Reader's Digest UK Mar 2017

FEATURES

14 IT’S A MANN’S WORLD

Olly Mann loves a bargain— but he’s running out of space for a good deal

Entertainment

22 HUGH BONNEVILLE INTERVIEW

The actor on history, politics and imagination

30 “I REMEMBER”: LORRAINE KELLY

The TV presenter speaks about childhood ambition and meeting the Queen Health

38 TO HELL & BACK WITH KIDNEY STONES

Why one in ten may develop this debilitating condition— and what to do about it

56 WHEN MEDICATIONS CAUSE HARM

How to avoid the problem of over-prescribing

Inspire

66 DEAR MUM

Three daughters pen letters to their exceptional mothers

76 BEST OF BRITISH: HIDDEN GEMS

The secret attractions that can be found if you venture off the beaten track

Travel & Adventure

86 A PILGRIM’S PATH

Discovering the charms of Spain’s ancient walking route

98 THE WAR ON WASTE

We’re throwing away more food than ever—but one nation is fighting back

EDITOR’S LETTER

IN THE READER’S DIGEST GRAND

TRADITION, this issue is filled with features that give a glimpse into lives around the world. On p86 we take a walk on the famed El Camino de Santiago route in Spain, learning about human nature as we go. From there we travel to Scandinavia on p98, and discover how the Danes have managed to cut their food waste by a staggering 25 per cent in the last five years. Back on home turf, we’re seeking out those hidden attractions that are worth a journey off the beaten track on p76—and even dabble in a bit of time travel.

We speak to some fascinating people too. Actor Hugh Bonneville discusses the importance of imagination on p22, while on p30 presenter Lorraine Kelly reveals what it’s like to meet the Queen.

Of course, this month we also celebrate Mother’s Day. To mark the occasion, three daughters write open letters to their exceptional mothers on p66. Tissues at the ready!

Fiona Hicks

theeditor@readersdigest.co.uk

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Who run the world?

March 8 is International Women’s Day and to celebrate, we’re taking a look at seven trailblazing women who shaped Britain. Featuring the chemist who helped discover DNA, the first Briton in space and the musician who’s fighting oppression, you’re bound to feel inspired! Visit readersdigest.co.uk/ inspiring-women

Don’t die of embarrassment

It’s Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, so what better time to get yourself checked?

One in eight men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer at some point in their lives, but catching it early means treatment will be far more effective. Get in the know at readersdigest.co.uk/prostate

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View the full flowercrown gallery at readersdigest.co.uk/ flower-statues for weird and wonderful reinterpretations of the word “sociolect”

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Over to You

LETTERS ON THE JANUARY ISSUE

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

✯ LETTER OF THE MONTH...

Reading “We’re Making A Mess Of Our Own Culture” was rather moving, especially hearing about the psychotherapy Alan Davies undertook to help deal with his issues of losing his mum as a child. It was quite poignant how he worked out exactly how old he was when she died to the day, and then watched how his daughter’s life compared at the identical age.

I lost my father at the age of nine, when he was only 41. I was a bit anxious about what would happen when I reached the same age as my dad, and what impact it could have on my family.

Fortunately, I’ve now surpassed his age and I’ve been blessed with watching my children grow up into their teens—though I often think how different things could have been if my dad were still around.

KEVIN BRIGGS, Shetland

THE EXAGGERATION GAME

In “If I Ruled the World”, Adil Ray had me nodding along when he wrote about politicians undergoing liedetector tests. With all of the political hidden agenda, we never truly know which politicians have our best interest in mind.

The difficulty is that we can almost

never catch a politician out for lying. I’m not, of course, suggesting that politicians are innately less accurate or truthful than anyone else—rather that the system is not constraining. In fact, it’s all too often rewarding— with spin, exaggeration and misstatements the norm.

JONATHAN COOPER, London

A CONFIRMED CAT MAN

I enjoyed Olly Mann’s article “In Need Of Purr-suasion”. I’ve always had a weakness for rescuing cats. I prefer them to dogs because I’m captivated by their attitude of snooty independence, and they’re less trouble to keep.

When I travelled around the UK, visiting building sites run by my company, I rescued a few cats who’d attached themselves to the building staff for food. In fact, I rescued two ordinary moggies and adopted them when one site closed down.

They were delightful pets and they lived for 18 and 20 years respectively. Sam and Tibby were great pals and when Tibby died, Sam used to sit quietly mourning. Eventually his time came, and he went to her basket under the stairs and passed away.

I often walk along the seafront at Paignton, where I live and, strangely, dogs passing by often seem to want a stroke from me—a confirmed cat man.

ALAN ANDREWS, Devon

ALAN’S OBSERVATIONS

I agree with Alan Davies in “We’re Making A Mess Of Our Own Culture”. I thought it was just me becoming more grumpy and intolerant as I get older, but he’s right.

Unfortunately, quality has suffered at the hands of quantity. Everything is based around immediacy and attention spans have shrunk. This is reflected in the poorer quality of some programme storylines, which now appear rushed and superficial (apart from the soap operas, which can drag out a plot for months).

Of course, the upside of this is that I’m watching less television—and this gives me more time to get out and meet real people in a real world.

VALERIE GRIFFIN, Dorset

NO BARGAIN

In the past, I’ve always supported charity shops, taking unwanted possessions in and buying items as well. But in recent years, I find the prices have risen too high.

In “Best of British: Charity Shops”, Fiona Hicks highlighted the designerlabel bargains you can snap up. These, I agree, are wonderful—but there are so many other things for sale that are grossly overpriced. What’s more, some charity shops don’t take the condition into account. OK, it may be Calvin Klein, but it’s very worn—so why the high price tag?

I still take items in. But I only buy greeting cards now.

LEONA HEXMAN, Clywd

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Like clockwork, spring sets off the planet’s largest wave of migration. When the season nears, billions of birds start making their way to their summer accommodation. It’s hard to believe, but participants in these fascinating swarms seldom have trouble with one another in the air—much unlike their behaviour on the often seriously overcrowded rest areas along the way.

Such is the case in Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge in Missouri, US. Here, hundreds of thousands of snow geese take their annual breaks on the way further northwards.

As a self-confessed lover of bargains, Olly Mann discovers he no longer has space for a good deal

A Charitable Addiction

Olly Mann is host of The Male Room on Radio 4, and presents many podcasts including The Modern Mann and Answer Me This!

ON ALMOST ANY HIGH STREET, my first port of call is the charity shop. It’s not that I’m strapped for cash, or feel an overwhelming duty to support starving puppies. It’s essentially because I’m nosey.

I relish rummaging racks of CDs because it’s just more interesting than browsing new music in HMV—more akin to poking around your neighbour’s kitchen to see what spices they’ve got in their larder. I enjoy rifling through the motheaten suits, speculating about their previous owner, and what led to his fatal coronary (Too many carbs? That stain looks like Bolognese…). And of course, I love a bargain.

I’ve unearthed some great deals over the years. Every issue of Supercook from the 1970s, bound in imitation leather: a fiver. Some Italian leather brogues, shiny and rouge, which I still wear to every job interview: £7.50. A signed copy of Quentin Crisp’s autobiography: 70p. It has a dedication, to Janice. Apparently Crisp provided his memoir as a Christmas present, believing she would treasure it forever. Presumably Janice really wanted perfume.

OTHER CHAPS, WHOSE REGULAR STOMPING GROUNDS are the pub, the bookies and the chippie, must feel more buyer’s remorse than me, with my mild Oxfam addiction. But more and more I’ve begun to consider my charity shop predilection as unhelpful: I’m buying up junk I simply don’t need.

BY CHARLOTTE

These thoughts began to crystallise in January, when I went to the sale at Lakeland (another obsession of mine. Have you seen their microfibre scourer pads? They’re epic), and discovered the vacuum-storage bags

were half-price. Or at least, the ones emblazoned with the Union Jack were half-price. My first thought was, How did such a product come to be produced in the colours of our national flag? Storage bags are

FARMER

destined to be stuffed under a bed or crammed into a garage, out of public sight, gathering dust for decades— truly, a bizarre vehicle by which to communicate one’s patriotism. My second thought was, What an absolute steal! Anyone buying boring old plain storage bags for twice the price must be an utter idiot! Let’s leave it to the Yanks to wave the red, white and blue from their front-porch flagpoles; I’m getting myself a load of Union Jack vacuum bags and shoving them in my shed, for Queen and Country!

Except then I realised there was no point me having bought a bunch of storage bags and not actually storing anything in them. So, I had a spontaneous spring clean (or whatever you call a spring clean that happens midwinter). First, I sorted my closet, filling one of my patriotic purchases with “fat clothes” (from when I had a 40-inch waist), and another with “thin clothes” (from when I had a 34inch waist), none of which fit me now (I’ve averaged out at 36 inches, the product of denying myself both bread and exercise). Then I ventured into my son’s room—he’s just turned

one—and chucked some old toys into the bag, and about a hundred baby outfits he’s outgrown.

What a steal— I’m getting a load of Union Jack vacuum bags and shoving them in my shed, for Queen and Country!

Straddling my Dyson, I attached the nozzle and deployed the trigger. My word. I’d never experimented with vacuum storage before and can report that it is, unquestionably, the most fun I’ve had doing any household task. It’s simultaneously constructive and destructive, combining both the smug satisfaction you feel having sorted your functionless homewares with the exhilarating pleasure of consigning inanimate objects to a world without oxygen. (I must advise those of a sensitive disposition, however, not to look on as they suck the air from a bag full of teddies. The tragic eyes of Piglet, glimmering as I crushed him to death, will haunt me forever).

AS I LUGGED these delightfully compact, yet surprisingly heavy, packages of discarded bric-a-brac up the ladder to my loft, I was confronted by a terrible truth: I had no space left to dump them. Every piece of attic floor space was covered with stuff, much of it from charity

shops: soup-stained recipe books; Christmas jumpers so tasteless you wouldn’t wear them to a stag do; fondue sets. I could have “doubled-up”, tossing my filled vacuum bags atop this pyre of crap, forming a second level of detritus— but I was a little worried my ceiling would collapse under the weight.

So it was that I found myself crossing the Rubicon: from charity shop connoisseur to charity shop donor. It feels weird to give back to my local shop products I was initially

so pleased to have purchased there, though I’m glad to be generating more cash for charity. I no longer enjoy looking around the shop as much as I used to, knowing my house is at full capacity and really, however delightful that weird 1960s footstool is, I simply don’t need it.

Then again, perhaps I should invest in a few more knick-knacks— otherwise I’ll have nothing to put in my vacuum storage bags next year. That would be a real waste of a great deal. A bargain’s a bargain.

TIME TO GO

Twitter users described the moment at which they realised they ought to move house:

“My two-year-old nephew looked into an empty corner in my bedroom and said, ‘Does that old man always watch you sleep, Auntie?’ ”

“My flat was broken into, and when I went to my upstairs neighbour to ask if he saw anything, I saw all my stuff—on display.”

“The walls in my dorm are so thin, I once sneezed and was blessed by the room beside me.”

“Found a beer can under my bed that wasn’t mine. Set up a camera— turns out my landlord’s son hung out in my flat when I wasn’t home.”

“The guy letting me a room said it was OK if I walked around in my underwear. And then he insisted that I did.”

“My ex-roommate used water bottles as his personal urinal because he was too lazy to walk the 12 steps to the bathroom.”

“While gutting their newly purchased home, a friend found 30 snake skins in the walls.”

SOURCE: BOREDPANDA.COM

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Films

by EvA MA ck E vic

Movie of the Month

■ DRAMA CerTAIN WOMeN

Three different women, three different stories—each quietly tragic and deeply moving. Laura Dern, Michelle Williams and Kristen Stewart deliver resonant, understated performances in this collection of vignettes focusing on strong-willed women going through emotional and physical hardship, whose lives intersect inconspicuously. Set against the rigid, wide-open plains of the American Northwest, the film thoughtfully reflects on the bleaker phases we go through in life as human beings—loneliness, unfairness, disappointment and uncertainty—domesticating them in the process to make them easier for the viewer to bear. It’s a brilliantly simple work, but be prepared to shed a tear or two.

■ histoRy: vICerOy’s hOuse

Hugh Bonneville and Gillian Anderson star in this poignant historical drama directed by Gurinder Chadha (Bend It Like Beckham). Viceroy’s House explores the personal costs of the Partition of India—a political manoeuvre that both handed India back to her people, and set brother against brother. Films that bring dark corners of our history to account as skilfully as this should be mandatory viewing.

Michelle Williams gives a touching performance as a troubled mother

■ spoRt: jAWbONe The boxing film genre has been enjoying quite a resurgence over the last few years. Jawbone is the UK’s latest contribution to the canon—and has a gritty, realist kick. When former youth-boxing champion Jimmy McCabe falls into alcoholism and hits rock bottom, he decides to return to his old boxing club to give his career one last shot. Featuring powerful, painful-towatch performances from Ray Winstone, Michael Smiley and Ian McShane.

■ coMEDy: rules dON’T Apply

Small-town ingénue Marla moves to Hollywood with dreams of becoming a star, under contract to the eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes. She soon falls in love with her chauffer, despite her boss’ strict edicts forbidding relationships between employees.

Hollywood legend Warren Beatty writes, directs and stars in this sweet romantic comedy featuring top-class acting, great music and a dazzling 1950s setting.

■

thRillER: persONAl shOpper

Kristen Stewart stars in this eerie ghost story about a young woman working as a personal shopper for a celebrity in Paris…while she waits for a sign from the spirit of her recently deceased brother. Sounds good on paper, doesn’t it? Sadly, the intriguing premise is undermined by simplistic storytelling, which involves lengthy text-messaging sequences. On the upside, there’s something incredibly watchable about Stewart picking out lush designer garments and driving around Paris on her scooter.

On Your Radar Melvyn Dover, freelance writer

Watching: dog day Afternoon (DvD)

A great Al Pacino film I first saw as a student—it brings back memories.

Reading: The Toff books by John creasey He’s a good thriller author who has the ability to bring his heroes to life.

Online: various regional newspapers I scan the headlines to add to my collection of quirky ones.

l istening: The pretty Things by the pretty things I like 1960s music and this album caught the band when they were still fairly raw.

Fancy appearing in this section? Send your current cultural favourites, along with short descriptions, to readersletters@readersdigest.co.uk

A Golden Globenominated performance from Lily Collins

Music

by EvA MA ck E vic

50 song Memoir by the Magnetic Fields

Album of the Month

There are numerous ways to celebrate your birthday, but it would be difficult to top what Stephin Merritt of The Magnetic Fields did for his 50th. The indie-pop band’s founder took it upon himself to release a 50-track concept album, with each of the songs marking a year of his life. The inside of Merritt’s head is a fascinating place: it’s full of pathos and drama, but also hilarity and innocence; all of it playing out to the sounds of over a hundred peculiar instruments (abacus solo, anyone?). 50 Song Memoir is a treasury of all the band’s eccentric specialties: the droll self-mockery, the whimsical melodies and Merritt’s distinctive, matter-of-fact bass vocals channeling Leonard Cohen. It’s also a testament to his incomparable talents as a lyricist: his autobiographical stories will place you in uncharted territory of seamlessly fluctuating laughter and sadness.

On Our Radar

WoW—Women of the World Festival in london, March 7-12. Listen to some of the best female musicians, comedians and writers around. Visit southbankcentre. co.uk/whats-on for details.

york literature Festival, March 16-30. Two weeks of literature, spoken word and poetry.Visit yorkliteraturefestival. co.uk for details.

Key tracks: “Judy Garland”, “Weird Diseases”, “Come Back as a Cockroach”

likE this? yoU MAy Also likE... The Queen Is dead by the smiths If the tongue-in-cheek lyrics and the jangly pop hooks fill you with nostalgia, dig up your old Smiths records. The Queen Is Dead typifies the sound of 1980s alternative rock, which has been a major influence on subsequent indie movements.

penrith Marmalade Festival, March 18-19. Revel in the orange glory that is marmalade amid market stalls, music and the stony beauty of Cumbria. Visit dalemain.com/ marmalade-festival for details.

“Imagination

Makes Us Human”

Star of Downton Abbey and new film

Viceroy’s House, Hugh Bonneville speaks to anna Walker about his gap year, Brexit and the joys of storytelling

“Br I ta I n had a stranglehold on Ind I a for centur I es, and when the chance of an ex I t f I nally emerged, I t had B ecome a sh I p on f I re.”

We’re talking about colonialism. Hugh Bonneville’s latest film, Viceroy’s House, is a bold historical epic in which he plays the infamous Lord “Dickie” Mountbatten, the statesman tasked with handing India back to its people.

It was th I s part I cularly troubled chapter of the former British Empire’s history that led to the foundation of Pakistan. Although the events unfolded only 70 years ago, many of us remain astonishingly unaware of just how seismic the tragedy was.

I only had a sprinking of schoolboy history, which was told from the British point of view

“I only had a sprinkling of schoolboy history [before taking the part], which was inevitably told through the British point of view,” says Hugh. “The caption at the beginning of this film says, ‘History is written by the victors’, but in one sense there are no victors, and there’s no such thing as objective history. To have an Anglo-Indian filmmaker such as Gurinda tell it from her perspective puts a whole new colour on that passage of our history.”

For director Gurinda Chadha, the force behind Bend It Like Beckham and Bride and Prejudice, Hugh was the obvious choice to play Mountbatten.

The Sussex-based actor is known for playing likeable—if somewhat bumbling—Englishmen, on both the big and small screen. A lead role as the Earl of Grantham in ITV’s period drama Downton Abbey saw Hugh reach international star status, as he presided over the stately home for six spectacularly popular series.

“He has that wonderful British quality of being terribly sympathetic while still being in charge,” Chadha explains. “He’s slightly self-effacing, but very confident, and genuinely concerned about morality and fairness on how things should be.”

Indeed, Hugh’s moral concerns come up frequently when speaking about Viceroy’s House. He admits he found facing up to the scale of the tragedy an emotional challenge. Partition, the process through which the British divided the British Indian Empire into India and Pakistan, was

The cast of Viceroy’s House, including Gillian Anderson as Hugh’s onscreen wife, Edwina. The film aims to show the effect of Partition on ordinary people; (left) Hugh in ceremonial dress as Lord “Dickie” Mountbatten

a bloody affair. Fourteen million people were displaced in the largest refugee crisis the world has ever known, and one million died in the process.

“The thing that first brought it home to me was aerial footage of the streams of people—hundreds of thousands of them— travelling in different directions along the same road,” Hugh explains. “It became even more emotional because of what

Hugh played the Earl of Grantham in six series of ITV drama Downton Abbey

was happening in Syria and the plight of those refugees who were leaving North Africa, trying to escape into a better future.”

And it’s not just tensions abroad that preoccupied the actor’s mind during filming; Hugh’s conscious of the film’s significance for problems at home too.

“I’ve never felt such a peculiar shift in our cultural certainties as I have over the last year,” he says of British politics. “I think the scandalous way that Brexit was presented to us as a yes/no concept will have its fall out in the coming years.

“If this film has a deeper resonance, it’s warning that this is what happens if you divide—this is what happens if you build walls and drive people out.”

Hugh pauses, taking what seems like his first breath of the entire conversation. “Of course the world still turns and the sun still rises and sets but, gosh, we don’t half make it difficult for ourselves sometimes,” he says.

d esp I te Be I ng the master of the British stiff upper lip on screen, it’s clear that in real life, Hugh has a sense of humour about himself. He cringes as he recollects one particular day on location.

“While we were filming at the Maharajah’s Palace, which is now a working hotel, we would constantly have to pause while people trotted out in their bathrobes to go down to the swimming pool. We were stood

there in our finery and there they were there in flip flops,” he laughs. “But they were very tolerant of us.”

Never is Hugh more passionate than when talking about India. He first fell in love with the country as a teenager. Prior to studying theology at Cambridge— where he was taught by the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams—Hugh embarked on that very English tradition: the gap year. He travelled across North India by train, with little more than his backpack and a few pennies to spend each day. His time in the country was brief—just six weeks— but “the memories of the colours and the smells, the vibrancy and the contradictions stayed with me all my adult life.

them. When I went back to do the film, it was like putting on a really familiar piece of clothing.”

My dad was a great storyteller and I used to love listening to his made-up yarns as I dozed off to sleep

It’s clear that Hugh, now 53, was crafting his experiences into stories from a young age. The son of a surgeon and a nurse, he credits his theatre-going parents with igniting his passion for storytelling. “They took me to the Peter Brooks production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream when I was about eight and I was completely intoxicated by it. My dad was a great storyteller and I used to love listening to his made-up yarns as I dozed off to sleep at night. I think my desire to act started way back then.”

As the bumbling banker Bernie in Notting Hill—Hugh’s third film

“Driving through the towns and cities, you’ll see two or three people on bikes and motorbikes and tuktuks and cows and dogs in the street, but you never see accidents. Everyone just weaves in and out, like an army of ants. There seems to be no order and yet everybody gets by. Here we have traffic lights and roundabouts and yet you never seem to stop hearing about road rage.

“There seems to be something in the Indian psyche that just manages to get along and I love that about

Although he’s barely left our screens since the Nineties, when he first found fame as the lovable sap Bernie in Notting Hill, Hugh insists, “I’m definitely slowing down a bit now, having been a workaholic for 30 years.”

It’s a sentiment that’s hard to believe. With three films already confirmed for release this year (including the hotly anticipated Paddington 2) and production well underway for the new series of the BBC’s self-deprecating sitcom, W1A, Hugh’s a busy man. And with writer Julian Fellowes recently confirming rumours that he’s been working on a script for a Downton Abbey movie, it seems Hugh’s prolific career won’t be decelerating any time soon.

Is he ever tempted to step away from the spotlight?

“One of the greatest thrills of my career was co-producing a play in the West End,” he reveals. “I love that side of things, because you’re behind the scenes, making the machinery work. That gave me a huge buzz and I’d perhaps like to do the same on screen in my twilight years.

“I’m very happy doing my day job for now though,” he adds. “I’ve always cherished sitting in the dark and just experiencing a story. Having one’s imagination fed is vital—it’s what makes us human.”

d OW n W it H B ad V erts

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Viceroy’s House is released in cinemas across the UK from march 3.

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Scottish TV presenter Lorraine Kelly, 57, is best known for stints on the sofas of GMTV and ITV Breakfast. Now she’s turned her attetion to getting Britain fit

“I Remember” Lorraine Kelly

…WE LIVED IN THE GORBALS IN GLASGOW, WHERE I WAS BORN. My mum used to put woolly hats on me because I was cold—but I’d be itching to take them off and throw them away. She must have knitted them, or my gran did, but to this day, I don’t like polo necks.

…MUM AND DAD GOT MARRIED YOUNG and lived in a “single-end”— what you’d describe nowadays as a bijou studio flat. It was just one room with a recess for the bed, a sink and an outside toilet, so it was really basic. We stayed there till I was about two or three and then we moved to another

part of Glasgow to a room and kitchen with an inside loo.

My parents didn’t have any money, as they were kids—only 18 years old. They were grafters who worked really hard and they instilled a strong work ethic in me. My mum, Anne, was a shop assistant and my dad, John, was a TV mechanic in the very early days. It was a skilled job and he worked all the hours God sent to make sure my brother and I had all that we wanted.

…IT WAS GREAT THAT MY PARENTS WERE SO YOUNG

because we would listen to really good music such as The Stones,

Lorraine has appeared on the small screen for 33 years

Lorraine in the Gorbals, Glasgow, where she grew up; (below) a self-described “spoiled princess” aged 18 months

The Beatles and Bob Dylan, when most of my friends’ parents were listening to really old-fashioned music. My mum was very trendy and she always wore stylish mini skirts and make-up.

…MY BROTHER GRAHAM IS SIX YEARS YOUNGER and we never got on when I was little. I was six years old and a spoiled princess when this baby appeared—a blue-eyed, golden-haired angel. He was like a cherub.

People used to stop my mum in the street because my brother was so gorgeous. We fought like cat and dog but now we get on very well, and I would be his

friend even if he weren’t my brother. He lives in Singapore but we Skype all the time and see each other for Christmas and at least once or twice during the year.

…PRIMARY SCHOOL WAS GREAT. My mum and dad taught me to read and write before I went to school, so I was reading when I was four. Our house was filled with books. I always find it odd when I go to someone’s house and there are no books in it. Whenever I move house, there’s a truck filled with books. I have them from floor to ceiling.

I loved school. We were very lucky and had some incredible teachers. I saw one of my primary school teachers earlier this year. She came in and had a wee look around the studio. I talked to her about how she instilled a real love of English and Shakespeare and all that in me, even as an under-12.

I wanted to join the RAF and become a fighter pilot, but I was laughed at because I was a girl

We were probably not in the best of areas—every city has its bad parts—but it was a close-knit community and the teachers were very committed. They were young and would go the extra mile for you.

…I GOT TO KNOW MY BEST FRIEND JOYCE WHEN I WAS 12. She lives in the States now and it’s great to have that friend who you can pick up with any time. You might not see each other, apart from emails, but it doesn’t matter—you always carry on from where you left off. It’s really important to have a friend you can call at 2am.

…JOYCE WAS A SWOT AND I WAS A REBEL but we really hit it off. These were the days when you went out to play and if you said you’d be somewhere, you had to be. We only got a landline when I was 13, so you’d see your pals at school and agree to meet up with them later. You didn’t have this texting malarkey and, “Oh, I can’t make it.” I quite liked that.

…GOING TO LOTS OF CONCERTS WITH JOYCE. The music at that time was brilliant. We went through a phase in which we liked Genesis and strange prog rock stuff, and then the New Romantics and punk and The Jam and all these incredible bands. What’s great about my job is I get to meet them all. None of my researchers are that bothered—they say, “It’s just some middle-aged guy”, but I say, “No, that’s my hero!”

…INTERVIEWING BUZZ ALDRIN THIS YEAR. I was such a fan girl. He’s nearly 90 and he said, “Ach, I want to go to Mars,” and I was just thinking, I love your enthusiasm and your ability to take in everything and be open to all these amazing ideas.

It was probably one of the worst interviews I’ve ever done because I was so in awe. That’s when the job is an absolute joy.

…MY DAD BOUGHT ME MY FIRST TELESCOPE WHEN I WAS FIVE and I’d watch Star Trek with my parents. I’ve always been interested in sci-fi. In Dundee, there’s the an observatory that’s open to the public. They give talks and let you use the telescope and the view isn’t bad. There’s a lot of light pollution because you’re in a city, but it’s great.

I’ve got a great app called Sky Walk. You simply hold up your phone to the night sky and it tells you about the constellations.

I’ve also got the International Space Station app. Sometimes it will set my phone off at 2am and I have to get up.

I don’t understand how anyone could not be fascinated by it. I think there’s something else out there. I don’t know if we’ll ever find it, because the universe is so huge, but you have to ask these big questions.

…WHEN I WAS LITTLE, I WANTED TO BE A FIGHTER PILOT. I can remember going to the careers office in 1977 and being asked what I

Twenty years on, Lorraine honoured the victims of Dunblane on her ITV show. She’s pictured with Alison Ross, who lost her sister in the massacre

wanted to do. I said I wanted to join the RAF and be a fighter pilot—and I was laughed at because I was a girl.

Now, we have women who fly jets and are in the Red Arrows, as we absolutely should have. For me, your race or gender shouldn’t matter, it’s about who’s best for the job.

…LEAVING SCHOOL AT 16. I joined the local paper, the East Kilbride News, as a trainee. I remember walking in and it was like Life on Mars, because everyone smoked back then. We used to type our stories on pieces of paper—kids nowadays would think, What the hell?—then they were taken to the hot metal printing press.

I’m very glad that I saw that, because it’s real history. It used to be that you couldn’t see the reporters through the fug of smoke. I’ve never smoked—my brother had asthma and nobody smoked at home, thank God—but I do remember everyone peering through the smoke over typewriters. It was brilliant training because you did absolutely everything, and that’s as it should be.

…WORKING

AS A PRESENTER WHEN DUNBLANE HAPPENED. In terms of stories that affected me, that was a bad one. Another difficult one was Lockerbie. We arrived at the same time as the emergency services and there really wasn’t anything for the paramedics to do apart from

Lorraine receiving her OBE in 2012. “I was crying the whole way through”

scoop up dead bodies. It was hideous. The only way that the crew and I got through it was that it looked like a film set. There’s a famous shot of the nose cone, which in the explosion was left relatively intact. We got right up to it and it was still hot. The only way you get through something like that is to just get on with the job.

For me, the most striking memory of the village was everyone taking down their Christmas decorations.

I don’t dwell on the carnage, but my abiding memory was that no one wanted to celebrate Christmas, as it was too terrible. I thought that would be the worst thing I’d ever have to cover in my life, until Dunblane.

…WHEN I WAS DOING

LOCKERBIE, IN DECEMBER 1988, somebody went on holiday from the “sofa” slot for six or seven days. Our news editor was walking past the newsroom and saw me doing live links. He said, “Bring that wee girl down from Scotland and see how she gets on on the sofa,” and that was why I was brought down to London.

Lockerbie was a terrible tragedy but that’s where I was tested, I guess. When I arrived I’d only brought enough knickers with me for a week, and I kept saying that I needed to go back to my normal job and do my checks. Every day I would check in with the police and find out what was going on. But I’ve been on sofas ever

since. I’m still here 33 years on and it’s gone by in a flash.

…VISITING AFRICA AND LOVING BOTSWANA.

I love going on safari and travelling all over the country. I like Tanzania and last year we went to Uganda to see gorillas. Africa is amazing for many reasons, one of which is that you get no jet lag because you go straight down.

I don’t understand people who go and shoot animals. It’s beyond me. My mantra is, The only thing that you shoot is film and the only thing you kill is time, which is what everybody should be doing.

…WE DID A LIVE BROADCAST OUTSIDE HOLYROOD PALACE

when I was due to get my OBE. I got it in Scotland as it was Jubilee year, and the Queen was in the country.

We were filming when policeman came over and I thought, Uh-oh we’re in trouble, because we shouldn’t be here, but he said, “Hello, congratulations! Can I get a selfie?”

It was an amazing day but I was so nervous that I can’t remember what the Queen said to me! I was crying the whole way through, but I felt a bit better because I met a fantastic guy from the RAF. He’d just got back from Afghanistan, and was the bravest man in the world, but he was white and trembling.

I said, “Mate? You’ve been in war zones,” but he said this was much worse. The Queen is the whole UK wrapped up in one tiny person. She’s very special.

As told to Joy Persaud

Lorraine Kelly’s fitness DVD, Brand New You, is out now.

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After two hospital visits, Yolanda Alonso’s kidney stone finally passed on its own

one in ten of us will likely develop them, so it’s important to know the cause, possible preventions and available treatments for this debilitating condition

To

Hell & Back Kidney Stones with

WHEn YoLAndA ALonso, 49, of El Escorial, Madrid, first felt the twinge in her right side, she assumed she was ovulating. Over the next couple of days, though, the pain escalated, reminding her of the excruciating contractions she suffered when giving birth to her (now teenage) daughter. But labour pains wax and wane. These were unrelenting.

Soon, Yolanda could barely function. Frightened, she had her husband take her to the nearest hospital emergency department. After X-rays and other tests, doctors returned their diagnosis: she had a kidney stone.

Photo by gianfranco tri P odo

Yolanda was given intravenous painkillers and sent home with oral ones to take while she waited for the kidney stone to work its way out. The pills helped for a few days “until I had another severe attack, and I went back to hospital and had intravenous medication again.”

Finally, her agony abruptly ended. The stone passed on its own.

Kidney stones are probably the most painful condition known. Considering their tiny size—typically about half the length of a grain of rice—it’s surprising that they can cause such debilitating symptoms. And for so many of us.

“One out of ten [people] will develop a stone,” says Professor Thomas Knoll, a urologist with the University of Heidelberg.

That adds up to about 55 million potential kidney stone sufferers in Europe alone. And the incidence has been rapidly increasing—it has doubled in the past 30 years, says the European Association of Urology.

Considering their prevalence, it’s important to be informed.

h o W t he stones form

Various substances circulate through your body all the time; any excess is sent to the kidneys for disposal. The more urine you produce, the more likely your body is to flush away this excess. But when substances clump together before they can be expelled, kidney stones can form.

The typical kidney stone is comprised of a combination of calcium and an organic acid called oxalate. The second most typical stone develops from uric acid, the culprit in gout (not surprisingly, gout predisposes people to produce kidney stones). Calcium can also combine with phosphate to form stones. And other minerals are responsible in people with a genetic propensity towards kidney stones.

Why do they cause pain?

A stone usually only makes itself felt after it leaves the kidney. If it gets stuck in the ureter (through which urine moves from the kidney and bladder) and blocks the flow of urine, the pain can be extreme. It’s the body’s unsuccessful attempts to push through the blockage that cause the pain.

To confirm that pain is due to a kidney stone, doctors first use X-rays and sometimes CT scans (helpful for detecting tiny stones). Blood and urine analysis can show whether greater than normal levels of stoneforming substances are circulating through your system.

Dehydration is a major risk factor. “If people don’t drink enough, they have a higher risk of stone formation,” says Professor Knoll.

But with more and more people developing stones, it can’t be all chalked up to low fluid intake. Instead, blame it on the good life.

As we grow in bulk, becoming a more overweight population, we also grow more prone to developing kidney stones. And it’s not just how much we eat, but what we eat.

“A diet that’s rich in meat— primarily red meat—contributes to the stone-formation risk,” says Dr Hendrik Heers, a urologist at Oxford University Hospitals. “Vegetarian patients have a much lower risk of kidney stones compared to the meateating population.”

A diet heavily reliant on processed food, such as canned, frozen and other packaged fare, can also increase the risk of stone problems,

says the US’s National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Processed foods tend to be high in sodium (salt), and excess salt increases the amount of calcium you excrete in your urine.

And, while kidney stones are most often a problem for the middleaged and older, according to a 2012 study, children and adolescents are susceptible too. Alarmingly, the incidence of kidney stones in those younger than 18 has increased dramatically in the past 25 years. “That’s absolutely, from my point of view, related to the diet,” says Dr Palle Osther, professor of urology at Lillebaelt Hospital in Denmark.

n o one is immune

When she was just 18, Rushka Robert was stunned by a sudden agonising pain in her right side. Writhing and vomiting, the young Amsterdam native barely managed to make it to her bed. Her mother, a former nurse, assumed appendicitis. When they called their GP, however, he immediately suspected kidney stones. The ambulance crew gave Rushka a fast-acting shot of painkillers, and at the hospital her GP’s diagnosis was confirmed.

The next day, after more painkillers, Rushka was sent home to wait for the stone to pass.

But it didn’t. The pain worsened. She couldn’t urinate at all. She’d never known such torment.

Rushka Robert was just 18 when she had her first stone

Back in hospital, Rushka was told that they had to operate. Surgery was successful —but that wasn’t to be the end of Rushka’s battle.

h o W to prevent a s econd Bout

If you’ve suffered one bout with kidney stones, you have as high as a 50 per cent chance of having another. But new problems can often be prevented with a few simple lifestyle

changes. “Drink a lot to reduce the risk of getting a new stone,” says Professor Osther. Aim for two litres of urine production a day, he says. To hit that target, you should drink at least two and a half litres. “And when the weather’s warm, you should drink even more.” Those with a genetic propensity to form stones should double those amounts.

Although water is an obvious choice, other fluids might be even

HoW ArE kidnEY sTonEs TrEATEd?

UnTiL rEcEnTLY, medications that treat high blood pressure (nifedipine) and enlarged prostate (tamsulosin) were routinely given to hurry the expulsion of stones. but a large study published in July 2015 showed that these medications are no better than placebo at speeding passage. the new thinking is to treat only for pain while waiting for stones to make their own way out. of course, not all do.

“the bigger the stone, the more unlikely a spontaneous passage is,” says dr heers. occasionally, even a small stone will get stuck in the ureter. Surgery is then the answer, but it’s almost always minimally invasive.

The three most common types of surgical treatment are:

n shockwave lithotripsy: Sound waves are focused on the stone from outside the body, breaking it into smaller pieces that can be passed in the urine. Pros: Least invasive. usually an outpatient procedure. cons: if the stone has a very hard composition, more than one treatment is often needed.

n Ureteroscopy: a small tube is inserted into the urinary tract and the stone is either pulled out or a laser is used to break it up. Pros: most successful method for removing small to medium stones. cons: there’s a slight risk of damage to the ureter. Sometimes a catheter must be left in place until the stone passes.

n Percutaneous nephrolithotripsy: a small incision is made in the back directly into the kidney so that stones can be accessed and removed. Pros: most successful method for removing larger stones. cons: more invasive than the alternatives, requires a hospital stay and longer recovery time.

a dditional sources: n ational Kidney f oundation, Kidney stones, Web md , Kidney stones, m edline, n ational Library of m edicine

more effective. Coffee drinkers tend to have lower risks of kidney stones. But citrus juices take the prize, says Professor Knoll, especially lemon and grapefruit. “They elevate the pH level of the urine,” he says. In other words, citrus makes your urine more alkaline, in which case “you reduce the risk of almost all stone formation.”

Avoid citrus drinks with sugar though, as the sweetener can increase your risk, undoing the good the juice by itself does.

Depending on the chemical make-up of kidney stones, your doctor might advise you to limit certain foods. Meat and eggs are high on the list, as is shellfish, but plant-based foods with a high oxalate content such as peanuts, rhubarb, spinach, beetroot, chocolate and sweet potatoes can also cause problems for some.

in need of medication

Sometimes, however, changing your diet just isn’t enough. For those with uric acid stones, a gout medication called allopurinol is often prescribed to reduce their incidence.

Diuretics in the thiazide family (hydrochlorothiazide, chlorthalidone

and indapamide) can reduce the amount of calcium excreted by the kidneys and help prevent calciumbased stones.

But for some, like Rushka, prevention isn’t so straightforward. Just two years after her surgery for her first kidney stone, she suffered many of the same symptoms again. She was completely disheartened.

She’d done everything her doctors had recommended: cut back on dairy and sugar, even stopped eating spinach altogether. Yet X-rays showed almost two-dozen stones sitting in her kidneys.

Although she was able to avert another surgery, Rushka suffered three more stone-related ordeals before a new doctor offered the most promising preventive medication: potassium citrate pills.

Now 26, Rushka Robert is taking 12 potassium citrate pills a day. And it’s worth every swallow. “After six months, a new count showed just two stones on the left and one on the right,” she says.

As Rushka, or anyone who’s been through kidney stone hell will tell you, it’s worth almost anything to prevent another bout.

FEEL ing T ir E d ?

an experiment conducted almost 20 years ago showed that shining a bright light on the back of a person’s knees can reset their body clock.

soUrcE: nYTimEs.com

Happy Days Are Here Again!

BY SUSANNAH HICKLING

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

RECENT RESEARCH from the US-based Society for Personality and Social Psychology has shown that people who value their time over the pursuit of wealth are happier. So how can you best make, save and use your time—and ensure you keep a smile on your face?

PAY SOMEONE TO DO THE CHORES YOU HATE. Why waste precious hours on housework or gardening if you can get someone else to do it?

SET TIME LIMITS ON TASKS YOU CAN’T AVOID. Give yourself 20 minutes for vacuum cleaning or ten to hang out the washing. This will get pesky jobs out of the way faster and you’ll enjoy pitting yourself against the clock at the same time.

VOLUNTEER. You’ll meet new friends, help others and get that warm, fuzzy feeling. An added bonus: there’s evidence that volunteering eases depression and makes people better able to cope with ill health.

ENJOY STANDING IN THAT QUEUE. Three people in front of you at the checkout? Think about how busy you usually are and see the wait as a gift, not a bore. Reflect on things you’re grateful for, talk to another customer or read a magazine.

TAKE ON JUST ONE NEW ACTIVITY AT A TIME. Trying to master too many new things at once can be overwhelming. At work and at home, be careful about the commitments you take on. If you already feel stressed at work, don’t do more at home.

LEARN TO SAY NO. Be assertive by declining a new project, or telling someone you can’t talk right now or that you can only talk for a couple minutes. Be friendly but firm.

MAKE LISTS YOUR FRIEND. Start a wish list of the things you’d like to do or achieve and do more of the items that simply make you feel happy. Keep your daily to-do list manageable by putting it on an index card. Make sure you start with an easy task to feel like you’ve accomplished something and tackle the most difficult one second.

GIVE UP IRONING YOUR KNICKERS. Are there tasks you do out of habit, rather than because they matter? Consider giving up ironing all but the most creased articles, or rinsing dishes before putting them in the dishwasher. Life’s too short.

ARE YOU GAME FOR GIVING UP?

If you’re still looking for a way to quit smoking, consider the handy mobile game Cigbreaks.

The app, from Healthy Games, was created with the help of medical experts and has been tested on smokers.

Players have to swipe the screen to break cigarettes. In Canada, a study found that if smokers play a game that involves crushing cigarettes, they were 13 per cent more likely to quit.

Research also shows that gamers are more likely to smoke and that smokers tend to play games longer than non-smokers. So if you like fiddling on your phone, then this could just be the app for you.

And, clearly, while you’re busy swiping, you won’t be puffing.

CLEAN BILL OF HEALTH

This year, make sure your spring clean homes in on the things you often ignore, but are a breeding ground for germs and allergens.

Mattress makeover. It may be out of sight, out of mind—but your mattress is a magnet for allergycausing dust mites. Wash mattress covers every month at 60 degrees, and wipe the mattress down with hot water.

Bin there? You might empty your bins regularly, but that’s not the same as cleaning them. Scrub them to make sure germs aren’t, well, germinating.

Shower power. Shower curtains get wet and stay wet most days, but get washed a lot less often. It’s worth doing, because they’re a perfect home for mould.

Have the edge. Take a close look at the edges of the door on your dishwasher and fridge. Those rubber seals are breeding grounds for mould and mildew.

Fire fighting. A clogged chimney isn’t just unhealthy, it can kill if it ignites or sends carbon monoxide fumes into the house. Make this the year you have a gas maintenance engineer round and install carbon monoxide monitors.

How To Look Lively

Bags under the eyes? You may not have had the solid seven hours’ sleep we need for optimum health, but it’s possible to fake it.

APPLY A COLD COMPRESS

The old cucumber-on-your-peepers strategy actually works. The chilly flesh shrinks capillaries and stimulates lymphatic drainage. Hate cucumber? A bag of frozen peas, cold flannel or chilled spoon can combat the puffiness and red eye that are telltale signs of sleep deprivation.

DRINK UP

Dehydration—particularly if you’re recovering from the night before— accentuates any lines and wrinkles, making you look even more tired. Give yourself a better chance of looking good after a lack of zzzs by downing a few glasses of water.

WEAR COLOURFUL CLOTHES

Avoid black, which will cast shadows on your face, or white that will wash you out. At the very least, bright colours will distract from those

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Men’s Health: Prostate Progress

MRI scans

Giving men with suspected prostate cancer a multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging scan (mpMRI) could help rule out the disease without the need for biopsy.

Researchers from University College London, who conducted the investigations, are hopeful many men could avoid this painful tissuesampling procedure, which can also provoke infection.

Laser

Another trial from UCL offers hope for men with early-stage prostate tumours. A new treatment has been shown to destroy tumour tissue but leave the gland intact.

Vascular targeted photodynamic therapy—in which a light-sensitive drug is injected into the prostate and activated by a laser—minimises the risk of incontinence or impotence that comes with the standard treatments, surgery or radiotherapy.

Radiotherapy

A trial at the Institute of Cancer Research and Royal Marsden Hospital found that men who were given

intensity-modulated radiotherapy—a lower dose of radiation but delivered in fewer, higher doses over a shorter period of time—saw the same benefits as men who followed the usual, much longer radiotherapy regime. In fact, in the future men with prostate cancer may be able to make 17 fewer radiotherapy visits.

Surveillance

The University of Oxford’s ProtecT trial has provided evidence that active surveillance rather than early treatment for men with early-stage prostate cancer can be a safe and effective option.

Researchers found that only half the men being monitored went on to need radiotherapy or surgery, and that their chance of survival over ten years wasn’t affected.

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Boost Your Immune System

BY FIONA HICKS

Fiona studies

Naturopathic Nutrition at the College of Naturopathic Medicine, and is a member of the Nutrition Society

IT’S THE SEASON FOR SNIFFLES—but your choice of food can help you fight back.

THINK TWICE ABOUT ORANGE JUICE. It contains vitamin C, but its sugar content could be more of a hindrance than a help. One study found that drinking a glass of orange juice curbed the effectiveness of immune-system cells for up to five hours.

SNACK ON PEPPERS. For a good dose of vitamin C (essential for your immune system) up your fresh-pepper consumption instead—100g contains four times your recommended daily intake of the vitamin.

BEST IN SEASON: LEEKS

Why eat it? The humble leek contains a phytonutrient called kaempferol, which has been found to protect blood vessel linings. It’s also a rich source of folate—a vitamin that’s essential for proper heart function.

How to cook it? Sliced and sautéed leeks make a wonderful side dish for roasted meat. Or for a quick and hearty meal, try a pea and leek omelette.

INDULGE IN SOME OYSTERS. Zinc also supports the function of your immune system. In fact, a recent review of 17 trials found that taking zinc resulted in a shorter duration of cold symptoms. Oysters and sesame seeds are a rich source of the mineral.

CHOOSE OILY FISH. Vitamin D is another nutrient that helps you fight infections, and it can be found in fish such as sardines and salmon. Don’t like fish? Another option is to go outdoors, as sunlight enables you to synthesise the vitamin yourself.

GO FOR GARLIC. The Ancient Egyptians recognised that this pungent bulb had health-giving qualities. Modern science now backs it up, with

one recent study finding that garlic has antibacterial action against E-coli—a cause of stomach upset.

ENJOY SOME MUSHROOMS. Many mushrooms contain special carbohydrates called beta-glucans, which are known to have immunestimulating effects when consumed. Try some oyster or shiitake mushrooms in a quick stir-fry or soup.

GET SOME SHUT-EYE. Good rest is just as important as good nutrition when it comes to keeping well. A review in the European Journal of Physiology revealed that a lack of sleep provokes a stress response, leading to inflammation and immunodeficiency. So turn in on time!

A False Economy

BY MAX PEMBERTON

Max is a hospital doctor, author and newspaper columnist

“I NEED TO TALK TO YOU,” said my hairdresser conspiratorially as I sat down in the chair. I looked at her in the mirror as she stood furtively behind me.

I turned round. “What is it?” I asked.

“Not here,” she mouthed, and pulled me into the office at the back of the shop. “What do you think this is?” she said, handing me a piece of paper.

I looked at it gingerly. “Erm, it’s a receipt for a packet of Jaffa Cakes and a pint of milk,” I replied.

“No, not that, the thing sitting on the paper,” she said and pointed to a tiny speck. I peered at it and then recoiled.

“Eww, it’s a louse!” I said. “Where’s it from?”

She sighed. “My head.” Apparently the little critters had been an unwitting present from her children. “The whole school has got them,” she explained. “The kids are infested. I keep treating them, but it’s doing no good.”

FOR SOME TIME NOW, head lice have been becoming resistant to the pesticide used in treatments to kill them. In the past, the nit nurse would pay regular visits to classes to weed out and isolate anyone harbouring the bugs. However, over the last few years the numbers of school nurses have plummeted, with a 13 per cent drop since 2012.

Chronic under-investment in this area means that nurses are covering multiple schools and are only able to deal with

BY EVA BEE

the most severe problems, such as child-protection issues. This means that other areas of child welfare are left unattended to—including school-wide de-lousing.

But the real problem isn’t just about head lice. After all, while they’re a nuisance, they aren’t lifethreatening. What concerns me is that school nurses can make a real difference when it comes to the complex social and emotional issues that young people can experience.

Schools aren’t just about education, they’re about the welfare of the child as a whole. For some children, the school nurse is their sole point of contact with a healthcare professional and their only opportunity to discuss problems they have outside school. It worries me that there’s a whole

generation of children who are growing up without access to this invaluable resource.

Many of the problems that dominate the lives of adults—such as depression, anxiety, alcohol and drug misuse—have their origins in childhood. Early intervention at the stage when these problems first become evident is the key to ensure that they don’t develop into severe, enduring mental health problems that blight later life.

IT’S A FALSE ECONOMY not to invest in this now, before things escalate into lifelong conditions. The school nurse does more than just deal with things like nits on a child’s head. The most valuable work they do involves what goes on inside a child’s head.

MEDICAL MYTHS—BUSTED!

Discussing Suicide Can Make People More Suicidal

WHERE DID THE MYTH COME FROM?

It’s not easy talking to someone when they’re suicidal. People worry that they will say something wrong and make the situation worse. It’s not just friends and family who can feel like this—studies have shown that doctors shy away from asking about suicidal thoughts in patients who come to them to discuss their low mood. It’s assumed that by talking about suicide, you’re bringing it to the front of someone’s mind and will make them consider it as an option.

WHAT’S THE TRUTH?

Research has shown that about half of the general public and a quarter of GPs believe that talking about suicide to someone who’s depressed or suicidal can make the problem worse. This isn’t the case. In fact, research has shown that asking and talking about suicide reduces the risk.

SO NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT?

While it’s important that people feel able to talk openly about suicidal thoughts, we know from other research that sensationalist media reporting of suicide—especially when it includes graphic details about the methods used—can make it more likely that someone will attempt to kill themselves.

Charities such as Mind (mind.org. uk) have created guidelines on how the media should report suicide. But remember—how suicide is portrayed in the media is very different to speaking to someone about how they feel. We know that talking about suicide can save lives.

Prescription overkill: are you taking too many pills?

WHEN MEDICINES DO MORE HARM THAN GOOD

BY ANITA BARTHOLOMEW

ONE FRIDAY MORNING, as freelance photographer and writer Jan Malý, 61, of Prague, Czech Republic, sat at his computer, his eyesight began to blur, and then: “All of sudden, I felt like swooning,” he says. The next day, at almost the same time, it happened again .

Just six weeks before, routine tests revealed that his usually normal blood pressure had risen to 150 over 90 (140 over 90 is considered high). Although these numbers can fluctuate, Jan’s doctor relied on just one reading before prescribing a daily 50mg dose of the blood-pressure medicine, Losartan.

The morning after the second episode, as Jan prepared to cook breakfast, he collapsed.

Tests determined that his blood pressure was well below normal: 80 over 40. Further investigation revealed it was dropping to these potentially dangerous levels each day an hour after he took his Losartan.

Jan Malý had joined a very large group of older people whose medicines were doing them more harm than good.

AS YOU GET OLDER, your medicine cabinet can begin to resemble a pharmacy. But today, many researchers are asking: do you—or do many people aged 55 and older— really need so many medications?

Dr Cara Tannenbaum, geriatrician and pharmacy professor at the University of Montreal, says that

over-prescribing for older people is a major problem. “With age, your kidneys and liver, which help eliminate wastes from your body, are likely to be less efficient,” she says. So the dose you were taking ten years ago might be too high for you today.

Or the medication might not be right for you at all. Too often, physicians either don’t follow up to ensure that prescriptions are welltolerated, or continue to refill old prescriptions without considering whether those drugs are still—or were ever—necessary.

In consultation with his doctor and a dietitian, Jan Malý changed what he ate, began to exercise more and lost three stone. His blood pressure now stays in a healthy range of about 130 over 80—with no medication.

As Jan learned, some of the most common medicines prescribed can also be among the most problematic.

BLOOD-PRESSURE MEDICATION

Lowering blood pressure does reduce deaths from heart disease, says a recent large US study. But people are often prescribed high doses of medication even after pressure reaches optimum levels.

And over-treatment, especially in older people, can lead to dizzy spells, confusion, falls and even severe kidney problems.

One group is particularly at risk of adverse effects: people with diabetes. Dr Mattias Brunström of Umea University, Sweden, analysed cases in the national database of people with diabetes who were taking bloodpressure medication. Not all of them actually had high blood pressure. In such patients, Dr Brunström found

September 2013, after taking the statin for about ten years, Alain’s muscles froze while he tried to walk through his doorway.

The use of statins has increased so dramatically in Europe that as many as 13 per cent of the adult population in the UK are on the drugs, according to a 2013 OECD report.

But many are taking statins for prevention of a disease they have a vanishingly small risk of getting. Statins are a years-long strategy to

PEOPLE ARE TAKING STATINS TO PREVENT A DISEASE THEY HAVE LITTLE RISK OF GETTING

that taking blood-pressure-lowering medications actually increased the risks of death from heart disease and stroke by 15 per cent. “The ability to deal with drops in blood pressure seems to be impaired in people with diabetes,” he explains.

STATINS TO LOWER CHOLESTEROL

Alain Morise, now 74, of Sylvains les Moulins, France, had always been in excellent shape with cholesterol in the normal range. But because he smoked—and smoking can increase the risk of heart disease—his doctor prescribed a cholesterol-lowering drug called a statin. One day in

reduce the build-up of cholesterolladen plaque in your blood vessels.

If you have no current signs of build-up, and you’re older, statins might give you little to none of this long-term preventive benefit. In the US, statins are recommended for middle-aged and older people with as little as a seven-and-a-half per cent risk of developing it.

According to Dr Ronald Krauss of Children’s Hospital, Oakland Research Centre, in California, if you’re otherwise healthy and just taking a statin because you’re worried about your cholesterol, “You may have a greater chance

of developing diabetes or muscle problems than you do of getting benefit for heart-disease risk.”

After Alain Morise’s muscles froze, making it impossible to walk, he was rushed to hospital where a rheumatologist immediately suspected his medication was causing his symptoms. Biopsies confirmed it. Statins had recently been implicated in autoimmune muscle disorders such as necrotising

INSULIN FOR DIABETES

Those with Type 1 diabetes and many with later stage Type 2 rely upon insulin to keep their blood sugar under control. It can be essential for anyone who’s had an A1C level (a measure of glucose in the bloodstream) at nine or above for an extended period.

But “the benefits of treating diabetes well actually happen over the course of decades,” says

AFTER 18 MONTHS ALAIN WAS ABLE TO WALK AGAIN, BUT ONLY FOR SHORT DISTANCES

polymyositis—the devastating condition that afflicted Alain and that dramatically weakens muscles.

Alain lost nearly five stone. “You could see his bones,” says his wife, Marie-France. He spent many months in and out of hospital. Doctors prescribed cortisone, a steroid that dampens the overactive immune system’s response, and after 18 months on the drug Alain was able to walk again, but only for short distances.

Necrotising polymyositis is rare, but increased risks of new-onset diabetes due to statins may be as high as 48 per cent in women aged 50 to 79, according to a 2012 study.

Dr Sussman. So if you have fewer decades ahead, you’re less likely to gain the long-term preventive benefits of aggressive treatment, while still facing over-treatment’s significant risks.

When people take more insulin than necessary, they can develop hypoglycemia—meaning that they have too little glucose (sugar) circulating in their bloodstream. This can lead to confusion and other cognitive impairments, falls, coma and even death.

“It happens often enough that we think people are being put at risk who don’t need to be,” confirms Dr Sussman.

DON’T MIX THESE

STATINS

+ FOODS/SUPPLEMENTS: grapefruit juice; niacin

+ DRUGS: digoxin; colchicine anticoagulants

INSULIN

+ FOODS/SUPPLEMENTS: alcohol (or consume minimally); aloe; chromium; fenugreek; ginseng; gymnema; coenzyme Q10; vanadium

+ DRUGS: blood pressure medications; Tequin

PROTON-PUMP INHIBITORS

+ DRUGS: tacrolimus; clopidogrel; antiretrovirals including atazanavir, nelfinavir and saquinavir; digoxin

SEDATIVES

+ FOODS/SUPPLEMENTS: alcohol

+ DRUGS: antidepressants such as Zoloft and Prozac; ketoconazole; benzodiazepines such as diazepam, alprazolam, lorazepam and clonazepam

BLOOD-PRESSURE MEDICATION

+ FOODS/SUPPLEMENTS: liquorice; potassium; arginine; St John’s wort; dong Quai

+ DRUGS: lithium; insulin, oral anticoagulants; NSAIDs

And yet in his 2015 study, Dr Sussman found that older patients with diabetes rarely had their insulin dosages adjusted, even when their blood sugar levels were low enough to put them in the danger zone.

What counts as dangerously low? An A1C under six is risky, he says. The safe zone in his study was between 6.5 and 7.5.

“As people get older, a small amount off can become more dangerous,” says Dr Sussman. An A1C that’s too low from over-treatment is an immediate danger.

PROTON-PUMP INHIBITORS FOR INDIGESTION AND ACID REFLUX

Carin Aarts, 56, of St Michielsgestel, Netherlands, had been taking the proton pump inhibitor (PPI) omeprazole for many years for her indigestion.

She’d also recently begun suffering headaches and high blood pressure, but no-one had connected those symptoms to omeprazole. It wasn’t until 2014 that a visit to her doctor revealed that the PPI had caused such a severe magnesium deficiency, it put her heart in immediate danger.

PPIs are often recommended for the prevention of ulcers, gastrointestinal bleeding, and to reduce acid reflux due to excess stomach acid—which they block so effectively that their popularity has exploded worldwide, with sales worth around £100 million in Europe in 2013.

But they’re too effective to be used so freely. Stomach acid is necessary to break down vitamins and minerals so the body can utilise them. After years of taking PPIs, people can develop severe deficiencies. Dr Jeroen de Baaij of Radboud University Medical Centre in the Netherlands found that “about ten to 15 per cent [taking PPIs] had a shortage of magnesium in the blood.”

PPIs are particularly risky for people aged 65 and older. Long-term deficiencies can leave the bones weak. And a 2016 German study links PPI use with an increased risk of dementia in the elderly, apparently due to PPIs blocking the absorption of vitamin B12.

Worse, the body compensates for the loss of acid by increasing the number of acid-producing cells. As a result, when people try to stop taking PPIs after long-term use, they often suffer greater indigestion than when they first took them.

“If I prescribe you a new pill,” says Dr Tannenbaum. “I’m going to say, let’s reassess in three months’. Assume that’s the stop date unless there’s reason to continue it.”

A safer bet for people who suffer from occasional indigestion or acid reflux is to remove the foods which seem to trigger distress (commonly caffeine, alcohol, and fatty or fried and spicy foods) from your diet. When an antacid is necessary, try a short course of a histamine-2

blocker such as famotidine (Pepcid), ranitidine (Zantac), or cimetidine (Tagamet). If you’ve been on a PPI for a while, get in touch with your doctor about weaning yourself off.

SEDATIVES FOR INSOMNIA

Some of the more recent antiinsomnia drugs, such as zolpidem (Ambien/Stilnox), can cause cognitive problems including amnesia. In February 2008, the

HOW MANY PILLS IS TOO MANY?

“THE NUMBER OF PILLS you take is directly correlated with your likelihood of having an adverse drug reaction,” says Dr Tannenbaum. This is because drugs are not tested in combination with one another.

Beware of what’s known as “the prescribing cascade,” says Dr Tannenbaum, “which is when you get a side effect from one medication but you interpret it as a new symptom, such as a rash or nausea, and you get a second pill for it.”

The bottom line: if you’re taking 12 pills a day, you’re taking too many, she says. It’s time for a long talk with your doctor or your pharmacist to reassess.

Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration attached a boxed warning to Zolpidem, stating that it “may be associated with potentially dangerous complex sleep-related behaviours that may include sleep walking and sleep driving.” Other sedatives in this family, such as eszopiclone (Lunesta) and zaleplon (Sonata) have been reported to cause the same types of symptoms.

The drugs tend to have a greater effect on women and the elderly aged 80 and over who are, for example, more likely to be involved in car collisions in the days after taking zolpidem at night. They’re also linked to increases in falls. In addition, these drugs can actually make insomnia worse once you try to stop taking them, even after as little as a week’s use.

The best alternative might not be another pill, says Dr Tannenbaum, but cognitive behavioural therapy.

A 2012 meta-analysis of earlier studies found this therapy superior to any of the standard insomnia drugs.

“DOCTORS NEED TO really consider the person’s risk in relation to the medication,” asserts Dr Tannenbaum. “And that needs to be assessed regularly.”

She suggests a reassessment of all the medications you take at least once a year, and within three months after you begin a new medicine.

While you should never stop taking a medication or change your dosage without medical guidance, always insist on discussing the risks versus the benefits of every medicine with your doctor and pharmacist. And ask whether your prescriptions continue to be right for you as you grow older.

Stay informed to ensure your prescription drugs aren’t doing you more harm than good.

SHOWER PHILOSOPHY

Reddit users shared some profound thoughts that occurred to them during their morning wash:

“Randomly hearing your favourite song on the radio is more satisfying than playing it directly from your iPod.”

“When you say ‘forward’ or ‘back’, your lips move in those directions.”

“Tall people are expected to use their reach to help shorter people, but if a tall person were to ask a short person to hand them something they dropped on the floor, it would be insulting.”

SOURCE: BOREDPANDA.COM

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“YOUR

DearMum…

TocelebrateMother’sDay,three daughtershavepennedspecial letters to their mothers…

Holly Shaw, 29, from Warrington, is a teaching assistant. Last year she received a kidney from her mum Helen, 63.

DEAR MUM,

Waking from my kidney transplant last October, my first thought was, How’s Mum? You were on a different ward in the same hospital, recovering from your own operation to have your kidney removed and donated to me.

Still drowsy from the anaesthetic, I insisted on phoning you from my bed and when I heard your voice, and you heard mine, we both broke down in tears of happiness and relief.

You were with me that day in 2005 when I was first diagnosed with kidney failure. Aged just 17, I’d been suffering from what I thought was a stomach bug, but when my blood pressure rocketed and I developed bruises, my GP sent me to the hospital for further tests.

Within hours, a consultant had delivered the crushing news that both my kidneys had failed. They didn’t know why, but my only option was to begin dialysis immediately and be placed on the transplant list.

In an instant I felt like my life had been put on hold, and all my plans and dreams—to go to university, to get a job working with children, to travel—had been snatched away

from me. It was you who reassured me that I’d get through this.

I wasn’t surprised when you immediately offered to be my donor. I understood your maternal instinct was to do anything you could to help me, but secretly I was relieved when doctors discovered that your body carried a virus, caused by having the flu, which meant we weren’t the best possible match. You were upset but I didn’t want you to risk your health and life for me.

I spent the next three and a half years on dialysis, three times a week. It was gruelling, leaving me exhausted and nauseous for days afterwards.

You never let me wallow though, always keeping my spirits up and encouraging me to try and lead as normal a life as possible. With your support I even managed to complete a university degree.

In 2008, I got the call that confirmed that a kidney had been found for me. We were both elated, and after a successful transplant I

I WASN’T SURPRISED WHEN YOU IMMEDIATELY OFFERED TO BE MY DONOR— YOU’D DO ANYTHING YOU COULD TO HELP ME

was finally able to start living life properly again.

Then, in January 2015, my donor kidney began to fail and I was placed back on dialysis and the transplant list. I was devastated. All my independence was taken away again, and I felt like I was back to square one.

Again, you volunteered to be my donor and this time doctors explained that medicine had progressed enough to mean they could overcome the compatibility problems we’d had last time.

I was getting sicker and sicker, and with no guarantee of a stranger’s kidney, I knew I had to accept yours, but I was still reluctant to let you risk so much for me. There was no stopping you though.

For so long you’d had to sit by my

bedside, feeling helpless, while doctors made decisions and treated me. Now, you could help me in a very real way, and I saw how empowered that made you feel.

Five months on from our operations, we’re both recovering well and I feel like I’m getting my life back again thanks to you, Mum.

Without you, and your kidney, I could still be on dialysis, or even dead. Every morning I wake up and know I am a healthy, happy, normal young woman, because of you.

No matter where I go in my life, I will always have a piece of you with me—your kidney. It’s a special connection not many mothers and daughters have, and I treasure it.

Thank you Mum, for my health and my future.

LOVE, HOLLY

Holly was secretly relieved when her mum wasn’t a donor match

Hannah Carpenter, 24, works in public relations. She was adopted at the age of nine weeks by her mum Heidi, 56, a research nurse and dad, Alan, 59, who works in IT.

DEAR MUM ,

You didn’t carry me inside you, or give birth to me, and we don’t share any of our DNA. Yet our bond as mother and daughter is just as deep, maybe even deeper, as it would have been if we’d had a physical connection.

Even though I’m in my twenties now, we still celebrate my “special day”’ every June; the anniversary of the date that I legally became your daughter, and was brought from my foster home to live with you and Dad.

We have a cake and you buy me presents. It’s just like having a second birthday and we’ve celebrated it every year of my life. It’s a date that I never want to forget, because it marked the beginning of our lives together as a family.

I was just nine weeks old then, given up for adoption by my birth mother the moment I was born, and placed into foster care. I don’t know much about her, only that she was 24, single, and wanted me to grow up in a proper family, with a better life than she could give me.

You and Dad couldn’t have children of your own, but you were absolutely desperate for a family. You’d put yourselves through the gruelling adoption process—until finally you were told that a tiny

The family celebrate Hannah’s adoption date every year

ALMOST ANYONE CAN HAVE A BABY, BUT IT TAKES A VERY SPECIAL WOMAN TO BECOME A MOTHER THROUGH ADOPTION

baby called Hannah was going to be yours.

I’m certain that I’ve had every opportunity in life that my birth mother would have dreamed for me. You paid for me to go to a private school, and encouraged me to study hard and to go on to university. When I was a teenager, you were my taxi driver, ferrying me to diving competitions and cheering me on from the sidelines.

Every year we took family holidays, to Arran in Scotland or to New York, which is where I turned 13. As an only child, because you and Dad understandably didn’t want to put yourselves through the difficult adoption process again, I was always spoiled with toys, and so much attention.

Probably the greatest gift that you’ve ever given me was to feel proud about being adopted. It was never kept a secret in our house and you were always very open about how I’d come to be your daughter.

I’ve had to learn that not everyone

thinks adoption is as positive a thing as we do.

Do you remember that day, when I was just nine, and I came home from school upset, because a girl in my class had joked that my birth mother had sold me? It was the first time I realised that for some people, being adopted was seen as a shameful thing and that there was a taboo around it.

Her comment stuck with me for years—but as I grew older it just made me determined to celebrate my journey and to never be ashamed of it.

I’ve never wanted to trace my birth mother. I don’t hate her, or resent that she gave me up. Rather, I’m grateful to her that she made that sacrifice to give me a better life. She could have aborted me, but she chose to go through a pregnancy and that must have been hard.

You’re my mother in all the ways that really matter, Mum. When I’m stressed with work, or heartbroken over a failed relationship, it’s you I call. When I’m sick, you’ll drive to my flat to look after me, when I have something to celebrate, we’ll go out together. You’re my confidante and my best friend.

Almost anyone can get pregnant and have a baby, but it takes a very special woman to become a mother through adoption. And they really don’t come much more special than you, Mum.

LOVE, HANNAH

Jules Osmany, 53, from Northampton is a make-up artist. Her mum

Gloria, 83, was diagnosed with vascular dementia in 2013.

DEAR MUM,

It’s so hard to write this letter, knowing you’re never going to be able to read it.

These days you mainly sleep, and when you’re awake you’re just a shell of the vivacious woman you used to be, unable to see, speak or move from your bed. When I kiss you on the forehead, the way you used to do to me when I was little, or play your favourite music for you, sometimes there’s a flicker of recognition. But it’s gone in an instant.

You were diagnosed in 2013, but the signs that things weren’t right started around 2010. After your second husband, Ken, died, I noticed such a change in you. Normally always so upbeat and extroverted, it was as if you retreated into yourself. At times I wondered if you were depressed.

You began to neglect your appearance and you were no longer taking the same pride in how you looked. You often became forgetful and clumsy.

When you agreed to move from

your home in Shropshire to a care home near me, I felt reassured by having you closer. But I realise now that the dementia had taken hold of you by then, and you’ve been slipping away from me ever since.

I cope by remembering the woman you used to be, before this cruel disease ravaged you. Glamorous and beautiful, you were so different to my friends’ mums when I was growing up, with your pencil skirts, stilettos and bubbly personality. Unlike other women of your generation, who were often content to keep themselves in the background, you brimmed with confidence and always wore your signature red lipstick.

You always said, “You never know who you’re going to meet, so always look your best.’’ To this day I do my make-up and hair every morning— my little homage to you, Mum.

We were like sisters as well as mother and daughter, and as I grew older you were my confidante. We talked about everything.

I COPE BY REMEMBERING THE WOMAN YOU USED TO BE—YOU BRIMMED WITH CONFIDENCE AND ALWAYS WORE RED LIPSTICK

Jules has raised thousands for Dementia UK; (inset) she and her mother were very close

single evening, no matter where we were in the world. It was our time, and it was sacrosanct. How I miss those chats, Mum.

When I had my two children, Louis, 16 and Alexa, 12, you were there supporting me. I only wish they had more memories of you from before you became ill.

I’ve also struggled with feelings of helplessness since you became ill, wishing I could do something to stop this from happening to you. As a tribute, I’ve spent the last two years

fundraising for the charity Dementia UK, raising over £13,000. I know that you’d be proud of me.

Although it breaks my heart to say this, I’m ready to let you go, whenever you’re ready.

You’ve always been so strong Mum, and you’ve defied the doctors so many times. When you decide that you finally want to stop fighting, I will understand.

Until then, whenever I close my eyes I see you as you once were. Laughing, with your red lippy on. My gorgeous Mum. LOVE, JULES

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Venture off the beaten track and you’ll find our great isle is full of little treasures

BY FIONA HICKS

Best Of British

Puzzlewood FOREST OF DEAN

It’s fitting that this hidden forest is frequently used as a filming location, as it really does look like a film set. In fact, Kathleen Kennedy, president of LucasFilm (the juggernaut behind Star Wars), visited not too long ago and exclaimed, “It’s the most magical forest on the face of the earth!”

Comprising 14 acres of ancient woodland in the Forest of Dean, Puzzlewood is a magical cornucopia of knobbly trees, twisted roots and mossy rocks. It also has a generous sprinkling of fable-themed attractions—so as visitors wander along the meandering pathways, they can challenge themselves on the toddler racing track or balancing beams and explore hidden doorways.

Exploration is hungry work and, happily, there’s a lovely little café on site. For the full fairy-tale experience, families can opt to stay in one of the snug cottages for a night or two.

■ Visit puzzlewood.net for details

Old Soar Manor KENT

If you wind down several country lanes, weave between the hedgerows and pass many whorled trees, you’ll be greeted with the sight of the ancient bricks and ecclesiastical façade of Old Soar Manor.

This is the remarkably preserved home of a 13th-century knight. And

Old Soar Manor has stood in some form since the 13th century

yet—far from perpetuating the romanticisation and glamour usually associated with knighthood—the property is most interesting in the way it subtly showcases the harsh realities of medieval life. Rumour has it that the Culpepper family, who built the manor, amassed their vast wealth through staging kidnaps and forced marriages.

Their home was thus steeped in defence: not only is there barely a wall without an arrow slit, but there are also no internal doors. Walking round to get to each room may seem tedious, but it soon dawns on you that it would make it easier to trap an intruder—or, indeed, a new bride.

■ Visit nationaltrust.org.uk for details

The Valiant Soldier

DEVON

We’ve all wondered what it would be like to time travel—and this secret spot can go some way to showing you.

An active pub since the early 19thcentury, The Valiant Soldier ceased business in 1965 when the brewery decided there were too many pubs in the town of Buckfastleigh, and thus withdrew the licence. Mr and Mrs Roberts, the landlords at the time, left everything as it was—right down to the change in the till.

Until the mid-1990s, everything remained untouched, including the brewery equipment, furniture, and even old bills. Teignbridge Council realised the historical significance of the property, and acquired it after Mrs Robert’s death. Even today, nothing has been tampered with— leaving a hint of the olden days for children, and relic of golden days gone by for more senior folk.

■ Visit valiantsolider.org.uk for details

Grant Museum of Zoology

LONDON

Have you ever heard of a quagga?

Until the 19th century, this eightfeet-long creature (pronounced kwaha-ha) roamed the plains of South Africa. It had brown and white stripes on the front of its body and its rear half was brown—a zebra-horse hybrid, as it were.

The species became extinct during the Victorian period, but 21st-century

The Grant Museum encompasses the whole animal kingdom, covering millions of years

animal-lovers can become acquainted with it at University College London’s incredible zoology department.

The Lost City of Trellech MONMOUTHSHIRE

Today it’s a tiny village, but in medieval times Trellech was larger than Cardiff and one of the most important towns in Wales. An epicentre of iron ore and charcoal production, the settlement prospered for years before suffering raids and succumbing to the Black Death.

Fast forward to 2005 and a young archaeology student bought a field in the area and began excavation work. Before long, Stuart Wilson had uncovered medieval walls.

© MICHAEL KILNER/FLICKR

One of the last university museums in London, this treasure trove was founded in 1828 and remains open to the public today. “The museum is packed with thousands of skeletons, skulls and animals preserved in jars,” says manager Jack Ashby. Once you’ve passed the quagga, you can even say hello to the dodo.

■ Visit ucl.ac.uk/museums for details

“Most ancient cities are hidden under current urban settlements but here we’re fortunate that only fields cover the settlement, allowing large areas to be dug”, says Stuart, who continues to run digs today.

“Experience Days” take place throughout the year, and real enthusiasts can even book in for four weeks at the Annual Summer Dig— perfect for aspiring Indiana Joneses.

■ Visit lostcityoftrellech.co.uk for details

The Theatre of Small Convenience WORCESTERSHIRE

From its inauspicious beginnings as a gentlemen’s loo, this discreet stone building in Great Malvern has gone onto much brighter (and rather more fragrant) things.

Keen puppeteer Dennis Neal had the idea of creating a tiny theatre. He approached the town council, but thought his dreams were scuppered when they said they’d charge him £1,800. “But then the town council manager gave me a call and got us a peppercorn rent,” he says.

The ornate set took two years to build, with Dennis sourcing all the material (mainly old furniture) from car-boot sales, markets—and even skips! His son painted the bright backdrop, and they put on their first performance in 1999. The short shows, says Dennis, continue to attract the crowds. “It’s like street theatre—but off the street.”

■ Visit wcthreatre.co.uk for details

CAROLYN JENKINS/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum has existed for over 300 years

Ashmolean Museum

OXFORD

The fact that this museum isn’t in London is a huge boon. If it were, you’d barely be able to get through the door. Historical Oxford is hardly tourist-free, but the multifaceted nature of this institution means one has to know about it to take full advantage of its offerings.

The museum has accrued a collection dating from 8000BC: Egyptian mummies, Anglo-Saxon treasures and the world’s greatest collection of Raphael drawings.

Even more exceptional is the fact that you can enter the Print Room

and handle some artworks yourself. Simply drop in, don a pair of gloves, and you can wile away the afternoon gazing at works by Cezanne, Rembrandt and Turner, amongst many others. Looking at a painting on a gallery wall is one thing—but actually handling them somehow enables their human stories to traverse time.

■ Visit ashmolean.org for details

What’s your favourite hidden gem? Email readersletters@readersdigest.co.uk and let us know!

GLYN

Best-known for building homes on DIY SOS, Nick Knowles, 54, has now turned his hand to nutrition and well-being following his appearance in life-changing BBC Two series The Retreat

If I Ruled the World Nick Knowles

I’d ban cynicism. On the surface a bit of cynicism can seem like a good thing, but delve deeper and you see how enormously damaging it can be. For instance, the media call people who own large companies “fat cats”, with the implication they’re probably tax-dodging. In reality, they’ve worked very hard to get there, put their house on the line at some point and should be applauded for employing lots of people. Likewise, why focus television programmes on people living from benefits? I grew up on a council estate and I can tell you that most people there are working desperately hard to do the best for their family. Let’s stop throwing rocks at each other.

The government would pay for hospices. Many of these vital places have to raise a great deal of money through charity, as government funding has decreased over the last few years. It seems extraordinary

consdiering that hospices make such a difference to seriously ill children and adults, often as they face the last days of their lives. Political parties should stop treating the NHS as a political football and get together for a cross-party review to come up with sensible solutions.

I’d remind people that you can achieve anything if you work hard enough. Long ago I decided I wanted to live a life less ordinary. When I started working I put in long hours and had to miss a lot of nights out, but it all paid off in the end. Your background doesn’t matter—but putting in the time and effort does. The other night I was up at Kensington Palace with Prince Harry discussing how to do more for veteran soldiers. I’ve come a long way.

I’d make the case for less meat in our diets. With over 70,000 edible plants in the world, we should be able to cook tasty vegetarian meals. I’d encourage a gently-gently approach; start with meat-free Monday and take it from there. I’m a big unit—six foot two inches and 16 stone—and I like proper meals, but changing to a vegan diet means I’m healthier and fitter than ever before.

We wouldn’t be obsessed with university degrees. What we have now is kids doing worthless degrees and then leaving university heavily

in debt. I’d like apprenticeships to be taken more seriously. Bricklayers, for instance, are in exceptionally high demand because there’s so much work available for them out there. A lot of the builders I work with left school at 16 or 18 and are now running their own building firms and making lots of money. University degrees aren’t the be-all and end-all of education.

I’d ask interviewers not to cut people off mid-conversation. If a presenter on the radio or television asks their guest a question, then they should be decent enough to give them enough time to answer. How often do we hear “We’re going to have to stop you there as we’ve run out of time” two seconds into a reply?

Nutrition and cooking would be taught in schools. We all know processed foods are rubbish and, with nearly a third of children under 15 in the UK overweight or obese, the health risks as they become adults are increasing all the time. Type 2 diabetes, which costs the nation billions and is killing people young, is entirely curable through diet. Cooking with your kids is great fun too and makes for happy memories. As told to Caroline Hutton

Proper Healthy Food: Hearty vegan and vegetarian recipes for meat lovers by Nick Knowles (BBC Books, £14.99) is out now.

How the ancient route of Camino de Santiago helps navigate the hills and valleys of tumultuous lives

Pil grim’s Path A

BY LIA GRAINGER

PHOTO: © FABRIZIO TROIANI/ALAMY

IKNEW THE WEATHER

could be bad, but I hadn’t expected snow. It came in icy blasts that whistled in my frozen ears and obscured the forest path before me. I pushed forward, hugging my thin raincoat tighter around me.

Ahead, the mountain road forked. With watering eyes, I scanned the whiteness for the one sign that I knew would guide me.

Carved in a stone obelisk, a shape smaller than the palm of my hand, confidently pointed me towards safety: a small, yellow arrow.

hobbies and socialising. My racing mind never stopped, a whirlwind that gave rise to all kinds of anxieties. I needed to slow down, and I needed to do it alone.

There are several well-established routes. I had settled on the most popular, El Camino Francés, or “French Way”. The full journey involves starting in Roncesvalles, southern France, and arriving in Santiago nearly 500 miles later, but many do only a portion. I only had eight days, so I decided to start in Villafranca del Bierzo, a tiny village 125 miles from Santiago.

My pack contained toiletries, socks and underwear, a water bottle and little else

It was my second day on the Camino de Santiago de Compostela. I was just one of the quarter million pilgrims that make their way each year on foot or bicycle to Santiago in north-west Spain. Pagan travellers may have walked the path as far back as 1000 BC; the first Christian pilgrims did so in the ninth century to pay homage to St James, Spain’s patron saint, who, legend says, is buried beneath Santiago’s cathedral. Many who walk “The Way” today do so for a range of non-pious motives.

I was one of them. For my entire adult life, I’d felt the need to fill every waking moment with work, travel,

It was a grey morning in April when the bus dropped me off on the outskirts of Villafranca. On my feet were hiking boots I had never worn, and on my back a small pack containing toiletries, socks and underwear, a jumper, a water bottle and little else. In my money belt was my prized possession: an empty pilgrim’s passport, ready to be filled with the stamps given out along the way. I ducked into a bus station bar and found a small old man quietly folding napkins.

“Excuse me,” I said in Spanish, feeling silly to be asking such a basic question. “Where is The Way?”

Pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago, near the village of Castrojeriz. Meeting the different characters of the trail made Lia feel like she was among friends

He smiled and led me outside. “See that red cross across the road?” he asked. “Past that, to the left, and off you go, all the way to Santiago!”

It was drizzling as I set off, climbing a small road that was devoid of vehicles. The land was on the cusp of spring. Rich moss and pale pink succulents blanketed the low walls that bordered the road.

The sun broke through the clouds just as the road reached a peak. Looking around, I realised I was completely alone in the landscape. I let out a long sigh as an unexpected sense of calm washed over me.

I WALKED UNTIL I ENTERED the tiny stone town of Pereje. The streets felt deserted, but I spotted a woman leaning against the wall of her tavern.

I went in and ordered a large café con leche. In coming days the thought of that sweet, milky caffeine would put a spring in my step on dull stretches of road.

As I sipped this first one, a middleaged man came barrelling awkwardly through the door. He plunked himself down beside me at the bar.

I turned and offered a big smile. “Where are you from?” I asked.

“Germany!” he replied, with a smile that rivalled my own.

I began to ask questions but he stopped me mid-sentence. “Little English, very little,” he said. I nodded. There was no malice in silencing me.

As I gathered my things to leave, I felt him tap my shoulder. “Buen Camino!” he offered.

“Buen Camino!” I replied.

the tiny farming town of Faba in search of a place to sleep.

In the past, pilgrims slept outdoors or were offered shelter in barns, churches or homes. Today there’s an albergue—a basic hostel—nearly every three miles, usually staffed by local volunteers.

The first place I came across was the Albergue German Confraternity de Faba, where a blonde retiree named Ellen Zierott welcomed me, collecting the five euro fee and explaining the rules: boots off in the hall, lights out at 10pm and everyone out by 8am sharp.

I’d soon learn that these were the two Spanish words every pilgrim knew. They were a happy recognition of a shared mission.

I’d set off that morning with the goal of walking approximately 18 miles to the hilltop town of O’Cebreiro. My plan was to follow the official stages of the Camino Francés: the entire path is divided into sections of between 11 and 23 miles. Most start and end in larger towns and the actual terrain varies greatly, from muddy mountain paths to sections that follow the local highway.

As afternoon turned to early evening, I realised I’d been walking for six hours and was still a good three miles out of O’Cebreiro. The trail had emptied of pilgrims. I crested a steep hill and rolled into

I poked my head into the expansive dorm room lined with dozens of bunk beds, about half occupied by pilgrims in various stages of repose.

The early bedtime was rapidly approaching, so I ran down the road to one of the town’s two cafés to wolf down a plate of pasta, then returned to slip under the thin fleece blanket and say goodnight to an older Japanese woman tucking herself in nearby. The lights went out and within seconds, a cacophony of snoring erupted. I cursed myself for not bringing earplugs and then, exhausted, promptly fell asleep.

“GOOD MORNING!” said a perky voice. It took me a moment to realise it was Ellen.

“Good morning!” responded a chorus of groggy but cheerful voices.

It was 7am. Time to start walking.

Lia Grainger on her first day of the trail, just before reaching La Faba

PHOTO: LIA GRAINGER

I stepped out into the dark, icy morning. The pilgrims in the café the evening before had spoken of snow but I’d laughed them off. After all, it was April in Spain.

The wind was gentle at first, but soon the trees bordering the path were whipping to and fro. A town emerged atop the hill: O’Cebreiro. I turned into the first open door.

Inside the tavern, coals glowed in the enormous fireplace. I pulled up a stool next to a grandfatherly man with blue eyes and a white beard.

Just then the door burst open, letting in a gust of cold and some large snowflakes. In walked another German called Geunter. This one was younger and bundled in high-tech gear. He called for his own caldo.

“I’m an inventor,” he said when I asked why he was on the Camino. “Have you ever seen an inflatable movie screen? That was me.”

Geunter’s business had been going great until his partners swindled him out of his share. “I was devastated. I lay on the couch for a year,” he said.

People have problems. But when they come on the Camino, their problems go away

“One caldo Gallego,” said the man to the barmaid. He turned to me. “It’s very good here.”

I too ordered what turned out to be a typical Galician dish—delicious steaming pork broth with greens, white beans and hearty bread. We began to chat. He was Geunter, from Germany, and this was his third time on the Camino.

There were certainly a lot of Germans on the path. I would later learn this was largely due to a 2014 book about the Camino written by a German TV celebrity.

“People have problems,” said Geunter in his rough English. “They come on the Camino and the problems go away.”

One day he picked up one of his wife’s books. It was The Pilgrimage by Paulo Coelho, a personal account that had almost single-handedly reinvigorated public interest in the Camino in the 1980s. “Ten days later I was on the Camino,” said Guenter. This was his sixth pilgrimage.

It was the trail that finally broke Guenter’s depression. He also credited it with helping him to conceive a child after years of trying without success. I was struck by the intensity of his story.

We finished our soup and headed out into the snow. The Guenters led the way through the gathering whiteness. I soon found myself trudging the mountain path alone.

In the afternoon I met Hans-Peter, from Switzerland, while taking a break to sip a welcome café con leche.

“Cold out there?” he offered. I responded dutifully in the affirmative. My cheeks were turning scarlet as they thawed.

“Have some!” said Hans, and held out a tiny tub of Vaseline. I rubbed it all over my face.

“We walk together?” Hans asked with a smile.

My new Swiss friend seemed to bounce along. “Look, here,” he said, pointing to a large patch of smooth stone in the path. “This stone was worn down by the millions who walked here before us. Kings, priests, popes.” He paused. “Can you imagine a king being carried down this path?”

Indeed I could. With Hans as my guide, we neared our next stop, the sleepy hamlet of Triacastela.

I’d failed to break in my hiking boots before setting off and the

next day I was finding it difficult to walk. My surroundings were breathtaking—green fields bathed in sunshine—but I could only think of the searing pain in my tendons.

I stopped for lunch at a roadside cafe and unlaced the torture devices. Fellow pilgrims were sympathetic as I described the agony wrought by my boots. There was only one thing to do—keep walking. Pushing through physical pain was almost a welcome experience here. I imagined that for religious pilgrims, pain was a sign of devotion. For me, it provided a sense of accomplishment. I winced onward.

THE CAMINO SOON BECAME my home, and I fell into habits that doubled as survival tactics.

I’d start each day by waiting until everyone had departed. Then I’d slowly prepare for the day in peace. My mind found a rare stillness. Life was simple: wake, walk, eat, sleep.

The breathtaking Cathedral de Santiago marks the end of the pilgramage

I stuck to a two-mile-per-hour walking pace. In the mornings I was usually in the mood to be alone. By the afternoon I’d pair up with someone whose life story I thought I’d like to hear.

Those stories were many. There was the Finnish girl who dreamed of being a sailor, the Romanian who’d fallen hopelessly in love on the Camino, the elderly Chinese couple who lived in Manhattan. To

It was over. I’d done it. Yet as I received my compostela—the official certificate of completion—my elation was mixed with a profound sadness. My treasured simple routine—wake, walk, eat, sleep—was ending. I would return to a whirlwind life of endless tasks and distractions.

But then something occurred to me—something a fellow pilgrim had told me that very morning. “It’s not about the Camino,” he said. “It’s

I realised I could carry the Camino with me: its simplicity, kindness and openness to strangers

my delight, the hodgepodge cast of characters popped up wherever I went: on the trail, in a cafe, in the bunk above me at an albergue.

Never had I felt so alone and yet so among friends. I carried this wonderfully odd feeling with me as I walked the final 12 miles to Santiago.

At last, the city came into sight, and then the epic Romanesque cathedral, nearly 1,000 years old. Pilgrims were streaming in, embracing, crying, laughing, and praying.

about following those little yellow arrows in your everyday life.”

I realised I could carry the Camino with me: its simplicity, inherent kindness and openness to strangers. Those “yellow arrows” were my own instincts, my own heart. They would tell me where to go.

I made myself a promise that I would be back the following year to walk from start to finish.

Only next time, I’ll bring a better pair of boots.

PUCKER UP

The good news: kissing someone for one minute burns about two calories. The not-so-good news: you exchange between ten million and one billion bacteria with your kissing partner.

SOURCES: LIVESTRONG.COM; FACTRETRIEVER.COM

Valletta is Malta’s honey-coloured capital city; (right) a knight’s

BY CATHY ADAMS

My Great Escape: Winds Of Change

Sharon Haston from Falkirk loves Malta— even in bad weather

Cathy has danced in Rio, been microlighting in South Africa and hiked the mountains of Oman

MALTA IS MESMERISING. This tiny speck of a Mediterranean island packs a huge punch—literally. During our visit my husband Robert, my parents and I experienced a cyclone, gale force winds and saw a tornado forming over the sea. But we still succumbed to its charms.

Malta is a captivating blend of cultures. The Maltese use British plugs, drive on the left and have red telephone boxes. The language looks and sounds like Arabic, while the menus have an Italian slant. You can learn about the island’s history at “The Malta Experience” show in the capital city, Valletta.

Valletta is stunning, surrounded by honey-coloured fortifications. Towers, domes and church spires dominate the skyline. From the peaceful Upper Barrakka Gardens we gazed at cruise ships and ferries gliding into the Grand Harbour. This was before the cyclone hit… We watched the saluting gun battery at midday, which made a huge boom; we gawped at the golden, intricate interior of St John’s Co-Cathedral; and took the open-top sightseeing bus, which was a delightful way to travel around. We got off at Mdina, the former capital, perched on top of a

view

hill and encircled by walls. Wandering around its quiet, narrow streets, I almost expected to bump into a medieval knight.

Blue skies did appear, but we also witnessed the power of the sea when massive waves crashed over the promenade, obliterating the pool bar at our hotel, the Preluna in Sliema.

We didn’t make it to the neighbouring island of Gozo but we’ll certainly go back for it. Even a cyclone couldn’t stop us loving this beautiful, fascinating island.

■ MEANDER AROUND MALTA

Flights to Malta start from £31.99pp one-way with easyJet (easyjet.com).

Rooms at the Preluna Hotel in Sliema start from around £45 a night (+356 21 334001, preluna.com).

Postcard From...

LONG OVERSHADOWED by San

Francisco across the bay, Oakland is finally striking out on its own. For starters, it’s incredibly diverse: 125 languages are spoken within the city limits, there’s a thriving arts and food scene and its natural scenery means visitors—and tech start-ups from across the bay—are making Oakland a destination in its own right.

If you’re using Oakland as a base to explore northern California, make time to walk around Lake Merritt, the oldest wildlife refuge in the US.

■ AN OUTING IN OAKLAND

Flights from London Heathrow to Oakland start on March 28, from £189pp each way (ba.com).

Tell us about your favourite holiday (send a photo too) and if we include it on this page we’ll pay you £50. Go to readersdigest.co.uk/contact-us WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!

Things To Do This Month

SEOUL IN TWO MINUTES

■ SEE: ROYAL PALACES Start your visit with a trip to Seoul’s beautiful palaces: Gyeongbokgung, the former main home of the Joseon Dynasty, is arguably the grandest (english. visitkorea.or.kr).

■ STAY: ALOFT SEOUL

MYEONGDONG The Aloft Seoul Myeongdong offers cosy, techforward rooms in the heart of one of Seoul’s major shopping and entertainment districts, which is ripe for exploring. Rooms from £95 a night (alofthotelshub.com).

■ DO: THE DMZ Spend a day on the border with North Korea, otherwise known as the “Demilitarized Zone”. Just an hour outside of Seoul, visitors can walk through underground tunnels and peer into one of the most insular countries in the world— albeit through a lot of barbed wire (dmztours.com).

SHORT/LONG HAUL: TWOCENTRE LUXURY CRUISES

SHORT: Burj Al

Arab, Dubai The iconic sail-shaped, seven-star hotel on Dubai’s pristine Jumeirah Beach is designed to offer absolute luxury: there’s even a helipad on the roof. Rooms from £1,000 a night in low season (+971 4 301 7777, jumeirah.com).

LONG: Lagarta Lodge, Costa Rica

Nicknamed “the most beautiful hotel in the world”, Lagarta Lodge on Costa Rica’s Nicoya Peninsula is surrounded by a vast nature reserve. Two nights in a jungle suite start from £444 (+506 2682 00 35, lagartalodge.com).

TRAVEL APP OF THE MONTH

Flight Stats, Free, iOS, flightstats.com.

This collects data on the status of global flights, tracks flight paths and knows about traffic delays and local weather. Very handy!

The Ultimate China & Japan Adventure

Travel in style on-board the Holland America Line MS Volendam. Sail from Shanghai to Hong Kong—taking in Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines along the way

YOUR WORLD-CLASS TOURS

Your six-night, pre-cruise tour of China provides you with accommodation and selected meals, and gives you the opportunity to visit the Great Wall of China, Wander the grounds of the Summer Palace and Tiananmen Square before entering the sprawling magnificence of the Forbidden City. Find your inner self at the spiritual Temple of Heaven and relaxing Temple of Heaven Park, before dining on a local delicacy of Peking Duck ready for the next stage of this unique adventure.

The next part of the dynamic trip takes you to the ancient capital of China Xian. In Xian you’ll come face-to-face with China’s most enigmatic discovery, The Terracotta Warriors. Sample the local delicious Shui Jiao dumplings and watch a Tang Dynasty dance performance showcasing China’s golden era.

ITINERARY

DEPARTURE DATE: OCTOBER 19, 2017

Day 1: Fly to Beijing

Day 2: Arrive in Beijing and transfer to your hotel for a three-night stay

Day 3: Today visit the Great Wall of China, a Jade Museum and the Summer Palace

Day 4: Walk through Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven

Day 5: Fly to Xian, the ancient capital of China, and watch a Tang Dynasty dance performance

Day 6: Come face-to-face with China’s most enigmatic discovery, the Terracotta Warriors and walk on the Ancient City Wall

Day 7: Fly to Shanghai

Day 8: Today enjoy a full day tour of Shanghai

Day 9: Embark MS Volendam for a 14-night Cruise

Day 10: At sea

Day 11: Fukuoka (Hakata)

Day 12: Nagasaki

Day 13: At sea

Day 14: Naha

Day 15: Ishigaki Island

Day 16: Keelung (Taipei)

Day 17: Kaohsiung

Day 18: At sea

Day 19: Manila

Day 20: At sea

Day 21: Overnight in Hong Kong

Day 22: Fly to London

Wefood sells goods that are past their best-before date; (opposite page) activist Selina Juul

The War On Waste

Every year, the global population wastes more than a billion tons of food—but one nation is fighting back

Words and Photogra P hs by Craig s tennett

WIth our modern, hectIc and consumer-orIentated lIfestyles, it’s easy to think that the odd food item we may have bought but never eaten is insignificant. however, once you start adding up all the edible items purchased and left to perish over the year, a different picture starts to emerge. the average household in the UK will lose £470 this year in wasted food. the figure rises to £700 if it’s a family with children.

Food waste isn’t unique to the UK; it’s a global problem. The Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations estimates that worldwide, one third of all human food production goes to waste each year. That’s a staggering 1.3 billion tons of edible food that ends up in the bin annually, at a cost of £770 billion.

But there’s hope. In their unassuming corner of Scandinavia, the Danes have launched more initiatives—from awareness campaigns to government policy and legislation—to tackle the problem than anywhere else in Europe or indeed the world. In Denmark there are “passed best-by date” restaurants, “zero waste” kitchens, supermarkets and pressure groups, and even mobile apps that locate leftover buffet meals going cheap. Denmark reduced its national figure of food waste by 25 per cent in the last five years—and it’s still striving to do more.

The woman who’s widely credited with instigating the Danish national food-waste revolution is 36-year-old former graphic designer Selina Juul.

Originating from Moscow and arriving in Denmark at age 13, she remembers, “After coming from Russia where I’d experienced food shortages, empty grocery stores and the general belief that food was gold, I was shocked to see everything they had here in the food stores.

I WAS SHOCKED BY HOW MUCH PEOPLE SIMPLY THREW AWAY

“But then I remember being even more shocked by how much people simply threw away.”

In 2008, still passionate about the issue, she founded the consumer movement “Stop Spild Af Mad” (“Stop Wasting Food”), which has gone on to be Denmark’s largest consumer organisation in the fight against food waste. The movement has 60,000 followers on Facebook and Selina has published an award-winning and sold-out cookbook based on using up

Clockwise from top left: restaurant Le Sommelier operates a zero-waste policy; head chef Marus Mhaquard; project manager Bassel Hmeiden ensures that Wefood receives a regular supply of supermarket surplus, sold to customers at a heavily discounted rate

food surplus. She’s lobbied for the issue at both the EU and UN and delivered several thought-provoking TED talks.

today she’s visiting Le Sommelier, an upmarket restaurant in Copenhagen that’s a stone’s throw from the Danish Royal Palace. Head chef Christian Mhaquard, 29, is on hand to explain the restaurant’s implementation of a zero-food-waste kitchen. “It’s a voluntary scheme we’ve been involved in for the last two years”, he says. “If food isn’t eaten, we make stock. If we can’t use it in stock, then it goes to the biotrash.”

And here’s the clever twist—the food waste is again separated: oils are used to

Regular deliveries of supermarket surplus ensure a steady supply of wholesome and discounted food

make biodiesel, and the rest produces biogas, which is used to run the trucks picking up the waste. Spare capacity is sold on, and what’s left from the biogas production becomes fertiliser—and can be used again to grow more food. “Nothing goes to waste”, Christian smiles.

Sipping a simple mineral water, Selina recounts the small beginnings of her own campaign. “Our first success came with the supermarket chain Rema 1000. We’d been arguing to stop discounts of three-for-two, as invariably people bought more than they needed and the food just ended up rotting in the refrigerator.” Rema came on board, replacing all their quantity discounts with single-item discounts. Other retail chains in Denmark soon followed suit, and most now operate with food waste-prevention strategies and goals.

Pears past their bestbefore date are served in The Visionary Kitchen

“has anyone told you the Carrot story yet?” asks Bassel Hmeiden. A little way from Le Sommelier, he’s sitting in a transit van loaded with frozen pizzas, courtesy of a bankrupted Danish wholesale company.

YOU CAN USE YOUR HANDS, EYES AND NOSE TO CHECK IF FOOD IS STILL OK

Best-before dates on produce are also a major issue. “Best before doesn’t mean toxic—afterwards you can use your hands, eyes and nose to check if food is still OK. It’s that simple,” says Selina.

Bassel, 42, is the project manager of Wefood, a surplus food, not-forprofit supermarket based in Copenhagen. The supermarket sells goods that normal shops are no longer able to handle. Passed best-before dates, incorrectly labelled or damaged packaging are some of the criteria that makes unwanted but wholesome products available to Wefood, which then sells them on at discounted prices.

Bassel slips into his story. “It’s our policy to sell goods we receive as

Customers can fill their bags and pay a nominal fee at social programme Bo Welfare

cheaply as possible to our customers. So when I got a call from a farmer saying he had some fresh carrots and did we want them, I just said, ‘Yes, of course.’ ” It was only later that day that Bassel’s problem started. “I knew something was up when I saw the artic lorry pulling up outside the shop and, before we could do anything, it unloaded ten tons of carrots into our laps. We now had all this fresh produce, and had to somehow make sure that at least it got eaten. We’re here to use wasted food— not throw it away again!”

A plan of action of military precision was rolled into place.

carrots ready to give for free to anyone passing. “We even got on public buses in order to give out bags for free to all the passengers including the drivers.”

The herculean task of “out farming” all the vegetables to grateful citizens of Copenhagen was finally achieved. But with rolling eyes Bassel recalls, “I got to the point where I never wanted to see another carrot again.”

WE GOT ON PUBLIC BUSES TO GIVE OUT BAGS OF CARROTS FOR FREE

Volunteer staff were placed outside the shop, fully armed with bags of

With agreements with ten supermarkets in Copenhagen ensuring regular collections of unwanted produce, Wefood’s peculiarity is that the shop never knows what it will be stocking next. Not that customers seem to mind—Morten Kisbaek, a logistics supervisor who’s leaving the

shop with a packet of biscuits, says, “I live nearby and it’s convenient to just drop in and see what they have.”

nearly 200 miles west of Copenhagen lies the picturesque Danish town of Horsens (population 51,000). This understated place is home to a culinary secret: The Visionary Kitchen, a weekly venue for the experience of cooking only with food past its best-before date. It’s the brainchild of Jan Martin Ahlers, a former student of the university in town. Since then, looking after the project has been passed on to new undergraduates each academic year.

Tonight, a three-course meal is on the menu: leek soup; roasted potatoes with rosemary and caramelised apples, plus an accompanying salad and steamed vegetables; pears for pudding. Eliza-Ioana Cojocaru, attending this evening’s meal, explains her reasons, “We’re saving food for ecological reasons. It’s also a social activity—and you learn to cook!”

Social benefits as a side effect of saving unwanted food are visible on the other side of town, where the Bo Welfare project collects and distributes unwanted or out-of-date food as a social programme. Three times a week, they set out their produce. All their customers need to do is to fill their reusable bags with good food. The “one price fits all” policy means each bag goes at 20 kroner (approximately £2.50)—about

The movement has made a huge difference to the citizens of Denmark

a fifth of its normal price.

Volunteer Lise Worm says, “The first time that we opened up our doors, a woman just came up to me to show me what she’d managed to buy here, and honestly, she had tears in her eyes. It makes that much of a difference to people.”

desPite these imPressive savings —both in terms of food and money—there’s still a lot of work to be done to reverse the world’s overconsumption. As Selina Juul says, “When an estimated billion humans on the planet are starving or undernourished, we really should be making food waste a global shame.”

Get Up To Date On Your Savings

The rules on ISAs change so quickly it’s hard to keep up. Here’s what you need to know for the year ahead

BY ANDY WEBB

Andy Webb is a money expert at the Money Advice Service. Visit money adviceservice. org.uk for details

WITH THE FINANCIAL YEAR COMING TO A CLOSE, time is running out to put your money into an Individual Savings Account (ISA) and maximise your annual allowance. But it’s no longer as simple as it used to be.

Here’s a guide to the rule changes, increased amounts you can save, effect of low interest rates and the new type of ISA.

You can earn tax-free interest elsewhere

You can now earn £1,000 in interest every financial year outside of an ISA, and still not pay tax on it. This personal savings allowance could mean you can get higher returns from current accounts and regular savings accounts.

The £1,000 allowance is for non- or basic-rate taxpayers and drops to £500 if you’re a 40 per cent, higher-rate taxpayer. Even so, with interest rates so low, it requires a huge amount of money to gain this much in interest.

The ISA allowance is growing

The ISA limit is £15,240 for this financial year, which ends on April 5, 2017. It’ll then get even higher, jumping to £20,000.

You can take money out and put it back in Some providers allow you to make a withdrawal from an ISA in a financial year, and put the same amount back in without it counting twice towards your annual allowance.

You should move old ISAs

With interest rates so low, it’s not just your new ISA which could have poor returns. All your old ISAs are likely to have had their rates slashed too.

If you want to move your old or current ISAs, you need to find a provider that accepts transfers and ask them to move the money. If you withdraw instead, the amount you can put back in will be restricted by the annual allowance.

Watch out for any related penalties from your current ISA provider.

There’s a third way for everyone to save

Traditionally you can have a cash ISA, an investment ISA, or a mixture of the two. Now there are also innovative finance ISAs, which put cash into peer-to-peer lending.

As with investment ISAs, there’s the chance of larger returns, but you could also lose some

companies offering these ISAs aren’t covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme either, so there’s no protection for your cash if they go bust.

Very few of these ISAs are available, so perhaps consider them for the future rather than right now.

First-time buyers can get a big bonus

Another new option is the help-tobuy ISA. It’s open to any UK residents who have never owned a home. The government will give a 25 per cent bonus on money saved up when a property is purchased. You can deposit £1,000 then £200 a month, up to a maximum of £12,000.

If you’ve already opened a cash ISA this year, you won’t be able to also have a helpto-buy ISA.

Give To Charity— And To Yourself

In terms of giving to charity, the UK is the most generous country in Europe, and fourth in the world.

If you’re keen to help others, there are ways of donating that can also help your own bank balance—or allow you to donate a little extra.

Cutting down your inheritance tax bill

You can cut your tax bill significantly by leaving part or all of your estate to charity in your will. Any money you leave in a “charitable legacy” isn’t subject to inheritance tax.

This means that there’s less tax to pay on the remaining money. You can also reduce the rate of inheritance tax due if ten per cent of your entire estate is left to charity.

Give directly from your payslip or pension

If you set up regular payments to a charity through your pension or workplace payroll, you’ll automatically be entitled to a discount on your tax contribution as you don’t pay income tax on donations.

So if you give £1, it’ll actually only cost you 80p (for basic taxpayers) or 60p (for higher-rate taxpayers), with the taxman paying the rest. This makes it much cheaper for you than contributing directly, and the charity gets the same amount.

Add Gift Aid

This one is slightly different, but it’ll also boost your donation. As long as you’re not giving more than four times what you pay in tax each financial year, you can add Gift Aid to any donations you make.

If you do this (usually by ticking a box when you donate), an extra 25p will be added by the government for every £1 you give.

Are You Paying Too Much For Your Landline?

As more and more telecoms companies bundle broadband with TV and even mobile-phone packages, anyone with just a good oldfashioned landline could be missing out on discounts.

Analysis by the regulator

Ofcom found all the main landline providers hiked prices by as much as 41 per cent in the last six years. In 2010, you could get a landline for between £12 and £14 a month. Now you’ll pay between £17 and £19 a month. Here are five ways you might be able to reduce what you pay.

Bundle it with other telecoms services

If you have internet or TV with a different provider, you might be able to save by combining your phone line with these services.

See if you can switch to a cheaper provider

Whether you bundle or keep the line on its own, use a comparison site to see if there’s a better deal out there. If so, you can switch—and perhaps even get a new customer discount.

Pay for a year upfront

It’s possible to save by paying for the full 12 months line rental at once.

Go paperless

Another discount is often available if you go paperless, which means you view and manage your bills online.

Review your calls package

Landlines often come with

Selling A House

How to get it ready to go on the market

SELLING

A HOUSE CAN BE A STRESSFUL TIME—and the hard work needs to start even before you've put your property on the market. First impressions really count, so it’s important to ensure your home makes a good impact on any potential buyers.

Here are some top tips to help:

DECLUTTER

If you've lived in your home for a while, it’s likely you've accumulated a lot of personal belongings and other items. Clearing these can help make it look bigger and help a potential buyer imagine themselves in the property.

CLEAN

All the time your property is on the market you should make sure you keep it clean, as dirt can put people off. Do a thorough deep clean before

it goes on the market and maintain it while you're seeking a buyer. Also try to get rid of any bad smell—such as cigarette smoke, full bins, blocked drains or pet smells.

FIX ANY ISSUES

Fix any minor issues in the property— such as torn carpets, broken doors or holes in walls—or any DIY jobs you've started but not finished.

GO NEUTRAL

Bright walls can put people off. Replace with more neutral paint or wallpaper.

CREATE LIGHT AND SPACE

As well as decluttering you can make the property seem bigger by reflecting light using mirrors, fully opening blinds and curtains, cleaning windows and placing lighting, such as lamps, in any dark corners.

MAKE IT HOMELY

Help people imagine themselves in your home by creating a homely feel. Place plants or fresh flowers around the property. Baking bread or brewing coffee can help give your home an attractive smell.

SORT OUT THE GARDEN

If the property has a garden which has become overgrown, ensure you cut it back and mow the grass. This will allow prospective buyers to see its size and potential—making it a much more attractive prospect.

The work needed to get a property ready for market can seem overwhelming. If you don’t feel capable of doing this, or aren’t comfortable with strangers looking around your house, then you could use a cash property buyer, such as Reader’s Digest Property, instead. With us there are no viewings and a guaranteed cash buyer for your house.

To find out more visit www.readersdigest.co.uk/property, call us free on 0800 433 7979 or email info@readersdigestproperties.co.uk

Easy-to-prepare meals and accompanying drinks

Fish Pie With A Cheesy Mash Topping

BY RACHEL WALKER

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

SPRING IS A GREAT TIME FOR FISH PIE. This warming dish will get you through the last of the long evenings, while you wait for the clocks go forward. Some people take a conservative approach to this dish, but I think that a bit of cheese in the mash topping goes down a treat—and it’s one of the few dinners where I condone ketchup on the plate, too. Serve with a big bowl of green peas or steamed leeks, and enjoy the luxury of proper comfort food.

Serves 4

• 750g potatoes (King Edward)

• 300g cod (see chef’s note on the right)

• 200g smoked haddock

• 1 bay leaf

• 5 peppercorns

• 500ml milk

1. Preheat the oven to 200C.

• 40g butter

• 40g plain flour

• Seasoning: 1tsp mustard, squeeze of lemon, salt, pepper

• 120g Cheddar, grated

• 25g butter

Pie dish: 20 x 28cm

2. Peel the potatoes and cut them into bite-sized chunks. Put them in a pan of salted water, then bring to the boil and simmer for 15–20 minutes.

3. Put the fish in a small saucepan with the bay leaf and

peppercorns, and pour the milk over. Bring it to the boil, and then immediately reduce to a simmer. Gently poach for 5–6 minutes, then strain the poaching milk into a jug. Discard the bay leaf and peppercorns, and flake the fish into a pie dish.

4. Rinse the pan used for the fish, and melt the butter in it. Add the flour. Stir and cook for 45 seconds on a very gentle heat.

5. Start adding the poaching milk—one tablespoon at a time to start with, stirring as you go—and then in bigger sloshes. Once all the milk has been added, simmer for 1–2 minutes, stirring the whole time.

6. Season the white sauce with mustard, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Pour the sauce into the pie dish and fold the fish through it. Set aside to settle.

7. Drain the potatoes and mash in the butter and three-quarters of the grated cheese. Spoon the mash on top of the fish pie, and then use the back of a spoon to push it into a pie lid.

8. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top. Put the pie on a tray and bake for 25 minutes.

CHEF’S NOTE

People have long been wary about cooking with cod, but it came off the conservation “red list”18 months ago. It’s a lovely white fish for a pie, though there are lots of lesserknown varieties, which also have firm white flesh—such as pollock, coley or whiting. Adding an additional smoked fish, such as haddock, enhances the flavour and savouriness.

Drinking Measures

“There’s a problem with ‘the pint’, ” says Ed Hughs, Sharp’s beer sommelier. I’m perched on a bar stool, with a brandy glass of beer in hand.

I swill the sample round the balloon glass, and stick my nose in to give it a good sniff. “See!” Hughs shouts triumphantly. “All you need to do is change the shape of the glass, and suddenly people start tasting, instead of swigging.”

There’s no denying that a pint has its place, yet it’s out of kilter with the emerging beer trends. Particularly when pairing with food, a pint feels heavy. Pour small amounts into a brandy or wine glass, and suddenly the beer has room to breathe. You can also share a bottle with friends, which means you can try several

THE DINNER BEERS

different varieties over the course of a meal.

Innovation in the market means it’s easy to put on your own DIY beer pairing. Start with a G&T using Tarquin’s Hopster gin, which has hops as a botanical. A half or quarter-pint of Sea Fury pairs well with food, due to its a malty robustness, and is a winning combination with a fish pie.

Finish with porter or stout as an alternative to a pudding wine, as the coffee-caramel notes pair well with desserts. Sharp’s 6 Vintage Blend also has dark stewed-fruit cake notes—a drop in a sherry glass with dessert will convert even non-beer drinkers.

■ The Hopster, Tarquin’s Cornish Gin, £39/70cl (42%), sharpsbrewery.co.uk

■ Sharps Sea Fury, £1.79/500ml (5%), tesco.com

■ Meantime London Stout, £2.15/500ml (4.5%), ocado.com

■ No.9 6 Vintage Blend, £35/12 case (7.4%), sharpsbrewery.co.uk

Pudding of the Month

Cornish Baked Custard Puddings

Serves 6

• 400ml double cream

• 100ml whole milk

• 8 egg yolks

• 1 vanilla pod

• 75g sugar

Toppings: poached rhubarb, clementines, tinned prunes, shortbread biscuits— or whatever you fancy!

1. Scrape the vanilla seeds from the pod.

2. Add the scraped pod to the cream and milk and heat gently, until just simmering.

3. Mix the egg yolks, vanilla seeds and sugar until they’re creamy.

4. Pour the hot cream over the yolks, mixing continually. Remove the pod and discard.

5. Divide the custard into 6 oven-proof dishes, and bake in a bain marie at 140C for 30 minutes.

6. Cool, and place in the fridge until needed. Before serving, garnish with a topping of your choice.

Tip: pair with a stout or Sharp’s 6 Vintage blend.

Gatherings by Flora Sheddan, Mitchell Beazley, £17.99. Recipes for feasts great and small.

BARGAIN

Mug, H&M, £6.99. This supersize teacup has great capacity, and I love the splash of gold on the handle.

BLOW OUT

Teacup set, Sophie Conran, £80. Bright and beautiful, this fourpiece sunshine-yellow set just shouts spring!

By Lynda C L ark

Lynda Clark is a homes, property and interiors expert, and editor of First Time Buyer magazine

Metals Of The Moment

whether it’s copper, rose gold or bronze, metallics are in the spotlight. They add a warmth and texture to the home and work well in most rooms.

What’s more, with so many unusual metal accessories available, the trend is both desirable and affordable. There’s a plethora of homewares to choose from and, teamed with natural wood or smoked glass, they’ll add a fresh, contemporary element without being too “bling”.

Textured glass, £1.50; bronze pineapple table lamp, £30; pineapple chopping board, £3; copper biscuit jar, £7; copper canister, £4; pineapple dish, £5; embossed 12-piece dinnerware set, £28; gold 16-piece cutlery set, £20.

■ All available from g eorge at Asda (george.com)

Get The Look

Brighten up your home with these decorative metal accessories.

■ tropical teaspoons, £19, oliverbonas.com

■ copper coffee and tea canisters £34, amara.com

■ copper telephone, £49.95, cuckooland.com

■ copper mug, £4.99, homesense.com

Indoor pLant trends

Scott Provan, house-plant buyer at Dobbies Garden Centres, offers his top tips:

■ Use a tealight holder to display small cacti

■ When arranging plants, trios work best with a mixture of heights. Use the tallest at the back and softer textures towards the front

■ Choose interesting shapes such as the Crassula Gollum succulent. For a statement, try Weeping Fig or Dragon Tree. For more indoor plant tips, visit readersdigest.co.uk/indoor-plants

Go Green

As pantone announces the colour of the year, it’s never been a better time to go green

Get the designer look with this Eamesinspired dining chair, £59 (cultfurniture.com).

This trendy timepiece offers a contemporary look. Newgate Cubic II, £25 (redcandy.co.uk).

This knitted cushion is bang on trend, £12 (sainsburys.co.uk).

A preview of some of the products launched at the 50th Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas

Pedal, Hover & Fold

BY OLLY MANN

Olly is a technology expert, radio presenter and podcaster

LG SIGNATURE OLED TV W

If you live in a light, minimalist house—the kind of joint where everything’s white or glass and you display three carefully chosen arty books on your barely perceptible coffee table—then you’ve probably been wall-mounting your telly since “flat screens” emerged in the 1990s. But I bet your screen isn’t as flat as this latest effort from LG: a shockingly thin 0.2 inches. The 77-inch, 4K, HDR-ready panel appears almost flush with the wall, while just one cable connects it to a Dolby soundbar beneath, which also discreetly houses the power cables and connectors—though this will frustrate those home-cinema buffs who prefer to use their existing surround-sound set-up.

INTEL COMPUTE CARD

This modular computer from Intel could transform the way we iterate technology. The size of a credit card, it contains the memory and processing power needed to run almost any machine, and

can be undocked and replaced with a newer card, without any need to replace the host device. It’s bound to become standard in commercial devices, but

I doubt the PC industry will allow consumers to upgrade so cheaply.

FISHER-PRICE THINK AND LEARN SMART CYCLE

As Nintendo’s original Wii proved, if you can convince your kids that they’re just playing a video game, they’re quite happy to expend physical energy at the same time! It may not be preferable to them spending time outside, but Fisher-Price’s new plastic exercise bike for toddlers looks like genuine fun. You hook up your tablet computer to the front of it, then download compatible apps featuring popular Nickelodeon characters and a lightly educational message—but the games are only playable whilst your child continues to pedal. Very cunning.

HOVER CAMERA PASSPORT

It’s no longer reasonable for holiday videos to comprise shaky footage of Dad doing “Copacabana” on karaoke night. Rather, as a vista of selfie sticks dominate every tourist destination in the world, the discerning holidaymaker seeks a smooth, wide-angled selfportrait. So why not film yourself, constantly, with a drone? This one folds in half, so you can take it with you in your hand luggage, and it doesn’t require a smartphone. You can teach it to recognise your face in a crowd, and it’ll follow you around, filming aerial views of your every waking moment. If that’s your thing.

FOLDIMATE

This crowdfunded prototype is a joyous throwback to the kind of domestic robot promised in The Jetsons. Clip in 30 shirts, trousers and towels straight from your dryer, and Foldimate folds, steams and perfumes them perfectly—generating a pile of creaseless garments ready to store away. At least that’s the idea: I imagine material getting mangled by the mechanism will be more common than its makers claim, just as paper alltoo-frequently becomes caught in your printer.

By Geor G ina yates

Georgina is a fashion and beauty editor for numerous travel titles and a blogger at withgeorgia.com

Best Foot Forward

Slipping yo U r feet into S an Dal S after months of hibernation can be daunting—and a prospect that’s often put off until it’s too hot to wear anything else.

To make sure you’re sandal-ready, treat your toes to a little TLC. An expert pedicure makes all the difference, and those offered by Margaret Dabbs go far beyond the general standard. Her eponymous clinics, of which there are several branches in England and Dubai, are renowned for their “Medical Pedicure” treatment. This is carried out by a fully trained podiatrist and then finished off with a nail colour of your choice by an expert nail technician.

The staff make you feel completely at ease—and afterwards you’ll be excited to strap on your sandals at the first given opportunity.

■ Visit margaretdabbs.co.uk for details

touch oF sparkle

■ Brush some sparkle across your cheekbones with Urban Decay’s Naked Illuminated Powder (£22.50, urbandecay.co.uk).

The product comes in three shades to suit dark, medium and light skin tones.

smooth and simple

■ Come rain or shine, Kératase promises to keep unruly locks frizz-free. Spray Kératase’s Fluidissme (£20, lookfantastic.com) onto damp hair and dry as usual. The product helps to add weight and shine without leaving hair looking greasy.

■ This light-blue linen tee will work well with jeans as we enter the warmer months (£29.95, whitestuff.com).

FeelinG BaBy Blue For Her For Him

■ If all your winter wear is dark, a pale-blue jumper is a great way to add a touch of colour (£45, whitestuff.com).

■ Spanish brand Bimba Y Lola hit the nail on the head with this tailored tea dress (£310, bimbaylola.com).

■ You can inject new life into grey work suits with a bright yet smart tie such as this one (£15, marksandspencer.com).

■ This blue number is the perfect spring alternative to the classic black biker jacket (£249, monsoon.co.uk).

■ No spring wardrobe is complete without a simple blue tee that can be paired with casual and smart-casual outfits (£35, jaeger.co.uk).

The first of an exciting new series and a tale of a long-vanished world are this month’s top picks

March Fiction

b y J AME s

WA lT o N

James writes and presents the BBC Radio

4 literary quiz The Write Stuff

Summary Justice

by John Fairfax (Little, Brown, £16.99)

William Brodrick made his name—and earned comparisons to John le Carré—with a series of page-turning but thoughtful thrillers about Father Anselm, a barrister turned monk. Now, he’s abandoned both that name and Father Anselm to write a new series, as John Fairfax, about a convicted murderer turned barrister. And if Summary Justice is anything to go by, we’re in for a treat.

Having vainly protested his innocence, served his time and qualified as a lawyer, William Benson has set up a tiny practice to help people whose cases appear hopeless. His first client is Sarah, mother of a disabled child, and the apparently obvious killer of her boss.

What follows works superbly as a classic courtroom drama, in which nothing is as it seems—even though it really does seem it. Yet what makes the book particularly impressive is that there’s far more to it than just brilliant plotting. It also has genuine heart, plenty of interesting things to say about the law and a highly appealing troubled hero. With “a major television drama series” already in the offing, I suspect we’ll

NAME THE AUTH o R

(Answer on p126)

Can you guess the writer from these clues (and, of course, the fewer you need the better)?

1. One of her novels popularised the girl’s name Shirley.

2. Her most famous heroine refused to marry St John Rivers.

3. She was one of three famous sisters.

hear a lot more of William Benson in the years to come.

From the Heart

by Susan Hill (Chatto, £10.99)

Susan Hill is best known for her ghost story The Woman in Black—adapted into the second longest-running play in West-End history (after The Mousetrap) and a film starring Daniel Radcliffe. But in a 56year literary career that began when she was a teenager, Hill has also turned her hand to all sorts of fiction—and here shows how good she can be at a tale of ordinary, non-supernatural life.

Olive Piping grows up in 1950s England with a passion for books, but a pretty passive attitude to almost everything else. “You are a looker-on, aren’t you?” her first boyfriend tells her at university. In fact, Olive isn’t a very enthusiastic girlfriend either, but she does whatever’s expected of her— which is why the most gut-wrenching section of the book takes place at a hostel for pregnant unmarried women. And, as it turns out, her misfortunes don’t end there…

The result can’t be called a cheerful read. (“I don’t do jolly,” Hill once admitted.) Nonetheless, the combination of matter-of-fact prose and quietly heartbreaking subject matter—together with the pin-sharp depiction of a long-vanished world— make for an utterly memorable one.

PAPERbAcks

■ The Wicked Boy by kate summerscale (bloomsbury, £8.99) A gripping, beautifully told story of true-life Victorian crime from the author of The Suspicions of Mr Whicher.

■ No Thanks! I’m Quite Happy Standing by Virginia Ironside (Quercus, £7.99) The latest fictional diary from Marie Sharp as she wrestles with—and sometimes enjoys—growing older.

■ The Aliens Are Coming! by ben Miller (little, brown, £8.99) The comedian, actor and trained scientist tackles the search for extra-terrestrial life in a way that’s both well-informed and funny.

■ Closed Casket: The New Hercule Poirot Mystery by sophie Hannah (Harpercollins, £7.99) Written with the blessing of the Agatha Christie estate— and, more importantly, with total aplomb.

■ Coalition by David laws (biteback, £12.99) A nicely indiscreet insider’s account of the last government.

An unusual employee of a railway station is the protagonist of a heartwarming new biography RD’s REcoMMENDED READ

The Feline Effect

WHEN THE EMPLOYEES

at Huddersfield railway station got themselves a team kitten in 2011, they couldn’t possibly have imagined what would happen next. The original idea was that a cat might be fun to have around and could perhaps catch a few mice. Six years later, and Felix—who was named before the team found out she was a girl—is now famous enough to have her own biography.

At first, Felix stuck mainly to charming her (human) colleagues— even the ones who’d been decidedly grumpy about having a cat at all. But once she was confident enough to hit the platforms, it became clear how

Felix the Railway Cat by Kate Moore is published by Michael Joseph at £12.99.

good she was at charming everybody else too: able to soothe the angriest of passengers and to stop screaming children mid-tantrum. By 2013, she was a big enough part of station life to be given a personalised cat-flap when electronic barriers were introduced.

Not long afterwards, a business commuter who’d fallen under her spell created a Felix Facebook page— and soon after that her promotion to senior pest controller was reported by the local paper (a slightly scandalous promotion, some might say, given that she’s never been much good at catching mice).

And it was then that her career really took off—as, like The Beatles

Biographer Kate Moore

before her, Felix’s fame spread from her hometown to the rest of Britain, and from there to the world.

By 2016, she had 100,000 Facebook followers and a film of her in action was being shown on TV programmes from America to Japan, Australia to Mexico. But for some fans—including in this passage, a young boy with autism—only seeing Felix in the flesh would do…

Huddersfield station had become a key destination for Felix’s tens of thousands of fans. They travelled for miles—the team had met people from China, Germany and Canada who had come to see her. English fans altered their travel plans so they could alight at Huddersfield in the hope of catching a few minutes with Felix; regular commuters came that little bit earlier in the mornings just to have some fun.

Then came a warm day when [team leader] Andrew McClements noticed a mother with a five-year-old son battling towards him on the platform. ‘Hello, there!’ he said in a friendly fashion to the boy.

But the child stared pointedly at the floor and refused to make eye contact. ‘Hello,’ his mother said. Even in her cool summer dress she looked a little harried. ‘I was wondering,’ she went on anxiously. ‘I understand if we can’t, but can we see Felix, please? My son really likes Felix.’

Andrew glanced at the child again.

FoUR MoRE gREAT ANIMAl books

Nigel: My Family and Other Dogs by Monty Don. Presumably thanks to his scene-stealing performances in Gardeners’ World, Nigel the golden retriever gets the top billing here. But Don writes with equally touching affection about all the dogs he’s owned and loved over the years.

All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot. Forty years after it conquered the world, Herriot’s account of life as a vet in pre-war Yorkshire remains as funny, charming and sometimes wistful as ever.

Marley and Me by John grogan. A classic canine heartwarmer about a boisterous Labrador puppy turned boisterous Labrador dog, and its hugely beneficial effect on the author’s family. The sad ending, mind you, is not for the faint-hearted.

Watership Down by Richard Adams. A novel that sees the world through rabbits’ eyes— and, as the characters make their long journey in search of safety, becomes a genuine and hugely stirring epic.

‘Oh, do you?’ he said jovially; but once again the child said nothing. He stood unmoving by his mother’s side, his eyes boring holes into the ground.

He started flapping his arms and grinning wildly. Andrew had never seen anyone so excited in all his life. The boy became incredibly animated

He started flapping his arms and grinning wildly. Andrew had never seen anyone so excited in all his life

He seemed really shy—or perhaps, Andrew realised, it was something else.

‘It would mean a lot to us,’ his mother said, speaking for her son again.

‘Let me see if I can find her,’ Andrew replied.

Felix had just woken up in the shower room and was more than happy to accompany Andrew back along the platform. ‘If you need me, I’m here,’ her merry walk seemed to say. The two of them made their way back to the mother and her son.

As soon as the station cat loomed into view, the child raised his head. ‘FELIX!’ he yelled exuberantly—the first thing Andrew had heard him say. ‘Felix, Felix, Felix!’

AND THE NAME o F

THE AUTH o R I s…

Charlotte Brontë—it’s Jane Eyre who rejects Rivers, and the novel that popularised Shirley (a male name until then) was, oddly enough, Shirley, published in 1849.

and flapped his way over to the cat. ‘Felix, Felix, Felix!’ he kept saying, over and over and over again, as if in that one word were all the words in the world: love, hope, happiness.

His mum watched him with the purest, happiest smile on her face. She looked at Andrew above her child’s head and mouthed, ‘Thank you.’

As for Felix, she stopped where she stood and waited for the boy to come to her. She blinked up at him, as he stared obsessively back at her, still flapping a little, unable to control his limbs in his overwhelming excitement. As she stared at him, looking deep into his eyes, it was as though she was making a special, personal connection. The child reached out a still-flapping hand and patted her gently. ‘Felix,’ he said again. She sat down next to him, wrapping her big fluffy tail around herself and settling in for a cuddle. ‘Felix,’ he said again as he stroked her, squatting down. His animation eased into a profound calm. ‘Felix.’

Books

THAT CHANGED MY LIFE

Broadcaster and journalist Emma Freud is director of Red Nose Day, which this year takes place on March 24. For details on how to get involved, go to rednoseday.com

Jill’s Gymkhana

BY RUBY FERGUSON

I must have read this at least four times a year from the age of nine. Even now it elicits a visceral response in me—Jill’s joy in the simple pleasures of grooming her pony until he “shone like a conker” and the hard work she puts into becoming a star of the local gymkhana was magical to me. I grew up in a noisy household, sharing a room with my four siblings, so I loved escaping into Jill’s very different life. I read all nine books in the series—as Jill grew up, so did I.

Summer at Gaglow

BY ESTHER FREUD

Esther and I are first cousins but we didn’t meet and become friends until I was about 19 because our fathers (Clement and Lucian) had fallen out

as adults. While our family history wasn’t discussed in our home, perhaps because so much of it was painful, Esther had a different experience and didn’t feel the need to shy away from the extraordinary stories of our past in Germany. Instead she explores them, quietly scratching away at the surface of things to reveal the emotional truth beneath. She’s opened my eyes.

You Took the Last Bus Home

BY BRIAN BILSTON

I confess that I don’t find a lot of time for reading, so I enjoy the quick fix of poetry. I found Bilston on Twitter, and what he communicates is what I dream every poetry book could deliver: a different lens on life; a witty way of looking at what I already know and an introduction to what I don’t, which always leaves me wanting more. As told to Caroline Hutton

Introducing The All-New Gtech AirRam Mk.2

Now It’s Even Better!

For once the hype is justified, because the brand new Gtech AirRam Mk.2 vacuum cleaner really will make it easier and faster to clean your home

THE NEW MODEL is the result of four years of research and redesign. Gtech have listened to customers and designed out the things everyone hates about heavy, old vacuums. They’ve come up with something that’s genuinely different— and it’s available right now.

So what do you get with the new Gtech AirRam? You get a highperformance vacuum that weighs just 3.5kg. It’s cordless, so you can stop worrying about plug sockets or stretching power cords round corners. And yet it has the power to clean your home thoroughly, even dreaded pet hair.

There are no settings to change as you glide from room to room. The lithiumion battery gives you a remarkable runtime of up to 40 minutes on a single charge—and it’s designed to use less energy than a traditional upright, so it’s kinder to your pocket as well.

As well as the new patented AirLOC dirt-collection system, the AirRam Mk.2 has cleaner emptying: dust and dirt is compressed into the unique snail-shell bin forming a tubular bale. This can then be ejected into a dustbin with a slide of the dirt ejector arm, meaning no annoying dust clouds when you empty. There’s even an LED light, so you can see into dark corners—dirt and dust really does have nowhere to hide! Oh, and because the handle slides neatly into the body, the AirRam needs less room to store than a traditional upright.

It’s the future of cleaning—see it in action at gtech.co.uk.

You Couldn’t Make It Up

Win £50 for your true, funny stories! Go to readersdigest. co.uk/contact-us or facebook.com/readersdigestuk

MY PARENTS came down to visit and my mother asked for the wi-fi password. I told her, “It’s on the wall”.

Five minutes later, she complained that she’d made numeorus attempts to log on and all of them had failed.

“Have I spelled it correctly?”, she asked. “O-n-t-h-e w-a-l-l?”

SHONA LLOYD, Rhewel

I THINK MY five-year-old son must have been watching too much TV. Recently in a packed restaurant, he shouted out to a passing waiter, “I need an ice-cold beer!” Embarrassing.

CORRINA WILLIAMS, Denbighshire

MANY YEARS AGO, my farming relative used horses for all of his ploughing. When mechanisation arrived, he proudly learned to drive a tractor instead.

“He was a cartoonist looking for an original idea”

AT A RECENT PTA MEETING, the chair announced that the forthcoming school fair would be charging £1.50 general admisison and £1 for OAPs.

My mother stood up and exclaimed, “I’m not parting with that information for 50p!”

RIA JONES, Ruthin

BRIAN BUCKLE, XXXX

One day, as he approached the end of his field, he commanded, “Whoa,” but of course the tractor didn’t stop. It continued to plough straight into the duck pond.

ONE DAY, my grandmother was tidying up her basement when she discovered an old air rifle. She rang us

GUTO DIAS

to ask what she should do, and we urged her to take it down to the police station.

We’d hung up when my husband had a sudden thought and rang her back. He was rather relieved she hadn’t left.

“Make sure you ring them first!”

S CLARKSON, Great Yarmouth

I WAS SAT opposite a woman and her young child as we pulled in to Twickenham Station recently. On the platform sign it says, “Home of England Rugby”.

The mother said to child, “This is Twickenham, do you know what they play here?”

The child looked uncertain before he answered, “Scalextric?”

LUCY PESARO, Middlesex

I WAS LOOKING FORWARD to enjoying a lovely family meal that my aunt had spent the entire day preparing. When it came to dessert, she revealed a huge cheesecake decorated with slices of kiwi.

My little brother immediately wrinkled up his nose and whispered loudly to me, “I don’t want any of that. It’s covered in dirty cucumber!”

CERI ALLEN, London

MY SON IS a fussy eater, so I asked why he couldn’t be more like his friend, whose mother had told me that he ate everything that she put on his plate.

To my dismay, I then overheard his friend helpfully whisper to him, “Cover it all with tomato ketchup like I do so you can’t taste it.”

DAISY DAVID, Hertfordshire

DURING A STAFF MEETING, my boss was complaining that people didn’t respect him enough. The next day he added a sign to his door that said, “I am the boss”.

One of the my fellow employees, not appreciating the change, added a post-it note that read, “Your wife wants her sign back”.

SHANIE LLOYD, Clwyd

WHEN I WAS about three, I was sitting at a table with my grandmother and uncles. They were drinking tea and I was eating sweets.

“Someone has taken my last sweet,” I cried.

“No,” my grandmother said. “You’ve eaten them all.”

“I haven’t, he has it!” I cried, pointing at one of my uncles.

“I haven’t taken your sweet,” he replied.

“Yes you have, I can see it!” I protested, pointing at his large Adam’s apple.

ALICIA MUNDELL, xxxx

ONE SUNDAY my son started playing on his phone during church. When the vicar passed our pew during the service, he whispered to him, “I presume you’re texting God…”

ALEXA POOLE, Flintshire

Upgrading The Smartphone By Adding Simplicity

SMARTPHONE TECHNOLOGY

IS

EVOLVING every day, with an ever-increasing range of functions and uses becoming available from your handset.

For one manufacturer though, alongside all of the research and development into technical improvements, their most important evolution has been the addition of simplicity.

Doro, the world leader in easy-to-use mobile phones, is working hard to make smartphone technology accessible to all— regardless of age or ability.

because of the simple and highly visual instructions, smartphone beginners particularly will be able to do more, faster.

Large icons clearly identify where to find each function, from making a call, to sending a message or accessing the internet, the 820 Mini has a simple logic. It also has loud and clear sound, and is hearing aid compatible.

The Doro Liberto® 820 Mini is undoubtedly a powerful smartphone, with all the functionality of the many competitors on the market, but

In addition, for each of the main functions, there are step-by-step guides built into the phone to help the new user get familiar with the technology at their own pace.

SPECIAL READER’S DIGEST OFFER!

Buy a new Doro Liberto® 820 Mini smartphone today, for the special price of £150, which includes an Anywhere SIM card connection and £40 of credit, allowing you to roam the UK with signal from O2, EE, Three and Vodafone.

PLUS, if you buy now, we will give you, ABSOLUTELY FREE, a protective cover for your phone (rrp £18).

Simply go to readersdigest.co.uk/mobilephones or call 03454 133 953 and quote “Reader’s Digest offer”.

IT PAYS TO INCREASE YOUR

Word Power

What do whiz kids, fish sticks, miniskirts, and film critics have in common? Their only vowel is the letter i. So grab your drink, put on your string bikini, and hit this list. Then try hitchhiking to page 134 for answers.

BY EMILY COX & HENRY RATHVON

1. grissini n —A: Italian breadsticks. B: carved inscriptions. C: figureskating jump.

2. dirndl n —A: needle for darning. B: full skirt. C: spinning top.

3. limpid adj —A: hobbling. B: perfectly clear. C: like a mollusk.

4. schism n —A: separation. B: pithy quotation. C: deep hole.

5. kimchi n —A: logic puzzle. B: throw rug. C: pickled dish.

6. skinflint n —A: scam artist. B: penny-pincher. C: firelighter.

7. insipid adj —A: bland. B: just getting started. C: undrinkable.

8. fizgig n —A: plan that fails. B: swarm of bees. C: hissing firework.

9. jib n —A: sharpened pencil point. B: bird’s beak. C: triangular sail.

10. philippic n —A: international treaty. B: charitable gift. C: tirade.

11. viscid adj —A: transparent. B: sticky. C: wickedly cruel.

12. krill n —A: tiny crustaceans. B: peacock tail feathers. C: advanced knitting pattern.

13. pippin n —A: apple. B: migrating songbird. C: drawing pin.

14. pidgin n—A: trapshooter’s airborne target. B: toe turned inward. C: simplified language.

15. niblick n —A: short comic routine. B: iron golf club. C: small pocket flask.

Answers

1. grissini —[A] Italian breadsticks. “Daryl wished the child at the next table would stop playing drums with the grissini .”

2. dirndl —[B] full skirt. “For her role in the musical, Christina is donning a dirndl and learning to yodel.”

3. limpid —[B] perfectly clear. “The water in the bay was warm and limpid —ideal for an afternoon of snorkelling.”

4. schism —[A] separation. “There’s quite a schism between your idea of good coffee and mine.”

5. kimchi —[C] pickled dish. “Annie used to hate Korean food, but now kimchi is her favourite snack.”

6. skinflint —[B] penny-pincher. “Our skinflint of an uncle never tips a thing.”

7. insipid —[A] bland. “No insipid love ballads for this band; we’re here to rock!”

8. fizgig —[C] hissing firework. “The wedding reception ended with a celebratory fizgig display.”

9. jib —[C] triangular sail.

“Harry is an amateur when it comes to sailing—he doesn’t know the jib from the mainsail.”

10. philippic —[C] tirade. “We accidentally goaded Joaquin into one of his wild philippics about his ex-wife.”

11. viscid —[B] sticky. “The massive spider in my greenhouse has caught many a hapless fly in its viscid snare.”

12. krill —[A] tiny crustaceans. “One blue whale can consume up to four tons of krill each day.”

13. pippin —[A] apple. “‘Ten pounds says I can knock that pippin right off your head!’ said William Tell.”

WORD OF THE DAY*

14. pidgin —[C] simplified language. “Sean isn’t afraid to travel to places where he doesn’t speak the native tongue—he relies on pidgin to communicate.”

ERISTIC

Characterised by debate or argument.

Alternative suggestions:

“The over-sprung pogo stick on which the missing Eric was last sighted.”

“The state of being more ‘Eric’.”

“A sadistic person who likes to poke erasers with sharp objects.”

15. niblick [B] iron golf club. “Emma cursed her niblick as her ball splashed down in the pond near the ninth hole.”

VOCABULARY RATINGS

9 & below: good 10–12: excellent 13–15: exceptional

Are You Covered?

The trend of travellers looking for more adventure from their holidays has continued over the past year. Where once the promenades of British resorts or Spain’s sandy beaches were considered for the annual holiday, holidaymakers are now seeking more exotic destinations

THE COST OF TRAVEL INSURANCE is always of interest, so it’s reassuring to know good levels of travel cover are available at a competitive price.

Reader’s Digest Insurance Services offer an annual multi-trip policy from £120* for two adults upto the age of 64.

Reader’s Digest Insurance Services have reported a surge in extendedstay travel policies, covering trips of three to four months. These single-trip policies are available for travellers up to age 84 and are popular with those visiting relatives in locations such as South Africa and Australia.

Other important factors to consider

when arranging travel insurance are the levels of cover for cancellation, emergency medical cover, medical conditions and age limits. Always check what cover is included—know the level of excess and be aware if cover for items such as personal possessions are included.

Challenge yourself by solving these puzzles and mind stretchers, then check your answers on p139.

MISSING TILE

Select the tile that’s missing from the bottom row.

FACTOR FINDER

Fill in each cell with either 3, 4 or 5 so that:

n When the numbers in each row are multiplied together, they produce the total on the right.

n When the numbers in each column are multiplied together, they produce the total on the bottom.

ON THE RIGHT TRACK

Mina lives very near to one of the four underground stations that lie outside the circle. Every station but one can be reached from Mina’s station in four stops or less. Which station is Mina’s?

BE SQUARE

The shape below has two adjacent sides of the same length and two opposing right angles. If you had four copies of this shape, could you arrange them into a square?

CHANGING PERSPECTIVES

Here are three views of the same die:

Choose the image that represents yet another view of that die.

Brainteasers: Answers

MISSING TILE

B. The crossed circle rotates 45 degrees from tile to tile. The dots are outside the circle when the cross is parallel to the tile’s edges and inside the circle when the cross is diagonal to the edges (or the dots are inside the circle every second tile).

FACTOR FINDER

£50 PRIZE QUESTION

Answer published in the April issue

Arrange nine coins like this, making six lines of touching coins (three rows and three columns). By touching and moving just two of the coins, make an arrangement with seven lines of three touching coins.

ON THE RIGHT TRACK

The station near Mina’s house is at the end of the green line in the southwest. The one station that is more than four stops away is on the blue line, one stop west of the intersection of the blue and green lines.

BE SQUARE Yes.

The first correct answer we pick on March 1 wins £50!* Email excerpts@ readersdigest.co.uk

ANSWER TO FEBRUARY’S PRIZE QUESTION

A square. Every triangle points towards a square

AND THE £50 GOES TO…

Elvia Wallace, Birmingham

Laugh!

Win £50 for every reader’s joke we publish! Go to readersdigest. co.uk/contact-us or facebook.com/readersdigestuk

My Grandad never stops moaning about how much different things cost.

“£1.60 for a cup of tea? £2.00 for three digestives?”

I said, “Look, Grandad. You just called round. I didn’t invite you!”

Micha bryn, Liverpool

i bouGht My wife a fridGe for her birthday.

Not a great gift, I know, but you should have seen her face light up when she opened it. seen on twitter

a father and son are having a fight. Dad gets so angry that he shouts, “Go to your room now!”

As the son storms off, he shouts back, “Jim Morrison was overrated!”

Furious, his father follows him upstairs and asks, “What have I told you about slamming The Doors?” seen on tuMblr.coM

My friend told Me that I need to stop singing the song “I’m a Believer” because it was starting to

get annoying. I laughed because I thought she was joking.

But then I saw her face. seen online

soMe caMpers wake up and start making breakfast. Nearby lives a family of moles.

Papa mole wakes up, crawls out of their hole and says, “It smells delicious up here! I can smell sausage and eggs—and is that some bacon frying too?”

So mama mole climbs up and she’s greeted with the sweet smells of breakfast. “I smell fresh toast and pancakes and maybe even a hint of cinnamon!”

Baby mole tries to enjoy the smells but can’t get past mama and papa and says, “All I can smell is molasses.” seen on reddit.coM

i just bouGht a brand new thesaurus, but when I brought it home, I discovered that all the pages were blank.

I have no words to describe how angry I am. seen on reddit.coM

did you hear about the Spanish magician who said he could make himself disappear? He counted “Uno, dos…” and was gone.

He disappeared without a tres! seen on tuMblr.coM

a Man visits a pet shop to buy a centipede, which he then carries home in a box.

When he gets back, he asks his new centipede if it would like to go for a walk. There’s no answer so he asks again.

After a few minutes there’s still no reply, so the man shakes the box and shouts at the centipede, still asking if it wants to go for a walk.

This time the centipede shouts back, “I heard you the first time, I was just putting on my shoes!

seen on reddit.coM

do you know how Many middle-aged men go out to get a pint of milk and never come home? Not enough. coMedian jenny eclair

a Man is lyinG dead in the gutter, dressed in his best suit, when a priest walks by.

“Oh dear, oh dear. What denomination was he?” enquires the priest.

“He was an atheist, Father,” explains a bystander.

“Oh dear, oh dear,” says the priest. “All dressed up and nowhere to go”.

huMphrey atkinson, East Sussex

oh My doG

These dogs are so cute you’ll almost feel bad for laughing. Almost. (seen at boredpanda.com).

a Man is watchinG a farmer round up his sheep when he realises that he isn’t using a sheepdog, but a pig. What’s more, the talented pig only has three legs.

“Excuse me,” says the man to the farmer, “but why has that pig only got three legs?”

“Let me tell you about that pig,” says the farmer. “That pig not only herds my sheep, he also crows in the morning, milks the cows and collects the eggs from the hens.”

“What an amazing pig!” exclaims the man.

“I ain’t finished,” says the farmer. “Two years ago, my farmhouse caught fire and the pig called the fire brigade and then fetched water from the river to douse the flames in the hall. He then fought his way through

the smoke to where my wife and young children lay unconscious and dragged them out from the burning house to safety.”

“Wow,” says the man, “that really is an incredible pig. But I still don’t know why he only has three legs.”

“Well,” says the farmer, “when you have a pig that special, you don’t eat him all at once!” seen on reddit.coM

My boyfriend told Me to stop pretending to be a flamingo.

I had to put my foot down. seen on twitter

i always take My wife her morning tea in my pyjamas—but is she grateful?

No, she’d rather have it in a cup.

coMedian eric MorecaMbe

liar, liar, pants on fire

The people of Twitter put their heads together to reveal the most stupid lies they’ve ever told.

“told my son that his belly button was a reset button and that if he behaved rudely, i’d push it so he had to start as a baby again.”

“Got embarrassed that I used the lift to go down one level, so I limped out to avoid looking lazy.”

“i told people that i tore my shoulder muscle rock climbing. i really tore it scooping ice cream that was too hard.”

“I told my boss that I have low blood sugar so I can keep snacks in my apron at work. I’m actually just always hungry.”

60-Second Stand-Up

We chatted with eternal optimist josie long

have you found any parts of the country to be funnier than others?

There’s a ring around the M25 called the Doughnut of Death because it’s so difficult to get people going but, once you do, they’re delightful.

any funny tales about a tiMe you boMbed on staGe?

I was gigging in a ski resort and someone kept shouting, “Do Peter Kay.” Another guy replied, “Leave her alone,” and I thought, Good, I’ve got some supporters.

But then he followed it up with, “Do Alan Partridge.”

what’s your Most MeMorable heckle experience?

I was talking about the philosopher David Hume during a gig, saying that he was an atheist.

Someone from the back of the room shouted, “David Hume would never have self-described as an atheist.” It was the most highbrow heckle I’ve ever received.

who’s your coMedy inspiration?

Vic and Bob. They were silly and energetic without being aggressive.

if you were a fly, whose wall would you be on?

Maybe the Conservative Party HQ so I could find out their secrets. But then what’s the point? It’s too bleak.

if you could have a super power, what would it be?

To make people with canapés at parties feel magnetically drawn to me. I’d make it so they couldn’t leave and I’d eat as many as I could bear.

josie long is taking her something better tour across the uk throughout March. for tickets, visit josielong.com

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 midmarch. If your entry gets the most votes, you’ll win £100!

submit to captions@readersdigest.co.uk or online at readersdigest.co.uk/caption by march 10. you can also write to us at the usual address. We’ll announce the winner in our may issue.

January’s Winner

Last month our cartoonist was victorious. this month, however, artist steve Jones’s caption, “no sign of intelligent life, captain” came in second with just over a quarter of the votes. the winner—who impressed a whopping 47 per cent of voters—was Louise comb, with her clever turn of phrase: “Good find, mate—but what on earth are we going to call it?”

We look forward to next month’s competition!

Pam Ferris interview

the actress speaks about love and life lessons

in the april issue Plus

• the Future of smell

• Best of British: look to the sky

• “i remember”: raymond Blanc

Trained to be an OSS Spy

Helias Doundoulakis; Gabriella Gafni

www.xlibris.com

£18.02 hc | £12.95 sc | £3.49 eb

Trained to Be an OSS Spy is the true story of Greek-American Helias Doundoulakis, who escapes the Nazi invasion of Crete and ends up training as a spy for the O ce of Strategic Services (OSS). He works with the SOE’s Sir Patrick Leigh Fermor, who helps him escape. Yet, his OSS mission puts him just steps away from death. If captured, he resolves to take a poison pill that will end his life. A truly riveting story about his experiences in espionage, his metamorphosis from boy to man, man to soldier, soldier to spy, and the Game of Life. www.trainedtobeanossspy.com and www.spystory.org/listen.html

MAYA Bring Tears of Happiness

Dr Kadiyali M Srivatsa

www.authorhouse.co.uk

£26.99 hc | £15.95 sc | £2.99 eb

MAYA was written to share information about common symptoms, reducing anxiety, visiting hospitals, doctors, and spreading infections. Delay in consultation because of fear of cost, infection, or false assurances o ered by nonmedically trained personnel often result in devastating consequences.

My Life from the Beginning

Violet Prater

www.authorhouse.co.uk

£17.99 hc | £9.95 sc | £2.99 eb

Featuring beautiful pictures, this memoir shares the story of one woman and her long and full life in England.

The Oldest Game

Sue Leger

www.authorhouse.co.uk

£17.99 hc | £9.95 sc | £2.99 eb

The Oldest Game is a story about a young Romanian woman who becomes a victim of tra cking. While on holiday, an old school friend recognises her and determines to rescue her. He nds more than he bargained for.

My Mocassins

A True Story

Mary Honeybone

www.authorhouse.co.uk

£19.99 hc | £11.95 sc | £2.99 eb

This is a story of a girl brought up with strict rules, who nds courage to test them. In doing so, she goes through the believable and unbelievable. You will be taken through every emotion possible on the journey with her.