in Little Italy. We both grew up in the area around Mulberry Street, Elizabeth Street and Mott Street. He’s been good for me, and I’ve been very good for him,” De Niro chuckles, with that trademark glint.

That debut collaboration between the two was the first of nine—so far. The potent combination of celebrated director and legendary leading man has spawned some of the pair’s respective masterpieces, including Taxi Driver, Goodfellas and Raging Bull.

“I’ve been very lucky to have known Marty and been able to work with him over the years,” De Niro says. “He’s a very close friend, and in all the years we’ve known each other nothing has changed between us. We’ve done so much together and we’ve always had this great chemistry.”

Although De Niro and Scorsese’s fruitful partnership has spawned some of cinema’s greatest gangster

Mean Streets (1973)

Taxi Driver(1976)

The Godfather II (1974)

RagingBull(1980)

TheKing of Comedy (1983)

Goodfellas (1990)

films, perhaps the most masterful of those mobsters was his portrayal of a young Vito Corleone in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather II. To this day, the character of Don Corleone is the only one to have won two Academy Awards for different actors, with De Niro following in the sizeable footsteps of Marlon Brando’s original, elder patriarch.

It has led De Niro into cult status. While his protestations over shelf life may be relevant for actors a generation beneath him, the actor, who is also an activist, director and producer (1993’s A Bronx Tale and 2006’s The Good Shepherd being two of his finer efforts), has ascended into a realm all of his own. It means that while even catastrophic flops will be forgiven, he also finds himself a sounding board for those moving up the ladder.

“I’ll give advice but only when they ask me,” says the septuagenarian. “I don’t like pushing myself on anyone. I find these young actors are all very professional and my concern sometimes is that they pay me too much respect or treat me with deference.

I’m just passing it on—in the old days I would ask actors who were a generation ahead of me questions about the business that you only get to know about if you’ve been around for a while. I got a lot of advice from older actors too. I don’t know if my advice is any good, but I hope so.

BEING AN ACTOR CAN TAKE YOU PLACES, BUT YOU NEVER LOSE SIGHT OF WHO YOU REALLY ARE “ ”

“Of course the industry evolves so quickly this days—big screen, small screen, special effects, prequels, sequels—and this is coming from the perspective of someone who is slowing down.”

Towards the end of 2019, De Niro took centre stage in The Irishman. He takes on the role of Frank Sheeran, a mafia hit man rumoured to have been involved in the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa and the assassination of John F Kennedy. The result is a high-expense, driven thriller, with a dynamic leading man, direction from Scorsese and everything else you would expect of De Niro’s return to form. So much for slowing down…

Away from the big screen, it’s easy to allow De Niro’s bewildering array of characters to confuse. The thought of the actor on social media or firing Whatsapp message to a loved one is

perverse, but the sort of bullishness evident in the vast majority of his characters makes him the perfect late adopter.

“I use Facebook, I use a computer. I’ve got a smartphone although I tried to

hold out against that; but when you have children they always want to send you messages.

My children and grandchildren are texting all the time, but I usually send them emails rather than text messages.

Casino (1995)

Meet The Fockers (2004)

The Irishman (2019)

And I’d always rather use a phone and talk to people.

Of course, I appreciate the advantages of these kinds of devices. It’s much faster and more efficient— but communication is something I like to do face-to-face… I’m an actor, after all.”

From his first paid acting job as a 19-year-old in Brian De Palma’s The Wedding to quitting work as a waiter to seek out Scorsese (then returning to the restaurant environment to poach Al Pacino from front of house for a part in Raging Bull), De Niro’s voice resounds louder than almost all others, even if that killer shyness still shines through.

“Being an actor can take you to certain places, but you will never lose sight of who you really are,” he says. “When I was a kid I was pretty quiet—I didn’t talk much to people and stuck to myself. That’s one of the reasons I went to acting school

because it helped me open up and become less reserved, but I am still that same person.”

And while The Irishman, for instance, is another glimpse back to old-school De Niro, his career focus has long since been replaced by the yearning he feels to be a doting father to his six children.“I want them to look at my movies and get an overview of what I can do, and what I have done over all these years; but I do tell them, ‘this is not real—the rest of the world doesn’t live that way, so get real,’ ” he says.

And yet his admirers demand more, unwilling to tear their eyes from his unyielding talents. Being fiercesome, foreboding and supremely confident on one side; comedic, playful and farcical on the other, is no mean feat, and De Niro has it as much in his locker now as he ever did.

“People ask me my proudest moment across all those roles— simply, they are all my best because I got the opportunity to play them in the first place.

I’ve never been able to predict what was going to happen next or how things were going to turn out. I’m just happy that I’m still here, and that I’m healthy and can keep on working. That’s about it… end of interview.” n

De Niro, Scorsese and Al Pacino

I REMEMBER… Amanda Holden

Presenter, singer, actress of stage and screen, model, Britain’s Got Talent judge and Heart Radio host– is there any medium Amanda Holden, 48, can’t master? She reflects on her life and career…

I GREW UP IN QUITE A RURAL PART OF HAMPSHIRE but became so influenced by music, drama and entertainment. I was a proper child of the late Seventies and Eighties— ABBA, Showaddywaddy and, a bit later, Madonna. Essentially, if it was in the charts, it was playing in the house. On top of that I also loved opera and musicals—The Sound of Music was a firm favourite. Overall though, if I had to pick one artist from my childhood it would be Barry Manilow! A few years ago I got to interview him when

I covered for Holly Willoughby on This Morning and, well, he’s iconic for me. I think at first he thought I was taking the mickey out of him but then he quickly realised that I’m actually a bit of a stalker-fan!

WE NEVER MINDED THE FACT WE DIDN’T HAVE MUCH when we were growing up because we didn’t really compare what we had to others.

I think these days, with the internet, especially, there is such a disconnect between those who have a lot and

Posing for the camera, aged 22

those who don’t. It wasn’t like that when I was young—you focused on your own little circle and you all had the same bikes, beauty sets, toys. Those who had lots of stuff were usually just the kids you saw on the telly, and almost always in the US. Britain was a place where everyone seemed to have the same sort of upbringing. I don’t think that’s totally untrue today, despite what people say.

MY DAD LEFT WHEN WE WERE YOUNG

but I never felt as though we suffered. I would hear my mum crying at night, but that was the only glimpse

she ever gave that something was wrong. In every other way we got on with it, we never felt affected, and life was “normal”.

OUR KITCHEN CUPBOARDS NEVER HAD BISCUITS IN THEM!

Mum didn’t approve of snacks or crisps or any of that stuff, so we all grew up rather healthily. At the time I was in awe of the treats my mates had in their lunch boxes because my mum didn’t sign up for that stuff, but looking back I’m glad of that now.

“MEAT IS MURDER”… so the track by The Smiths goes. The Manchester

Starring in Suspicious Circumstances (1993)

Appearing on Blind Date, aged 19

four-piece were so original, talented and wonderfully moody, even though the indie scene was a world away from the sort of music I had been listening to beforehand. Lead singer Morrissey was actually a big influence on me in my teenage years.

The vegetarian movement was really growing and we would sport badges bemoaning the slaughter of animals. I’d never really eaten meat and I’ve never been tempted since. I think it’s brilliant that it’s so accepted these days.

At home now I end up cooking maybe three or four different food types because I’m a vegetarian and so is one of my daughters—the other one isn’t and my husband Chris likes

meat. So I’ll make meat, pasta or fish. Chris complains about my cooking, but I say: “Excuse me, I’ve put four dishes on the table and you’ve got starters, what more do you want?!”

THE

MOST EXCITING

TIME OF

MY LIFE WAS WHEN I MOVED TO LONDON and started attending Mountview Theatre School in Wood Green. I’d get the bus there each day from Primrose Hill, where I lived with my fiancé in a really pokey basement flat.

It was very exciting to be in this place where there was so much going on… so much wealth and fame and a 24-hour buzz of activity. More than

that though, it was the sense of potential and expectation that really made living in the capital so exciting. We felt we could conquer anything and achieve everything.

AT THE AGE OF 19 I APPEARED

ON BLIND DATE. I’d seen an audition poster and, being dramatic and quite loud, I went along for a laugh. I was actually down as a reserve, but someone was forced to pull out, which left me centre-stage, so to speak. I was actually engaged at the time, but it was all done for a laugh and the producers knew I wasn’t single. It was a great experience and it still gets brought up a lot. I’m both embarrassed about it and extremely proud!

GETTING A BRILLIANT CASTING AGENT HELPED ME SO MUCH.

The man in question was Patrick Hambleton of Jane Lehrer Associates. He said he liked the fact I was loud, a bit inappropriate and not afraid to speak my mind.

People have always taken that as a way of standing out from the crowd and being bolshie, but I’m actually quiet and shy inside, and for years my way of combatting that was to be the exact opposite.

WHEN I FIRST STARTED DATING

LES DENNIS I decided to stop getting upset about the way I looked. We had both been through a lot and met at a

With Les Dennis on their wedding day

time that was perfect for both of us. I think that contributed to this feeling I had where I decided it was pointless worrying what other people thought, and that was a moral I took into other aspects of my career, such as when reading reviews of stage performances I’d done. Nowadays, my looks are the thing that upset me the least.

When you’re on television, everyone thinks you must care about it, but I really don’t. It’s more if there’s something going on with the children or if a particular person has disappointed me—that’s what tends to gets me upset. I just do my “breath of fire” and lots of other breathing exercises that I’ve learned from yoga.

I’VE ALWAYS TAKEN A RELATIVELY SIMPLISTIC VIEW OF HEALTH AND FITNESS , and that’s been important, because I just wasn’t prepared for the scrutiny that comes with being in the spotlight, and the extent to which people feel they can comment on how you look.

It annoys me, if I’m honest, to read about other celebrities saying, “my nan is very slim, my sister is very slim and my mum is slim so I think it’s a genetic thing”. I am a healthy eater by default because I’m a vegetarian. I don’t ever have half fat anything because I don’t believe in that. I love wine. I think what I do is, if I indulge on one day, then I make sure I’m very healthy the next day.

Appearing on Britain’sGotTalent with fellow judges, David Walliams, Alesha Dixon and Simon Cowell

GETTING THE CALL TO DO BRITAIN’S GOT TALENT WAS MOMENTOUS FOR ME. Simon Cowell and I met for dinner and since he has always joked that I drank too much and he had to call me a cab home. I think it was the other way round. What first struck me about Simon is the fact it’s so easy to be in his company. Sure, he’s an industry heavyweight, but he has a wicked sense of humour and I admire the confidence he carries about him.

THE THING I LOVE ABOUT THE SHOW is it reminds me of when I started out and what my aspirations were; the countless auditions I’ve been to where I was told “no.”

SIMON COWELL HAS BEEN ONE OF THE MOST INSPIRATIONAL PEOPLE IN MY CAREER. He’s like a bumble bee—he’s literally got about seven sets of eyes. Simon knows absolutely everything that’s going on, everywhere, at all times.

And he never forgets anything either, even ten years after the event, so you really need to watch what you say!

MY GREATEST ACHIEVEMENT IN LIFE is undoubtedly my family. My husband Chris, and my daughters Lexi and Hollie, are the people who make everything I do worthwhile, every single day. n

As told to Violet Wilder

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• Bupa health insurance allows you to adapt aspects of your policy to help suit your needs and your budget

Why Bupa?

• Over 70 years’ experience

• From cataracts to cancer, muscle niggles to mental health problems, you can call Bupa direct - usually without the need to see a GP first†

• 24/7 health advice with Bupa Anytime HealthLine. No matter what time of day it is you can get advice from one of Bupa’s trained nurses

• Access to breakthrough cancer drugs‡

How Bupa can help

Bupa’s purpose is helping people live longer, healthier, happier lives. They cover a range of mental health conditions and can provide access to a nationwide network of clinical resources for physical problems.

“Mental

health issues can a ect us at any age and it’s important to seek support without delay, as early diagnosis and treatment can improve recovery rates. If you or a loved one is struggling with mental health, it’s important to seek medical help.

Bupa’s Mental Health Direct Access o ers fast access to a specialist without the need for a GP referral.”

Pablo Vandenabeele, Clinical Director for Mental Health at Bupa UK.

Call 0808 271 1679^ today to request a quote or visit bupa.co.uk/readers-digest

^We may record or monitor our calls. Lines are open Monday to Friday 8am to 8pm and Saturday 9am to 12.30pm.

*Applies to eligible Readers Digest members on quotes for new Bupa By You policies. Discount will be reviewed on 10/09/2020 and any changes will apply to renewals and new quotes thereafter. Quotes are valid for 14 days. Terms and conditions apply †Direct Access telephone services are available as long as the symptoms are covered under the policy. If your cover excludes conditions you had before your policy started, we’ll ask you to provide evidence from your GP that your symptoms are not preexisting for a period of up to two years from policy start date (or five years in the case of mental health) before we can refer you to a consultant or therapist through the Direct Access service. For rolling moratorium underwritten members we will ask for evidence each time you claim for a condition not claimed for before. Always call us first to check your eligibility.

‡With Bupa’s full cancer cover. Applies to eligible breakthrough cancer drugs and treatments that are covered by your policy, often before they are available on the NHS or approved by NICE as long as they are evidence-based.

Age Well HOW TO

What really works and what doesn’t

By Tara Parker-Pope

While you can’t control getting older, the good news is you can slow the decline of ageing by making smart choices along the way. And it’s never too late to start. From the foods you eat and how you exercise to your friendships and retirement goals, there are simple and effective ways to keep your body tuned up and your mind tuned in.

First, a note about weight. Losing just five per cent of your body weight has been shown to reduce your risk of diabetes and heart disease and improve metabolic function in liver, fat and muscle tissue. While we’d all love to shed all of our extra pounds, it’s a lot easier to start with a five per cent weight loss goal and keep it off.

WHAT YOU EAT

Studies have found that eating one serving of processed meat a day, like bacon, sausage and deli meats, was associated with a 42 per cent higher risk of heart disease and 19 per cent increased risk of diabetes; other research has implicated processed meats in a higher risk for colorectal cancer. Processed meats have on average four times more sodium and 50 per cent more nitrate preservatives than unprocessed meats.

Overall, the best strategy is to skip all processed foods and beverages. This will immediately eliminate added sugars from your

diet. But how do you know if a food is processed? One good indicator is if it comes packaged. Of course, some whole, unprocessed foods that are good for you come in packages. Think nuts, eggs, olive oil and milk— to name a few. Try to live by the one ingredient rule. If a packaged food contains only one ingredient (ground turkey, for instance) it’s probably a reasonable choice.

There’s a lot to be said for eating blueberries on a regular basis as well as other dark-colored fruits, and vegetables. A high consumption of all fruits and vegetables has been shown to lower blood pressure and reduce your risk for diabetes. Once you cut out packaged foods, you will start eating a lot more fruits and vegetables, lean meats and whole grains, which has been shown to be good for you.

WHAT ABOUT SUPPLEMENTS?

Study after study has seemed to debunk the benefit of taking supplements. Here's the best advice: photo, previous spread and this one: ©shutterstock

save the money you would spend on them and invest in a new pair of walking shoes, a gym membership or a delicious healthy meal with your family and other loved ones. All of those are likely to do more for your emotional and physical health than a supplement.

MOVE

A body in motion will age better than one on the sofa. Consider these tips for exercise as you age.

In recent years, high-intensity interval training has generated considerable attention. This type of workout, typically lasting less than 15 minutes, and including a warm-up and cool-down, but has been shown

in multiple studies to provide health and fitness benefits that are the same as or greater than an hour or more of continuous and relatively moderate exercise.

A Mayo Clinic study published in 2017 found that interval training led to changes in muscles at the cellular level, essentially reversing the natural decline that occurs with ageing. Even if you’re not an exerciser, it’s not too late to start. In the study, older people’s cells responded more robustly to intense exercise than the cells of the young did.

Weight lifting can help you maintain muscle mass and stronger bones as you age. And the good news is you don’t have to lift weights like a body builder to reap the benefits.

Scientists have found that a light weight-lifting routine is equally as effective at increasing muscle mass and strength, as lifting very heavy weights. The key is lifting the weight enough times to grow tired, not the heaviness of the weights themselves. Strength training can also help keep you from slowing down. Focus on strengthening muscles in the calves and ankles.

During a 2017 study, researchers looked at the neurological effects of country dancing with those of walking and other activities. Male and female study participants in their sixties and seventies were divided into activity groups that included brisk walking, a programme of gentle stretching and toning work, and a dancing group.

The dance group practised increasingly intricate countrydance choreography. Each participant learned and alternated between two roles for each dance, increasing the cognitive challenge. After six months, scans showed that while cerebral white matter (a major factor in brain ageing) had decreased in the other groups, it had actually increased in the cognitivelychallenging dance group, suggesting that activities that involve moving and socialising and thinking have the potential to perk up an ageing brain.

YOGA AND MEDITATION

If you don’t have the ability to take part in vigorous activity, a routine of yoga and meditation may strengthen thinking skills and help to stave off ageing-related mental decline.

One study compared people who took part in a yoga programme that included meditation with those using memory enhancement exercises. Those who practised yoga and meditation did better on a test of visuospatial memory, a type of memory that is vital for navigating while walking or driving and recalling locations. In reviewing the brain scans, researchers found those who had practised yoga had increased their brain connectivity and, thus, had more communication between different parts of the brain.

USE YOUR BRAIN

Most of what we do to keep our bodies fit is also good for the brain. Learning while moving may be a potent way to slow the effects of ageing, strengthening both the body and the mind at the same time.

TAP INTO YOUR INNER ARTIST

Art can inspire an ageing body and mind but there is evidence of the benefit of art for ageing. A study sorted active seniors aged 65 and

older into an intervention group and a control group. The control group maintained its usual activities, the intervention group was assigned to an intensive community-based art programme, painting, creative writing, jewellery making, pottery and singing in a choir. They met weekly for art instruction and also attended concerts and art exhibits.

At the end of the study, the participants in the art programme enjoyed better health, used less medication and had fewer doctor visits compared with the control group. The artists teaching the programs described how the participants were exhilarated by the process and they were

motivated to continue after each creative endeavour.

TAKE YOUR MEDS

An extraordinary number of people don’t take their prescribed medications. Studies show that 20 to 30 per cent of medication prescriptions are never dispensed at a pharmacists, and that approximately 50 per cent of medications are not taken as prescribed.

Here’s the bottom line: if you’ve gone through the trouble to visit a doctor to check on your health, why not follow through and take your meds and put yourself on a path toward better ageing.

CONNECT

Staying in touch with family and friends—and forming new relationships—can keep you healthier longer and may add years to your life.

A large body of scientific research shows that social interaction—having strong, happy relationships with family, friends and community members—is an important factor in good health and longevity.

Friendships can get you through the inevitable health setbacks that occur with ageing. Friends and family give us emotional support that can help us cope with stress. Perhaps most important: as we age, our friends and family give us a sense of purpose and a reason to keep getting up in the morning.

Studies show that people who keep working past retirement age, tend to have better health and stay more

socially connected. But it’s tough to parse out whether healthy people tend to keep working or whether work tends to keep us healthy. Even so, most research supports the idea that staying busy, maintaining social connections and finding meaning and purpose in your daily routine are all part of healthy ageing. Studies also suggest that the type of work matters. If you find work fulfilling and enjoy the company of your colleagues, you should consider sticking with it. If your job is backbreaking or high stress, consider checking out around retirement age—but make a plan for your second act. Volunteer or find paid work somewhere that will keep you active, engaged and give you a reason to get up in the morning. The main benefit of work—[and volunteering]—may be the social network it offers. n this version was condensed b Y reader's digest cop Y right © 2018 b Y new York times co

Fast and furious facts

Were you aware of these mind-bending facts about car racing?

A Formula 1 car’s exhaust gets hot enough to melt aluminium

The manhole covers in Monaco have to be welded down prior to an F1 race, or the cars will literally suck them up

The average Formula 1 pit stop is less than three seconds

A top fuel dragster hits 300 mph in just over three seconds flat

SOURCE:THRILLIST.COM

BREAKING BAD HABITS

There's no time like the start of a new year to get working on a better, healthier you. Susannah Hickling advises on where to begin

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

1Making excuses not to exercise Too tired to drag yourself to the gym? Not enough time to squeeze in a swim? Fitness doesn’t always have to involve lengthy training sessions. Short bursts of exercise can be beneficial too. For example, go for a shorter walk, but introduce some jogging in the middle, or walk faster between two landmarks— trees, for example. And remember that vacuum cleaning, gardening and climbing stairs can also improve fitness.

2

Not eating enough veg

A 2017 survey found that only 29 per cent of adults ate the recommended five fruit and veg a day. Sneak veggies into your diet to up your quota. Try cauliflower cheese or add broccoli to your mac and cheese. Swap potatoes, which don’t count towards your five a day, for sweet potatoes, which do.

3Overeating before bed

Late night snacking has been implicated in obesity, diabetes and possibly even heart disease. It’s better to eat earlier in the day when you’re more likely to burn calories, and get to bed sooner so you have less opportunity to give in to the late-night munchies. Ideally, eat nothing between dinner and bedtime.

4Skimping on your ZZZs

Not getting enough sleep at night can be harmful for health, potentially leading to weight gain, diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure. To make sure you're well rested every night, make a new habit—set an alarm for half an hour before you plan to go to bed. This will give you more time to get ready and more sleep time.

5Drinking too many units

Do you regularly flout the recommended weekly 14-unit limit? Consider how you can cut back. Rather than the two alcohol-free days

a week that experts advise, have three. Or resolve to drink only at weekends—but don’t binge drink.

6Being on a perpetual diet

Have you tried every diet under the sun but seem unable to lose weight, or keep it off? Relearn how to eat instead. Stop eating just before you feel satisfied. Drink plenty of water to help you feel fuller and don’t forget that alcohol, juices and many soft drinks are laden with calories. Always eat breakfast.

7Being addicted to your phone

Smartphones can be a terrible time waster. What’s more, too much social media can make you feel dissatisfied with life or wracked with fear of missing out—"FOMO". Restrict your screen time with an app, such as Apple’s built-in Screen Time or Flipd for Android. Or simply turn off distracting notifications or delete apps from your phone and only use them on your computer.

8Being negative

It’s one of the biggest barriers to maintaining good habits—and to your sense of wellbeing generally. Try to combat the self-criticism by finding three positive thoughts for every negative notion that pops into your head.

For more weekly health tips and stories, sign up to our newsletter at readersdigest.co.uk

Help For Headaches

What can you do about that throbbing in your noggin?

The best way to combat it is to take a painkiller, such as paracetamol, ibuprofen or aspirin as soon as you feel a headache coming on. Don’t wait until it becomes a real thumper. Avoid looking at a screen and don’t drink alcohol. Both are likely to increase the pain. Drink plenty of water, as dehydration can trigger or worsen headaches, and try to relax,

as stress aggravates headaches.

Try this routine when you have a headache: stand up, bend forward from the hips and place your forehead on a padded chair. Hold for about 30 seconds. When you rise, sit down and spread your fingers through your hair, making a fist. Gently pull the hair away from your head, hold for two or three seconds, then release. This stretches the fascia, the fibrous tissue along your scalp, releasing tension. Continue to grab different clumps of hair all over your head, working from the top front of your head and on to the sides, and then to the back.

That covers the cures; what about the causes? Most of the time, headaches are nothing to worry about. Common triggers are lack of or too much sleep, eyesight problems and of course too much booze the night before! Stress and colds can give you a headache too, as can— and this might surprise you—too many painkillers.

You should visit the GP if you suddenly start to get headaches when you never used to (especially if you’re over 50). If you get blindness, paralysis, numbness or have difficulty speaking or remembering things along with the pain, or if you suddenly get a very severe headache, then this is a medical emergency. The same applies if you are ill with a high temperature and have a stiff neck or a rash as well as a headache.

Ask The Expert: Plant-Based Diets

Dr Carrie Ruxton has over 20 years’ experience as a registered dietitian and nutrition consultant

How did you become an authority on diet and nutrition? I have a degree in dietetics and a PhD in child nutrition. Since then I’ve probably worked with every food group known to man! I’ve worked with the food industry, trade bodies and the NHS.

What are the advantages of a plantbased diet? Plants contain more fibre. Many people only have 10-12g of the recommended 30g daily amount. Also, plants contain phytonutrients— plant compounds that have actions in the body. For example, hesperidin in citrus fruits is a polyphenol that promotes friendly bacteria in the gut. It then gets absorbed and can lower blood pressure. Plant-based diets are a good source of minerals, such as potassium, which also helps with blood pressure control.

What are the disadvantages? Once you start to give up food groups—meat, fish, eggs or all animal products—you’re restricting. The more you restrict, the less choice your body has of the sources of nutrients. We’re animals ourselves and animal

products are easily absorbed and used. For example, iron in red meat is more easily absorbed and used by our bodies than iron in spinach.

What should people consider before switching to a vegan or vegetarian diet? Are there any changes you can make to your current animal-based diet to boost the plant content? For example, I make chilli con carne and it’s stocked full of veggies and a whole tin of kidney beans. If you cut out all animal products, you need to think about the nutritional consequences. Most plant proteins don’t have all the amino acids required for health.

How can they get all the nutrients they need? Get a decent vegan or vegetarian cookbook to make sure you’re mixing the different sources of protein in your diet and not missing other nutrients. Iron is one of the important ones. Have a glass of juice with your main meal—vitamin C boosts iron absorption. Also consider a multivitamin supplement alongside your diet. n

A Dead Giveaway

Dr Max Pemberton ponders the possibility that we’re wasting our life after death

Max is a hospital doctor, author and columnist. He currently works full time in mental health for the NHS.

His new book, The Marvellous Adventure of Being Human, is out now

Iam writing this month with a request from a friend, Ruby. I have known Ruby since my first week at medical school and we have been close ever since. She’s a thoroughly decent person and a fantastic doctor, so I’m happy to help her out on this occasion. She would like your body. Not precisely at this moment, obviously—I’m sure you’ve got things planned today, no doubt. Besides, she’s only interested in your body when you’re dead. She’s so desperate for dead bodies that she’s threatened to place an advert in the local paper: “30-year-old, tall, brunette, attractive, seeks body, any body, dead. All offers considered”.

Thankfully, she decided against this course of action which is a relief as I can only imagine the sort of responses she would have received.

You’d think that—since being dead is the one thing that’s guaranteed for all of us—she’d have her pick of bodies, but apparently not. I should add at this point that Ruby is a surgeon. In years to come, she will be wielding the knife when we need our tumours or gallbladders removed or our hips replaced. While she has completed all her examinations in

surgery, there still comes the tricky question of getting some practice in.

The problem she faces (as do all trainee surgeons and medical students in this country), is that we as a nation really don’t like to think about dead bodies, least of all our own. As a result, recruiting people to donate their bodies to medical science has always been difficult. But the problems have become more acute over the past few years for complex social and political reasons.

There was a marked decrease in the number of donations in 2001 after the organ retention scandal which shook the public’s confidence in pathology—the level of donations has never really recovered. It has also been suggested that as our society has become more secular, more emphasis has been put on the importance of our body so people are reticent about leaving their bodies to be dissected.

In addition to this, the government has increased the number of medical students and opened several new medical schools in recent years, so the demand for cadavers has increased, just as the number of donations has dropped. Add on the necessary caution that has to be taken over conditions such as MRSA, and you find that not all bodies donated are suitable.

We, as a nation, are facing a crisis. As a result, many medical schools can now no longer offer students

human dissection, and have had to resort to group demonstrations or using plastic models.

SHE’S SO DESPERATE FOR DEAD BODIES

ADVERT IN THE LOCAL PAPER THAT SHE’S THREATENED TO PLACE AN

All medical students benefit from human dissection, regardless of the discipline they’ll specialise in. Even in psychiatry, I frequently rely on my anatomical knowledge, not just of the brain but when dealing with physical ailments that patients come to me with. But clearly the need is greatest for surgeons.

The Royal College of Surgeons has warned that the situation is so dire—with London medical schools alone reporting a shortfall of 40 per cent—that if there was not a dramatic increase in the number of donations, patients could be put at risk through doctors not having enough anatomical understanding. So think about it. As much as I love Ruby, I’d much rather have her practise on me when I’m dead than when I’m alive, and I’m sure you would too. n

The Doctor Is In

Dr Max Pemberton

Q: For the last couple of years any time I am out in the sun I become itchy all over, as if I am covered in tiny ants. There’s no visible rash but the itching is driving me insane—what could be causing it?

—Adrian,

59

A: I sympathise with you because I get this too. It’s commonly called prickly heat or heat rash, while its medical name is miliaria rubra. It’s caused by sweat becoming trapped under the skin. It’s actually more common in children than adults, because children’s sweat glands are still developing so the immature glands are more likely to trap sweat.

The reason why it affects some people but not others isn’t clear. The main symptoms are; an itchy, prickly feeling when hot or sweating, redness, swelling of the skin or small red spots on the affected area that either develop immediately or in a day or so.

It’s not infectious and although unpleasant and uncomfortable, it is

usually harmless and clears up on its own in a few days.

Keeping the skin cool is the most important thing. Wear loose clothing, avoid direct exposure to sunlight and doing strenuous activities or exercise in the heat as this increases sweating and therefore increases the risk of prickly heat.

To calm the itching, some people find camomile lotions helps, or an antihistamine. Sometimes a mild steroid cream is prescribed. A damp, cold towel applied to the area can also help, and avoid using perfume or creams, particularly those containing petroleum or mineral oil as these are more likely to cause the sweat glands to block. Unfortunately, the most sure-fire way of avoiding prickly heat is to avoid the sun as much as possible so stay indoors and avoid peak times when the sun is at its most powerful. n

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

Did you know that one in four adults aged 55 and over tell no one if they’re struggling with

their mental health?

Leading UK health insurer, Bupa, has found baby-boomers are neglecting their wellbeing. They want to help more people access support for mind and body.

An issue that shouldn’t be ignored

Two thirds of the over 55s reported experiencing mental health issues. Yet, many keep quiet. One in four (27%) tell nobody, with fewer confiding in a partner or friend than younger generations and less than half consulting a doctor.1 Even those who do seek help delay by over 50 days on average.

Why they feel unable to act

Lack of action stems from a lack of awareness that the symptoms could indicate a mental health problem. Less than one in three over 55s feel confident in recognising the symptoms, compared to nearly half of 18-34-year-olds.2

Opinium Research conducted among 2,152 UK adults, 19-22 March 2019.

How Bupa can help

Not only do Bupa cover more mental health conditions than any other leading UK health insurer†, they provide continued support from specialists through life’s ups and downs.

READER OFFER

To help support more people in mind and body, Bupa offer 10% off* Bupa By You health insurance. To get a quote, call 0808 302 4214 or visit bupa.co.uk/ readers-digest

184% of 18-34-year olds tell at least one person about their symptoms. 43% tell a partner and 50% tell a friend, compared to 33% and 28% respectively for over 55s.

231% of over 55s said they were fully aware of depression and 26% are fully aware of anxiety, compared to 46% and 46% respectively for 18-34s.

†As of May 2019, based on internally conducted research of the consumer health insurance market. Refers to standard mental health cover when this is included in the selected health cover product.

*Applies to Reader’s Digest members on quotes for new Bupa By You policies. Discounts will be reviewed on 10/09/2020 and any changes will apply to renewals and new quotes thereafter. Quotes are valid for 14 days. T&Cs apply.

Reader’s Digest introduces Bupa health insurance. Bupa health insurance is provided by Bupa Insurance Limited. Bupa Insurance Limited is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority.

HEALTH

Don’t just leave yourself reminders: rehearse your success—says our memory expert, Jonathan Hancock

How To Remember The Future

One of the trickiest recall tasks is called prospective memory: remembering what you want or need to do, in time to do it. The reason it so often fails is that we have an idea in mind, but don’t make it into a memory. A thought occurs, we resolve to act on it “soon” and then, when the time comes, the idea’s gone.

Diaries and alarms help, but your imagination plays a vital role in holding onto fleeting thoughts and keeping you in control of your future plans.

For example, don’t just have an idea about going to the bank. Paint a mental picture of yourself there—and actively make it memorable. Perhaps you’re leaving the bank laden with shiny gold bars. Or maybe, your local branch is Gringotts HQ!

But that’s only the beginning—this process allows you to do much more than just reminding yourself to do things. You can use it to do them better.

Try it now. Pick an important event on the horizon: a driving test, a public speech or a difficult conversation. Then, from the safety of your armchair, create a vivid “memory” of how you’d like it to go—and, crucially, how you’d like to feel. Creating “memories” like this gives you time to think about practical arrangements and spot any problems before they arise. A part of your brain will still be processing the details even when you’re thinking about other things.

Here are some tips:

• Experiment to see if you prefer viewing this “mental movie” through your own eyes, or by watching yourself from someone else’s point of view.

• Control the time frame. Fast-forward any parts you find easy, and go in slowmotion for the bits that need extra work.

• Use your full range of senses. Engaging them all will create a rich, multidimensional memory.

• Engage with all the emotions at play.

Maximise the feelings that will help you most in your scenario. With every repetition, turn your confidence up a notch.

Jonathan’s new book, The Study Book, is out now from John Murray Learning

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REVIVING

RETREATS

With the masses exclaiming, “New Year, new me” and promising dramatic changes, taking a calmer approach might actually be the best way forward. Put less pressure on yourself and invest in a little me-time with these outstanding retreats

Words Jessica Lone Summers

Eco Yoga

ARGYLL, SCOTLAND

This year prophesies an even bigger jump towards being environmentally friendly. Anyone wishing to holiday without the carbon footprint should seriously consider retreating to EcoYoga in the dazzling Scottish countryside. You’ll be engrossed from the start with the numerous yoga choices; receiving tutelage on everything from Ashtanga to Yin and Hatha Yoga.

Says owner Nick Loening, “EcoYoga is a 100 per cent renewably-powered yoga retreat centre. We have a genuine commitment to sustainability and deeply care for our guests. It’s a wonderful getaway. A place to soak away your stresses, invest in yourself and rejuvenate completely.”

After educating your body and mind, depart to the spa dome, Japanese hot tub and outdoor bathing spot where— no matter the weather—you’ll be unswervingly tempted to take a warm dip.

ecoyoga.org

FitAgain

DORSET

What could be more in keeping with your New Year’s resolutions than a retreat that boosts your exercise regime, endorphins and mental health?

Located in picturesque West Dorset, FitAgain is run by a wife and husband duo with a combined service of 38 years in the Royal Navy, who now focus on nutrition, adventure-filled exercise and motivational speaking to keep their guests’ minds and bodies alert.

Says co-founder Lucy Watkinson, “The retreat gives people a toolbox of

emotional skills as well learning the correct form and techniques surrounding fitness, such as: HITT sessions, hiking, wild swims, yoga, reflexology and much more. We truly care about the people who come to us so we give them as much help as we can post-retreat. We want to continue their goals when they’re back in their normal hectic day to day lives, using ongoing three-month support through our FitAgain app.”

fitagain.co.uk/retreat

Arvon Writers’ Retreat

SHROPSHIRE

Every writer dreads the sensation of longing to write, but sitting down to do just that and duly getting distracted/losing inspiration/not settling on one idea (tick whichever applies). And, as frustrating as this may be, it’s not always the fault of the writer—what’s really needed is a little encouragement and relaxation.

Enter The Clockhouse, encased by 26 acres of woodland you’ll be spoilt with awe-inspiring walks—the kind that completely surround you with

chirruping sounds of the countryside, and stimulate your mind.

Simplicity is the key with this retreat. Delectable meals are provided and are enjoyed with other writers, luxurious yet understated bedrooms will inspire rather than distract and the workshop and library will give you pockets of inventive vision every time you venture in.

arvon.org/writing-courses/ clockhouse-retreats

Wild & Free CORNWALL

This women-only retreat aims to reconnect you with the earth while you navigate the waves and calm your mind through yoga, all within the stunning scenery of Cornwall’s coastline. It focuses on “re-wilding” yourself, aka re-establishing your lost connection with nature through surf lessons, morning Vinyasa Flow, kayaking, sleeping under the stars in luxury yurts, and exploring your feminine psyche. After bracing the English sea, the sauna and jacuzzi

beckon—glass of wine in hand—and will be highly deserved.

For the female adventurer who needs a short sabbatical from her lively career and home life, this trip is a love letter to yourself. It’s a chance to breathe without interruption, explore new activities without judgement, and wholly focus on oneself before returning— rejuvenated—to daily life. wildandfreeadventures.co.uk/ cornwallsurfandyoga

Sharpham Trust Walking Retreat

DEVON

Situated in 550 acres of land next to the River Dart sitting in a Capability Brown garden lives Sharpham House, an imposing 17th century example of English Palladian architecture. It is here that you will learn about mindfulness, both through quiet contemplation and seven-eight mile walks around the estate grounds.

Says manager Ben Ballard, “Mindfulness isn't just about sitting on a cushion. It's about developing an awareness for what's happening around

you, and being in the Devonshire landscape can really assist this, particularly if you've come from an urban environment.”

Here, you’ll concentrate on understanding the land, appreciating its history and bringing your hectic mind to a place of acceptance and peace, all while learning about the importance of caring for our environment and aiming to live a sustainable life. sharphamtrust.org

Lake Isle Retreats

FERMANAGH, NORTHERN IRELAND

For those who imbibe peace by immersing themselves in others’ culture, what could be more refreshing than a retreat spent with monks? Tucked away next to the secluded island of Inish Rath—a famous Hare Krishna island—is Lake Isle Retreats. Here, you’ll look deep into yourself through yoga, walks and meditation, and have the opportunity to refresh your spirit and truly relax.

Says owner Tim McEvitt, “Although the nearby temple is an ISKCON Krishna temple, none of our guests are Krishna followers. Many of our guests have secular, agnostic, atheistic, Catholic, Protestant, or a mixture of views. Our retreat is for people to relax and take inspiration—if the guests want to ask about the religion they can, many come to just rejuvenate in their own way.” lakeisleretreats.com

Gutsy CHICHESTER

The importance of maintaining a healthy gut has become common knowledge in recent years, but few of us actually know how to go about getting one. The bacteria your gut holds effects so much of how our bodies function—including how happy we are—and Gutsy, the dedicated belly goodness retreat, teaches just that. Located in Huntson Manor House and surrounded by an oasis of calming nature, you’ll delve into your personal gut history and be taught how to take better care of it in the future. Expect beach walks, natural wine tastings and cooking workshops to enlighten your mind and tummy.

The material you’ll learn on your stay will guide you long after you’ve spent time relaxing at Gutsy, from the body movements that aid good digestion to starting your very own SCOBY (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast) to grow at home and introduce to your diet. You're bound to pick up pleasant, non-restrictive dietry and lifestyle tips for a happy gut, and leave with a freer mind. gutsy-uk.com

Have you been to a particularly refreshing retreat? Email readersletters@ readersdigest.co.uk and let us know

If I Ruled The World Douglas Kennedy

Best-selling author, Douglas Kennedy, has sold more than 14 million books worldwide including big-screen hits, The Big Picture and The Women

In the Fifth

I’d install a device that crippled all mobile phones in cultural places. I am an absolute culture vulture, it’s a crucial part of my life that gives me honest pleasure and also is deeply enriching. I feel very strongly that we are far too over-connected in this world of ours, and too attached to our screens. Going to a concert, theatre, the opera or the dance, is like going into a sacred communal space where we all leave our lives behind for a couple of hours. We should do so without outside

distraction. What drives me mad is somebody who insists on turning on their phone during a cultural event.

I would increase all education and culture budgets by tenfold for all governments. Education and culture are the way out of ignorance and they speak to everybody. There is this very populous idea being bandied around by pompous politicians that culture is for the elite, but it’s nonsense. And actually, the higher the education levels, the better society you create.

I would insist on schools teaching courses on tolerance. Starting at a very young age and going right through to higher education. They’d be taught that there’s no right or wrong way to look at the world,

unless that view is evil, or unless that way is “my way or the highway.”

Frankly, we should be completely tolerant of each other’s faiths, if we have them, and of each other’s world views—as long as those views don’t impinge on other people’s human rights. We’d teach that faith is a point of view, not the truth—there isn’t one universal truth despite what people think.

I would protect the BBC. I lived in the United Kingdom for 23 years and my children were raised there. I lived in London longer than I lived anywhere else, including my home city of New York, so I am very attached to the UK and London.

I am insanely worried that Boris Johnson and his extreme gang will undermine the BBC. I think it’s one of the greatest treasures of public broadcasting anywhere. I would get them back to serious broadcasting as I knew the BBC to be, the way BBC Radio Three and Four still do.

I would subsidise independent companies. I would also insist that chain stores were deeply limited in city centres and make sure that rents were adjusted to ensure the local bakery, butcher, cinema, or bookshop could exist in high streets everywhere.

Having people with quirky boutiques gives character to a town or a city and we’re losing it very quickly to monoculture.

I would keep rents reasonable in inner cities. I was raised in a 650 square foot apartment, where there were four of us in Lower Manhattan. I think the urban middle class, just like the urban working class, needs to be protected against the outpricing of cities.

I would ban property developers from destroying the architectural fabric of cities. I’m appalled by what’s happened around me in Shoreditch in the last 23 years—the high rise development that’s going on everywhere. In this instance I am in complete agreement with Prince Charles who has been screaming about it for years, I think he’s absolutely right.

I would guarantee universal literacy. It is the only way to keep people’s minds open. Everyone would actually be able to read.

I’m not a fascist who’s saying, “You have to have a book in your hands”, but at the same time if people were encouraged to read, they would. It’s such a key thing. And of course doing what I do, I’m worried about the future of the book and the future of the novel. n

As told to Jessica Lone Summers

Isabelle in the Afternoon by Douglas

Kennedy is published by Hutchinson (£13.99), and available to buy January 9

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COULD YOU GO

CARBON

NEUTRAL?

Public concern about the environment has reached a record high but what can we do as individuals? Amanda Riley-Jones meets four inspiring people who have successfully reduced their carbon footprint

Hamish McKenzie, 63 lives with his psychologist wife, Sarah, in Shoreham-on-Sea, Sussex. Almost everything he owns is recycled— including his floating home.

“EVERYONE CAN TAKE ACTION LOCALLY AND DO THEIR BIT”

“In times of yore, there’d be ringing of the church bells during a national emergency. They should be ringing now. Climate change is the biggest danger we face,” says Hamish McKenzie—a bell-ringer, boatbuilder, extreme recycler and climate change activist.

He’s been living in a community of houseboats for the last 33 years and says “The Greenland ice cap is melting even faster than predicted. My biggest personal fear is that we can’t keep building our way out of what's coming,” he sips his tea and gestures over to the wall defence just feet from his boat.

“In 100 years' time, maybe less, it will be unviable for people to live here because of rising water levels and the likelihood of hurricanes.”

After training in civil engineering and carpentry, Hamish volunteered in Fiji, building community halls from timber. At 48, he enrolled at art school where he learned welding and fibre-glassing skills.

Now 63, he’s turned recycling

into an art form and has created eclectic, eccentric houseboats out of old vehicles and bits and pieces he retrieves from junkyards and farms.

He and his wife live on Verda —an amalgam of an old Bedford coach and eight boats, built on the hull of a 1928 Portsmouth-Gosport ferry, which Hamish rescued from the tidal mudflats. He lists another houseboat, named Dodge, on Airbnb to fund his lifestyle.

Onboard Verda , underneath a striking ceiling incorporating second-hand aircraft wings, the spacious main room is currently home to a banner Hamish has made in support of Extinction Rebellion, the international climate change protest movement.

“Western democracy is based on consumerism but we have to find a new way of living so we have a smaller impact on the planet. I have a lovely life and a lot of fun without buying a lot of c**p and flying all over the planet,” declares.

Verda has mains electricity and

water, two electric showers and three storage heaters to provide background heat. Down in the cosy kitchen Hamish built himself, there’s a washing machine, fridgefreezer and cooker fuelled with bottled gas.

Apart from his laptop and piano, almost everything seems to have been recycled—from the microwave letterbox to a speedboat turned into a bookcase and gigantic tractor tyre window frames, looking out over the coffee-coloured River Adur estuary.

His ethos of treading lightly on the planet extends into every area of life. “I buy my clothes from charity shops and regard meat as a treat. We’re living off vast amounts of courgettes, broad beans and spinach from our allotment and I try to buy seasonal, local veg from small shops.”

“Sadly, there are no grocers left in Shoreham. Our infrastructure has been decimated by cars and outof-town supermarkets. I hate the fact that the end of my road has a

30,000-cars-a-day habit. An average car weighs around 1.2 tonnes, how much does a passenger weigh?

Petrol engines are only 30 per cent efficient. It’s a profligate waste.”

Hamish gets around by bicycle (“a wonderful bit of kit”) and adds, “I’ve just cancelled a trip to Madrid because I won’t fly again. Flying is one of the most polluting things we can do. Planes expel gasses such as carbon dioxide into the atmosphere where the damage is magnified. If we can decrease air travel by ten per cent there will be no need for an extra runway at Heathrow.”

A question about whether there’s anything he misses is met with a cheerfully emphatic “No!” And he’s committed to encouraging others to adapt their lifestyles.

“Many people feel powerless about what is happening all over the world and even stop watching the news. But we have to think what we can do for the UK community. Everyone can take action locally and do their bit.”

Harriet and Chris Martin,

75 and 76 from Bournville, Birmingham have halved their carbon footprint by making changes in their home and their habits. Harriet is a retired archaeology tutor; Chris used to work in manufacturing and at a local university.

“IT’S BEEN AN ENJOYABLE CHALLENGE”

“I feel guilty about what people of my generation have done. I don’t want to leave behind a damaged world for my four grandchildren,” says Harriet.

“The climate change and plastic pollution generated by humans is causing a crash in biodiversity and the sixth great extinction in our earth’s long history. Over-use of nitrogen fertilisers has created “dead zones” in the oceans. These things threaten the beauty of our world—and the ability of today’s children to feed their children in 30 years' time.”

Chris and Harriet are Quakers and their commitment to the environment goes hand-in-hand with their faith. In 2011, Quakers in Britain committed collectively to becoming a low-carbon community. “Quakers have always stood for peace and equality—this means living simply and minimising our impact on the planet’s resources,” explains Chris.

“The wealthy few are responsible for most carbon emissions and

pollution worldwide and are destroying the livelihoods of subsistence farmers who need predictable rain and sun. For the people left hungry and thirsty by climate change, it's a potent source of conflict and stress.”

The couple learned all about energy efficiency when they were involved with retrofitting a local meeting house. Then, in 2009, they downsized from their family home to a 1930s semi-detached property with an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of just E [the minimum standard that landlords in the UK must reach to avoid a £4,000 fine].

“We chose a house where we could make as big an improvement as possible,” explains Chris. “Fortunately, we were able to work on the house for six months before moving in.” They insulated the wall cavities, loft and under the floors, dry-lined the insides of the exterior walls, installed a new, efficient condenser boiler and replaced single- with high performance double-glazing. They also added a conservatory which captures any heat lost from the house. Chris adds “In the spring and autumn, its sunwarmed air heats the entire house.”

Solar thermal panels installed on the roof provide nearly all their hot water April-September and they prewarm their water the rest of the year. They also built a pergola in the garden with ten solar photovoltaic

(PV) panels which generate as much electricity as they use. “After all our improvements, I calculate that our home’s carbon emissions have been reduced by about 85 per cent,” says Chris.

While they’re understandably proud of what they’ve achieved, Harriet makes the point that “Carbon dioxide emissions from heating and electricity make up only a fraction of the average UK carbon footprint. Food, all the stuff we buy, and our travel choices are equally important factors.”

Raising animals to eat requires vast amounts of land, food and energy and livestock grazing is a leading cause of pollution. The Martins are already vegetarians and shifting towards a vegan diet.

They also minimise what they buy

new. “We mend our clothes, and try to get things from charity shops, online sites such as Freecycle or Freegle or borrow from a neighbour,” explains Harriet.

They rarely use their car and walk or take the bus instead. “We avoid flying and have travelled by train to Rome, Madrid, Barcelona and St Petersburg,” continues Harriet. The hardest thing to give up has been regular flights to America to visit her sister, cousins, nephews and nieces. “But we Skype,” she says of her pragmatism.

“Educating ourselves and adapting our lifestyle has been an enjoyable challenge,” reflects Harriet. “The main point,” adds Chris “is that we don’t want to be personally responsible for depleting the world of resources.”

Catrina Davies, 40 lives in an 18x6ft corrugated iron and wood shed in west Cornwall. She earns her living by writing, gardening, working in a cafe and cleaning holiday cottages.

“MAKING

SACRIFICES NOW COULD MAKE HUMANS HAPPIER IN THE LONG RUN”

Nine years ago, the Cambridge graduate was living in a houseshare in Bristol, teaching the cello and writing for websites. Constant worrying about paying the rent was making her ill with stress and she longed to get back to the Cornwall’s Penwith peninsula where she grew up.

Priced out of the housing market, she took the radical decision to whittle down her belongings and go to live in a dilapidated, stand-alone shed which her father once used as his office.

“It was full of mice and spiders and there was no electricity, toilet, heating or shower,” Catrina remembers. “The nearest public toilets were on the cricket field. I read by candlelight and washed under the outside tap. If it was really cold, I boiled water and washed inside.”

She survived the first year without electricity and still only uses ten pounds-worth a month. “I can now read without straining my eyes and

type words on my laptop, instead of scrawling them in the half-dark with a pencil,” she says happily.

Over the years, Catrina has upgraded her modest abode with second-hand windows and doors and had a wood burner installed. She collects gorse from the cliff tops and wood from skips and clients’ gardens and reports, that, “When it’s on, the shed is toasty!”

Her oven is a camping stove outdoors and she does without a fridge (“I don’t eat meat which makes it easier”) by keeping perishables

outside in a Tupperware box. She buys milk from a local farm to make yogurt and grows fresh herbs, salad and vegetables.

She needs her old Berlingo van to move gardening equipment and bags of laundry, but otherwise gets around on her second-hand touring bike.

“After an early morning swim with seals nearby, I love coming round the bend on my bike and catching sight of my shed,” she explains.

Having such an outdoor lifestyle, she’s painfully aware of climate change. “I've noticed fewer songbirds and owls, and scarce, less varied wildflowers. Winters are warmer and weather patterns seem to be disrupted. The fishermen say there are fewer mackerel too.”

“Plastic pollution in the sea fills me with grief and rage,” she continues. “And the Amazon rainforest is being burned to the ground because of our desire for an endless supply of cheap burgers and cheap leather. Our

ecology and housing crises are both symptoms of human greed.”

“To save the planet, we all need to radically change the way we live. Although giving up meat, lots of cheap goods, driving and flying may seem like a sacrifice, it could actually make us all a lot happier in the long run. Many studies show that materialistic tendencies are linked to decreased life satisfaction. When I first moved here, it was only meant to be a stopgap. Six years later, I can’t imagine living any other way.” n

Homesick: Why I Live in a Shed by Catrina

Davies is a hardback, published by Riverrun at £16.99

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The most important investment of all

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Moving house late in life is a big decision. But make the right move and the rewards are plenty. Is there any better return than a richer, more fulfilling life now and in the years to come?

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ODE TO BEETHOVEN

He gripped the public's imagination a couple of centuries ago and he hasn’t let go since. This year marks the 250th anniversary of the great composer’s birth and to celebrate, Eva Mackevic looks at some crucial elements of his life and music

‘‘

BEETHOVEN CAN WRITE MUSIC, THANK GOD, BUT HE CAN DO NOTHING ELSE ON EARTH - LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN

When we think of history’s most venerated figures—scientists, political leaders, painters or musicians—our idea of them is often so overpowered by the enormity of their achievement and legacy, that we forget they were humans just like us, with their own failings and weaknesses. Ludwig van Beethoven, one of the greatest composers who ever lived, was no exception.

His was the genius mind that brought us such monumental music treasures as the rapturous “Ode to Joy” which we adopted as the European Anthem, the delicate jewellery-box sounds of "Für Elise"; and the distinctive, blood-curdling four opening notes of the Fifth Symphony. This genius mind though, belonged to a man whose psyche and life were rife with contradiction and tragedy. Childhood trauma, alcoholism, loneliness, selfdoubt and an artistically crippling

DADDY ISSUES

Johann van Beethoven was not an easy father to grow up with. A musician himself, he started teaching his son the piano as soon as he recognised his talent. But Johann was an abusive alcoholic who would put enormous pressure on the young boy and beat him when he didn’t play well enough. The situation—and his alcohol abuse—grew even worse after Beethoven’s mother Maria’s death, and the family became increasingly reliant on young Ludwig’s financial support.

deafness were just a few of the issues Beethoven battled with throughout his life. Yet, as it often happens, the anguish he suffered fed and aided his creativity. Every movement, chord and note conceived by him oozes with raw suffering, despair in the face of life’s unfairness and existential dread. It penetrates and digs deep into the soul, revealing to us the core of what makes us human and—inevitably—what we all share in common, ensuring his music will keep speaking to and bewitching generations to come.

The HeiligenstadtTestament

Deafness

Beethoven had lost 60 per cent of his hearing by 1801 when he was just 31. For someone whose entire life was centred around music, the tragedy of these circumstances must have been insurmountable. Though doctors initially told him that it would cure itself, deep down Beethoven already knew it never would.

That same year, he wrote his last will, known today as the Heiligenstadt Testament. In it he announced in utter despair, “If I do reach the stage where I can’t compose anymore, and I can’t hear my own music, there’s no point in living”. As it turned out, not only did the composer live till the age of 56 but he also wrote some of his heftiest, most groundbreaking work while completely deaf, including “Missa Solemnis” and the Ninth Symphony. He never

quite abandoned his hope of hearing something, though. In 1818, he ordered a Broadwood piano from London as it was the loudest existing instrument. And while it’s unlikely he could hear it play, he could probably feel the instrument’s vibrations. Some of his compositions illustrate this desperate attempt in a vividly heart-breaking way. Says Scottish pianist Steven Osborne: “There is one bit in the penultimate Piano Sonata, where he starts repeating this note over and over again, which gets louder and louder, until he's almost hammering it. It's a very short passage, but it is reminiscent of Beethoven banging the key just to hear something.”

A TROUBLED LIFE

As it often happens, childhood trauma translated into a complicated adulthood for Beethoven, whose life was beset with problems and characterised by great emotional instability. Osborne goes as far as contemplating whether Beethoven was in fact bipolar: “You get a considerable impression from letters and stories that Beethoven felt emotions very strongly. The swings were so extreme. People who knew him said that he could be furious one moment and incredibly apologetic the next. And he managed to channel so much of this extremity of emotion into music; there's fury, there’s elation, there's deep sorrow.”

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

S TANDING UP TO NAPOLEON

Beethoven didn’t bother playing by anyone’s rules, ever. He was a man who stood by his principles, and his shift of attitude towards Napoleon Bonaparte illustrates that perfectly. The composer’s brilliant Third Symphony, nicknamed “Eroica”, was originally called the “Bonaparte Symphony” in tribute to the French leader who—as Beethoven believed—shared his ideas on freedom and equality. However, once Napoleon wreaked havoc throughout Europe and declared himself Emperor, Beethoven drastically changed his mind, declaring him a tyrant and changing the title of his symphony to “Eroica”—as we know it today.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Mozart was an undeniable influence on Beethoven’s work. In fact, when the composer moved out of his native Bonn to Vienna in 1786, he was hoping to study with Mozart, though the details of their relationship, including whether they ever actually met, remain uncertain. When Mozart died in 1791, everyone expected the talented young Beethoven to fill his shoes, and the impressionable composer initially succumbed to that pressure, styling his works so they’d have a distinct Mozartean flavour.

Yet once he eventually found his own voice, the two geniuses’ visions turned out to be polar opposites.

American pianist Jonathan Biss says, “I always compare him with Mozart because they were almost

contemporaries but they couldn’t be more different. Mozart was more of an observer of human emotion and Beethoven would actually feel it, like it was a life or death matter. Listening to Beethoven you get the impression that he would set compositional problems up for himself to solve.”

The nephew

An event that profoundly hurt Beethoven was his relationship with his nephew, Karl van Beethoven. The only child of the three Beethoven brothers, he was seen by his uncle as the only chance of continuing the family’s music legacy for the next generation. Feeling responsible for the boy, Beethoven tried his uptmost to “rescue” him from the clutches of his sister-in-law whom he perceived as “immoral”.

He pushed matters to the extreme when he took Karl’s mother to court to gain full custody of the child, a battle which he ended up winning but which also resulted in a painful and disappointing relationship with Karl plagued with suicide attempts and running away from home, which devastated Beethoven creatively.

"Ode to Joy"

The liberating, awe-inspiring sounds of the “Ode to Joy” are arguably Beethoven’s most well-known and best-loved. This monumental symphony was created when the

composer was completely deaf and in his early fifties, and gave life to one of the most iconic, frequentlytold stories about Beethoven: when he conducted the world premiere in Vienna in 1824, aged 54, the audience erupted in a wild applause. Since he couldn’t hear, he just stood there with his back to them, prompting a soloist to turn him around so that he could see what a great triumph the piece was.

The crazy hair

As dramatic as his works, Beethoven’s hair is a crucial part

T HE FATHER OF THE SYMPHONY

“Beethoven’s symphonies are literally the ABC of where the symphonic form could go—it’s the DNA of the modern orchestral repertoire,” says conductor André de Ridder. “Every symphony creates an orbit of its own, it’s built out of a single idea, like a nucleus that then experiences an enormous transformation.” Beethoven wrote nine symphonies in total—each one completely unique, each one preparing the way for the next—and they completely revolutionised classical music. The “classical” rationality of structure, harmony, form, melodic development and orchestration all became opened up to endless possibility.

IMMORTAL BELOVED

Beethoven never married and wasn’t known to establish any long-lasting romantic relationships throughout his life. Even when he would fall in love, it was always with women whose social or marital status prevented him from taking the relationship further. However, after his death in 1827, Beethoven’s letters to someone he referred to as “my angel, my all, my very self” were found and have mystified scholars ever since. An ardent and passionate declaration of love, they were clearly addressed to the object of his desire. Many women have been put forth as possibilities over the years, including countess Josephine Brunsvik (right).

of how we view the composer. When he died in 1827, numerous people stole clumps of it at the funeral. Centuries later, strands of the hair were examined in order to establish the cause of his death.

What the scientists found were dangerously high levels of lead

absorbed by his hair, prompting the theory that the great composer died of lead poisoning.

Yet the actual cause remains unresolved till this day, with alcoholic cirrhosis, syphilis and hepatitis all considered as potential explanations.

1770

Beethoven born in Bonn

1787

Travels in hopes to work with Mozart

1801

Beethoven writes of his deafness for the first time, in a letter to a friend from Bonn

1802

Beethoven writes of his despair and suicidal thoughts in the Heiligenstadt Testament

1808

The Fifth and Sixth Pastoral symphonies are performed for the first time

"Für Elise"

This playful little bagatelle (a short piece of music, usually for piano) is one of the most famous melodies in the world, and proof that not every of Beethoven’s compositions was a monumental work of great seriousness and drama. The piece was discovered and published 40 years after Beethoven’s death, becoming a popular standard for aspiring piano students.

A grouchy genius

An eccentric his entire life, Beethoven was not one for pleasantries and social norms. Among his prime moments of societal ineptitude was waking up in the middle of the night and banging on his walls as he beat time to his music, waking up all his neighbours; or refusing to perform at soirees when he would be called upon to do so. Says John Suchet, the host of Classic FM’s flagship morning show, “He was a difficult, irascible, temperamental, short, stocky man

who was not easy to get on with. He has very few close friends and he managed to alienate even them. On one occasion dressed in a ragged coat tied up with string, he went for a walk at night and stared through people’s windows, and he was arrested as a tramp, was taken to the police station and put behind bars.”

Influence on subsequent music

“His influence was crippling,” says Jonathan Biss. “The personality was too big to try to replicate. Also, he took these forms, like the piano sonata or the string quartet and he pushed them beyond logical limits. There was not much left to do with them. Maybe Beethoven’s greatest influence was that he forced anyone who came after to him to look in the completely opposite directions.”

German composer Johannes Brahms was one of the people who felt the pressure of writing new music post-Beethoven directly. When he was in his early twenties, he was commonly regarded as the heir

1812

Beethoven writes a passionate letter to his “Immortal Beloved”

1814

Fideliois performed for the first time

1815

Beethoven begins a legal battle to win sole custody of his nephew, Karl

1816

Beethoven wins sole custody of Karl 1827

Beethoven dies in March

to Beethoven’s legacy and he nearly collapsed under the weight of that comparison, saying, “You don't know what it means to the likes of us when we hear his footsteps behind us.”

These footsteps continued echoing beyond the Romantic era, however, and shaped and influenced every aspect of music as we know it today, percolating even into such unexpected genres as disco or metal music and hence, redirecting new generations of listeners towards his own oeuvre. “I have no idea how we’ll be consuming music in 15 years’ time but I’m sure Beethoven will have a firm place in it,” says Jonathan. n

Johannes Brahms

B EST BITS OF BEETHOVEN TO CATCH IN 2020:

Jonathan Biss’ Beethoven Sonata Cycle at Wigmore Hall: December 2019 – February 2020. For tickets, visit wigmore-hall.org.uk

Steven Osborne’s Late Beethoven Piano Sonatas: Glasgow Royal Concert Hall: March 8, 2020. For tickets, visit glasgowlife.org.uk St Luke’s: March 14, 2020. For tickets, visit slms.org.uk

André de Ridder will be presenting (Not)AnotherBeethovenCycle with dates in the UK to be confirmed soon

John Suchet’s year-long radio series, Beethoven—The Man Revealed, begins on Saturday, January 4, 2020 at 9pm on Classic FM.

Southbank Centre, London – Beethoven 250 – December 2019 – May 2020 For tickets, visit southbankcentre.co.uk

For more Beethoven events happening across the UK, visit readersdigest.co.uk/culture/Beethoven250

Gisele Shaw takes a beating from Holidead

RING LEADERS

Behind the scenes with the East London group redefining the world of women's wrestling

by Anna Walker

hy by y az Narci N , 105photography.com

T he rain-dampened crowd squeeze into the tiny Resistance Gallery, under the railway arches of Bethnal Green, and momentarily pause their excited chatter to turn their eyes stageward. Ducking under the ring, a woman dressed all in black with a bright pink mohican clutches a microphone, and in an instant the crowd is spellbound as she dictates the rules of this selfprofessed “secret girl gang.”

“N

o racism, no sexism, no homophobia, no transphobia, no body shaming, no ableism, no anti-Semitism, no cat calling…” A quick glance at the surrounding throng and you might think you’ve stumbled into a metal night, but this diverse troop is gathered for something far more dramatic. This is a Pro-Wrestling: EVE event, an independent wrestling promotion founded by the mohicancrowned Emily Read and her husband Dann ten years ago. Regularly held from this intensely atmospheric East London venue, they’ve earned a dedicated fan base, who arrive ready to applaud, boo and sing their hearts out as their favourite baby faces and heels (that’s the good and bad guys to the uninitiated) storm the stage.

One of the star players of the night is a wrestler named Holidead. Wearing demonic face paint in which she could easily pass as the twelfth member of KISS, she writhes around, eyeing her opponent hungrily.

For Holidead, real name Camille Ligon, EVE is something of a sacred space. “I love that it’s just a come as you are kind of place, it welcomes all walks of life—and for someone like myself, that's paradise. I'm not the norm, and EVE isn't about anything cookie cutter. It’s a family environment for me, in the strangest way possible.”

Outsiders often claim that wrestling is “fake”, because winners are predetermined, but there’s nothing artificial about the strength and endurance on display tonight. Holidead’s favourite move is “the spinebuster”, which she describes as “simple, powerful and fun,” though I struggle to see anything simple about a move that requires her to grab her opponent as they run towards her, lift them and then throw them down onto their back.

This tough-as-nails attitude gains EVE wrestlers immense respect among fans. Nick stood at the very front of tonight's queue, and he's been a wrestling fan for over 30 years. “I love the athleticism and how

‘‘TEN YEARS AGO IT WAS ALL ABOUT BEING PRETTY, NOW THESE WOMEN ARE TOUGH’’

much emotion you can create”, he explains. “I watch all wrestling, men and women, but EVE is different. The shows have great power within them.”

For Emily, the shows also represent the triumph of an internal power. A former wrestler herself, she came to found EVE after having been shocked by the misogyny in other, more mainstream wrestling promotions.

“I went down to train in Portsmouth when I was 19. I knew that it was going to be a boy’s club and that women [wrestlers] were mainly sexualised, but I didn’t realise just how bad it was going to be. I met all of these people whom I held in high regard and they

weren’t just sexist—they were outright groping me.”

“I met Dann online and he was the first man in wrestling who treated me like a human being. Dann was already working in promotion and through him I realised that I could actually make a difference, and saw that we could create a space that was actually safe for women to perform in.”

“Emily saw what was going on from the inside because she was experiencing it,” Dann explains. “I saw from the outside the number of women who were trying really hard but not getting opportunities. I just thought, Women are fans of wrestling too. Why aren’t we doing anything?”

The fearsome Holidead enters the ring

Fillipino wrestler Gisele Shaw calls herself "the quintessential diva"

for fans like Laura Mauro, who has watched wrestling since she was five, the rampant sexism has become exhausting.

“I love the ethos of EVE.

There’s a lot of really dodgy stuff going on in the mainstream, so I like that they care about doing it ethically. I was getting put off mainstream wrestling because of the sexism and side-lining of women.”

Sisters Valerie and Chi Chi, who I chat to during the intermission as loud punk plays, feel the same way.

“I don’t want to see any f*****g men anymore! Women have come a long way in this business, so we’re here celebrating them and all different ethnicities, all body types, all ages, all sexualities and it’s just wonderful. Ten years ago, it was all just about being skinny and pretty, and now these women are tough, they have their own shows, their own belts… it should always be like that.”

For Holidead, this positivity extends way beyond the ring. “I'm my own worst enemy and being in my head can be literal hell. Wrestling helps me hold on to my sanity [and gives me] a sense of purpose and belonging. For a lot of wrestlers, women in particular, it’s not just a release but a sense of freedom.”

It’s a story I hear from many of the women involved in EVE—that wrestling has offered them a place to

‘‘THE TERM ‘DIVA’ HAS A BAD CONNOTATION TO IT, SO I WANTED TO SHOW THE POSITIVE SIDE TO IT’’

be loud, after a lifetime of being told to be quiet.

For Holidead’s opponent tonight, Filipino wrestler Gisele Shaw, (real name Gisele Mayorodo), finding her character has also meant showing her inner strength to the world.

“My character is ‘the quintessential diva,’” she explains. “The term ‘diva’ has a bad connotation to it, so I wanted to show the positive side to it, since to me it means a strong, confident, beautiful, smart, and witty woman.”

Shaw gets some of the best reactions of the evening, soaring around the venue with her signature “Air Canada” or “Monarch Butterfly" flying twirls.

Back in the ring, Trish Adora from Washington DC is gearing up to wage war on her opponent, Mercedez Blaze. Trish is tall and strong, with dots of paint daubed on her face, and her hair piled carefully on top of her head. I’ve seen her perform before, and her calming off-stage presence, contrasted with the eruption of her performance, stuck with me.

Describing herself as “the Afropunk”, Trish Adora grew up watching

wrestling with her dad and five brothers, becoming a wrestler herself after eight years in the army.

“Naturally I’m very shy and reserved, but my character is the person I imagined I could be when I looked in the mirror. She speaks up for herself and others. She’s no nonsense and tough as nails.”

I watch in awe as Trish Adora and Mercedez throw each other around the ring, never once breaking character as they’re slammed to the floor or throw themselves against the ropes. Every headlock, every choke, I worry for Trish—but she’s out of Mercedez’s holds faster than she’s put in them, punching the air with every victory, throwing out a cry for every set back. She doesn’t win this

match, but you wouldn’t know it from the crowd. They love her.

“Wrestling helps me with my depression and anxiety, and it empowers me completely. When I wouldn’t usually speak in front of an audience, I yell. When I wouldn’t usually walk out in front of an audience, I burst through the curtains. I extend myself in ways I never have before, and it feels so good to finally have a positive outlet and something I can be proud of.”

Despite the amazing work EVE has done, gripes with the industry at large aren’t entirely over yet.

Trish Adora laments that she remains “generally fairly frustrated with the treatment of black wrestlers.

Trish Adora lands a smack on opponent Mercedez Blaze

‘‘WRESTLING HELPS ME WITH MY DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY—IT EMPOWERS ME COMPLETELY’’

There’s a depth to the black experience, and it doesn’t always get portrayed in a positive light.”

Holidead struggles with the fact that, “just because you work hard, it doesn't mean that hard work will be rewarded. Like any business, there are always politics at play.”

Meanwhile mainstream wrestling promotions don't seem entirely happy with EVE's success. “WWE can cause us problems,” Emily muses.

“It’s like we’re allowed to do so much,” Dann explains, “but if we get too big for our boots, they’ll shut us down…”

One night I attend the final match for Scottish wrestler Jayla Dark

before her retirement. As the bout finishes there’s a roar from the upstairs balcony, where performers await their moment on stage. They run down to embrace her, some laughing, some crying, now dressed in comfy tracksuits instead of colourful spandex. And in a moment these women are transformed from their characters, with their rivalries, and their bravado, into sisters.

“I wanted to build a platform where women could be safe and reach their potential—and we did,” Emily gushes. “But for some reason I didn’t expect the community… and it’s beautiful. We built a family.” n

For tickets visit evewrestling.com

Eve co-founder and host Emily Read

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My Great Escape:

Amazing Amritsar

Our reader Trevor Johnson from Wolverhampton visits the colourful city of Amritsar

Often incredible, sometimes frustrating but always irresistible, India had summoned me again and I obeyed her call, travelling to Amritsar, in the north Indian state of Punjab. No photographs could have prepared me for my breathtaking first sight of Harmandir Sahib, the holiest shrine in Sikhism, also known as the Golden Temple because of the gold leaf used in its decoration. Many visitors were exploring the stunning site but despite the large crowds, it retained an air of tranquillity. Then followed a tour of the temple kitchens, where hundreds of volunteers were preparing the meals, which are provided free of charge every day

to thousands of people, regardless of their religion or nationality. The operation ran with impressive, well-practised efficiency and the volunteers’ enjoyment of their work was obvious.

A short walk from the Golden Temple was Jallianwalla Bagh, the scene of the infamous Amritsar

massacre a century ago, when troops of the British Indian Army killed hundreds of peacefully protesting Indians. Described on a sign at the entrance as “A landmark in our struggle for freedom”, today it’s a memorial park, where families relax in the sunshine, but bullet holes in the walls bear witness to its grim past.

The perfect way to dispel any gloom was watching the Lowering of the Flag ceremony at Wagah, on the IndiaPakistan border, which takes place every evening just before sunset. It’s a superbly choreographed combination of Trooping the Colour and the FA Cup Final; cheerleaders encourage crowds on both sides to support their nation’s security forces, who respond with colourful, extravagant drills. My visit took place when relations between the two countries were especially strained, which added vehemence to the chants, but the high level of cooperation needed for such a well synchronised production was still very evident.

As darkness fell, I returned to the Golden Temple. Brilliantly reflected in the pool which surrounds it, it looked even more impressive at night. This sublime image brought my time in Amritsar to a close and, the following morning, I set off for Shimla. n

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

SUN & SURFING

FOR STAYCATIONERS: BRISTOL

Making its Olympic debut in 2020, surfing fits the modern yearn for outdoorsy activity and is newly flexible thanks to The Wave, an artificial lagoon offering breaks of varying difficulty near Bristol, plus lessons if needed (thewave.com).

FOR MILLENNIALS: COSTA RICA

Newly arrived in the UK, hip hotel chain Selina—also keen on coworking and wellness—has Surf Clubs offering tutorials and gear rental at its most exotic outposts. That includes Santa Teresa, on Costa Rica’s Pacific (selina.com/surf).

FOR YOGA BUNNIES: PORTUGAL

Oceanside in Sagres, the stylish, straight-lined Algarve hotel Memmo Baleira has it own surf school and operates daily yoga classes blending hatha, shivananda, iyengar and vinyasa flow (memmohotels.com).

FOR PHOTOTAKERS: MOROCCO

Next to a beatnik hotel, the Surfland camp caters to novices courtesy of the gentle lagoon beside it in sleepy fishing town Oualidia. But more experienced types can head straight for the Atlantic (facebook.com/surfland.surfcamp).

FOR BUDGETERS: SRI LANKA

Visas to enter Sri Lanka are currently free for UK travellers: ample excuse to travel to Unawatuna, a southern-coast beach town near Galle, and tackle an off-shore reef break boasting small but reliable swell (surfholidays.com). n

by Richard Mellor

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Make Your Money Resolutions Count In 2020

Andy Webb reveals his top tips on how to make the most of your money through the new year

It’s always comforting to think that, finally, this is going to be the year you get your finances sorted. But a few promises in January will be pointless if you don’t follow through. So here’s an assortment of tips and tools to make sure you take action and keep at it throughout 2020.

Understand your motivation

So many New Year’s Resolutions are vague. Just saying “fix my finances” or “get on top of my bills” doesn’t actually say why you want to do something, which makes it a lot more

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

likely your resolution will fail. If you can narrow down why you want to make changes you’ll find getting started—and carrying on—a lot easier. You can have multiple goals and they can be big and small, longterm and short-term.

Often these are savings driven. Perhaps you want to be able to pay for a holiday without borrowing, or save up for bigger expenses such as getting a new kitchen or moving home. Great! Now you know why you are saving rather than just saying you want to “save more money”.

It’s also worth thinking about whether there are any broader goals behind your desire to make some changes. It could be that you want to reduce how much you worry about money, or maybe you want to be able to take early retirement. Focusing on these outcomes can help you put some of your spending decisions into perspective and allow you to make some tough choices in order to achieve your goal.

Once you’ve grasped why you want to take action, try to keep it in your mind. Visualising the outcome can really help. Sometimes it’s as simple as having a photo of the eventual outcome (the new kitchen, for example) on your fridge. For more abstract goals it might just be about putting a person in mind who’ll benefit from your decisions. Anything that can remind you of what you hope to achieve can be what keeps you going.

Get specific

Now you know the “why”, you need to work out the “what”. If you want to go on holiday, where do you want to go, and how much will it cost? When do you want to go on this holiday? If we say your desired break costs £500 and you want to go in seven months’ time, then you’ll need to put aside £71

IF YOU CAN NARROW DOWN WHY YOU WANT TO CHANGE, IT’LL BE A LOT EASIER

a month to cover it. All this helps you focus on what you want to achieve.

You might also need to break your goals down further into mini-goals and tasks. If the broader goal is to stop worrying about finances, then you’ll have to work out what the causes are. This could then lead you to sub-goals such as sorting out your debts or building up an emergency fund. Or both. Think about what these entail and when you want to do them by. Now you’re starting to get a plan together.

Check that what you want to do is realistic

But you also need to check if what you’re going to do is realistic. It’s easy to say you need to put aside that £71

each month for that holiday, but is it realistic? You won’t know if you don’t first get together an accurate picture of your finances.

Set aside a few hours and gather all your paperwork, such as bank statements and credit card bills. These will help you to find out your true bottom line and show you how much you can actually afford to save each month. If you’ve only got £50 spare, then you might need to rethink when you can reach your goal.

Or you can use this information to identify any actions you can take to help achieve those goals. It could be cutting out needless expenses, or trying to bring down costs through some savvy shopping.

Taking it further you can even

build up a proper budget detailing individual expenses such as supermarket shopping and petrol. This will help you can see line by line where money is going and where there’s potential waste.

In fact this process might even be a large part of the “how” for some of those broader goals—especially ones which concern money worries.

Start slow and make it a habit

It’s easy to think you have to achieve all your goals in a day, but some changes will take time to get used to. Gradually add in new things you want to tackle, building on new skills as you perfect them.

Whatever you need to change or start doing to reach your goal, you

SET A REMINDER TO CHECK-IN ONCE A MONTH. IT’LL HELP YOU KEEP FOCUSED ON YOUR GOAL

want to keep going through the year. One way to do this is to make it something you always do. Try to make any changes you need to make in your spending habits apply to everyday situations.

Make sure that you don’t lose track of how you’re doing. If you can set a reminder to check-in once a month— it’ll help you keep focused and spot if you’re ahead or behind in achieving your goal. You can also make yourself accountable by telling others about

what you’re hoping to change and how you’re doing it. You might even be able to share your goal with a friend or family member so you can encourage each other as you go along.

Review your goals and reward yourself

But don’t be too rigid. As the year goes on, you might find your financial situation changes, or other priorities come along.

Changing your goals when this happens is no bad thing, and it doesn’t mean you’ve failed. It’s better to reassess and work towards something realistic than give up.

And remember, achieving some of your goals is going to be tough. There might be times you have to go without or really cut back, especially if your goal is about saving money. So make sure you factor in rewards too. n

I Don’t Brie-lieve It!

The US state of Wisconsin uses the briny water from cheese production to de-ice their roads come winter time

The average yearly consumption of cheese in France is a staggering 57lb per person. That equates to far more than one full tonne of cheese in a lifetime

Contrary to popular belief, mice don’t actually like cheese. Given the choice, they much prefer sweets and carbohydrates

Queen Victoria received a huge 1,250lb, 9ft across cheese for her wedding present. According to writer Steven W Jenkins, “Perhaps baffled by how to serve it, she sent the cheese off on a tour of England”

Cheese is the most commonly stolen food in the world, with approximately four per cent of all cheese ending up in the hands of thieves

Serves 4

•12 chipolata sausages

•2 tbsp olive oil

•1 onion, diced

•2 carrots, small dice

•1tsp hot smoked paprika

•400g tin of cherry tomatoes

•250ml chicken stock (made with half a stock cube)

•2 tins of butter beans (drained and rinsed)

For the bread

crumb topping

•2 sprigs of rosemary

•50g butter

•100g breadcrumbs

•1 clove of garlic, crushed

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

Sausage Casserole

You might have feasted like a king over Christmas, but if it means you’re having to eat like a pauper in January, there’s no reason it should be a penance. Often “poor man’s meals” are the most delicious of all, and this fuss-free winter recipe is right up there with the best…

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Fry the sausages in a large pan for 5 minutes on each side. Don’t agitate them—just flip each one once, confidently, so that both sides have a chance to take on some colour.

2. Remove the sausages from the pan and set aside. Next, add the olive oil and then fry the onion and carrots on a medium heat for 10 minutes until the vegetables soften and start to take on a little colour. Stir in the paprika and after 30 seconds—when the kitchen fills with its fragrance—add the cherry tomatoes and chicken stock, bringing to a simmer before stirring in the butterbeans. Tip the sauce into a shallow baking dish and nestle the sausages among the vegetables and beans before covering with foil. Cook for 25 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, make the breadcrumb topping by pulling the leaves from the stalk of rosemary and chopping the leaves very finely. Next, heat the butter in a frying pan, until foaming, and then add the breadcrumbs and cook on a low-medium heat, stirring with a wooden spoon, so they colour evenly. Just as the breadcrumbs start to crisp up and turn golden, add the garlic and rosemary and cook for one more minute. Season with salt and pepper.

4. Serve the casserole in shallow bowls, arranging three sausages on top of a ladle of vegetables, beans and sauce. Top with the crisp breadcrumbs and serve with a big, green salad and a chunk of bread to mop up the juices.

Drinks Tip…

In the name of this being a poor man’s dish, crack open a bottle of Good Ordinary Claret—forget swilling or spitting, this is a great table wine which delivers every time (£5.89, Waitrose Cellar)

Serves 4-6

• 350g frozen pitted cherries, defrosted (by leaving at room temperature)

• 3 eggs

• 1 egg yolk

• 100g caster sugar

• 100g plain flour

• 100ml milk

• 100ml double cream

• 75g melted butter

• pinch of salt

Show us your take on these dishes!

Just upload the picture to Instagram and tag us, @readersdigest_uk

Cherry Clafoutis

Frozen cherries are such a joy round this time of year, when so many fruits are out of season. They are perfect in this classic French dessert. It’s another humble, family-style dish. Pop it in the oven around the same time the sausage casserole goes in and serve it warm with a dollop of melting whipped cream

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C and grease a 20cm baking dish with butter.

2. Scatter the cherries over the base of the baking dish.

3. Whisk together the remaining ingredients in the order they are listed, until you have a smooth batter. Pour the batter over the cherries and bake for 35 minutes until it’s puffed up and golden. (Check it’s cooked-through by poking the tip of a knife into the clafoutis and making sure that it comes out clean). Dust with icing sugar and serve warm with a dollop of whipped cream. n

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Knowing that you’re investing in a product or policy that’s been rated highly by a company in great standing such as Defaqto goes a long way. This ensures you’re not only getting top quality but also, and most importantly, that it’s a trusted product. This is absolutely crucial when choosing your travel insurance.

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Adapt your interior to promote a sense of calm and wellbeing, inspired by Dulux’s colour of the year, Tranquil Dawn

Going Green

With the new year comes new inspiration—2020 is all about embracing a more human way of living and reconnecting with nature, in a society where fast-paced technology is at the forefront of our day-to-day lives. Our homes, as a space we use to unwind and recharge, can be designed to fulfil this need and become a place that provides a calming and restful sanctuary within the modern world.

Tranquil Dawn, named 2020’s colour of the year by the judging panel at Dulux, is a soft hazy green shade, aimed at creating a serene backdrop for our interior by bringing

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

a sense of the outdoors in. The muted qualities of this green colourway mean it won’t overwhelm your space —whether used on all four walls, or simply as a single feature wall—and it can be used harmoniously with a wide range of other palettes. Neutrals, soft greys and whites will allow the green to take on an earthy tone and keep the space feeling bright and fresh, while pairing Tranquil Dawn with pastel shades will create a more upbeat, summery feel.

While it may be a paint colour that is paving the way for this year’s trends, you can expect to see this pared-back shade filtering into interiors in other ways, too. Look for coordinating furniture, fabrics and accessories to update your space without the need for re-decorating—a new bedding set in this soft green hue, for example, will give your bedroom a quick and simple makeover in no time at all. n

Mindful Mood

Tranquil Dawn matt emulsion, £29.16 for 2.5L, Dulux

January Gardening

January is the time to establish a foundation for the rest of the year, despite the icy weather, as Jessica Lone Summers explains…

Frost may have covered the ground, and the garden colours long since shrivelled away, but there’s a distinct beauty in the crackling of tree bark and the icy patterns collecting around your dormant plants. However, while your shrubbery sleeps, you still have plenty to do.

Start with clearing out. Unburdening the garden of debris, dead plants and perennial weeds will make space for your wanted plants come spring, plus it’s much easier to do in the winter when other foliage isn’t blocking your view. Once your

soil is sorted it’s time to collect the veggies that are ready for harvest, namely; leeks, parsnips and Brussels sprouts. Over in the greenhouse it’s a perfect time to start chitting potatoes—placing them in egg cups within a good source of light.

If it gets chilly enough to snow, make sure you remember to remove it where it forms piles on top of your shrub branches. If left alone, the tensions will likely snap, causing irreparable damage.

Keep off the grass! When frozen, your once-green blades become brittle and will snap, leaving brown patches by springtime—ghosts of misguided footsteps once trodden.

While you’re taking stock of all your leafy friends, make sure your indoor plants don’t get forgotten. Constant central heating can dry out their leaves and soil, so keep a misting bottle nearby to give them a regular spritz. If they require a little more humidity, try placing them in a cosy spot in your bathroom or place them in a shallow dish containing pebbles and water. n

LOOK TO THE FUTURE WITH

EQUITY RELEASE

Entering a new year (and a new decade!) gives us the opportunity to take stock of what’s important to us and think about how we can get the most out of life.

With funds depleted after Christmas, many see January as a time to cut back and clutch the purse strings, but this doesn’t have to be the case. With an equity release product called a Lifetime Mortgage, you can release tax-free cash from your home to spend as you wish.

Do you have a big home improvement project you’ve been putting off, or are you longing to get away from the winter weather and take a dream holiday in the sun? Releasing equity from your home can be a great way to gain the necessary funds, whilst also not having to worry about the drain of monthly payments.

Foresight is 2020 when you release equity with Reader’s Digest Equity Release. Your adviser will provide you with

a personalised illustration demonstrating how releasing equity could affect you, including the possible effect that equity release may have on the value of your estate and your entitlement to meanstested state benefits. Many Lifetime Mortgages also include a fixed interest rate for life, meaning you can see how much you will owe in the future, and compare that against the predicted value of your home as house prices continue to rise. n

Sales Season

Lisa Lennkh outlines the basic commandments for any fashion-minded January sale shopper

It may be the beginning of a new year, but by January it certainly feels like it should be the end of winter. Unfortunately, we still have a couple of cold grey months to get through. One bright spot in January, however, are the postholiday sales. I treat these sales as a chance to find something warm and stylish to get me through the next few months, and future winters.

Here's what I purchased last year: a cosy, vintage-looking, animal print, faux-fur coat. It met all of my criteria for a good purchase. It's well made and will last me for many years. It's a timeless style that won't date. It works with everything else in my wardrobe. I can dress it to be either very smart or very casual. It's

practical and warm as well as stylish. And last but not least, it makes me feel great when I wear it.

I view the January sales as a great chance to pick up things you genuinely need while retailers offer hefty discounts to clear their shelves before spring. To make sure you're not buying something impulsively that you might later regret, ask yourself a few questions: Will you wear it at least 30 times in a year? Is the price worth it, or is this same money better spent on something you'd wear more frequently?

If you don't trust yourself to stick to a budget, leave the credit cards behind and take cash only when you shop in a store.

The most important step before you walk into a shop is to look at your wardrobe and assess where there are gaps. Is a pair of boots completely worn out? Do you need a more modern style of jeans? Is a jumper beyond mending and repair? Is a coat looking really tired and ratty, or an unflattering colour? Would a new blazer in a faceflattering colour be a worthwhile purchase? Try to replace those items rather than buying another blouse

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

simply because it is heavily reduced in price. It has never made sense to me to spend a lot of money on something such as a dress to attend a wedding, rather than putting that money towards a great camel coat or a cashmere jumper that would get far more wear. Make your everyday wardrobe special.

IF YOU DON'T TRUST YOURSELF, LEAVE THE CREDIT CARDS BEHIND

I haven't always been as thoughtful and conscious about my purchases as I currently am. However, when I consider that the fashion industry is the second most polluting on the planet after oil and gas, I feel compelled to make much more principled purchases now. So this is my New Year's resolution for myself and also my challenge to you— buy only what you need, buy only what you truly love, and consider every purchase carefully, just as our parents and grandparents did before cheap, disposable fashion took over retail. Here is to making our wardrobes more sustainable and more joyful in 2020. n

Sustainable Beauty: Dry By Design Hero Products

Jenessa Williams on the rise of waterless beauty

When we’re constantly reminded of the importance of good hydration for physical and aesthetic health, it seems a little counterintuitive that one of the hottest trends for 2020 beauty would be the waterless cosmetic. Nonetheless, as we face up to the realities of climate change, there's no denying that the water usage from beauty product production is particularly shocking, especially considering the shortage of water across under-resourced nations—affecting an estimated 5 billion people by 2050.

L’Oreal has already committed to a 60 per cent water reduction in its products by the end of the year, and waterless products are already rife among the Korean beauty market. Slowly but surely, this change is feeding into the western market, and is actually providing better bang for your buck—as companies are forced to withdraw excess water from their formulas, you’re likely getting more active product, packaged into smaller containers that also save on plastic and unrecyclable elements. A little now goes a long way, reducing the amount of times you’ll need to stock up on your favourite cosmetics. Next time you reach for your usual shampoo or shower gel, the change might be easier that you think. Where possible, opt for a self-reserving solid bar that provides multiple uses, and choose a tiny dab of oil-rich moisturiser over a handful of aqueous formula. Avoid products that list water as their number one ingredient— much better to purchase a concentrated solution and add the required water yourself. Your overstuffed bathroom will thank you for it, and so will the environment. n

1. Edinburgh Natural Skincare Co Handcream Bar, £8.99 for 50g

2. Farmacy Honey Savior Skin Repair Balm, £32 for 46g

3. Pinch Of Colour Waterless Matte Velvet Lip Colour, £20 for 4.5g

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LITTLE WOMEN

A dreamy, fairy-tale take on the beloved literary classic, starring Hollywood’s finest young talent

If the very idea of a festive film with a passionate on-again, off-again relationship at its core and Meryl Streep as the archetypal bitter auntie, makes you squeal with joy, this is the Christmas film of 2019 for you. The third adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s classic novel includes a jaw-dropping cast: Streep supports Hollywood’s crème de la crème Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, Timothee Chalamet and Laura Dern—to name just a few. Directed by the queen of quirky indies, Greta Gerwig, it has all the essential ingredients for an instant Christmas classic: a nostalgically

cosy setting, a consuming story about family bonds and the thrill of first love, and a playful yet punchy tone that lights up every scene as effectively as the infectiously mischievious March girls. While Florence Pugh kills it with her delightfully capricious Amy, and Saoirse Ronan is rivetingly moreish as the righteous Jo, it is Hollywood’s golden boy Chalamet who effortlessly steals each scene he’s in. Maddeningly charming, boyishly awkward, his performance as Theodore is nothing short of virtuosic. Though the film gets a tad prescriptive with the genre tropes and it’s easy to get lost in the onslaught of flashbacks, it’s an overall idyllic movie that’ll make you forget all the worries in the world for a couple of hours.

DRAMA: JUSTMERCYTo Kill a Mockingbird meets A Few Good Men in this legal drama starring Michael B Jordan and Jamie Foxx. It is based on a true story of Walter McMillan, an AfricanAmerican man who was wrongfully convicted for murder and sentenced to death; and Bryan Stevenson—the idealistic lawyer who undertook the task of appealing his conviction. Sure, it’s an important and—sadly—still timely story to tell, yet the way it’s done here is so predictably formulaic and unnecessarily stretched out that it’s more likely to make

you relish the idea of re-watching Shawshank Redemption when you get home than inspire great acts of kindness in the face of cruel injustices of the world. Members of the Academy, we suspect, might disagree, though…

COMEDY: THEMANWHOKILLEDDON

QUIXOTE Who’s a better fit to direct a film based on the deluded Don Quixote’s whacky adventures than the everimaginative, potentially-even-whackier Terry Gilliam? In his latest project he retells the Cervantes classic as a selfreferential, dream-like story starring Jonathan Pryce and Adam Driver. But don’t get too relaxed—there’s complex subtext about identity and perspective, and nothing is ever what it seems.

ACTION: THECOURIERGary Oldman as a leather-clad, eyepatch-sporting super villain , Olga Kurylenko as a small-time courier who also happens to be an exsniper with superhuman strength, plus delightfully cheesy dialogue and even cheesier attempts at Sin City-like flashbacks to wash it all down with. There’s nothing about this film that doesn’t scream “ridiculous”, which makes you wonder how Oldman or even Dermot Mulroney ended up in it, but as long as you take it for what it is (a hilariously bad B-movie and instant cult classic), you might just end up having a great time!

by Eva Mackevic

EDDIEEATSAMERICA(DAVE; UKTVPLAY)

What is it? Britain’s fun entry into the burgeoning man-versus-food genre sees former World’s Strongest Man Eddie “The Beast” Hall undertaking a series of gastronomic challenges while touring the United States.

Why should I watch it? After the festive excesses, Eddie’s 10,000-calories-a-day gluttony might just underline the necessity of sticking to that diet plan. And Hall himself—cutting a modest figure, despite his ability to tow aeroplanes with his bulk—makes a most affable guide to America’s diverse culinary landscape. Best episode? Series two gets off to a bang with Stath and timid colleague Al trying to best their alpha boss Julian.

VICANDBOB’SBIGNIGHTOUT: SERIES 2 (BBC4;

BBC IPLAYER)

What is it? Britain’s top light entertainers—sorry, Ant and Dec— reunite for four more bouts of slapstick, surrealism and silliness.

Why should I watch it? To work out how much of these routines has been pre-rehearsed, and how much is simply two old friends attempting to make one another crack up.

Best episode? Bob’s modern dance routines are a particular highlight: his final-show account of what the UK version of the film The Purge might look like is well worth the wait. Best dad joke?“My wife asked me to make breakfast in bed.

I said I thought the kitchen would be better.”

by Mike McCahill

WHAT TO STREAM THIS MONTH:

THEKOMINSKYMETHOD: SEASON 2 (NETFLIX)

Michael Douglas and Alan Arkin continue to make genial company in this comedy-drama about ageing Hollywood players.

LIVINGWITHYOURSELF (NETFLIX)

For some, multiple Paul Rudds would be a dream; this smart, funny cloning comedy suggests how it might also prove a headache.

SHINEONWITHREESE (NETFLIX) Reese

Witherspoon conducts peppy interviews with inspirational women, including singers Dolly Parton and Pink.

READER

RADAR: PAUL

WRIGGLESWORTH, EX-RAF

WATCHING: STRICTLY COMEDANCINGBBC ONE I don’t follow too much on TV, I just watch what I fancy at the time. At present I’m following Strictly and the rugby.

READING: WARDOGBY DAMIEN LEWIS I’m not a big reader but I’ve just finished this book which I found quite moving as it was a true story. I’m currently looking for a new book and the only magazine I read is Reader’s Digest.

ONLINE: FACEBOOK It’s the only social media I use online, which I must admit has reacquainted me with some of my friends from the past.

LISTENING:BBC RADIO

TWO My music tastes are quite eclectic but I’m not a big music lover. I listen to BBC Radio Two. I use Zoe Ball’s show as my morning alarm.

ALBUM OF THE MONTH:

ACCAby ALA.NI Rarely do records kick off on an incredibly strong note and then just keep taking it up a notch from song to song, twisting and twirling the styles, sounds and genres like a sonic kaleidoscope. Artist ALA.NI is one such curio. Her wonderfully joyous, blithe but potent record spans everything from hip-hop (as demonstrated on the guttural “Van P,” featuring the rapping of polymath Lakeith Stanfield), to doo-wop (like the Ronettes-inspired “Sha La La”) via bouncy RnB (on “Differently” with its sexy bass grooves).

But ALA.NI’s chic virtuosity doesn’t end there. To to make matters even more impressive, the album was recorded entirely acappella, by layering up hundreds of vocal tracks, some of which imitate brass and string instruments so well, you’d never guess you were listening to a human voice. It’s a selfassured, gutsy reminder that great music can be made with the most minimal of means and that the DIY spirit of creating art didn’t die with the punk rockers in the 1970s.

It’s no wonder ALA.NI counts the likes of David Lynch, Iggy Pop (who also makes an appearance on ACCA) and David Byrne among her fans and after listening to this record—you’ll join the club too.

by Eva Mackevic

January Fiction

A difficult but all-consuming debut and a tasty treat for Austen fans are our top literary picks this month

My Dark Vanessa

by Kate Elizabeth Russell (Fourth Estate, £12.99)

In 2000, aged 15, Vanessa Wye had an affair with Jacob Strane, a 42-yearold teacher at her boarding school in Maine. Ever since, she’s been determined to regard it as a great love story—and has largely succeeded. But in 2017, other former pupils of Mr Strane’s are coming forward to claim that he treated them very similarly, and that it was straight child abuse. Has Vanessa been fooling herself all these years?

As she reluctantly reassesses her past, Mr Strane comes across as both extremely creepy and horrifyingly plausible (which of course makes him even creepier). But more horrifyingly

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

plausible still are all the contradictory feelings that the teenage Vanessa had about the affair, and that the book lays out so uncompromisingly: pride at her own sexual daring; a sense of superiority to “ordinary girls”; love; resentment; a growing awareness of possible self-delusion; and a desperate wish to suppress that awareness.

My Dark Vanessa certainly isn’t a comfortable read—but it is an utterly compelling one: a novel that does full justice to the emotional complexities involved without ever seeking to justify the unjustifiable.

Miss Austen by Gill Hornby (Century, £12.99)

Miss Austen contains the usual disclaimer that “this is a work of fiction” where any resemblance between the characters and “actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental”. Which, in the circumstances, feels a bit odd, given that the eponymous Miss Austen is Jane’s real-life sister Cassandra, and the book itself—a beautifully-researched recreation of their famously close relationship.

In fact, much of it takes place 23 years after Jane’s death, with Cassandra

about to carry out one of her more questionable (but, again, real-life) acts: when she burned any of her sister’s letters that might have undermined the prevailing idea of “the divine Jane” as a woman of unfailing sweetness. But there are also quite a few of Cassandra’s memories of her sister in her pomp. Along the way, admittedly, Gill Hornby does throw some actual fiction into the mix. Nonetheless, even this might be better described as some highly educated guesswork.

Either way, the overall result is a beguilingly persuasive book that no Austen fan will want to miss. But it’s proof, too, that every age chooses the Austen it prefers—in our case, someone a lot more fearless, funny and feminist than the Victorians liked to think.

Name the author

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

1. January 17, 2020 is the 200th anniversary of her birth—in the village of Thornton, near Bradford.

2. One of her novels features a violent drunkard, partially based on her brother, Branwell.

3. Her first and second names begin with consecutive letters of the alphabet.

Answer on p126

PAPERBACKS

BigSkyby Kate Atkinson (Black Swan, £8.99)

Atkinson’s private investigator Jackson Brodie returns after a nineyear break—and doesn’t disappoint.

TheFrogwithSelf-CleaningFeet by Michael Bright (Biteback, £9.99)

A collection of astonishing stories from the animal kingdom by an award-winning film-maker at the BBC Natural History Unit.

LittleFaithby Nickolas Butler (Faber, £8.99) Lovely novel set in rural Wisconsin where a quiet, kindly way of life is under threat, with family shops disappearing, young people moving away and the local church emptying.

HowDeathBecomesLife

by Joshua Mezrich (Atlantic, £9.99)

The trend for doctor’s memoirs continues, as a leading transplant surgeon reflects on some of his most significant—and most troubling—cases.

ReasonstoBeCheerful

by Nina Stibbe (Penguin, £8.99)

Eighteen-year-old Lizzie moves to the big city (Leicester) to work as a dental assistant in a perfectlypitched comic novel set in a perfectly-evoked 1980.

RECOMMENDED READ

A City Of Many Faces

A loving but sober look at Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan

When Taran Khan first arrived in the Afghan capital in 2006, she was told never to walk in the city. Luckily for us, it was advice she chose to ignore. Over the next seven years, Khan—an Indian Muslim— visited Kabul regularly, providing video-production training to a TV station and observing the whole

place in close-up. Now, in this eyeopening book, she reflects on what she saw in a way that’s both incredibly thoughtful and riveting.

Khan does fill us in on the wider history of this 3,000-year-old city, especially during its traumatic recent decades: the Soviet invasion of 1979, the terrible and often overlooked civil war of the early 1990s, the rule of the Taliban. Yet, thanks to her walking policy, at the heart of the book is a far more intimate portrait of Kabul—and of its people—than we ever get on news reports.

Despite her obvious love for the place, Khan never sentimentalises away the continuing violence, or the toll that 40 years of almost constant war have taken. (By 2010, nearly 60 per cent of Afghans were suffering from some sort of mental illness.) She does, however, find plenty of people “staking a claim to ordinary pleasures” like music, stories and particularly movies—with posters of Bollywood stars everywhere.

Khan is also struck by the extravagance of Afghan weddings, where the genders are segregated, but where—partly for that reason— women are given a rare chance to dress glamorously.

Naturally, such extravagance was banned under the Taliban, but it came roaring back, once the Taliban fell to US-led forces in 2001—with the preferred choice a “hall wedding” in a bespoke venue…

‘‘

These hall weddings became increasingly expensive, pushing tens of thousands of dollars into the industry. The cost of a wedding in 2013 could range anywhere between five and 25 lakh afghanis (around $9,000 to $45,000 at the time).

While the groom’s family paid most of the bills, traditionally the bride’s family made the decisions about decorations, catering and music. Even those who could not afford it took on debts to fund these lavish occasions.

These wedding halls mushroomed across Kabul—from just four in 2001 to more than 80 in 2008. They were particularly congregated around a strip of road in the north of the city.

I had seen this locality first with a few houses behind ruined mud walls. Then the modest road had been widened and was soon lined with massive structures of glass and steel. They had water features and decorations and gates that towered above passers-by. Some had imposing drives sweeping up from the main road, others had plastic trees strung with glowing lights.

Somewhere in the midst of this escalating opulence was the first wedding hall I had seen in Kabul, the Shaam-e-Paris (‘An Evening in Paris’). A plastic replica of the Eiffel Tower on its lawns, it had seemed ludicrously overblown. Within three years, it had been eclipsed into shabby obscurity by its flamboyant neighbours. Imposing as this ‘wedding quarter’

HALL WEDDINGS REFLECTED THE SHIFTS THAT HAD RECAST KABUL AFTER 2001, WHEN SOME PEOPLE BECAME VERY RICH, VERY QUICKLY

was during the day, it truly came alive after sunset, when the entire area glittered with fountains, fireworks and colours. Cars waited in long queues to enter the different venues. Seeing this road at night was like encountering a misplaced fragment of Las Vegas. If you flew into Kabul after dark, you could see the lights from the sky.

Hall weddings were essential symbols of their era. They reflected the shifts that had recast Kabul after 2001, when some people became very rich, very quickly. The large aid budgets and NATO bases created high rates of economic growth. This was a boom fuelled by war; it enriched a

Shadow City: A Woman

Walks Kabul by Taran N Khan is published by

Chatto & Windus at £14.99

certain section of Afghan society, and provided a degree of material security to another. The uneven growth was to prove ephemeral, like the uneven, brittle peace it came with. But until then, Kabul was alight with the energy of this bubble. In their fevered embrace of excess and ever increasing demonstrations of wealth and prestige, wedding halls represented this new reality.

As a result, these halls were often where generations and social values clashed. A colleague had taken her aged father-in-law on a rare outing to a cousin’s wedding held in one of the biggest halls in town. The old gentleman had been traumatised by the entire event, she told me, horrified by the brazen display of both wealth and limbs. But wasn’t it a segregated event? I asked. ‘Yes, but the women came to pay their respects to him,’ she explained. And that had almost been his undoing. ‘The poor man nearly collapsed right there. All that money, all those naked legs.’”

’’

FOUR GREAT NOVELS ABOUT AFGHANISTAN

TheKiteRunnerby Khaled Hosseini. Hosseini’s deservedly huge 2003 bestseller is a gutwrenching tale of friendship and betrayal set against the recent history of Afghanistan, including its time as part of the hippie trail in the 1960s and 1970s.

Flashmanby George MacDonald

Fraser. The first in the wildly entertaining series about one of the great fictional cads. After becoming a reluctant spy, Flashman witnesses the disastrous British retreat from Kabul in 1842: the first time—but definitely not the last—that the Afghans defeated a supposedly superior army.

LieDownwithLionsby Ken Follett. A classic slice of Follett suspense that takes place during the period when the Mujahideen were fighting the Russians—another “superior” army that ended up badly beaten.

And the name of the author is… Anne Brontë TheTenantof WildfellHallfeatures that Branwell-inspired drunkard—much to the displeasure of sister Charlotte who prevented its re-publication for several years after Anne’s death, aged 29.

TheBreadwinnerby Deborah Ellis. Ellis spent months interviewing Afghan women and girls for this wonderful children’s book—the story of an 11-year-old girl trying to help her family (and to survive) under the Taliban.

Books That Changed My Life

Birmingham-born short story writer and novelist Kit de Waal first wowed readers with her debut novel, My Name Is Leon, in 2016

TheOld Wives’Tale

by Arnold Bennett

Arnold Bennett wrote this book after seeing an old woman eating alone in a restaurant and wondering what she might have been like as a girl. It’s a study of womanhood at the turn of the last century, a study of loneliness and the love and rivalry between two sisters. It’s tender and savage at the same time and as well as being a great novel in its own right it pointed me towards Gustave Flaubert and Guy de Maupassant. They were friends of Bennett’s and they also wrote sympathetically about women who were struggling against the expectations of society.

TheInvisible Man

by Ralph Ellison

Ralph Ellison was inspired by a scene in Moby Dick where a sailor goes into a black church in New England. In The Invisible Man, the narrator explores what it is to be black, the complexity of relationships with white people, the place of the Black Liberation movement in different communities, the strength of black women and the obstructions put in the way of the advancement of black men, particularly in America in the 1950s. There’s a wonderful story at the heart of it but unfortunately it’s also a reality for many people today.

TheFirst BadMan

by Miranda

July

This isn’t the sort of book I’d normally read but it was pressed on me by a friend. It all takes place in the head of a single woman who imagines a fabulous life for herself, because the reality is so sad. She uses a single plate, a single fork and has imaginary lovers. Then in walks a lodger— lazy, rough and manipulative. What follows is a hilarious, sexy power struggle and love affair. It’s not for everyone but it’s definitely for me—it’s absurd, but uplifting. n

Kit’s new novel, Becoming Dinah is published by Hachette Children’s, £7.99

A WellOiled Machine

This month Olly Mann reviews the gadgets promising to put a spring in your gym step

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

A BIT OF A STRETCH

Google “lazy person’s yoga” and you’ll see plenty of ads for Thai massage practitioners, because the therapy does replicate some yogic stretches. But if you’re too lazy to even leave the house, the Homedics Zen Stretch Plus Stretching Mat (£279) provides six soothing programmes of Thai massage, via seven surprisingly powerful inflatable air pockets, all from the floor of your own sitting room. It’s disconcerting at first, but then very relaxing, and its gentle twisting of my body seemed to help my back pain. But for a “smart” massager, it’s odd that it doesn’t provide the option to sync with an app, or even customise settings beyond the basic remote control.

KEEP UP

Thor himself, Chris Hemsworth, has founded an iOS fitness app called Centr, which shamelessly trades on the concept that can have a six pack like his, if you only put in enough effort (which of course includes paying a subscription, from £15.49 a month). Pleasingly, his team of personal trainers don’t just prescribe wall-to-wall abdominal crunches, but also meal planning and mental wellbeing, so even if you find their sweat inducing exercise programmes a little intense, there are recipes and meditations to help you get healthier too. There’s no video download facility, though, so make sure your gym has wifi if you want to use it out and about.

JOG ON

CHILL OUT

Cooling down is as important as warming-up, and Doppel (£175) is here to help. Worn on your wrist, it looks like a fitness tracker but actually contains a little spinny wheel that emits silent vibrations resembling the da-dum, da-dum of your heartbeat. In fact it has no power over your actual pulse, but the psychosomatic effect is noticeable, and, by altering the speed and intensity via the accompanying app, I enjoyed the calm feeling of seemingly slowing my tempo, or increasing my energy during a workout. It takes some getting used to—for a while I kept thinking my phone was vibrating in my pocket—and the battery life is disappointing. But the illusion of controlling your inner rhythm is addictive.

Pumping iron is best accompanied by music, and these days Bluetooth earphones can prevent you from unintentionally cutting off your tunes when flailing your arms under the headphone cable. Beats By Dre Powerbeats Pro (£219) are the robust “true wireless” option—they didn’t fall out of my earholes once, no matter how wild my movements. But for a hundred quid less (and no charging case) the unshowy Klipsch T5 Sport Wireless Earphones (£110) are a great choice, featuring a sweatresistant band, minimal sound-leak, and some serious musical oomph.

You Couldn’t Make It Up

Win £30 for your true, funny stories!

Go to readersdigest.co.uk/contact-us or facebook.com/readersdigestuk

Worried by a “for sale” ad in our local paper, I rang an animal charity's help line to report what I assumed to be a blatant case of neglect. How was I to know that “a flea-bitten horse” is one with a white or grey coat flecked with a darker colour?

MAGGIE COBBETT, Yorkshire

John, slightly on the plump side, was the only member of our regular Sunday dining group having a dessert after another excellent golf club lunch. When our friendly waitress returned with his pudding after a very slight delay, she said sincerely, “Sorry about your wait, John”.

“Then don't keep bringing me puddings!” he replied with pretend indignation. KEITH LODGE, East Yorkshire

On holiday, my ten-year-old granddaughter met a little girl of

about eight. They'd struck up a friendship so before they parted, my granddaughter asked her new friend where she lived with the hope of being able to visit.

The new friend replied, “London.” My granddaughter asked which part and the little girl came back with,“ I don't know but I have a green door.”

HELEN EVANS, Chester

We went to church on Christmas Eve as a family for the midnight service. We'd had an unsuccessful morning which started with a power cut and had joked that our dad hadn't paid the bill.

During a quiet moment in the service my younger brother, at after observing all the church candles, commented loudly, “Has God not paid his electric bill, Daddy?”

ARIANNA TAYLOR, Moray

cartoon: guto dias

"My New Year's resolution? Dehydration!"

My brother took his car into the garage because every time he turned a corner, he heard a loud clang. He got a call later from the mechanic whose recommendation was to secure his golf clubs that were in the boot next time he went for a drive.

GERALDINE BURTON, Clwyd

My seven-year-old daughter came down from her bedroom and asked me how long it was until Christmas. I told her it was eight weeks and asked why she wanted to know.

“I'm wondering,” she said thoughtfully, “If it's near enough to start being good?”

RACHELLE HARDING, Cambridgeshire

My great-granddaughter, not yet three, is already a strong mathematician. She knows the names of all the geometric shapes. Last night I said to her, “Athena, you're a star.”

“Thank you, Grandma,” she replied. “And you're a triangle.”

PAT METCALFE, London

When I joined a new doctors' surgery, my first appointment was with a doctor I thought I recognised from my class at school.

On the wall was his certificate and his full name so I was fairly sure it was him. I asked him when he had graduated and he confirmed the

same year so I said confidently, “You used to be in my class.”

He looked me up and down and then asked, “What did you used to teach?” And there was me thinking he looked older than me!

ANNA HAMMETT, Cheshire

We were discussing good tips at work, and I mentioned to one young fellow employee, that he could make ice cubes out of leftover wine.

He looked at me as if I was mad and said, “Leftover wine? What's that?”

BETHANY WEBSTER, Clwyd

My neighbour is a real eco warrior, who works hard to save the planet. When she came back from holiday, she proudly told me about the ecofriendly campsite where her family had stayed. Alongside features such as solar panelled heating for the hot water in the showers, she told me they also had a combustible toilet.

I’m sure the word she meant was “compostable”…

BARBARA TREVITT, Newcastle

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:

IT PAYS TO INCREASE YOUR

Word Power

Our ancestors had important relationships with a wide range of creatures which helps to explain why so many modern words originate from animals. Test your zoological skills with the following 13 words

By Alison Ramsey

1. bidet—A: an outdoor faucet. B: rain gutter. C: European bathroom fixture.

2. alopecia—A: change in skin tone. B: hair loss. C: persistent rash.

3. mews—A: a narrow passage. B: covered patio. C: row of buildings converted from stables.

4. cajole—A: to try to win over. B: impress. C: amuse.

5. urchin—a child who is A: plump. B: impish. C: motherless.

6. haggard—A: old. B: annoyed. C: worn out.

7. kibitz—A: to offer unwanted advice. B: spend time with friends. C: juggle responsibilities.

8. mawkish—A: imitative. B: argumentative. C: overly sentimental.

9. katzenjammer—A: a hangover. B: pyjama party. C: playing unrehearsed music.

10. ostracism—A: exasperation. B: dedication. C: expulsion.

11. repechage—A: an additional rowing heat. B: fishing contest. C: double dipping.

12. lycanthropy—A: protection of indigenous wildlife. B: the metamorphosis of human into wolf. C: study of plant-eating animals.

13. subjugate—A: determine guilt. B: force into submission. C: analyse a sentence.

Answers

1. bidet [C] a European bathroom fixture; French for "little horse." The bidet was an unexpected feature.

2. alopecia—[B] hair loss; Greek for "fox." Male baldness is but one of many forms of alopecia.

3. mews—[C] a row of buildings converted from stables; Latin for "a cage used for hawks while moulting." The courtyard is one of the best reasons for living in the mews.

4. cajole—[A] to try to win over; French for "chatter like a jay." Ben’s daughter cajoled him into coaching her football team.

5. urchin—[B] an impish child; Greek for "hedgehog." A gang of urchins loved playing tricks on the town residents.

6. haggard—[C] worn out; French for "wild hawk." Witches are always depicted as old and haggard.

7. kibitz—[A] to offer unwanted advice; German for "lapwing." Eva's mother kibitzed, “Put on a sweater!”

8. mawkish—[C] overly sentimental;

Archaic for "maggot." Mawkish songs can have a surprisingly large fan base.

9. katzenjammer—[A] a hangover; German for "katzen" (cats) and "jammer" (wailing). That’s enough wine for me; I don’t want a katzenjammer tomorrow.”

10. ostracism—[C] expulsion; Greek for "shell, used to vote." Ostracism from one’s family is hard to endure.

11. repechage—[A] an additional rowing heat; French for "save, by fishing out." In a repechage, runners-up have another chance to advance to the finals.

WORD OF THE DAY*

12. lycanthropy—[B] metamorphosis of human into wolf; Greek for "lukos" (wolf) and "anthro¯pos" (mankind). According to legend, a full moon can cause lycanthropy.

PARVANIMITY

Smallness of mind

Alternative suggestions:

"Not knowing the difficulty of each hole on the golf course"

"When you park the van up and have a tea"

"Bad blood between vehicleowning fathers"

13. subjugate [B] force into submission; Latin for "sub" (under) + "jugum" (yoke). Julie enjoyed subjugating her annoying little brother.

VOCABULARY RATINGS

5-8: Fair

9–10: Good

11–13: Excellent

100s

Thousands

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Brainteasers

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

Bubble Math

Assign a whole number between one and seven to each of the seven bubbles. Each number occurs once. The sums of some of the numbers are revealed in the areas where their bubbles overlap. Can you figure out which number goes in each bubble?

Treasures

Can you locate 12 hidden treasures in the empty cells of this grid? The numbers outside indicate how many treasures there are in each row or column. Each arrow points directly toward one or more of the treasures and does not share a cell with one. An arrow may be immediately next to a treasure it points to, or it may be further away. Not every treasure will necessarily have an arrow pointing to it.

Set-Free

Place an A, B or C in each empty cell. No three consecutive cells in a horizontal, vertical or diagonal line may contain a set of identical letters (such as B-B-B) or a set of three different letters (such as C-A-B). Can you ensure a set-free grid?

Here’s the Deal

Four playing cards, one of each suit (a red heart, a red diamond, a black spade and a black club), lie in a row on a table. They are a three, a four, a six and a seven. Using these clues, can you determine the cards and their order?

1. The cards on either side of the four are black.

2. The club is somewhere to the right of the three but is not next to the diamond.

3. The middle two cards add up to an even number.

Cogs

These four cogs are going to help you crack a safe. Imagine you turn the first cog two teeth (protruding bumps) in a counterclockwise direction. Naturally, this motion moves the other three cogs, as well. Next, you turn the second cog three teeth in a clockwise direction. This, too, moves the other three cogs. Finally, you move the last two cogs as indicated. The four teeth that are now positioned next to the four circles reveal a four-digit safe combination; what are they?

BRAINTEASERS ANSWERS

Bubble Math

£50 PRIZE QUESTION

Can you name each of these European countries from their outline alone?

 

Treasures

C



   A

D B

THE FIRST CORRECT ANSWER WE PICK WINS £50!*

Set-Free



Here’s the Deal

(From left to right):

Three of diamonds, six of spades, four of hearts, seven of clubs.

Cogs 8, 2, 8 and 1.

ANSWER TO DECEMBER’S PRIZE QUESTION

A: Dina Asher-Smith, 200 meters

B: Katarina Johnson-Thompson, heptahlon

C: Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, 100 meters

D: Christian Coleman,100 meters

Email excerpts@readersdigest.co.uk      

AND THE £50 GOES TO…

DOUGLAS MCKINLAY, Great Cumbrae

Laugh!

Win £30 for every reader’s joke we publish!

Go to readersdigest.co.uk/contact-us or facebook.com/readersdigestuk

I once had an audition for Game of Thrones. It could have been a lifechanging job, so I walked into the room ready to go.

The director said, “First we need to see you in your underwear,” which wasn’t at all what I was expecting. So I put my pants back on.

Comedian GIANMARCO SORESI

Sometimes my anxiety gets so bad, that I have to plug in headphones and turn the music up really loud, just so I can drown out the voices in my head.

It’s actually really funny, because these voices are saying really dark and nasty things, and suddenly they’re forced to do karaoke!

Comedian DANIEL FERNANDES

Apparently even the actor Matt Damon has gone vegan now.

He’s assumed a Quorn identity.

ROWAN FAIFE, London

Seeing couples at the gym is super confusing. You’re done! You’ve got somebody. Go home.

Comedian TYLER FOWLER

I always wanted to open a restaurant, but I could only afford a food truck.

That’s life though. Sometimes you have to make concessions.

Submitted via email

Saying “I’m sorry” is the same as saying, “I apologise”.

Except at a funeral.

Comedian DEMETRI MARTIN

Where can you find a cow with NO LEGS?

Right where you left it.

Seen online

HAIR OF THE DOG?

These hungover-looking animals clearly partied a little too hard this New Year’s Eve. Images via sadanduseless.com

We’ve been sleep-training our baby using the cry-it-out method. It was brutal at first, but now he can go over an hour listening to me cry.

Comedian MATT HYAMS

Many years ago I resolved never to bother with New Year’s resolutions, and I’ve stuck with it ever since.

Baseball star DAVE BEARD

Yoga is just Simon Says for adults who have a lot of free time.

Comedian ALI WONG

When my little brother was adopted, I was so happy. I just remember thinking, Thank God, we finally got rid of him.

Comedian ALEX AVERY

My nephew is six, and FaceTiming with him is like watching The Blair Witch Project. The camera is always shaking, I ask “What is that?” a lot, and I don’t know when it ended.

Comedian DAN REGAN

LAUGH

A police officer excitedly calls in a new case to his station. “A women shot her husband for stepping on the floor she just mopped!”

“Have you arrested her?” the sergeant asked.

“No, not yet,” came the reply. “The floor’s still wet!”

JACK WEBSTER, Clwyd

My father drank so heavily, that when he blew on his birthday cake, he lit the candles.

Comedian LES DAWSON

The only truly honest answer when somebody asks you if you love them, is “At the moment, yes.” But try saying that without getting a kick in your chaps!

Comedian JON RICHARDSON

I like a woman with a head on her shoulders. I hate necks.

Comedian STEVE MARTIN

I was at a restaurant recently and I saw a guy wearing a leather jacket and at the same time, eating a hamburger and drinking a glass of milk. I said, “Dude, you are a cow. The metamorphosis is complete. Don’t fall asleep. I will tip you over.”

Comedian MITCH HEDBERG

Two whales walk into a bar. The first one says, “Weeeooouuhhh.”

The whale second says, “Shut up, Steve. You’re drunk.”

Seen online

AWFUL ADVICE

Twitter users share the worst advice they’ve ever had

@BritBrHodeHouse: I was told to sprinkle talcum powder on my sheets to “freshen them up.”

I woke up looking like a powdered doughnut.

@KellyGator: I bought a second-hand car and it stunk of cigarettes. I was told that vinegar would fix it. Now my car smells like pickled cigarettes.

@DumbDonald6: I had a huge crush on a girl in my class, and my dad said, “You should climb through her window and leave a note on her pillow. It’s romantic.”

@MicahWilliams24: A guy at work was trying to give me marriage advice, and justified it by saying, “Trust me, I’ve been married three times.”

CROSSWORD ANSWERS

Across: 1 Aero, 3 Constable, 10 Escalator, 11 Piano, 12 Despair, 13 Between, 14 Nape, 16 Toadstool, 20 Tradition, 21 Idle, 24 Avocado, 26 Oatcake, 28 Khaki, 29 Chauffeur, 30 Celebrate, 31 Itch.

Down: 1 Amending, 2 Races, 4 Outermost, 5 Scrub, 6 Appetite, 7 Leasehold, 8 Altar, 9 Wound, 15 Parsonage, 17 Deodorant, 18 Idealise, 19 Research, 22 Tacks, 23 Stiff, 25 Occur, 27 Alert.

60 Second Stand-Up

We chat to the versatile comedian, Simon Brodkin

WHAT’S THE BEST PART OF YOUR CURRENT SHOW? The fact that I’m being myself and not hiding behind a character and not pretending to be someone else [Lee Nelson]. I get to talk about things that I care about in a funny way. It’s really different.

WHAT INSPIRES YOUR COMEDY?

At first it was the character comics, Sacha Baron Cohen, Steve Coogan, Ricky Gervais. Someone who crosses into both character and straight stand-up amazingly is Stephen Colbert—his stuff is always incisive and brilliantly funny.

DO YOU FIND ANY PARTS OF THE COUNTRY TO BE FUNNIER THAN OTHERS? Certain parts of the country think they’re funnier than others and they have the confidence, though I don’t know if that’s a local thing or an alcohol-induced thing.

WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE ONE-LINER?

Why did the dog lick his b******s?

Because he could.

DO YOU HAVE A MEMORABLE HECKLE?

I had a reverse heckle the other day. My mum was there and she’s the opposite of me; wherever there’s limelight she’ll run away from it.

I shouted her out saying, “My mum’s here, Mum where are you?”

She wouldn’t admit she was there so it looked like I really weirdly lied that my mum was in, or didn’t have a mum and was hopeful every night that she’d turn up to my show.

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

Donald Trump. Seeing him naked has got to be funny; with his tan line ending just below his neck and his gut hanging out. I’d love to see what his relationship with Melania is really like. n

Brodkin’s show, 100% Simon Brodkin, tours the UK from Feb 2 until May 7. Visit simonbrodkin.com for tickets and more information

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 begins 2020 without his crown as his caption, “All the shingles ladies, all the shingles ladies?” couldn’t compete with our reader, Kelvin Jay, who won voters over with his funny suggestion, “The doctor’s feeling a bit fragile today and says whoever’s least infectious will be seen first.” Congratulations!

February Issue

THE RISE IN ALLERGIES

Ever wondered why more than 150 million Europeans suffer from chronic allergies?

CHEERS TO BUBBLES

Anna Walker takes an adventure through the vineyards and wine cellars of the Champagne region

AUSTRALIA’S GREAT BARRIER REEF

The controversial debate around the world’s largest coral reef system

When life is non-stop, taking time out for a health issue might not feel like an option. Which is why, with Bupa, you’ll get fast access to treatment and specialist support, so you’ll be back to yourself as soon as possible.

a reader of Reader’s Digest, you can save 10%* on Bupa By You health insurance.

SHE’S BACK TO SHAKE UP THE WEST END

Starring MICHAEL BALL as Edna Turnblad