Reader's Digest UK Nov 2018

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NOVEMBER 2018

| S M A L L A N D P E R F E C T LY

Ethan HAWKE “ Rock ‘N’ Roll Is My Church”

I N F O R M E D

Anton Du Beke

STRICTLY STAR ON HIS LEADING LADIES

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Contents NOVEMBER 2018

Features 16 IT’S A MANN’S WORLD

20

Olly Mann is a tub truther as he extols the benefits of bathing

p

ENTERTAINMENT

20 INTERVIEW: ETHAN HAWKE

Actor, director, novelist: is there anything this multitalented man can’t do?

30 “I REMEMBER”: ANTON DU BEKE The dancer shares memories of boyhood, Bruce and ballroom

HEALTH 42 DANGERS OF SALT We reveal 23 surprising ways that salt could be making you sick

52 A CUP OF HEALING The six kinds of tea that could improve your health

INSPIRE

62 THE ECO EXPLORER We meet the botanist who’s known as the Indiana Jones of the plant world

82

p

52

p

72 B EST OF BRITISH: VICTORIAN BRITAIN Take a walk through the Britain our ancestors knew, from workhouses to townhouses

82 GLOBAL WARMING Take a break from doom and gloom as we share some good environmental news TRAVEL & ADVENTURE

90 UNDERGROUND GEMS The amusement parks, beaches and cities hidden beneath our feet

COVER PHOTOGRAPH © JEFF VESPA/WIREIMAGE/GETTY IMAGES

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Contents NOVEMBER 2018

In every issue 8 12

Over to You See the World Differently

50 54

HEALTH Advice: Susannah Hickling Column: Dr Max Pemberton

106

INSPIRE If I Ruled the World: Nicholas Coleridge

p

96 98

TRAVEL & ADVENTURE My Great Escape Northern Lights

114

100

MONEY Column: Andy Webb

80

106

110

FOOD & DRINK Tasty recipes and ideas from Rachel Walker HOME & GARDEN Column: Cassie Pryce

118

116

FASHION & BEAUTY Column: Lisa Lennkh on how to look your best Beauty

118

ENTERTAINMENT November’s cultural highlights

122 127

BOOKS November Fiction: James Walton’s recommended reads Books That Changed My Life: Nick Hewer

128

TECHNOLOGY Column: Olly Mann

130 133 136 140 143 144

FUN & GAMES You Couldn’t Make It Up Word Power Brain Teasers Laugh!

60-Second Stand-Up Beat the Cartoonist

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In This Issue…

EDITORS’ LETTERS

With Halloween behind us and Bonfire Night and Diwali celebrations in full swing, the festive season feels like it’s truly begun, and this month, we’ve got plenty to smile about. On p82 we reveal some good news about global warming—a welcome relief from the onslaught of depressing headlines. Meanwhile on p62 we meet the botanical detective on a mission to discover and protect some of the world’s most rare and endangered plant species. Read closely and you may just spot a similarity between him and another fedora-wearing hero. Finally on p30 we pull on our dancing shoes with the evercheerful Anton du Beke. After all, it’s hard not to feel merry when you’re decked in head-to-toe sequins.

Anna

Few actors are as familiar with the notion of art imitating life as Ethan Hawke. His entire film career has been marked by parallels between the characters he plays and the ebbs and flows of his personal life: growing up in a broken home, going through a heart-wrenching divorce or grappling with the perils of parenthood. Hawke opens up to James Mottram about this peculiar trajectory, as well as his deep-rooted love for all things culture on p20.

The theme of family drama continues on p118 where we review the directorial debut from actor Paul Dano. Set in mid-century America, Wildlife tells the story of a young boy witnessing the breakdown of his parents’ marriage. A tender, sincere drama, it’s definitely worth making time for this autumn.

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facebook.com/readersdigestuk twitter.com/readersdigestuk You can also sign up to our newsletter at readersdigest.co.uk Reader’s Digest is published in 27 editions in 11 languages NOVEMBER 2018 • 7

Over To You LETTERS ON THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE

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

Letter of THE MONTH Having recently undergone an operation, I’m currently an inpatient at Blackburn Royal Hospital. I was lucky enough to be given a Reader’s Digest (Sept ‘18) by my lovely mother-in-law, Sue, and though I had heard about this publication before, I had never read one.

Having watched shows on my tablet and charged the battery on my smartphone multiple times, I grew bored of the same old rubbish and opened Reader’s Digest for a “change”.

Reading is lost on the youth of today and as a 37-year-old, I have strayed from reading to find myself in front of the telly far too often. The operation, however, has caused a change in mentality. The variety that Reader’s Digest offers is wonderful, there’s something for everyone.

The article “Is Milk Still Good for You?” was particularly 8 • NOVEMBER 2018

interesting. My mum, Dorothy, has always talked about how milk is good for your bones and it’s something I tell my children now (which I will continue to do even if the scientists can’t agree). So, thank you, Reader’s Digest, for offering something different in times of adversity. When in hospital, every step you take is a step closer to the front door.

Peter Merry, Lancashire

READER’S DIGEST

MARVELLOUS MILK

I enjoyed reading Lisa Fields’ health article “Is Milk Still Good for You?” in September’s Reader’s Digest.

I haven’t read anything about the goodness of milk in a long time and I’m old enough to remember the milk monitor at school. The benefits for us in the calcium, vitamins and minerals are well known, but I wasn’t aware it had an ideal ratio of protein, fat and carbohydrates. It was also very helpful to see the table of information about all other non-dairy milks. All the health articles in Reader’s Digest are good but this one was particularly interesting and well researched—I learned a lot of information I had not come across before.

Lucy Pesaro, Middlesex

THE IMPORTANCE OF EYE CARE

It was encouraging to see Susannah Hickling’s article on eyesight. I work in a busy eye clinic where a large percentage of the patients are suffering with glaucoma or macular degeneration and are given valuable tips for eye disease prevention, as advised

by Susannah.

I don’t think the public are aware that diet, smoking and drinking affect not just our major organs but also (as well as other overlooked organs) our eyes. It was a timely wake-up call that I hope readers will be encouraged to take seriously.

Karen Taylor, Dorset

CALM BEFORE THE STORM

“Will We Ever Control The Weather?” was very thoughtprovoking. One of the hallmarks of an advanced civilisation would surely be the ability to control the weather—we’re all at its mercy. I find it fascinating that scientists feel it could be manipulated from space. Is it as far-fetched as it sounds? Maybe not.

Interestingly, it could be argued that we already manipulate the weather, albeit to our detriment, through climate change. And in that respect, it’s the same with countries that have water shortages. A water shortage is not only about a physical lack of water. It’s often more about economic resources, which is what makes it so important to understand that the global water crisis is a human problem rather than a series of isolated geographical inconveniences.

Ryan Roswell, Norfolk

NOVEMBER 2018 • 9

OV E R TO YO U

IN SEARCH OF EMPATHY I was fascinated by Max Pemberton’s article “Human Kind?” in the September 2018 issue. Coincidentally, I had previously been reading about research carried out by the psychologist, Elliot Aronson, which suggested that good people can carry out irrational and wicked acts when social circumstances influence their thoughts and behaviours to justify cruelty to others.

Social psychologist, Stanley Milgram, also changed our understanding of human obedience saying; people are compelled to comply with commands from authority figures. Good people in authority can abuse power and strongwilled people can blindly obey orders if their belief values are satisfied.

The shocking research ties in with the roles of the doctors. The realisation that we can be empathetic and kind but also capable of inflicting high levels of suffering on others given certain circumstances and environments is horrendous. For a better world, I hope empathy and kindness will prevail in the minds of good people in circumstances out with their control and be the role models of the future.

Geraldine Syson, Glasgow

PAM, POETRY AND PARKING I was delighted to read Pam Ayres’ inspiring comments on “If I Ruled the World” (September ‘18 edition). I used to love reading her poems so much, but especially the “Oh, I Wish I Looked After Me Teeth” one. I tend to think of it every time I visit the dentist. I am not a huge lover of poems, but I like that particular one so much that my husband managed to get me a copy of her book, The Works, a couple of years ago which I proudly keep on my bookshelf.

On a more serious note, I totally agree with what she said about stopping car park charges at hospitals in one of her statements. It’s horrendous to have someone seriously ill at the hospital and to still be concerned about carparking charges. Over time the amount certainly grows whether you visit for 15 minutes or an hour— something people could do without at such a stressful time.

Susan King, Bolton

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10 • NOVEMBER 2018

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IT’S A MANN’S WORLD

The Benefits Of Bathing

This month Olly Mann extols the virtues of a ritual he once sneered at—the humble evening bath

I

t seems extraordinary to me that one of the first times I was on national radio, it was to profess my preference for showers over baths. Admittedly, I hadn’t been booked on the show because I had ardent feelings on the topic.

I was a guest on Richard Bacon’s much missed late-night slot on Radio 5 Live, and my main duties were chiming in with opinions on the day’s news. But at midnight the agenda turned to an anarchic debate of the host’s own devising. The night I was on, it was “showers vs. baths”, and I was expected to take a side.

Nonetheless, at the time—25 years old, working a day job, living in a flat, evenings eating out—it hadn’t Olly Mann presents Four Thought for BBC Radio 4, and the award-winning podcasts The Modern Mann and Answer Me This!

16 • NOVEMBER 2018

occurred to me to argue the case for baths. Showers were where it was at.

I hadn’t taken a bath for a decade.

Did my apartment even have a bath in it? It did; I stood in it to take a shower. But the only occasion I ran the bath was to fill my goldfish bowl.

Baths were for kids. Kids and old people. Showers were quicker, fresher, cleaner, more efficient, more stylish and generally more manabout-town. This was the case I made on-air. Somehow, the debate lasted an hour. I found it easy to argue my case.

But boy, have I grown up since then! I still appreciate the delights of a refreshing and reviving shower, of course. Indeed, I often remark that access to a strong and powerful stream of water is all that differentiates a happy morning from a grumpy one; even more so than a plate of fried sausages, or someone calling out Piers Morgan on Good Morning Britain. But, these days—

ILLUSTRATION BY DAN M ITCHELL

IT’S A MANN’S WORLD

now I’m 37, bad back, smartphoneconjoined—these days, it is all about the baths.

The high street debut of the “bath bomb” was definitely a turning point.

Until then, the potions we were expected to sprinkle in our baths were either bright, bubbly fun-foams (kids) or salty, eucalyptusy muscle relaxants (old people). There was no middle way. Then along came these boldly-coloured, other-worldly bathing companions, spherical and exotic, presented in wicker baskets like rare fruits at a tropical farmers market. I remember the revelation I felt when I first fizzed one into my tub, more out of curiosity than expectation. It exploded agreeably, as advertised, was sweet-smelling, and then left behind an intriguing detritus, roughly approximating the assassination of Tinkerbell. I was hooked.

When a new bath bomb comes out, I have to buy it. It’s an affordable vice; though I did once spend £8 on a single, vanilla-scented, cupcake-shaped oddity, and afterwards felt a tinge of regret at my firstworld disposable 18 • NOVEMBER 2018

selfishness. Now my budget is fixed at £5.99 per bomb, tops. (That remains, I appreciate, a ludicrous figure. Occasionally I lower the perbath cost by splitting the bombs in two, like Charlie Bucket savouring each mouthful of the family chocolate bar, but some bombs really are very hard, and bashing them against the sink in order to halve them is, itself, an act with financial implications, as it chips away the porcelain.)

But the event that truly inspired my new-found love of the tub was the daily routine of bathing my son.

Just as reading newspapers makes me angry, and listening to The Food Programme makes me hungry, watching my offspring splish-splashing around with gleeful abandon, toys and bubbles and all, stirs some childhood memory in me, and makes me want a bath, too.

And so, after Harvey’s bedtime each night, I fill the tub with scolding hot water (and I do mean scolding; I’m not interested unless you can practically smell my skin sizzling), wait for it to cool down just enough so that the temperature

READER’S DIGEST

“I submerge, relax and unwind. The day’s tensions ease away.

My mind clears.

My body floats. Ideas come into focus” won’t actually kill me, and submerge, relax and unwind. The day’s tensions ease away. My mind clears. My body floats. Ideas come into focus.

The basic act of sitting in a pool of water is something our ancestors have always done. Something observed across the animal kingdom. Our nakedness—the natural, unfiltered state of our clumsy nudity —is more unavoidable at horizontality than in the brisk commodity of a shower

cubicle. It’s humbling.

As in so many things, I have become my father. He’d return home after a day’s work, fill up the bath and watch The One Show. (Yes, he had a telly in the bathroom.

Not one of those expensive flatscreens embedded in the plumbing, just an old set precariously fixed to a bracket, perched above the flowing water).

I never used to understand his motivations, but now I do. Bath-time isn’t just a way of relaxing and reenergising; it’s a nightly ritual that separates the land of work from the rest of your life. This is especially important if you’re self-employed, as he was, and I now am. After the bath, the phone goes off, the pyjamas go on, and the wine is uncorked.

Better than a shower, every time.

MASHED UP MOVIES Can you identify the film from these cryptic alternative titles? Answers below: The Comradeship of the Small, Circular Band Naked Snake and the Sacred Cup No State for Elderly Fellows 65 Million-Year-Old Pleasure Garden The Hasty and the Angry Obliterate William The Existence of a Pastry Dish ANSWERS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING, MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL, NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, JURASSIC PARK, THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS, KILL BILL, THE LIFE OF PI

NOVEMBER 2018 • 19

Ethan Hawke “ Movies, books and rock ‘n’ roll are my church of choice” With inumerable quality acting, screenwriting and directing credits as well as several published novels to his name, Ethan Hawke is a true cultural polymath. Here, he talks to James Mottram about the things that set his soul on fire and why it’s so hard to make a living doing what you love

I

n a converted building in London’s Holborn, Ethan Hawke is sitting at a keyboard playing a sweet, simple version of The Kinks’ “Waterloo Sunset.”

No, the actor-director-novelist is not making a late career switch to pop stardom. It’s all in aid of his new film, Juliet, Naked, in which he plays Tucker Crowe, a cult rocker from the Nineties who disappeared, mid-gig, never to return.

Dressed in denim jeans and a short-sleeved shirt, Hawke quietly growls his way through the tender lyrics of a love song he suggested for

20 • NOVEMBER 2018

the scene. As so often with Hawke, there’s an emotional connection.

“My son [Levon] is falling in love with the guitar,” he explains, when we sit down together. “We always loved that song. I put that on a playlist when they were kids. So it was one of the first songs he wanted to learn on the guitar.”

Taking it upon himself to further his kids’ musical knowledge, Hawke has two children—Maya, 20, and Levon, 16—by his first wife, actress Uma Thurman, whom he met on the set of 1997 movie, Gattaca.

They divorced in 2005 and three

© JEFF VES PA/WIREI MAGE/GETTY I M AGES

ENTERTAINMENT

21

I N T E R V I E W : E T H A N H AW K E

lot of actors “Awho have been acting as long as I have get burnt out pretty easily”

years later Hawke re-married Ryan Shawhughes, who later gave birth to two daughters, Clementine, 10, and Indiana, 7.

When Maya turned 13, Hawke presented her with The Black Album, an unofficial compilation of songs (complete with extensive notes, written by Hawke) released

by The Beatles’ members following the band’s break-up. This became interwoven into Boyhood, the Oscar-nominated film Hawke shot over 12 years for his friend Richard Linklater. “All that stuff came from conversations we had,” he says.

This is Hawke all over. As an actor, he’s got music in his soul. In 2015, he played troubled jazz trumpeter Chet Baker in Born To Be Blue, while he recently appeared in The King, 22 • NOVEMBER 2018

a documentary about Elvis Presley (director Eugene Jarecki reveals Hawke is a “fount of knowledge” about the singer and again penned “an elaborate set of liner notes” for Maya for a self-made careerspanning CD).

It brings us back to Hawke sitting in Holborn, in a room that’s been dressed to look like a museum in the fictional British seaside town of Sandcliff. After being drawn out of obscurity following a blossoming friendship with the museum curator (Rose Byrne), Tucker is now crooning to a crowd of locals. “He hasn’t played music in front of anybody in 20 years,” says Hawke. “What I hoped is it feels a little bit like an accident.”

Hawke is good friends with musician Charlie Sexton, a regular in

AF A RC HI VE / COLLECTI ON CHRISTOP HEL / ALA MY STOCK P HOTO

READER’S DIGEST

Ethan Hawke in Juliet, Naked (Above); in Richard Linklater’s Boyhood (Above right); as legendary trumpet player, Chet Baker

NOVEMBER 2018 • 23

I N T E R V I E W : E T H A N H AW K E

father was a hero beyond “Myheroes because it’s so easy to love someone who’s not present”

Bob Dylan’s backing band who even appeared in Boyhood. “When I told him about this, he said, ‘Oh, you’re playing me!’” he smiles. With the script adapted from the book by Nick Hornby, who previously wrote High Fidelity, another tale of music geeks, Hawke was immediately sold. “I don’t feel like I’ve done this movie before.”

DIVERSITY IS WHAT KEEPS HAWKE

keen. He’s written three novels, directed four films and acted in countless movies ranging from horror (The Purge, Sinister) to westerns (The Magnificent Seven, the upcoming The Kid) to cop movies (Brooklyn’s Finest, Training Day). “A lot of actors who have been acting as long as I have…they get burnt out pretty easy. And so one of the ways [to avoid that] is to shake things up.”

Born in Austin, Texas, Hawke didn’t come from a particularly artistic family. His mother Leslie was a nurse and father James worked as an insurance actuary, and later a mathematician (who 24 • NOVEMBER 2018

once even calculated the odds of his son becoming a successful actor).

Religion was a stronger influence in the Hawke household, although it didn’t exactly rub off on him.

“My father’s family is Baptist. My mother’s Episcopal. My stepfather was Catholic. I had zealots on all sides of me, so I got to experience it from a lot of different levels. My answer to myself was to pour all that thinking into art. It seemed the most logical avenue is expression.

That’s been the church of my choice: movies, books, rock’n’roll.”

AN ONLY CHILD, HAWKE’S PARENTS

married before they were 20 and split when he was just four. Over the next few years, he and his mother move around the country—Connecticut, Vermont, Georgia—until she finally remarried when he was ten, settling in New Jersey.

His relationship with his father remained turbulent.

“When I was young, my father was a hero beyond heroes, because it’s

READER’S DIGEST

Former husband and wife Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman attend the nominees luncheon for the 74th Annnual Academy Awards, 2002

NOVEMBER 2018 • 25

so easy to love someone who’s not present,” he once said, “and then getting older, I really resented him and felt totally abandoned.” It’s no surprise to learn that his first two novels, The Hottest State, which he later adapted for the screen, and Ash Wednesday, both featured protagonists from broken homes.

Understandably, he sought out the surrogate family that acting can bring. When he was 15, he won his first role opposite River Phoenix in the 1985 sci-fi film, Explorers. Four years later, he starred opposite Robin Williams in Dead Poets Society, a formative experience. “[Even now when I act] I try to get back in the 26 • NOVEMBER 2018

same headspace I was on Dead Poets Society, which was thrilled to be there and grateful.”

HAWKE’S EARLY YEARS IN

Hollywood were tough. “One of the weird things about having celebrity young is that it isolates you. It isolates you from your immediate generation.” That’s why he sought out stability—and marriage to Thurman—in his twenties. “I think from a very young age I really did long for it. I think a lot of young people do. You long for a centre, something that you can build from.

That’s why a lot of young people get married too young. That’s why I did.”

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I N T E R V I E W : E T H A N H AW K E

READER’S DIGEST

15-year-old Hawke in Explorers (Left); Alongside Robin Williams in Dead Poets Society

forced to “You’re make dramas

outside of the mainstream industry, which means you’re not going to get paid to do them”

Now 47, he’s on his second union and is at an age where he can pass on his wisdom—and musical tastes—to his kids. While Hawke has been very careful to cultivate a body of work he’s proud of, that’s not easy with a family to provide for. “For me the hardest thing about being a professional actor with four kids is doing the kind of work I want to do and making a living.”

Somehow Hawke has managed it—grabbing four Oscar nominations (two for acting, in Training Day and Boyhood; two for co-writing the second and third of Linklater’s Before movies). But he accepts it’s “a strange period” in Hollywood. “Studios aren’t really interested in making dramas,” he says. “You’re forced to make them outside of the mainstream industry, which means you’re not going to get paid to do them.”

No matter, Hawke keeps on trucking. He’s just completed Blaze, a directorial project that— surprise, surprise—has a musical theme. Dealing with country singer Blaze Foley, Hawke admits it was a “relief” to go behind the camera again. “I find it so wonderful not to worry about what you look like or sound like or what other people are thinking.” A smile spreads behind that trademark goatee. “You get to judge other people.”

Juliet, Naked opens in cinemas across the UK on November 2 NOVEMBER 2018 • 27

BOO NOWK!

tickets

.readers

TICKETS

020 74

digest.c

00 123

o.uk

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Dear Readers, We’re approaching the time when ‘tis the season to be jolly and we’re giving you another reason to celebrate this festive season with a smile!

Reader’s Digest Tickets is your guide to some of the best winter shows from the traditional pantomime such as Snow White starring Dawn French and Julian Clary at the London Palladium to alternative shows including Circus 1903, which is fresh from the Paris Theatre in Las Vegas, making its European premiere at Southbank Centre. Featuring acrobats, contortionists, jugglers, trapeze and high wire performers and more, this show includes sensational puppetry from the award-winning team behind War Horse, captivating and transporting audiences of all ages to the mesmerising Golden Age of circus.

If your taste is a bit more tinsel-tastic, then why not book tickets for the whole family to see Danny Dyer and Jo Brand in Nativity! The Musical at Eventim Apollo. Based on the much-loved films, the story has been adapted for the stage. With all of your favourite sing-a-long hits from the movies including Sparkle and Shine, Nazareth, One Night One Moment, She’s the Brightest Star and a whole host of new songs filled with the spirit of Christmas.

For our more traditional readers, we recommend A Christmas Carol with Simon Callow at the Arts Theatre. Following sell-out seasons in 2012, 2013 and 2016 and critical and audience acclaim, Simon Callow returns in this much-lauded oneman theatrical spectacular. Intensely dramatic and profoundly heart-warming, A Christmas Carol is one of the greatest ghost stories ever written that will leave you with a festive glow. This is storytelling at its very finest.

Whether you’re embracing the Christmas period or want to try something different be sure that Reader’s Digest Tickets is your box office for the best seats in the house. Visit tickets.readersdigest.co.uk or call our dedicated team on 020 7400 1238 today.

Book now and take a bow!

Regards, Reader’s Digest

HHHHH

‘MAKES ONE BOUNCE OUT OF THE THEATRE WITH HEART AGLOW AND EYES MISTED WITH TEARS.’ Daily Telegraph

SIMON CALLOW A

CHRISTMAS CAROL DIRECTED BY TOM CAIRNS

DANNY DYER JO BRAND AND AND

DANI DYER

WHATSONSTAGE WHATSONSTAGE

1919 –– 3131 DECEMBER DECEMBER HAMMERSMITH, HAMMERSMITH, LONDON LONDON

GREAT FAMILY PRICES | 19 DEC 2018 – 5 JAN 2019

GA RY DOAK / ALAMY STOCK P HOTO

ENTERTAINMENT

30 • SEPTEMBER 2018

ENTERTAINMENT

Anton du Beke

I Remember…

Anton du Beke is one of the most instantly recognisable dancers in the world, best known for his work on the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing, in which he has featured since its celebrity revival in 2004 …MY PARENTS WORKED VERY HARD. My father was Hungarian and

my mother is Spanish. They met in the UK in the early 1960s and we lived in Sevenoaks in Kent. My father was a waiter and later worked in a factory and my mother worked in the local bus depot canteen. After school I’d walk there across the fields and wait for her to finish work. Then we’d get the bus home. My parents weren’t academic types but they believed that hard work was the secret to getting on in this world.

following week I went along a bit earlier. The teacher said “don’t just sit there, up you get and join in” and that was it. From that first minute as a 13-year-old I was hooked. I could see how I might progress and improve with practice and that sense of potential achievement was, and always has been, very important to me. Soon after I took my first dance exam and was commended. By the time I took my gold exam, I was highly commended!

REX/SHUTTERSTOCK

…I LEFT SCHOOL AGED 15. I wasn’t …SEEING MY FIRST BALLROOM DANCE CLASS. My younger sister

Veronica went to dance classes and one afternoon during the holidays I went to pick her up. I sat on the side and realised the room was full of girls.

I thought, this is all right so the

naughty and didn’t mix with the wrong crowd but I just slipped through the net. I needed someone to see the potential in me but sadly it didn’t happen at school, although I’d always excelled at sports—as a kid I lived for the weekends when I’d play NOVEMBER 2018 • 31 31

I REMEMBER…

loads of football and cricket. With only three channels on the TV in those days we spent most of our time outside on the playing fields. But by the time I left school I was already dancing every spare moment. …THERE WASN’T MUCH MONEY AROUND. Amateur dancers need to

(Clockwise from top left) Baby Anton is held by his mother; playing as a young boy; posing with his brother, Stephen

work to pay for everything—travel, outfits, accommodation and competition fees. I know I wasn’t the least lucky dancer around but my situation wasn’t great; my father was an alcoholic and spent any money he brought home on himself and so my mother was supporting the family. …I STARTED WORK AT 3AM EACH MORNING. I got myself a job in the

in-store bakery at Tesco and the hours were tough. When I came home at midday I’d snatch a few hours sleep before taking a train to wherever I had a lesson or 32 • NOVEMBER 2018

“I needed someone to see the potential in me but sadly it didn’t happen at school”

competition that day. I went all over the place to the best classes and competed every Sunday. Then I caught the last train home before starting work again. That was my life for about five years. …I’VE ALWAYS LIKED TO BE WELL DRESSED. Or at least pretending to

be. As a young dancer, I had to buy my clothes from second hand shops.

I remember finding a shirt with double cuffs that I thought was very smart but it was too big for me so I had to tuck the extra length in the arms into the cuffs. Nowadays I get my shirts made for me by Turnbull & Asser on London’s Jermyn Street. …MY HEROES WERE FRED ASTAIRE AND GENE KELLY. With the advent

of home videos I could watch their films over and over again—classics like Bandwagon, An American in Paris and Singin’ in the Rain. I loved

their style and their singing just as much as I loved their dancing. …I STARTED TO TRAVEL THE WORLD. I became established on the

amateur scene and was in demand as a ballroom dance teacher too. I met Erin Boag in 1997 and she has remained my dance partner ever since. She had come over from New Zealand and I admired her work ethic enormously. Like me, she wanted to do well and I thought, I could dance with her and, over 20 years on, we’ve proven that to be absolutely correct!

We’ve been on tour together every year for the last decade. …COMPETING AGAINST MY OWN BALLROOM TEACHERS. It was a

massive decision to turn professional because suddenly you’re competing against the very best couples in the world—your teachers and people whose talent you most admire. At the NOVEMBER 2018 • 33

I REMEMBER…

quarter finals of my first UK Ballroom Championships I remember standing with Erin and looking at our competitors—the world champions, the winners of the German Open, the second ranked couple in the world— we were up against all of them and it brought home to me just how serious we’d become. …FALLING ON THE FLOOR IN FRONT OF THE JUDGES. Once Erin

and I were doing the Viennese waltz in a major competition. It’s a very fast, sweeping dance, spinning round to the left and right and into the middle for the fleckerl. Erin and I were sweeping round the outside of the room with other couples flying around us when BANG! I went straight into one of the dancers whose shoe had come off. I fell flat on my backside in front of the judges— retired champions one and all—who looked at me with horror. …THE ORIGINAL LAUNCH SHOW FOR STRICTLY COME DANCING.

It was a little surreal. Imagine the scene—we’re all gathered at Claridge’s Hotel and the press are invited to watch eight celebrities dance with eight professionals (whom no one has ever heard of) and who’ve just walked off the competition floor, plus the four judges: Len, Bruno, Craig and Arlene.

The press don’t know what to make of it and when Sir Bruce Forsyth asks if there are any questions they’re stony 34 • NOVEMBER 2018

“It was a massive decision to turn professional because suddenly you’re competing against the very best couples in the world”

silent. So Brucie, love him, is feeding them all these little nuggets of information because honestly, it was like a library in there. Erin and I take to the floor and do a waltz and I remember the place going quiet to watch us—I have to say it was one of the best dances we ever did together.

Next thing you know, Strictly is the biggest thing on television. It’s been such an amazing platform for us dancers, absolutely brilliant. …MY FAVOURITE MOMENT ON STRICTLY. It has to be when Bruce

and I performed Me and My Shadow together in the sixth series. Not only did I grow up watching Bruce on the television but, as I was also a song and dance man at heart, I really looked up to him. So that performance with him

J ONATHAN HORDLE/REX/S HUTTERSTOCK

Erin Boag and Anton du Beke on Strictly Come Dancing Season 8

I REMEMBER…

was my equivalent of putting the winning ball at the Ryder Cup— unbelievable. He worked in a very natural way, moving to the lyrics, singing and working in the gags at the same time.

I was honoured to call him my friend and I really miss our rounds of golf together.

They say you should never meet your heroes—well, it couldn’t have been more wonderful for me.

My fondest memories of Strictly are working with Bruce. …A LIFE-CHANGING EVENT AT WENTWORTH GOLF CLUB. I love golf but

it wasn’t while playing on the course that my life changed but at a charity dinner on April 20, 2012. It was there I met Hannah— who’s now my wife and mother to our twins. I spotted her across the table and thought Hello… I asked the chap that she’d come with if she was his wife and when he said they were just friends I took the first opportunity to talk to her— which meant following her to the Ladies when she got up from the table.

36 • NOVEMBER 2018

Anton with his wife, Hannah

READER’S DIGEST

“I took the first opportunity I could find to talk to her— which meant following her to the Ladies when she got up from the table”

LVS/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK

…TEARS OF JOY WHEN I FOUND OUT I WAS GOING TO BE A FATHER.

When Hannah and I went to the first scan together we were over the moon when the nurse said “there are two heartbeats”. We were so lucky that the first round of IVF had worked for us.

The twins were born by elective caesarean, which is quite a strange thing. One minute there I was chatting away to Hannah as she lay on the delivery table. The next thing I know there are two babies in our arms, just like that! I’m glad fatherhood has come quite late in my life because I’m able to be around to support Hannah, George and Henrietta. It’s the most brilliant thing that has ever happened to me. …REDISCOVERING A LOVE OF READING. Hannah is the most

bookish person I’ve ever met, she read English at university and she really got me back into reading. That gave me the confidence to put on paper an idea for a book I’d had floating in my head for years. I’ve spent my career choreographing dances with a beginning, middle and end and so telling the story of One Enchanted Evening came quite naturally. …FEELING ELATED WHEN THE NOVEL WAS HANDED TO MY PUBLISHERS. I’ve always been

captivated by the romanticism of London in the 1920s and 1930s, when people dressed up and gathered in fabulous grand hotel ballrooms to socialise and dance the night away.

My book is set during 1936 when the country was still recovering from The Great War, but tensions were rumbling ahead of The Second World War. I’ve tied historical events and real figures into my story, as a backdrop to the goings on in the Buckingham Hotel. …BEING TRULY VALUED. Hannah is

very supportive of my career and I think she is incredible. But the really special thing about her is that she thinks I’m great too. That’s a wonderful thing to feel in life.

As told to Caroline Hutton Anton’s novel One Enchanted Evening is out now, published by Bonnier Zaffre.

NOVEMBER 2018 • 37

ARCHIVE

From Our Archive FEBRUARY 1982

President Reagan Speaks Out In this exclusive interview from 1982, the then US President Ronald Reagan discussed major issues of the day

Q:

Mr President, we hear there is a growing feeling around the world that your Administration has failed to articulate a clear foreign policy people can understand and support. What's your answer to that?

A: I know the domestic Press was critical because they think unless you come forward in a speech and say, “This is our foreign policy,” you don’t have one. I have always believed that a lot of diplomacy has to be quiet and sometimes it isn’t good if you have it on the front page. But I believe we

38 • NOVEMBER 2018

have a clear foreign policy, and I think the evidence now is that it is working.

The first element of that policy is our economic programme. We must restore our own ability to do things.

Tied into that is defence policy. In the last decade or more, to try to negotiate with the Soviet Union on anything to do with arms—while at the same time we were unilaterally disarming— left them with no need to make any concessions at all.

I am just as determined as anyone has ever been with regard to a reduction of strategic weapons and

nuclear arms. But the only defence we have is deterrence. To avoid nuclear war or an ultimatum based on the nuclear threat you must have a counter-threat that makes it disadvantageous to the other side to consider such a war.

out, then we won’t place ours, and that threat will be lifted.

People on both sides of the Iron Curtain live every day of their lives knowing that a loaded gun is pointed at them. They’d all be a lot happier if that weren’t hanging over them.

Q: Your propose that the Russians withdraw their SS-20, SS-5, and SS-4 missiles in exchange for the United States cancelling plans to deploy new medium-range missiles in Europe.

Critics, particularly those in the pacifist movements, say this is just a propaganda ploy on your part.

They claim that the US is offering to give up paper missiles in return for the Russians tearing down actual missiles. How do you feel about that?

A: The alternative is to sit there with all of Europe targeted by missiles that could literally wipe out every population centre of Western Europe.

What they’re calling paper weapons are weapons going into production which can be installed in two years, so it isn’t paper we’re trading.

We’re saying to the Soviet Union: if you insist on keeping those missiles there, you’re going to have to face the fact that we will build whatever it takes to threaten the Soviet Union as much as Europe is threatened. If they agree to take their missiles

Q: You have signalled a major shift in US policy by insisting that Third World nations rely on individual initiative, private enterprise and trade to improve themselves economically. How can developing nations be prevented from turning to Marxism as a solution to their problems of poverty and corruption?

A: We must design a programme, including direct aid, to meet the problems of each country, help them become viable economically and provide a better life for their people—in other words, help them eliminate the social and economic inequities that make them a target for imported revolution. We suggest to the developing countries that the government can only do so much, and there’s a vast power in private enterprise to help further development.

Show us a Marxist system that has produced anything but poverty and misery. On the other hand, look at South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, the Philippines, Hong Kong, where they have turned to the 39

PRESIDENT REAGAN SPEAKS OUT

marketplace—their standard of living is approaching ours.

Q: There seems to be a consensus that there can be no permanent Middle East peace without resolving the question of the Palestinian homeland. Are you determined to hold off discussion with the Palestine Liberation Organisation until it recognises Israel’s right to exist? And would you recognise the PLO if it did acknowledge that right?

A: This is a decision to be made after they do it. I know that the PLO has held a position that their non-recognition of Israel is a bargaining chip that they could bring to a negotiating table. I think they’re wrong. I don’t see how you sit down to bargain with someone who has taken a position where they deny your right to exist an that, if possible, you should be destroyed.

That to me is not a bargaining chip. And I am beyond hopeful that as we continue dealing with the more moderate Arab states we will bring them to accept a recognition that Israel is a nation that is going to continue existing.

Q: In Afghanistan, Soviet occupation forces are preparing the third spring offensive against Afghan freedom fighters since the December 1979 40 • NOVEMBER 2018

Soviet invasion. Can Afghanistan really be prevented from becoming part of the Soviet Union?

A: I think it can. Afghanistan has never been conquered, and there are almost a hundred thousand Soviet troops there. While they do control vital parts of the economy, they hold less than a quarter of Afghanistan, and even that is under threat. I think that the Soviet Union must have some regrets about ever having embarked on that invasion. And I think that if we and others keep on speaking out, there is a possibility that the Soviets may engage in a phased withdrawal and could not be appealed to allow Afghanistan to once again be an independent nonaligned nation.

Q: Many people see the US supporting authoritarian regimes in Latin America, the Philippines, Pakistan, and South Korea. Does a commitment to anticommunism in countries excuse the fact that human rights are violated?

A: No, but when the alternative to some of those countries is worse than authoritarianism—the totalitarianism of communism, usually imposed from outside by the Cubans and the Soviet Union—I think that we have a much better chance of leading them towards a better concept of human rights if we remain friends with them than if we

READER’S DIGEST

were to turn our back and leave them no alternative but facing all alone the threat of a totalitarian take-over.

Q: Turning to the US, Mr President, your country is in a recession. Some vital segments of the economy are in a depression. And many people are out of work. What can be done?

A: These problems have not just come upon us in the last few months. In 1980 I campaigned about the great unemployment, the dire straits of the automobile industry, construction, high interest rates—now those interest rates have started to come down. Inflation has come very far down—not as far as we intended it—but it has come down. And I believe that the stimulus of our tax programme which was aimed at restoring the economy and offering the incentive to increase productivity, is going to work.

Specifically, let’s take what high interest rates have done to home building. We’ve just changed regulations for some pension funds—we hope to extend this to all—opening them up to investment in home mortgages. This is a vast pool of capital—estimated to be more than 500,000 million dollars— that has hardly been tapped for that purpose.

Q: A final question: Just about a year ago you were preparing to assume control of the US Government. Has your perception of the Presidency changed in that time?

A: Previous Presidents have commented about the loneliness of the job and how much bigger it is than any one man. I certainly have seen the excitement—the satisfaction of campaigning on things you believe in and then working to bring some of those things about. We've cut taxes more than ever before, cut the rate of spending growth in half, proposed a build-up and modernisation of our military forces. We have accomplished these things and more. We’ve tried to demonstrate that the President and Congress can work to bring about changes in national policy when the people are behind those changes.

NOVEMBER 2018 • 41

HEALTH

23 Ways

You Sick

BY WENDY GLAUS ER

42

PHOTOGRAPH BY CHRIS ROBIN SON

SALT Is Making

43

2 3 W AY S S A LT I S M A K I N G Y O U S I C K

If you’re the type to regularly tuck into a bag of crisps, it’s worth reconsidering the habit. Too much sodium isn’t good for anyone, but for people who have hypertension, salt—a sodium compound—is especially dangerous.

Sodium leads to small spikes in blood pressure for people who don’t already have hypertension and large spikes in people who do, according to a 2017 review of 185 studies from Europe, Canada and the US. Hypertension is the key driver of a number of cardiovascular problems, including heart attacks, strokes and coronary artery disease.

2. Many restaurant meals pack the amount of salt you should have in an entire day…

A 2013 survey published in the Canadian Journal of Public Health examined 20 sit-down and 65 fastfood restaurants across Canada and found that the average dish contained 1,455mg of sodium.

3. …and a fancy sit-down meal may be even worse than a fast-food one

The same study found that 40 per cent of sit-down restaurant menu items packed at least 1,500mg of sodium (versus 18 per cent of fast-food menu items). The saltiest meal options?

Wraps, sandwiches, ribs and pastas that contained meat or seafood.

4.

1,300 mg

of sodium is essential for contracting and relaxing muscles, transmitting nerve signals and maintaining adequate fluid levels, but we don’t need much of it for these important functions. Health Canada’s recommended sodium intake for people aged 51 to 70 is 1,300mg a day; and 1,000mg per day for those over 70.

5. Cutting back could have an even greater effect depending on your background 44 • NOVEMBER 2018

ILLUSTRATION S: JOHN MONTGOMERY. P HOTOGRAP HS : I STOCK PHOTO

1. Salt wreaks havoc on your blood pressure

READER’S DIGEST

The studies in the 2017 review mostly relied on white participants; the authors noted that the few studies with Asian and Black participants suggest salt reductions have an even more significant blood pressure– lowering effect in these populations.

This is believed to be due to genetic differences in how the body processes salt.

6. There’s no way to tell how much salt is in your dish

In 2016, Ontario became the first province in Canada to require chain restaurants to list calories on their menus. Those pushing for the move asked that sodium be labelled, but the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care decided against it. (Critics claimed that decision was a concession to the restaurant industry.) Government proposals put forward by former health secretary Jeremy Hunt in June 2018 could see restaurants in the UK displaying full calorie information in the near future.

7. “Healthy” options can be just as dangerous Even seemingly nutritious foods can pack a salty punch. Half a cup of canned tomatoes can contain

400mg of salt. A cup of bran cereal can contain about 240mg of sodium.

And just three ounces (85g) of smoked salmon can have more than 660mg. To reduce sodium, try to eat foods in their freshest form possible, and be sure to check the sodium levels noted on the label.

8. It may lead to weight gain

In 2015, scientists at Queen Mary University in London found evidence that suggested a link between sodium and obesity. By measuring sodium levels in more than 1,200 study participants’ urine and recording their food intake over a four-day period, they found that those with high salt levels were more likely to be overweight, even if they weren’t eating more calories than the lowsalt group.

9. Salt increases your risk of kidney stones

It’s not clear why, but sodium likes to grab on to calcium before it’s flushed out of the body through urine. The extra urinary calcium can form into crystals and eventually lead to kidney stones.

According to a 2012 study published in the Journal of Urology, women whose diets were high in sodium NOVEMBER 2018 • 45

2 3 W AY S S A LT I S M A K I N G Y O U S I C K

were between 11 and 61 per cent more likely to develop the painful condition. Another small study found that a low-salt diet reduced urinary

contains 424mg, while eggs Benedict can pack a whopping 2,015mg.

Why is salt there in the first place?

For starters, it’s a preservative. Also, it acts as a fermenting agent in breads and causes food to retain water—for products sold by weight, more liquid means more profit.

12. It increases your risk of heart failure

A 2017 Finnish study that followed more than 4,600 people over 12 years found that those who had the highest salt levels in their urine at the start were more than twice as likely to suffer heart failure than those who had the lowest levels. The increased risk was found even in salt lovers who didn’t have high blood pressure.

calcium in both men and women who were prone to kidney stones.

10. Salt can hurt your sleep…

If you find yourself making frequent nighttime bathroom trips, salt could be the culprit. A 2017 European study found that men over 60 who reduced their salt intake by 25 per cent decreased the number of times they got up to urinate in the night, from 2.3 to 1.4 times, on average.

11. …and you likely don’t even know you’re eating it Often, we don’t taste sodium because it’s so diffused in our food.

For example, a single croissant 46 • NOVEMBER 2018

13. Kids are overloading

According to Health Canada, 77 per cent of children ages one to three and 93 per cent of kids ages four to eight are exceeding the recommended daily sodium intake.

READER’S DIGEST

14. Salt hides away in processed foods…

According to Health Canada, 77 per cent of our sodium intake comes from processed and fast foods. Here are some of the biggest offenders: Meat-heavy takeout pizza: 693mg/one slice (that’s more than 2,000mg per three slices!)

Chicken noodle soup: 1,613mg/can Processed salami: 1,264mg/ 100g serving Creamy cucumber salad dressing: 131mg/one tablespoon

15. Your potassium

deficit is a liability

Like sodium, potassium is an important mineral in the body. While excess sodium increases blood pressure, potassium eases tension in blood vessel walls and helps keep blood pressure in check. The mineral also aids in sodium excretion so that excess salt doesn’t stick around and cause problems, says Dr Suzanne Oparil, a cardiologist and professor of medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Blood tests ordered by

Store-bought bakery bread: 240mg of sodium per 50g serving

your doctor can confirm if you’re low on potassium, but so long as you’re eating your fruits and vegetables, you shouldn’t have to worry.

High sources of potassium include white beans, spinach, banana, avocado, sweet potato and yogurt.

16. You’re falling

for fake news

Both the food industry and the salt industry fund research on dietary sodium. “Their interests will often fund the low-quality evidence,” says NOVEMBER 2018 • 47

2 3 W AY S S A LT I S M A K I N G Y O U S I C K

Dr Norm Campbell, a sodium and hypertension expert at the University of Calgary’s Libin Cardiovascular Institute of Alberta. “And even when they haven’t funded it, they will market the low-quality evidence, increasing its visibility.”

17. Reduced intake

will save lives

If individuals were able to reduce their salt intake as recommended, it would substantially reduce the burden of cardiovascular disease and mortality.

18. If you happen to be

“salt-sensitive,” sodium is especially harmful

Some people’s bodies are less

efficient at flushing out excess salt, and it’s estimated that more than a third of us are affected by the mineral in this way. If you get bloated after salty meals, it’s a sign of salt sensitivity, says Dr Oparil.

If hypertension runs in your family, you’re also more likely to be salt-sensitive.

19. Sodium is also

particularly damaging if you’re over 50, overweight or have diabetes

Studies show that sodium causes blood pressure to increase more later in life. “As we get older, we become more sensitive to salt,” says Campbell, explaining that the aging body simply isn’t as efficient at flushing out sodium. Blood pressure spikes after eating sodium-rich meals are also dramatic in people who are overweight and people who have diabetes, though scientists aren’t clear on why.

READER’S DIGEST

20. Sea salts and rock salts

22. You’re probably

The fancier products have trace amounts of minerals, like iron and potassium, which are destroyed in the processing of table salt. But, according to Dietitians of Canada, the nutritional value of sea and rock salts is so insignificant that switching to more expensive seasonings won’t positively affect your health. All salts contain the same amount of sodium by weight.

When our diets are high in sodium, we find low-sodium foods bland. The good news? It only takes about six weeks for our taste buds to adapt to lower-salt foods, says Dr Campbell.

Stick with a lower-sodium diet, and you soon won’t miss the salt.

aren’t better than table salt

21. It increases your risk

of cancer

The incidences of stomach cancer cases that the World Cancer Research Fund determined could be avoided in the UK each year if people kept salt intake to less than 2,400mg per day.

hooked on salt

23. “Reduced sodium”

doesn’t mean healthy

If the original product is way too high in sodium, a 25 per cent reduction could still leave you with a product that’s too salty. To be sure a food is actually low in sodium, read the nutrition label. Avoid products that contain 15 per cent or more of the recommended daily intake of sodium per serving.

NOVEMBER 2018 • 49

5 Cancers You Need To Know About These cancer types are on the rise. Here’s what you need to know, and the risk factors to avoid…

While breast, prostate, lung and bowel are the most common cancers, other types are on the increase. Some of this is down to better diagnosis but risk factors also play a part. So what can you do to lower your risk in each case?

THYROID According to Cancer Research UK, cases of thyroid cancer have leapt by 80 per cent in men and 82 per cent for women in ten years.

Symptoms you should get checked out are a lump on the base of your neck (or anywhere else on your neck, for that matter) especially if it has grown quickly, a hoarse voice, a sore throat that lasts more than three weeks or difficulty swallowing.

You’re more likely to develop thyroid cancer if you’re very Susannah Hickling is twice winner of the Guild of Health Writers Best Consumer Magazine Health Feature 50 • NOVEMBER 2018

overweight or have diabetes. Staying a healthy weight is one thing you can do for yourself to slash your risk.

LIVER There’s been a 65 per cent increase in liver cancer cases in men and 53 per cent in women in a decade.

Often there are no symptoms in the early stages, or there may be vague symptoms such as not feeling hungry or feeling sick.

However, there are a whole host of risk factors you can reduce. These include drinking more than five units a day of alcohol, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (more common in people who are overweight), and smoking (a quarter of liver cancers are caused by “cancer-sticks”).

KIDNEY Cases of this cancer have increased by 44 per cent in men in ten years and 47 per cent in women. A key symptom you should never ignore is blood in your urine.

Factors that raise your risk are being very overweight, smoking, high

HEALTH

blood pressure, drinking and frequent use of non-steroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), which include ibuprofen. Once again, there’s much you can do to bring your risk down.

UTERUS There were 21 per cent more cases of uterine cancer diagnosed in the past decade. Abnormal bleeding is a tell-tale symptom and the fact that women tend to act promptly when this happens means that it’s often caught early and successfully treated.

Once again, we can single out being overweight as a factor that increases your chance of developing this cancer. Having diabetes or undergoing oestrogen-only HRT also carries a risk. Research has suggested that being physically active and taking aspirin if you’re overweight could help lower the likelihood (but don’t go self-prescribing aspirin— you’d be better off going on a diet).

MELANOMA It’s no surprise that our love of foreign holidays and suntans has come back to haunt us. Incidence in men has gone up 64 per cent in ten years, and in women it’s up 39 per cent. You should always see your GP about a mole that changes or suddenly appears. Avoid sunburn and sunbeds if you want to cut your risk, and always apply sunscreen— plenty of it. Another, perhaps surprising, risk factor for men is having a higher BMI—or might it simply be that women with a high BMI are more likely to cover up?

51

H E A LT H

Tea Time Science suggests a cuppa could soothe more than your soul. Stick the kettle on!

As the weather cools down, what could be more welcome than a hot brew? These teas may even boost your health at the very same time they’re warming you up.

Black tea It sounds too good to be true, but there’s some indication that your conventional cuppa might help you lose weight. Recent research in mice found that black tea increases healthy gut bacteria which is thought to help people shed extra kilos.

Camomile Well known as a soothing bedtime drink to help you sleep, this herbal tea may boost the immune system, reduce muscle spasms and relax nerves, according to research.

Green Green tea contains a catechin —an antioxidant compound—that may alleviate insulin resistance, associated with Type 2 diabetes, making it a metabolism booster. It’s thought to raise the rate at which you burn calories. And like black tea, it 52 • NOVEMBER 2018

may help lessen your chances of cancer. A bonus: it may also boost your memory.

Nettle Far from giving you a nasty sting, this mellow brew has long been renowned for soothing muscle and joint pain, and even treating urinary tract infections, because it’s a diuretic. Its use was documented as long ago as Ancient Greek times.

Hibiscus An American study found people with moderately high blood pressure who drank three cups a day for six weeks lowered the systolic figure by an average seven points.

Peppermint Research suggests that peppermint tea is a stomach calmer, able to help relieve indigestion. In fact, researchers have found a whole raft of benefits—antiviral and antimicrobial properties, which could help prevent infections, and antioxidant and anti-tumour actions.

It also makes for a great decongestant.

READER’S DIGEST

Ask The Expert: Diabetes Isabel Hooley

Registered dietitian Isabel Hooley helps people with and at risk of developing Type 2 diabetes to live life to the full How did you become a dietitian specialising in diabetes?

I was working in an NHS dietitians’ department ten years ago when an opportunity came up in the area of diabetes and I’ve never looked back.

I work for Dorset County Hospital and Acute Community Team and have my own private practice.

Why is it important for people with the condition to eat healthily?

It’s important for everybody to eat healthily. It’s like buying extra lottery tickets. Eating healthily increases your chances of being one of the lucky ones with fewer health problems. Eating to control blood glucose levels is equally important, because this can prevent diabetes complications such as kidney disease and foot neuropathy.

How easy is it for people with diabetes to change their habits?

Some people find it easy. For others, it can seem an impossible challenge.

That’s where people like me come in.

Everyone with diabetes should have access to a dietitian through their GP or privately.

What quick, practical tips can you offer to help people manage diabetes?

Try reducing your carbohydrates by a quarter or a third. Bring down your portion sizes and choose slow-release, low glycaemic options, such as granary bread instead of white bread, or new or sweet potatoes instead of old potatoes. And a ten to 15 per cent weight loss if you are overweight can have a significant effect.

What else should people at risk of diabetes do to improve their health?

Exercise is really influential when it comes to blood glucose control and general health. Sleep is important as is anything you can do to manage stress.

Learn more about Isabel’s work at thepersonaldiabetescoach.co.uk NOVEMBER 2018 • 53

HEALTH

No Place Like Home?

Dr Max Pemberton discovers that a promise of care in the community isn’t as straightforward as it seems

C

are in the Community was heralded as the answer to the large number of people languishing in our asylums. Policies were drawn up that saw the reduction in psychiatric in-patients rapidly reduced from 150,000 in the 1950s to a fifth of that by the 1980s. The motivation for these policies wasn’t compassion—it was money. It was felt that by reducing the number of people in hospital, money that would otherwise be spent on expensive beds would be saved. And so psychiatric patients up and down the country who had been institutionalised for large parts of their lives were allowed to return to their communities to receive their care there. While I don’t agree with the motivations, it’s undoubtedly true that it was monstrous to keep these people Max is a hospital doctor, author and columnist. He currently works full time in mental health for the NHS. His latest book is a self-help guide to using CBT to stop smoking 54 • NOVEMBER 2018

locked up, denying them their liberty.

But it seems so cruel to firstly take away someone’s freedom indefinitely, and then to give it back so carelessly.

Caring for people in the out-patient setting proved far more expensive than anticipated. Problems arose because many of those discharged didn’t have any community to return to. Mental illness is stigmatising, families aren’t always supportive and communities are fragmented. In every area of medicine I’ve worked, I’ve come across the legacy of the old asylum system; men and women for whom whole decades were lost because they were deemed mentally ill and who have spent the remaining years of their lives lonely and isolated.

But out of this mess have come stories of compassion. Mr Cullen lives with his brother William in a council flat in a rough part of town. Before I visit, I’m asked if I’d like a security guard to escort me, but if two men in their eighties can live there, I’m sure I can last a few hours. Mr Cullen has been looking after his brother since their parents died 20 years ago.

William had been interned in a local asylum for 30 years as he suffered from schizophrenia. When his mother died, Mr Cullen promised her, on her deathbed, that he’d look after William for the rest of his life. With the help of his brother, William has lived a relatively normal and stable life. He’s an example of how, when given a loving and supportive community, someone can flourish. Although William’s the one with schizophrenia, he’s not my patient. It’s Mr Cullen.

He’s been refusing to return to his GP after a test a few months ago. It looks as though he has cancer, and I’ve been asked to persuade him to attend a hospital outpatient clinic. “I’m not going to leave him, I promised Mum,” he explains. I sit precariously on the edge of the sofa, surrounded by ornaments and photographs.

“It will only be for an afternoon,” I try to explain. “We can arrange for someone to come in to look after your brother while you’re at the hospital.”

“No,” he says emphatically, “because if they find something, then that’s it. There’ll be no one to look after my brother, and you’ll lock him up again.” It’s illogical to think that by refusing to get a definitive diagnosis, he’ll be able to look after his brother indefinitely. But I admire his dedication. I walk out into the bleak grey estate, and wonder what hope there is for William here. If his brother is no longer able to look after him, then the community team will.

And that’s the problem, because what’s needed to complete the equation is the one thing that the NHS can’t provide. It can provide care, but not a community.

NOVEMBER 2018 • 55

HEALTH

The Doctor Is In Q: No medication or treatment has cured my back pain. I’m considering acupuncture or homeopathy but I’m wary—is it safe?

- James, 51 A: Back pain is miserable and I’m sorry you’re suffering. Unfortunately it’s one of those areas where, despite it being incredibly common, doctors aren’t always able to help. It sounds like you’ve tried conventional treatment and you’re looking for something else out of desperation.

To answer your question, yes, by all means try acupuncture or homeopathy. Both are considered safe. Acupuncture in particular has been studied a lot in the treatment of back pain and while there’s still controversy around how effective it is, several major studies have found it offers as much relief from the pain as conventional painkillers. Make sure you go to a suitably qualified and registered practitioner—preferably a medical acupuncturist.

Homeopathy is a bit 56 • NOVEMBER 2018

different. There’s no conclusive evidence that it works any better than placebo for anything, including back pain and many scientists dismiss it.

However, it’s worth a try if you’re interested. Even if the benefits are down to placebo, we know this can be powerful when dealing with pain.

Some doctors specialise in it but it’s often not available on the NHS so you might have to see them privately.

Having said all this, I wonder who’s seen you about this pain and if you’ve been seen by a pain specialist who might be able to have a look at the painkillers you’ve already taken and suggest some different ones. There are other interventions too, such as TENS machines, that people often find helpful. A physiotherapist, osteopath or chiropractor might also be able to offer some advice. I do hope you find something that works and get some relief soon.

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

I LLUSTRATI ON BY JAVI ER MUÑOZ

Dr Max Pemberton

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HEALTH

A Head For Numbers

Stay in control of everyday digits and use numbers to help you remember anything with another thinking trick from our memory expert, Jonathan Hancock

F

or centuries we’ve played around with numbers to make them easier to remember. It makes sense: digits are difficult, but they become instantly more manageable if they mean something—and it’s even better if you can turn them into pictures.

A good tip is to think like a bingo caller.

They famously use nicknames for numbers, eg, “Knock on the door, 24”; “Clickety-click, 66,” to make sure we hear and remember every ball. And by using rhymes to create the associations and images, they’re in line with one of the very best numbermemory methods.

In this traditional technique, you start by choosing a rhyming image for each number, 0–10. For example: 0 = hero 1 = bun 2 = shoe 3 = tree 4 = door 5 = hive 6 = sticks 7 = heaven 8 = plate 9 = wine 10 = pen.

Then, every number you meet becomes a picture, and you simply link it to whatever the information really means.

So, if someone tells you they live in Flat 7, instead of just hoping to remember 7, you turn it into heaven and flash an image into your mind of their flat filled with angels and harpmusic. Your train’s leaving from platform 24?

Picture yourself taking off your shoes (2) at the door (4). If your new PIN is 0693, imagine the ATM screen showing a hero (0) using sticks (6) to smash wine bottles (9) in the branches of a tree (3). The weirder the imagery, the better!

58 • NOVEMBER 2018

THE CHALLENGE: go one step further and use numbers as “pegs” to help you remember other things, and to fix any kind of information in your mind.

UK’s Top 10 Most Popular Pets 1 dogs 2 cats 3 rabbits 4 indoor birds 5 guinea pigs 6 hamsters 7 tortoises 8 lizards 9 poultry 10 snakes The technique: link each item to its number-rhyme image, as creatively and memorably as you can. Maybe there’s a dog munching a huge cream bun (1); a cat wearing high-heeled shoes (2); a snake struggling to sign its name with a pen (10).

The test: now see if you can reel off the whole list from memory, backwards as well as forwards.

Check you can remember the pet you “pegged” to each number image: what was the 4th item? The 9th? Find other lists to practise with and you’ll be strengthening your number brain, as well as keeping your key memory skills sharp for everything else.

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HEALTH

Drinking water is vital for your body and your brain

Healthy Hydration

BY MA RI SSA L A L I B E R T E AN D L I N DSAY T I G A R

S

tudies show that drinking enough water fends off health problems from head to toe.

How much water you should drink depends on many factors: your weight, the climate where you live and how often you exercise. The old rule of thumb of eight, eight-ounce glasses a day isn’t a bad place to start.

The clearest sign that you’re well hydrated is transparent yellow or pale urine. If yours is a darker yellow, you probably need to drink more water. An even better gauge is how you feel. Water can be a potent

60 • NOVEMBER 2018

elixir for your mind and body. Here’s a look at the ways being well hydrated can help your health.

YOU’LL HAVE LOTS OF ENERGY

Water helps keep up a steady flow of nutrients into your cells, which boosts your energy. When you’re dehydrated, this flow is hampered as

cell membranes become less permeable, affecting your physical and mental performance so you feel sluggish. This is according to a review of hydration research conducted by scientists at the University of North Carolina and Tufts University, in the US. YOU’LL FEEL STRONGER WHEN YOU WORK OUT

Water helps your muscles keep the right balance of electrolytes, such as sodium, potassium, and magnesium, to function properly. Without water, your muscles can be more prone to cramping. Research suggests that even low levels of dehydration may impair physical performance.

YOU MIGHT LOSE WEIGHT

A new study from the University of Illinois involving more than 18,000 adults found that when people increased their daily water intake by one to three cups (on top of the four they drank on average), they ate less: Their food intake dropped by as much as 205 calories a day.

YOUR MEMORY MAY IMPROVE

Your brain is hugely dependent on fluid—all those synapses and neurons need liquid to fire properly.

According to a review published in the journal Nutrients, studies have consistently found that memory and attention improve in children after they take a drink of water. The

research is less clear whether this holds true for adults.

YOU’LL KICK COLD SYMPTOMS MORE EASILY

There’s a reason your doctor tells you to drink more when you’re coming down with something. Your body has to launch an attack against germs when you’re sick, and your cells need more fluid to keep up with the demand. Drinking water also helps to loosen mucus and keep your nose and throat moist.

YOU’LL KEEP THINGS REGULAR

“Water interacts with dietary fiber in the digestive tract to bulk stools,” says Jordan J Karlitz, MD, FACG, professor of clinical medicine at Tulane Cancer Center, Louisiana.

By staying hydrated, you can reduce your risk of constipation.

TIRED OF DRINKING WATER?

Consider upping your hydration game by making your “brew” sparkling or fruit flavoured—but be sure not to add any artificial sugars, and steer clear of tonic water, which contains added sodium and sugar. You can also munch on fruits and vegetables with high water content, such as watermelon, cucumbers, tomatoes, grapes, and cherries.

Herbal teas, milk, and sports drinks can also help you to stay hydrated so long as they’re not overly caffeinated or sugary.

NOVEMBER 2018 • 61

INSPIRE

CARLOS MAGDALENA: TH E H O RTI C U LTU R AL H ERO

BY P ETER WO O LRICH

From climbing a human ladder to swimming with the crocodiles, there's nothing this Spanish botanist wouldn't do in the name of plants

C

arlos Magdalena didn't crack a whip when he shouted at the Jeep's driver to stop, but he was wearing the same widebrimmed fedora as Indiana Jones.

Covered in five days of Australian Outback dust, he tried to ignore the shotgun-peppered "Crocodile Danger" sign as he waded into the lagoon. The 42-year-old Spanish botanist, based in the hot houses and labs of London’s Kew Gardens, thought he’d spotted a new waterlily species and it wouldn’t be the first time he’d risked his life doing his job.

With his shoulder-length hair and conquistador’s beard Carlos looks every inch the intrepid explorer, his mission to save the world’s 62 • NOVEMBER 2018

most endangered plants. As well as Harrison Ford’s film character, the botanical horticulturist is also known as the Messiah, the Code Breaker and the Plant Whisperer. He’s suffered dehydration in the planet’s most inhospitable deserts, driven through rivers to reach an elusive specimen and experienced altitude sickness in the Peruvian Andes, where he climbed a human ladder next to a towering drop to reach a rare flower.

THE SON OF A FLORIST, Carlos grew up roaming the peaks and valleys of northern Spain in search of natural wonders but quickly learned all was not well. The world’s fauna and flora

63

© JEFF EDEN , ROYA L BOTAN TICAL GARDEN KEW

INDIANA JONES OF THE PLANT WORLD

IN 2003, THE SPANIARD MADE his way to London, persuading Kew Gardens to take him on as an intern despite all the other candidates having more professional experience.

Often peering into microscopes late into the night, his dedication to experimenting with germination techniques and coaxing life back into dried up seeds marked him out 64 • NOVEMBER 2018

Collecting herbarium specimens of Nymphaea in Gladstone Lake, Western Australia

and he was offered a place on the prestigious Kew Diploma, a threeyear horticultural course.

Before long Carlos came to understand that plants have a way of talking and to understand their needs, you had to listen to them.

His work was daunting. Kew houses around 7m dried specimens in the herbarium and over 19,000 living species across its gardens. The associated Millennium Seed Bank holds 2bn seeds.

HIS EARLY SUCCESSES INCLUDED

helping to save the endangered café marron tree. Native only to

© CHRISTI AN Z IEGLER / RBG KEW

was under threat and Carlos wasn’t the sort of person to stand idly by.

“Directly or indirectly plants provide the air we breathe, medicines, clothes, shelter, food and drink,” he says in a gentle though assertive voice. “Plants are our greatest yet humblest servants, caring for us in every way. Without them we wouldn't be here. It’s as simple as that.”

There are some 400,000 plant species, with many more waiting to be discovered, and it’s estimated that a quarter of them are facing extinction. “They need someone to speak-up on their behalf, someone who will say, ‘I will not tolerate extinction’, using whatever means possible to ensure their survival.

When you lose even one species there are dire consequences for everything else that depends on it—insects, birds and mammals, including humans.” Loss of habitat due to land clearance, particularly in tropical rainforests, poses the biggest single threat.

READER’S DIGEST

This rather beautiful form of Nymphaea lukei is found in Dog Chain Creek, Kimberley.

This species was only described in 2011

PLANTS ARE OUR GREATEST YET HUMBLEST SERVANTS, CARING FOR US IN EVERY WAY. WITHOUT THEM WE WOULDN'T BE HERE

Nymphaea thermarum is the smallest known species of waterlily in the world. You could easily grow a blooming specimen in a teacup

NOVEMBER 2018 • 65

© JEFF EDEN , ROYA L BOTAN TICAL GARDEN KEW

INDIANA JONES OF THE PLANT WORLD

66 • NOVEMBER 2018

READER’S DIGEST

A HALF-BLIND, GIANT TORTOISE HAD MISTAKEN HIM AND HIS BACKPACK FOR A RIVAL, AND PURSUED HIM FOR SEVERAL HOURS

Rodrigues Island in the Indian Ocean it hadn’t produced any seed since Victorian times and Carlos spent months working on a handful of available cuttings, ignoring those telling him he was wasting his time because all previous efforts had failed. Overcoming the disaster of a fellow botanist inadvertently pruning the most promising stem, Carlos eventually triumphed. “It was like scoring the winning goal in a World Cup final,” he says.

STEPPING INTO THE CROCODILEINFESTED waters of the Australian

lagoon where he thought he’d spotted a new waterlily species, the botanist— who is married with a young son— recalled a previous encounter with a wild animal. In Mauritius, a half-blind giant tortoise had mistaken him and his backpack for a rival, or a mate, and pursued him for several hours.

Looking down, the Spaniard realised he was mistaken about the lily.

Over the years the horticulturist made several visits to study, and help save Mauritius’ vitally important flora as well as educate local farmers about how their ecology would serve them better if it wasn’t destroyed. In his pursuit Carlos scaled a notorious mountain, his back pressed against a rock face as he shuffled along a narrow ledge.

Using a machete, the Spaniard then hacked his way through near impenetrable vegetation, but arriving at the summit there was a problem.

What he thought was going to be a shrub with low multiple branches turned out to be 16ft tall, the only branches at the top. “We’ll have to form a human ladder,” he told the doubtful looking team. “The stockiest at the bottom, then two others and I’ll climb up.” A 300ft sheer drop waited if he fell.

Fingers outstretched, Carlos was still ten inches too short and was cursing his luck when someone suggested using a forked stick to pull the branch down. Now all the botanist had to do was get it back to London and work out how to pollinate it. “Conserving plants in Mauritius is like archaeology.

Trying to fit all the pieces together is complicated to say the least.”

AFTER SUFFERING 10,000 FT ALTITUDE sickness in Bolivia where

the only solution was to chew coca leaves alongside the indigenous NOVEMBER 2018 • 67

INDIANA JONES OF THE PLANT WORLD

View of Rodrigues Island and its reef lagoon. "Most terrestrial ecosystems of Rodrigues are highly degraded.

However, the conservation efforts and restoration areas provide great hopes for the future of the island’s ecosystems and the remaining surviving species that don't occur anywhere else in the world"

"The giant pads of Victoria are known for being able to support heavy loads. In this picture, a not-so-large (by Victoria standards) Victoria cruziana easily carrying my son Matheo at the age of eight months at Kew’s Waterlily House"

68 • NOVEMBER 2018

READER’S DIGEST

tribes he was there to help, the next stop was the Peruvian desert.

In scorching heat Carlos and his colleagues drove for 20 hours before their route was blocked by an enormous PVC pipeline. Low on fuel and recovering from going the wrong way, the group finally found the specimens they were after having missed the blooming season.

THE WORLD'S SMALLEST LILY,

nymphaea thermarum, was discovered in 1985 growing next to a single volcanic spring in rural Rwanda, but in 2008 the spring was diverted to provide water for a local laundry and the entire inchwide species was obliterated. Some samples remained but no one could work out how to propagate them, that is until Carlos was sent some seeds by Bonn Botanic Gardens.

Months of painstaking work later

he finally cracked the code and the plants flowered.

Back in Kimberley, Western Australia, one of the most isolated places on earth, Carlos was about to get back in the Jeep after his disappointment with the new waterlily species when, shading his eyes, he saw what appeared to be a narrow crescent-shaped lake in the distance. Persuading the others to get out and go with him, Carlos waded-in unable to believe what he was seeing. Thousands of waterlilies with spectacular slender purple and white flowers were all around. “I knew straight away they were a new species and it was like, boom, bingo!” It was how Indiana Jones must have felt finding the lost Ark of the Covenant.

The plant is yet to be named.

The Plant Messiah by Carlos Magdalena is published by Penguin

REVOLUTIONARY STATIONARY Get stuck into these random facts about office supplies: Erasers have been used since about 1770 and before that time the preferred tool for removing pencil lines was stale bread.

During the Second World War, members of the Norwegian resistance wore paper clips on their lapels as a subtle sign that they were fighting Hitler.

Post-it notes are yellow because there just happened to be yellow paper in the laboratory for the first experiment.

The glue stick was inspired by the twisty tube of the lipstick.

Highlighter ink comes in yellow, pink, orange, red, green, purple and blue.

But the pink and yellow varieties account for 85 per cent of all sales.

SOURCE: TELEGRAPH.CO.UK

NOVEMBER 2018 • 69

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BEST OF

British

V I C TO R I A N

Britain

Step back in time with these reminders of the Britain that once was…

BY ANNA WALKER 8 • OCTOBER 2018

INSPIRE

Blists Hill Victorian Town SHROPSHIRE

Visitors to this recreated Victorian town—complete with friendly townsfolk—could happily wave goodbye to their smartphones, cars and almost any modern convenience.

Enjoy the town’s three districts: the industrial area complete with iron works, the countryside with a squatter’s cottage and tin-roofed church and the high street, with several recreated shops including a bakery, chemist and post office.

Says director of marketing Paul Gossage, “Blists Hill Victorian Town is a step back in time for all your senses.

Walk through the gates and enjoy the smell of freshly baked bread and carbolic soap, hear the sounds of steam engines, a horse and cart and the chatter of a busy Victorian Town.”

November and December are the perfect months to visit, as the town lays on its annual Christmas celebrations, including falling snow, Father Christmas in his grotto and traditional Victorian carol singers. ironbridge.org.uk NOVEMBER 2018 • 73

The Workhouse

Experience life inside “the spike” without enduring the punishing conditions, with a tour of the best-preserved workhouse in Britain.

Built in 1824, residing in Southwell would have been a last resort for Victorian Britain’s very poorest. Life here was incredibly tough, with the 160 inmates spending their days pulling rope apart by hand or turning the mill, and the very architecture of the building was heavily inspired by prisons.

The connected workhouse gardens make a pretty end to any visit. In Victorian times they served as a place of labour for the inmates as well as their primary source of food, but today they’re a peaceful site and an abundant vegetable crop, with heritage varieties such as Kerrs pink potatoes, white icicle radishes and bull’s blood beetroots taking centre stage. nationaltrust.org.uk/the-workhouse-southwell 74 • NOVEMBER 2018

© KILLAM ARSHIA NUKF LICKR

SOUTHWELL, NOTTINGHAMSHIRE

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Grand Hotel

SCARBOROUGH, NORTH YORKSHIRE

We owe a great deal of our beloved British institutions to our Victorian forebears, including jaunts to the seaside. The tradition grew out of the expansion of the railways, which gave people greater access to our coastlines and boomed even further with the introduction of Bank Holidays in 1871.

The Grand Hotel in Scarborough was built in the peak of this domestic train tourism boom. In 1845 the town

was linked to York by rail, a development that brought a flood of holidaymakers with it. When it opened, the Grand Hotel was one of the largest in Europe. It had a calendar theme, with 356 rooms, 52 chimneys and 12 floors.

Visitors can still book in at the hotel today and enjoy the same traditional seaside pastimes as their ancestors—watching Punch and Judy shows, eating ice creams (then known as hokey pokey) or riding along the promenade on donkeys. britanniahotels.com/hotels/thegrand-hotel-scarborough

NOVEMBER 2018 • 75

Tower Ballroom

BLACKPOOL

Another immensely popular Victorian seaside town, Blackpool, received a surge in visitors following the erection of the Blackpool Tower towards the end of the Victorian era, in 1894. In 1899, the Tower Ballroom was opened, a revamped theatre designed to rival the nearby Empress Ballroom, which had dwarfed the tower’s original ballroom when it raised its curtain in 1896.

The spacious new ballroom was decorated in an intricate Baroque style with incredible lavish boxes, painted ceilings and chandeliers. The specially designed sprung dancefloor, which spanned 120 square feet, attracted dancers from all over the world, and the glamour of the venue meant even the most working-class locals could experience a night of luxury.

Today, the ballroom famously plays regular host to the final of Strictly Come Dancing and visitors still flock to dance in its grand interior or enjoy afternoon tea under the dreamy painted ceiling.

IAIN CAMERON / FLICKR

theblackpooltower.com

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Osborne House

THE ISLE OF WIGHT

English-heritage.org.uk/visit/ places/osborne/

NICK / F LIC KR

During the 1840s, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were on the lookout for an escape from the pressures of court life—somewhere their young family could relax by the sea. When he heard of their search, then Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel recommended Osborne House.

Prince Albert had an eye for architecture, and although he loved the location, he didn’t much care for the property. It was poorly equipped to meet the luxuries the royal family

was accustomed to, and so in collaboration with architect Thomas Cubitt, he decided to knock it down, and build something more suitable in its place.

And so, the current Osborne House was born: a stunning, Italian Renaissance-inspired home with tall, square towers and beautiful terraces, gardens, pergolas and pools. Open to the public since 1951, highlights include the ornate, Indian-inspired Durbar room and Queen Victoria’s private beach.

NOVEMBER 2018 • 77

BEST OF BRITISH

The Charles Dickens Museum Much of what we know of the everyday life of British Victorians stems from the detailed, character-driven writing of the realist master novelist, Charles Dickens.

The Charles Dickens Museum in London—the author’s only surviving London house, in which he lived between 1837 to 1839— was the place where he wrote such literary masterpieces as Oliver Twist and The Pickwick Papers.

Visitors to the museum can gaze at the writing desk where Nicholas Nickleby and Great Expectations were penned and see the rooms in which his daughters were born.

Says director Cindy Sughrue, “Immerse yourself in the life of Charles Dickens and feel his presence in the rooms. Walk in Dickens’s footsteps and see the home he shared with his wife and young children. It was here that Dickens achieved his lasting celebrity and universal recognition as one of the greatest storytellers of all time.” dickensmuseum.com 78 • NOVEMBER 2018

SIOBHAN DORAN PHOTOGRA PHY

LONDON

READER’S DIGEST

The Old Operating Theatre LONDON

For an altogether grizzlier glimpse into Victorian Britain, London’s Old Operating Theatre takes some beating. Housed in the rafters of the old St Thomas’ Hospital, it’s the oldest surviving surgical theatre in Europe.

In the theatre's heyday, surgeries were performed without anesthetic, equipment wasn’t washed before operations and bandages were routinely reused.

As well as taking in the intense atmosphere of the theatre, spend some time purveying the artefacts of medical days gone by. Endless

curiosities line the museum walls, including the masks worn by plague doctors, cabinets of ointments and potions and all manner of skulls, specimens and scalpels.

Says head of marketing Monica Walker, “Our atmospheric museum offers visitors a unique insight into the history of medicine and surgery and it predates both anaesthetics and antiseptics." oldoperatingtheatre.com

Do you have a favourite Victorian spot?

Email us about it at readersletters@ readersdigest.co.uk NOVEMBER 2018 • 79

Nicholas Coleridge is the Chairman of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and also Chairman of Condé Nast Britain and The Campaign for Wool. He is the author of 13 books and is currently writing his memoirs

IF I RULED THE WORLD

Nicholas Coleridge Airports would revert to their original purpose. Which is, of course, a place where people board and disembark planes. I’m fed up with having to walk great distances through shopping malls and restaurant complexes to get to the plane. And I definitely don’t like being sprayed by the latest eau de cologne as I make my way there.

With fewer retail hubs the airports would be smaller and more efficient.

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I’d outlaw call centres. No company would be allowed to have their phone answered by a machine telling us that our call is important to them. Mozart would not be played on a continuous loop as you wait and get increasingly irritated. No buttons would need to be pressed to go to another machine to press more buttons. Instead real people would answer and say, “Hello, how can I help you?”

INSPIRE

We’d all take advantage of the free health benefits of the sun. There’s a lot of fear around potential skin damage without the correct use of sun cream, but a small amount of regular exposure to the sun significantly increases our bodies’ production of Vitamin D. It’s necessary for keeping our bones strong and preventing rickets and osteoporosis. On sunny days children’s lessons should be moved out into the playground.

Management consulting would not be a serious profession. These are big companies who are invited into an organisation to look at “problems” and advise on new strategies. On the whole what they come up with is banal and obvious. The fact is that it’s the role and duty of a CEO and the team to do exactly that without the expense and disruption of bringing in anyone else to do it for them.

Announcements on our transport system would be limited to vital information. None of us need to be told to hold the handrail, watch our step or even take a break on the roads from those digital billboards.

When I get on a plane, bus or underground I like to be left alone to think. Being interrupted intrudes on people’s personal brain space.

I’d make visiting museums as compulsory as going to school.

Parents would take their children to

visit four museums a year from the ages of five to 15. This would create a wonderful habit of going to see inspiring and lovely things from an early age and would foster an appreciation and understanding of the history of human culture.

Office meetings would be no longer than 20 minutes. There’s almost nothing that can’t be dealt with in that short time if you come to a meeting properly prepared and are precise. The Americans now have many meetings standing up to stop the settling in to comfortable arm chairs and helping-yourself-toBourbon-biscuits-mentality that’s truly such a time waster.

I’d start a programme to encourage more butterflies back into Britain.

Our butterfly population has seen a shocking and devastating decline over the years. Loss of habitat and environmental change are the worst culprits in their demise—but we can turn this around. A properly managed programme of breeding across the country, incubating caterpillars and chrysalises in greenhouses and releasing them into the right environment free from lethal pesticides might just save these joyous insects.

As told to Caroline Hutton For more information on The Victoria and Albert Museum, visit vam.ac.uk NOVEMBER 2018 • 81

We’re not out of the woods yet, but there are many positive trends to help the environment

BY DAMI A N C A R R I N GTO N F ROM TH E G UA RD IA N

GLOBAL

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WARMING s w e N d o o G e Th

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something that might be enough— the two key words are ‘start’ and ‘might’. ” He says that the global climate meetings to be held in Poland this December are crucial. “The acceleration embodied in the Paris agreement is going to be critical.”

METHANE:

Getting to the Meat Carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels is the main greenhouse gas, but methane and nitrous oxide are a major concern because they are more potent. The main source is livestock farming, in particular belching cattle and their manure.

The world’s appetite for meat and dairy foods is rising as people’s incomes rise, but the simple arithmetic is that unless this is radically curbed, there’s no way to beat global warming. The task looks daunting—people hate being told what to eat. However, just in the last year, a potential solution has burst on to the market: plantbased meat, which has a tiny environmental footprint.

What sounds like an oxymoron— food that looks and tastes just as good as meat or dairy products but is made from plants—has attracted heavy investment. The buzz is particularly loud in the US, where Bill Gates has backed two plant-based burger

PHOTOILLUSTRATI ON, P REVIOUS SPREAD: © PA RABOL STUDI O/ SHUTTERSTOCK; OP POSITE PAGE: © SHUTTERSTOCK

SERIES OF fast-moving global megatrends, spurred by trillionpound investments, indicates that humanity might be able to avert the worst impacts of global warming.

From trends already at full steam, including renewable energy, to those just hitting the big time, such as mass-market electric cars, to those just emerging, such as plant-based alternatives to meat, these trends show that greenhouse gas emissions can be halted.

No one is saying the battle to avert catastrophic climate change—floods, droughts, famine, mass migrations—has been won. “The important thing is to recognise that we’re seriously challenged,” says Christina Figueres, former UN Climate Chief. “At the same time, the fact is we’re already seeing many, many positive trends.”

Michael Liebreich, the founder of Bloomberg New Energy Finance, agrees. “The good news is that we are way better than we thought we could be. We’re not going to get through this without damage. But we can avoid the worst.”

Also cautiously hopeful is climate economist Nicholas Stern at the London School of Economics (LSE). “These trends are the start of

READER’S DIGEST

companies and Eric Schmidt, formerly executive chairman of Google, believes plant-based foods can make a meaningful dent in tackling climate change.

Perhaps even more telling is that major meat and dairy companies are now piling in with investments and acquisitions, such as the US’s biggest meat processor, Tyson, and

“IN 30 YEARS ALL MEAT WILL BE EITHER LAB OR PLANT BASED” RICHARD BRANSON

multinational giants Danone and Nestlé. The Chinese government in 2017 put $300 million US (£228 million) into Israeli companies producing lab-grown meat, which could also cut emissions.

New plant-based products, from chicken to fish to cheese, are coming out every month. “We are in the nascent stage,” says Alison Rabschnuk at the US nonprofit group the Good Food Institute. Plant-based meat and dairy produce are not only environmentally friendly but also healthier and avoid animal welfare concerns, but she says these benefits alone won’t make them mass-market: “We believe the products themselves need to be competitive on taste, price and convenience.”

Plant-based milks—soya, almond, oat and more—have led the way and are now about ten per cent of the US market and a billion-dollar business.

RENEWABLE ENERGY:

Time to Shine

The most advanced of the megatrends is the renewable energy revolution.

Production costs for solar panels and wind turbines have plunged, by 90 per cent in the past decade for solar, for example, and are continuing to fall.

As a result, in many parts of the world they’re already the cheapest electricity available and installation is soaring: two-thirds of all new power in 2016 was renewable.

This extraordinary growth has NOVEMBER 2018 • 85

G L O B A L WA R M I N G

confounded expectations: the respected International Energy Agency’s (IEA) annual projections have anticipated linear growth for solar power every year for the past decade. In reality, growth has been exponential. China is leading the surge but the impact is being felt around the world: over just one week in last November, 2017, there was so much wind power in Germany that customers got free electricity.

KING COAL:

Dead or Dying

The flipside of the renewables boom is the death spiral of coal, the filthiest of fossil fuels. Production now appears to have peaked in 2013.

The speed of its demise has stunned analysts. In 2013, the IEA projected that coal demand would grow by 40 per cent by 2040—now they project a growth of just one per cent.

The cause is simple: solar and wind are cheaper. But the consequences are enormous: in pollution-choked

China, there are now no provinces where new coal is needed, so the country last year mothballed plans for 151 plants. Bankruptcies have torn through the US coal industry and in the UK it has fallen from 40 per cent of power supply to seven per cent in the past five years.

“Last year, I said if Asia builds what it says it is going to, we can kiss goodbye to two degrees Celsius (the internationally agreed limit for dangerous climate change),” says Michael Liebreich. “Now we’re showing coal [plans] coming down.”

A second tipping point is needed, he says. That will occur when renewables are cheaper to build than running existing coal plants, meaning that the latter shut down.

If renewable costs continue to fall as expected, this would happen between 2030 and 2040.

ELECTRIC CARS:

In the Fast Lane Slashing oil use—a third of all global

“WE COULD SEE AS MANY AS 80 PER CENT OF NEW CARS BEING ELECTRIC BY 2030” VIKTOR IRLE, an analyst at EV-volumes.com 86 • NOVEMBER 2018

PHOTOILLUSTRATI ON: © SHUTTERSTOC K

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energy—is a huge challenge but a surging market for batterypowered cars is starting to bite, driven in significant part by fast-growing concerns about urban air pollution, with cities and countries from Paris to India announcing future bans on fossilfuelled cars.

China, again, is leading the way.

It’s selling as many electric cars every month as the rest of the world combined, with many from homegrown companies such as BYD. USbased Tesla is rolling out its more affordable Model 3 and in recent months virtually all major car-makers have committed to an electric future, with Volvo and Jaguar Land Rover announcing that they will end production of pure fossil-fuelled cars within two years.

“I don’t think it’s going to slow down,” says Viktor Irle, an analyst at EV-volumes.com, the global electric vehicle sales database. “If current growth rates continue, we could see as many as 80 per cent of new cars being electric by 2030,” he says.

The rapid rise of electric cars has left the oil giants playing catch up.

In its latest forecast, OPEC forecasts 235 million electric cars will be operative by 2040. ExxonMobil and BP are bumping up their forecasts too. Heavy transport remains a

challenge, but even here ships are experimenting with wind power and batteries. Meanwhile the Global EV Outlook (a publication from the International Energy Agency) reports that, “Between nine and 20 million electric cars could be deployed by 2020, and between 40 and 70 million by 2025, according to estimates based on recent statements from car-makers.”

BATTERIES:

Lots in Store Batteries are key to electric cars and, by storing energy for when the sun goes down or the wind drops, they’re also vital for enabling renewable energy to reach its full potential. Here too, a megatrend is crushing prices for lithium-ion batteries, which are down 74 per cent over the past six years.

The International Renewable Energy Agency expects further falls of 50 to 66 per cent by 2030 and a massive increase in battery storage, linked to increasingly smart and efficient digital power grids. In the UK alone, government advisers say a smart grid could save bill-payers 8 billion pounds a year by 2030, as well as slashing carbon emissions.

Fears that lithium-ion, the technology that dominates today, cannot be scaled up sufficiently NOVEMBER 2018 • 87

Programme report shows it makes are overblown, argues Michael the biggest impact of any single Liebreich, as the metal is not rare. action bar rolling out wind “You can be sure lithium-ion will and solar power. get cheaper and you can be sure But again, continued progress there’s enough.” is vital. “We need to drive energy It’s true, however, that batteries efficiency very, very won’t be the solution hard, ” says Professor for energy storage over “ACHIEVING weeks or months. For LARGE-SCALE Kevin Anderson at the University of that, the physical links FORESTATION Manchester. “We could that transfer electricity IS NOT JUST down European between grids or across THEORETICAL” power energy use by about 40 borders, are being built MICHAEL WOLOSIN per cent in something and the storage Forest Climate Analytics like ten to 15 years, just of renewable electricity by making the most as gas is also efficient appliances being explored. available the new minimum.”

EFFICIENCY: In countries with Negawatts Over cool winters, better Megawatts insulation is also Just as important as needed, particularly as the greening of energy a fossil fuel—natural is reducing demand gas—currently provides by boosting energy a lot of heating. efficiency. It’s a no“What’s a crime is brainer in climate every time a building policy, but it can be is renovated it isn’t tricky to make happen, done to really high standards,” says as it requires action from millions Michael Liebreich, “and this is pretty of people. much a global problem.”

Nonetheless, good progress is One sector that is lagging on being made in places such as the EU, energy efficiency is industry, but where efficiency in homes, transport technology to capture and bury and industry has improved by about CO2 from fossil-fueled power 20 per cent since 2000. Improving stations is being tested and ways to the efficiency of appliances through clean up cement making are also better standards is surprisingly being explored. important: a new UN Environment 88 • NOVEMBER 2018

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READER’S DIGEST

FORESTS:

Seeing the Wood The destruction of forests around the world for ranching and farming causes about 15 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions. This is the biggest megatrend not yet pointing in the right direction: annual tree losses have roughly doubled since 2000 which is worrying, as stopping deforestation and planting new trees is among the fastest ways of cutting carbon emissions.

But it’s not getting the support it needs, says Michael Wolosin at Forest Climate Analytics in Washington, DC “Climate policy is massively underfunding forests—they receive only about two per cent of global climate finance.” Furthermore, the £1.76 billion committed to forests in key deforestation countries since 2010 is tiny compared with the funding for the sectors that drive deforestation.

“Brazil and Indonesia’s governments alone invested £211 billion in agricultural subsidies in the same timeframe, in just the four key driver commodities: palm oil, soy, beef and timber,” says Franziska Haupt, a member of the Climate Focus team, and lead author of the annual New York Declaration on Forests Progress Assessment.

In fact, new research has shown that, and Michael Wolosin says, there are some grounds for hope that new forests can be planted. “Achieving large-scale forestation is not just theoretical. A few countries have done it successfully.”

In the past two decades, treeplanting in China, India and South Korea has removed more than 12 billion tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere—three times the entire EU’s annual emissions, Wolosin says.

This action was driven by fears about flooding and food supply.

W

ILL THESE MEGATRENDS

move fast enough to avoid the worst of climate change?

Opinions vary and Manchester University’s Kevin Anderson is among the most hawkish. He says it remains possible for now, but is pessimistic that the action will be taken. “We have to actively close down the incumbent fossil fuel industry.” The LSE’s Nicholas Stern is cautiously optimistic, saying that what has changed in recent years is the realisation that green economic growth is the only long-term option.

“I am very confident now we can do this, but the change has to be radical,” he says. “Will we have the political and economic understanding and commitment to get there? I hope so.”

COPYRIGHT © GUARDIAN NEWS & MEDIA LTD 2018

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Amusement park, beach or city beneath the city.

Come with us underground as we visit some...

HIDDEN GEMS

BY COR N E L I A KU M F E R T

A game of mini-golf and a boat trip across a saltwater lake—where can you do that 400 feet underground?

In Romania, that’s where! The former salt mine of Salina Turda has been home to probably the deepest amusement park in the world since 1992.

PHOTO: © GETTY IMAGES/LUXY IMAGES

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HIDDEN GEMS

 In the 1970s, the fear of bombing raids led to the building of a city beneath the city of Beijing (China). A network of tunnels and catacombs covers an area of approximately 52 square miles, and entrances to Dixia Cheng, the “Underground Great Wall”, can be found all over Beijing. In total, there are supposed to be more than 90 entrances to this hidden city.  By taking the challenging path to the royal pavilion, visitors to the PhrayaNakhon Cave in Thailand are following in the footsteps of King Rama V. The pavilion was built six years after the visit of the much-loved king in 1896. Today the temple is an insider tip for tourists.

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PHOTOS: (LEFT) © GETTY IMAGES/ANDREW ROWAT; (RIGHT) © GETTY IMAGES/PAKIN SONGMOR

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 The Cueva de los Cristales—“the Cave of the Crystals”—in Mexico is one of the most extreme locations on Earth. The beautiful giant crystals grow here in temperatures of around 50°C and 99 per cent humidity, conditions which are hostile to human beings. The cave can only be entered with special cooling suits.  Visitors to Hang En are able to lie on the beach and enjoy the sunshine— in a cave! This enchanting geological anomoly in central Vietnam is home to a subterranean beach by a turquoise lake. The sun shines there through a hole in the ceiling.  One of the oldest irrigation systems in the world can be found in Iran. Kariz-e-Kish is a network of underground tunnels through which it was possible to bring water to arid areas. The system of tunnels was constructed more than 2500 years ago—long before the Romans built their water conduits and aqueducts.

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PHOTOS: (CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT)© GETTY IMAGES/CARSTEN PETER/SPELEORESEARCH & FILMS; © GETTY IMAGES/FILIP KASSOVIC; © GETTY IMAGES/KAVEH KAZEMI

NOVEMBER 2018 • 95

My Great Escape:

Lebanon & On Lena Walton from Surrey admires the rich history and awe-inspiring ancient ruins of Baalbek, Lebanon

T

he ancient city of Baalbek has been my desired travel destination for many years but I doubted I’d actually get to see it.

Since 1927 till the present day, the country has had no less than 21 conflicts, in the form of either civil wars or clashes with its neighbours, Israel and Syria.

Finally, in June of this year I managed to add another piece in the jigsaw puzzle of my Middle Eastern

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travels. The ancient city Baalbek, situated five miles from the Syrian border in the valley of wine and cannabis was back on my radar.

Baalbek has been a bit of an enigma over the years to historians. Home not only to the remains of the Roman Temple to Jupiter and the Temple of Bacchus, it also has on display the Hajar al hibla (The Stone of the

TRAVEL & ADVENTURE

Pregnant Woman)—the largest piece of cut stone in the world. At the nearby quarry, another three stones reveal the full scale of the build for the city of Baalbek.

Historians have not come up with a viable solution as to how these huge monoliths were quarried—let alone cut, transported and placed in situ.

For people visiting the city today there’s the added bonus of very few tourists—far fewer than in many other Roman cities in the Middle East, which means you can sit back and admire the massive buildings without being harassed. It seems fitting that the Temple of Bacchus, with its entrance way carved with vine leaves, was built here. Today, the surrounding hills of the Bekaa valley are home to vineyards that produce some of the world’s topquality wines.

As I descend back down across the hills towards the coast, Beirut slowly re-emerges along the blue Mediterranean shoreline. Sitting down in St George’s Marina late in the evening, it’s hard to imagine this country at war. It’s a peaceful but welcome lull in a long history of conflict. I enjoy a chilled glass of the Ksara wine, whilst observing the huge yachts moored in marina.

Beirut is rebuilding itself, which is nothing it’s not used to. Over the past 5,000 years, it has destroyed and rebuilt itself seven times. Even in the short trip I made, buildings were climbing up like modern cedar trees into the sky. It’s just another new foundation in its impressive 5,000-year-old history.

Tell us about your favourite holiday (send a photo too) and if we print it we’ll pay £50.

Email excerpts@readersdigest.co.uk

The Temple of Bacchus, Lebanon

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NORTHERN LIGHTS FOR SKIERS: LUOSTO

Finland has better Northern Lights statistics than its Scandi neighbours, and slightly cheaper prices. Stay at the cosy Hotel Luosto and you can ski on seven slopes before scanning the skies at night (theaurorazone.com).

FOR THE DESPERATE: SVALBARD

FOR WILDLIFE FANS: SWEDISH LAPLAND

Want to maximise your odds? Using winter’s 24-hour darkness, a luxurious new trip to Norway lets guests hunt for the Aurora Borealis all day. It’s available between November and late January (offthemap.travel).

Frozen lakes, snowy forests and the lights dancing at night: welcome to Swedish Lapland in winter.

Departing January 16, Naturetrek’s four-night tour adds in husky safaris, glamping and moose and reindeer sightings (naturetrek.com).

FOR BIG-SPENDERS: YUKON

FOR BUCKET LISTERS: ICELAND

Three new “Aurora Glass Chalets” have opened by the Yukon River Valley at Canada’s far-flung Northern Lights Resort & Spa. Each boasts floor-to-ceiling windows to enable bed-based lights-watching (magneticnorthtravel.com).

Nocturnal scrutiny for those green and purple swirls can be combined with the waterfalls and geysers of Iceland’s legendary Golden Circle on three-night self-drive tours. There’s even time for whale-watching (discover-the-world.com).

by Richard Mellor

Travel app of the month GAYZE, FREE, ANDROID & IOS Is your destination gay-friendly? This new app has the answer for different global countries, plus travel tips and even social network and dating elements.

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TRAVEL & ADVENTURE

The Real Joy Of Skiing

BY A N N E R O U M A N O F F

G

etting to the ski resort, all going well, takes six hours by train and two hours driving on mountain roads: “Mummy, I feel yucky, I’m going to be sick.”

“Hang on, I’ll open the window…there you go, breathe in the fresh mountain air.”

“Mummy, I’m freezing…oh dear! I’ve been sick.”

Next comes the warm welcome at our holiday apartments, The Three Pines: “Do you have a credit card, in case you break anything? If you want to take the lift then you’ll need to go around on the outside.

Watch out! It’s slippery underfoot…too late.”

You settle into a charming studio flat with a view of the mountains…well, of the car park at the foot of the mountains: “I thought this place slept six.”

“It does. Look, darling, there are two sofa beds in the living room. Well…in the living-room/kitchen/dining-room.”

Then it’s off to the local shop where it’s best to imagine you’re shopping in some far remote country in an unfamiliar currency: “Eight euros for two litres of milk?”

“Yes, it’s a special offer!”

After a night on a bed as hard as a bare plank you have to kit out each child with gloves, scarf, hat, ski suit, smother them with sun screen and put on their ski boots. Then, with his or her most winning smile, the child announces: “Mummy, I want to go to the toilet.”

In the mountains, I’ve come to realise that my favourite sport is stretching full length…on a lounger. I love to bask in the sun on the terrace of high-altitude restaurants with a mug of hot chocolate, a slice of blueberry tart and a plate of chips. Being among the peaks really heightens the appetite!

7 Ways To Handle

Sale Fever

Don’t get caught up in the Black Friday frenzy and follow these simple tips to make the most of your money

B

lack Friday is branded as the biggest shopping event of the year, replacing Boxing Day and New Year’s Day as the best time to bag a bargain. And last year shoppers eagerly took part—£1.4bn was spent online in the UK in just that single day.

But even though prices across this and other festive sales are certainly low, they might not be the cheapest.

Research for Which? last year found 60 per cent of items they tracked over the Black Friday sales were available for the same or less at other times in the year.

That’s not to say you can’t save some serious cash in all these sales, but there are a few rules I follow to make sure I’m not getting caught up in the frenzy. Follow these and you Andy Webb is a personal finance journalist and runs the award-winning money blog, Be Clever With Your Cash

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should end up with the items you want for a decent price.

BEFORE THE SALES START

Know what you want It’s easy to get caught up in the sales and buy items just because the discount appears too good to miss.

You can mitigate against this by working out what you actually need or want before you set foot in a shop.

This allows you to focus your bargain hunting and not get distracted by things you’ll never use or wear, however big the price cut.

Set a budget Now you’re armed with a list of items to look for, you need to work out how much you can afford to pay. Stick to this total, even if you’re sorely tempted. If you’re hoping to pick up some Christmas presents, it helps to set a price limit per person.

It’s also worth spending a few minutes working out a good price for the items on your list (more on how to do this over the page).

MONEY

Sign up for your favourite retailers To know what’s happening and when it can help to subscribe to emails from the shops and brands you hope to shop with during the sales.

You might even get exclusive offers and deals.

DURING THE SALES

Compare prices You should spend a moment checking another retailer isn’t selling the same item for less during the sales. Comparison websites will show the cost at a huge number of different retailers.

And take the size of the discount with a pinch of salt as it will likely be calculated using the full price, a figure it might not have been sold at for a long time.

Pay by credit card If you’re spending more than £100 on a single item then it pays to put it on a credit card. This gives you added protection if something goes

wrong. Just make sure you pay off the card in full to avoid getting charged interest.

AFTER YOU’VE BEEN SHOPPING

Know your rights and keep your receipts Even with all your planning, you might still pick things up you aren’t sure about. In this case, first check the return policy. Though most shops will allow returns if you change your mind, retailers don’t have to. Online is different as you have 14 days to return anything for any reason as long as it hasn’t been personalised, though you might have to pay the postage costs.

Price match Some retailers, notably John Lewis, will price match something even after you’ve bought it. So track the price of your purchases to see if there are further reductions, and then check if you can claim the difference back.

NOVEMBER 2018 • 101

MONEY

When Is

Black Friday?

Confused about all the big sales dates? We’ve got you covered THIS YEAR, BLACK FRIDAY TAKES PLACE ON NOVEMBER 23. It traditionally happens the day after Thanksgiving in the US, which always occurs on the fourth Thursday of the month.

The day marked the start of the big annual sales over there, but migrated across the Atlantic in 2013 when US-owned Asda introduced its own event.

The hype—and sales—have grown each year since, though, thankfully we’ve seen less fighting in the aisles with more and more shoppers taking advantage online.

Last year some retailers launched their Black Friday sales at the start of November, running them throughout 102 • NOVEMBER 2018

the month, so keep an eye on your favourite retailers to see when they plan to kick things off.

The sales will then continue over the weekend and into “Cyber Monday” on November 26.

And it’s not long before the Christmas sales begin, with many shops cutting prices as early as Christmas Eve.

READER’S DIGEST

Money Sites Of The Month

IDEALO.CO.UK CAMELCAMELCAMEL.COM

ONE OF MY BIG FRUSTRATIONS with sales is buying something only to find out it’s cheaper a few months later. You can’t avoid this completely, but there’s a trick to reduce the chance of it happening.

The key is to know the price history, ie, how much something has been selling for.

With this information you can predict whether the current price is high or low.

The two websites I use for this are Idealo.co.uk and uk.

CamelCamelCamel.com. Both allow you to bring up a price history graph on pretty much any item sold online.

Idealo shows the lowest price across a

host of retailers, while Camel Camel Camel is just for Amazon.

You can see the ups and downs of how much items sell for, as well as the average prices. These figures then give you a sense of whether the current price is decent, or if you should wait a while.

There are obvious patterns, such as dips around the Black Friday weekend and Christmas/ New Year sales, but there’s more you can learn too.

If you’re looking at a brand new model, let’s say a TV, you can look at the price history of the previous version to spot how soon the launch price drops to something more reasonable. You can even set price alerts to get an email notification when something falls below a price you set.

You’ll also be able to use the data to see if some items are always on sale.

This can reveal that a promotion declaring a £200 discount is really just £30 less than the average selling price.

MOON THE LOON The notorious drummer of The Who, Keith Moon, had a penchant for destroying hotel rooms. Once, in a limousine on the way to the airport he insisted they return to their hotel, saying, “I forgot something.”

At the hotel he ran back to his room, grabbed the television and threw it out the window into the swimming pool below. He then jumped back into the limo, saying, “I nearly forgot.”

SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA.ORG

NOVEMBER 2018 • 103

PARTNERSHIP

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WHAT IS THE BEST LIFETIME PLAN FOR YOU? Low-interest rates and rising costs of living are hampering saver’s efforts to put enough away for retirement. If you are approaching retirement, or are retired, you could boost your budget by accessing a portion of your home’s value. UK homeowners aged 55 and over, could be eligible for a specialist mortgage known as a Lifetime Mortgage.

Lifetime Mortgages are the most popular way to release tax-free equity because they allow you to retain full homeownership, with no required monthly payments. On top of this, the consumer-focused trade body, the Equity Release Council (ERC), ensures lenders provide plans which come with customer safeguards as standard.

The loan is secured against your home and can be repaid through the sale of your property once you and your partner have passed away or have moved into permanent residential care. The benefits of accessing your money in this way is that you are not impacting on your budget, and you can live in your home for as long as you desire. Some plans are even portable, as long as your new home meets the lender’s criteria.

Overall there are three main types of plan on offer, the Roll-Up, Drawdown, and Flexible. With all three, you receive a cash lump sum.

The Roll-Up plan is standard, you release a lump sum from your home, which accrues interest over the entire term, but with no required payments. A suitable option if you know how much you’ll need. All the other plans are variations of this, with additional features, such as the ability to leave a guaranteed inheritance for example.

The Drawdown Lifetime Mortgage lets you release funds while placing a portion of it into an interest-free reserve. You only accrue interest on the money after you withdraw it, so you can limit the build-up of interest. It also means that you have access to cash as and when you need it, allowing you to react when you have that lightbulb moment.

While with a Flexible Lifetime Mortgage, you can make voluntary repayments of up to 10% of the initial amount borrowed, without penalty.

Allowing you to lessen the impact of interest if you wish, and is also a great way to pay back what you borrow if you want to treat it as a traditional loan.

Understanding how your release will work and how you can use the features available is important. This is because releasing some of your equity now may reduce the value of your estate in time and could affect your entitlement to means-tested state benefits. An adviser can provide you with a personalised illustration of the features and risks of all the different plans, so you can choose the best option for you.

If you think that your retirement could be boosted by a secure tax-free cash boost, then contact us today and request your free copy of the Reader’s Digest Guide to Equity Release.

Visit Readersdigest.co.uk/release or Call 0800 029 1233 Reader’s Digest Equity Release is a trading style of Responsible Life Limited. Only if your case completes will Responsible Life Limited charge an advice fee, currently not exceeding £1,295. Responsible Life Limited is Authorised and Regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and is entered on the Financial Services Register (http://www. fsa.gov.uk/register/home.do) under reference 610205. Responsible Life Limited is registered in England & Wales.

Company No. 7162252. Registered office: Unit 8 ABC Killinghall Stone Quarry, Ripon Road, Harrogate, HG3 2BA

FOOD

Hot Ham With Cheesy Leeks As nights draw in, I look to scalable dishes. It’s that time of year where evenings are eked out over long dinners, and as the festive season approaches it’s useful to get into the rhythm of feeding a crowd. Hot ham is so easy and is a real crowd-pleaser Serves 4

• 4kg gammon joint, boneless and unsmoked • 2 onions, halved • 2 celery sticks, quartered • 10 black peppercorns • 2 bay leaves • Optional herbs: thyme, parsley stalks • 15-20 cloves • 400g fine shred marmalade For the cheesy leeks

• • • • • • •

6 leeks 80g butter 80g plain flour 800ml milk 200g mature cheddar, grated 2tsp English mustard ½ lemon, squeezed Rachel Walker is a food writer for numerous national publications.

Visit rachel-walker.co.uk for more information

106 • NOVEMBER 2018

1. P lace the gammon in a large pot,

cover with water and add onions, peppercorns and herbs. Bring to a simmer and cook for 2.5 hours (20 minutes per 500g).

2. R emove pan from the heat and let the ham cool in the cooking liquor for 45 minutes. Cut away the tough, top layer of skin to expose the fat below and then use the tip of a sharp knife to cut a criss-cross pattern into the skin, dotting each cross with a clove.

3. Preheat oven to 200°C, and lift ham into roasting tin. Mix the marmalade to loosen, and rub it into the skin.

Return to the oven for a further hour, basting every 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, slice the leeks at about 2-inch intervals.

4. M elt the butter in a large pan, stir in the flour and cook for one minute until a thick, golden paste.

Add the milk bit by bit, beating until it’s fully absorbed. Stir in ¾ of the cheese and season with mustard and lemon juice.

5. S tir leeks into the cheese sauce, pour into an ovenproof baking dish, top with the remaining cheese and put the leeks into the oven with the ham for the final ½ hour of cooking, until goldenbrown and bubbling at the edges.

6. S erve with jacket potatoes.

Drinks Tip…

P HOTOGRAPHY BY TIM & ZOË HI LL

Salty-sweet ham pairs well with fruity red and white wines. Cider is also a natural partner or Calvados cocktails if you’re celebrating

107

FOOD

APPLE CRUMBLE WITH SULTANAS AND SPICES 1. P reheat the oven to 180°C and grease a

2L ovenproof dish with butter.

P HOTOGRAPHY BY TIM & ZOË HI LL

2. S queeze the lemon into a large pan

and top it up with the same amount of water. Add the sultanas, and heat.

3. N ext, peel and core the apples and then cut them into chunks, adding them to the lemon juice as you go to stop them from colouring. Sprinkle the sugar and allspice over the apples, and cook on a low heat for 5 minutes.

4. M eanwhile, cut the butter into small cubes, and then use your fingertips to rub it together with the flour so that it has a coarse crumb. Add the sugar and work it a little more until there’s an even-looking crumble topping.

4. T ip the apple into the baking dish, top with crumble and bake for 25 minutes. Serve with ice cream, custard, cream—or all three!

SERVES 6-8 • ½ lemon, juiced • 100g sultanas • 1kg cooking apples • 50g brown sugar • 50g caster sugar • 1tsp allspice 108

For the crumble topping • 300g flour • 150g butter • 75g caster sugar

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Escorted tours have changed dramatically over the past few years - you have the security benefits and the knowledge of expert guides for each destination as part of an escorted group tour - but you can then tailor make the holiday and create your very own itinerary - choosing the tour pace and group size that’s right for you.

The highlights of the 12-day Costa Rica tour include staying in Tortuguero National Park surrounded by wildlife, a crocodile safari and bird watching excursion, 2-nights at a resort overlooking the iconic Arenal Volcano, a 2-night stay just outside of pristine Manuel Antonio National Park and traversing pristine forest trails in search of wildlife. You’ll also get to enjoy wonderful culinary experiences including a traditional “campesino” country-style farmer’s lunch, dinner overlooking the lush Villa Blanca Cloud Forest, indulging in the sweet taste of chocolate at a biological reserve and delving into the world of coffee during a plantation visit.

But you can also choose how you experience all of this, for example - you can choose to enjoy Arenal Volcano National Park either on a thrill-seeking zip-lining experience through the rain forest or for a more laid back experience you can traverse the volcano’s former lava fields.

Both these options are included in the tour price but you can choose how to enjoy the destination. You can also add on additional excursions such as an evening nature hike or the Penas Blancas Safari River Float as well as adding destination extensions such as an extra night in San Jose at the beginning or end of your tour. ■ COSTA RICA—A WORLD OF NATURE

If you want to find out more about the Costa Rica - World of Nature Tour visit readersdigestguidedtours.co.uk or call 0800 804 8373 to speak to a Collette travel adviser.

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HOME & GARDEN

Winter Warmer Make your home cosy this season with a woodburning stove and follow our guide on how to choose the right model for you

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

W

ood-burners have seen a recent rise in popularity in UK properties thanks to manufacturers increasing their efficiency and making them an ecofriendly way to heat homes. Modern technology means many models now carry the SIA Ecodesign Ready label which meets the high environmental standards across the EU. These greener stoves can emit up to 90 per cent less dust, smoke and soot than open fires. Not only does this reduce their carbon footprint, but the increased efficiency means you’ll save money by burning considerably fewer logs than with older models.

110 • NOVEMBER 2018

When choosing a stove to suit your space, you’ll need to calculate how many kilowatts are needed to heat the room. As a guideline, 1kW of heat output for every 46 cubic feet achieves a comfortable temperature.

Once you’ve selected a model, decide whether a wood-burner or multi-fuel stove is your best option.

If you live in a smoke control area, you’ll be required to burn smokeless fuels by using a multi-fuel model, but if you only plan on burning logs then a wood-burner will do the job.

Get a HETAS registered professional to install your stove so it meets the current regulations; you’ll need to have your chimney swept and tested and the flue will have to be lined to protect it from heat damage. There are also safety requirements for the space around a stove so make sure you check these with your retailer before installation.

Focal Point Salisbury 8 series wood-burning stove in black, £1,498, Chesneys

111

HOME & GARDEN

The Power Of

Plant Pots

Containers offer an instant, lush effect that even the most patient gardener finds hard to resist

M

any plants give more value for less outlay when you grow them in containers.

Half a dozen petunias in a large pot spill out liberally, and—so long as they’re well looked after—provide a dramatic effect that you’d be hardpressed to achieve in a bed. And these same petunias reveal their little-known scent simply by being lifted closer to you.

You gain the greatest effect by carefully suiting a container to its site and the job it has to do. The happy miscellany of old pots and tin drums that gives joy in a sun trap abroad soon palls in a wintry country garden. As far as possible, choose containers whose style, material and

112 • NOVEMBER 2018

colour are in keeping with the overall design of the house and garden.

DECORATING POTS

Inexpensive plastic containers are easily transformed with a coat of matte-finish acrylic paint to give splashes of cheery colour or to create more formal and elegant plantholders. If the plant you intend to grow in the container is flowery, decorate the pot discreetly with delicate sponging. A foliage-interest plant will have added impact in a patterned pot. Six or eight broad stripes in alternate subtle colours always look good, and if you want a little more exuberant detailing, add a stencilled design.

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ENHANCE YOUR LATER LIFE INCOME Equity release is one of the UK’s fastest growing financial services and is becoming a popular way for over 55 homeowners to fund their retirement income. We explain what it is and how it works What is equity release?

Equity release schemes allow you to access the cash tied up in your home without having to sell and move out, meaning you benefit from the value of the property but can continue to live in your own home. To be eligible for equity release you must be 55 or over with a UK property worth at least 70,000. There are several options available for how you release your cash.

How it works The most popular scheme is called a lifetime mortgage: the interest on your loan accumulates and is repaid along with the capital when your house is sold after you and your partner die or go into care.

Accessing some of your property wealth now will reduce the value of your estate for use in the future. However, any excess can be passed on as part of your estate.

Boosting your later life finances with taxfree cash through a lifetime mortgage may

also affect your entitlement to meanstested benefits. An adviser can provide you with a personalised illustration of the features and risks.

Alternatively, under a home reversion scheme you sell a percentage of your property, with the rest a guaranteed inheritance for your children.

Flexible Lifetime Mortgage With this scheme you can take as little as £10,000 tax-free, leave funds in reserve and your property remains your own. If you wanted to pay some of the money back into your property, you can do so with optional repayments of up to 10 per cent per year of the amount you borrowed. Like any other borrowing, an interest rate is charged and any interest you choose not to pay is simply added to the total and paid when you or your heirs eventually sell the property. The interest rate is fixed for life, so you can be sure of what you are being charged. No matter how much you take with this plan, you will never owe more than the value of your property.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

To find out how much tax-free cash you could release from your home visit www.readersdigest.co.uk/equityrelease.

Our handy calculator will give you the information you require. You can also call 0800 029 1233 to discuss your needs with a view to arranging a home visit with one of our financial advisors.

Reader’s Digest Equity Release is a trading style of Responsible Life Limited. Only if your case completes will Responsible Life Limited charge an advice fee, currently not exceeding £1,295

FASHION & BEAUTY

Party Style Lisa Lennkh is a banker turned fashion writer, stylist and blogger.

Her blog, The Sequinist, focuses on sparkle and statement style for midlife women

N

ext month, festive celebrations will be in full swing, so now's the time to think about what to wear. It shouldn't be stressful or tricky but it often is! You want to be comfortable, but you also want to look and feel special occasion appropriate. It's never a good idea to buy something last minute, so planning ahead is essential. Instead of a standard beaded or velvet dress, I like to simply add a sparkly item or two to glam up my existing wardrobe.

Most of the parties I get invited to are either in people's homes or standing in restaurant bars, so I like to be comfortable (read: no high heels!).

I love a low-key luxe mix, such as a jumper paired with a sequin skirt.

There's something super stylish about the contrast of an everyday knit with a sleek sequin skirt. I also love a black 114 • NOVEMBER 2018

tuxedo suit with a pair of showstoping chandelier earrings or a black dress with a sequin skinny scarf or glittery statement shoes.

On our street, we always have a huge Christmas party at one of our neighbour's house. He's a sort of godfather to the street and handdelivers homemade invitations every year. His is the ideal house party because you're sure to have common ground with everyone, from planning permissions scandals to schools. We descend upon his house with a bottle in hand, and stay until we feel guilty at how late it is for the baby sitter or we're so hot that we need to leave to cool off, whichever comes first.

At this party, I have to be very comfortable. Jumpers are out of the question due to the crowded house, as are heels since I'm standing for at least six hours. I usually opt for flat sparkly shoes, a pair of black trousers, a blouse, and either a conversationpiece necklace or a pair of statement earrings, plus a festive red lipstick (Lipstick Queen Saint Red is the best universal red I've found).

My top suggestion would be to buy a sequin skirt. If you don't have a silver or gold one (matte or shiny, whichever you prefer) to wear with a jumper, a blouse, or a blazer, what are you waiting for? Dressed down with boots and a chunky knit or dressed up with a blazer and heels, you'll be surprised at how many occasions you find to wear it.

READER’S DIGEST

115

FA S H I O N & B E A U T Y

Supermarket Saviours As branded cosmetics become more and more expensive, Jenessa Williams reveals a surprising secret— the beauty aisles of our supermarkets

T

he humble supermarket—not the first place you’d think of when restocking your beauty cupboard. But among the tinned beans and ready-meals, there may well be a cosmetic delight to rival even the most lavish branded buy.

Formulated in many of the same factories as our favourite high-end names, supermarket beauty is a great way to try out new ingredients on a budget. As stores strive to earn their percentage of an estimated £17bn UK industry, more investment than ever is going into own-brands, with increasingly stylish packaging and rich, eco-friendly formulas hitting our shelves. It seems to be working too— Tesco’s cosmetics line regularly scores highly in the Annual Product Of The Year awards, holding its own against esteemed competitors such as Olay, Venus and Garnier.

If you’re looking to sample the simpler life, try alternating supermarket

116 • NOVEMBER 2018

beauty with your usual products to keep your routine fresh. Waitrose, George at Asda and Tesco all have their own range, while the offers section at Aldi is worth a rummage for its No.3 range, said to dupe high end fragrances in its perfumes and body creams. Splurge those loyalty points on a treat—it’ll certainly liven up the weekly grocery trip.

Hero Products 1 Tesco Softening Body Lotion with Cocoa Butter, £1 for 250ml 2 Waitrose Pure Facial Oil, £6 for 100ml 3 George at ASDA Matte Lipstick, £3

HHHHH

If you’ve always been on the fence about Carey Mulligan, this is the film that’ll tip you over the edge with a mighty kick. Playing a distressed but strong-minded wife and mother, Jeanette, who’s suddenly left to her own devices when her husband leaves to fight raging forest fires, Mulligan’s performance is a jaw-dropping revelation: vivid, fiery and versatile.

She’s accompanied by Jake Gyllenhaal as her troubled husband Jerry whose lost sense of purpose pushes him towards the hazardous cause; and Ed Oxenbould as her

precocious son Joe, in an equally impressive, emotionally charged performance as a mature-beyond-hisyears boy who wants nothing more than for his parents to get along.

The three of them complete this nuclear family portrait consumed by deep unhappiness.

There’s not much action in Wildlife; it’s a quiet, stripped down drama where a lingering look or a half-concealed sigh speaks more than words ever could, rendering action and dialogue almost superfluous. It’s actor Paul Dano’s (There Will Be Blood, Little Miss Sunshine) directorial debut and it’s a pitch-perfect and sincere piece of cinema that’ll give you goosebumps through and through.

118 • NOVEMBER 2018

READERSDIGEST.CO.U K/C U LT U RE / F IL M

Actor Paul Dano announces himself as a formidable director with his poignant debut about an unhappy family

© KALEIDOSCOPE ENTERTAI NM ENT

WILDLIFE

FILMS

HHHHH

© CURZON ARTIF ICIA L EYE / DOGWOOF / M UBI / M OVI ESTORE COLLECTION LTD / AL AMY STOCK PHOTO

DOCUMENTARY: BAD REPUTATION An in-your-

face, spirited documentary that’s as mischievously fun as its subject matter, Joan Jett.

A girl from Pennsylvania who just wanted to rock, Jett had to put up with decades of blatant sexism, patronising music producers and predatory managers to finally achieve international success with her band, The Blackhearts, and become the “Godmother of Punk” that she is today. Narrated by Jett herself, with her deep, raspy voice and a wild, fiendish look in her eyes, the film also

features tons of juicy archive footage, interviews with such rock giants as Iggy Pop and Debbie Harry as well as loads of rip-roaring rock’n’roll that’ll make you feel 16 again.

HHHHH HORROR: SUSPIRIA Venture into the

HHHHH DRAMA: DISOBEDIENCE Rachel Weisz

and Rachel McAdams play illegitimate lovers trapped within a suffocating community of Orthodox Jews in London.

Sounds like an intriguing premise with lots of potential for nuanced story-telling and thoughtful observations on religion and sexuality, right? Wrong. The hint’s in the title: the women are disobedient and this sole point is relentlessly hammered home with formulaic clichés.

eerie world of art cinema and give yourself over to the irresistible, all-star remake of Dario Argento’s 1977 cult classic, Suspiria. The story revolves around a young American dancer who travels to Berlin to join a renowned dance troupe, where, as she soon learns, something sinister’s brewing beneath the surface. Directed with great taste and style by Luca Guadagnino (fresh off his Call Me By Your Name success) the film stars Dakota Johnson as the ambitious dancer and Tilda Swinton as an ominously mesmerising artistic director.

by Eva Mackevic 119

TELEVISION

TRUST: (BBC2; BBC IPLAYER) What is it? The true story of the Getty

xx

THE LITTLE DRUMMER GIRL (BBC1; BBC IPLAYER) What is it? Six-part adaptation of John le

Carré’s 1983 thriller about an actress drawn into international espionage.

Why should I watch it? The pedigree is considerable: it’s brought to us by the producers of Sunday-night sensation The Night Manager, and Park Chanwook, director of lavish Korean arthouse smash, The Handmaiden. And that’s before you consider the cast…

Best character? Expect entire scenes to be stolen by Michael Shannon (The Shape of Water) as spymaster Kurtz.

heir kidnapping, as told in January’s Oscar-nominated All the Money in the World, revisited over ten parts by writer Simon Beaufoy and director Danny Boyle.

Why should I watch it? For a wittier, more encompassing take on material the business-like Ridley Scott approached as dry procedural.

And to witness an imperious Donald Sutherland reclaiming the screen as an oddbod Getty senior.

Best character? Sutherland looms large, as perhaps expected, but a shaggy-haired Harris Dickinson is touching as the kidnappers’ target Paul—while a cowboy-hatted Brendan Fraser banishes all memories of Mark Wahlberg as negotiator Fletcher Chace.

by Mike McCahill

AMERICAN VANDAL SEASON 2 (NETFLIX) The cult true-crime spoof explores the follow through from a high school poisoning in ways both puerile and smart.

120 • NOVEMBER 2018

FOREVER (AMAZON PRIME) An odd, amusing vehicle for Maya Rudolph and Fred Armisen as a dully married couple falling subject to sudden and lifechanging events.

GHOUL (NETFLIX) A three-part horror mini-series in which the corridors of an Abu Ghraib-like holding facility are stalked by an ancient evil. Binge it back-to-back!

R E A D E R S D E R S D I G E ST.CO.U K /C U LT U R E / F I L M

BBC P ICTURES

WHAT TO STREAM THIS MONTH:

MUSIC ALBUM OF THE MONTH: CHRIS CORNELL: AN ARTIST’S LEGACY

The world was devastated when Chris Cornell committed suicide in May 2017.

At only 52, the musician left behind a vast output spanning a caboodle of genres and styles, which inspired fans and musicians worldwide. His wife Vicky decided to celebrate this legacy by releasing an extensive compilation of songs by the three bands Cornell was a part of—Audioslave, Soundgarden and Temple of Dog—as well as numerous solo recordings and collaborations with the likes of Santana, Slash or Cat Stevens.

The result is a gratifyingly thorough, diverse collection featuring rare, previously unreleased gems such as the show-stopping cover of Prince’s “Nothing Compares 2 U,” transformed by Cornell’s soul-stirring baritone; the dark, moody version of “Billie Jean,” shrouding the Michael Jackson classic in dismal minor chords and dramatic pace changes, or the surprising, gloriously uplifting rendition of “Ave Maria”. It’s an unmissable collection for any fan of the great grunge legend.

by Eva Mackevic READER RADAR: PETER MERRY, THERAPEUTIC RADIOGRAPHER WATCHING: HEY DUGGEE CBEEBIES It’s a children’s

programme that my kids, Jack and Alfie, enjoy. We have spent all summer singing the “Stick Song”. Which seems to have been surpassed by “Baby Shark.”

READING: MICRO BY MICHAEL CRITCHON A wonderful author, his

books are always on the edge of fiction and reality due to the way he explains everything in great detail.

ONLINE: COMPETITIONS

I’ve been entering a lot of competitions recently, I made it my mission to enter five free competitions a day for six months. The result?

Zero wins. I do, however, now seem to get an awful lot of emails wanting to enlarge things…

LISTENING: BECK I went to see Beck

at the Royal Albert Hall in Manchester last year and it was mind-blowing.

E M A I L YO U R R E CO M M E N DAT I O N S TO R E A D E R S L E T T E R S @ R E A D E R S D I G E ST.CO.U K

BOOKS

November Fiction An incisive political novel and the latest hit by a master storyteller are our top literary picks this month Heads You Win

by Jeffrey Archer (Macmillan, £20) Jeffrey Archer’s latest begins in 1968 with a Russian teenager and his mother fleeing from Leningrad, where they toss a coin to decide whether to escape on an American or a British ship. In the event, though, Archer brings us both outcomes, with alternating sections revealing what happened to them in New York and in London—which in both cases is a lot.

Several rollicking adventures later, the American version of young Alexander has become a high-flying businessman, the British one a highflying politician.

As ever, Archer’s characters aren’t a nuanced bunch: the goodies glow with unfailing virtue, while you’ll search his baddies in vain for a single James Walton is a book reviewer and broadcaster, and has written and presented 17 series of the BBC Radio 4 literary quiz The Write Stuff 122 • NOVEMBER 2018

redeeming feature. The novel’s two main plots— and their many subsidiaries—probably wouldn’t survive a strict feasibility study. And yet, faced with the unstoppable torrent of his storytelling, resistance once again proves futile, and I can’t imagine any readers, however high-minded, not tearing through the book with mounting enjoyment. You’ve also got to hand it to any author who can pull off such a killer twist not in the last chapter, the last paragraph or even the last sentence—but in the very last word.

Middle England

by Jonathan Coe (Viking, £16.99) Few writers are better qualified than Jonathan Coe to provide a timely novel about the state of England. In books like What a Carve Up! and The Rotters’ Club he’s shown a thrilling ability to combine comedy with politics, individual human stories with wider social trends.

READER’S DIGEST

And at first, these qualities are reassuringly present in Middle England, which opens just before the 2010 election that returned the now strangely distantsounding coalition government.

Unfortunately, the closer it comes to the EU referendum, the more signs there are that Coe’s furious view of Brexit as a catastrophic betrayal might end up getting in the way of the book.

And so it proves, as the characters are divided between the reasonable, kindly Remainers and the knuckledragging xenophobes who vote Leave.

Naturally, there’ll be plenty of people (not least among readers of literary fiction) who agree with this analysis. Nonetheless, even the converted to whom Coe appears to be preaching might find his tone increasingly hectoring. They might wonder, too, if he ever solves the tricky problem of saying something new about the whole Brexit business.

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

1. Now one of Britain’s most famous poets, he died in obscurity in London in 1827.

2. H e had visions of angels from his boyhood onwards.

3. O ne of his poems is sung at every Labour Party conference, every day of English Test cricket and is the anthem of the WI.

Paperbacks Educated by Tara Westover (Windmill Books, £8.99) Astonishing autobiography from a woman who was home-schooled as a fundamentalist Mormon in a remote part of Idaho—but ended up with a PhD from Cambridge University.

Glass Houses by Louise Penny (Sphere, £8.99) Another gripping crime thriller from the multi-award-winning Penny, starring her Quebec-based detective Armand Gamache. As usual in her books, the finish is not just big but enormous.

Over and Out by Henry Blofeld (Hodder, £9.99) The veteran cricket commentator with a suitably anecdote-packed memoir of his time on Test Match Special.

Darling Blue by Tracy Rees (Quercus, £7.99) Warm, romantic, elegantly-written story of a young woman striking out on her own in 1920s London. The period detail is beautifully done too.

Me. You. A Diary by Dawn French (Michael Joseph, £8.99) French’s thoughts throughout the year—with room for readers to add their own.

Answer on p126 NOVEMBER 2018 • 123

BOOKS

RD’S RECOMMENDED READ

Born Lucky In his new memoir, film legend Michael Caine reminisces on his prolific career and the indredible good fortune it’s been marked with…

I

n 1933, Maurice Micklethwaite was born in a grim part of south London, his mother a charlady, his father a fishporter who struggled to read and write. At this stage, then, it seemed unlikely that the life lying in wait for little Maurice would include more than 50 years as a bona fide film star, with all the associated trappings of wealth and fame.

In fact, the sheer unexpectedness of how things turned out appear to be a source of some wonder to the man himself— now better known as Michael Caine.

“When I look around me now,” he says in Blowing the Bloody Doors Off, “it still sometimes seems like an

Blowing the Bloody Doors Off: And Other Lessons in Life by Michael Caine is published by Hodder & Stoughton at £20

124 • NOVEMBER 2018

impossible dream.” The book isn’t a straight autobiography. Caine’s stated aim is to reflect on the art of movie-acting, and offer tips on how to do it. Yet, while these are obviously well worth hearing, what really makes the book are the stories he tells to back them up—or sometimes just because they’re great stories.

There’s also lots of behind-thescenes gossip. We learn, for example, of Glenda Jackson’s fondness for walking around the set naked “even when we weren’t shooting the nude

READER’S DIGEST

scenes”; and of how Elizabeth Taylor had permission to show up at ten o’clock—hours after everybody else— before adjourning for a Bloody Mary at half past. Caine is winningly honest about his own work too: unashamedly proud of the good stuff and appropriately self-deprecating about the films that didn’t work (as well as the ones he did purely for the money).

But all the time there’s that touching sense of disbelief about how weirdly lucky he’s been—almost from the start of his career…

‘‘

The late 1950s and early 1960s were an exciting time to be young and working-class in Britain.

My generation was inventing a new technicolour world, overturning the dreary post-war status quo, and there were opportunities for people like me—not just in theatre and film, but in fashion, music, art, food, literature, politics—that there had never been before.

Young people, whose childhoods had been the depression, the Blitz, conscription and rationing, were listening to Khrushchev, leader of the Soviet Union, telling them he had an atomic bomb and we could all be dead in four minutes, and deciding they might as well have a good time.

The working class was standing up and saying, ‘We are here, this is our society, and we’re not going away.’

And that’s how and why the Sixties

Film In Fiction:

Five Hollywood Novels Postcards from the Edge

by Carrie Fisher Fisher’s autobiographical tale of a drugaddicted actress isn’t exactly a cheerful read—it’s far too honest for that. It is, however, a fascinating and moving one.

Laughing Gas by P G Wodehouse The Earl of Havershot heads to Hollywood and exchanges souls with a famous child actor (no, really).

As brilliantly funny as you’d expect from Wodehouse.

The Little Sister

by Raymond Chandler Chandler’s own screenwriting experiences inspired detective Philip Marlowe’s angry brush with Hollywood— where he continues to bash out the cracking one-liners (“She smelled the way the Taj Mahal looks by moonlight”).

The Player by Michael Tolkin “Just as Griffin suspected, there was a meeting in Levison’s office without him.”

So begins Tolkin’s eye-opening satire on the lives, lunches and insecurities of movie executives.

Hollywood Wives by Jackie Collins Wildly over-the-top, of course, but wildly entertaining too, with Collins spilling any number of film-world beans.

NOVEMBER 2018 • 125

BOOKS

were born. Everyone I knew seemed to become a household name.

If you danced at the Ad Lib club behind the Empire Cinema on Leicester Square, as I did, the Rolling Stones and the Beatles might be grooving next to you. David Bailey would be in the corner, romancing Jean Shrimpton. In another corner Roman Polanski was with Sharon Tate.

My flatmate was Terence Stamp.

My barber was Vidal Sassoon. My tailor was Douglas Hayward, the tailor to the 1960s and such a star in his field that he ended up making Ralph Lauren’s suits. When I played a bit part in Dixon of Dock Green I was paired with an unknown actor called Donald Sutherland. When I understudied another unknown actor making his West End debut in one of the first British plays about ordinary soldiers, Willis Hall’s The Long and the Short and the Tall, it was Peter O’Toole. The play made him a star and I took it on tour while he went off to become T. E. Lawrence

And the name of the author is…

William Blake—author of the much-sung “Jerusalem”—whose funeral was attended by only five people.

126 • NOVEMBER 2018

“ Everyone I knew seemed to become a household name ” in Lawrence of Arabia, the start of a towering theatrical and moviemaking career.

Even the failed actors became household names. When the rest of us were still out of work and broke, we used to pass the time in the basement café of the Arts Theatre, just off Leicester Square. They would let you sit there all day over one cup of tea. One afternoon I was sitting in this warm haven for the destitute with two other actor friends. One of them, John, was particularly down.

He’d just been fired from a very lowstandard repertory theatre and was humiliated and unhappy. He announced that he was going to give it all up and had written a play instead. ‘What’s it called?’ I asked.

‘Look Back in Anger,’ he replied.

‘I’m writing a play as well,’ said our other friend, an actor called David Baron. ‘And you can be in it, Michael.

Only I’m not going to write it under my acting name. I’m going to use my real name.’

‘What’s that, David?’

‘Harold Pinter.’

‘Well, good luck to both of you,’ I said. I didn’t hold out much hope for either of them.

Books

THAT CHANGED MY LIFE

Nick Hewer is a TV presenter best known for Countdown and The Apprentice. His new book, My Alphabet: A Life from A to Z is out now

If This Is A Man

BY PRIMO LEVI

This is the most important book I’ve read in the last 25 years—it’s a remarkable short story about a young Italian chemist who’s swept up in the Second World War as a young Jewish man and sent to Auschwitz. The book is about [the author’s] time there and his ability to display extraordinary humanity and forgiveness. These days, when there appears to be a wave of antisemitism flowing through Western and Eastern Europe, every child should read this book as a matter of course. It should be on every curriculum in every school on the continent, really.

Dubliners

BY JAMES JOYCE

Dubliners is a book of short stories and one of them is called The Dead.

The final paragraph of the final story, which was drummed into us by my English teacher, Tom

McIntyre, is an extraordinary piece of writing—and a very emotional piece at that. It’s about a young chap called Michael Furey who died for the love of a woman. He pined away and was buried in this little church in the west of Ireland, with the snow falling.

There was a film based on the story, starring Anjelica Huston directed by her father, John Huston—it’s an absolutely classic piece.

The Twelve Caesars

BY SUETONIUS

Suetonius was a Roman gossip columnist and this book is a pen portrait of 12 Caesars.

It’s brilliant; it feels like reading a William Hickey column. Suetonius was a genius—he describes what they looked like, what they spoke like, how they walked, how they dressed, what they did and what they didn’t do. It was written around 400 AD and it’s such amazing, vivid writing.

As told to Joy Persaud

FOR MORE, GO TO READERSDIGEST.CO.UK/CULTURE

NOVEMBER 2018 • 127

Plug In

&Play

This month, Olly Mann offers some handy alternatives to the mainstream earphone choices

B

ored of Beats and Bose?

Experiment with these earphone alternatives…

SACK YOUR PERSONAL TRAINER

PLAY IT COOL

Apple’s Airpods are increasingly popular, but I still can’t wear them without feeling as if a pair of toothbrush heads are dangling out of my ears. Jabra Elite 65t (£149) are altogether more discrete. These robust and reliable wireless earphones link seamlessly, have superb noise-cancellation, and come complete with a clever carrying case for charging on the move—just like Airpods. But they look… a bit boring.

Perfect for when you just want to Olly Mann presents Four Thought for BBC Radio 4, and the award-winning podcasts The Modern Mann and Answer Me This!

128 • NOVEMBER 2018

listen to some music, and not make a fashion statement.

Gym bunnies should consider KuaiFit’s new K Sport True Wireless Earphones (£59). Whether you intend to shed a few pounds, or prepare for an Olympic distance triathlon, the accompanying app beams training programmes directly into your eardrums. So, if the idea of an American voice shrieking, “ONE MORE CRUNCH!” over your music collection appeals, try these out.

They’re sturdy enough to remain in place when you get your sweat on, yet comfortable enough to survive an extensive session.

SHRINK YOUR BOOMBOX

Audio immersion has its place, but sometimes you need to be aware of your local environment—for example when cycling, or looking after

TECHNOLOGY

children. The Polk Boom Bit (£25) is a mini Bluetooth speaker, about the size of a cigarette lighter, which attaches to your clothes. Sound quality isn’t noticeably better just turning up the speakers on your smartphone—but, with its rugged skin and physical buttons, this is a lot more convenient for outdoor use, especially in the rain.

BUY BRITISH

Established in Worthing in 1966, Bowers and Wilkins continue to produce some of the finest mainstream audio products available. Their PX Bluetooth Headphones (£329) recently scooped a T3 Award for best on-ear headphones, and deservedly so.

Sleek design, stunning sound and intuitive smart sensors combine to create a truly exceptional pair of cans, built on their heritage, yet perfectly in tune with the modern music lover. Rule Brittania!

129 3

FUN & GAMES

You Couldn’t Make It Up Win £30 for your true, funny stories! Go to readersdigest. co.uk/contact-us or facebook.com/readersdigestuk MY SON JAKE CAME HOME from watching a premiership match and he was talking about the football game they had just seen.

"We destroyed them nil-nil" he said!

JESSIKA COOPER, D e v o n

WHEN OUR SON WAS SMALL he

ran to my wife and told her that he had pushed a tiddlywink counter up his nose.

She took a look at his nostril and declared that he couldn’t possibly have done so, as the counter would have been too big. She demonstrated with another counter and that also went up the nose!

We called the doctor who extracted 130 • NOVEMBER 2018

"Before we blow it up have you thought about proposing a referendum?"

both with tweezers. Safe to say he was not amused.

KEN MILLS, D o r s e t I WANTED A LARGE PICTURE to brighten up my kitchen and saw a reproduction railway advertisment poster for Blackpool on eBay. It was just the job and looked a very reasonable price too, with postage coming in at an incredibly low 60p.

I made a successful bid.

CARTOON: GUTO DI AS

I CAN'T POACH EGGS. On telling my friend this, she launched into a stepby-step guide on how to do it.

“If you don’t do it right,” she explained, “you’ll end up with semolina.” I puzzled over how an egg could become a pudding when I realised she meant salmonella.

I won’t be going to her house for tea.

ANGELA NESS, P e r t h

READER’S DIGEST

A few days later a tiny envelope arrived and it was then I realised that I had actually bought a "00" gauge poster for a model railway, measuring about one square inch.

ANDREW BERRY, L i n c o l n WHILE ON HOLIDAY IN GERMANY

several years ago with some friends, we called in at a tavern and I managed to order four beers by holding up four fingers and pointing at the pump on the bar.

Returning back to my friends I explained that the order had been a struggle as I spoke no German.

One of them replied, “You should have left it to me, I served my National Service in Germany and picked up some of the lingo”. When the waiter brought the drinks our German-speaking friend thanked him by saying, “Merci beaucoup.”

We all took one look at each other and burst out laughing.

TIM DODGERSON, N o r w i c h MY WIFE, WHO IS NO STRANGER TO mishaps in the kitchen, said she

thought she'd come up with a billion dollar idea: a smoke detector that shuts off when you shout at it "I'M JUST COOKING!" DAVID TRUBY, He r t f o rd s h i r e I WAS WONDERING WHY a Weight Watchers leaflet had been put through our letter box. Our cheeky teenage son offered this explanation:

"Maybe they had a peep through the letter box first…"

CHLOE WILLIAMS, D e n b i g h s h i r e I DROPPED INTO A GARAGE SHOP

recently with my six-year-old, as when stopping to refill the car I remembered we had run out of eggs.

"Oh good," I exclaimed, when I saw that free range eggs were available.

"Why did you say, 'Oh good', Mummy?" she asked. I explained it was because the eggs were free range.

"What does that mean?"

"It means the hens get to run around outside," I said.

Curiosity piqued, she asked, "So how do people catch the eggs?"

UNA DOHERTY, G a l w a y MY MOTHER BOUGHT ME A lovely

picture frame with the words "Silence is Golden" embroidered inside. But my husband wasn't impressed.

"She knows we have four kids doesn't she?" He moaned.

"Yes, why?" I asked.

"Silence is not golden when you have kids," he explained. "It's suspicious."

AMIE YETTON, C a m b r i d g e s h i r e WE WERE TRYING TO ENCOURAGE

our dad to lose some weight.

"I don't need a personal trainer," he replied, crossly. "I just need someone to follow me round and smack unhealthy foods out my hands."

DEMI ROBERTS, L l a n d b e d r NOVEMBER 2018 • 131

HEALTH •

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IPES • FAS HION • TEC HNOLOGY

2018

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FUN AND GAMES IT PAYS TO INCREASE YOUR

Word Power You already know that staying in shape is the key to good health. But just as important: keeping your vocabulary finely tuned and toned. Try this quiz—about shapes of the literal sort—then hit the next page for answers

BY E M ILY COX & H E NRY RATH VO N

1. gangling adj.—A: loose and

lanky. B: bulging with muscles.

C: short in stature.

2. helix n.—A: pointed

tip. B: warped outline. C: spiral.

3. deltoid adj.—A: triangular.

B: circular. C: squared off.

4. trefoil adj.—A: pliable. B: having a

three-leaf design. C: tapering narrowly.

5. conical adj.—A: like an igloo.

B: like a cone. C: like a tunnel.

6. pentacle n.—A: star. B: crescent moon. C: square.

7. elliptical adj.—A: slanted.

B: embossed. C: oval.

8. sigmoid adj.—A: crossed like an X.

B: curved like a C/S. C: bent like an L.

9. whorl n.—A: well-rounded muscle.

B: flat surface. C: circular pattern.

10. serrated adj.—A: inter-

connected, as with circles or rings.

B: elongated. C: having notched edges.

11. cordate adj.—A: stringlike.

B: heart shaped. C: free-form.

12. svelte adj.—A: undulating.

B: lean. C: in a checked or repeating pattern.

13. zaftig adj.—A: pleasingly plump.

B: moldable, like putty. C: seedlike, as in an avocado or a peach.

14. lozenge n.—A: 90-degree angle.

B: level used in architectural design.

C: diamond.

15. ramify v.—A: become solid, as

cement. B: jut out. C: split into branches or parts.

NOVEMBER 2018 • 133

WORD POWER

Answers 1. gangling—[A] loose and lanky.

The protagonist of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow was the gangling pedagogue.

2. helix—[C] spiral. Judy is a DNA researcher, so she’s getting a tattoo of a double helix.

3. deltoid—[A] triangular. The

9. whorl—[C] circular pattern.

To find the treasure, take 50 paces east from the tree with the whorl in its trunk.

10. serrated—[C] having notched

edges. “I’m not sure that old serrated knife is best for carving the turkey,” Dad advised.

pyramids’ architects obviously knew a thing or two about the stability of deltoid structures.

11. cordate—[B] heart shaped.

Sarah is baking cordate cookies for her cardiologist boyfriend.

4. trefoil—[B] having a three-leaf

12. svelte—[B] lean. The holidays

design. The gardening club uses a trefoil symbol—a gilded clover— as its logo.

pose a serious challenge to my svelte frame!

5. conical—[B] like a cone. My

favorite conical item? Why, the icecream cone, of course, preferably with three scoops of chocolate.

6. pentacle—[A] star. Hey, this

tarot deck is missing all the cards with pentacles!

7. elliptical—

[C] oval. Just two times around the elliptical running track, and Rebecca was wiped out.

8. sigmoid—

[B] curved like a C or an S. On Superman’s chest sits a single scarlet sigmoid symbol.

13. zaftig—[A] pleasingly plump.

Known for her zaftig figure, Caroline was a surprising choice for the fashion magazine’s debut cover.

14. lozenge—[C] diamond. The boys dug up the grass to create a makeshift lozenge so they could play ball.

WORD OF THE DAY* FLOROMANCY: the belief that flowers have feelings Alternative suggestions: “Chatting someone up on the dance floor” “When a man wears fluorescent fancy dress”

15. ramify— [C] split into branches or parts.

“We need to ramify this department to keep productivity high!” Kerrie said at yesterday’s staff meeting.

VOCABULARY RATINGS

9 & below: Obtuse 10–12: Well-rounded 13–15: Full circle

134 • NOVEMBER 2018 *POST YOUR DEFINITIONS EVERY DAY AT FACEBOOK.COM/READERSDIGESTUK

15

Fibs

Teenagers Tell

BY A N N E R O U M A N O F F

Anne is a well-known French humorist. She lives in Paris.

1 But Mum, I promise you, everyone scored lower than average on that awful math test!

But of course I gave you the change from the shopping! There was hardly anything left anyway, five or ten pounds … I don’t really remember.

2

3 I didn’t do anything, I swear. No, I didn’t look at my phone during class.

That teacher just doesn’t like me.

4 No, it’s wasn’t me who borrowed

your cashmere sweater.

5 Would you please pay for my swimming pool membership? It won’t be like tennis last year, I’ll go every week, I promise. It’s only £250 per quarter.

6 Of course I told you I was going out. Anyway, you never listen to me when I tell you something.

7 You look so lovely and young dressed like that, Mum. Would you give me £30 so I can go shopping with my friends?

8 Don’t worry, I never drink alcohol at parties, except for mojitos.

9 But I am! I’m going to tidy my room right away.

10 I’m not mucking about on the internet at all. I’m actually watching a film about the Second World War, so why don’t you try asking me before you tell me off?

11 Sorry I didn’t come right away, but I couldn’t hear anything with my headphones on.

12 Why are you shouting like that?

I was just about to tidy my room.

13 I’m going to spend the night at a girlfriend’s. Well, he’s a male friend.

But yes, his parents are at home, I think.

14 Chiara’s mother lets her stay out until three in the morning.

15 I tried to call you to let you know I was coming home late, but I didn’t have any battery left.

NOVEMBER 2018 • 135

FUN & GAMES

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

2

2

1

1

2

1

1

2 1 1

SUM-THING SPECIAL

Each letter from A through H has one of the eight values listed below, and no two letters have the same value.

Which number goes with which letter to make all the equations true?

1 2 1 3 TREASURES

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

136 • NOVEMBER 2018

1

Values:

3 5 6 7 10 13 16

F+D=H G+C=A F+B=E C+A=D A+H=E

(TREAS URES; SUM-THI NG SPECIA L) F RASER SI M PSON

2 1

RULES ARE MADE TO BE BROKEN

$

Enter the numbers 1, 2, 3 and 4 into a two-bytwo grid, once each. It’s not possible if you try to follow all of the rules below, but it is possible if you break just one of them. Which one? n The odd numbers are on one diagonal and the evens on the other. n Neither row makes a prime two-digit

number reading from left to right. n 4 is in the left column.

(RULES ARE M ADE TO BE BROKEN) DARREN RI GBY; ( NET WORTH) MARCEL DANE SI; (JERRY MA NDER STRIKES AGA IN) RODERICK KI MBALL OF ENI GAMI .FUN

n 2 and 3 are in the same row. n 1 is in the top row

NET WORTH

Tamara has £20,000 saved up. If 4/5 of what Tamara has equals 8/9 of what Martina has, how much money does Martina have?

JERRY MANDER STRIKES AGAIN

Your name is Jerry Mander, and you must draw your town’s voting districts so that George Green becomes mayor instead of his more popular rival, Les Lavender.

This map shows which candidate each household supports. Divide it into five districts of three contiguous households so that Green will get the majority of the votes in a majority of the districts. For a district to be contiguous, each household must share a border with at least one other, and shared corners don’t count. The tree represents a park that won’t be a part of any district.

NOVEMBER 2018 • 137

BRAIN TEASERS

Test your general knowledge.

Answers on p142

CROSSWISE

ACROSS

DOWN

1 3 10 11 12 13 14 15 19 21 24 27 28 29 30 31

1 Belonging to a country (8) 2 Enticement (9) 4 Papal (9) 5 Leg joints (5) 6 Mexican liquor (7) 7 Proficient (5) 8 Beam over a door (6) 9 Started (5) 16 Medley (3-6) 17 Frighten, usually by violence (9) 18 Take away (8) 20 Squeeze together (7) 22 Las Vegas setting (6) 23 Racecourse (5) 25 Island in the Bay of Naples (5) 26 Resort lake in both California and 22 down (5)

US space group (1,1,1,1) Court game (10) Consequently (9) Female sovereign (5) Survive (7) Bowling pin (7) Skin eruption (4) Pachyderms (9) Sue (9) German Mrs (4) Passage (7) Surrey commuter village (7) Trembling poplar (5) Mouth organ (9) Science of numbers (10) Undiluted (4)

138 • NOVEMBER 2018

Brainteasers: Answers

£50 PRIZE QUESTION

TREASURES 2

2

2

1

1

2

1

1

Answer published in the December issue

1 2

Make a calculation totalling the figure on the right using some or all of the numbers listed on the left. You may use any of the four standard mathematical operations (+,–, x and ÷).

1 1 1 2 1 3

3 5 7 10 25 75 = 414

SUM-THING SPECIAL

0

A= 6, B= 13, C= 1, D= 7, E= 16, F= 3, G= 5, H=10 RULES ARE MADE TO BE BROKEN

4

1

3

2

Break the rule about prime numbers.

The first correct answer we pick in November wins £50!* Email excerpts@ readersdigest.co.uk

NET WORTH

£18,000.

JERRY MANDER STRIKES AGAIN

ANSWER TO OCTOBER’S PRIZE QUESTION

FANCIFUL & WHIMSICAL AND THE £50 GOES TO… Helen Power, Lincoln

NOVEMBER 2018 • 139

FUN & GAMES

Laugh!

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

PARENTS WHO MAKE THEIR

chicken probably had to say, “Um, I’m not sure” when somebody asked what it tasted like.

children leave Father Christmas soya milk and gluten-free, vegan mince pies probably get really mad when he leaves their children coal.

Not because their children only got coal, but because we should be using alternative fuel sources.

COMEDIAN DAN REGAN

MY GIRLFRIEND AND I are in a long-distance relationship.

I live in Seoul and she lives in the future.

SEEN ON REDDIT MY SON IS SO SAD that school will

be starting soon. He told me, “You just don’t understand Mum.” I replied, “Of course I understand, I feel that same sadness too, but in June when school will be ending.”

COMEDIAN RITU CHANDRA

Cartoon Commute Artist Ben Rubin adds cartoon monsters to photographs he takes on the New York subway. (via sadanduseless.com)

140 • NOVEMBER 2018

COMEDIAN NICK OHLESSA

I HAVE ENOUGH MONEY to last me the rest of my life… unless I buy something.

COMEDIAN JACKIE MASON WHAT I REALLY NEED is a woman who loves me for my money but doesn’t really understand maths.

COMEDIAN MIKE BIRBIGLIA

READER’S DIGEST

AN ENGLISHMAN, A FRENCHMAN,

a Spaniard and a German are all standing watching a street performer do some excellent juggling.

The juggler notices that the four gentlemen have a very poor view, so he stands up on a wooden box and calls out, “Can you all see me now?”

“Yes.” “Oui.” “Si.” “Ja.” SEEN ON REDDIT IF THIS WHOLE COMEDY CAREER

thing doesn’t work out, I think I want to be a trophy wife.

Not one of those sexy, big first place trophies, but like a “Hey, you showed up and tried” trophy.

little bit overweight and I like lying around in the nude.

COMEDIAN JOSIE LONG

I SPENT FOUR YEARS AT university

and I didn’t learn a thing.

It was really my own fault, I had a double major in psychology and reverse psychology.

COMEDIAN BJ NOVAK

I LOVE THE EXPRESSION “a number of”, because it really doesn’t actually mean anything.

A number of Victoria’s Secret models have expressed an interest in dating me.

That number is zero.

COMEDIAN KEITH NEWMAN

COMEDIAN CLAIRE JONES

BABIES ARE LIKE POEMS. They’re

beautiful to their creator, but to other people, they’re silly and they’re irritating.

SEEN ON FACEBOOK

I’M DOING REALLY WELL WITH my student loans. The other day they phoned to tell me my payments were outstanding.

COMEDIAN JON KUDERER ANNOYING PETA IS AS EASY as

I LIKE TO CONSIDER MYSELF a

Renaissance woman. Insofar as I’m a

shooting fish in a barrel.

SEEN ON TWITTER

NOVEMBER 2018 • 141

LAUGH

Risky Rentals Tweeters reveal the sign that told them it was time to move out: @HollynHeron: “My old roommate accidentally set our kitchen on fire one night but didn’t wake me up because he ‘didn’t want me to be mad’ ” @lj_6000: “A possum was living in our laundry room.

The landlord didn’t get rid of it because he said, ‘People seem to like it.’ ” @TheBrenpire: “My former landlord explained our low ceilings by saying people were smaller 100 years ago.” @BZevotek: “My apartment shower ceiling was 4ft tall and two walls were angled inward. I had to shower like a troll getting hit by sunlight.” @AutumnSprabary: “Maintenance ‘fixed’ our black mould by spray painting it white.”

SO MANY PEOPLE GLANCE up at my

widow’s peak that I’m going to start selling advertising space on my forehead.

“Hey! Do you know what’s not receding?

The great taste of pringles!”

COMEDIAN DAVE COLUMBO

THE PRIMARY PURPOSE OF your pinky toe is to periodically check whether your furniture is still hard.

COMEDIAN WYATT FEEGRADO

A COUPLE WERE ARRANGING their son’s

christening. They met with the vicar who asked them if they were prepared for the event, as it’s a serious commitment.

“Oh yes,” replied the young dad, “my wife has made lots of lovely treats for our guests so they won’t go hungry!”

“No, not that. I mean spiritually,” the vicar replied patiently.

“Oh yes! I’ve got a couple of kegs of whiskey too…”

HEIDI CLARK, Yo r k WE WERE SO POOR WHEN I was a kid that the stereo would only play Earth, Wind or Fire.

COMEDIAN KEITH BERGMAN SO MANY HOMOPHOBIC PEOPLE turn out to actually be gay I’m nervous that I’m secretly a giant spider.

COMEDIAN JEREMY KAPLOWITZ

CROSSWORD ANSWERS Across: 1 N A S A, 3 Basketball, 10 Therefore, 11 Queen, 12 Outlast, 13 Skittle, 14 Acne, 15 Elephants, 19 Prosecute, 21 Frau, 24 Excerpt, 27 Oxshott, 28 Aspen, 29 Harmonica, 30 Arithmetic, 31 Neat.

Down: 1 National, 2 Sweetener, 4 Apostolic, 5 Knees, 6 Tequila, 7 Adept, 8 Lintel, 9 Began, 16 Pot-pourri, 17 Terrorize, 18 Subtract, 20 Scrunch, 22 Nevada, 23 Ascot, 25 Capri, 26 Tahoe.

142 • NOVEMBER 2018

60 Stand-Up -Second

We have a laugh with the witty comedian, Gary Delaney

WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE ONELINER? There was a guy I started out

with called Rohan Agalawatta. He had an elegant one-liner: “A cyclops and a unicorn, now that’s an accident waiting to happen.” It’s a perfect joke, really funny and a lovely simple structure.

DO YOU FIND ANY PARTS OF THE COUNTRY TO BE FUNNIER THAN OTHERS? I [prefer to think of ] it in

terms of people rather than places.

There are two things I like in a crowd. A crowd who are smart enough to get the subtler jokes and a crowd who don’t mind a joke that’s a bit rude or dark.

WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE OF YOUR OWN JOKES? I went to

have my tea leaves read and the psychic said, “Do you struggle with your weight?” I asked how she could tell and she replied, “There’s half a hobnob in the bottom of your cup.”

DO YOU HAVE ANY FUNNY TALES ABOUT A TIME YOU BOMBED ON STAGE? I got asked to do a club in

Berlin and the booker said, “As long as you don’t speak too fast they will understand you.” It didn’t turn out like that… I got two laughs in the set and I mean that literally, a laugh from one person on one joke and then later on on I commented on how badly it was going and got a laugh from another.

WHICH SUPER POWER WOULD YOU HAVE? I would have a very specific

low-level form of mind-reading. To peer into [the audience’s] brains so when a joke doesn’t work so I can see what sent them the wrong way.

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

I would be on the wall for a writing session during the golden era of The Simpsons, with all the writers sitting there batting around their ideas.

See Gary Delaney’s new show: Gagster’s Paradise nationwide. For tickets visit garydelaney.com/gagsters-paradise

FOR MORE, GO TO READERSDIGEST.CO.UK/INSPIRE/HUMOUR

NOVEMBER 2018 • 143

LAUGH

Beat the Cartoonist!

In the December Issue

Interview: Simon Callow 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 midNovember. If your entry gets the most votes, you’ll win £50.

Submit to captions@readersdigest.co.uk or online at readersdigest.co.uk/caption by November 9.

We’ll announce the winner in our January issue.

CARTOONS : P ETER A. KI NG / STEVE JON ES

September’s Winner It was neck and neck this month and just when our cartoonist thought he was keeping the crown, our reader Anne Hughes managed to knock him off the top spot with her witty caption: “Apparently it’s a balanced diet.” With 47 per cent of the vote, she’s our clear winner, with the cartoonist’s caption, “He’s a food columnist”,trailing in second place.

Enter online for your chance to win.

144 • NOVEMBER 2018

The actor opens up about his remarkable life and career

Roger Daltrey The Who frontman reminisces about his childhood and rock ‘n’ roll career

Plus THE ART OF LETTER WRITING Lynne Wallis reconnects with her ancestors through the lost art of letter writing

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...what a way to make a livin’ LOUISE REDKNAPP

AMBER DAVIES and

NATALIE McQUEEN

BRIAN CONLEY Music & lyrics by

DOLLY PARTON

Book by

PATRICIA RESNICK

Directed by

JEFF CALHOUN

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

SAVOY THEATRE • OPENS JANUARY 2019 TICKETS.READERSDIGEST.CO.UK • 0207 400 1238