West Country Life 02 November 2013

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West Country Life

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magazine Western Daily Press, Saturday November 2 2013

No one wants to miss it BRIDGWATER CARNIVAL AND ITS FITTING FINALE

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Inside 2

COLUMNISTS

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PHOTO ESSAY

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PEOPLE

Alice Bell weathers the ‘big stor m’ as best she can; while Martin Hesp meets the PM

Steve Roberts captures the history of ‘tar barrels’ with images from today and 1975

Tristan Cork goes behind the scenes before the West’s biggest carnival night

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PEOPLE

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PEOPLE

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FOOD

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ABSOLUTE CORKERS

How cupcakes got competitive; plus forget caravans, how about trying a Twagon?

Wiltshire boy and ex-Army captain turned musician James Blunt talks to us

Getting the best from vegetables; the 50 top foodie experiences; plus quick coffees

The rise of the popular Pinot Grigio; plus, a good sandwich at a charming pub

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SHOPPING

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BOOKS

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TRAVEL

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WALKS

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GARDENING

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ANTIQUES

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TELEVISION

The gothic look for the home; plus fashion where it’s all about texture

We talk to Cotswold resident Amanda Holden and Somerset’s Charlie Higson

Looking for the best places to eat in Dubai; plus the best skiing destinations in Europe

Hop over to the Isles of Scilly for classic walking territory or venture to the Mendips

Alan Down looks at the trees and shrubs that give the best autumn colour

How Charles II sold for £4,000; plus Cary Grant memorabilia at Bonhams

Gethin Jones on visiting Afghanistan; plus, TV highlights for the week

TV guide Poem and puzzles Horoscope Where in the West Cover by Steve Roberts

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Online westerndailypress.co.uk/wcl

Gorgeous autumnal light and low cloud on Salisbury Plain, taken from Sidbury Hillfort by Western Daily Press reader David Hargrave, of Durrington, Wiltshire

Rural rambles

Roger Evans You will all be familiar with the phenomena...

“Things can’t get any worse”, and then they do.

Well I had my second excursion to the TB restricted market last week. I took 16 calves, a mix of black and white dairy bulls and beef crosses. The whole lot averaged £29! Five of the dairy bull calves made less than £10. I’d kept and fed them all for three weeks or more, the ear tags alone cost £3.

Other farmers there, who suffered a similar fate, said that they wouldn’t go through the same humiliation again and would take any future calves to the hunt kennels.

The auctioneer told me that he was now getting more calves at the TB restricted market than he was getting at the normal one.

We’ll have to take stock of what we do from now on.

If I told you what I was truly thinking as I drove home, I would probably get my farm burnt down. When I got home I worked out that on just that one load of calves, TB had cost me £1,000. There’s nothing that I can do that will prevent the same thing happening again next month or next year.

We are out, Stephen and I, on our very highest field. It just touches the 980ft mark. To enhance my stories of this high land, I always say it’s at 1,000ft which for me, is not an exceptional exaggeration.

The field has been, for 12 months, in a fallow stubble, left for the wild birds. But it grows a crop of weeds and I am chopping these off and Stephen is coming along behind me with the plough.

There have always been skylarks up here though there are fewer now than there were 10 years ago, despite all the land that has been left in fallow for their benefit. This is an excellent cue for me to go on to my hobby horse abut predators but you know all about that, I know I am right, because I know there are fewer skylarks, so I will move on.

The skylarks flutter about as I approach on my tractor. Some of them do their fluttering along the ground routine, which is designed to lead a dangerous presence away, but they are not in any danger from me.

I soon become aware that there are three tiny leverets in the stubble. When I say tiny, I mean that I could easily encompass them as little round balls of fluff in my hands. As I work across the field, they scuttle about 20 yards at a time, further down the field to safety. They are heading towards the hedge, there’s a field beyond that with plenty of grass, WCL-E01-S2

there’s food there and safety. But they get to the hedge and then turn back. They are not together, you can barely see them, but individually you see them make these short darts back up the field.

I phone Stephen to look out for them and he reports later that he saw all three go past him and on to the ploughing. On the ploughing lurks danger, it’s where the buzzards and kites are eating worms and grubs, there’s 20 of them altogether today. They soon see the leverets and that is the end of that. My fault of course, for ploughing the field. It makes me realise just how little I understand nature. Here we are mid October, this big field is very exposed to wind and weather, a most inhospitable place in winter. If I hadn’t disturbed the leverets, how would they have survived? What on earth do the skylarks live on?

One of the wonders of nature that intrigues me are acorns. As I write, we are in the middle of the acorn harvest.

After a windy night, the road under an oak tree is covered with acorns and the acorns themselves are covered with pheasants gorging on them.

What intrigues me is not just that pheasants manage to swallow the acorns whole, because in a previous life I used to handle thousands of pigeons and in the autumn their crops would be full of acorns, which for a pigeons is a much bigger beak full than it is for a pheasant. No. What intrigues me is how do they digest them?

That hard, shiny shell must take a lot of grinding up.

Acorns can catch you out. Cattle like acorns. In normal circumstances they will eat them as they fall and no harm done. But, without thinking, you can move them to a fresh field where there may be an accumulation of acorns and then you can get sick cattle and even deaths.

I went to the doctors yesterday. I went to get a flu jab and to give blood samples for my MOT, next week, which has lapsed some years ago.

What a sight in the waiting room! Packed out.

Someone once told me that doctors can predict very accurately who will be in to see them on Monday mornings because 90 per cent of them are there every Monday morning.

I came out feeling very healthy and well, and I’d not seen sight of a doctor. Everything in life is relative and compared with what I saw in that waiting room, well and healthy is what I am.

SATURDAY NOVEMBER 2 2013 WEST COUNTRY LIFE 1

Columnists

Martin Hesp Don’t you love it when life gets so surreal it’s like you’re on TV?

Alice Bell There was a catastrophe at the office last Monday morning.

It’s like you’ve entered some fantasy envisaged in a crazy movie.

That happened to me this week in a tiny office – but it was no ordinary workroom, nor were the people surrounding me everyday office folk.

It was the moment when I entered The Simpsons TV cartoon. Only it was even more Simpson-esque than that weird programme can ever manage to be.

For those who have never seen it, The Simpsons mocks the real world by being outrageous and surreal. Intellectually challenged Homer Simpson works in a tiny office perched on top of a giant nuclear reactor. His boss is greedy, unscrupulous, power-plant owner multimillionaire Monty Burns.

I was in Homer’s office recently. Seriously. I sat in a tiny room perched on top of the nuclear reactor at Hinkley Point.

There were three other people in the office, which had a big window looking out over the cathedral-sized reactor hall. There was the editor of a local newspaper, a government official and a man who sat behind a computer screen – just like Homer Simpson does on TV. We all looked identical because everyone up there in and around the reactor hall was covered from head to foot in blue overalls and all wore orange hard hats. So telling one person from another was not easy, but I did realise who the heavily disguised person behind the computer screen was – and I joked with him that he looked just like the wellknown Simpson.

Luckily, Secretary of State for Energy Ed Davey has a good sense of humour – and he played up to the joke by pretending to be a bit Homer-esque, pressing various knobs and buttons with clueless abandon.

However, the horseplay soon ended because a whole bunch of boiler-suited people entered the room, led by a breathless public relations person who started bossing us about.

This was when my surreal Simpsons moment intensified one-hundred-fold – not only because this panting stooge reminded me of Monty Burns’ sidekick, Smithers, but because the big man being ushered into the room behind him was none other than Mr Burns himself.

Or rather, it was the Prime Minister, who sat down next to me and said: “Shoot!” But only after he’d muttered to his minders: “Did I get that right about the cost of the Severn Barrage? I hope so.”

Like one of Mr Burns’ eager cartoon staff, Mr Davey assured him he had told the TV reporters in the reactor hall the correct figures.

The big man did not take any notice of this reassurance – indeed, I watched him closely during the 30 minutes we were up there on top of Hinkley B Station’s nuclear reactors – and Mr Cameron never seemed to take much notice of his Energy Secretary at all. Because, like Monty Burns, Dave Cameron is pretty much armour-plated. I had the feeling that if I really did shoot – as he had told me to – the bullets would have bounced off his pink, platinum-protected, skin.

Of course, it is no good some lowly regional hack like me trying to have a real conversation with a Prime Minister – his minders had told me I would have just two questions and after that my time would be up, the inference being that I was lucky to get even a single minute.

My couple of queries were duly bulldozed aside with replies that had been learned off-

And it was so bad it even got its own hashtag on Twitter: #milk-a-geddon.

Now, I’m a journalist so the first thing I want to do is sensationalise the story. Basically, we were the victims of a double delivery of milk.

There were just too many bottles on our doorstep to fit into the fridge and not even a Brit suffering from insomnia and dehydration could have drunk enough tea to use up the surplus before it got a bit warm.

Even worse, nobody could remember who our delivery man was or where he came from so the next morning we found another crate of bottles on the doorstep, like we were being targeted by some lactose-obsessed stalker.

Carnage. Absolute carnage.

And if you thought we were making much

pat – and the PM marched off to his helicopter which, in true Simpson-esque form, ascended between a black cloud and a rainbow.

Later I watched the Prime Minister’s announcement about Hinkley C on TV and learned what a “thoroughly good thing” it all was. Except, I do not believe it.

I’m a bit thick when it comes to numbers, but I cannot see why it is a good thing for the French and the Chinese to be investing in this nation’s future energy needs, and not us. One thing is certain: they are not doing it out of a sense of charity. One day we will be paying them, big-time. Real life is not a game of Monopoly, but if it was – we just lost. But then, life is not a Simpsons cartoon either – it just sometimes seems like one.

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COLUMNISTS ONLINE You can enjoy the best of Alice Bell’s and Martin Hesp’s Saturday essays – and our other writers – on the Western Daily Press website westerndailypress.co.uk/wcl

ado about nothing there, you obviously didn’t see our reporting of St Jude’s Storm when it finally hit the West Country.

I say “hit”. “Inappropriately touched” might be a better description. The name alone just makes it sound like a soppy ballad Paul McCartney might start randomly singing in Covent Garden.

Considering the horrific damage the storm caused in other parts of the UK and beyond, I’m not sure how Somerset and Wiltshire managed to escape pretty much unscathed.

Especially since every local news hub in the area had been warning us of our impending doom for at least a week beforehand.

Twitter was on top sarcastic form that Monday, though, with every wannabe Have I Got News For You writer across the south posting pictures of plastic garden chairs that had blown over and Tweeting: “Scenes of complete devastation in Bath this morning...”

Meanwhile, I was forced to drive through a puddle that definitely hadn’t been there the day before. Not a big one, though. I don’t think Noah would have got out of bed for it.

My colleague was much more prepared. I only wish she’d been in charge of the train companies as she not only remembered to put on extra hairspray but she also brought a spare pair of socks in case her feet got a bit wet on the walk into work.

The news that morning was basically: “Everything’s gone a bit mental today but if you bear with us, we’ll update you on the weather and traffic situation, just as soon as we’ve found somewhere to put all this milk.”

Then it was over to the weather girl, whose reports ran increasingly along the lines of: “So as you heard there in the news, ARMAGEDDON HAS ARRIVED! As for tomorrow... well, quite frankly, who cares, nobody will be around to see it.”

I tried to sound slightly more balanced when it was my turn but just ended up saying a la Michael Fish: “Gosh, it’s a bit windy out there, isn’t it? But we’re expecting some sunny spells too and highs of 15 degrees, so it could be worse.”

Then we crossed over to the man doing the traffic updates. He’d been stuck in a massive queue that morning and from the tone of his voice you could tell he just wanted to rant: “There's some right divs on the road today.

One in front of me tried to drive his Prius through a flood and got stuck, can you believe the idiot? Also, there’s some puddles around that might make your car a bit grubby. Oh, and if you're late for work, you can bet the car in front is a flaming hearse.”

The reporting of St Jude managed to whip everyone up into a frenzy of hysteria. Even our hard journalistic hearts had to feel a bit awkward when our cleaning lady arrived at the office wearing what looked like scuba gear and brandishing an industrial-sized umbrella.

The fallout was worse than “plebgate”. It was “floodgate”, although unfortunately not literally. That might have been useful.

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Along with being the top performing day school in Bristol, QEH is firmly amongst leading academic schools nationally. Most boys go to top universities or medical schools, including 10%to Oxford and Cambridge.

One hundred boys are in the Junior School which shares the ethos of the Senior School whilst retaining its own individual identity.

FOUNDED IN 1590, QEH THRIVES WITH 670 BOYS AGED 7–18

Stephen Holliday and Martin Morris, the respective Headmasters of QEH Seniors and Juniors, agree that a good school is far more complicated than counting exam passes. Good schools build character. That is easy to say, tricky to define and even more difficult to achieve. Character is formed through adventure and fortitude, through integrity and values, and is rooted in a sense of self-worth. Exam success: that is a by-product of a school where building character comes first.

At QEH staff nurture character and go on to prepare boys for life beyond the school. Mr Holliday says: “ I like to think we build character from the very beginning, whether that starts in Year 3 or Year 7 or Year 9. We promote the importance of good values, we produce the young men who know themselves, who respect and help others and who have opinions. Incidentally, our exam results are also spectacularly good.”

Mr Morris adds: “A key aim is to develop each boy’s personal qualities, provide a sound foundation for his future, and ensure that every boy leaves recognising himself as a lifelong learner. We are particularly keen to break out from the traditional idea of the four-walled classroom, and make our ‘classroom’ the wider world.”

Building Character Junior School Places Available…

ENTRY ASSESSMENTS Year 3 & 4 start 4 November Year 5 & 6 start 18 November

0117 930 3068 www.qehbristol.co.uk WCL-E01-S2

SATURDAY NOVEMBER 2 2013 WEST COUNTRY LIFE 3

Picture essays, 1975 and 2013 Steve Roberts

Keeping the annual tar barrels tradition at Ottery St Mary alive To say Ray Pollard has not done his duty by the citizens of Ottery St Mary would be to blacken his name.

For almost 40 years his task was to cake casks, adding layer upon layer of glutinous black tar to the interior of wooden barrels in readiness for ignition, and the greed of an allconsuming flame.

Ray’s thoughts of his home town’s carnival are ever-present. The spectacular finale has seen his work light up the pitch-black November 5 night and his labours go up in flames as the traditional tar barrels are carried on strong shoulders through the packed streets.

Ray is not the man to protest, be brash, or boast. His solid will and dependency made sure that his town stayed alive and alight. It is his smoke-blackened face that can be seen in photographs, at close quarters with the eager jostlers, as he weaves through the mayhem, eye to the flame, ready to refresh a faltering cinder barrel.

The red-orange tongue laps the air demanding the fuel cradled by Ray, who has been one of the masters of the age-old ceremony, which is not for the faint-hearted.

Now he has slipped into the shadows, like his predecessor, Bob Pike, and the role has descended to a younger man, David Strawbridge, who carries the mantle and responsibility with a congenial smile.

Andy Wade, president of the town’s carnival committee explains: “It’s not a gimmick. The only thing that has changed in recent times is health and safety.”

And glancing with gratitude at Ray, who is no longer the servant to the flame, he adds: “but there’s still no atmosphere like it.”

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minutes to know Willem Dafoe Willem Dafoe is best known for his starring roles in Hollywood hits like Spider-Man, Platoon and The Last Temptation of Christ. Now 58, he’s venturing into the world of video gaming by appearing in Beyond: Two Souls, an innovative, interactive PlayStation 3 game where he stars alongside Ellen Page...

Tell us about Beyond: Two Souls It’s the story of a young woman who’s been linked to an invisible entity since the day she was born. She doesn’t know what it is, but they can’t be separated. We see how she evolves and changes through the years. The whole idea of the experience is unusual for a video game; it’s not about jumping, shooting, or driving, it’s really about being in the shoes of the main protagonist and seeing how your decisions change the story. It’s a very emotional journey.

It sounds like it may appeal to people who are not usually interested in video games Absolutely, that’s the whole idea. It’s a game that’ll appeal to anyone who loves stories and emotions. It’s intended for gamers too, there’s real game play, but at the same time, we’ve simplified the interface for non-gamers.

How did you get involved in the project?

The director, David Cage, sent me a script and I saw his previous game, Heavy Rain. I was not familiar with the gaming world at all, but I liked the script. .

What can you tell us about your character?

I’m an expert in paranormal events. I have a research facility and this girl is brought to me as a subject for my study, and I help her understand what’s going on.

Has taking part sparked your interest in video games?

I certainly want to check out Beyond: Two Souls, it was such a good experience making it. I saw 45 minutes of the game last night, and it looks fantastic.

You’re not playing a villain here, something you’ve become known for Well, that’s the perception, but that’s not the way I think about it. I think actors are protective of the characters they play, so they don’t judge them. But I also I think it’s not actually true that I always play the villain. It’s an easy perception, but I look at my filmography and I do a little informal survey, and I think I play more good guys and bad guys!

You’ve been working in Manchester recently haven’t you?

I was, it went wonderfully. We premiered this Robert Wilson play, The Old Woman, based on a story by Russian absurdist writer Daniil Kharms, and that was part of the Manchester Festival. It was only myself and Mikhail Baryshnikov.

What else do you have in the pipeline?

Where do I start? I’m just going to come across like a self-promoting fool!

You do seem to be very busy I’ll continue to perform in the Bob Wilson piece The Old Woman, and also another play, The Life and Death of Marina Abramovich.

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SATURDAY NOVEMBER 2 2013 WEST COUNTRY LIFE 5

People Tristan Cork

For 364 days of the year, Bridgwater is a friendly yet fairly unremarkable town in Somerset. But tonight it becomes the centre of the world.

Every year, Bridgwater and the towns that follow it and stage their own carnival spectaculars – come alive with a million lights, tens of thousands of people and the weird and wonderful revolving, spinning and raucous carnival carts trundling through the town.

There is, quite simply, nothing like it in the world. Notting Hill apes more of the Rio mardis gras carnival procession with their emphasis on elaborate costumes worn by people walking, and the fire festivals of Sussex and Shetland aren’t on the same scale. Only in America do processions of the same size take place, but they are daytime and not illuminated.

But the magic of Somerset doesn’t happen by magic.

While 100,000 people prepare to descend on Bridgwater for one night, for the past year, teams of carnival clubs have been beavering away to create the masterpiece of light, decoration, costume and dance that astonishes the crowds.

For carnival in Somerset isn’t a one-night extravaganza, it’s a day-in-day-out way of life, as Laura Nicholson, the chairman of one local club, the British Flag CC, explained.

“They say it’s a hobby but it’s more than that, it does take over your life,” she said.

As a family solicitor in the town, she took part in the Carnival Concerts as a girl, and then got bitten by the bug again seven years ago. Like so many carnival club members, it was family connections that brought her back.

“I’d come back from university and my uncle said that there was a space on the cart and they had a costume and did I want to do it, and I was like ‘Oh my God, yes I would love to!’ and that was seven years ago and I can’t imagine not doing it now,” she said.

“It’s funny because some families are split by carnival clubs, like the husband might be in one and the wife in another, or the children join a different one to their parents. There is rivalry, and some clubs are more rivals with each other, but it’s all friendly. It’s just a bit of

Looking dejected in a corner of the British Flag’s shed, this oriental face will soon take pride of place on the front of ‘Kabuki’

banter and everyone obviously wants to do well, but wants everyone else to do well. The clubs would be nothing on their own, so we do all stick together,” she added.

Although British Flag, based around the pub of the same name in the town, is a thriving club with 70-odd members, it isn’t considered one of the premier clubs. The club has won the Carnival Concerts in two of the last three years, but other clubs normally win the actual procession nights.

“Gremlins are the ones to beat,” explained Laura. “They seem to win every year, they are like the Manchester United of carnival clubs.

We’re a relatively young club, so we perhaps haven’t got the technical experience. A club like Gremlins have lots of highly skilled engineers so can always come up with something new and amazing, and winning is a habit.

“We will all walk together before the start, seeing what everyone else has done, and you do take things away and think about how you could work that idea that you see. Every year they are getting bigger and better and more complex,” she added.

The bigger the club, the more the fundraising they can do, and the more they can spend on their carts.

“We probably get through around £20,000, and some raise and spend more, and no one has any money to take into the next year, usually,” said Laura. “It’s actually the hardest thing, the fundraising. We spend months building the cart each year, but the fundraising is a year-round thing.

“Lots of clubs, us included, do stewarding at the Glastonbury Festival every year. The members volunteer and the festival pays the club.

“We also run a mobile bar and this year we’ve done loads of weddings. The money for that all goes to the club.

“But the rest of the time, we’re constantly fundraising, and it’s hard because we’re always asking the same people, family and friends to help out.”

This year, Laura will dress as a Japanese geisha in British Flag’s entry, an orientaltheme call Kabuki.

Club vice-president Steve Keirle will be a Japanese emperor in robes and “big hair”. He, like dozens of others, has taken the past fortnight off work to ready the cart. For a carpenter, it’s a busman’s holiday, but one he loves to do every year.

“I’ve been involved since 1997, and carnivals have changed a lot since then. It has just got bigger, brighter, more elaborate. Every year someone raises the standard,” he said.

Life for the club members, as it is for all the clubs dotted around Bridgwater and the Somerset towns, is a relentless slog of 15-hour days for the past week or two, where the electrician, the engineer and the carpenter are kings.

“The theme is decided on literally the day after the previous carnival, and the engineers will probably start working in January. It used

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From the top, Andrew Higgins, a life member of the British Flag Carnival Club, sorting bulbs; John Holliday and Beth Smith at work on Kabuki ; Steve Keirle and John Holliday; Ray Baker; club captain Dean Bennett; Steve Keirle making platforms. Right, main image: The Town of Titipu from the British Flag Carnival Club – winners of the Bridgwater Carnival Concerts PICTURES: FRAN STOTHARD

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to be that they wouldn’t really get going until June or July, but everything is so much bigger and brighter now that it does take all year.

“There’s different parts of the club, people who raise funds, people who do costumes, the dancing, the safety guys, building the carts and so on. It’s a huge operation and the shed we’ve got is pretty small. It’s very cosy there so everyone has to get on, as you’re in such close proximity,” he said.

“There’s even a team of blokes whose job is to make sure the cart is prepared, moved to the next carnival, safe and secure. They miss out on all the fun of the after carnival party – this Saturday night, they’ll be taking it to Burnham.

“The club captain decides who goes where on the cart, and we’re lucky that with such a big cart, everyone who wants to go on can be accommodated. It’s a tough job being the captain trying to make sure everyone gets the spot they want.

“You don’t get nervous before the start, there’s too much to worry about, get sorted and work out. But once you’re on, it is amazing – absolutely amazing. Just seeing people’s faces as you go past, that they are amazed, or enjoying it, dancing and singing along with us. I’m just an ordinary carpenter and you can’t think of any other situation where people like us get to perform in front of 90,000 or 100,000 people – even rock stars don’t get that big a crowd!” he added.

“I’m quite a shy person, and you wouldn’t have thought I would do that, but once you get your costume on and get on the cart, it’s just brilliant, just amazing to be able to take part in it,” he added.

Laura agreed. “You kind of take it for granted when you’re busy building the cart, but it is a real privilege and it’s something to be really proud of, that you’re part of this huge thing.

“It takes a lot of hard work and it does take over our lives totally.”

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Reece Standerwick and Isabella Leadbetter from the Somerset Willow Company in Bridgwater with their giant Guy Fawkes

SATURDAY NOVEMBER 2 2013 WEST COUNTRY LIFE 7

People Janet Hughes

Kerris Harrop with some of her cakes which are being judged by a royal baker in the finals of a national competition next week

It all started with Carrie Bradshaw nibbling on one in Sex and the City.

Her Manolo Blahnik heels were too expensive for most fans to copy but the cupcakes were a pretty, affordable luxury and the Magnolia Bakery exploded into a worldwide phenomenon, opening branches in every corner of the globe.

The craze for elaborately decorated confection spawned a generation of amateur bakers who dreamt of swapping their computer keyboards for cake decorations and led to the creation of a multi-million pound industry.

Suddenly rose-sprigged pinnies were the height of fashion and the supermarket shelves filled with sprinkles, sparkles and pastel coloured spatulas.

Kerris Harrop, from Bristol, is one of the

lucky few who managed to turn the dream into reality and is so successful that she has won through to the finals of the National Cupcake Championship 2013.

One of the judges will be Fiona Cairns, who created the royal wedding cake for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

Yet Cupcakes à la carte might not have started if it wasn’t for daughter-in-law Jennie, who was raising money for disability charities by holding weekly cake sales at work.

Kerris started making the tasty treats to help out, but as they became more and more elaborate, word of her creations started to spread.

“I used to cook for the family,” she said.

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“But my interest in cake making started when Jennie organised cake sales each Friday at work. When I went to New York on holidays I looked in the windows of the cake shops and thought the cupcakes were so pretty. It really fired my enthusiasm.”

Kerris, who has a degree in computing and who worked as an internal auditor for a Bristol insurance firm before retiring, was bored after giving up work early.

Encouraged by the demand for her homebaked goodies, she started her own business from her home in the Backwell area of the city two years ago.

At her busiest times – especially in the runup to Christmas – Kerris can spend hours in the kitchen, producing up to 100 cupcakes a week.

Holidays to her favourite destination, which is the home to Sex and the City, provide her with inspiration and enthusiasm.

She has even dined at the original Magnolia Bakery on Bleeker Street where it all started, and loved every sugary mouthful.

Customers are able to choose from a range of flavours including chocolate, and Kerris even offers a range of alcohol-flavoured cakes, with Baileys and Pimms among the favourites.

Although the cakes

have to taste good, it is creating the intricate decorations out of frosting, flowers and frills that she enjoys the most and it takes around 15 minutes to gild each one.

She said: “The cakes are totally bespoke and made to order. I think people like them not only because of the flavours, but because of the stylish designs.”

Kerris, who says vanilla is proving customers’ favourite flavour, has made cakes for weddings, children’s birthdays and corporate events. Two of her cupcakes have made it to the finals and she has won through to the classic category and the themed category of the national competition.

The impressive judging panel includes Queen Of Cakes Fiona Cairns.

Her floral-strewn cake from William and Kate’s wedding in April 2011, was decorated to reflect the lace detail of the bride’s dress and was regarded as a culinary, artistic masterpiece.

No wonder Kerris is nervous about what Fiona will make of her classic lemon cupcakes and her rose-flavoured cupcake – the latter decorated with a Valentine’s Day design.

“I think she’s amazing so it’s really nerveracking,” said Kerris. “I am delighted to be chosen as a finalist – it is a real honour. But I am quite nervous that one of the judges made the royal wedding cake.

“I don’t think I’ll be there for the tasting, which is good, but I’m a great fan of Mary Berry so I hope we meet her.”

Kerris is one of 47 bakers across the UK to make it through to the finals.

Other judges on the panel include awardwinning pastry chef Will Torrent, Munichborn Gerhard Jenne, who founded Waterloobased Konditor and Cook, and last year’s champion Emily Johnson of London’s Upsy Daisy Bakery.

Awards will be presented by food writer and television presenter Mary Berry at the NEC in Birmingham on November 9.

“Obviously eating them is the best bit but I enjoy the whole process,” said Kerris, who sells her cakes over the internet and at a weekly market in Clevedon, near Bristol.

“From setting up the business to ordering and baking, I love it all. When you see people’s faces when they see and eat them, it makes all the hard work worthwhile.

“Coming up with new ideas is the hard part and sometimes at 11pm on a Friday night when I’m in the kitchen baking I do wonder why I’m doing it instead of sitting in front of the TV with my feet up, but I love it.

“And so do other people, especially the ladies. I think cupcakes have taken off in such a big way because they are very pretty and colourful, affordable little luxuries we can all enjoy.”

The first mention of the cupcake can be traced as far back as 1796, when a recipe notation of “a cake to be baked in small cups” was written in American Cookery by Amelia Simmons, but it was around a decade ago when the cupcake craze really took off.

The Magnolia Bakery tapped into the sense of nostalgia evoked by the home-baked cakes and set up a vintage-style shop which became a hit when Miranda and Carrie famously ate pink cupcakes, while talking about Carrie’s new crush, Aidan in Sex and the City.

They now have branches world wide although some believe it may be starting to dip after the Crumbs Bake Shop, the largest cupcake shop chain in the US, reported a decline.

To find out more about Kerris Harrop’s cakes go to www.cupcakesalacarte.co.uk

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Two of Kerris Harrop’s beautifully decorated cupcakes

People Martin Hesp

We’ve been envying snails for centuries – as creatures who carry homes on their backs.

In fact, people have been attempting to do this ever since we realised horses could tow carts.

The trouble is, the contraptions we devise, like the modern caravan, are often so utilitarian and uninteresting to look at.

Enter the Twagon – short for “towable wagon” – the brain child of a West Country woodworking expert who believes modern motorised camping lacks a proper breadth of choice.

Chris Ward, who lives and works in West Dorset, became convinced that modern caravans and campers are just too dull, so he came up with the idea of converting a traditional horse-drawn Romany cart to a modern towable appliance which would be both comfortable and a head-turner.

The Twagon, now being produced by his firm Wildwood Design, is basically an old fashioned bow-top gypsy caravan, but it sits on a modern galvanised steel chassis and so passes all the stringent vehicle licensing authority tests, making it a fully towable, roadworthy camping trailer.

I visited Chris in his workshops at Broadwindsor near the Dorset-Devon border to find out more about these remarkable caravans, which come tailor-made from around £11,500.

“People have played around with the idea a bit before, but only played around,” 38-yearold Chris told me. “Shepherds’ huts are quite a big thing nowadays, aren’t they? But this project is saying that there’s also this as a possibility. It doesn’t just have to sit in your garden like a shepherd’s hut. You can get out and use it as a towing caravan.

“The last one I manufactured has spent the entire summer being taken around,” Chris added, quoting his more-than-satisfied customer, Pascoe Needle, who bought a Twagon earlier this year.

“After many years of owning an old VW camper van, my wife and I reluctantly felt we needed a change for something that was more reliable and that didn’t need re-packing every time we wanted to nip out for the day,” says Pascoe. “We couldn’t stomach the idea of a white caravan or trailer tent, and thought something unique, beautiful and very much our own was the way to go.

“Having considered the very limited options in this market, we discovered the Twagon. Chris was really approachable and accommodating with our bespoke needs, and helped us develop our Twagon, while retaining the essence of a traditional bow-top.

“We have used the Twagon on a number of

Chris Ward is currently working on his third Twagon at his workshop in Broadwindsor. He says: ‘There are lights, beds, a kitchen area. They’re such a lovely space, and easy to heat’

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PICTURES: RICHARD AUSTIN AND NANCY CASTLE

occasions now and look forward to international travelling over the coming years. It is very easy to tow and manoeuvre, and is a delight for our family of four to be in.”

Chris, who studied woodworking at the Lyme Regis Boat Building Academy, told me: “The first one I built just last year. I had to design the whole thing, but I’ve kept it as close to a traditional bow-top as possible. The only difference is that it is placed on a chassis.

“The Roma design probably started in India centuries ago.

“My knowledge has come from people within the travelling community – and from some books. It’s been a massive process. Once the idea came along, I saw it as an opportunity to create a product. And I thought there was potential there when I discovered there wasn’t really anything else like it.

“The chassis has to be brand new,” he explained. “They have to be tested by the vehicle licensing people for roadworthiness, so they’ve got all the paperwork. It’s not particularly heavy – in fact the Twagon is probably lighter than a normal caravan.

They’re only 900 kilos, so easily towable, partly because they feature the canvas stretched over the bent ash wood.”

I asked Chris what passers-by make of the Twagon when he’s towing one out on the open road.

“It certainly turns heads,” he replied. “If I stop somewhere like a garage car park for a sandwich, I’ll be there for ages – it’s unbelievable. People come up and want to talk about it.

My attitude towards it is this: this is a caravan – people can come here, pick up the Twagon they’ve ordered and drive off and stay in it that night. There are lights, beds, a kitchen area.

They’re such a lovely space, and easy to heat,” he added. “There’s a little wood burning stove, and it’s so warm. You’ve got an insulated floor – all made of natural material.”

Chris is currently making a truly traditional flat-topped, four-wheel wagon for a customer whose hobby is carriage-driving with horses – but already has a modified chassis and materials ready and waiting for his next Twagon customer.

SATURDAY NOVEMBER 2 2013 WEST COUNTRY LIFE 9

People Eva Jones

James Blunt released his debut album Back To Bedlam in 2004 – it sold 11 million copies.

And it became the 16th best-selling British album ever.

After his fourth album Moon Landing was released last month, the Wiltshire-born songwriter and former Army captain answers our questions and reveals he’s keen to go back to his roots, says he wasn’t a cool teenager, and believes that being sensitive shouldn’t be considered a bad thing

How does it feel to come back with your fourth album?

I’m very excited. I’m sure every musicians says that, but I suppose for me, this has been a... journey – that word... But I’ve got back to the way I recorded Back To Bedlam, which had all that innocence and charm, and then something amazing happened and it took off.

Originally, I was an independent artist, on a tiny label called Custard Records, and I was being produced by Tom Rothrock, who had worked with Badly Drawn Boy, Beck and Elliott Smith. Then it had a song on it that took it away from being an independent album, and

took to the mainstream, which is somehow classed as a dirty word.

How did that change your music?

Well, all of a sudden I was playing gigs to between 20,000 and 40,000 people, recording in Mark Knopfler’s studio, touring all over the world and writing songs which kind of secondguessed what an audience might want.

For this album I decided that I should do what I wanted, get back to Tom Rothrock and record with him in this very simple way. He wanted to make a more personal, honest record, which was fantastic. This is the album I would’ve recorded if Back To Bedlam hadn’t have been such a success and gone mainstream.

Couldn’t you have just released it then and the fanbase would’ve just had to accept it?

To a degree, yes, but you have to release something fitting to the size of audience you’re playing to. Also, there were so many

Almondsbury Forge Former Army captain and Tidworth boy James Blunt is back with a new album more people listening to my music after Back To Bedlam, more than I could ever have imagined, and I didn’t want to be so open in front of all those people. So I hid behind other people, like the touring band I used to record my second and third albums with. Knowing there is a huge audience out there isn’t a burden, of course, but there is a pressure that makes you make music for them. I’m really lucky, I know that, and this is a great position to be in.

Bones, thematically, seems to underpin the rest of the album

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01454 613315

www.almondsburyforge.co.uk

10 WEST COUNTRY LIFE SATURDAY NOVEMBER 2 2013

Yes, and it’s a song my band and I can’t wait to play live. The lyrics are about not being a cool teenager; “I’ve never been a beautiful boy, I’ve never liked the sound of my own voice”.

That’s quite clear to me and obviously about me. It harks back to a time when the world was a lot simpler than when you’ve sold a lot of records and become famous. There’s a fallibility to the whole thing, understanding what you’ve got going for yourself. I wrote that when I really started to get an idea of where the album was going, that it was going to be more reflective. I wanted to get back to being songwriter, to remind people what I am, that I aspire to be a songwriter like Elliott Smith or Cat Power.

vulnerability and awareness as a songwriter isn’t weak at all.

Are you scaling down touring and the venues you’ll play?

When we start touring there will be five in the band, whereas there had been six before. The size of the venues, I’m not so sure I need to scale that back. I’ve found that I can make a large room feel like an intimate space. I’ve always played Goodbye, My Lover just me and a piano, and felt comfortable and confident doing that.

Your albums have all been released three years apart. How have you filled your time since the last album in 2010?

I’m on a strict schedule. I released the album, then went on tour for two years, then went home and washed my clothes, and this album has taken a year to make. It sometimes feels like I’m away for a lot longer because I do tour so much in other parts of the world, and in Britain, we focus very much on what happens in Britain. The media often thinks if I’m touring in Australia or South America that I’ve disappeared, but that’s not the case. At least Brits are getting some fresh air and some time away from me, I suppose.

When are you going to be touring?

Do people forget that?

To a degree, and perhaps I did too. If I’m out filling an arena, it’s easy to forget you once wanted to play intimate venues. And sometimes you’re made to feel ashamed of the things you do well. People talk about “sensitive singer songwriters”, and there’s nothing very tough, or desirable, with the word sensitive being used as a negative. So you counter by playing the electric guitar and become more brash. I think that’s missing the point, and

We announced very recently, and it’s going to be April, which is all part of a huge European tour which kicks off in February. I love touring, we have a phenomenal time. South America is great, North America too, Europe, Scandinavia in particular. It’s funny, most of my single male friends want to come out to see me when I play in Scandinavia...

For more information go to www.jamesblunt.com

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Food Chris Rundle

M’learned friend Richard says he cannot remember a better year for vegetables. Not simply for the quantity that has come off the land but the quality.

And that, he assures me (and he knows about these things) is all down to the weather, specifically the hot, dry summer.

Vegetables being in constant need of water they have been forced to send their roots deeper and deeper into the soil and in drawing up enough moisture to keep themselves from desiccating have pulled up considerable quantities of minerals at the same time.

Which has, so he says, enhanced their flavour to a spectacular degree.

And who am I to argue with a man who grows them for a living?

Minerals are, after all, what give much of our fruit and vegetables their special flavour, which is why there is no comparison between a hydroponically grown strawberry that you might encounter in the shops at this time of the year and one picked from a baking hot bed in a well-fertilised field at the height of the natural season.

Indoor growers may well add mineral solutions to the water to replicate field conditions but they rarely, if ever, match up.

Vegetables including brassicas and roots are certainly looking extremely healthy at the moment but you should also think carefully about where you buy them.

Supermarket vegetables will probably have spent several days in transit and in distribution centres before arriving on the shelves.

Then there are farm shops, usually the best places to source vegetables because theoretically they have come from local farms. But only theoretically. The fact is that many of the “farm shops” that have sprung up recently to take advantage of consumers’ growing preference for independent food retailers are trading under false pretences.

Some planning authorities do impose conditions on premises describing themselves as farm shops. But this is an entire market sector where the planning laws and trading regulations need to be tightened up. Ultimately it’s the farmers’ market which is going to offer you your freshest vegetables but if a farm shop is your only option then don’t be afraid to ask where the goods have been sourced from.

Cornish spring greens are one of my favourites, with a fabulous, iron-rich flavour that makes them an ideal accompaniment to roast meat. They were once limited to a single, annual, springtime appearance until a sharpwitted businessman from the other end of the country pointed out to the growers that the Cornish climate was mild enough to support production of this premium product 12 months of the year. And thank goodness he did: they make the best bubble and squeak.

Cornish spring greens pie Ingredients One head of Cornish spring greens; two large leeks; two Spanish onions; 50g butter; 12 grindings of nutmeg; 20 grindings of black

pepper; 1tspn salt; 2tspns dried tarragon; two large eggs; 4tblspns crème fraiche

Method Trim, wash and finely slice the leeks and finely slice the onions. Melt the butter in a heavy-bottomed pan and sweat the vegetables slowly for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring now and then to prevent sticking.

Separate the Cornish greens leaves and drop into a large pan of boiling, salted water for two minutes. Remove, drain and dry and cut away the central vein from each leaf.

Generously butter a flan dish or tin and carefully line it with the leaves, allowing plenty of overlap and reserving one large one for the top.

In a large bowl beat the eggs then whip in the crème fraiche with the salt, pepper, nutmeg and tarragon. Stir the leek and onion mixture in and mix well. Tip into the flan dish, cover with the overlapping leaves and top off with the final reserved leaf to fully encase the filling. Cover tightly with foil.

Pre-heat the oven to 180C gas mark 4 and fill a roasting pan with a half-inch depth of boiling water. Place the flan dish or tin in the pan and bake for an hour. Remove the foil and bake for a further 15 minutes. Serve warm or cold.

Bubble and squeak with stilton and bacon Ingredients 600g peeled floury potatoes; six leaves of Cornish spring greens or a dozen large Brussels sprouts; 100g butter; 100ml double cream; 1tblspn fresh chopped thyme; 20 grindings black pepper; 2tspns salt; 50g Stilton or other blue cheese; eight rashers dry-cured smoked bacon

Method Remove the central veins from the greens and chop roughly or, if using sprouts, cut in half.

Set the potatoes to boil in salted water and place the greens or sprouts in a steamer on top. Once the potatoes are cooked, drain and dry out in the pan over a moderate flame.

Chop the greens or sprouts on a board. Add 75g of the butter to the potatoes and mash well then work in the cream, thyme and chopped greens or sprouts. Add the salt and pepper and check the seasoning.

Melt the remaining butter in a heavy frying pan and when it starts to sizzle add the potato mixture and flatten out into a cake. Cook over a medium heat for eight minutes, shaking now and then to avoid sticking.

Invert on to a plate and slide back into the pan to cook the other side on a slightly lower heat for five minutes. Grill the bacon and reserve.

Crumble the cheese over the top of the bubble and squeak and place the pan under a pre-heated grill for 30 seconds. Serve topped with the bacon.

Winter vegetable pasties Ingredients One pack of puff pastry, four large sticks of celery; two medium carrots; two medium onions; one large leek; two medium turnips; 1tblspn chopped mixed tarragon and chervil; 2tpns salt; 12 grindings black pepper; dash of white wine; 4tblspns double cream; beaten egg to glaze

Method

It’s been a great year for vegetables... well, at least Chris Rundle’s friend says that anyway

12 WEST COUNTRY LIFE SATURDAY NOVEMBER 2 2013

De-strong the celery sticks with a vegetable peeler, cut into four lengthways and chop into dice. Peel the turnips and carrots and cut into small dice, roughly chop the onions, split the leek lengthways and chop roughly. Place all the vegetables in a bowl and add the black pepper and a dash of white wine. Mix well.

Divide the puff pastry into four and roll out to eight-inch diameter circles. Moisten the edges with a little water and divide the mixture between them. Sprinkle with salt then fold the pastry over and crimp to form a seal.

Make a steam vent in the top. Transfer to a baking sheet and glaze with beaten egg. Bake for an hour at a quarter at 190C gas mark 5.

Ten minutes before the end of baking pour a tablespoon of cream into each one using baking parchment for a funnel.

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Eating out Mark Taylor

What a difference a day makes. In the name of research, I visited Café Ronak twice.

This was in the space of just one week and it was like being in two entirely different places.

On the first visit, this well-established Gloucester Road café, in Bristol, was packed, buzzy and difficult to find a table.

A week later, it was like climbing aboard the Mary Celeste. It was eerily quiet, virtually empty and the buzz of the previous week had completely dissipated.

When I commented on how quiet it was, the chap making my coffee said it might be because some of the locals had been sucked, Dyson-like, up the road to check out the new branch of Boston Tea Party, which had opened the previous day.

Of course, any major new opening is sure to create a few ripples for other businesses, but I’m sure it’s a temporary blip for Café Ronak, which has a loyal following in a stretch of Gloucester Road already teeming with cafés.

A narrow, deep room leading out to a covered and leafy courtyard, this friendly café has an eclectic, higgledy-piggeldy look with colourful walls, (some clad in what looks like cross sections of tree trunks), leather sofas and the chillax sounds of Norah Jones. crooning away in the background.

The chalkboard menus on the walls offer a wide range of dining options for breakfast or lunch. There is a selection of all-day breakfasts, in various sizes and combinations, numerous paninis, baguettes and filled jacket potatoes as well as the more interesting range of salads, burgers, wraps and mezze dishes.

Salads include the Caesar Supreme and wraps include the (appallingly named) vegetarian-friendly Bohemian Wrhapsody (herbed couscous, hummus, spinach, tomatoes, carrot, mixed fruit, nuts and seeds).

I went for the special Persian mezze (£6 for one, £11 for two people), a well-presented dish comprising two very good falafels, a smoky homemade aubergine dip, a ramekin of creamy hummus, a portion of good quality feta cheese, olives and sunblushed tomatoes, served with enough warm toasted wholemeal pitta bread to mop it all up with.

There was a bit of a delay with my coffee – actually, that’s an understatement as it arrived just as I finished the food despite two gentle reminders – but the staff were so apologetic and friendly, they were forgiven. And anyway, the coffee (supplied by Bristol roasters Brian Wogan) was well made and had a good flavour.

On the second visit, the coffee arrived without delay with a slice of moist, spicy carrot cake (£2.50) , but then there were so few customers around me that any delay would have been unforgiveable.

Venue Café Ronak, 169 Gloucester Road, Bristol, BS7 8BE Contact 0117 3070392

REFRESHING FARE Mike Moore, from Fentimans Ltd, is pictured with his ginger beers at Lacock Abbey’s Cheers Day, an event that included barrel rolling and stalls

PICTURE: CLARE GREEN PICTURE: FRAN STOTHARD

Bristol’s coffee revolution continues to grow apace as more independent artisan coffee houses open across the city. The latest is Full Court Press, located in a former shop a couple of doors from Christ Church in Broad Street.

It’s the brainchild of Matt North, who has worked in the coffee business for the past decade, in national chains and local independents, and in sales and as a coffee machine engineer. What he doesn’t know about the industry you could probably write on the back of a coffee filter paper.

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With a few wooden Ikea tables, a handful of stools and a Victorian fireplace and stained glass window at the far end, it’s a simple whitewashed room. This is a café where it’s all about the coffee – although they serve good loose leaf tea from Bristol’s Canton Tea Company and there is a small selection of locally made pastries and cakes from Hart’s Bakery, Bosh and Coco Rosey.

They take their coffee very seriously here.

Every shot is weighed to the gram and each drink is timed to the second and served at the correct temperature. The coffees change every few days and there are usually two specifically for filter (served black) and two for espressobased drinks. Each comes with tasting notes, as you might expect when buying wine.

On this occasion, the filters included Clifton Coffee’s Hope Project AB from Tanzania with its promised flavours of “black tea, rhubarb, berries” and the espresso coffees included the

Mark Taylor had to visit Café Ronak twice, top, to get better service; Matt North, of Full Court Press, should be proud his business, says Mark Taylor Guatemalan Santa Isabel roasted by Round Hill in Bath, which offered “morello cherries, cocoa and walnuts” as an espresso or ‘fudge, chocolate, nuts’ with milk.

I went for a flat white made using the Las Lajas Perla Negra, a Costa Rican coffee roasted by London’s Caravan roasters. The tasting notes promised “plums, raisins and muscovado” as an espresso or “caramel and malt” with milk and the description was were spoton, although my less polished palate may have said “Cadbury’s Caramel and banana chocolate loaf ”.

But then that’s the joy of experiencing all these new coffees – everybody’s palate is different and a big part of visiting Full Court Press is that it’s an education in itself.

Venue Full Court Press, 59 Broad Street, Bristol, BS1 2EJ Contact 07794 808552

SATURDAY NOVEMBER 2 2013 WEST COUNTRY LIFE 13

Food Andy Welch

Those lists of things to do before you die are all the rage. But what about those things you should eat – perhaps a last supper request.

Simon Rimmer, best known as the cook on Channel 4’s Sunday Brunch, was among those deciding what had to appear in the top 50 food experiences, in a project out together by Kenwood, along with a panel of experts including critic Giles Coren, Waitrose magazine editor and sometime MasterChef judge William Sitwell and Great British Bake Off finalist Miranda Gore Brown.

“There are many things that play a part, aside from ego and desire of those on the panel,” he explains.

“First, we had to know where to pitch it.

With myself, William and Giles, the natural inclination was to think about the most amazing thing we’d ever eaten, or the most unbelievable experience, but then you think what your mum might want, what my kids would like or what I’d like them to do.”

As a result, alongside visiting certain restaurants around the world, there are some simpler, yet truly rewarding experiences among the 50.

Cooking a curry from scratch is one of them, for example. Not something that should trouble even the most amateur home cook, and not needlessly extravagant, but something we should all do at least once.

Catching a fish and cooking it on the beach is another. OK, it’s not something you could do each day for your tea, but it does sound quite romantic. Baking a chocolate cake with your children perhaps typifies the idea of simple pleasure.

“When that one came up everyone around the table just said ‘Oh yes, absolutely’,” says Rimmer, who says he’s done around 40 of the final 50 on the list.

There were three items he was particularly keen to fight for, and number one was Betty’s Tea Room in Harrogate.

Rimmer loves the place – he had his wedding reception in the York branch of the tea room and says he’d recommend a visit to anyone.

“It’s deliriously overpriced, but the level of service and quality of food make it worthwhile. You might pay £7 for a piece of fruitcake, but then if you were sitting opposite the Place de l’Opera in Paris, you wouldn’t moan about your nine-euro coffee, you’d just admire the view. These aren’t about everyday experiences, I’m not suggesting going there is something you do on your way to work.”

He wasn’t quite so lucky with ‘eating cold baked beans from the can’ and ‘eating a doner kebab’ – perhaps the rest of the panel don’t know what it’s like to be a hungry, drunk student – but his choice of fish and chips made the grade.

“I even stated which chippy it should be – and that’s Seniors just outside Blackpool,” he says, explaining it exemplifies everything that’s great about a local institution. “It was very tough deciding these things, and the meetings were fraught with lots of shouting,” says Rimmer.

“The thing is, if we’d been asked to make a list of 500, we could’ve done it, but I’m very pleased with the 50 things we’ve chosen. I honestly think it’s a list for everyone.”

Here are two top 50 foodie experiences for you to try at home...

French onion soup by Jean-Christophe Novelli Foodie experience: Making your own soup Ingredients for four

50g unsalted butter; 1tblspn olive oil; 1kg red onions, thinly sliced; one sprig fresh thyme, stalks removed; two bay leaves; 3tspns caster sugar; 750ml dry white wine; 350ml hot vegetable stock; 1tblspn lemon juice; salt and pepper For the croutons: one baguette; one garlic clove, peeled; 180g Gruyere cheese, sliced; freshly ground black pepper; pinch paprika

Method

Melt the butter in a large saucepan with the oil and gently cook the onions for six to eight minutes or until softened. Add the herbs and seasoning, sprinkle over the sugar and cook for a further five minutes.

Pour in the wine and raise the heat. Bring back to the boil and simmer to reduce for 10 minutes. Add the hot stock, bring back to the boil and simmer for 25 minutes.

When you are ready to serve the soup, preheat the grill. Slice the baguette diagonally and dry-fry in a heavy-based pan without oil or butter. While it’s toasting, rub a clove of garlic on the bottom of the pan to infuse the bread. When the baguette pieces are golden brown, top with the sliced cheese, grind over the pepper, sprinkle with the paprika, and grill for two to three minutes until the cheese is bubbling.

Just before serving the soup, add the lemon juice and stir. Ladle into hot bowls and top with the cheesy croutons. Serve immediately.

Chorizo scotch eggs with pepper chutney by Simon Rimmer Foodie experience: British ale with a scotch egg Ingredients for six

Six hard-boiled eggs, cooked for a maximum of six minutes; 175g sausage meat; 75g finely diced chorizo; 1tblspn chopped parsley; 1tblspn finely chopped chives; 75g breadcrumbs; 75g polenta; oil for frying; plenty of salt and white pepper For the pepper chutney: one red onion, sliced; four red peppers, finely sliced, one clove garlic, sliced; eight gherkins, chopped; 1tblsp capers; 100g demerara sugar; 100ml red wine vinegar; one bird’s eye chilli, finely chopped

Method

Mix the sausage meat, chorizo, parsley and chives together and season generously. Divide into 16 pieces and press flat. Shell the egg, then roll it in flour to make sure it has a dry surface and the other things stick to it properly. Roll it in a little beaten egg, then wrap the sausage/ chorizo mix around it.

Combine the polenta and breadcrumbs. Roll the eggs in breadcrumbs/polenta mixture.

Deep fry at 180C for four minutes, turning regularly.

To make the chutney, fry the onion, garlic

14 WEST COUNTRY LIFE SATURDAY NOVEMBER 2 2013

and chilli for three to four minutes to soften.

Add the peppers, and cook for two minutes.

Add the sugar and vinegar, boil for ten minutes, and take off heat. Finally add the capers, gherkins, season and cool.

Serve the chutney with Scotch eggs and a little pretty salad garnish.

50 foodie things to do before you die 1 Baking chocolate cake with your kids 2 Takeaways with posh plonk 3 Afternoon tea at Betty’s (Harrogate) 4 Eating Beluga caviar 5 Dining at Chez Panisse (California) 6 Eating a hot dog at a baseball game 7 Coffee and croissants in a Parisian café 8 Fresh British asparagus 9 Collecting and cooking fresh eggs 10 Breakfast at The Wolseley (London) 11 Bread and butter pudding 12 Cornish clotted cream 13 Catching and cooking a mackerel on a beach 14 Marinated barbecued lamb 15 Crispy crackling 16 Curing raw fish at home 17 Cooking a curry from scratch 18 Growing your own vegetables 19 Dining at Racine (London) 20 Chocolate fondant pudding

21 Fresh seafood by the sea 22 Fresh honeycomb 23 Chocolate eclairs 24 Set lunch menu at Le Gavroche (London) 25 Greengages 26 Blackberry picking 27 Dining at L’Enclume (Cumbria) 28 Visiting Jamaa El Fna Square (Marrakesh) 29 Home-made mayonnaise 30 Woodland glade picnic 31 Learning to joint a chicken 32 Baking your own bread 33 Lunch at The Walnut Tree (Abergavenny) 34 Cooking a perfectly timed Sunday roast 35 Making your own soup 36 Early morning breakfast at Carnegie Deli (New York) 37 Making your own marmalade 38 Making ice cream 39 Tapas in San Miguel market (Madrid) 40 Pork pies 41 Dawn fry-up at Smithfield Market (London) 42 International wine trail 43 British ale with a Scotch egg 44 Sushi at Tsukiji fish market (Tokyo) 45 Takeaway fish’n’chips 46 Guinness at the Stag’s Head, Dublin 47 Dining at The Seahorse (Devon) 48 Wild British strawberries 49 Toasting a haggis with whisky 50 Street food in Asia

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Foodie treat Mark Taylor The New West Country Cook Book is a new 320page tome showcasing the West Country’s culinary talent and high quality produce through 75 home-cooked recipes provided by 17 of the top chefs in the region.

The book is the brainchild of Cornwallbased photographer David Griffen.

Contributors include established names such as two-Michelin star chefs Nathan Outlaw and Gloucester-born Tom Kerridge, Michael Caines, Mitch Tonks and Mark Hix, as well as rising stars such as Sam Moody (Bath Priory), Tom Blake (of The Swan at Wedmore) and Josh Eggleton (Pony & Trap, Chew Magna).

And this lamb recipe is fromthe Michelinstarred Pony & Trap.

Josh says: “This is ideal for any dinner party and can be prepared in advance. Once cooked, while you leave the lamb to rest for half an hour, you can relax and enjoy a drink with your guests.”

Stuffed saddle of lamb Ingredients for six to eight One saddle of lamb, boned out and trimmed of some, but not all, of the fat; eight cloves of garlic; eight sprigs of rosemary For the stuffing: 200g sausage meat; nine prunes, stoned; 200g spinach, stalks removed; 25g butter; one pinch freshly-grated nutmeg; 50ml port; 30g breadcrumbs; salt and pepper to season

Method

To make the stuffing: Place the prunes into a small saucepan. Add the port and bring up to the boil.

Remove from the heat and allow to cool.

Wash the spinach and pick off the stalks.

Bettys Cafe Tea Room in Harrogate, Yorkshire, left, where the cake may be over-priced, says Simon Rimmer, but it’s worth every penny; making French onion soup, above; and scotch eggs, top, are great foodie experiences

Comfort food Rosa Mashiter It was good news last week to hear that the UK economy is showing growth but bad news that our domestic gas and electric are yet again going to increase at a whopping rate.

A good way of stretching the budget I believe is to make good use of the wide variety of vegetables and pulses available to produce delicious and nutritious dishes.

What is important is to shop that little more carefully, and make sure that you buy good produce at the best price you can achieve. I have certainly noticed a change in the way people are shopping at my local supermarket, with more people using “own brand” products and eating more seasonally.

I also have noticed that prices are the local greengrocers are, given the odd exceptions, not only on par with local supermarkets, but a lot of their produce is local and cheaper – so do support your local greengrocer.

Chickpea, lentil and squash curry Ingredients for six One large onion; 2tblspns vegetable oil; 1tspn ground coriander; 1tspn ground cumin; 1tspn

turmeric; 3tspns garam masala; 1tspn chilli powder; ½tspn ground cinnamon; ¼tspn ground ginger; 150g red lentils; ½ butternut squash; 650ml vegetable stock (use 2 stock cubes and water); 400g tin chickpeas; 125g fresh baby spinach; juice of a lemon; 1tblspn chopped fresh coriander; 1tbspn chopped fresh mint

Method

Peel and thinly slice the onion. Peel and roughly chop the butternut squash. Heat the oil in a large pan and over a medium heat sauté off the onion until soft and transparent.

Stir in the garam masala and cook for one minute, then add the rest of the spices mixing well and cook for a further minute before stirring in the lentils and squash together with 650ml of vegetable stock. Bring to the boil, then lower the heat to simmer until the lentils are thick and mushy in consistency.

Add the chickpeas and spinach and stir well until the spinach wilts, bring the mixture to just below boiling point. Remove from the heat and stir in the lemon juice, coriander and mint and serve immediately with chappatis or naan bread.

Vegetarian creole jambalaya Ingredients 25g butter; 1tblspn vegetable oil; two cloves garlic; one large onion; six spring onions; two sticks celery; one green pepper; one red

pepper; ½tspn ground cumin; couple of dashes Tabasco sauce; 200g long grain rice; 1tspn dried basil; 400g tin chopped tomatoes; 400ml vegetable stock (use stock cube and water); 400g tin sweetcorn; salt and freshly ground black pepper; 4tblspns chopped fresh parsley; wedges of lemon or lime for garnish

Method

Peel and crush the garlic. Peel and chop the onion. Trim and chop the spring onions.

Deseed and chop the red and green peppers.

Heat the butter with the oil in a paella pan (if you do not have one use a large wide deep frying pan) add the rice, cumin and Tabasco and stir fry for a couple of minutes, then add the thyme, tomatoes and stock, bring to the boil, stir well and reduce the heat and cover with a lid, and allow to simmer gently for about 15 to 20 minutes, stirring from time to time until the rice is tender and the stock absorbed. Stir in the sweetcorn and season with salt and pepper and continue to cook to heat through. Sprinkle over the chopped parsley and serve garnished with lemon or lime wedges.

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Stuffed saddle of lamb is ideal for a dinner party Heat the butter in a wide-based pan until foaming. Add the spinach and nutmeg.

Remove from the heat and stir until the spinach has wilted. Season with salt and pepper, then set aside until later.

When cool, chop the prunes and the spinach.

Add to the sausage meat with the breadcrumbs. Combine all the ingredients thoroughly and chill.

To prepare the lamb: The fillets should be loose; remove them and set aside. Score the fat both ways to form 1cm-sized diamonds. Turn the saddle, fat side down. Place a cylinder of the stuffing in the middle of the joint. Place the fillets on top, with the thick ends opposite each other. Top with some more stuffing and season with salt and pepper. Lift one of the ends and roll it over the loins. Repeat this for the other side and ensure the joint is tightly rolled. Tie with plenty of string so the joint holds its shape.

For cooking, season the outside. Preheat the oven to 200°C. Sear the joint all over in a large frying pan. Transfer the joint to the roasting tin with the garlic and rosemary. Roast in the preheated oven for 30 minutes.

Remove from the oven and cover with foil.

Leave to rest for 30 minutes. The lamb should be medium to medium-rare.

SATURDAY NOVEMBER 2 2013 WEST COUNTRY LIFE 15

Absolute Corkers Ned Halley

Watering hole The Trooper Inn

The Alsace region produces some wonderful pinot grigio, such as Jean Biecher & Fils Pinot Gris Reserve 2011 which can be bought online from Morrisons

Pinot grigio has made Italian white wine fashionable again. It’s the café wine of Venice.

And this certainly helps. But it’s really the pleasantly easy, fresh appeal of the wine that seems to have done the trick for drinkers here in Britain.

The name pinot grigio rolls off the tongue with a certain Italian brio. There’s an argument that it sounds a bit more stylish than Aussie chardonnay, a little less of a mouthful than New Zealand sauvignon blanc.

But the pinot grigio is not Italian at all. It’s French. The name is just a translation from pinot gris (“grey pinot”), a grape variety native to Burgundy. The name positions the variety neatly between its two cousins, the white pinot blanc, now mostly cultivated in Alsace, and the black pinot noir, the grape that makes all the great red wines of Burgundy, and much of the sparkling wine of Champagne, too.

There are at least fifty shades to the grey pinot. The PG – to abbreviate and internationalise it – is neither a green nor a black grape, but somewhere betwixt. The skins might be a grey-blue, resembling pinot noir, or even a russet-pink, causing confusion with pinot blanc. And PG covers a wide span of wine styles, too, from the palest, lightest and driest of whites to the most lavishly rich and unctuous “dessert” wines.

It’s mostly down to location. The pinot grigio you find in the supermarkets and wine bars comes from the Veneto region of northeast Italy, where it is now produced on an industrial scale for export markets such as Britain and the United States. The basic wines are just off-dry, with aromas and fruit that might make you think of apples or pears. The best ones are fresh and lively, and moderately priced.

Asda Wine Selection Pinot Grigio 2012 at £4.50 is among the cheapest of the ownlabel PGs. It has a lively sweet-pear fruit and decent acidity which makes it more interesting than some. Over at Waitrose, try La Vis Vigneti di Montagna Pinot Grigio 2012, reduced until Tuesday next from £9.99 to a proper bargain £6.66. This is from north of the Veneto in the Trentino region, where the sub-Alpine conditions seem to be auspicious. This is an exceptional PG, generously coloured, ripe with crisp-apple fruit and an exotic note of clove with an elegant, tangy citrus finish.

Palatia Pinot Grigio 2012 at £8.49 from Marks & Spencer is from Germany, and a PG in a class of its own. The Germans used to call PG Grauburgunder (“Burgundy grey”) or more commonly the Ruländer, but now that the Italian name for the variety has so caught on, it’s understandable they should wish to capitalize on its vogue. This M&S wine is a treat under any name, limey, smoky and stonily fresh with long orchard fruits and a satisfying weight.

In France, the PG is now virtually unknown in Burgundy, but prospers in another of the nation’s classic regions, Alsace.

As a good-value introduction to the style, try Jean Biecher & Fils Pinot Gris Reserve 2011 at £7.99 from Morrisons’ online shop. It’s an ideally poised and quite dry, smoky-spicy Alsace

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wine with deliciously exotic and layered herbaceous, orchard flavours. Amazing value for this quality.

Italian PG producers can congratulate themselves on making the market for this interesting wine style. It does not compete with the pinot gris wines of Alsace, and you could be forgiven for wondering if the two styles have any connection barring the common grape variety. But the Italians had best not rest on their laurels, because their ever-enterprising rivals in the southern hemisphere are catching on to the PG boom fast.

Try, for example The Co-operative Premium Marlborough Pinot Grigio 2012 at £9.99 from the Co-op. This is a fascinating aromatic dry white from New Zealand in which I detected a lovely grafefruit twang on the nose, accompanied by what I swear was a note of broad bean, though I might have imagined it.

Whatever the case, this is a typically complex and nuanced Kiwi dry white wine of real character, and definitely a new spin on the PG theme. A gorgeous match for Asian dishes and anything smoky.

I equally like Wither Hills Pinot Gris 2012 at £10.49 from Waitrose, and not just because this winery has held to the more-appropriate name of the grape. This is in fact a wine made in the Alsace tradition, aromatic, intense, smoky, spicy and rich, but with the hallmark minerality and vivacity of fruit that makes New Zealand such an exciting source of wines of all kinds.

Congratulations to Kevin and Zena Staunton, owner-operators of The Trooper Inn, which has been named the Camra Wessex Regional Pub of the Year, 2013.

The judges praised the warm welcome and good service as well as the ales, and following our own visit last week, Mrs Halley and I concur. It’s a charming little one-room inn at the heart of a picturesque Blackmore Vale village, and quite busy with friendly, chatty locals on the wet lunchtime we popped in last week.

Oddly enough, there were just two beers on draft, Cornish Coaster and Doom Bar, both from Sharpe’s Brewery at Rock in Cornwall, and both in beautiful condition, as might be expected.

The pub’s in good nick, too. It’s a plain sort of 18th-century building, with stripped stone internal walls and an inglenook large enough to accommodate a bench and table at one end.

The furniture is all rather good, and each table was adorned with a vase containing a single, elegant rose.

There are agreeable quirks. Pictures aplenty include old village scenes, a photo montage of Irish writers, mostly looking grumpy (especially Samuel Beckett) and a large framed print we were convinced was a Rothko.

There’s no canned music, and when the phone rang behind the bar it did so with the ring of the pre-trimphone (let alone mobile) era. It was indeed a vintage instrument (well, 1980s maybe), and rang with merry regularity.

Music to my ears.

We were just in time for a sandwich, and glad of it. The sausage and onion in gorgeous fresh granary bread (£5.50) was special, and came on a little board all of its own. Mrs H was well pleased with her breaded butterfly king prawns and chilli dip, also £5.50. It’s a sensible and attractive menu.

The pub has other attractions. There’s a skittle alley, and to the rear there are pitches and facilities for camping.

The Trooper, previously known as The Catherine Wheel and re-named after a stint as an army-recruitment office during the Napoleonic wars, is an understated pub well cared for and well run.

I hope it goes on to win Camra’s national award, coming up soon.

Ned Halley

Wine of the Week Kuhlmann-Platz Pinot Gris 2012 is £9.99 from Majestic, or £8.49 if you buy two.

This is a textbook example of PG the way they make it in the French province of Alsace. Made by the co-operative at the quaint village of Hunawihr, it has a fine lemon-gold colour, and a sweet orchardfruit nose; it’s a full, plump wine but quite dry and fresh with clearly defined aromas of crisp conference pear and a lush little autumn note of apricot in there, too. It’s beautifully balanced. Nicolas Garde, the winemaker, is rightly proud of the vintage: “Overall, the 2012 wines were fresh, aromatic and with good crisp acidity,” he says. “As these are the qualities we always look for in our Pinot Gris, together with a dry finish, this really was a good vintage for us.”

The Trooper Inn, Golden Hill, Stourton Caundle, Dorset DT10 2JW. Tel 01963 362405

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SATURDAY NOVEMBER 2 2013 WEST COUNTRY LIFE 17

Shopping Sam Wylie-Harris

If Hallowe’en brought out your dark side, why not experiment with Gothic interiors?

But that doesn’t just mean sticking to boring old black. The latest twist on Gothic includes grey, silver and red.

Glamorous and dramatic, the trend also blends striking skull prints with glitzy accessories to add an edgy touch to homes and make a stylish statement.

Kevin Parkin, head of design for Littlewoods.com, says: “This season, the catwalks are bursting with Gothic-inspired collections with a hint of punk style, so we have updated the Gothic trend to create a clean and fresh look for your home.

“Start with the colour palette: grey and black tones work as the perfect backdrop on walls and furniture, while silver accessories lift the look and a splash of red adds life to a room.”

To get the contemporary Gothic look, try mixing high-gloss furniture with baroquestyle pieces, such as mirrors and chandeliers, to set the tone.

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Get that gothic look...

1. Pitfield Gold Dipped Parrot, £102, Selfridges (call 0800 123 400) 2. Howsham Large Black Rococo Mirror, £285, The Chandelier and Mirror Company (www.chandeliersandmirrors.co.uk) 3. Waterford Crystal John Rocha Muse Leda Cased Black Flute, £155, Chinacraft (www.chinacraft.co.uk) 4. Bordeau Bedside Table in Black and Silver, £249.99, Chi Chi Furniture (www.chichifurniture.com) 5. John Rocha Lace Mug, £6, Debenhams 200 Year Anniversary Collection, Debenhams (www.debenhams.com) 6. Silver Lobby Desk Phone, £65, Liberty (www.liberty.co.uk) 7. Eden Pegasus Cushion – Cerise by Matthew Williamson, £110, Amara (www.amara.com) 8. Large Gypsy Chandelier in Red, £150, The Contemporary Home (www.tch.net) 9. Elysee 2-Door Display Unit, £489, Littlewoods.com (www.littlewoods.com)

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Shopping Lisa Haynes

Some trends focus on prints, others on colour, but this season it’s entirely on touch.

The fashion premise is simple: pick two pieces in completely opposing fabrics. Think slick patent skirt with fuzzy angora jumper. Or feathers and leather, or sequins and denim – anything goes, but dramatic contrasts emphasise the two-tone texture.

If the concept of clashing gives you a headache, look for garments with spliced fabrics where the texture matches are ready-made for you.

With multi-textured layers this cool and cosy, why bother with central heating?

Leather love It’s official, leather is the hottest fabric in fashion. With a 52 per cent increase in leather pieces available online compared to last year, according to fashion database EDITD, it’s moved from a luxury item to an everyday staple.

The shift is evident on the high street, with rails of leather skirts, dresses, trousers and tops giving the ubiquitous biker jacket a run for its money. Leather’s popularity is little wonder when you consider its longevity, hardworking qualities and ability to go with just about everything in your wardrobe.

Black is the obvious choice, but you can mix things up with chic navy, berry or forest green tones for a stylish twist.

If funds are running low, look to pleather – PVC made to resemble matte leather – with a lived-in, grainy texture.

PERFECT PAIRING: Team your tough leather staple (skirt or leggings) with a girly fluffy jumper.

High shine Banish visions of Pretty Woman-style kneehigh boots. Patent, PVC and vinyl are of-themoment fabrics the fashion pack can’t get enough of.

Look to super-feminine silhouettes like full circle skirts or pretty pleats to offset the dominatrix vibe and swap the bin bag black for candy floss pink or rich burgundy.

Be careful – these slick synthetics can add bulk to your frame, so if you’re pear-shaped, avoid wearing on your lower half. If you still want to engage in some gloss, patent accessories will give your outfit an instant lift. Try shoes and bags so shiny that you can almost see your reflection.

PERFECT PAIRING: Work your patent next to a woolly cable knit for the ultimate contrast.

Patchwork quilt You no longer need to save up for a Chanel bag for some luxurious quilting. Quilted fabrics are adorning jumpers, skirts, dresses and boots, as well as slightly more affordable bags.

Designer Victoria Beckham made quilting a big feature of her collection for spring 2014, so the look is set to stick around.

The quilt effect can be as dramatic as you dare on clothing. Opt for subtle embossed grooves if you’re feeling cautious, or bold diamonds to really make an impact.

Accessories are the most accessible way to work quilted couture – try a leather bag or riding boots.

PERFECT PAIRING: Wear your padded quilts with super-smooth textures like leather or patent.

Razzle dazzle Think showgirl – by day. Feathers, sequins and heavy beading are no longer just for party season. Contrasted with casual pieces, like woolly jumpers and black leather, these eyecatching fabrics are instantly pared down.

You’ll also find glistening embellishment on casualwear like sweatshirts and jumpers this season, making them instantly daytime appropriate.

Black feathers are best reserved for after dark, so try opulent jewel tones that will transfer easily from day to night. Brocade and jacquard are other textured fabrics that will glide effortlessly from office to dance floor.

If full-on sequins or feathers feel a little too West End stage, look to more subtle trims on hems and necklines.

PERFECT PAIRING: Bring glitzy textures back down to earth teamed with an everyday slouchy knit.

Furry monster With temperatures plummeting, furry materials are back in a big way, but think outside the big coat box.

Separates have been given the fuzzy treatment for a modern take on faux fur – jumpers with fur panels or bags as cuddly as kittens.

For a more accessible take on the trend, try faux pony skin panels on tops, skirts and dresses – it has a denser, flatter appearance than “fluffy” fur, making it more flattering on the body.

Knits haven’t escaped the teddy bear texture makeover. Check out jumpers and dresses with a fuzzy eyelash finish for a twist on traditional mohair.

PERFECT PAIRING: Faux fur and leather are perfect texture teammates – wear in the same tone for a put-together look.

Buy it now...

Wheatsheaf sweater, £110; quilted leather skirt, £179; both NW3 at Hobbs

Debenhams are blowing out the candles to mark 200 years on the high street. Grab a piece of retail history with the Limited Edition Collection from its Designers at Debenhams family. Must-have coats, eveningwear and handbags come in limited supplies, priced from £39 for a purse. The Debenhams 200 Collection is available at www.debenhams.com and in limited stores nationwide.

It’s all about texture this season such as, clockwise from above, this leopard eyelash jumper, £12, from Asda; embellished jumper, £45; statement necklace, £50; cuffs, £20 each; quilted skirt, £35; all from River Island; Emma Lawrie Folk for The Campaign for Wool jumper, £295 (www.folkclothing.com); Topshop Scamp patent leather platforms, £68

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SATURDAY NOVEMBER 2 2013 WEST COUNTRY LIFE 19

Books Martin Freeman

Charlie Higson has created a monster. His horror series of books has taken over his life.

And it’s captured young imaginations too.

They began with The Enemy, which gave its name to the set that has yet to reach a finale.

That’s despite his best efforts to make the latest, The Fallen, the fifth and final. The series is proving as difficult to dispatch as the zombies who inhabit the pages.

“I’ve got The Hidden coming out next year and The End in 2015,” says the Somerset-born writer. “That’s my plan. I hope I don’t have to make The End into two books, Part 1 and Part 2.”

The Enemy series has helped achieve two further transformations. To the thirty-plus generation he remains a comedy writer as cocreator (with Paul Whitehouse) of, and actor in, BBC2 sketch series The Fast Show.

But to young readers he has become the zombie man. And he has played no small part in the undead creatures’ rise to global dominance of young fiction.

Charlie’s appeal across the generations made him a big draw when he appeared at the opening day of the at Plymouth International Book Festival on Hallowe’en.

It was a real coup for a festival that is still being established – it is in its second year – and it was secured through Charlie’s friend and fellow horror fan Johnny Mains, a publisher and writer who lives in Ernesettle in Plymouth.

Charlie was born in Frome, Somerset, in 1958. His career as a novelist predates his success as a comedy writer. The first of his four horror-tinged thrillers for adults, King Of The Ants, came out in 1992. His gothic literature studies at the University of East Anglia clearly fed into this fascination for the dark, mysterious and frightening.

His first career, though, was in music. He sang in funk-punk band The Higsons and had success in the indie charts. Then he turned to comedy writing, teaming with Paul Whitehouse – a friend from university – and Harry Enfield.

A string of TV success followed including Saturday Live, The Harry Enfield Television Programme, The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer, Shooting Stars, Randall and Hopkirk Deceased, The Fast Show and a spin-off Swiss Toni. Charlie and Paul went on to create and appear in Down the Line for BBC Radio 4, leading to the BBC2 TV comedy series Bellamy’s People in 2010.

Meanwhile, his Young Bond books introduced him to youthful readers. He wrote five thrillers about the future 007 from 2005-2008.

After that he wanted to carry on writing for teenagers but wasn’t sure what to do.

“I thought, ‘what genre is popular with the young teenage? Horror’,” says Charlie.

“I’ve always been a huge horror fan and my three boys were into it.

“Zombies were very popular when I first started writing about them,” the 55-year-old adds.

“Now they have gone absolutely crazy. They have taken over the world.”

The Enemy came out in 2009 and Charlie braced himself for the reaction.

“The publisher was quite nervous about some of the gore and I thought there might be complaints from some librarians and teachers or parents.

“But kids are very, very good at self-censoring what they can handle or cannot handle.”

Charlie had done his research on his sons who were then aged ten, 14 and 16.

“When I was writing the book I was reading it to my kids as a bed-time story.

“I thought it was quite gory but I realised that it had to be a lot more extreme than I’d originally thought.”

The first, and those that have followed each year since (The Dead, The Fear, The Sacrifice and now The Fallen), have been applauded by critics and devoured by teenagers.

For those who remain nervous about the content, Charlie says: “It’s fantasy. It is not real life.

“I would rather they [teenagers] got their kicks from that rather than anything real.”

The Fallen by Charlie Higson, published by Penguin, priced £12.99

Comedy writer, actor and now teenage book author Charlie Higson, who comes from Frome, in Somerset, has just published his fifth zombie novel, The Fallen

Books reviews The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt is published in hardback by Little, Brown, priced £20 (ebook £9.50)

Sense and Sensibility by Joanna Trollope is published in hardback by HarperFiction, priced £18.99 (ebook £7.70)

Taking The Fall by A P McCoy, published in hardback

by Orion Books on November 7 priced £16.99

The Goldfinch was one of a few paintings by a Dutch master, a pupil of Rembrandt, to survive an explosion in Delft that killed the artist. At the start of Tartt’s novel, the painting survives a second explosion, in New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. It is then rescued from a dust-storm of collapsing rubble by 13-yearold Theo. This book is immense in scope, and its treatment of lofty themes in sensuous passages will bear much re-reading.

This modern adaptation of Jane Austen’s comedy of manners is part of Harper Collins’s six-part series in which popular authors reimagine the classics in modern times. This new version of Sense and Sensibility retains the heart of the original, but this is one of the many reasons it fails. In a lot of ways, the language used is archaic and there is nothing to reach out to a younger generation.

Keep the classics classic, Joanna.

The debut racing thriller from 18 times champion jockey A P McCoy sees upand-coming jockey Duncan Claymore bent on revenge against the three superpowerful men who wrecked his trainer-father’s life and reputation. A solid start and holds the course but no great surprises. The 1979 setting begs the question of whether we will see lippy anti-hero Claymore’s career and adventures develop in the future.

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Books Hannah Stephenson

Amanda Holden breezes into the room in beige sweater and cotton trousers.

Her blonde hair a little unkempt as, she explains, she’s just taken her daughter Hollie swimming and didn’t have time to blow-dry it.

She oozes confidence, but not in a cocky, arrogant way, and has no qualms about being out and about without make-up or dressed down (although she loves putting on the glitz for red carpet events).

As a much-loved judge on Britain’s Got Talent, it’s hard to believe that a dozen years ago Holden was branded a marriage wrecker for her affair with Men Behaving Badly star Neil Morrissey, behind her then husband Les Dennis’s back.

Today, she’s in a different place. She’s been happily married to record producer Chris Hughes for five years and they have two daughters, Lexi, seven, and Hollie, nearly two.

Plus she has a string of TV and theatre acting roles under her belt, as well as the BGT job since 2007. All these events are charted in her autobiography, No Holding Back, which we’re discussing today and, from the outset, it’s clear that Holden’s fun, witty and engaging.

She once read in a magazine that Simon Cowell, who hired her for BGT, didn’t like blondes – but he made an exception with Holden because she looked naughty. And then there’s her infectious dirty laugh.

She may have been with Hughes for a decade, but it has taken a long time for the negative public perception of her to change, she reflects. Holden, 42, who married Dennis when his career was flourishing and hers was just beginning (she’s 16 years his junior), has long held her hands up to her mistake.

“I ruined my reputation – professionally and with the press – but most importantly with the public who’d always been so supportive.”

But she’s not terribly complimentary about Dennis in her autobiography, painting a picture of a needy depressive who’d start flaming rows on a whim.

“I stand by my statement that women don’t have affairs for sex. You are not happy in your marriage if you seek affirmation somewhere else.

“We were together for 10 years. When I saw him do really well on MasterChef I was thrilled, and I’m thrilled for him that he’s happily married with two gorgeous children.

He’s with people who cherish him and who are right for him. We were just not right for each other.”

She continues: “The thing that angers me is that, if I was a man, it [the bad image] would have all ended years ago. If I was Lenny Henry or Angus Deayton or any of the others, but it’s only ever me. I’m not like this slapper, I haven’t put it about. I was engaged twice. I was a relationship girl.”

Britain’s Got Talent has helped her win over the public again. “I owe Simon a debt for that – or he keeps telling me I do! Before that, I had a huge drama career. I was doing Wild At Heart, so I was getting back into the fold of not being a threatening woman, which is how I’d been perceived.

“But being on national television [on BGT], being able to be me, then people could really judge me,” she adds. “Not everyone’s going to like me, but at least they can see me and not just read about me.”

The catalyst for the book, however, was her brush with death in 2012, after complications arose following the birth of her second daughter Hollie, which made her re-evaluate life.

Not even her worst enemies would wish on her the heartbreak she’s endured in recent

years, suffering one miscarriage and one stillbirth when her son, Theo, died when she was 28 weeks’ pregnant, a week before her 40th birthday.

She had to give birth by Caesarean and was allowed to hold him before she said goodbye.

She was given a photo of him, snuggled in a blanket, which she takes out occasionally to look at.

“I still cry when I read that bit of the book,” says Holden. “As much as you put things to rest, it’s always close to the surface and I’m surprised at myself for that, because I’m strong. I will always miss my little boy and I think about him often, and I’ve got my little girl and I’ve moved on, but you just don’t recover from situations like that.”

She’s aware of his birthday, of Christmas, and of children her friends had at the time who would be about the same age.

“But I’m a fatalist and that wasn’t supposed to be, and I accept that I gave him back,” she says.

She soon became pregnant with Hollie, but again it proved tremendously traumatic.

“It’s beginning to sound like EastEnders,” she jokes, relaying the story about how she haemorrhaged when her placenta, which had attached to her bladder, was removed, snagging a large artery.

She flatlined for 40 seconds before doctors got her heart going again and induced a coma under general anaesthetic for three days.

“I joke that when I died I saw God and it was Simon Cowell,” she says wryly, but in reality Holden subsequently sought therapy to come to terms with the experience.

“I kept thinking about my own mortality.

You think, ‘I’m never going to sweat the small stuff again’, but I wanted to do that. I was being appreciative of absolutely everything. It was all dramatic and heightened. I had no tools left to deal with the smallest things in my life,” she explains.

“Finally, I found this lovely woman, went to her for about six sessions and she helped me get my strength back.

“I’ve been toughened by this business but I’m a lot softer and more vulnerable than I allow people to ever think.”

The years of trauma have brought Holden and her husband closer together. “Chris is a brilliantly humorous, witty person who sees the light in everything, and even he has been massively tested by this.”

Her illness also reunited a family that had been torn apart by petty feuds for years. When Holden nearly died, they rallied round, including her sister Debbie, whom she hadn’t spoken to for six years.

“My sister and I are really different people.

Someone should have just banged our heads together. But every woman in my family is a pain in the arse!”

The strong female characters come from her mother, who brought her daughters up virtually single-handedly in their early years as their errant father, a petty officer in the Navy, was hardly ever around and, when he was, squandered his cash on booze. They eventually divorced and Holden’s father never visited the girls. Her mother was left to juggle two or three jobs to make ends meet until she met her second husband, Les. As a child, Holden took up gymnastics and acting, joining her local theatre in Bishop’s Waltham, Hampshire. When her mother and stepfather moved to Bournemouth to open a guesthouse, she studied A-level drama and then moved to London to attend Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts. Before long, she

‘Fun, witty and engaging’ says Hannah Stephenson, Amanda Holden comes across well in her autobiography found herself in a tour of The Sound Of Music, after which she met Les Dennis. The rest is history.

She now lives in a lovely house in the Cotswolds but, at 42, won’t risk having any more children.

“I’m not having any more, I’m not allowed.

The stuff that happened with Hollie wasn’t predicted. If it had been, I wouldn’t have risked my life. I was 41 when I had Hollie. I always tell women to have their babies younger. I would encourage Lexi to have babies younger, otherwise I’ll be in my 80s when I’m a grandmother!”

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No Holding Back by Amanda Holden is published by Simon & Schuster, priced £18.99.

Available now

SATURDAY NOVEMBER 2 2013 WEST COUNTRY LIFE 21

Books reviews

There are both good and bad books about cider.

Chipping Campden, in Gloucestershire, above; Arlington Row, in Bibury, below; and the view from Broadway Tower in Worcestershire, bottom, are some of England’s best views according to a new book PICTURE: BETTY STOCKER

We all believe we live in the most beautiful county of England, wherever that may be.

But author Simon Jenkins has put together a definitive guide of what he believes are England’s most beautiful views.

Among them are several in the West Country including Arlington Row in Bibury and Chipping Campden High Street – both in Gloucestershire, as well as the view from Broadway Tower in Worcestershire.

In the book, Simon, who is also chairman of the National Trust, says: “Broadway Tower ranks with Dunkery Beacon and Gummer’s

England’s 100 Best Views by Simon Jenkins is published by Profile Books, RRP £25

How as a grand old man among English views.

“The tower stands at over 300m, crowning the Cotswold escarpment above the village of Broadway and boasting a visual radius of 60 miles over 16 counties.”

The best-selling author of England’s Thousand Best Churches and England’s Thousand Best Houses, roams the country from the white cliffs of Dover to Hadrian’s Wall explaining the fascinating stories behind them all.

From roman roads to cliff-tops, follies, mountains, ancient castles and rolling forests it caters for tastes.

One of spots to make it into his top 100 is Arlington Row in Bibury.

“If scenery could be worn out by photography, Arlington Row would be no more,” he says. “The village of Bibury is Cotswold charm. Already by the 18th century Alexander Pope was remarking on its ‘pleasing prospect’, extraordinary in an age more attracted to landscape than villages.

“William Morris dubbed it unequivocally ‘the most beautiful village in England’.”

Eva Jones

22 WEST COUNTRY LIFE SATURDAY NOVEMBER 2 2013

Just as some ciders are undrinkable some books about cider are unreadable. They should never have been written. They have been cobbled together by people with a little knowledge but whose writing skills are not merely zero but are prefixed by a minus sign.

They are aimless, illiterate, wanderings around the landscape of the cider world which bear all the hallmarks of having been penned while under the influence of the very topic.

And then you get World’s Best Cider (Jacqui Small, £25) which is the ultimate, the pinnacle of cider writing. And it comes with a bonus.

Because you can immediately throw every other book ever written about cider in the bin and free yourself up some shelf space.

Also strike cider books off your wish list for the next ten years at least.

Between them beer writer Pete Brown and Somerset-based photographer Bill Bradshaw have produced a readable, enjoyable compendium of cider facts, knowledge, lore and information which veritably does take the reader – as the book itself promises – from Somerset to Seattle.

It’s a volume that is worthy of cider’s newfound popularity and status: a serious, comprehensive yet eminently accessible portrait of the current state of play in the endlessly fascinating world of a drink that’s undergoing a renaissance almost everywhere you care to look.

Not that it’s something that has been rattled off in the course of the last few months as cider sales here have hit record levels.

Bill Bradshaw has been steadily gathering material over the last decade for a book he hoped would one day appear, after being given a commission and then deciding that orchards were such wonderful places to shoot pictures that he would carry on.

“Then I read one of Pete Brown’s books about beer and I was so impressed I got in touch with him and said we should do a book about cider,” he said.

“We stated off three years ago and then we kept going to publishers and getting turned down so by the time we were accepted last year we had a lot of stuff in the bag.”

The book doesn’t just confine itself to the UK cider market and its many producers. It ventures into northern and southern Europe, takes a tour around the Americas and swoops down to Australia and New Zealand for a look at what’s going on there, even wrapping up with a picture of the cider industries in Japan, Russia, China and India.

The Americans, grateful to have their cider industry professionally appraised and publicised, have funded two separate research visits and, says Bill: “There has been an awful lot of travelling the world behind this.

“But then I looked at the cider story and I thought ‘this is something people need to know about’.

“Cider has tended to suffer, to get left on the sidelines.

“A lot of people are passionate about it but it’s never had the kind of attention it merits from people who can write and who will look at the whole picture of cider production around the world.

“From the feedback we are already getting that is precisely what we have managed to do.”

Chris Rundle

World’s Best Cider by Pete Brown and Bill Bradshaw (Jacqui Small, £25)

Pictured top: Blackout Concepts / Alamy. Bottom: Terry Yarrow WCL-E01-S2

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SATURDAY NOVEMBER 2 2013 WEST COUNTRY LIFE 23

Travel Ryan Hooper

A city famous for its extravagance and excess, Dubai strives to offer consumers the best of everything.

But for all its majestic buildings, grand shopping malls and opulent social spaces, the city is still missing something it desperately craves – a Michelin star.

Yet the gourmet scene in this wealthy Emirate is growing at an exciting rate.

A number of high-profile chefs have taken up residence here, offshoots of Michelinstarred international restaurants have opened (Nobu Matsuhisa and Gary Rhodes have premises here) and, earlier this year, restaurant guide Zagat launched its first guide dedicated to Dubai.

I’m not a fan of flexing my credit card in designer shops, but the idea of a weekend spent eating my way through some of the world’s top restaurants was certainly alluring.

“There are ten or so chefs here [in Dubai] who can cook properly,” says Thomas Pendarovski, head chef at the Sofitel Jumeirah’s Rococo, one of the city’s top dining spots.

“But we are about ten years behind. I know we can get a Michelin star, and I want to be one of the first to be recognised here in the Michelin world. I truly believe what we do, nobody else does.”

A quick glance through the menus of some of Dubai’s renowned eateries would appear to confirm such a boast.

At the Burj Khalifa’s signature Armani restaurant – part-way up the world’s tallest building – views of the magnificent water and city lights are matched only by the fabulous fare on offer.

The opulent six-course tasting menu features the finest foie gras, seafood and meat, and is concluded by a gorgeous gianduja dessert – the sort of art-meets-pudding chocolate concoction that would make Willy Wonka blush.

Priced at around £190, the full eating experience represents decent value for money for those looking for a high-end way to mark a stay in Dubai. The same menu – without the six glasses of wine which accompany the meal – can be selected at around half the price.

Chef Pendarovski’s own entree at the Rococo – diver sea scallop with fennel foam and Granny Smith apple – sets the tone for the rest of his tasting menu, which also acknowledges Dubai’s seafood culinary heritage.

The beetroot sorbet – a “fluke” by the chef ’s own admission – is a romance of scents and sweet-sour tastes, served as a single pearshaped nugget of vivid maroon. It represents the variety and imagination of the gourmet cuisine on offer.

Steak, too, features heavily on many a menu. And there can be few better than Fairmont Dubai’s own steakhouse, the Exchange Grill – one of several restaurants within the hotel – famous for its fine cuts of beef.

The 18oz sirloin, cooked on the bone, is a thing of beauty, while other signature dishes have ensured the steakhouse has a clutch of honours recognising the young head chef ’s attention to detail and consideration for how each meal is cooked.

It is one of nearly a dozen eating venues at the plush hotel, where almost every conceivable cuisine is catered for with gusto. It’s no wonder locals eat out for, on average, 11 meals a week.

Typically, local diners eat at hotel restaurants where Dubai’s strict laws on alcohol are very much relaxed. It means many menus come with two set prices – one with alcohol and one without – with the “dry” option usually costing around half the price.

Of all the week’s meals, the Friday brunch is clearly a favourite.

At Fairmont The Palm’s Frevo restaurant, the Brazilian-themed dining experience has earned a reputation among locals and visitors alike.

After a fish soup starter and salad buffet bar for the second course – themselves enough to represent a sizeable feast – the waiters bring on the meat.

The rest is like a quiz show of the tastiest kind. An illuminated buzzer in the centre of the table notifies the army of chefs when the guests are fit to burst, or whether there is still

Travel news Beat the soaring heating bills with a long winter holiday As the big energy suppliers rack up their bills this winter, tour operators, budget airlines and cruise lines offer an alternative solution to keeping warm; namely lots of long, cheap escapes to the sunshine.

Forget the two-week summer holiday style; many breaks in winter can be for a month or more.

For example, take the five-star Rotterdam, a Holland America Line cruise, leaving Athens on November 10, for a 30-day voyage to Rome.

You will pay from £999, through Imagine Cruising, which is only £34 day for full-board on a magical journey via the Greek islands, Istanbul, Marmaris, Malta and Italy. The leadin price, down by £200, even includes return flights.

Or what about six weeks in Tunisia?

Thomas Cook has 42-night B&B packages at a

four-star hotel in Yasmine Hammamet from January 5, from £698, with return flights exEast Midlands. Similar breaks at a four-star hotel in Hammamet, ex-Birmingham on the same day, start at £990.

At Thomson Holidays, long winter stays include 28-nights all-inclusive at the three-star Dona Sylvia Beach resort in Goa from £1,929, ex-Manchester November 25 and 21-nights’ B&B at a four-star Thailand resort from £2,249, ex-Gatwick December.

Goa specialist Jewel in the Crown also offers five weeks at a two-star guesthouse near Calangute from December 6, starting at £1,029, on Avro flights ex-Manchester with a 20kg baggage allowance. Ex-Gatwick prices for the same dates start at £1,099 and £915 respectively.

Platon Loizou at Jewel in the Crown says: “Demand for Goa for three or four weeks in December is strong – and you can live there comfortably for about £10 per day.”

24 WEST COUNTRY LIFE SATURDAY NOVEMBER 2 2013

Head to India for great value

People are opting for the beach this winter

With the rupee plunging in value against the sterling, India could now be offering the best value for decades to British visitors.

According to currency specialists Travelex, the rupee has decreased 23 per cent against the pound since March 13 – meaning £500 now buys 43,843 rupees against 35,548, a difference of 8,295 rupees (£95).

Nick Wilson, product manager at luxury holiday specialist Hayes & Jarvis, explains: “Savvy travellers with India on wish lists are capitalising on currency weakness. This has always been an affordable long-haul destination, but the strength of the pound against the rupee (£1 = 101 rupees on October 1) ensures great value for money. A three-course meal with drinks for two people costs around £30 on average in a five-star hotel, cheaper than many other long haul destinations.”

Leading operator Abercrombie & Kent has a 20 per cent discount on its seven nights HighWCL-E01-S2

room for another slice of wagyu beef. Costing around £81 for the all-you-can eat menu and caprilia cocktails (£50 without the alcohol), the brunch is usually scored by a Brazilian band, or a singer and a guitarist, providing a fittingly raucous musical accompaniment to this highlight in the week’s calendar.

Considering most use this as the first meal of the day – and of their weekend, which runs Friday to Saturday – three courses may seem like something of a carnivorous excess. Yet teetering weightily on the edge of submission, it is almost impossible – if not rude – to turn down another slither of finely cut steak.

“Friday brunch is the English Saturday night,” says John Cordeaux, the restaurant’s head chef, originally from Lincolnshire, now in Dubai via Canada.

“This is all about meat. Unfortunately there are no local ingredients here, which is a shame, but you can get almost anything here in Dubai, which makes so much possible.”

Considering Dubai used to consist of little more than a few settlements working off the river, it’s hard to gauge the true identity of authentic regional cuisine.

Any local chefs have mostly been dwarfed by the newcomers, the renowned chefs looking to capitalise on one of the Middle East’s biggest tourist destinations.

Those wanting to sample something with its roots in the UAE ought to venture into the desert on a Travco safari, where a Top Gearstyle traipse across arid terrain yields not only picture postcard views but unlimited plates of slow-cooked meats and rices, served with enough liquid refreshment to satisfy even the thirstiest of pilgrims.

Sitting on mats set around a makeshift outdoor stage at dusk, it’s easy to see why so many foodies are keen to combine the finest foods of new Dubai with a few of the old favourites.

A swift flight from Heathrow with Qantas, barely troubling the six-hour mark, means Dubai is a manageable option for a long weekend gourmet break.

And given the growing trend for holidaymakers to choose trips based on menu options, I wonder if Dubai’s star might be ascending – Michelin-rated or not.

Travel facts ■ Ryan Hooper was a guest of the Dubai Tourist Board. Visit www.definitelydubai.com or call 020 7321 6110 for more information.

While Dubai strives hungrily for its first Michelin star, Ryan Hooper got to sample some rather impressive meals in the city in restaurants such as The Palm’s Frevo, left; from the top, Fairmont; a steak served at Fairmont; and the Armani Hashi restaurant at Armani Hotel in Burj Khalifa. Alcohol with food really pushes the price up

■ Three nights at the Fairmont Dubai (www.fairmont.com/dubai), including flights with Qantas from London Heathrow, start from £789 per person, half-board, for travel until December 12, 2013, bookable up to that date. To book call 0871 703 4240 or visit www.travelbag.co.uk ■ The Travco Desert Safari costs £70 per person, including the meal. Visit www.travcotravel.ae for further details.

Travel take-off

Walking in Yorkshire Dales HF Holidays (0845 470 7558) offers four-night full-board guided walking holiday from Nov 11 for £229, saving £110, via Wharfedale, Ribblesdale, Malham Tarn & Cove and Gordale Scar, with social activities, transport to/from walks, and services of HF Holidays’ walks leaders.

Cornwall Coast & Country Hotels (0844 811 9404) offers four-night half-board midweek breaks at The Ship and Castle Hotel, St Mawes, from £149, for Monday arrivals on visits booked by today (Nov 2).

Europe xmas markets Great Escapes (0845 330 2089) offers three nights for price of two in Bruges at three-star Hotel Bryghia from £106, incl return ferry travel (four sharing).

Winter sun On The Beach (0871 474 3000) reg deps incl seven nights’ all-incl in five-star Domina Coral Bay Oasis Hotel, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, ex-East Mids Nov 14 from £385; seven nights’ B&B at four-star Solana Hotel, Mellieha, Malta, from £147, ex-Leeds Bradford Nov 14; seven nights’ B&B at four-star olden Beach Hotel, Agadir, Morocco from £296, exManchester Nov 14 and seven nights’ fullboard at five-star El Mouradi Hammamet Hotel, Tunisia, from £296, ex-Bristol Nov 10.

French Alps ski Ski Total (01483 791933) offers seven-night catered chalet stay in traffic-free resort Avoriaz from Dec 15 for £499, saving £139, (two adults sharing), with return flights HeathrowGeneva, transfers, and four-course evening meals with comp wine. Esprit Ski (01483 791900) offers seven-night catered chalet stay from Dec 15 in Paradiski area for £374, saving £98, with return flights Heathrow- Geneva, transfers, free babysitting. Esprit Classic Child Care from £209 for week of exclusive ski lessons.

Barbados Check into Sir Richard Branson’s famous Necker Island

lights of India trip. Taking in the highlights of Delhi, Agra and Jaipur and staying at Oberoi hotels, this tour now starts at £1,595, including return flights.

Goa looks great value too: Holiday Hypermarket offers 14 nights’ B&B at three-star Silver Sands Holiday Village, Candolim for £655, with return flights ex-Manchester December 9, saving £313.

Not everyone is a winner in this rupee crash though.

Many travellers bound for India are asking for price reductions before departure, but one harassed operator points out: “Hotels and flights are usually contracted at rates which have been negotiated and can’t be changed.

Savings apply only to day-to-day living costs when you get there.”

■ For more information go: Trident Hotels (www.tridenthotels.com); Holiday Hypermarket (0800 916 5100 and www.holidayhypermarket.co.uk)

Fancy staying on Necker Island?

Sir Richard Branson’s private British Virgin Island home, Necker Island, is now open to guests again, after it was wrecked by fire two years ago.

The Great House, with panoramic views of the Caribbean and Atlantic has eight guest rooms with balconies, all with king-size beds and en-suite bathrooms. On the upper level, the 1,500-sq ft master suite has panoramic views from every angle. There’s also an outdoor terrace with hammocks, sofas and large dining table – plus a zip-line to transport guests from terrace to sandy white beach. For exclusive bookings, Necker Island can accommodate 30 adults plus six children at £37,400 per night, until December 31.

Sir Richard says: “Necker Island is to me the most beautiful place in the world.”

Call: 0800 716 919.

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Letsgo2 (0208 329 2855) offers seven nights’ B&B at three-star Butterfly Beach Resort from £86, incl Virgin Atlantic return flights exGatwick. Package includes 200 US dollars resort credit per person, for travel up until Dec 17.

Maldives Travelbag (0871 703 4240) offers seven nights’ half-board at five-star Sheraton Full Moon Resort & Spa from £1,149, with Turkish Airlines flights ex-Heathrow for travel until Nov 30. Book by Nov 7 for free return speedboat transfers.

Brazil Travelbag (0871 703 4240) offers three nights’ B&B at three-star Majestic Palace Rio De Janeiro, two nights’ B&B at three-star Nadai Confort Iguassu Falls and three nights’ roomonly at 3-star Rochester Hotel from £1,269, incl BA flights ex-Heathrow. Book by Nov 7 for travel in May.

SATURDAY NOVEMBER 2 2013 WEST COUNTRY LIFE 25

Travel Sarah Marshall

As the European ski season kicks off, it’s time to cherry pick the top winter resorts.

For eco fans James Tapsfield samples an alternative ski break at the St Martin Eco Chalets in the Austrian Tyrol...

Careering headlong down a very steep, snowladen slope on a bike doesn’t sound like the brightest move. In fact, it’s total madness.

I’m just about to express this view to my guide Herby, who has suggested the idea, when he tells me: “The old people enjoy the bikes.

It’s much easier on the bones than skiing.”

Well, if the old people can do it...

You wouldn’t perhaps associate new-fangled fads like snow bikes with the uber-traditional image of Austria. But the region of Lungau, about an hour’s drive south of Salzburg and pulling in increasing numbers of Brits, is a prime example of how the country is embracing innovation.

Symbolic of this trend are the St Martin Chalets, an idyllic cluster of ten homes nestling in a village at the base of the GrosseckSpeiereck mountain. Properties can sleep from four to 14, and would be ideal for a couple of families holidaying together. With classic wooden frontages and exposed larch beams, the chalets could have come straight out of Hansel and Gretel.

The owners, the aforementioned Herby and his wife Jodi, were determined to build something eco-friendly. So most of the timbers and the rustic tiles have been reclaimed and lovingly restored, and the walls are stuffed with sheep’s wool for insulation. A large, but remarkably quiet, bio-diesel engine provides the heat for all the chalets, and solar panels help out with the electric.

Austria is famous for the quality of its skiing, and Lungau does not disappoint. The area is well laid out to avoid bottlenecks, and the low ratio between the number of beds and the lift capacity should guarantee that queuing is kept to a minimum.

We try out the Brenter snowbikes at nearby St Margarethen. These are serious vehicles – almost like a chopper motorcycle but with skis instead of tyres. Another stubby set of skis go on your feet to help with balance and turning.

The first couple of descents are pretty terrifying. Despite Herby’s warnings, the temptation to stand up to regain control as you gather speed proved too powerful. I can confirm that this is only a good idea if you enjoy eating snow. However, once you learn to keep your rear end on the seat, and realise that steering merely requires gentle leaning, it feels surprisingly natural – no matter how old you are.

■ St Martin Eco Chalets in Lungau start from £225 per night, with no minimum stay. Book through www.holidaystoaustria.com ■ British Airways (www.ba.com) fly to Salzburg from London Gatwick from £98 retur n.

■ Rhino Car Hire (www.rhinocarhire.com) offers rental from £20.50 per day.

For adrenalin junkies The charming French resort of La Rosiere is a real surprise for Chris Parker...

As we huddle together, bodies bowed against the screaming wind and snow rolling over us in waves, I can’t help but think I’d rather be back in the warm, cosy mountain shack, devouring more delicious homemade minestrone.

Our small group is heading across the San

Bernardo Pass, at the heart of the Tarentaise Valley. The ski area is shared by the Italian resort of La Thuile and French resort of La Rosiere, one of only a handful of cross-border resorts in the Alps, where I’m staying for the next two days.

Since 1984, when the first lifts were installed to link the two resorts, there has been access to 90 miles of terrain, suitable for all abilities.

The two-mile-long Berthod run in La Thuile, regarded as one of the world’s most spectacular, has hosted European and World Cup races, and is a must for expert skiers.

But unlike neighbouring Les Arcs and Val d’Isere, it’s generally quiet on the lifts and slopes, even in peak season.

As we make our way back across the border, the clouds begins to part, the wind drops, and we ski back into brilliant sunshine with spectacular views of Mont Blanc.

Our expert instructor Simon Atkinson explains the two resorts have their own microclimates. So if it’s snowing in La Thuile, there is a good chance it will be sunny in the southfacing La Rosiere.

Our accommodation is the stylish Residence Les Cimes Blanches in Les Eucherts, which has a swimming pool, steam rooms and saunas.

The tastefully styled chalets, the largest of which can accommodate up to 12 guests, are all at the foot of the slopes, allowing you to ski in and ski out.

Nearby there are restaurants, bars, a supermarket, bowling alley, ice rink, and ski schools, and the picturesque, tree-lined village of La Rosiere is just a ten-minute walk away.

If you want more than just skiing from your winter holiday, then you’ll find plenty of alternatives. Paragliding, dog sledding and snowkiting, are just a few of the activities on offer. La Rosiere also allows you to go in search of the freshest powder, as it remains the only French resort where heli-skiing is available.

Not wanting to miss out, the next day we swap our skis for snow shoes, and set out with our guide Xavier, from the ski and adventure school Evolution 2.

As we complete our descent through the forest and into the valley, the first stars appear against a backdrop of royal blue above the silhouette of the mountains.

With so few people around, this surely must be one of the best-kept secrets in the Alps. But I have a sneaking suspicion it won’t stay that way for long.

■ Crystal Ski Holidays (www.crystalski.co.uk; 0871 231 2256) offers a week’s stay at the Les Climes Blanches from £475 per person (two sharing), including flights from Gatwick to Geneva and transfers. Direct flights from 12 regional airports for £12 supplement.

For luxury lovers Tom Collins discovers St Anton, in Austria, is not just for party animals...

Historically a haven for hard-partying skiers, St Anton, in the Austrian Tyrol, has had something of a reinvention as a high-end winter destination, with the stunning Hotel Montjola leading the way.

This hillside hotel dates back to the 1930s, and has been given a comprehensive upgrade, breathing new life into a once tired-looking building, to create a luxurious venue that’s a perfect base from which to explore St Anton’s challenging slopes.

On arrival, I’m greeted by a warm, cosy

26 WEST COUNTRY LIFE SATURDAY NOVEMBER 2 2013

Looking to book a skiing holiday this winter? Some of the best European destinations include, from the top, the Austrian Tyrol with its St Martin Eco Chalets in Lungau; the snowy peaks in St Anton, Austria; La Rosiere, Montvalezan, in southeastern France, pictured here is the lounge area reception and bar area, which typifies the owners’ attempts to maintain a traditional feel. But I’m pleased to discover the hotel has chosen to blend old with new, and that rooms have been kitted out with all the latest modcons.

A luxurious spa is the perfect place to relax after a hard day on the slopes, with a sauna, steam room and massages all on hand to ease those aching muscles – not to mention the allimportant outdoor hot tubs. There’s something extra special about sinking into a bubbling Jacuzzi in minus 10C air temperatures with snow falling all around you.

Five minutes away from the resort centre,

some guests will prefer a short walk from the hotel down into St Anton to begin their day’s skiing. But those who want to conserve energy can use the hotel’s complimentary shuttle bus.

Thanks to hotels like Montjola, St Anton really does seem to be going up in the world.

Anyone who loves skiing in the lap of luxury will find all they need right here.

■ VIP SKI (www.vip-chalets.com; 0844 557 3119) offers seven nights at Hotel Montjola from £899 per person (two sharing), including flights from London Gatwick or Manchester to Innsbruck, transfers and half-board accommodation.

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Anchorage Hotel

LY I M ED A F N N OW RU &

Babbacombe, Devon

November 2013

Mon 25th - 4 Nights DBB - £120

(

per person per break

)

New Years 2013/14

Mon 30th - Thurs 2nd - 3 Nights Full Board - £234 (

All prices are per person per break and include VAT @ 20%

per person per break

)

Set in the peaceful Cary Park, a short stroll to the beautiful Babbacombe Downs with views across the bay. Perfect for a relaxing break away from home.

56 En-suite Bedrooms - Ample Parking - Live Entertainment - FREE WIFI - Fully Licensed - Non-smoking Large Gardens - Wide Choice on Menus, Different Everyday - Tea Dance every Tuesday - Lite Lunch Menu

Christmas Party Lunches

£11 per

per .50p son

Christmas Party Lunches are available throughout November and December, except for Sundays.

Groups, societies and businesses welcome we can cater from 4 to 100 people

Aveland Road, Cary Park, Babbacombe, Torquay, Devon, TQ1 3PT

Telephone: 01803 326175 - Email: enquiries@anchoragehotel.co.uk www.anchoragehotel.co.uk WCL-E01-S2

SATURDAY NOVEMBER 2 2013 WEST COUNTRY LIFE 27

Walks Sue Gearing

Charterhouse.

The Mendip Hills were once a mecca for the Romans, drawn there for lead and silver mining, and mining continued long after they left. Now that has all gone, it has been farmed and is a beautiful recreational area with several Nature Reserves cared for by the Somerset Wildlife Trust and the National Trust.

This circle from Charterhouse in the heart of the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty goes down past remains of mining activity and past several ruined miners cottages, giving an idea of what life must have been like on Mendip 150 and more years ago.

It follows Velvet Bottom, now a rabbit heaven, and then the West Mendip Way up across open grazed farmland before a steady but gentle climb up to an old route, Rains Batch. This leads down past a Roman amphitheatre, Roman settlement and a Roman fort – all of which are very difficult, but not impossible to make out. There are a couple of stiles that may be difficult for some dogs.

Mainly the going should be reasonably good underfoot, but there may be some slippery areas, so good boots and perhaps a walking pole would be good.

There is no refreshment en route, but a few minutes away at the bottom of Burrington Combe is a very good value café and, of course, a variety of Mendip pubs.

Start In the car park is an interpretation plaque explaining the Roman presence in the area.

Walk back up the entrance lane and shortly turn left through a wooden gate and follow a path along with the humpy bumpy grassy land on the left – the remains of mining activity.

After a few yards on the left is a cave used by potholers but it was once a mine, known as Water Wheel, where there was a wheel powering hammers which broke up the rocks.

Notice you are walking on black shiny mining debris, known as smitham. This was the route of a light tramway which moved the lead along between smelters and the buddle pits where it was washed. Up on the right is an old quarry.

As you reach a road ahead, note the large pipe under the road, this was installed to drain the valley after the terrible floods of 1968 when the road was washed away and the valley almost drowned. Turn right on the road for just a few yards.

1 Velvet Bottom Then go left on a track into Velvet Bottom Nature Reserve, passing an information board. Continue down the valley past many large grassy mounds – known as “gruffy” or “groovy ground” – where the land has been disturbed by mining. Also look out for remains of the large circular buddle pits where the lead ore was washed.

Along here was the site of a riot in 1848 by Cheddar men who came up one night and smashed up the mining works in order to stop the dumping of lead-contaminated mining waste that was poisoning the water supply down in Cheddar. Their many complaints had gone unheaded so they decided to take action.

In the last war, Velvet Bottom was used as a firing range for the Home Guard and the Gloucester Regiment stationed nearby at Yoxter Camp.

As you continue, you go down several levels with dams and settlement tanks where the water and mined waste was dumped and left to settle. Near the end of the valley on the left by a wall is another pot hole, safely capped to prevent accidents. Go through a gate at the end on to the West Mendip Way.

2 West Mendip Way Turn right. After a few minutes, go through a gate and ignore the gate on the right into Long Wood Nature Reserve, an ancient woodland cared for by Somerset Wildflife Trust, a habitat for dormice and a glorious bluebell wood if you can come again in the spring.

Bear up left still on the WMW climbing steadily with Long Wood down on your right,

until you come up over a stile and on to open land.

Maintain direction, experiencing the open, quite exposed, land of Mendip. Follow the fence on your left all the way to a gate and crossing track. Turn right along this.

3 Farm Pass Charterhouse Farm. Join the farm drive and continue on. On the left see the ruined remains of Long House Barn, which was once thought to be a traditional Mendip longhouse.

4 Lane Reach a lane, on the corner of which is a ruined cottage. Turn right. After a couple of minutes, take the first marked bridleway track on the left through a gate. Continue on and come into Lots Nature. On the right as you go along is a fenced wildlife corridor. Reach the ruins of a couple of miners’ cottages, now housing vegetation and trees, but where mining families braved the elements and eked out a living. Maintain direction and at the end cross a stile in the corner.

5 Valley Go carefully down into a small valley – known as Bluebell Valley – over a stream and up the other side. Further down the valley was the

28 WEST COUNTRY LIFE SATURDAY NOVEMBER 2 2013

scene of a the 19th-century-murder of Charterhouse where a woman hanging out her washing was beaten to death by her husband, who was subsequently found guilty and hanged.

Come up into a field and turn left over another stile.

Go ahead and drop down to a barrier in the corner. Now keep straight on, paralleling the small stream in the valley, but staying up higher – not right by the stream.

After some minutes, come alongside a fence on the right. Maintain direction all the way to the end.

6 Track Cross a stile and turn right on a track It leads on the left up to Black Down and Beacon Batch the highest point. We, however, are turning right up the track which rises gently all the way to radio masts .

7 Masts These were installed after the last war as part of the country’s Cold War defences, on the site of a Roman signal beacon. Start to get some good views left over Wrington Vale and down to the Severn Estuary.

When you reach the masts, you get the best view if you go a few yards to the left to a gate, accessing another footpath. However, we go straight on down Rains Batch, coming into Roman territory. After about a minute look right across into the field and on a high point,

see if you can make out the remains of a circular grassy bank of the old Roman amphitheatre.

As you carry on down, on the right pass Town Field which in the First Century AD was a spread-out Roman settlement bigger than Bath was at the time.

Ahead, across the other side of the road, near Charterhouse Centre, you may be able to make out the grassy remains of what was a Roman Fortlet. Near the bottom of the Batch, pass the headquarters of the Hawk and Owl Trust on the right.

8 Road Reach a T-junction with the road and turn right towards Charterhouse.

Go left over the first stile on the left following the Butcombe Trail, which links the pubs on Mendip owned by Butcombe Brewery, and which I devised in 2007. Go over a stile and over into Blackmoor Reserve.

9 Reserve Cross a footbridge and go up over the black slag passing reed beds. Your direction now is straight on to reach a crossing track up above – there are one or two different paths which lead to this.

Then turn right and it takes you back to where you began.

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Walks Martin Hesp

These walks have always been popular, but not because of me.

It’s simply because they tend to explore places rarely touched by any other form of media.

That wasn’t always the case. Once upon a time, my walks were married up with a weekly offering on regional ITV for a number of years. Even now, some half a dozen years since we stopped filming a weekly walk, people come up to me on a regular basis asking if we have any plans to bring West Country walks back to the small screen.

Anyway, I look back on the old filming days with great nostalgia because we had huge fun hauling masses of TV equipment over hill and dale. For me the chance to adventure in the company of a good bunch of mates was as pleasurable as it was unusual.

One of the most remarkable walks we ever recorded was in the Scillies – a place I’ve sadly neglected in recent months thanks to other work pressures. Allow me to put that right by returning – in words and photos, at least – to the main Scillonian island where keen hikers can enjoy a complete circumnavigation around what passes as St Mary’s own coastal path. It is a fantastic walk for visitors flying out on an inexpensive day-return – get a move on and you should be able to do this amazing walk in the time allotted.

The hike offers something of everything Scillonian. There’s classic coastal walking, fabulous lonely beaches, windswept oceanic woodlands, ancient monuments and stunning views.

We begin in the island capital, Hugh Town – simply take the road that runs alongside Town Beach and follow it over the small hill that plays host to the archipelago’s main school.

Now descend into the bay called Porthmellon – just behind the gig sheds there’s a track, which is actually the beginning of the island’s extensive coastal path. We follow this around the beach and over the next small headland into St Thomas Porth.

On past the parked boats we walk, to eventually join the small lane that passes Juliet’s Garden bar and restaurant – and this takes us into to the wilder northern territories of the island.

The path weaves below the golf course and eventually reaches Toll’s Porth and the remains of the ancient village at Halangy. This Iron Age settlement dates from about 200BC and consists of one large courtyard house and several round houses – all in a reasonable state of preservation given the immense age of these humble abodes. They are only half the age of the tomb that lurks above them. The excellently preserved late Stone Age or early Bronze Age chamber tomb called Bant’s Carn dates from anywhere between 2500 to 4500 BC. From here the path rounds the north-western corner of the isle, veering inland to avoid the remains of a quarry, and then crosses McFarland’s Down to reach a particularly beautiful demesne where it descends past tiny flower fields before entering a woodland of wonderful, dark, Scotch pines.

Now we are above Bar Point, St Mary’s most northerly cape – there’s a fine white sand beach here if you have time to loll for a while.

This northern shore affords fabulous views of Tresco and its famous abbey – and the neighbouring offisland of St Martin’s. It is my favourite bit of St Mary’s, being both wild and unpopulated.

The path runs through the bracken between the low cliffs and the trees, and after half a mile or so comes to Helvear Down and its two chambered tombs, collectively known as Innisidgen.

The coast path now begins to head south east, rounding Block House Point into lovely Watermill Cove. The pines have gone now and the island’s coast takes on a slightly balder, wilder, aspect as we head towards Pelistry Bay. This is regarded as one of the island’s best bathing beaches – indeed I once sat and picnicked here in the Scillonian warmth while leading a hike for the excellent Walk Scilly festival which is organised each spring.

Indeed I mention this because the archipelago can be a fantastic place to visit when the weather is inclement on the mainland. I’ve walked in balmy conditions 28 miles west of Land’s End when it’s been snowing across much of Britain.

Once we’re past Pelistry our path continues south around the headland capped by the Mount Todden Battery and around the bay called Darrity’s Hole.

After yet more coastal walking we are eventually introduced to wide and wonderful Porth Hellick where there’s a rock shaped like a camel and a memorial stone lamenting the loss of Sir Cloudesley Shovell in 1707 in what has become known as the Scilly naval disaster.

I could tell you all about the loss of the HMS Association just over 200 years ago and about the other 2000 sailors who lost their lives amid the island’s hull-ripping rocks, but we’d never get back to town for the flight back.

Actually, though, the island airport is this walk’s next port of call – or at least we pass the end of one of its small runways. And here we come to what must be one of the only footpath traffic lights anywhere – the light prevents you continuing if a plane is coming in to land, which is fun to watch as it will zoom just feet above your head.

So you could, if you wished, head for the terminal building, making sure not to go anywhere near any of the prohibited areas.

Or you could follow the coast path around the eastern shores of St Mary’s to reach first Porth Minnick, then Old Town Bay. Throughout this walk there will have been possibilities to shorten proceedings by taking inland routes back to town – and here is the most obvious of all. Just past the old church and its graveyard where former Prime Minister Harold Wilson is buried, you can cross the road to the footpath past the primary school. It takes you through the least scenic bit of Scilly (views of the municipal incinerator) but you do get back to Hugh Town in short order.

By the way, one of most abiding memories about filming the walk on St Mary’s was an accidental meeting with Lady Mary Wilson who was tending her late husband’s grave. After a quick chat in which we told her why we were filming she kindly agreed to give me what for her was an extremely rare interview, saying that both she and Harold always thought they owed so much to the people of Scilly for their constant kindness, and if she could do anything to help promote the island and it’s ecofriendly tourism she would.

You don’t have to take the shortcut, though – you could instead stride around the large peninsula that features impressive Pulpit Rocks to eventually gain Porthcressa Beach, which passes for Hugh Town’s very own downtown promenade.

The fit and undaunted could go on to circumnavigate the Garrison peninsula if they really wanted to get their “I’ve walked around the entire island” badge – but this particular TV presenter and crew had reached the point where we were welcoming thoughts of a refreshing pint of beer.

A circumnavigation of the island on foot offers spectacular coastal views and wonderful walkways

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SATURDAY NOVEMBER 2 2013 WEST COUNTRY LIFE 29

Gardening Alan Down

In the south-west of England, the end of October is generally when autumn colour is at its very best.

This year it may be a little later since we seem to have been running a few weeks behind all year. Reports are coming in of leaf changes afoot. Those sugars are being trapped in leaves as the abscission layer forms, cutting off supply to the petiole, and this is what results in those fabulous colours.

The weather conditions in autumn have to be right, and bright days and cold nights especially favour good autumn leaf colour.

This is why a continental, rather than a temperate island climate such as ours, is more likely to give the results.

Of course not every plant does it and some are much better than others. Don’t expect evergreens to do it, although there are some notable exceptions as we shall see.

Sticking my neck out a bit, I venture to offer you my top ten best garden plants for autumn colour. In no particular order, but with an eye to including trees and climbers as well as shrubs, I give you my choice...

Liquidambar styraciflua (Sweet Gum) This deciduous tree looks a bit like an upright maple in summer. Indeed, the leaves are very maple-like in shape. It is a native of North America and very hardy.

At the end of October well established trees start to change colour with every shade imaginable from yellow, through orange to vermillion and purple. Often all these colours are there together but some selected varieties can be relied upon to perform much more than seed raised and variable un-named forms.

Worplesdon and Lane Roberts are good ones to watch out for but also choosing one now while it is showing what it can do is a good approach too. The tree shape is columnar but broadening with age.

Ginkgo biloba (Maidenhair tree) Although ultimately a large tree, it turns the colour of golden butter and against a blue sky it is breathtaking. We have a specimen planted at Cleeve Nursery by that great plantsman Roy Lancaster and raised by me from seed 32 years ago. It is now getting to be quite a size. Every November this deciduous conifer is spectacular. Remember, this is an ancient tree with links to the time that dinosaurs roamed the planet.

Because of the putrid smelling fruit, it is wise to plant a male form if you can.

But I love the way that Brooklyn Botanic Garden gets around the problem that a whole avenue dropping stinking fruit in a public place causes.

They open their gates to the Chinese community who value the health benefits of this tree and just let them help themselves.

Cotinus coggygria (Smoke Tree) Although it has “tree” in its name, the smoke tree is really a large shrub and not a tree.

Indeed, by hard pruning Cotinus during winter it can be kept as a small to medium sized bush but its “smoke” – the flowers – will be lacking.

Before leaf fall the Cotinus leaves

turn to a fantastic colour which varies somewhat depending on the variety that you plant.

The selection Flame is aptly named and takes a lot of beating. Golden Spirit has pale yellow leaves all summer but in autumn they change to burning reds and oranges before falling.

This one is also a more compact form, lending itself well to small gardens.

Hamamelis (Witch Hazel) Perhaps a surprising choice to some, some witch hazels turn up the heat in autumn and fully justify their place on my list. Add to this their incredibly hardy mid-winter scented flowers and it just has to be included.

Some selections produce better autumn colour than others but one is simply outstanding. That is a variety named by the late Peter Dummer after his daughter Sandra. It is, in fact, an autumn-flowering variety and the blooms are very much secondary to the tremendous display of orange leaves that Hamamelis vernalis Sandra displays.

Hamamelis mollis often changes to butter yellow in autumn. Hamamelis x intermedia Jelena has rich orange leaf colour followed by pretty much the same colour of sweetly scented winter blooms.

All Hamamelis can be kept small by relatively hard pruning immediately after flowering without next year’s blooms being sacrificed.

Cornus alba ‘Sibirica’ (Red Barked Dogwood) Sometimes seen labelled as Westonbirt, this is an easy-to-grow shrub usually grown for the bright red stems that it shows off in winter.

But before the leaves fall, they turn a glorious wine red colour. Tolerant of heavy soil and dampness, it is very hardy too. Under-planted with Euonymus fortunei Emerald Gaiety for contrast, this is a shrub that glistens in winter sunlight.

Nandina domestica Firepower (Dwarf Sacred Bamboo) Not a bamboo and not a deciduous shrub either, this evergreen is an anomaly.

As the colder longer nights approach the evergreen leaves change from mid green to rich reds and oranges and, unlike others on my list, the leaves remain this colour without shedding right through winter.

Plant in containers or sheltered sunny borders where it will rarely reach more than knee high.

Vaccinium corymbosum (High Bush Blueberries) Many fruit plants give good autumn colour. Medlar, grapevines and even pears spring to mind but blueberries can compete with the very best ornamental plant in this category.

After your acid-loving (best grow in a pot filled with lime free compost) blueberry has finished fruiting, it will change colour to a glorious fiery display of red.

30 WEST COUNTRY LIFE SATURDAY NOVEMBER 2 2013

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Gardens Parthenocissus (Virginia Creeper) Virtually all Parthenocissus produce great autumn colour and whether they are covering a north facing wall or scrambling high into a tall tree, in October they are sensational.

Parthenocissus tricuspidata is the true Virginia Creeper but it is often confused with the larger, but tidier P. tricuspidata Veitchii which is actually the Boston Ivy. Both require a big area to grow but the less widely planted P. henryana colours up just as well in autumn and is considerably smaller growing too.

Pyracantha Saphyr hybrids (Firethorns) Of course, Pyracantha can also be trained on walls like the Virginia Creeper but it also makes an excellent and colourful large screening shrub or dense hedge.

Here the autumn colour comes not from leaves but from bright berries so loved by birds in winter. Indeed this is a good choice for wildlife in general since the flowers will attract many insects, including bees.

The Saphyr hybrids are quite exceptionally good when compared to all other hybrids that I have grown. These French selections have first rate disease resistance (which many others do not) and produce a great crop of berries every autumn almost without fail.

Red, orange and yellow-berried forms are grown by us in our nursery at Cleeve.

Acer palmatum (Japanese Maple).

No top ten would be complete without a Japanese Maple and of all the fabulous named varieties there are I would recommend Osakazuki before all others.

It is not a new variety but has been around long enough to know that, if any maple will give good autumn colour, Osakazuki will. It can be grown in a very large pot but is best planted in dappled shade where the soil is deep and not limey. Those at Westonbirt Arboretum are growing on heavy clay soil and they seem to do rather well on it.

So that’s it, my top ten. You will find that there are many other great performers in autumn, especially if you visit one of the following gardens.

If you live in the Bristol area there are several notable gardens to visit to see good autumn colour. Westonbirt National Arboretum near Tetbury is world renowned for its fabulous tree collection and fine collection of trees that show good autumn colour.

Less well known is Batsford Arboretum near Moreton in the Marsh on the beautiful Cotswolds and they have a very fine collection and may be less crowded.

The National Trust Stourhead Garden has very fine trees that colour well and some of the best are reflected in the lake there.

Alan’s gardening tips for the weekend ■ There’s still time to re-plant your tubs and hanging baskets for winter and spring colour.

If you are not, take them down, empty them out and put them away for winter.

■ Move plants in pots together so that they protect one another in cold weather. Remove saucers from underneath them and ensure excess water can get away through the drainage holes in the base by standing them on pot feet.

■ Protect tender alpine plants from the cold and wet. Many are protected by several feet of snow where they grow in the wild. This not only protects them from severe cold but also keeps them drier. Use a sheet of glass or a garden cloche.

■ If you haven’t done it already, trim the dead flower heads off summer and autumn flowering heathers. A good pair of secateurs such as Felco (an excellent gift) is suitable for this.

Trim a little of the shoot tips off too as this will keep them nice and compact.

■ Plant tulip bulbs (if not done so already).

Urgently plant any other bulbs.

■ Check potted bulbs that you are going to force into flower early. Make sure that they are well watered. If they have made sufficient roots and, in the case of hyacinths, the flower bud has emerged from the bulb, they can be put into a well-lit warm place to start the forcing.

■ Try propagating plants by taking root

cuttings now. It is surprisingly easy to do but not all plants can be multiplied this way.

Oriental poppies, border phlox, some primula, mullein, sea holly, bear’s breeches and dicentra are well worth trying. Dig up a healthy plant, cut thicker roots into 5-7cm lengths and “sow” them in pots filled with cutting compost. They should be rooted by late spring.

■ Reduce water given to cacti and succulents in winter, they still need some and will also benefit from a weak feed every month or so.

Christmas cacti (zygocactus or schlumbergia) need more regular watering otherwise they will drop their flower buds.

■ Attach sticky glue band traps to the trunks of fruit trees. These will trap the winter moth on its way up the trunk to lay its eggs. Do the stake too.

Ask Alan Question Is the risks of carrot fly attack over now? Can I remove the nets now?

Answer

Yes, it is mild but your carrots should be safe now.

Question I want to plant a Victoria plum tree on my allotment but I have found that around 1-2½ft down there is a layer of clay. Do you think that is okay to still plant the plum tree? Should I dig some of the clay out?

Growing squashes has been slow to catch on for many.

But the idea of pumpkins at Hallowe’en is now familiar and there were certainly plenty sat on window sills on Thursday night, carved out, with a tealight placed inside, warding off evil spirits.

And as Hallowe’en celebrations merge with Bonfire Night parties, demand for squashes and pumpkins is still high this weekend.

These bright orange fruits are just one member of a vast family that is well worth exploring.

At Over Farm, near Gloucester, they’ve been growing these winter squash – so called because they will store – for around 20 years.

“We were almost trendsetters,” explains Rees Keene, who runs the farm with his brother, Matt. “Our dad liked them and kept trying to grow more to sell to the public.”

What started out as a niche product is now a massive enterprise with up to 20 different varieties in staggering proportions: 10,000 pumpkin plants and 1,250 ‘Crown Prince’ this year alone.

“We’ve already harvested around 3,000 pumpkins and that’s not really made a dent in the field,” laughs Rees.

Piled on to a trailer in front of the farm shop they are quite simply beautiful. Alongside the

Answer

Plums, of all tree fruits, will probably tolerate this clay layer better than most. You could break it up by forking it over but do not mix this sub soil with the top soil.

Both questions from C Brain

Alan’s Plant of the Week Mahonia hybrids At their best between now and Christmas, hybrid Mahonia are dramatic evergreens.

They justify their place in the garden because of their glossy sub-divided leaves, but add to that the showy sprays of dainty pale yellow blooms at the top of each shoot and they are a class act.

Probably the best known and widely available is Charity, but I personally also rate Lionel Fortescue highly. Both grow to around 2.5m high and perhaps 3m wide too.

If you want to see some very fine specimens before buying these hybrids, I can recommend a trip to Taunton where there are some exceptionally fine plants near the junction of East Street and Silver Street opposite the large supermarket there.

What’s on at Cleeve?

Christmas glitter demonstration Felicity Down will give an inspirational demonstration of how to decorate your home this Christmas in an imaginative way.

This ticket-only event is on Thursday November 28, at 7.30pm, at Cleeve Nursery, near Bristo, BS49 4PW. Tickets cost £5 with proceeds going to Greenfingers Charity to provide gardens for children’s hospices. Call 01934 832134 or info@cleevenursery.co.uk

Contact Alan Cleeve Nursery’s Alan Down can be contacted at the nursery on 01934 832134. If you would like to ask Alan Down a gardening question, visit www.cleevenursery.co.uk and click on the Ask Us A Question tab. Alan can answer only emailed questions. Visit Alan’s blog at cleevenursery.co.uk/blog. You can also follow Alan on Twitter: @ AlanEDown

Pictures A range of gorgeous autumn colour, clockwise from left, Pyracantha Saphyr Cadrou; Cornus alba Sibirica; Ginkgo biloba; Nandina Firepower; Acer palmatum

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Rees Keene with pumpkins at Over Farm, Gloucester three varieties of pumpkins there is onion squash, a small, round orange fruit with a pale stripe that gives it an onion appearance. Then there’s acorn squash, another small variety, with dark green skin. Little Gem is popular because the tiny green fruits are ideal for a single portion, while Crown Prince, which has stunning slate blue skin and orange flesh, is a best seller thanks to its good flavour and large amount of usable flesh on each fruit; for the amateur grower it also stores well.

Sweet Dumpling is a real beauty: pale cream flesh with green stripes and green Kabotcha, also known as Buttercup, is gaining in popularity having been introduced at Over a few years ago. However, the most eye-catching is still Turk’s Turban, a swirling mass of dimpled cream, green and orange.

The one drawback to growing squash is the space they take up – trailing varieties can send out shoots several metres long. One answer is to combine them with another crop: this year my squash rambled quite happily through the sweetcorn, providing two crops for one piece of ground. Alternatively, they can be grown up stout frames with the fruit supported in nets, or are quite at home on a compost heap.

Mandy Bradshaw

For Good Advice & Excellent Home Grown Plants visit your local nursery!

Cleeve Nursery

138 Main Road, Cleeve, BS49 4PW 01934 832134 www.cleevenursery.co.uk

SATURDAY NOVEMBER 2 2013 WEST COUNTRY LIFE 31

Antiques Gems will go with a bang Clevedon Salerooms

This scratch-built railway wagon and horse drawn removals container for Hudson’s of Brighton features with Tamlyns of Bridgwater

Clevedon Salerooms specialist jewellery consultant John Kelly will be valuing gems at a watch and jewellery valuation day to be held on Tuesday at the salerooms between 9.30am and 5pm.

This day marks the final date for jewellery, watches and silver to be consigned to the preChristmas specialist sale on November 28.

This sale is traditionally the best of the year for fine jewellery and therefore unless you are plotting to visit the Houses of Parliament on November 5, why not take advantage of the free verbal valuation service and see if you have something in your jewellery box that may go off with a bang. For further details contact the salerooms on 01934 830111.

Pedal car a racing certainty Tamlyns An Austin J40 pedal car is included in Tamlyns’ collectors sale on November 19.

It has been professionally restored but still retains many original features such as the original flying “A” mascot and headlamps.

These pedal cars were made in a factory in Bargoed in South Wales, a not-for-profit government-backed scheme that employed disabled coal miners. Production of the J40 started in 1950 and continued until 1971. They were originally destined for the American market, but found worldwide interest and are widely collected – and even raced – today.

They are beautifully made, really solid with real boots, and if you lift the bonnet you will find a replica engine and battery in there. The tyres are pneumatic and the facia on the dashboard is a copy of the real thing, so it really is a true miniature car even though you have to use pedal power rather than a petrol engine.

Another lovely model to be included in this sale is a scratch-built railway wagon and horse drawn removals container for Hudson’s of Brighton. This was made in the late 19th century as a display model to stand in their depository in Brighton. The detail is amazing; if you open the back doors of the container it is even shaped inside as the original would have been.

Catalogues will be available for this sale and lots with images will be online at www.tamlyns.co.uk For further information contact the auctioneers on 01278 445251.

Merry monarch makes top price Moore Allen & Innocent Charles II was crowned king of the sale at an auction of antique paintings and books in Cirencester last week.

A portrait of the Merry Monarch achieved £4,000 – the top price of the day – at Moore Allen & Innocent’s selected picture sale on Friday, October 25. The 1.2-metre tall full length portrait was attributed to the School of Sir Peter Lely, and bore a striking resemblance to the famous 1675 portrait that hangs at Euston Hall in Suffolk.

From the king of the castle to the king of the cattle, the number two slot was filled by a pair of studies of prize-winning cows in the 19thcentury naïve style.

Horned Cow in Stable Interior and Horned Cow Beside Thatched Barn by W Luker comfortably exceeded their guide price of £1,000 to £1,500, selling for £2,500.

From the 17th-century Italian School, Family of the Satyr at Play, painted in oils on canvas in the manner of Filippo Lauri, came in third at the top end of its £1,500 to £2,000 estimate, with a hammer price of £1,900.

And an 18th-century German portrait of Hanns Christoph von Oppell aus dem Hause Leuthen far exceeded its £400 to £600 estimate, settling at £1,650, while a study of a young girl with rabbits, painted by Eduard Kurzbauer in the mid-1800s, also exceeded its £500 to £800 estimate, achieving a hammer price of £1,550.

A large collection of antique books, sold on behalf of Gloucestershire library service, also performed well. A large and full 19th century scrapbook containing engravings, newspaper

32 WEST COUNTRY LIFE SATURDAY NOVEMBER 2 2013

A portrait of the Merry Monarch, left, achieved £4,000 – the top price of the day – at Moore Allen & Innocent’s selected picture sale on Friday, October 25. The 1.2-metre tall full length portrait was attributed to the School of Sir Peter Lely, and bore a striking resemblance to the famous 1675 portrait that hangs at Euston Hall in Suffolk. Meanwhile, Horned Cow in Stable Interior and Horned Cow Beside Thatched Barn, above main image, by W Luker, comfortably exceeded their guide price of £1,000 to £1,500, selling for £2,500. From the 17th-century Italian School, Family of the Satyr at Play, shown right, painted in oils on canvas in the manner of Filippo Lauri, came in third at the top end of its £1,500 to £2,000 estimate, with a hammer £1,900. Clevedon Salerooms specialist jewellery consultant John Kelly, pictured right, will be valuing gems at a watch and jewellery valuation day to be held on Tuesday at the salerooms between 9.30am and 5pm WCL-E01-S2

clippings and drawings burst through its £300 to £500 estimate, making £1,400, while Italian Scenery Representing the Manners Customs and Amusements of the Different States of Italy,

by M Buonaiuti, and published by Edward Orme of London in 1806, made around ten times its £50 to £80 estimate, selling for £650.

A large collection of various volumes on the subjects of the arts, galleries and antiques realised £620, against a £500 to £800 estimate, while another large collection of books on the subject of architecture and buildings made £500 – the top end of the auctioneer’s estimate.

Gloucestershire library service was at pains to point out that none of the books related directly to the county’s history or heritage, and that they had been languishing in various library basements – without being requested by library users – for many years.

All of the money made at auction will be ploughed back into the service.

For more information about buying and selling at auction, go to www.mooreallen.co.uk

Diamond rings’ seasonal appeal Smiths of Newent Entries for Smiths’ antiques and collectables auction on Friday, November 8, have been pouring through the door and the walls of the antique Methodist chapel are beginning to creak. With just under 1,000 lots, the auctioneers say it looks to be one of the biggest sales of the year.

With Christmas coming it is no bad thing that there is a fantastic selection of jewellery items on offer as auctions make the perfect place to pick up a little special something for under the Christmas tree. Jewellery items at auction often cost around a quarter of that in the high street shops and so you can really buy something of quality at a very reasonable price.

Smiths sell both antique and modern styles of jewellery with a huge variety of choice and prices – in this sale estimates range from £10 to £6000. For those not sure of their partner’s taste, there is always plenty of advice to be offered by Smiths’ staff or you can come to the viewing as a couple, have a browse around the saleroom and make a trip of it.

Highlights include three large diamond solitaire rings estimated from £3,000 to £6,000 each, two Art Deco diamond brooches at £1,000 to £1,500 each, two good emerald cluster rings and a huge variety of pretty Victorian and Edwardian rings, pendants, bracelets and brooches to suit all tastes.

For the connoisseur the silver section offers a very nice selection of Georgian silver including sauce boats, teapots, various cruets and a solid silver cutlery set estimated at £1,500 to £2,000. A large selection of good quality silver plated items offers the chance to buy a lovely antique gift at a very reasonable price – perfect items for Christmas include pairs of candlesticks, spirit flasks and small decorative items.

Elsewhere in the sale is a good selection of furniture, including a range of Georgian early oak and elm from local farmhouses such as country chairs, a fine court cupboard, chests of drawers and coffers. An impressive selection of attractive paintings includes a number of very large canvases such as a pair of large rural oils by H Baldwin depicting sheep and cattle in landscape settings. By total contrast, a modernist poster, New Yorker, by Saul Steinberg 1976 is estimated to make £200 to £400.

In the ceramics section the second consignment of a large collection of Beswick includes three Thelwell pony groups and a huge collection of ducks modelled for Beswick by Peter Scott. Other ceramics include a collection of early Staffordshire figures and a huge number of pretty tea sets, vases and ornaments as well as a large Minton’s dinner service (albeit strangely named Poonah) estimated at £300 to £500. Of course there is the usual huge variety of collectables and a range of beautiful books such as Arthur Rackham’s Story Book, a stunning Dictionary of Ornament and a set of early Theatrical Illustrations estimated at £300 to £500.

Smiths’ auction is at 10am next Friday, with

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Smiths of Newent sell both antique and modern styles of jewellery with a huge variety of choice and prices – in this sale estimates range from £10 to £6000. Some of the items are featured above, including two diamond-set brooches, top, a Victorian cameo brooch, second from the top, and three diamond rings, second from bottom

SATURDAY NOVEMBER 2 2013 WEST COUNTRY LIFE 33

Antiques FROM PAGE 33 viewing on the Thursday before from 10am to 7pm and the morning of the sale from 9am to 10am. The catalogue can be viewed on www.smithsnewentauctions.co.uk For all enquiries telephone 01531 821776.

Intoxicating taste of the orient Chippenham Auction Rooms

An impressive selection of attractive paintings feature with Smiths of Newent on November 8, including a number of very large canvases such as a pair of large rural oils by H Baldwin depicting sheep and cattle in landscape settings. One of these is pictured here.

There is the usual huge variety of collectables and a range of beautiful books such as Arthur Rackham’s Story Book, an illustration from which is pictured right

The orient is coming to Wiltshire next Saturday, November 9, when £20,000 worth of Chinese artefacts go under the hammer at The Chippenham Auction Rooms.

There are approximately 40 lots of Chinese ceramics, including a Chinese Song Long Quan lotus petal bowl dated 960-1279 AD, ivory carvings and some Jade, all from a single private collection.

It has been amassed over decades, with some of the pieces being more than 100 years old, making it a very special collection, according to auctioneer Richard Edmonds. “The vendor has picked up these items from all over the world and we feel very privileged indeed to be given the opportunity to sell them,” he said.

“The auction is on the last day of London’s Asia Week, a celebration of the orient and its art, so we are expecting a lot of interest.”

The sale will take place at the Chippenham Auction Rooms’ salerooms at The Old Laundry, Ivy Road, in the centre of Chippenham.

For information on the sale please visit www.chippenhamauctionrooms.co.uk or call 01249 444544.

Momentous events revisited Greenslade Taylor Hunt A large scale painting said to be of the Battle of Sedgemoor – the last battle fought on English soil – will feature at Greenslade Taylor Hunt’s monthly antiques sale on Thursday, November 7.

The enormous picture in a fine, ornate frame, has hung in the head office of a long established firm for the past 50 years. It depicts the doomed final efforts of the Duke of Monmouth and his pitchfork army to overthrow James II and his highly trained forces at Westonzoyland, near Bridgwater.

Three days after his defeat in July 1685 Monmouth was captured. He was later executed. Hundreds of his supporters were put to death on the orders of “Bloody” Judge Jeffreys. The terrible battle resonates today and a large section of the County Museum in Taunton is devoted to a display about the Monmouth rebellion. The picture has a guide price of £2,000 to £3,000. It is among a number of paintings at next week’s auction at the Octagon Salerooms in East Reach, Taunton.

A portrait of Captain Robert Poole, (17611833) holding a telescope under his right arm, a seascape with shipping beyond, will also be offered. Little is known about Captain Poole or his lengthy and successful maritime career.

He is buried at St John’s Church, at Staplegrove, Taunton, where a long epitaph bears witness to his character. He is described as “a man distinguished alike by an enterprising spirit and inflexible integrity”.

It catalogues his career and records that he crossed the Equator to and from the Pacific Ocean 22 times; passed Cape Horn 17 times and sailed once around the globe – no mean feat in a time when even one voyage could prove fatal. He died at Staplegrove, aged 72.

Viewing for the sale takes place today from 9am to 12.30pm and on Tuesday, November 5, and Wednesday, November 6, from 9am to 5pm.

It will also be on view prior to the start of the sale at 10.30am on Thursday.

Powerful reminders of war Dominic Winter Included in the Dominic Winter arms, medals and militaria sale on Friday in South Cerney, Gloucestershire, will be a collection of swords and medals consigned to the auctioneers by a Scottish Cat Sanctuary.

Discovered in a derelict house in the Scottish Highlands, all proceeds from this estate will be donated to the sanctuary to help with

34 WEST COUNTRY LIFE SATURDAY NOVEMBER 2 2013

A large scale painting said to be of the Battle of Sedgemoor, main image, will feature at Greenslade Taylor Hunt’s monthly antiques sale, along with this portrait of Captain Robert Poole WCL-E01-S2

Veteran’s blaze of glory Charterhouse A 1955 Bedford Self Propelled Pump, which is more affectionately known as a Green Goddess, is one of the more unusual lots in the Charterhouse classic vehicle auction tomorrow, on Sunday November 3.

“The Auxiliary Fire Service was formed after the Second World War as part of civil defence preparations against major incidents.

It was originally thought they would be a reserve stock in the case of a nuclear attack resulting in widespread fires which the fire service might not be able to control,” said auctioneer Matthew Whitney. “However, with a cruising speed of about 40 to 45mph, no power steering, not the greatest of cornering capabilities and a low fuel consumption of eight to ten miles per gallon, it is a relief we never had to use them!”

This particular Green Goddess remained in store with the Scottish Home and Health Department, seeing light service, including pumping water from a reservoir in the hot summer of 1969. It is also believed to have seen service during the firemen’s strike of 1978, along with a few non-starring roles in films at Pinewood Studios.

The current owner acquired the vehicle in 2008, whereupon he embarked on a full restoration programme. Painted in military green, this classic commercial vehicle is now looking for its next custodian. With the benefit of being not only tax exempt but also MOT exempt, there should be plenty of bidding on the day.

Viewing for this Charterhouse auction of classic cars and motorcycles at The Royal Bath and West Showground, Shepton Mallet, is today, 9.30am to 4pm, with the sale starting at 11.30am tomorrow. If you are unable to attend the auction, live internet bidding is available through www.i-bidder.com/charterhouse

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its upkeep. There are a number of significant lots, including 17th-century English and Scottish broadswords which include a Scottish Ribbon Hilted Broadsword circa 1770. This wonderfully preserved piece with fine basket guard carries an estimate of £400 to £600 but is expected to easily exceed this (hopefully nudging four figures).

There is also a North European swept-hilt rapier circa 1630, again in splendid condition and estimated at £400 to £600. There are a number of medals from the estate which include a very desirable Waterloo 1815 campaign medal to Private William Simonds, 30th (Cambridgeshire) Foot.

Serving under Major Howard, the 30th were really in the thick of the action at Waterloo and therefore, with the interest in the battle and its 200-year anniversary just around the corner, the auctioneers expect that it will fetch somewhere between £1,500 and £2,000, not a bad price for something which was actually discovered in a bag of rubbish from the estate.

Other notably lots from other properties include a very rare and desirable International Watch Company Luftwaffe B-Uhrs Navigators wristwatch from around 1940. There were only 1,000 of these watches manufactured for the Luftwaffe and it is fairly safe to say that the German aircrews suffered their heaviest losses in the latter part of the Battle of Britain and many of these watches perished with the aircraft. The auctioneers expect this to sell for something in the region of £7,000 to £10,000.

The medals section has the usual range of Victorian, Great War and Second World War

This Waterloo 1815 campaign medal of Private William Simonds, 30th (Cambridgeshire) Foot features with Dominic Winter

items, but one lot stands out which is very rare and possibly unique. It is the British Empire Medal pair presented to Stewardess Elizabeth Plumb, who received her BEM and Lloyds Medal for Bravery at Sea for her gallant actions on board the RMS Rangitane during the Second World War. On November 27, 1940, the Rangitane was torpedoed by German raiders disguised as Japanese merchant traders. The constant barrage of shell fire severely wounded Stewardess Plumb and she was hit by splinters and shrapnel.

Even though she was in great pain she cared for the crew and passengers for over nine hours in the lifeboats until they were all eventually picked up by a German prison ship.

Once on board the German doctors remarked: “Don’t English women ever cry?”

The misery did not stop there. The surviving crew were dropped of and marooned on Emirau Island in the Bismark Archipelago until they were rescued in January 1941.

Stewardess Plumb remained in Auckland, New Zealand, as she quotes in a letter home: “Owing to having been wounded and nerves badly shattered I am reluctantly compelled to stay in New Zealand for an indefinite period”.

Estimating this lot is hard but Henry Meadows guided it at £1,000 to 1,500, while expecting there to be interest from around the globe.

For more information about sale lots in this particular auction or to ask about future consignments contact Henry by phone on 01285 860006 or via email: henry@dominicwinter.co.uk WCL-E01-S2

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Antiques FROM PAGE 35

Film legend lives on Bonhams A costume worn by Bristol’s Cary Grant in the Hollywood movie The Howards Of Virginia is expected to fetch more than £4,000 at auction.

The brown wool frock coat, a burgundy ground floral brocade waistcoat with orange silk back, and brown wool breeches will be auctioned at Bonhams simultaneously in New York and Los Angeles in November, just days before the 27th anniversary of Grant’s death, at the age of 82,on November 29, 1986.

Grant, born in Bristol in 1904, was 36 when he made The Howards Of Virginia in 1940.

It was one of four Grant films released that year. He was paid $150,000 per film.

The Howards Of Virginia was described by the New York Times as “one of the best historical pictures to date” and set in the period leading up to the American Revolution. Grant stars as Matt Howard,a surveyor who befriends the young Thomas Jefferson and who later marries an aristocrat’s daughter.

A spokesman for Bonhams said: “The sophisticated nature of the costume contrasts with the humble buckskins he wears earlier in the film and symbolises his transition from farmer to politician. The Howards Of Virginia was one of only two period films Grant made.”

At the same time as the Bonhams sale, two posters from Grant films will be auctioned.

A poster for Suspicion! is set to fetch almost £600. And a poster for North By Northwest is expected to sell for more than £500.

This year, at Christie’s South Kensington in London, a poster for the Grant film To Catch A Thief sold for £5,250. Next year marks the 110th anniversary of Grant’s birth. He was born Archibald Alexander Leach at 15 Hughenden Road on January 18, 1904.

Charity sale for children Merchant House Hotel

A 1955 Bedford Self Propelled Pump, which is more affectionately known as a Green Goddess, is one of the more unusual lots in the Charterhouse classic vehicle auction tomorrow

A collection of more than 300 paintings and pictures of wildlife is going under the hammer on Sunday, to help raise money for sick children.

It has been organised by an artist whose son is terminally ill, to thank the hospice which has helped them over the last few years.

Ian Griffiths, from Helston, said Children’s Hospice South West’s Little Harbour hospice, near St Austell, has been excellent in providing respite breaks for his son Thomas, aged nine. Inspired to enrich the time that children, families and staff spend at the hospice, Mr Griffiths created a project called A Robin’s Song.

More than 150 artists from around the world have donated pictures of birds and other wildlife which will now be sold to raise funds.

The money will then be used to create birdboxes, feeding stations and a wildflower meadow at the hospice. Any remaining funds will be donated towards running costs.

Mr Griffiths said: “My wife Lizzie and I regularly take our daughter Alice and son Thomas to Little Harbour. Here, and previously at Little Bridge House in Devon, we have benefited greatly from the wonderful facilities, care and support on offer.

“As a full-time wildlife artist, I know the lifeenhancing benefits and pleasure that the natural world can bring to people of all ages – especially children. The song of a robin or the sight of butterflies among wild flowers can do so much.

“Unfortunately, although there is an abundance of wildlife in the area around Little Harbour, there is little in the grounds themselves or near the building.”

He added: “I would like to say a big thank you to all of the artists, other contributors and helpers for their generosity,” says Ian. I hope we can raise a substantial sum to continue the superb work that Hospice South West is doing.”

The auction will be held at 3pm on Sunday at the Merchant House Hotel in Truro. The artwork can be viewed from 1pm. Also, to see some of the work, you may like to visit the website www.arobinssong.co.uk

36 WEST COUNTRY LIFE SATURDAY NOVEMBER 2 2013

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Printmakers celebrated The Marle Gallery The Marle Print Show, running from November 5 to January 26 in Axminster, East Devon, brings together the best of all the gallery’s printmakers, including Peter Freeth RA, Vicky Oldfield, Anthony Dyson RE and Anne Desmet RA. A few new printmakers to the gallery include Neil Bousfield’s woodengraving, David Risk Kennard’s woodcuts and Merrily Harpur’s Linocuts. Joining them will be some of Marle’s favourite ceramicists offering a eclectic range of ceramics. Gallery owner Nick Broomfield says The Print Show is a wonderful opportunity to see and buy original art at very accessible prices.

“The vast majority of work on show is under £200 and includes wood engravings, linocuts, collagraphs, screenprints and aquatints,” says Nick.

Here’s a full list of exhibiting artists at The Marle Print Show: Merrily Harpur, Neil Bousfield, David Risk Kennard, Hilary Paynter, Louise Hayward, Martin Grover, John Piper, Pete Lawrence, Anthony Dyson RE, Peter Freeth RA, Anne Desmet RA, Miriam MacGregor, Howard Phipps, Jenny Portlock, Trevor Haddrell, Vicky Oldfield, Jeremy Speck, Emma Molony, Sally Hebeler.

Ceramics: Jacky Duncan, Mandy Parslow, Tim Andrews, Phillipa de Burlet, Nick Hillyard, Westend Pottery.

Others: Angus Rutherford (pen and Ink), Tony Beaver (small oil paintings), Clarie Moynihans (3D Embroidery), Ricky Romain (small paintings), Simon Cook (small paintings).

Adventure full of surprises Crocadon Brocante Brocantes are similar to a second-hand market, vintage fair or flea market – and there is one at Crocadon, in the Tamar Valley tomorrow.

Located at Crocadon Sawmill the Brocante, from 10am to 3pm, promises a unique experience in Cornwall, offering more than 30 stalls of antiques, vintage, bric-a-brac, furniture and more. With free entry and parking, live music and a cafe, it is not to be missed.

There will also be an auction at noon where you can bid for some fantastic lots from furniture, art and model aircraft to garden wares and old fuel pumps. Viewing is today (Saturday, November 2) from 9am-1pm. Visit crocadon.co.uk for more information and online viewing. The cafe will be offering local smoked salmon sandwiches as well as delicious French-themed sweet treats and refreshments.

Crocadon is based in the Tamar Valley, opposite St Mellion Golf Club, just 15 minutes from Plymouth and five from Callington. It is the location of successful monthly producer fairs held in the courtyard, where up to 50 stallholders display their unique hand produced goods.

■ Crocadon Sawmill, St Mellion, Saltash, PL12 6RL. 01579 350096. crocadonfarm.co.uk

Sale you will warm to Saltram Antiques

Cary Grant memorabilia will go under the hammer next month, close to the 27th anniversary of the Bristol-born screen legend’s death, at the age of 82, on November 29, 1986. A promotional poster from the movie Suspicion! will also be up for sale

With winter looming, dark nights around the corner and Christmas on the horizon, what can be better than sitting in front of a roaring coal fire?

At Saltram Antiques today , all the fixtures and fittings of a cosy Edwardian drawing room await. The sale has a magnificent Lois XVl-style log grate fitted with a handsome brass hood with repose decoration of acanthus leaves with fruit and a central cartouche. The front of the grate has an elegant open fret design supported on a substantial pair of andirons on splayed feet (£1,800 to £2,200).

The drawing room was typically used to entertain guests after dinner. There was no better way than an impromptu recital at the piano and, with a guide of £250-£350 you could be that pianist with a 1930s overstrung Baby Grand in a mahogany veneer case by J J Hopkinson of London.

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SATURDAY NOVEMBER 2 2013 WEST COUNTRY LIFE 37

Television and radio FILM CHOICE

TOP TV CHOICE

Rosemary’s Baby Based on Ira Levin’s chilling novel, it focuses on Rosemary Woodhouse, a happily married young woman who moves into a New York apartment with her actor husband, Guy. His career is going nowhere fast, so he resorts to a surprising course of action egged on by his seemingly pleasant neighbours in an attempt to improve his lot.

Sadly, Guy’s plan involves something particularly nasty for his unsuspecting wife.

Roman Polanski’s classic chiller was one of the most talked about films of the late 1960s. It remains one of the director’s best offerings of his US period. Mia Farrow is excellent as Rosemary, and John Cassavetes is suitably creepy as her husband. (Film4, Sunday, 10.50pm)

The National Theatre isn’t just a place for people who fancy a highbrow night out and this celebration of its 50th year brings together some of its biggest stars in its quest to reach a wider audience.

Fittingly, half a century after the curtain first came up at the Old Vic, under the stewardship of Laurence Olivier, stars of stage will perform key scenes from some of its biggest hits. Among them are James Corden, Benedict Cumberbatch, Ralph Fiennes, and Dames Helen Mirren, Judi Dench and Maggie Smith.

Among the highlights are Dame Helen recreating her role in Mourning Becomes Electra, and Charles Kay appearing in a scene from The National Health, a play in which he first appeared 45 years ago.

But for some of the thespians, it’s a chance to step into some pretty big shoes. Jacobi and Michael Gambon take on roles in No Man’s Land, while Cumberbatch and Kobna Holdbrook-Smith tackle the 1967 production of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. (BBC Two, Tonight, 9pm)

The Men Who Stare at Goats A retired Special Forces operator who was once part of a US army unit that aimed to endow soldiers with superhuman powers and psychic abilities tells his story, and via flashbacks we get to see Lyn’s early days in the unit, when he and his arch rival Larry Hooper were trained by the unconventional Bill Django. While in Iraq, the scribe and his subject meet Hooper and Django in extraordinary circumstances, and Django helps them escape from a rehabilitation camp – after teaching the journalist his psychic beliefs. (BBC One, Tuesday, 11.35pm)

DVD Chasing Mavericks (PG) Jay Moriarity (Jonny Weston) feels at home on the Californian waves and he is also determined to ride the monstrous waves close to the home he shares with his depressed mother (Elisabeth Shue).

His father left when he was eight, so Jay became the man of the house at an early age, putting aside adolescent crushes on best friend Kim (Leven Rambin) to keep his family afloat. After much pestering, Jay convinces veteran surfer Frosty Hesson (Gerard Butler) to train him for the epic trial of riding Mavericks, which can swell to 50 feet high. A father-son bond forms between the prodigy and the old-timer, and Frosty neglects his wife (Abigail Spencer) and children to guide Jay to greatness. While Frosty becomes a positive male authority figure for Jay, the youngster enriches his mentor's life too. Chasing Mavericks is an overly reverential tale of rousing triumph against the odds, based on the inspirational true story of a daredevil teenage surfer.

Chopper This film, made in 2000, follows the rise and fall of criminal Mark ‘Chopper’ Read, who went on to become a celebrity in his native Australia. Drawing on his own autobiographical books, some of which were penned while he was behind bars, it looks at the sometimes conflicting accounts of Read’s activities. It’s little wonder Hollywood came calling for former stand-up comic Eric Bana – he’s electrifying as the violent, irrational and yet often strangely likeable Chopper. But while he’s undoubtedly the star attraction, the rest of the movie is also gritty, uncompromising and more often than not blackly humorous. Read passed away in October from liver cancer. Before his death he gave a final TV interview in which he confessed to murder. It was Read himself who suggested Eric Bana and the actor spent two days living with him. (Film4, Friday, 1.30am)

RADIO

IN PROFILE

Welcome to My World: The Jim Reeves Story Terry Wogan celebrates the life and career of the Nashville singer-songwriter whose style mixed country music with the laidback approach of crooners such as Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby. The broadcaster looks at the influence Reeves had on the likes of Don Williams, Randy Travis and Charley Pride, and how he was one of the first people to make country music popular outside America.

By the end of his career he’d made more than 50 albums and had a large number of pop hits under his belt. Jim was also one of the first people to take country music outside America, gaining widespread popularity in Britain, mainland Europe and South Africa.

In July 1964, Jim Reeves was found dead in the wreckage of a private plane 10 miles south of Nashville. He was 39. But his death was far from being the end of the story. (Radio 4, Tuesday, 10pm)

Name Carol Vorderman Best known for Doing the sums and letters on Countdown.

Early Life Carol Jean Vorderman was born in Bedford on December 24, 1960, to a Welsh mother and a Dutch father who split when she was a baby. Carol knew little about her father’s early life until she appeared on Who Do You Think You Are? where she learned he had been in the Dutch Resistance during the Second World War. She studied engineering at Cambridge. It was her mum who put her name forward for Countdown after spotting an advert looking for women with a flair for maths.

CareerVorderman got the Countdown job, the first show broadcast on Channel 4 in 1982. She was initially one of four female presenters, but the other women were phased out, leaving her as Richard Whiteley’s co-host. Vorderman was soon in demand for other TV shows, appearing on the likes of Tomorrow’s World, How 2, Stars and Their Lives and Better Homes, but throughout continued to appear on Countdown. She announced she was leaving the show in 2008, after bosses reportedly asked her to take a 90 per cent pay cut. She has also been involved in a task force to improve numeracy in schools, and now co-hosts Loose Women.

Quote “All my life, I have been used to dusting myself down and just getting on with it.”

See her on Never Mind the Buzzcocks, BBC Two, Monday, 10pm.

TV QUIZ ANSWERS 1 Meera Syal; 2 Henry VIII; 3 Blue Peter; 4 Dame Joan Bakewell; 5 The Real Wild Show

TV QUIZ

Clichés are in many cases deservedly applied, and none more so than the term national treasure when it comes to the roll call of stars hitting the stage of the National Theatre to celebrate 50 years of its productions. Tonight, the BBC broadcasts a show at the theatre which brings together some of the country’s biggest acting names, to reprise or act anew some of theatre’s most famous roles

38 WEST COUNTRY LIFE SATURDAY NOVEMBER 2 2013

1. Sanjeev Bhaskar is back with a new series of BBC One’s The Indian Doctor, starting on Monday. Bhaskar is also famous for his comedy series Goodness Gracious Me and The Kumars At No 42 which he starred in with his comedian wife. Who is she?

2. Jonathan Rhys Meyers plays Dracula in Sky Living’s series of the same name, which starts on October 31. Who did Rhys Meyers play in glossy period drama The Tudors?

3. Remembrance Week, BBC One’s series that will commemorate troops past and present, starts on Monday and is hosted by Gethin Jones. Which children’s TV show did Jones present?

4. This week we welcomed back Autumnwatch, with Michaela Strachan, Martin HughesGames and Chris Packham. Which Eighties children’s show did Packham present?

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Television Keeley Bolger

Gethin Jones with a group of soldiers at the Afghan National Army Officer Academy (ANAOA) in Kabul, Afghanistan

Gethin Jones made an unexpected impression when he stepped out in a vintage army uniform.

However, that was for one of his Strictly Come Dancing routines. The Welsh-born presenter finished third in the fifth series of the show in 2007, where he danced the jitterbug with partner Camilla Dallerup while kitted out in the military attire.

“My dad got a load of phone calls about the dance, because apparently I look a lot like my grandfather did at my age,” explains the 35year-old who made his name as a Blue Peter presenter but is now a regular on ITV’s Daybreak.

“My dad never gets emotional, but seeing me dressed in that uniform looking like my grandfather made him emotional, and it made me quite proud to feel like my grandfather.”

Jones has fond memories of his late grandfather, who was in the RAF, and has found

himself thinking about him more recently. For the third year running, he has flown to Afghanistan to present BBC One’s Remembrance Week, a week-long series dedicated to commemorating troops past and present.

The series, which won a Royal Television Society Award last year, was originally hosted by former soldier Rav Wilding before Jones took over presenting duties three years ago.

And this year Jones, who says he hopes his grandfather would have been proud of the show, has felt a shift in attitude as Britain reduces the strength of its forces in Afghanistan and lets the homegrown troops take over. And despite the inherent dangers, he is inspired by the courage of the soldiers.

“In a weird way, I look forward to going to Afghanistan every year. Every single person

I’ve met out there’s been wonderful and wonderfully humble. You just feel like they’re getting on with their jobs.”

Although pleased for him, his parents and sister were understandably concerned when Jones first hotfooted it over to the war-torn country.

“Not for one second do I realise the implications of going out there,” Jones admits.

“That’s felt mostly by my family, when they’re going, ‘You’re not going out there again, are you?’ But I love it, and I feel very blessed to be chosen to do the job, to host it and to tell the stories.”

His mum and dad have also had a little involvement. “My parents picked me up from the airport when we flew back with the rest of the troops,” he explains. “I was quite keen for them to see all the soldiers meeting their friends, families and kids. That was very powerful. Six months away from home... imagine how much a child changes in that time.”

“I fill up a bit when I talk about it, because I can see faces I’ve been speaking to coming to the terminal. It was just a lovely moment. On the way home, my mum and dad were talking about how nice that was. As parents, they understood it from a different angle.”

His experiences have inspired the presenter to research ways in which he can help and he has been looking at joining the forces as a reservist.

“I have this connection with the way they do their business,” he says. It’s very disciplined and I like that, so I’m just looking to see if there’s anything I can do to help.

“I worry about the younger generation,

because being on the front line, or seeing your friend being blown up, always stays with you,” he reflects. “While they’re brave and get through the tour, what happens after? What happens in those quiet moments when you’re on your own?

“That’s when I think about those guys the most, and that’s why I’m such a massive fan of any charity that helps soldiers who’ve been injured, or struggled when they’ve come back.

The more money and awareness we have for those guys, the better.”

Jones may not have fought on the front line but, over the years, he’s had his fair share of action man-style feats, including a gruelling Royal Marines challenge that only one other civilian has completed.

“I did the Commando Yomp, a 30-mile speed march, that was hideous,” he recalls, laughing. “I’m quite a boring date. I usually get that I completed the Yomp in before ‘hello!’ I am very proud of that.”

It’s hard to believe such claims by the handsome star, who was previously engaged to singer Katherine Jenkins. As well as filming in Afghanistan, he has been busy training for a half-marathon, working on Daybreak and recently performed a routine with Strictly partner Dallerup for the opening ceremony of the Rugby League World Cup in Cardiff.

He was a little apprehensive about taking to the floor again. “It was in front of 60,000 people at the Millennium Stadium. Strictly was five years ago and they’ve still got the same measurements for my jive outfit. I was worried I was going to be popping out everywhere!”

“I love how varied my job is,” he says. “It’s great – I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

PICKS OF THE WEEK

FACTUAL Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond rebuffs claims of trashing the planet – to make his own (BBC One, Sunday, 9pm)

COMEDY Jack Whitehall returns with his student chums for another term and series of Fresh Meat (Channel 4, Monday, 10pm)

FILM Claudia Winkleman and co-presenter Danny Leigh bring Film 2013 to our screens (BBC One, Wednesday, 11.05pm)

MUSIC Everyone has a favourite Elvis tune, surely?

Zoe Ball collates the scores for each one (ITV, 9pm, Sunday) WCL-E01-S2

NATURE As the leaves in the UK turn yellow, Kate Humble goes to Africa to begin the Countdown to the Rains (BBC Two, Sunday)

REALITY The tials, tribulations – and food bills of pet obsessives who keep more than their fair share of animals (BBC One, Tuesday)

SATURDAY NOVEMBER 2 2013 WEST COUNTRY LIFE 39

Columnists

Martin Hesp Don’t you love it when life gets so surreal it’s like you’re on TV?

Alice Bell There was a catastrophe at the office last Monday morning.

It’s like you’ve entered some fantasy envisaged in a crazy movie.

That happened to me this week in a tiny office – but it was no ordinary workroom, nor were the people surrounding me everyday office folk.

It was the moment when I entered The Simpsons TV cartoon. Only it was even more Simpson-esque than that weird programme can ever manage to be.

For those who have never seen it, The Simpsons mocks the real world by being outrageous and surreal. Intellectually challenged Homer Simpson works in a tiny office perched on top of a giant nuclear reactor. His boss is greedy, unscrupulous, power-plant owner multimillionaire Monty Burns.

I was in Homer’s office recently. Seriously. I sat in a tiny room perched on top of the nuclear reactor at Hinkley Point.

There were three other people in the office, which had a big window looking out over the cathedral-sized reactor hall. There was the editor of a local newspaper, a government official and a man who sat behind a computer screen – just like Homer Simpson does on TV. We all looked identical because everyone up there in and around the reactor hall was covered from head to foot in blue overalls and all wore orange hard hats. So telling one person from another was not easy, but I did realise who the heavily disguised person behind the computer screen was – and I joked with him that he looked just like the wellknown Simpson.

Luckily, Secretary of State for Energy Ed Davey has a good sense of humour – and he played up to the joke by pretending to be a bit Homer-esque, pressing various knobs and buttons with clueless abandon.

However, the horseplay soon ended because a whole bunch of boiler-suited people entered the room, led by a breathless public relations person who started bossing us about.

This was when my surreal Simpsons moment intensified one-hundred-fold – not only because this panting stooge reminded me of Monty Burns’ sidekick, Smithers, but because the big man being ushered into the room behind him was none other than Mr Burns himself.

Or rather, it was the Prime Minister, who sat down next to me and said: “Shoot!” But only after he’d muttered to his minders: “Did I get that right about the cost of the Severn Barrage? I hope so.”

Like one of Mr Burns’ eager cartoon staff, Mr Davey assured him he had told the TV reporters in the reactor hall the correct figures.

The big man did not take any notice of this reassurance – indeed, I watched him closely during the 30 minutes we were up there on top of Hinkley B Station’s nuclear reactors – and Mr Cameron never seemed to take much notice of his Energy Secretary at all. Because, like Monty Burns, Dave Cameron is pretty much armour-plated. I had the feeling that if I really did shoot – as he had told me to – the bullets would have bounced off his pink, platinum-protected, skin.

Of course, it is no good some lowly regional hack like me trying to have a real conversation with a Prime Minister – his minders had told me I would have just two questions and after that my time would be up, the inference being that I was lucky to get even a single minute.

My couple of queries were duly bulldozed aside with replies that had been learned off-

And it was so bad it even got its own hashtag on Twitter: #milk-a-geddon.

Now, I’m a journalist so the first thing I want to do is sensationalise the story. Basically, we were the victims of a double delivery of milk.

There were just too many bottles on our doorstep to fit into the fridge and not even a Brit suffering from insomnia and dehydration could have drunk enough tea to use up the surplus before it got a bit warm.

Even worse, nobody could remember who our delivery man was or where he came from so the next morning we found another crate of bottles on the doorstep, like we were being targeted by some lactose-obsessed stalker.

Carnage. Absolute carnage.

And if you thought we were making much

pat – and the PM marched off to his helicopter which, in true Simpson-esque form, ascended between a black cloud and a rainbow.

Later I watched the Prime Minister’s announcement about Hinkley C on TV and learned what a “thoroughly good thing” it all was. Except, I do not believe it.

I’m a bit thick when it comes to numbers, but I cannot see why it is a good thing for the French and the Chinese to be investing in this nation’s future energy needs, and not us. One thing is certain: they are not doing it out of a sense of charity. One day we will be paying them, big-time. Real life is not a game of Monopoly, but if it was – we just lost. But then, life is not a Simpsons cartoon either – it just sometimes seems like one.

2 WEST COUNTRY LIFE SATURDAY NOVEMBER 2 2013

COLUMNISTS ONLINE You can enjoy the best of Alice Bell’s and Martin Hesp’s Saturday essays – and our other writers – on the Western Daily Press website westerndailypress.co.uk/wcl

ado about nothing there, you obviously didn’t see our reporting of St Jude’s Storm when it finally hit the West Country.

I say “hit”. “Inappropriately touched” might be a better description. The name alone just makes it sound like a soppy ballad Paul McCartney might start randomly singing in Covent Garden.

Considering the horrific damage the storm caused in other parts of the UK and beyond, I’m not sure how Somerset and Wiltshire managed to escape pretty much unscathed.

Especially since every local news hub in the area had been warning us of our impending doom for at least a week beforehand.

Twitter was on top sarcastic form that Monday, though, with every wannabe Have I Got News For You writer across the south posting pictures of plastic garden chairs that had blown over and Tweeting: “Scenes of complete devastation in Bath this morning...”

Meanwhile, I was forced to drive through a puddle that definitely hadn’t been there the day before. Not a big one, though. I don’t think Noah would have got out of bed for it.

My colleague was much more prepared. I only wish she’d been in charge of the train companies as she not only remembered to put on extra hairspray but she also brought a spare pair of socks in case her feet got a bit wet on the walk into work.

The news that morning was basically: “Everything’s gone a bit mental today but if you bear with us, we’ll update you on the weather and traffic situation, just as soon as we’ve found somewhere to put all this milk.”

Then it was over to the weather girl, whose reports ran increasingly along the lines of: “So as you heard there in the news, ARMAGEDDON HAS ARRIVED! As for tomorrow... well, quite frankly, who cares, nobody will be around to see it.”

I tried to sound slightly more balanced when it was my turn but just ended up saying a la Michael Fish: “Gosh, it’s a bit windy out there, isn’t it? But we’re expecting some sunny spells too and highs of 15 degrees, so it could be worse.”

Then we crossed over to the man doing the traffic updates. He’d been stuck in a massive queue that morning and from the tone of his voice you could tell he just wanted to rant: “There's some right divs on the road today.

One in front of me tried to drive his Prius through a flood and got stuck, can you believe the idiot? Also, there’s some puddles around that might make your car a bit grubby. Oh, and if you're late for work, you can bet the car in front is a flaming hearse.”

The reporting of St Jude managed to whip everyone up into a frenzy of hysteria. Even our hard journalistic hearts had to feel a bit awkward when our cleaning lady arrived at the office wearing what looked like scuba gear and brandishing an industrial-sized umbrella.

The fallout was worse than “plebgate”. It was “floodgate”, although unfortunately not literally. That might have been useful.

WCL-E01-S2

Along with being the top performing day school in Bristol, QEH is firmly amongst leading academic schools nationally. Most boys go to top universities or medical schools, including 10%to Oxford and Cambridge.

One hundred boys are in the Junior School which shares the ethos of the Senior School whilst retaining its own individual identity.

FOUNDED IN 1590, QEH THRIVES WITH 670 BOYS AGED 7–18

Stephen Holliday and Martin Morris, the respective Headmasters of QEH Seniors and Juniors, agree that a good school is far more complicated than counting exam passes. Good schools build character. That is easy to say, tricky to define and even more difficult to achieve. Character is formed through adventure and fortitude, through integrity and values, and is rooted in a sense of self-worth. Exam success: that is a by-product of a school where building character comes first.

At QEH staff nurture character and go on to prepare boys for life beyond the school. Mr Holliday says: “ I like to think we build character from the very beginning, whether that starts in Year 3 or Year 7 or Year 9. We promote the importance of good values, we produce the young men who know themselves, who respect and help others and who have opinions. Incidentally, our exam results are also spectacularly good.”

Mr Morris adds: “A key aim is to develop each boy’s personal qualities, provide a sound foundation for his future, and ensure that every boy leaves recognising himself as a lifelong learner. We are particularly keen to break out from the traditional idea of the four-walled classroom, and make our ‘classroom’ the wider world.”

Building Character Junior School Places Available…

ENTRY ASSESSMENTS Year 3 & 4 start 4 November Year 5 & 6 start 18 November

0117 930 3068 www.qehbristol.co.uk WCL-E01-S2

SATURDAY NOVEMBER 2 2013 WEST COUNTRY LIFE 3

Sunday television&radio Sunday’s Television Guide BIGFOOT FILES 8pm, Channel 4

TV PICKS

RICHARD HAMMOND BUILDS A PLANET 9pm, BBC1

The Top Gear presenter creates a CGI world in the California desert, enlisting the help of scientists to carry out experiments along the way.

BBC1 BBC1

6.00 Breakfast (S,HD). 7.25 Match of the Day (R,S,HD). 9.00 The Andrew Marr Show (S,HD). 10.00 Sunday Morning Live (S,HD). 11.00 Sunday Politics (S). 12.15 MOTD2 Extra (S,HD). 1.00 BBC News (S,HD). 1.15 The Story of the Swastika (S,HD). 1.45 Bargain Hunt (S). 2.40 Escape to the Country (R,S). 3.40 Points of View (S,HD). 3.55 Songs of Praise (S,HD). 4.30 Formula 1: Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – Highlights (S,HD).

FILM RATINGS ●●●●● Excellent ●●●● Very good ●●● Good ●● Average ● Poor

In the last in the series, Mark Evans travels to Russia to investigate the story of Zana, a ‘wild woman’ said to have been found in the remote Caucasus in the 1870s and thought to be a surviving hominid or Neanderthal. She was alleged to have had four children by her captors over the years.

BBC2 BBC2

6.00 This Is BBC Two (S). 7.10 Film: The Bride Walks Out (S) (1936). ●●● 8.30 Alan Titchmarsh’s Garden Secrets (R,S,HD). 9.30 Gardeners’ World (R,S,HD).

10.00 Saturday Kitchen Best Bites (S).

11.30 EastEnders (S,HD). 1.20 Rugby Union (S,HD). 2.20 Live Cycling (S). The Track World Cup from Manchester. 5.30 Inspire: The Olympic Journey (R,S,HD).

Gabby Logan visits Glasgow ahead of next year’s Commonwealth Games.

AFRICA 2013: COUNTDOWN TO THE RAINS 8pm, BBC2

2012 9pm, Channel 5

Kate Humble and Simon King report on the lives of animals in Zambia as they wait for the longest dry season in many years to finish.

ITV1 ITV

6.00 Babar and the Adventures of Badou (R,S).

6.10 Matt Hatter Chronicles (R,S). 6.35 Dino Dan (R,S). 7.00 Canimals (R,S). 7.25 Sooty (S).

7.35 Horrid Henry (R,S). 7.50 Big Time Rush (S).

8.15 Bottom Knocker Street (S). 8.30 Fort Boyard Ultimate Challenge (S). 9.25 ITV News (S). 9.30 Storage Hoarders (R,S,HD). 10.30 Sunday Side Up (S,HD). 11.30 Sunday Scoop (S).

12.30 ITV News and Weather (S). 12.35 Inside the National Trust (S,HD). 1.35 Fool Britannia (R,S,HD). 2.05 The X Factor (R,S,HD). 3.55 Downton Abbey (R,S,HD). 5.00 You’ve Been Framed! (R,S). 5.30 Prize Island (S,HD).

Premiere. A scientist learns the world is soon to face a global cataclysm that will wipe out the human race, but finds the US president has plans to secretly save a fraction of the population, leaving everyone else to die.

Disaster movie, with John Cusack, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Danny Glover and Amanda Peet.

Channel Channel 4

6.10 The American Football Show (R,S).

7.05 Yorkshire Marathon (S). 8.00 Everybody Loves Raymond (R,S). 9.00 Frasier (R,S). 9.30 Sunday Brunch (S).

12.30 The Big Bang Theory (R,S,HD). 1.50 The Simpsons (R,S). 3.20 Film: Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (S,HD) (1989). See Choices Above. ●● 5.25 Channel 4 News (S). 5.50 Film: Grease (S,HD) (1978).

Romantic musical, with John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John. ●●●●●

Channel Channel 5

6.00 Milkshake! 10.00 Power Rangers: Super Samurai (S,HD). 10.35 Slugterra (S,HD). 11.00 Cowboy Builders (R,S,HD).

12.00 Police Interceptors (R,S,HD). 1.00 Film: Ghostbusters (S,HD) (1984).

Supernatural comedy, starring Bill Murray. ●●●●● 3.00 Film: Baby Boom (S,HD) (1987). Comedy, starring Diane Keaton. ●●● 5.10 Film: The Fox and the Hound (S,HD) (1981). Animated adventure, with the voice of Mickey Rooney. ●●●

(R) repeat (S) subtitles (HD) highdefinition

8.00 Africa 2013: Countdown to the Rains (S,HD). 1/3. See Choices Above.

8.00 The X Factor Results (S,HD).

16/22. The two acts with the lowest number of public votes face each other in the sing-off, and for one of them the dream of stardom will be over. Taylor Swift and Little Mix perform live.

8.00 Bigfoot Files (S). 3/3. See Choices Above.

9.00 Great Continental Railway Journeys (S,HD). 2/6. Michael Portillo travels from Turin to Venice, recreating a scene from The Italian Job and investigating the British love affair with Lake Como in the early 20th century.

9.00 Downton Abbey (S,HD). 7/8.

See Choices Above.

9.00 Homeland (S,HD). 5/12. A mysterious man enters the country at the US-Canadian border, Carrie puts her mission on the line to complete a risky favour and Saul is forced to rub elbows with an adversary.

▼

6.00 Regional News (S,HD).

6.20 Countryfile (S,HD). How the Hertfordshire landscape inspired sculptor Henry Moore.

▼

7.20 Strictly Come Dancing: The Results (S,HD). Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman reveal which couples are in the danceoff, leaving their fates in the hands of the judges.

▼

12

6.35 Regional News (S); Weather.

6.45 ITV News and Weather (S).

2012, 9pm

8.00 The Paradise (S,HD). 3/8. Tom cancels the staff outing to the music hall, so Denise suggests the staff should put on their own show, while also worrying about whether to apply for the head of ladieswear job.

▼

after

6.00 Flog It! (R,S). 25/80. The history of Poole Pottery.

6.30 The Ginge, the Geordie and the Geek (S,HD). 6/6. A referee treats a pub like a football pitch. Last in the series.

7.00 How to Build a Jumbo Jet Engine (R,S). 2/3. The construction of Rolls-Royce’s Trent 1000 jet engine.

Homeland, 9pm

9.00 Richard Hammond Builds a Planet (S,HD). See Choices Above.

▼

11

The X Factor Results, 8pm

10.00 BBC News; Regional News and Weather (S,HD).

10.25 Match of the Day 2 (S,HD).

Everton v Tottenham Hotspur and Cardiff City v Swansea City.

Mark Chapman introduces highlights of the Premier League matches at Goodison Park and the Cardiff City Stadium.

10.00 The Wrong Mans (R,S,HD).

6/6. Sam and Phil realise they must put themselves right in the line of fire to expose the plot, save Bracknell, uncover double agents and rescue their loved ones. Last in the series.

10.30 QI XL (S,HD). 9/16. Extended edition. With Jo Brand, Marcus Brigstocke and Danny Baker.

10.05 ITV News and Weather (S); Weather.

10.20 OCD Ward (R,S,HD). An insight into four severe cases of obsessive compulsive disorder, including two men who are receiving treatment at south London’s Springfield University Hospital.

10.00 Was It Something I Said?

(S,HD). 5/8. With guests Robert Webb and Miles Jupp.

10.25 Toast of London (S,HD). 3/6.

Steven is offered a starring role in a new film.

10.50 No Fire Zone (S). War crimes alleged to have been committed by the Sri Lankan government.

▼

10

Great Continental Railway ... 9pm

11.30 Rugby League World Cup (S,HD). Tanya Arnold presents highlights of the second round of group matches, which included England v Ireland, Australia v Fiji and New Zealand v France.

11.15 Never Mind the Buzzcocks (R,S,HD). 6/13. Eamonn Holmes hosts, with Sarah Millican, Shaun Ryder, Greg McHugh and Jaymi Hensley.

11.45 The Invisible (S) (2007). Thriller, with Justin Chatwin. ●●●

11.20 Premiership Rugby Union (HD). Action from the latest top-flight fixtures, which included Leicester Tigers v Harlequins, Gloucester v London Wasps and London Irish v Northampton Saints.

11.45 Alan Carr: Chatty Man (R,S,HD). 10/18. James Corden talks about the DVD release of The Wrong Mans, Tom Hiddleston discusses Thor: The Dark World and Joan Collins shares some of her memoirs.

▼

6 7 8 9

Countryfile, 6.20pm

12.30 The Sky at Night (S,HD). The team joins astronomers in Blackheath, south-east London, to watch a lunar eclipse and discover the results of the Moore Moon Marathon. With guest Jon Culshaw. 12.50 Weatherview (S). 12.55 BBC News (S,HD).

1.20 Sign Zone: Countryfile (R,S). For the first time, the programme plays host to One Man and His Dog, the contest showcasing the skills and traditions of sheepdog training and handling. Matt Baker commentates. 2.15 Sign Zone: Holby City (R,S). Chantelle’s expectations are challenged on her first day back at work.

3.15 This Is BBC Two (S).

12.20 The Store (R). Home shopping. 2.20 Motorsport UK (HD). Highlights from Silverstone, featuring the Ginetta GT Supercup and Porsche Carrera Cup. 3.10 ITV Nightscreen (HD). 5.05 The Jeremy Kyle Show (R,S,HD). The host invites guests to air their differences over family and relationship issues, and provides them with his own brand of no-nonsense advice.

12.45 American Football Live (S).

Houston Texans v Indianapolis Colts (Kickoff 1.30am). Nat Coombs is joined by Mike Carlson to present all the action from the AFC South encounter at the Reliant Stadium. 4.45 Killarney Adventure Race (R,S). Action from the one-day multiadventure race in Ireland. 5.15 Deal or No Deal (R,S,HD).

7.00 Surprise Surprise (S,HD). 7/10.

Jessie J performs in the studio as a surprise for a 13-year-old girl from Lancashire who shaved off her hair in aid of the hospice where her grandfather stayed.

6.50 5 News Weekend (S,HD).

6.55 U-571 (S) (2000). American forces board a stricken Nazi submarine at the height of the Second World War in the hope of seizing an Enigma coding machine, but German reinforcements arrive, forcing them to flee in the unfamiliar craft. Action adventure, starring Matthew McConaughey, Harvey Keitel, Bill Paxton, Jon Bon Jovi, David Keith, Thomas Kretschmann, Jake Weber and Jack Noseworthy. See Choices Above. ●●

9.00 2012 (S,HD) (2009). Premiere. A scientist learns the world is soon to face a global cataclysm that will wipe out the human race, but finds the US president has plans to secretly save a fraction of the population, leaving everyone else to die. A writer learns of this plan and as the world is devastated by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, he tries to get his family to the last safe refuge.

Disaster movie, with John Cusack, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Danny Glover, Amanda Peet, Thandie Newton, Oliver Platt, Woody Harrelson and Tom McCarthy.

See Choices Above. ●●●

12.10 Film: Creep (S) (2004). ●●● 1.35 SuperCasino. 3.10 The Gadget Show (R,S,HD). 4.00 Michaela’s Wild Challenge (R,S). 4.25 Make It Big (R,S). 4.50 Roary the Racing Car (R,S). 5.00 Angels of Jarm (R,S). 5.05 Hana’s Helpline (R,S). 5.20 Angels of Jarm (R,S). 5.25 The Funky Valley Show (R,S). 5.40 Roary the Racing Car (R,S). 5.50 Hana’s Helpline (R,S).

The complete outfitters for every occasion, including formal hire THE

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42 WEST COUNTRY LIFE SATURDAY NOVEMBER 2 2013

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DOWNTON ABBEY 9pm, ITV

KARL PILKINGTON: THE MOANING OF LIFE 9pm, Sky1

Robert travels to America to bail out Cora’s brother, Blake and Mary are forced to put aside their differences and help comes from an unlikely quarter when Violet is taken ill.

ITV2 ITV2

6.00 Union J: The Hot Desk (R,HD). 6.10 Emmerdale (R,HD).

8.40 Coronation Street (R,HD).

11.10 The X Factor (R,HD). 1.05 The Xtra Factor (R,HD). 2.05 You’ve Been Framed! (R). 2.35 You’ve Been Framed! (R). 3.10 Film: The Borrowers (1997). ●●● 4.55 Film: Rumor Has It (HD) (2005). Romantic comedy, starring Jennifer Aniston.●●

Why do people have children? That’s the puzzler bothering world-weary philosopher Karl this week. Travelling the globe, he tries to understand why couples feel the need to become parents, visiting a fertility festival in Japan and a natural birthing centre in Bali.

E4 E4

6.00 Switched (R). 6.20 Make It or Break It (R,HD). 7.05 Ugly Betty (R,HD). 7.50 Charmed (R). 8.50 How I Met Your Mother (R,HD). 9.50 Hollyoaks (R,HD). 12.25 Made in Chelsea (R,HD). 1.30 Rules of Engagement (R,HD). 2.30 The Mindy Project (R,HD). 3.00 The Big Bang Theory (R,HD). 4.00 How I Met Your Mother (R,HD). 5.30 Rules of Engagement (R,HD).

Sky1 Sky1

6.00 Hour of Power (HD). 7.00 Glee (R,S,HD). 9.00 Harrow (R,S,HD). 10.00 WWE Superstars (R,HD). 11.00 WWE: Experience (HD). 12.00 Thor: The Dark World Special (S). 12.30 David Attenborough’s Galapagos (R,S,HD). 1.30 Ashley Banjo’s Secret Street Crew (R,S,HD). 2.30 John Bishop’s Only Joking (R,S,HD). 3.30 Futurama (R,S).

FILM PICKS

Sunday television&radio STAR TREK V: THE FINAL FRONTIER 3.20pm, Channel 4

American forces board a Nazi submarine in the hope of seizing an Enigma coding machine. Second World War adventure, starring Matthew McConaughey.

Sci-fi adventure, written, directed by and starring William Shatner, with Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley and David Warner.

Gold GOLD

6.00 2point4 Children 6.30 Brittas Empire 7.00 2point4 Children 7.40 Jeeves and Wooster 10.00 Harry Hill’s TV Burp 12.00 One Foot in the Grave 12.40 Open All Hours 1.20 Only Fools and Horses 2.00 The Vicar of Dibley 2.40 Outnumbered – The Christmas Special 3.35 Blackadder II 4.15 ‘Allo ‘Allo! 5.00 The Good Life 5.40 Keeping Up Appearances

The Xtra Factor, 9pm

The Seeker: The Dark … 8pm

Revolution, 10.05pm

Mrs Brown’s Boys, 9pm

6.55 Dragonheart (HD) (1996). A knight sets out to slay a dragon, only to find the unhappy creature is the last of its kind. Forging an unlikely alliance, the pair embark on a mission to rid their kingdom of its tyrannical ruler. Fantasy adventure, starring Dennis Quaid, David Thewlis, Pete Postlethwaite, Julie Christie, Dina Meyer, John Gielgud, Jason Isaacs and Lee Oakes, with the voice of Sean Connery. Including FYI Daily. ●●●

6.00 The Big Bang Theory (R,HD).

6.30 The Big Bang Theory (R,HD). The gang celebrates Halloween.

6.00 The Simpsons (R,S).

6.30 The Smurfs: The Legend of Smurfy Hollow (R,S). Short animation.

6.20 One Foot in the Grave. A hole appears at the bottom of the garden.

7.00 The Big Bang Theory (R,HD).

7.30 The Big Bang Theory (R,HD). Sheldon and Penny bond as they miss Leonard.

7.00 Harrow: A Very British School (R,S,HD). Mr Smith prepares to retire after 30 years.

7.00 Open All Hours.

Arkwright invents a saint’s day.

7.40 Fawlty Towers. Basil holds a gourmet night.

8.00 The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising (HD) (2007). A teenager discovers he is the last in a long line of warriors destined to defend the world from dark forces. His duty now is to embark on a perilous journey through time to recover the six parts of a powerful mystical artefact and ensure it is returned to safe hands.

Fantasy adventure, starring Alexander Ludwig and Christopher Eccleston. ●●

8.00 Arrow (R,HD). A killer escapes from prison and continues his evil trade of torture and murder, while Oliver is shocked that the DA is seeking the death penalty for his mother.

8.20 Only Fools and Horses.

Del seizes a once-in-alifetime opportunity to improve his social standing by launching his own chandeliercleaning business.

9.00 Karl Pilkington: The Moaning of Life (S,HD).

See Choices Above.

9.00 Mrs Brown’s Boys.

Newlyweds Dermot and Maria argue.

9.40 Miranda. A handsome man leaves his wallet in the shop.

9.00 The Xtra Factor (HD).

Caroline Flack and Matt Richardson go behind the scenes of the main results show to chat to the departing act and get opinions of the night’s performances.

U-571 6.55pm, Channel 5

SkySports1 Sky Sports 1

6.00 SNF – Match Choice (HD).

7.30 Game Changers (HD). 8.30 FL72 Highlights (HD). 9.00 The Sunday Supplement (HD). 10.30 Goals on Sunday (HD). A review of yesterday’s football action. 12.30 Live Super Sunday (HD). Everton v Tottenham Hotspur (Kick-off 1.30pm). 3.30 Live Super Sunday (HD). Cardiff City v Swansea City (Kick-off 4.00pm).

7.00 Great TV Mistakes (R,S).

Mishaps from Fawlty Towers, Friends and EastEnders.

7.10 Cars (S) (2006).

Animated adventure, with the voices of Owen Wilson. ●●● 9.00 Russell Howard’s Good News (R,S). The comedian’s perspective on stories dominating the media.

9.30 Russell Howard’s Good News (R,S).

Live Super Sunday, 12.30pm 10.00 Family Guy (S).

6.30 Live Spanish Football 10.25 Family Guy (R,S).

(HD). Levante v Granada. 10.45 Sweat the Small Coverage of the La Liga Stuff (R,S). match at the Estadi 11.15 American Dad! Ciutat de Valencia, (R,S). joining the match 30 11.40 American Dad! minutes after kick-off.

(R,S).

8.00 Live Spanish Football (HD). Malaga v Real Betis (Kick-off 8.00pm).

Coverage of the La Liga contest at the Estadio La Rosaleda, where both clubs will be looking for a victory to help push them up the table.

10.00 Drifters (R,HD). Comedy 10.05 Revolution (S,HD).

Rachel and her dad about three female rescue Miles, but their graduates who are decision to take struggling to find jobs someone else sparks alland boyfriends in Leeds, out war. Neville and while also searching for Jason are caught offa place to live. Starring guard by a group of Jessica Knappett. violent refugees.

10.30 Drifters (R,HD). Meg lands herself a hot date.

10.20 The Royle Family. Jim 10.00 Football Special (HD). embarks on a spot of Everton v Tottenham DIY. Hotspur and Cardiff City v Swansea City.

10.55 Absolutely Fabulous.

Highlights of the Premier Edina and Patsy set off League matches at for a break in Provence, Goodison Park and the only to find their Cardiff City Stadium. chateau is nowhere near as luxurious as they were expecting.

11.50 Tricked (R,HD).

Magician Ben Hanlin scares Helen Flanagan, and takes star of Shameless Jody Latham on a nasty fishing trip.

11.00 Channel 4’s Comedy Gala. Highlights of the stand-up comedy show in aid of Great Ormond Street Hospital. Last in the series.

11.55 Misfits (R,HD).

11.00 Trollied (R,S,HD). Gavin returns to work, determined to be more forward-thinking.

11.30 Road Wars (R,S). Police officers combat vehicle crime.

11.35 Fawlty Towers. Basil decides to enhance the hotel’s reputation with an exclusive night of gourmet cuisine.

Unfortunately, his new chef is distracted by hapless waiter Manuel.

11.30 Champions League Weekly (HD). A look ahead to matchday four.

12.50 Tricked (R,HD). Hiddencamera magic show, hosted by Ben Hanlin. 1.50 The Vampire Diaries (R,HD). Elena and Caroline prepare for a fresh start at college. 2.40 Nicki Minaj: The Hot Desk (R,HD). An interview with the R’n’B star. 2.50 Teleshopping. 5.50 ITV2 Nightscreen (HD).

1.00 The Big Bang Theory (R,HD).

Sheldon and Howard stake their most coveted comic books on a bet over the species of a cricket.

Johnny Galecki and Jim Parsons star. 1.30 The Cleveland Show (R,HD). 2.00 The Cleveland Show (R,HD). 2.20 Channel 4’s Comedy Gala (R). 3.00 Hollyoaks (R,HD).

12.00 Road Wars (R,S,HD). 1.00 Night Cops (R,S,HD). 2.00 Brit Cops: Zero Tolerance (R,S,HD).

3.00 Brit Cops: Zero Tolerance (R,S,HD). 4.00 Crash Test Dummies (R,S,HD). 4.30 Crash Test Dummies (R,S,HD). 5.00 Crash Test Dummies (R,S,HD). 5.30 Crash Test Dummies (R,S,HD).

12.15 Mrs Brown’s Boys 12.55 Miranda 1.25 The Royle Family 1.55 Absolutely Fabulous 2.25 Ripping Yarns. A British PoW’s constant attempts to escape his German captors exasperate his fellow prisoners. Comedy, starring Michael Palin and Roy Kinnear. 3.00 Home Shopping

12.00 Spanish Football (HD). Rayo Vallecano v Real Madrid. 1.00 Football Special (HD). Everton v Tottenham Hotspur and Cardiff City v Swansea City. 2.30 Champions League Weekly (HD). 3.00 Spanish Football (HD). 4.00 Football Special (HD). 5.30 Champions League Weekly (HD).

RADIO

10.00 The Only Way Is Essex (HD). Reality programme following a group of people in Essex.

10.50 Freshers (R,HD). The students try to balance their lives effectively.

Last in the series.

Radio 1 5.00am Seani B 7.00 Gemma Cairney 10.00 Dev 1.00pm Radio 1’s Teen Awards 2013 5.15 The Official Chart Show with Scott Mills 7.00 Radio 1’s Teen Awards Best Bits with Dan & Phil 9.00 The Surgery with Aled & Dr Radha 10.00 Annie Mac Midnight BBC Introducing with Ally McCrae 2.00 Monki 4.00 Dev Radio 2 6.00am The Sunday Hour 7.00 Hardeep Singh Kohli with Good Morning Sunday 9.00 Steve Wright’s Sunday Love Songs 11.00 Weekend Wogan 1.00pm Elaine Paige on Sunday 3.00 Johnnie Walker’s Sounds of the 70s 5.00 Paul O’Grady 7.00 Sunday Night with Michael Ball 9.00 Clare Teal 11.00

Don Black Midnight Maria McErlane 2.00 Alex Lester Radio 3 7.00am Breakfast 9.00 News 9.03 Sunday Morning with Rob Cowan Noon Private Passions 1.00 News 1.02 Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert 2.00 The Early Music Show 3.00 Choral Evensong 4.00 The Choir 5.30 Words and Music 6.45 Sunday Feature: Albert Camus: Inside the Outsider 7.30 Radio 3 Live in Concert 10.00 Drama on 3: The Outsider 11.30 Roslavets Violin Concertos 12.30am Through the Night Radio 4 5.30am News Briefing 5.43 Bells on Sunday 5.45 Profile 6.00 News Headlines 6.05 Something Understood 6.35 Living World 6.57 Weather

7.00 News 7.07 Sunday Papers 7.10 Sunday 7.55 (LW) Radio 4 Appeal 7.55 (FM) Radio 4 Appeal 7.57 Weather 8.00 News 8.07 Sunday Papers 8.10 Sunday Worship 8.50 A Point of View 8.58 Tweet of the Day 9.00 Broadcasting House 10.00 The Archers 11.15 Desert Island Discs Noon News 12.01 (LW) Shipping Forecast 12.04 The Museum of Curiosity 12.30 The Food Programme 12.57 Weather 1.00 The World This Weekend 1.30 Reflections 2.00 Gardeners’ Question Time 2.45 The Listening Project 3.00 Classic Serial: Sword of Honour – Unconditional Surrender 4.00 Bookclub 4.30 The Echo Chamber 5.00 File on 4 5.40 Profile

5.54 Shipping Forecast 5.57 Weather 6.00 Six O’Clock News 6.15 Pick of the Week 7.00 The Archers 7.15 My Teenage Diary 7.45 A Flash of Fireflies 8.00 Feedback 8.30 Last Word 9.00 Money Box 9.26 (LW) Radio 4 Appeal 9.26 (FM) Radio 4 Appeal 9.30 Analysis 9.59 Weather 10.00 The Westminster Hour 11.00 The Film Programme 11.30 Something Understood Midnight News and Weather 12.15 Thinking Allowed 12.45 Bells on Sunday 12.48 Shipping Forecast 1.00 As BBC World Service 5.20 Shipping Forecast Radio 5 Live 5.00am Morning Reports 5.30 The Non League Football Show 6.00 Sunday Breakfast

WCL-E01-S2

BBC3 BBC3

12.00 Some Girls 12.30 Staying In with Greg and Russell (R,S). 1.00 Hotel of Mum and Dad (R,S). 2.00 Sweat the Small Stuff (R,S). 2.30 Some Girls (R,S). 3.00 Him & Her (R,S).

3.30 Him & Her (R,S).

BBC4 BBC4

7.00 Yellowstone: Unnatural Histories (R).

8.00 Dreaming the Impossible: Unbuilt Britain (R). How Scotland was almost cut in half to create a warship canal.

9.00 Searching for Exile – Truth or Myth?

Documentary exploring the exile of the Jews from Jerusalem.

10.00 Searching for Exile: The Debate.

Discussion chaired

by Ed Stourton.

10.45 Treasures of Chinese Porcelain (R).

Europe’s fascination with Chinese pottery.

11.45 Pink Floyd: Wish You Were Here (R).

12.45 Pink Floyd: A Delicate Sound of Thunder (R). Footage from the musicians’ A Momentary Lapse of Reason tour in 1988. 2.20 Yellowstone: Unnatural Histories (R).

9.00 SportsWeek 10.00 Pienaar’s Politics 11.00 5 Live Investigates Noon 5 Live Sport 12.15 MOTD2 Extra 12.50 5 Live Formula 1 3.00 5 Live Sport: Premier League Football 2013-14 4.00 5 Live Sport: Premier League Football 2013-14 6.06 6-0-6 7.30 On the Money 8.30 5 Live News 10.00 Stephen Nolan 1.00am Up All Night Classic FM 6.00am More Music Breakfast 9.00 Aled Jones Noon Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen 3.00 Charlotte Green’s Culture Club 5.00 The Classic FM Chart 7.00 David Mellor 9.00 Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Classical Music 10.00 Smooth Classics Midnight Bob Jones

SATURDAY NOVEMBER 2 2013 WEST COUNTRY LIFE 43

Monday television&radio Monday’s Television Guide TV PICKS

MASTERCHEF: THE PROFESSIONALS 8.30pm, BBC2

RIPPER STREET 9pm, BBC1

Gregg Wallace, Michel Roux Jr and Monica Galetti return with the culinary challenge as the first batch of eight chefs enters the kitchen to compete.

BBC1 BBC1

6.00 Breakfast (HD). 9.15 Remembrance Week (S,HD). 10.00 Homes Under the Hammer (R,S). 11.00 Saints and Scroungers (S,HD). 11.45 Escape to the Country (S). 12.15 Bargain Hunt (S,HD).

1.00 BBC News; Weather (S,HD). 1.30 Regional News (S); Weather. 1.45 Doctors (S,HD). 2.15 The Indian Doctor (HD). 3.00 Pressure Pad (HD). 3.45 Paul Hollywood’s Pies & Puds (S,HD). 4.30 Antiques Road Trip (S,HD). 5.15 Pointless (S,HD).

FILM RATINGS ●●●●● Excellent ●●●● Very good ●●● Good ●● Average ● Poor

A young woman is murdered just hours after giving birth at the London Hospital, and the only clue to her identity is a tail-like protrusion at the base of her spine. The investigation takes the team into the world of circus freak shows – and then back to the hospital to seek help from its most famous resident, Joseph Merrick.

BBC2 BBC2

6.00 This Is BBC Two 6.05 Homes Under the Hammer 7.05 Saints and Scroungers 7.50 Britain’s Empty Homes (R,S,HD).

8.20 Sign Zone: Real Rescues (R,S). 9.05 Watchdog (R,S). 10.05 James Martin’s Food Map of Britain (R,S). 10.35 Click (R,S,HD). 11.00 BBC News (S,HD). 11.30 BBC World News (S,HD). 12.00 Daily Politics (S). 1.00 Rugby League World Cup (R,S,HD). 2.00 Live Tennis: ATP World Tour Finals (S,HD). 5.00 Flog It! (R,S).

CORONATION STREET 7.30pm, ITV

THE CHOIR: SING WHILE YOU WORK 9pm, BBC2

Todd’s boyfriend turns up at Eileen’s and demands to know where her son is hiding, Roy lashes out at Jenna for invading his privacy and Grace causes trouble for Sally.

ITV1 ITV

6.00 Daybreak (S,HD). 8.30 Lorraine (S).

9.25 The Jeremy Kyle Show (S). 10.30 This Morning (S). 12.30 Loose Women (S,HD). 1.30 ITV News and Weather (S).

1.55 Regional News (S). 2.00 Dickinson’s Real Deal (R,S). From Chepstow, Monmouthshire. 3.00 The Alan Titchmarsh Show (S,HD). Features, music and conversation. 3.59 Regional Weather (S). 4.00 Tipping Point (S,HD). 5.00 The Chase (S,HD).

Gareth Malone sets out once again to get staff in some of Britain’s busiest workplaces to form singing groups. The first of the five firms he is visiting is P&O Ferries, where he finds he has an extra logistical challenge to overcome, with choir members based at sea and on both sides of the English Channel.

Channel Channel 4

6.10 The Hoobs 7.00 According to Jim 7.25 Will & Grace 7.50 Everybody Loves Raymond 8.55 Frasier 10.00 Undercover Boss USA 11.00 Beat My Build 12.00 Channel 4 News Summary 12.05 Gordon Ramsay’s Home Cooking 12.35 River Cottage Bites (S,HD). 12.55 Film: Hombre (S,HD) (1967). See Choices Above. ●●●●● 3.10 Countdown (S,HD). 4.00 Deal or No Deal (S,HD). 5.00 Four in a Bed (S,HD).

5.30 Come Dine with Me (S,HD).

Channel Channel 5

6.00 Milkshake! 9.15 The Wright Stuff (HD). 11.10 The Hotel Inspector (R,S).

12.10 5 News Lunchtime (S,HD). 12.15 War Hero in My Family (R,S,HD). 1.15 Home and Away (S,HD). 1.45 Neighbours (S,HD). 2.20 The Mentalist (R,S,HD). 3.15 Film: Deadliest Sea (S,HD) (2009). Drama, starring Sebastian Pigott and Ryan Blakely. ●●● 5.00 5 News at 5 (S,HD). 5.30 Neighbours (R,S,HD). Kyle gains a new admirer.

(R) repeat (S) subtitles (HD) highdefinition

6.00 The Simpsons (R,S,HD). 13/21.

6.30 Hollyoaks (S,HD). A piece of damning evidence seems to prove Martha’s suspicions about Will.

6.00 Home and Away (R,S,HD). Zac decides to investigate what Ethan is doing at Sanctuary Lodge.

6.30 NewsTalk Live (S,HD).

7.00 Emmerdale (S,HD).

7.30 Coronation Street (S,HD). See Choices Above.

7.00 News (S).

7.55 4thought.tv (S). A week of talks from carers.

7.00 Construction Squad: Operation Homefront (S,HD).

Building a new boathouse for the Solent Rescue lifeboat service. Followed by 5 News Update.

▼

6.00 Regional News (S); Weather.

6.30 ITV News and Weather (S).

▼

6.00 Eggheads (S,HD). 90/140. Quiz show, hosted by Jeremy Vine.

6.30 Strictly Come Dancing – It Takes Two (S,HD). Zoe Ball chats to the latest couple to be eliminated.

7.00 Celebrity Antiques Road Trip (S,HD). 1/20. New series. The heirloom-hunting challenge returns with a husband-andwife battle as Fern Britton takes on chef Phil Vickery.

7.00 The One Show (S,HD).

7.30 Caught Red Handed (R,S,HD).

The innovative ways criminals are being caught in the act.

Followed by BBC News; Regional News.

▼

Under the Dome, 10pm

8.00 EastEnders (S,HD). The fallout from the killing continues.

8.30 After Savile: No More Secrets? – Panorama (S,HD).

Sanchia Berg explores the law regarding reporting child abuse.

8.00 University Challenge (S,HD).

17/37. The first of the secondround matches.

8.30 MasterChef: The Professionals (S,HD). 1/24. See Choices Above.

8.00 Tales from Northumberland with Robson Green (S,HD).

2/8. The actor explores the sparsely populated Northumberland National Park.

8.30 Coronation Street (S,HD). Roy regrets telling Anna about Hayley’s plan.

8.00 Energy Bills Exposed: Channel 4 Dispatches (S). A report on rising fuel costs.

8.30 Health Freaks (S). 3/6. Possible treatments for psoriasis, migraines and Crohn’s disease.

8.00 The Gadget Show (S,HD). The directors of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 give their verdicts on animation apps, while Jason Bradbury and Rachel Riley test Bluetooth speakers on an assault course.

Followed by 5 News at 9.

▼

Health Freaks, 8.30pm

9.00 Ripper Street (S,HD). 2/8. See Choices Above.

9.00 The Choir: Sing While You Work (S,HD). 1/8. See Choices Above.

9.00 A Mother’s Son (R,S,HD). 1/2.

Part one of two. A woman stumbles upon evidence that suggests someone in her family may have been involved in a murder. Drama, starring Hermione Norris and Martin Clunes.

9.00 999: What’s Your Emergency? (S,HD). 5/6.

Paramedics across Britain treat patients over the age of 65, including a woman who has collapsed at home and an 84-year-old who wears an emergency button round her neck.

9.00 The Woman with 40 Cats – and Other Pet Hoarders (S,HD). See Choices Above.

▼

The Agenda, 10.35pm

6.00 BBC News (S,HD); Weather.

6.30 Regional News (S); Weather.

10.00 BBC News (S,HD).

10.25 Regional News (S); Weather.

10.35 Have I Got a Bit More News for You (R,S,HD). 5/11. Kirsty Young hosts the quiz, with regulars Paul Merton and Ian Hislop joined by journalist Max Keiser and comedian Tony Law to take a wry look at the week’s headline stories.

10.00 Never Mind the Buzzcocks (S,HD). 7/13. American singer Michael Bolton hosts the comedy music quiz, with Carol Vorderman, Shane Filan, Seann Walsh and Diana Vickers joining team captains Phill Jupitus and Noel Fielding.

10.30 Newsnight (S,HD). Followed

by Weather.

10.00 ITV News at Ten (S).

10.30 Regional News (S); Weather.

10.35 The Agenda (S,HD). 5/8. ITV’s political editor Tom Bradby presents a discussion on the week’s main talking points, with guests from the worlds of politics and popular culture.

10.00 Fresh Meat (S,HD). 1/8. See Choices Above.

10.50 Cardinal Burns (S,HD). 1/6.

New series. A combination of sketches and narrative comedy written and performed by Seb Cardinal and Dustin DemriBurns.

10.00 Under the Dome (S,HD). 12/13.

The townsfolk make house-tohouse searches as they hunt for Barbie, while Big Jim takes drastic action when he learns that the US military has branded him a murderer. Joe and Norrie are arrested after finding a new hiding place for the egg. Starring Mike Vogel.

11.20 Citizen Khan (R,S,HD). 5/6. Mr Khan tries to secure a famous cricketer to operate the Eid festival tombola. Featuring the late Felix Dexter.

11.50 The Graham Norton Show (R,S,HD). 4/20.

11.20 Africa 2013: Countdown to the Rains (R,S,HD). 1/3. The lives of animals living near the Luangwa River in Zambia.

11.05 Piers Morgan’s Life Stories: Michael Flatley (R,S,HD). 6/6.

The dancer and choreographer talks about his life and career.

Last in the series.

11.25 America’s Animal Hoarder: Horror at the Zoo (R,S,HD). A man who released exotic animals onto the streets of Ohio.

11.00 Judge Dredd (S,HD) (1995).

See Choices Above. ●●

12.35 Weatherview (S). 12.40 BBC News (S,HD).

12.20 Sign Zone: The Culture Show: The People’s Palace (R,S). Tom Dyckhoff explores the new Library of Birmingham to find out how the cutting-edge building functions and asks what role it has to play in the digital age. 12.50 Sign Zone: The Story of the Jews (R,S). 1.50 This Is BBC Two (S). Preview of upcoming programmes.

4.00 BBC Learning Zone

12.05 Jackpot247 Viewers get the chance to participate in live interactive gaming from the comfort of their sofas, with a mix of roulette-wheel spins and lively chat from the presenting team. 3.00 Champions League Weekly (S,HD). A look ahead to the matchday four fixtures. 3.25 ITV Nightscreen (HD). 5.05 The Jeremy Kyle Show (R,S).

12.40 Random Acts (S). Comedian Reggie Watts presents a short creative film. 12.45 Lata in Her Own Voice (S). A profile of Indian singer Lata Mangeshkar. 1.40 Film: Pakeezah (1972). Bollywood musical, with Meena Kumari. ●●●● 4.15 Nashville (S,HD). 4.55 Deal or No Deal: Freaky Fun Fayre (R,S,HD). 5.50 River Cottage Bites (R,S,HD).

12.45 Campus PD (S,HD). 1.05 SuperCasino 3.05 Stalked to Death: Countdown to Murder (R,S,HD). The events that led Jonathan Vass to murder his ex-partner Jane Clough. 3.55 HouseBusters (R,S). 4.20 House Doctor (R,S). 4.45 Great Scientists (R,S). 5.10 Michaela’s Wild Challenge (R,S). 5.35 Wildlife SOS (R,S).

10 11

Never Mind the Buzzcocks, 10pm

▼

6 7 8 9

Citizen Khan, 11.20pm

▼

after

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FRESH MEAT 10pm, Channel 4

Return of the comedy about a group of students living together. As the friends begin their second year at Manchester Medlock, they take a trip to Josie’s ‘trafficlight’ party at her new home in Southampton.

THE WOMAN WITH 40 CATS – AND OTHER PET HOARDERS 9pm, Channel 5

Documentary giving an insight into the lives of people whose love of animals has become an obsession. Retired secretary Marlene has 40 cats, which are groomed and bathed every day, while Deb and her family share their home with a brood of chickens.

ITV2 ITV2

E4 E4

6.00 Emmerdale 6.25 Coronation Street 7.25 Up All Night 7.50 Ben and Kate 8.10 You’ve Been Framed! 8.40 Dinner Date 9.40 Real Housewives of New York City 10.35 Real Housewives of Orange County 11.30 Big Rich Texas 12.30 Emmerdale 1.00 Coronation Street 2.00 Jeremy Kyle Show 4.10 Real Housewives of Orange County 5.05 Big Rich Texas

6.00 Switched 6.25 90210 7.10 Ugly Betty (R,HD). 8.00 Charmed (R). 9.00 Glee (R,HD). 10.00 New Girl (R,HD). 10.30 Suburgatory (R,HD). 11.00 Rules of Engagement (R,HD). 11.30 Charmed (R). 12.30 Hollyoaks (R,HD). 1.00 How I Met Your Mother (R,HD). 2.00 The Big Bang Theory (R,HD). 3.00 New Girl (R,HD). 3.30 Suburgatory 4.00 Rules of Engagement (R,HD). 5.00 How I Met Your Mother (R,HD).

Sky1 Sky1 6.00 Dog the Bounty Hunter (R,S). 6.30 Dog the Bounty Hunter (R,S). 7.00 The Middle (R,S,HD). 7.30 The Middle (R,S,HD). 8.00 Stargate SG-1 (R,S,HD). 10.00 NCIS: Los Angeles (R,S,HD). 2.00 Hawaii Five-0 (R,S,HD). 3.00 Stargate SG-1 (R,S,HD). 4.00 Stargate SG-1 (R,S,HD). 5.00 Futurama (R,S,HD).

5.30 The Middle (R,S,HD).

FILM PICKS

Monday television&radio HOMBRE 12.55pm, Channel 4

JUDGE DREDD 11pm, Channel 5

A white man raised by Apaches protects his fellow passengers when bandits attack their stagecoach in the wilderness. Western, starring Paul Newman.

Gold GOLD 6.00 2point4 Children 6.30 Brittas Empire 7.00 2point4 Children 7.40 Just Good Friends 8.15 Ripping Yarns 8.55 Goodnight Sweetheart 10.15 ‘Allo ‘Allo! 11.00 Good Life 11.40 Keeping Up Appearances 12.20 Green Green Grass 1.30 Harry Hill’s TV Burp 2.00 As Time Goes By 2.40 Goodnight Sweetheart 4.00 Last of the Summer Wine 5.20 One Foot in the Grave

A futuristic law enforcer fights to clear his name after he is framed for murder. Sci-fi thriller based on the 2000AD comic-strip, starring Sylvester Stallone.

SkySports1 Sky Sports 1 6.00 Good Morning Sports Fans (HD). 9.00 Football Special (HD).

10.30 FL72 Highlights (HD). 11.00 Spanish Football (HD). 12.00 Football Special (HD). 1.30 FL72 Highlights (HD). 2.00 Spanish Football (HD). 3.00 Football Gold (S). 3.30 Champions League Weekly (HD). 4.00 Fantasy Football Club (HD). 4.30 Game Changers 5.30 Soccer AM (HD).

2 Fast 2 Furious, 10pm

Made in Chelsea, 10pm

Arrow, 8pm

The Two Ronnies … 8.05pm

Live Football, 7.30pm

6.00 Dinner Date (R,HD).

Lindsey from Merseyside chooses three blind dates.

6.00 The Big Bang Theory (R,HD). Comedy, starring Johnny Galecki.

6.30 The Big Bang Theory (R,HD).

6.00 The Middle (R,S,HD).

Frankie goes back to college after losing her job.

6.30 The Simpsons (R,S).

6.00 Harry Hill’s TV Burp 6.30 Harry Hill’s TV Burp A comic look at soaps and celebrities.

6.30 FL72 Review A roundup of recent matches, featuring all the goals from League One and League Two.

7.00 You’ve Been Framed!

(R).

7.30 You’ve Been Framed!

(R). Camcorder calamities including a glow-in-the-dark toad.

7.00 Hollyoaks (HD).

Dodger’s suspicions about Will grow ever darker.

7.30 How I Met Your Mother (R,HD).

7.00 The Simpsons (R,S).

Guest starring Richard Dean Anderson.

7.30 The Simpsons (R,S).

Homer and Marge try to save their marriage.

7.00 Keeping Up Appearances Hyacinth plans her dream kitchen.

8.00 You’ve Been Framed and Famous! (R).

Comical clips, narrated

by Harry Hill.

8.00 New Girl (R,HD).

Winston tries to clear the air with Schmidt.

Comedy, starring Zooey Deschanel.

8.30 New Girl (R,HD). Jess is spooked by strange noises outside the flat.

8.00 Arrow (HD). Oliver arranges a ‘cash-forguns’ rally to fight back against a notorious weapon-trafficker – but when Sin is injured, the Canary vows revenge for her friend.

8.05 The Two Ronnies Sketchbook Messrs Barker and Corbett reunite to provide an insight into their remarkable comedy career. Katie Melua guests.

9.00 Peter Andre: My Life (HD). Pete decides to adopt a more sophisticated look and tries out his new image at a photoshoot for his tour and hosts comedy music quiz Never Mind the Buzzcocks.

9.00 90210 (HD). The friends reunite after a traumatic event makes them appreciate the importance of their relationships. The final episode of the teenage drama series. Last in the series.

9.00 Strike Back: Shadow Warfare (S,HD). The team plans a heist of the Colombian stock exchange to discover Al-Zuhari’s whereabouts, while Dalton tracks down former MI6 agent Sebastian Gray (Martin Clunes) in Beirut.

9.05 Not Going Out Tim puts the flat on the market in the wake of Kate’s departure, forcing Lee to come up with a plan to allow him to stay put.

Comedy, with Lee Mack.

9.45 Not Going Out Lee pretends to be gay.

7.30 Live Scottish Premiership Football (HD). Aberdeen v Partick Thistle (Kick-off 7.45pm).

Coverage of the topflight encounter at Pittodrie, where the Jags visit the Dons for the first time since 2004. This is the second league meeting of the season between the clubs, with Aberdeen looking to build on their creditable start to the campaign, which included a 3-0 win at Firhill in September.

10.25 Outnumbered Pete has 10.00 The Footballers’ an eventful Saturday Football Show (HD). morning game of tennis, Dave Jones is joined by while Ben decides to guests including take a close interest in footballers, managers his dad’s medical tests. and club chairmen to Comedy, starring Hugh discuss all the major Dennis and Daniel stories in the week’s Roche. football news.

12.15 The Only Way Is Essex (R,HD). Reality programme following a group of people in Essex. 1.00 Utterly Outrageous Celebrity Frock Ups (R). Denise Van Outen’s favourite fashion slipups. 1.50 Animal Practice (R,HD).

2.15 Teleshopping. 5.45 ITV2 Nightscreen (HD).

12.05 Men Behaving Badly Gary invents a promiscuous past to hide his sexual inexperience from Dorothy. 12.45 Not Going Out. Tim puts the flat on the market.

1.20 Not Going Out Lee pretends to be gay. 1.50 Men Behaving Badly 2.20 Just Good Friends 3.00 Home Shopping

RADIO

10.00 2 Fast 2 Furious (HD) 10.00 Made in Chelsea Rosie 10.00 Karl Pilkington: The Moaning of Life (2003). A disgraced arranges a spa trip in an (R,S,HD). Karl sets off former cop is arrested effort to heal rifts around the world in an by the FBI for illegal among the girls, but attempt to understand street racing, but his with Phoebe, Fran and why people want one-time colleagues Lucy on the guest list, children, including visits offer him freedom in the possibility of much to a fertility festival in exchange for going on rest and relaxation Japan and a natural an undercover mission. seems remote. birthing centre in Bali.

Teaming up with an old racing friend and a customs official, he has 11.00 Drifters (R,HD). Three 11.00 A League of Their to infiltrate and bring female graduates Own: Rally Special down a drug-trafficking struggle to settle into (R,S,HD). Full coverage operation. Thriller post-university life. of the recent challenge. sequel, with Paul Walker 11.35 Drifters (R,HD). Meg 11.30 Road Wars (R,S). Police reprising his role from lands herself a hot date. officers combat vehicle The Fast and the crime.

Furious. ●● 12.10 The Big Bang Theory (R,HD). 1.10 Suburgatory (R,HD).

1.40 Happy Endings (R,HD). 2.05 Rules of Engagement (R,HD).

2.30 The Cleveland Show (R,HD).

2.50 Bob’s Burgers (R,HD). 3.15 Bob’s Burgers (R,HD). Bob briefly becomes a local hero. 3.35 Glee (R,HD). 4.20 Ugly Betty (R,HD).

Radio 1 6.30am The Radio 1 Breakfast Show with Nick Grimshaw 10.00 Fearne Cotton 12.45pm Newsbeat 1.00 Scott Mills 4.00 Greg James 7.00 Zane Lowe 9.00 Radio 1’s Stories 10.00 Phil Taggart and Alice Levine Midnight Rock Show with Daniel P Carter 2.00 Rockwell 4.00 Dev Radio 2 5.00am Sara Cox 6.30 Chris Evans 9.30 Ken Bruce Noon Jeremy Vine 2.00 Steve Wright in the Afternoon 5.00 Simon Mayo 7.00 Paul Jones 8.00 Jo Whiley. Including reviews of new albums by Arcade Fire and Lorde.

10.00 Cerys Matthews and the Women of Country 11.00 Jools Holland Midnight Janice Long 2.00 Alex Lester

12.00 Spartacus: Vengeance (R,S,HD). The gladiator spots an opportunity for revenge. 1.15 Brit Cops: Zero Tolerance (R,S,HD).

2.10 Hawaii Five-0 (R,S,HD). 3.05 Road Wars (R,S,HD). 4.00 Dog the Bounty Hunter (R,S). 4.30 Dog the Bounty Hunter (R,S). 5.00 Airline (R,S). 5.30 Airline (R,S).

Radio 3 6.30am Breakfast 9.00 Essential Classics Noon Composer of the Week: Ethel Smyth 1.00 News 1.02 Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert 2.00 Afternoon on 3 4.30 In Tune 6.15 Composer of the Week: Ethel Smyth 7.15 Opera on 3: Roberto Devereux.

Alessandro Talevi’s new production of Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux. 10.00 Free Thinking 10.45 The Free Thinking Essay: New Generation Thinkers. Sarah Dillon explores depictions of birth control in science-fiction texts and TV series. 11.00 Jazz on 3. Reeds player Paul Dunmall’s sextet in concert at Birmingham’s mac. 12.30am Through the Night

BBC3 BBC3

7.00 Radio 1’s Teen Awards 2013 (R,S).

8.00 Hotel of Mum and Dad (R,S).

9.00 Cherry Healey: Old Before My Time (S).

10.00 Some Girls (S).

Viva makes a friend who understands how she feels. Last in the series.

10.30 EastEnders (R,S).

The fallout from the killing continues.

11.00 Family Guy (R,S).

Brian learns that Quagmire hates him.

11.25 Family Guy (R,S).

Brian tries to get his friends to care more about the lives of dogs.

11.45 American Dad! (S). Stan meets an old flame.

12.10 American Dad! (R,S). 12.30 Some Girls (R,S). 1.00 Cherry Healey: Old Before My Time (R,S).

2.00 Hotel of Mum and Dad (R,S). 3.00 Cherry Healey: Old Before My Time (R,S).

BBC4 BBC4

7.00 World News Today; Weather.

7.30 Great British Railway Journeys (R).

8.00 Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?

(R). Bob and Terry show their competitive spirit.

8.30 Only Connect.

Teams who won their first heats compete.

9.00 Timeshift: When Coal Was King.

A look at the lost world of coal mining.

10.00 Explosions: How We Shook the World (R).

11.00 Two Melons and a Stinking Fish (R).

11.50 Disowned & Disabled (R).

12.50 Only Connect (R).

Teams who won their first heats compete. 1.20 Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? (R). Bob and Terry show their competitive spirit. 1.50 Great British Railway Journeys (R). 2.20 Timeshift: When Coal Was King (R).

11.05 Harry Hill’s TV Burp 11.00 FL72 Review A roundThe quirky comic takes a up of recent matches. surreal look at soap sagas and celebrities, subjecting them to his unique brand of scrutiny.

11.35 Harry Hill’s TV Burp

Radio 4 5.30am News Briefing 5.43 Prayer for the Day 5.45 Farming Today 5.58 Tweet of the Day 6.00 Today 9.00 Start the Week 9.45 (LW) Daily Service 9.45 (FM) Book of the Week: Olivier 10.00 Woman’s Hour 11.00 The Long Crawl to France 11.30 Dilemma Noon News 12.01 (LW) Shipping Forecast 12.04 You and Yours 12.57 Weather 1.00 The World at One 1.45 The Roots of Scottish Nationalism 2.00 The Archers 2.15 Afternoon Drama: Queens of the Coal Age 3.00 Round Britain Quiz 3.30 The Food Programme 4.00 The Unsent Letters of Erik Satie 4.30 The Digital Human 5.00 PM 5.54 (LW) Shipping Forecast 5.57 Weather 6.00 Six O’Clock

News 6.30 The Museum of Curiosity 7.00 The Archers 7.15 Front Row 7.45 Petite Mort. By Beatrice Hitchman, dramatised by Miranda Davies. 8.00 Invalid Password: The Password, a History of Failure. Tim Samuels asks whether passwords will soon become obsolete.

8.30 Analysis 9.00 Shared Planet 9.30 Start the Week 9.59 Weather 10.00 The World Tonight 10.45 Book at Bedtime: The Goldfinch 11.00 Imagine John Lennon’s Bermuda Adventure 11.30 Today in Parliament Midnight News and Weather 12.30 Book of the Week: Olivier 12.48 Shipping Forecast 1.00 As BBC World Service 5.20 Shipping Forecast

WCL-E01-S2

12.00 Scottish Premiership Football (HD). 12.30 Soccer AM: The Best Bits (HD). 1.30 The Footballers’ Football Show (HD).

2.30 FL72 Review 3.30 Scottish Premiership Football (HD). 4.00 Soccer AM: The Best Bits (HD).

5.00 The Footballers’ Football Show (HD).

Radio 5 Live 5.00am Morning Reports 5.30 Wake Up to Money 6.00 5 Live Breakfast 10.00 Victoria Derbyshire Noon Shelagh Fogarty 2.00 Richard Bacon 4.00 5 Live Drive 7.00 5 Live Sport: The Monday Night Club. Football debate with Mark Chapman. 9.00 The Ashes: The Tuffers and Vaughan Cricket Show. The latest cricket news ahead of England’s winter Ashes tour. 10.00 5 Live Sport: 5 Live Tennis 10.30 Phil Williams 1.00am Up All Night Classic FM 6.00am More Music Breakfast 9.00 John Suchet 1.00pm Jamie Crick 5.00 Classic FM Drive 8.00 The Full Works Concert 10.00 Smooth Classics 2.00am Nick Bailey

SATURDAY NOVEMBER 2 2013 WEST COUNTRY LIFE 45

Tuesday Thursday’stelevision&radio Television Guide TV PICKS

TRUCKERS 9pm, BBC1

DON’T PANIC – THE TRUTH ABOUT POPULATION 9pm, BBC2

Glen feels guilty after cheating on his girlfriend and decides to be more responsible.

But in his attempts to get his life in order, he only makes it worse.

Statistician Hans Rosling uses state-of-the-art 3D graphics to paint a portrait of a quickly changing world, arguing that the problems of rapid population growth and extreme poverty are beginning to be conquered. Part of the This World strand.

BBC1 BBC1

6.00 Breakfast (S,HD). 9.15 Remembrance Week (S,HD). 10.00 Homes Under the Hammer (S,HD). 11.00 Saints and Scroungers (S,HD). 11.45 Escape to the Country (S). 12.15 Bargain Hunt (R,S,HD). 1.00 BBC News; Weather (S,HD).

1.30 Regional News (S); Weather. 1.45 Doctors (S,HD). 2.15 The Indian Doctor (S,HD). 3.00 Pressure Pad (S,HD). 3.45 Paul Hollywood’s Pies & Puds (S,HD). 4.30 Antiques Road Trip 5.15 Pointless (S,HD).

FILM RATINGS ●●●●● Excellent ●●●● Very good ●●● Good ●● Average ● Poor

BBC2 BBC2

6.00 This Is BBC Two (S). 6.35 Homes Under the Hammer (R,S). 7.35 Saints and Scroungers (R,S,HD). 8.20 Sign Zone: Real Rescues (R,S). 9.05 The Ottomans: Europe’s Muslim Emperors (R,S). 10.05 Plan It, Build It (R,S). 10.35 HARDtalk (R,S,HD). 11.00 BBC News (S,HD). 11.30 BBC World News (S,HD). 12.00 Daily Politics (S). 1.00 Animal Park (R,S). 2.00 Live Tennis: ATP World Tour Finals (S,HD).

5.00 Flog It! (R,S).

BREATHLESS 9pm, ITV

BOUNCERS 10pm, Channel 4

Elizabeth loses control of the situation with Mulligan, Angela succumbs to her feelings for Otto, Margaret has exploratory surgery and Charlie receives a job opportunity.

ITV1 ITV

6.00 Daybreak (S,HD). 8.30 Lorraine (S).

9.25 The Jeremy Kyle Show (S,HD). 10.30 This Morning (S). 12.30 Loose Women (S,HD). 1.30 ITV News and Weather (S).

1.55 Regional News (S). 2.00 Dickinson’s Real Deal (R,S). From Darwen, Lancashire.

3.00 The Alan Titchmarsh Show (S,HD).

Features, music and conversation. 3.59 Regional Weather (S). 4.00 Tipping Point (S,HD). 5.00 The Chase (S,HD). Quiz show, hosted by Bradley Walsh.

Following the work of door staff along Queen Street in Colchester, Essex, including a novice bouncer on a mission to change people’s perceptions of his profession, and Head doorman Curtis and colleague Jamie have 30 years of experience between them, and keep their doors safe with a lot of know-how.

Channel Channel 4

6.10 The Hoobs 7.00 According to Jim 7.25 Will & Grace 7.55 Everybody Loves Raymond 9.00 Frasier 10.00 Undercover Boss USA 11.00 Beat My Build 12.00 Channel 4 News Summary 12.05 Gordon Ramsay’s Home Cooking 12.40 Jamie’s 15 Minute Meals 1.15 Film: That Touch of Mink (S) (1962). See Choices Above. ●●● 3.10 Countdown (S,HD). 4.00 Deal or No Deal 5.00 Four in a Bed (S,HD). 5.30 Come Dine with Me (S,HD).

Channel Channel 5

6.00 Milkshake!. 9.15 The Wright Stuff (HD). 11.10 The Hotel Inspector (R,S).

12.10 5 News Lunchtime (S,HD). 12.15 Robson’s Extreme Fishing Challenge (R,S,HD). 1.15 Home and Away (S,HD).

1.45 Neighbours (S,HD). 2.20 The Mentalist 3.15 Impact (R,S). Conclusion.

The scientists join astronauts on an Earthsaving mission into space. 5.00 5 News at 5 (S,HD). 5.30 Neighbours (R,S,HD). Kate helps Sheila overcome her fears.

Mock the Week – Again, 10pm

Emmerdale, 8pm

Bedlam, 9pm

Person of Interest, 10pm

▼

6.00 BBC News (S,HD); Weather.

6.30 Regional News (S); Weather.

6.00 Eggheads (S,HD). 93/140. Quiz show, hosted by Jeremy Vine.

6.30 Strictly Come Dancing – It Takes Two (S,HD). A look ahead to the weekend’s action.

6.00 Regional News (S); Weather.

6.30 ITV News and Weather (S).

6.00 The Simpsons (R,S,HD). 16/21.

Moe joins an online dating agency.

6.30 Hollyoaks (S,HD). The hostage situation continues to escalate.

6.00 Home and Away (R,S,HD). Jett and John disrupt Marilyn’s date with Winston.

6.30 NewsTalk Live (S,HD).

▼

7.00 The One Show (S,HD). Topical stories from around the UK. 7.30 EastEnders (S,HD). Bianca’s new boyfriend has a surprise for the Butchers. Followed by BBC News; Regional News.

7.00 Celebrity Antiques Road Trip (S,HD). 4/20. Actors Simon Williams and Duncan Preston compete.

7.00 Emmerdale (S,HD). Priya thinks she might be pregnant, and Bernice is taken aback to see Jimmy with her bra.

7.30 How to Cut Your Energy Bills: Tonight (S,HD).

7.00 News (S).

7.55 4thought.tv (S,HD).

7.00 Police Interceptors (R,S,HD).

Dougie and Mark chase a serial offender on foot. Followed by 5 News Update.

▼

6 7 8 9

Question Time, 10.35pm

8.00 Waterloo Road (S,HD). 10/20.

Christine and Simon clash over how best to deal with a bullied pupil – just as they vie for the role of head – and the Barrys are torn apart when Kacey’s boxing fund is stolen. Last episode in the current run.

8.00 MasterChef: The Professionals (S,HD). 4/24. Six chefs battle it out in the quarter-final, demonstrating a dish of their own invention before four of them go on to prepare two courses for a panel of food critics.

8.00 Emmerdale (S,HD). David is left reeling after Priya says her potential pregnancy isn’t his problem.

8.30 Britain’s Secret Treasures (S,HD). 4/8. A look at important artefacts found by members of the public in Northern Ireland.

8.00 George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces (S,HD). 3/9. The architect meets a carpenter who wants to turn a 30-yearold double-decker bus into a luxury holiday retreat, and a couple using their life savings to design a boat hotel.

8.00 Benidorm ER (S,HD).

See Choices Above.

▼

(R) repeat (S) subtitles (HD) highdefinition

9.00 Truckers (S,HD). 5/5. See Choices Above.

9.00 Don’t Panic – The Truth About Population (S,HD).

See Choices Above.

9.00 Breathless (S,HD). 5/6.

See Choices Above.

9.00 Bedlam (S,HD). 2/4. The documentary follows staff and patients at Lambeth Hospital in south London, which has pioneered the use of short-stay emergency wards for patients in crisis.

9.00 Wife Slayer: Countdown to Murder (S,HD). 5/6. Docudrama using witness testimony, crime reports, forensic evidence and expert commentary to examine the events that led Brian Lewis to murder his partner Hayley Jones in 2007.

▼

11

10.00 Mock the Week – Again (R,S).

9/12. An edition of the comedy show from September 2012, with Greg Davies, Jo Caulfield and Gary Delaney joining Hugh Dennis, Andy Parsons and Chris Addison. Dara O Briain hosts.

10.30 Newsnight (S,HD). Followed

by Weather.

10.00 ITV News at Ten (S).

10.30 Regional News (S); Weather.

10.35 The Jonathan Ross Show (R,S,HD). 4/10. The host is joined by Paul Hollywood from The Great British Bake Off, actor and comedian Steve Coogan, Jonathan Rhys Meyers (The Tudors) and Pet Shop Boys, who provide the music.

10.00 Bouncers (S). 1/3. See Choices Above.

10.00 Person of Interest (S,HD).

3/22. The daughter of a Brazilian diplomat is targeted by kidnappers, while Carter suspects that Snow made a post-mortem incision into Corwin’s body and removed something.

▼

10

10.00 BBC News (S,HD).

10.25 Regional News (S); Weather.

10.35 Question Time (S,HD). 9/38.

David Dimbleby chairs a debate from Boston, Lincolnshire, with panellists including Ukip leader Nigel Farage facing questions from the audience.

11.35 This Week (S). Andrew Neil introduces a round-table chat, in which he, Michael Portillo and Alan Johnson take a lighthearted romp through the political and parliamentary developments of the past seven days.

11.20 World’s Busiest Maternity Ward (R,S,HD). Anita Rani visits the Dr Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital in the Philippine capital Manila.

11.40 Wild Britain with Ray Mears (R,S,HD). 5/10. The survival expert takes a trip down the River Wye, where he observes the sea lamprey, sand martins tending their young and all three species of British wagtail.

11.05 999: What’s Your Emergency? (R,S,HD). 5/6.

Paramedics across Britain treat patients over the age of 65, who account for two thirds of all ambulance calls every year.

11.00 Law & Order: Criminal Intent (S,HD). 8/8. Last-ever episode.

Twin brothers are found dead in the offices of a successful internet dating website, and Goren attends his final therapy session. Last in the series.

12.20 Holiday Weatherview (S). 12.25 BBC News (S,HD).

12.20 Sign Zone: After Savile: No More Secrets? – Panorama (R,S).In other countries, evidence of child abuse must be reported to the authorities. But that is not the case in Britain, where turning a blind eye to such behaviour in a school, hospital or church is not a crime. 12.50 This Is BBC Two (S). Preview of upcoming programmes from BBC Two. 4.00 BBC Learning Zone

12.05 Jackpot247. Viewers are offered the chance to participate in live interactive gaming from the comfort of their sofas, with an entertaining mix of roulette-wheel spins and lively chat from the presenting team. 3.00 How to Cut Your Energy Bills: Tonight (R,S,HD). 3.25 ITV Nightscreen (HD). 5.05 The Jeremy Kyle Show (R,S).

12.10 One Born Every Minute 1.05 Random Acts 1.10 Embarrassing Bodies: The Man with Half a Face 2.05 Energy Bills Exposed: Channel 4 Dispatches 2.30 Unreported World 3.00 Jungle Special: Inside Nature’s Giants 3.55 SuperScrimpers’ Challenge (R,S,HD). 4.50 Deal or No Deal: Freaky Fun Fayre (R,S,HD). 5.40 Countdown

12.00 SuperCasino. Viewers get the chance to take part in live interactive gaming, with an entertaining mix of roulette-wheel spins and lively chat from the presenting team. 3.05 Bomb Patrol (S,HD). 3.55 HouseBusters (R,S). 4.20 House Doctor (R,S). 4.45 Great Scientists (R,S). 5.10 Michaela’s Wild Challenge (R,S). 5.35 Wildlife SOS (R,S).

▼

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BENIDORM ER 8pm, Channel 5

TROLLIED 9pm, Sky1

A Lancashire pensioner is admitted after falling off a toilet and landing on a metal pipe, and a father brings in his four-year-old daughter with a suspected dislocated elbow.

The latest series of the sitcom draws to a close with a double bill. Julie is worried about the drop in customers since the makeover as she and Richard prepare for the supermarket awards. Meanwhile, recent events have knocked the stuffing out of Gavin, who is a shadow of his former self.

ITV2 ITV2

E4 E4

6.00 Emmerdale 6.25 Coronation Street 6.55 You’ve Been Framed! 7.25 Up All Night 7.50 Ben and Kate 8.10 You’ve Been Framed! 8.40 Dinner Date 9.40 Real Housewives of New York City 10.35 Real Housewives of Orange County 11.30 Big Rich Texas 12.30 Emmerdale 1.00 Coronation Street 1.30 You’ve Been Framed! 2.00 The Jeremy Kyle Show 4.10 The Real Housewives of Orange County 5.05 Big Rich Texas

6.00 Switched 6.25 90210 7.10 Ugly Betty 8.00 Charmed 9.00 Glee 10.00 New Girl 10.30 Suburgatory 11.00 Rules of Engagement 11.30 Charmed (R).

12.30 Hollyoaks 1.00 How I Met Your Mother 2.00 The Big Bang Theory 3.00 New Girl 3.30 Suburgatory (R,HD). 4.00 Rules of Engagement (R,HD). 5.00 How I Met Your Mother (R,HD).

Sky1 Sky1 6.00 Dog the Bounty Hunter (R,S). 6.30 Dog the Bounty Hunter (R,S). 7.00 The Middle (R,S,HD). 7.30 The Middle (R,S,HD). 8.00 Stargate SG-1 (R,S,HD). 10.00 NCIS: Los Angeles (R,S,HD). 1.00 NCIS: Los Angeles (R,S,HD). 2.00 Hawaii Five-0 (R,S,HD). 3.00 Stargate SG-1 (R,S,HD). 5.00 Futurama (R,S). 5.30 The Middle (R,S,HD).

FILM PICKS

Tuesday television&radio THAT TOUCH OF MINK 1.15pm, Channel 4

QUANTUM OF SOLACE 10.50pm, ITV2

A sophisticated millionaire businessman goes in passionate pursuit of a strait-laced secretary. Comedy, starring Cary Grant.

Gold GOLD 6.00 2point4 Children 6.30 Brittas Empire 7.00 2point4 Children 7.40 The Brittas Empire 8.20 Just Good Friends 9.00 Green Green Grass 9.40 As Time Goes By 10.20 Last of the Summer Wine 11.40 Porridge.

12.20 Ever Decreasing Circles. 1.00 Harry Hill’s TV Burp 2.00 As Time Goes By 2.40 Goodnight Sweetheart 3.20 The Vicar of Dibley 4.00 Last of the Summer Wine 5.20 One Foot in the Grave

Spy thriller sequel, starring Daniel Craig, Olga Kurylenko, Judi Dench, Gemma Arterton and Mathieu Amalric.

SkySports1 Sky Sports 1 6.00 Live Test Cricket (HD). India v West Indies. 11.30 Football Gold (S). 11.45 Football Gold (S). 12.00 What’s the Story? (HD). 1.00 UEFA Champions League Goals (HD). 2.00 Sporting Heroes (HD).

Interview with a leading sportsman.

3.00 What’s the Story? (HD). 4.00 UEFA Champions League Goals (HD). 5.00 FIFA Futbol Mundial.

5.30 Premier League World (HD).

Celebrity Juice, 10pm

Suburgatory, 8pm

Trollied, 9pm

Yes, Prime Minister, 8.20pm

The Rugby Club, 8pm

6.00 Dinner Date (R,HD). A man from London takes part in the dating show.

Narrated by Charlotte Hudson.

6.00 The Big Bang Theory (R,HD).

6.30 The Big Bang Theory (R,HD).

6.00 The Middle (R,S,HD).

Rusty moves some stolen furniture into the Hecks’ garage.

6.30 The Simpsons (R,S).

6.00 Harry Hill’s TV Burp. A comic look at soaps and celebrities.

6.30 Harry Hill’s TV Burp.

6.00 Ringside (HD).

7.00 You’ve Been Framed!

(R).

7.30 You’ve Been Framed!

(R). Harry Hill narrates another selection of camcorder calamities.

7.00 Hollyoaks (HD). The villagers deal with the tragic repercussions of the hostage situation.

7.30 How I Met Your Mother (R,HD).

7.00 The Simpsons (R,S,HD).

Bart discovers a passion for American history.

7.30 The Simpsons (R,S).

Bart buys a rare comic.

7.00 Porridge. Fletch sorts out Godber’s love life.

7.40 Blackadder Goes Forth. Captain Blackadder organises a stage show.

7.00 FL72 Preview. A look ahead to the latest round of fixtures in the Championship, League One and League Two.

8.00 You’ve Been Framed!

(R). Harry Hill comedy capers include a group of workmen messing about.

8.00 Suburgatory (HD).

Tessa worries she has lost her cool persona.

8.30 The Big Bang Theory (HD). Leonard and Sheldon go through an adjustment period.

Johnny Galecki stars.

8.00 Modern Family (R,S,HD). Phil takes the family on a road trip in his new motor home.

Comedy, starring Ty Burrell and Ed O’Neill.

8.30 Modern Family (R,S,HD).

8.20 Yes, Prime Minister. Sir Humphrey’s pro-Euro scheme seems to have failed, but some embarrassing expenses claims may provide a means to salvage his plan.

8.00 The Rugby Club (HD).

Alex Payne rounds up the latest domestic rugby union action, hearing from the players in the news and finding out how the game is developing at grass-roots level.

9.00 Trollied (S,HD). See Choices Above.

9.30 Trollied (S,HD). Richard gets some of the staff to pose as shoppers. Last in the series.

9.00 Only Fools and Horses.

Rodney aspires to be a pop star, but Del-Boy manages to ruin his chances. Guest starring DJ Mike Read.

9.40 Gavin & Stacey. Smithy worries about seeing Nessa again.

9.00 Ringside (HD). Boxing magazine, including highlights of recent bouts and interviews with the stars currently causing a stir in the ring.

9.00 Tricked (HD). Magician 9.00 2 Broke Girls (HD). New Ben Hanlin messes with series. A rumour about former footballer Robbie an incident involving a Savage’s £150,000 rock star boosts business supercar, giving him an for Max and Caroline’s expensive surprise. Plus, pop-up shop.

Essex girl Amy Childs has 9.30 Drifters (HD). Meg is a shock at a teddy bear offered an internship at shop. a local radio station.

10.20 You, Me & Them. Ed makes meticulous plans for living in domestic bliss with Lauren – but Alan keeps getting in the way.

12.55 The Only Way Is Essex (R,HD). Reality programme following a group of people in Essex, with each episode filmed just a few days before transmission.

1.40 Tricked (R,HD). 2.30 Teleshopping. Buying goods from the comfort of home.

12.00 Men Behaving Badly. Gary and Dorothy take a weekend break at a country hotel to spice up their love life. 12.40 Men Behaving Badly. Tony tries to make Deborah jealous. 1.15 Rev 1.45 Men Behaving Badly 2.15 Just Good Friends 2.45 Cr*pston Villas 3.00 Home Shopping

RADIO

10.00 A League of Their 10.00 Celebrity Juice (HD).

10.00 Educating Essex (R).

Own (R,S,HD). Radio 1 Holly Willoughby and a Headmaster Mr DJ Sara Cox and One guest team captain are Goddard faces one of Direction’s Harry Styles, joined by girl band Little the toughest decisions Louis Tomlinson and Mix and Geordie of his career when he Niall Horan join the comedian Chris Ramsey. has to deal with a pupil sports-based comedy Hosted by Keith Lemon. whose home life is quiz, hosted by James having a negative 10.50 Quantum of Solace Corden. impact on his academic (HD) (2008). James Bond results. sets out on a personal mission of vengeance and uncovers a plan to 11.05 How I Met Your 11.00 Gravity Movie Special cause a coup in a Latin Mother (R,HD).

(S,HD). Behind the American country. Spy scenes of Alfonso 11.35 The Big Bang Theory thriller sequel, starring Cuarón’s sci-fi thriller.

(R,HD). Amy is caught in Daniel Craig, Olga a conflict between 11.30 Road Wars (R,S). Video Kurylenko and Mathieu Sheldon and Penny. footage of dangers on Amalric. See Choices the road.

Above. ●●● 12.00 The Big Bang Theory (R,HD). Leonard accompanies Amy to her colleague’s wedding. 12.30 Happy Endings (R,HD). 1.00 Misfits (R,HD). 2.00 Educating Essex (R). 2.55 The Cleveland Show (R,HD). 3.15 The Cleveland Show (R,HD). 3.40 Glee (R,HD).

4.20 Ugly Betty (R,HD).

Radio 1 6.30am The Radio 1 Breakfast Show with Nick Grimshaw 10.00 Gemma Cairney 12.45pm Newsbeat 1.00 Scott Mills 4.00 Greg James 7.00 Zane Lowe 9.00 In New DJs We Trust 10.00 Phil Taggart Midnight The Residency: Mosca 2.00 Toddla T 4.00 Dev Radio 2 5.00am Sara Cox 6.30 Chris Evans 9.30 Ken Bruce Noon Jeremy Vine 2.00 Steve Wright in the Afternoon 5.00 Simon Mayo 7.00 Bob Harris Country 8.00 Jo Whiley 10.00 Country to Country Festival 11.00 Nigel Ogden: The Organist Entertains 11.30 Listen to the Band Midnight Janice Long 2.00 Alex Lester

12.00 Cop Squad (R,S,HD). The work of police officers in Cambridgeshire. 1.00 Road Wars (R,S,HD). 2.00 Hawaii Five-0 (R,S,HD). 3.00 Road Wars (R,S,HD).

4.00 Dog the Bounty Hunter (R,S). 4.30 Dog the Bounty Hunter (R,S). 5.00 Airline (R,S).

5.30 Airline (R,S).

Radio 3 6.30am Breakfast 9.00 Essential Classics Noon Composer of the Week: Ethel Smyth 1.00 News 1.02 Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert 2.00 Afternoon on 3 4.30 In Tune 6.30 Composer of the Week: Ethel Smyth 7.30 Radio 3 Live in Concert. Andrew Manze and the BBCSSO continue their Vaughan Williams cycle with his Sinfonia Antartica, and perform Mozart’s Piano Concerto No 20 with Shai Wosner, as well as Tippett. 10.00 Free Thinking. A debate on whether Britain has lost touch with nature.

10.45 The Free Thinking Essay: New Generation Thinkers 11.00 Late Junction 12.30am Through the Night

Radio 4 5.30am News Briefing 5.43 Prayer for the Day 5.45 Farming Today 5.58 Tweet of the Day 6.00 Today 8.31 (LW) Yesterday in Parliament 9.00 In Our Time 9.45 (LW) Daily Service 9.45 (FM) Book of the Week: Olivier 10.00 Woman’s Hour 11.00 From Our Own Correspondent 11.30 Behind the Looking Glass Noon News 12.01 (LW) Shipping Forecast 12.04 You and Yours 1.00 The World at One 1.45 The Roots of Scottish Nationalism 2.00 The Archers 2.15 Afternoon Drama: Titanium 3.00 Open Country 3.27 (LW) Radio 4 Appeal 3.27 (FM) Radio 4 Appeal 3.30 (LW) Bookclub 3.30 (FM) Bookclub 4.00 The Film

BBC3 BBC3

7.00 Great TV Mistakes (R,S).

7.10 Doctor Who (R,S).

8.00 Motorway Cops (R,S). Traffic police enforce the law on Britain’s most dangerous highways.

9.00 Hotel of Mum and Dad (S). A couple from Swansea sample life away from a doting mother.

Last in the series.

10.00 Live at the Apollo (R,S).

Micky Flanagan introduces Jason Byrne and Seann Walsh.

10.30 EastEnders (R,S).

11.00 Family Guy (R,S).

11.25 Family Guy (R,S).

11.45 American Dad! (S).

12.10 American Dad! (R,S). Stan becomes his boss’s adviser. 12.30 Staying In with Greg and Russell (R,S). 1.00 Sweat the Small Stuff (R,S). 1.30 Hotel of Mum and Dad (R,S). 2.30 Unsafe Sex in the City (R,S). 3.30 Some Girls (R,S).

BBC4 BBC4

7.00 World News Today; Weather.

7.30 The Sky at Night (R). The team watches a lunar eclipse.

8.00 Survivors: Nature’s Indestructible Creatures (R).

Richard Fortey explores the KT boundary, a line across Earth that geologists believe was created when an asteroid struck the planet 65 million years ago.

9.00 Defiance (2008).

Second World War drama, starring Daniel Craig and Jamie Bell. ●●● 11.05 Timeshift: When Coal Was King (R). A look at the lost world of coal mining.

12.05 Lost Horizons: The Big Bang (R). 1.05 The Sky at Night (R). 1.35 The Final Frontier? A Horizon Guide to the Universe (R). 2.35 Survivors: Nature’s Indestructible Creatures (R).

10.00 FL72 Preview

11.00 Harry Hill’s TV Burp.

11.00 Ringside (HD).

The quirky comic takes a surreal look at soap sagas and celebrities, subjecting them to his unique brand of scrutiny.

11.30 Harry Hill’s TV Burp

Programme 4.30 Inside Science 5.00 PM 5.54 (LW) Shipping Forecast 5.57 Weather 6.00 Six O’Clock News 6.30 Clare in the Community 7.00 The Archers 7.15 Front Row 7.45 Petite Mort 8.00 Law in Action.

Developments in the legal world.

Presented by Joshua Rozenberg. Last in the series. 8.30 The Bottom Line 9.00 Inside Science 9.30 In Our Time 9.59 Weather 10.00 The World Tonight 10.45 Book at Bedtime: The Goldfinch 11.00 Seekers 11.30 Today in Parliament Midnight News 12.30 Book of the Week: Olivier 12.48 Shipping Forecast 1.00 As BBC World Service 5.20 Shipping Forecast

WCL-E01-S2

12.00 NFL – A Football Life (HD).

1.00 Live NFL (HD). Minnesota Vikings v Washington Redskins (Kick-off 1.25am). 4.30 FL72 Preview 5.30 Premier League World (HD). A round-up of the latest news surrounding the Premier League, featuring interviews with managers and players.

Radio 5 Live 5.30am Wake Up to Money 6.00 5 Live Breakfast 10.00 Tony Livesey Noon Shelagh Fogarty 2.00 Richard Bacon 4.00 5 Live Drive 7.00 5 Live Sport 8.00 5 Live Sport: 5 Live Rugby. Matt Dawson presents the latest rugby union news and interviews, looking ahead to the latest round of matches in the autumn internationals.

9.30 5 Live Sport: 5 Live Rugby League 10.00 Question Time Extra Time 1.00am Up All Night Classic FM 6.00am More Music Breakfast 9.00 John Suchet 1.00pm Jamie Crick 5.00 Classic FM Drive 8.00 The Full Works Concert 10.00 Smooth Classics 2.00am Nick Bailey

SATURDAY NOVEMBER 2 2013 WEST COUNTRY LIFE 47

Wednesday television&radio Wednesday’s Television Guide TV PICKS

AMBASSADORS 9pm, BBC2

The Tazbeks rise up against their government and Davis sets out to meet the rebel leader, while an interrogator tries to find out if any staff members are spies.

BBC1 BBC1

6.00 Breakfast 9.15 Remembrance Week (S,HD). 10.00 Homes Under the Hammer (R,S). 11.00 Saints and Scroungers (S,HD).

11.45 Escape to the Country (S). 12.15 Bargain Hunt (R,S,HD). 1.00 BBC News; Weather (S,HD). 1.30 Regional News (S); Weather. 1.45 Doctors (S,HD). 2.15 The Indian Doctor (S,HD). 3.00 Pressure Pad (S,HD). 3.45 Paul Hollywood’s Pies & Puds (S,HD). 4.30 Antiques Road Trip (S,HD). 5.15 Pointless (S,HD).

FILM RATINGS ●●●●● Excellent ●●●● Very good ●●● Good ●● Average ● Poor

TOO FAT TO FLY 9pm, Channel 5

The stories of obese Britons who have suffered embarrassing incidents on holiday, including a couple who were told they were too heavy to sit next to each other on a flight to Guernsey and a woman changed her lifestyle and went from a size 22 to an 8 after being ridiculed by a masseuse in Turkey.

BBC2 BBC2

6.00 This Is BBC Two (S). 6.30 Homes Under the Hammer (R,S,HD). 7.30 Saints and Scroungers (R,S,HD). 8.15 Sign Zone: Real Rescues (R,S). 9.00 The Wonder of Dogs (R,S). 10.00 Plan It, Build It (R,S).

10.30 See Hear (S). 11.00 BBC News (S,HD). 11.30 Daily Politics (S). 1.00 Animal Park (R,S). 2.00 Live Tennis: ATP World Tour Finals (S,HD). Coverage of the afternoon session of day three from the O2 in London. 5.00 Flog It! (R,S).

AGATHA CHRISTIE’S POIROT 8pm, ITV

FILM 2013 11.05pm, BBC1

Movie fans can rejoice as the ever-engaging Film 2013 returns for a new series. This week’s big release is Gravity, the visually stunning sci-fi epic which sees Sandra Bullock’s grieving astronaut and George Clooney’s veteran spacewalker stranded after their shuttle is wrecked by debris.

The sleuth falls victim to depression after failing to prevent the murder of a society girl, but the search for a missing maid offers him the opportunity for redemption.

ITV1 ITV

6.00 Daybreak (S,HD). 8.30 Lorraine (S).

9.25 The Jeremy Kyle Show (S). 10.30 This Morning (S). 12.30 Loose Women (S,HD). 1.30 ITV News and Weather (S).

1.55 Regional News (S). 2.00 Dickinson’s Real Deal (R,S). From Reading, Berkshire.

3.00 The Alan Titchmarsh Show (S,HD).

Features, music and conversation. 3.59 Regional Weather (S). 4.00 Tipping Point (S,HD). 5.00 The Chase (S,HD). Quiz show, hosted by Bradley Walsh.

Channel Channel 4

7.00 According to Jim 7.25 Will & Grace 7.55 Everybody Loves Raymond (R,S). 8.55 Frasier 10.00 Undercover Boss USA (R,S,HD).

11.00 Beat My Build (S,HD). 12.00 Channel 4 News Summary (S). 12.05 Gordon Ramsay’s Home Cooking (S,HD). 12.35 Jamie’s 15 Minute Meals (R,S,HD). 1.10 River Cottage Bites (R,S,HD). 1.20 Film: Carry On Doctor (S) (1967). See Choices Above. ●●● 3.10 Countdown (S,HD). 4.00 Deal or No Deal (S,HD). 5.00 Four in a Bed (S,HD). 5.30 Come Dine with Me (S,HD).

Channel Channel 5

6.00 Milkshake!. 9.15 The Wright Stuff (HD). 11.10 The Hotel Inspector (R,S).

12.10 5 News Lunchtime (S,HD). 12.15 Cowboy Builders (R,S). 1.15 Home and Away (S,HD). 1.45 Neighbours (S,HD).

2.20 NCIS (R,S). An Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent is murdered.

3.15 Impact (R,S). First of a two-part disaster drama, starring David James Elliott.

5.00 5 News at 5 (S,HD). 5.30 Neighbours (R,S,HD).

Newsnight, 10.30pm

Coronation Street, 7.30pm

The Cruel Cut, 10.45pm

Robson’s Extreme Fishing ... 7pm

▼

6.00 BBC News (S,HD); Weather.

6.30 Regional News (S); Weather.

6.00 Eggheads (S,HD). 92/140. Quiz show, hosted by Jeremy Vine.

6.30 Strictly Come Dancing – It Takes Two (S,HD). Ian Waite analyses the couples’ training.

6.00 Regional News (S); Weather.

6.30 ITV News and Weather (S).

6.00 The Simpsons (R,S,HD). 15/21.

Homer and Marge get married for a second time. With the voice of Dan Castellaneta.

6.30 Hollyoaks (S,HD).

6.00 Home and Away (R,S,HD).

Kyle breaks up with Tamara when she admits to having feelings for Casey.

6.30 NewsTalk Live (S,HD).

▼

7.00 The One Show (S,HD). Hosted

by Matt Baker and Alex Jones.

Followed by BBC News; Regional News.

7.00 Celebrity Antiques Road Trip (S,HD). 3/20. Dinnerladies co-stars Anne Reid and Thelma Barlow take part in the challenge.

7.00 Emmerdale (S,HD). Jai panics when he realises Sam knows the truth about Archie.

7.30 Coronation Street (S,HD).

Sean pleads Todd’s case with Eileen.

7.00 News (S).

7.55 4thought.tv (S).

7.00 Robson’s Extreme Fishing Challenge (R,S,HD). The actor travels to Peru. Followed by 5 News Update.

▼

6 7 8 9

Watchdog, 8pm

8.00 Watchdog (S,HD). 8/8. Anne Robinson investigates the rise in pet insurance premiums and asks why some people are being told they are too old to take out a mortgage. Last in the series.

8.00 MasterChef: The Professionals (S,HD). 3/24. The four chefs from Monday’s heat who have yet to face their skills test are challenged to prepare and cook abalone, before recreating Michel Roux Jr’s Bordeaux duck breast dish.

8.00 Ben Fogle’s Animal Clinic (S,HD). Rob Pettitt operates on a young sheepdog with septic arthritis in its elbow joints and Helen Williams is called out by a farmer whose sheep have developed weight problems.

Followed by 5 News at 9.

9.00 Britain on the Fiddle (S,HD).

1/3. New series. Richard Bilton exposes some of Britain’s benefits cheats, following investigators as they chase a woman who won £95,000 on a game show but carried on claiming.

9.00 Ambassadors (S,HD). 3/3.

See Choices Above.

8.00 Agatha Christie’s Poirot (S,HD). 4/5. The sleuth falls victim to depression after failing to prevent the murder of a society girl by art thief Marrascaud. His confidence shattered, Poirot eventually returns to work when a lonely chauffeur begs him to find his missing soulmate, the maid of a famous Russian dancer. The investigation takes him to the Swiss Alps, where, against all odds, he stumbles upon a hotel thought to be Marrascaud’s hideout – leading to a very personal showdown. See Choices Above.

8.00 River Cottage to the Core (S,HD). 4/4. See Choices Above.

▼

(R) repeat (S) subtitles (HD) highdefinition

9.00 Grand Designs (S,HD). 10/11.

Ten years ago Gil and Hillary Briffa decided to retire to southern Spain, where they planned to build a contemporary home in the Andalusian hills against the backdrop of more traditional properties.

9.00 Too Fat to Fly (S). See Choices Above.

10.00 Step Brothers (S,HD) (2008).

Brennan and Dale are two 40-year-old men who have never flown the nest. All that changes when Brennan’s mother marries Dale’s father, and the spoiled sons are forced to share a room. They take an instant dislike to each other, but when their long-suffering parents finally insist they find jobs, they learn to work together. Comedy, with Will Ferrell, John C Reilly and Richard Jenkins. See Choices Above. ●●●

▼

11

10.00 The Culture Show: Wars of the Heart (S,HD). 20/32. James Runcie reveals how the experiences of the London Blitz influenced and inspired the work of writers Graham Greene, Henry Green, Elizabeth Bowen and Hilda Doolittle.

10.30 Newsnight (S,HD). Followed

by Weather.

10.00 ITV News at Ten (S).

10.30 Regional News (S); Weather.

10.35 Newsflash – Stories That Stopped the World (S,HD).

Behind the scenes of momentous news events.

10.00 Gogglebox (S). 7/13. Weekly TV review programme.

10.45 The Cruel Cut (S,HD).

Documentary exploring the complex world of female genital mutilation, as a group of survivors campaigns against the practice, which was made illegal in the UK in 1985.

▼

10

10.00 BBC News (S,HD).

10.25 Regional News (S). Followed

by National Lottery Update.

10.35 A Question of Sport (S,HD).

3/36. With Olympic cycling champion Chris Hoy, former boxer Joe Calzaghe, St Helens rugby league player Jon Wilkin and heptathlete Katarina Johnson-Thompson.

11.05 Film 2013 (S,HD). 1/7.

See Choices Above.

11.35 Keeping Up with the Steins (S) (2006). Comedy drama, starring Daryl Sabara, Jami Gertz and Jeremy Piven. ●●

11.20 Iceland Foods: Life in the Freezer Cabinet (R,S). 3/3.

Malcolm Walker relaunches the business. Last in the series.

11.35 James Nesbitt’s Ireland (R,S,HD). 7/8. The actor visits a brandy distillery in Co Cork, samples a range of fruits grown by a family from Tipperary, and meets an estate agent who specialises in the sale of castles.

11.45 Random Acts (S,HD). An uplifting short film by musical collective Ernest Endeavours.

11.50 Up All Night: Britain on Call (R,S,HD). 3/3. On the road with night workers in Manchester.

1.00 Weatherview (S). 1.05 BBC News (S,HD).

12.20 Sign Zone: See Hear (R,S). In an edition marking Remembrance Day, the programme visits the factory where the idea for the first poppy appeal began, and meets the deaf fire wardens whose bravery in the Manchester Blitz helped save lives during the worst bombing raid the city had ever seen. 12.50 This Is BBC Two (S). 4.00 BBC Learning Zone

12.05 Jackpot247 3.00 Film: Columbo: Strange Bedfellows (S,HD) (1995). The sleuth receives help from a gangland enforcer while investigating the deaths of a horse trainer’s brother and a Mob bookie.

Crime drama, starring Peter Falk, Rod Steiger and George Wendt. ●● 4.35 ITV Nightscreen (HD). 5.05 The Jeremy Kyle Show (R,S,HD).

12.50 Drifters (S,HD). 1.15 Drifters (S,HD). 1.40 Film: A Dirty Shame (S) (2004). Comedy, starring Tracey Ullman, Johnny Knoxville, Selma Blair and Chris Isaak.●●● 3.10 Shapes (R,S). 3.15 SuperScrimpers’ Challenge (R,S,HD).

4.10 Deal or No Deal: Freaky Fun Fayre (R,S,HD). 5.05 Countdown (R,S,HD). 5.50 River Cottage Bites (R,S,HD).

▼

after

12

12.05 The Big Game (S,HD). Highlights of a recent tournament from around the world, as a table of card-sharps aimed to scoop the big-money first prize. 1.00 SuperCasino 3.05 Benidorm ER (R,S,HD).

3.55 HouseBusters (R,S). 4.20 House Doctor (R,S). 4.45 Great Scientists (R,S).

5.10 Michaela’s Wild Challenge (R,S).

5.35 Wildlife SOS (R,S).

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RIVER COTTAGE TO THE CORE 8pm, Channel 4

GOING WILD WITH THE JONESES 8pm, Sky1

TV presenter Steve Jones embarks on a week-long adventure in the Kalahari Desert with his willing brothers and their reluctant dad. The quartet stay with hunter-gatherer tribe the San Bushmen, who teach them the necessary skills to survive, such as capturing and killing wild animals.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall rustles up plum compote, Waldorf salad and banana flapjacks, while Gill Meller and Pam Corbin make the most of rosehips.

ITV2 ITV2

E4 E4

6.00 Emmerdale 6.25 I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here Now 7.25 Up All Night 7.50 Ben and Kate 8.10 You’ve Been Framed! 8.40 Dinner Date 9.40 The Real Housewives of New York City 10.35 The Real Housewives of Orange County 11.30 Big Rich Texas 12.30 Emmerdale 1.00 I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here Now 2.00 Jeremy Kyle Show 4.10 Real Housewives of Orange County 5.05 Big Rich Texas

6.00 Switched 6.25 90210 7.10 Ugly Betty 8.00 Charmed 9.00 Glee 10.00 New Girl 10.30 Suburgatory 11.00 Rules of Engagement 11.30 Charmed (R).

12.30 Hollyoaks 1.00 How I Met Your Mother 2.00 The Big Bang Theory 3.00 New Girl 3.30 Suburgatory (R,HD). 4.00 Rules of Engagement (R,HD). 5.00 How I Met Your Mother (R,HD).

Sky1 Sky1 6.00 Dog the Bounty Hunter (R,S). 7.00 The Middle (R,S,HD).

7.30 The Middle (R,S,HD). 8.00 Stargate SG-1 (R,S,HD). 9.00 Stargate SG-1 (R,S,HD). 10.00 NCIS: Los Angeles (R,S,HD). 1.00 NCIS: Los Angeles (R,S,HD). 2.00 Hawaii Five-0 (R,S,HD). 3.00 Stargate SG-1 (R,S,HD). 5.00 Futurama (R,S). 5.30 The Middle (R,S,HD).

FILM PICKS

Wednesday television&radio CARRY ON DOCTOR 1.20pm, Channel 4

STEP BROTHERS 10pm, Channel 5

A popular doctor is sacked after a misunderstanding ruins his reputation, so the patients campaign to get him reinstated.

Comedy, with Sid James.

Gold GOLD 6.00 2point4 Children 6.30 Brittas Empire 7.00 2point4 Children 7.40 The Brittas Empire 8.20 Just Good Friends 9.00 The Green Green Grass 9.40 As Time Goes By 10.20 Last of the Summer Wine 11.40 The Green Green Grass 12.20 Ever Decreasing Circles 1.00 Harry Hill’s TV Burp 1.30 Harry Hill’s TV Burp 2.00 As Time Goes By 2.40 Goodnight Sweetheart 3.20 Last of the Summer Wine 4.40 Only Fools and Horses

Comedy, with Will Ferrell, John C Reilly, Mary Steenburgen, Richard Jenkins, Adam Scott, Kathryn Hahn, Andrea Savage and Lurie Poston.

SkySports1 Sky Sports 1 6.00 Live Test Cricket (HD). 11.30 Revista De La Liga (HD). 12.30 UEFA Champions League Goals (HD). 1.30 SPFL Round-Up (HD).

2.00 UEFA Champions League Goals (HD). 3.00 UEFA Champions League Highlights (HD). 3.15 UEFA Champions League Highlights (HD). 5.00 Football Gold (S). 5.15 Football Gold (S).

5.30 FIFA Futbol Mundial.

You’ve Been Framed!, 7pm

The Day the Earth … 8pm

Strike Back, 10pm

You, Me & Them, 9pm

Live UEFA … 6pm

6.00 Dinner Date (R,HD).

Mark from Middlesex chooses three blind dates. Narrated by Charlotte Hudson.

6.00 The Big Bang Theory (R,HD).

6.30 The Big Bang Theory (R,HD). Penny regrets her night with Raj.

6.00 The Middle (R,S,HD).

Frankie antagonises her teacher at dental school.

6.30 The Simpsons (R,S).

6.00 Harry Hill’s TV Burp 6.30 Harry Hill’s TV Burp. A comic look at soaps and celebrities.

7.00 You’ve Been Framed!

(R). Including a scooterriding granny and a troublesome toy.

7.30 You’ve Been Framed!

(R).

7.00 Hollyoaks (HD).

7.30 How I Met Your Mother (R,HD). Lily and Marshall struggle to agree on baby names.

7.00 The Simpsons (R,S).

Homer goes to prison.

7.30 The Simpsons (R,S). Lisa has to share a room with Bart but finds it difficult to cope with the stress.

7.00 Porridge. The inmates hunt for a thief.

7.40 The Vicar of Dibley.

Featuring a guest appearance by Kylie Minogue.

8.00 Rumor Has It (HD) (2005). An obituary writer discovers that her mother and grandmother’s affairs with the same young man decades before could have been the inspiration for the book and film The Graduate.

Intrigued by the possibility, she sets off for San Francisco to find the charmer who left her relatives reeling.

Rob Reiner’s romantic comedy, starring Jennifer Aniston. ●●

8.00 The Day the Earth Stood Still (HD) (2008).

An alien arrives on Earth, accompanied by an awesomely powerful robot, on a fateful mission – to decide if the human race deserves to continue – and if not, to wipe it out. The visitor is imprisoned in a military facility, but a scientist helps him escape, hoping to prove that mankind is worth saving. Sci-fi, starring Keanu Reeves. ●●

8.00 Going Wild with the Joneses. See Choices Above.

8.20 Miranda. Prompted by pressure from her mother, Miranda tries to improve her career prospects, but her decision to become a waitress ends in disaster.

9.00 Karl Pilkington: The Moaning of Life (R,S,HD). Karl sets off around the world in an attempt to understand why people want children, including visits to a fertility festival in Japan and a natural birthing centre in Bali.

9.00 You, Me & Them. Ed makes meticulous plans for living in domestic bliss with Lauren – but Alan keeps getting in the way.

9.40 Mrs Brown’s Boys.

Dermot announces his choice of best man for the wedding.

6.00 Live UEFA Champions League (HD). Borussia Dortmund v Arsenal (Kick-off 7.45pm).

Coverage of the matchday four Group F encounter at Signal Iduna Park. Dortmund won all six of their home matches on their way to finishing as runners-up in last season’s tournament and claimed a hard-fought 2-1 victory over the Gunners in the reverse fixture 15 days ago, but Arsene Wenger’s men will be determined to avoid defeat on this occasion as they are level on six points with both their opponents and Napoli.

BBC3 BBC3

7.00 Total Wipeout (R,S).

8.00 Don’t Tell the Bride (R,S).

Motorbike enthusiast Luke organises his wedding. Last in the series.

9.00 Unsafe Sex in the City (S).

Likely-lad Tony overcomes his fear of visiting the sexual health clinic. Last in the series.

10.00 Staying In with Greg and Russell (S). With Tinie Tempah, Joe Lycett and Dianna Agron.

10.30 Russell Howard’s Good News (R,S).

11.00 Family Guy (R,S).

11.25 Family Guy (R,S).

11.45 American Dad! (S).

12.10 Unsafe Sex in the City (R,S). 1.10 Staying In with Greg and Russell (R,S). 1.40 Cherry Healey: Old Before My Time (R,S).

2.35 Going Native (R,S).

3.00 Unsafe Sex in the City (R,S).

BBC4 BBC4

7.00 World News Today; Weather.

7.30 Great British Railway Journeys (R).

8.00 Britain by Bike (R).

8.30 What Do Artists Do All Day? A profile of ceramic artist Edmund de Waal, the author of best-selling family memoir The Hare with Amber Eyes.

9.00 Speeches That Shook the World.

Examining some of the famous orations of the modern age.

10.00 Martin Luther King and the March on Washington (R).

11.00 Frozen Planet (R).

12.00 Stories from the Dark Earth: Meet the Ancestors Revisited (R).

1.00 Great British Railway Journeys (R).

1.30 What Do Artists Do All Day? (R). 2.00 Britain

by Bike (R). 2.30 Speeches That Shook the World (R).

10.20 Blackadder Goes 10.00 Strike Back (R,S,HD).

10.00 UEFA Champions 10.00 The Only Way Is Essex 10.00 Misfits (HD). Abby is Forth. A stage show The team plans a heist of League Goals (HD). All (HD). Reality convinced she has finally offers Captain the Colombian stock the strikes from the programme following a met her soulmate in Blackadder a route out exchange to discover second night of group of people in Laura, and Finn is put in of the trenches, but he Al-Zuhari’s whereabouts, matchday four fixtures in Essex. an awkward position lands in hot water when while Dalton tracks Europe’s most when it becomes clear 10.50 Paranormal Activity Gen Melchett falls for down former MI6 agent prestigious club that Greg, the (HD) (2007). A couple the leading lady. First Sebastian Gray (Martin competition, including probation worker, has a move into a new house, World War comedy, with Clunes) in Beirut.

Borussia Dortmund v crush on him. only to be disturbed by Rowan Atkinson.

Arsenal. unexplained supernatural phenomena. They 11.00 Harry Hill’s TV Burp.

11.05 Made in Chelsea (R).

11.00 Road Wars (R,S,HD).

11.00 Sporting Heroes (HD). become convinced the The quirky comic takes a Rosie arranges a spa trip The team from the Interview with a leading property is haunted and surreal look at soap in an attempt to heal Proactive Elite Unit sportsman. set out to capture sagas and celebrities, rifts among the girls. investigates Russian evidence of their subjecting them to his scam artists, a dangerous ghostly encounters on unique brand of scrutiny. road user and a man film. Horror, with Katie riding a mini-motorbike. 11.30 Harry Hill’s TV Burp Featherston. ●●●●

RADIO

12.40 Lemon La Vida Loca (R,HD). Keith goes on his dream date. 1.20 The Vampire Diaries (R,HD). Elena reveals shocking news to Caroline and Bonnie. 2.05 Nicki Minaj: The Hot Desk (R,HD). An interview with the R’n’B star. 2.20 Teleshopping 5.50 ITV2 Nightscreen (HD).

12.10 The Big Bang Theory (R,HD). 12.40 The Big Bang Theory (R,HD). 1.10 Suburgatory (R,HD). 1.40 The Cleveland Show (R,HD). 2.10 The Cleveland Show (R,HD). 2.30 Bob’s Burgers (R,HD).

2.55 Being Erica (R,HD). 3.35 Glee (R,HD). 4.25 Ugly Betty (R,HD).

Radio 1 6.30am The Radio 1 Breakfast Show with Nick Grimshaw 10.00 Fearne Cotton 12.45pm Newsbeat 1.00 Scott Mills 3.30 The Official Chart Update 4.00 Greg James 7.00 Zane Lowe 9.00 My Playlist 10.00 Phil Taggart and Alice Levine Midnight Huw Stephens 2.00 Benji B Radio 2 5.00am Sara Cox 6.30 Chris Evans 9.30 Ken Bruce Noon Jeremy Vine 2.00 Patrick Kielty 5.00 Simon Mayo 7.00 The Folk Show with Mark Radcliffe 8.00 Jo Whiley. With a live acoustic session by San Fermin. 10.00 The People’s Songs 11.00 Trevor Nelson’s Soul Show Midnight Janice Long 2.00 Alex Lester

12.00 Cop Squad (R,S,HD). The work of police officers in Cambridgeshire. 1.00 Road Wars (R,S,HD). 2.00 Hawaii Five-0 (R,HD). 3.00 Road Wars (R,S,HD).

Tackling Russian scam artists. 4.00 Dog the Bounty Hunter (R,S).

5.00 Airline (R,S). 5.30 Airline (R,S).

Radio 3 6.30am Breakfast 9.00 Essential Classics Noon Composer of the Week: Ethel Smyth 1.00 News 1.02 Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert 2.00 Afternoon on 3 3.30 Choral Evensong 4.30 In Tune 6.30 Composer of the Week: Ethel Smyth 7.30 Radio 3 Live in Concert. The CBSO, conducted by Andris Nelsons, performs Sibelius’s Violin Concerto with Valeriy Sokolov, Wagner’s Prelude to Act 1 of Lohengrin, and Brahms’ Fourth Symphony. 10.00 Free Thinking. Samira Ahmed interviews film-maker John Waters. 10.45 The Free Thinking Essay: New Generation Thinkers 11.00 Late Junction 12.30am Through the Night

Radio 4 5.30am News Briefing 5.43 Prayer for the Day 5.45 Farming Today 5.58 Tweet of the Day 6.00 Today 8.31 (LW) Yesterday in Parliament 9.00 Midweek 9.45 (LW) Daily Service 9.45 (FM) Book of the Week: Olivier 10.00 Woman’s Hour 11.00 The Brown Camp 11.30 Hard to Tell Noon News 12.01 (LW) Shipping Forecast 12.04 You and Yours 12.57 News and Weather 1.00 The World at One 1.45 The Roots of Scottish Nationalism 2.00 The Archers 2.15 Afternoon Drama: My Life Is a Series of People Saying Goodbye 3.00 Money Box Live 3.30 Inside Health 4.00 Thinking Allowed 4.30 The Media Show 5.00 PM 5.54

12.00 Yes, Prime Minister. After exposing Sir Humphrey’s scheme to get Britain into the euro, Jim holds a dinner to welcome the Kumranistan foreign secretary.

12.40 Rev 1.15 Rev 1.45 Men Behaving Badly 2.15 Just Good Friends 2.45 Cr*pston Villas 3.00 Home Shopping (LW) Shipping 5.57 Weather 6.00 Six O’Clock News 6.30 Tom Wrigglesworth’s Hang-Ups 7.00 The Archers 7.15 Front Row 7.45 Petite Mort 8.00 The Moral Maze 8.45 Four Thought 9.00 Costing the Earth. A man who is determined to rid the world of plastic and polystyrene. 9.30 Midweek.

Presented by Libby Purves. 9.59 Weather 10.00 The World Tonight 10.45 Book at Bedtime: The Goldfinch 11.00 Before They Were Famous 11.15 Irish Micks and Legends 11.30 Today in Parliament Midnight News 12.30 Book of the Week: Olivier 12.48 Shipping Forecast 1.00 As BBC World Service 5.20 Shipping Forecast

WCL-E01-S2

12.00 UEFA Champions League Goals (HD). All the strikes from the second night of matchday four fixtures. 1.00 What’s the Story?

(HD). 2.00 FIFA Futbol Mundial 2.30 Football Gold (S). 2.45 Football Gold (S). 3.00 UEFA Champions League Goals (HD).

4.00 Live Test Cricket (HD).

Radio 5 Live 5.00am Morning Reports 5.30 Wake Up to Money 6.00 5 Live Breakfast 10.00 Tony Livesey Noon Shelagh Fogarty 2.00 Richard Bacon 4.00 5 Live Drive 7.00 5 Live Sport 7.45 5 Live Sport: Champions League Football 2013-14. Commentary on one of tonight’s matches, as the group stage continues with Chelsea v Schalke 04, Borussia Dortmund v Arsenal and Ajax v Celtic. 10.30 Phil Williams 1.00am Up All Night Classic FM 6.00am More Music Breakfast 9.00 John Suchet 1.00pm Jamie Crick 5.00 Classic FM Drive 8.00 The Full Works Concert 10.00 Smooth Classics 2.00am Nick Bailey

SATURDAY NOVEMBER 2 2013 WEST COUNTRY LIFE 49

Thursday television&radio Thursday’s Television Guide TV PICKS

TRUCKERS 9pm, BBC1

DON’T PANIC – THE TRUTH ABOUT POPULATION 9pm, BBC2

Glen feels guilty after cheating on his girlfriend and decides to be more responsible.

But in his attempts to get his life in order, he only makes it worse.

Statistician Hans Rosling uses state-of-the-art 3D graphics to paint a portrait of a quickly changing world, arguing that the problems of rapid population growth and extreme poverty are beginning to be conquered. Part of the This World strand.

BBC1 BBC1

6.00 Breakfast (S,HD). 9.15 Remembrance Week (S,HD). 10.00 Homes Under the Hammer (S,HD). 11.00 Saints and Scroungers (S,HD). 11.45 Escape to the Country (S). 12.15 Bargain Hunt (R,S,HD). 1.00 BBC News; Weather (S,HD).

1.30 Regional News (S); Weather. 1.45 Doctors (S,HD). 2.15 The Indian Doctor (S,HD). 3.00 Pressure Pad (S,HD). 3.45 Paul Hollywood’s Pies & Puds (S,HD). 4.30 Antiques Road Trip 5.15 Pointless (S,HD).

FILM RATINGS ●●●●● Excellent ●●●● Very good ●●● Good ●● Average ● Poor

BBC2 BBC2

6.00 This Is BBC Two (S). 6.35 Homes Under the Hammer (R,S). 7.35 Saints and Scroungers (R,S,HD). 8.20 Sign Zone: Real Rescues (R,S). 9.05 The Ottomans: Europe’s Muslim Emperors (R,S). 10.05 Plan It, Build It (R,S). 10.35 HARDtalk (R,S,HD). 11.00 BBC News (S,HD). 11.30 BBC World News (S,HD). 12.00 Daily Politics (S). 1.00 Animal Park (R,S). 2.00 Live Tennis: ATP World Tour Finals (S,HD).

5.00 Flog It! (R,S).

BREATHLESS 9pm, ITV

BOUNCERS 10pm, Channel 4

Elizabeth loses control of the situation with Mulligan, Angela succumbs to her feelings for Otto, Margaret has exploratory surgery and Charlie receives a job opportunity.

ITV1 ITV

6.00 Daybreak (S,HD). 8.30 Lorraine (S).

9.25 The Jeremy Kyle Show (S,HD). 10.30 This Morning (S). 12.30 Loose Women (S,HD). 1.30 ITV News and Weather (S).

1.55 Regional News (S). 2.00 Dickinson’s Real Deal (R,S). From Darwen, Lancashire.

3.00 The Alan Titchmarsh Show (S,HD).

Features, music and conversation. 3.59 Regional Weather (S). 4.00 Tipping Point (S,HD). 5.00 The Chase (S,HD). Quiz show, hosted by Bradley Walsh.

Following the work of door staff along Queen Street in Colchester, Essex, including a novice bouncer on a mission to change people’s perceptions of his profession, and Head doorman Curtis and colleague Jamie have 30 years of experience between them, and keep their doors safe with a lot of know-how.

Channel Channel 4

6.10 The Hoobs 7.00 According to Jim 7.25 Will & Grace 7.55 Everybody Loves Raymond 9.00 Frasier 10.00 Undercover Boss USA 11.00 Beat My Build 12.00 Channel 4 News Summary 12.05 Gordon Ramsay’s Home Cooking 12.40 Jamie’s 15 Minute Meals 1.15 Film: That Touch of Mink (S) (1962). See Choices Above. ●●● 3.10 Countdown (S,HD). 4.00 Deal or No Deal 5.00 Four in a Bed (S,HD). 5.30 Come Dine with Me (S,HD).

Channel Channel 5

6.00 Milkshake!. 9.15 The Wright Stuff (HD). 11.10 The Hotel Inspector (R,S).

12.10 5 News Lunchtime (S,HD). 12.15 Robson’s Extreme Fishing Challenge (R,S,HD). 1.15 Home and Away (S,HD).

1.45 Neighbours (S,HD). 2.20 The Mentalist 3.15 Impact (R,S). Conclusion.

The scientists join astronauts on an Earthsaving mission into space. 5.00 5 News at 5 (S,HD). 5.30 Neighbours (R,S,HD). Kate helps Sheila overcome her fears.

Mock the Week – Again, 10pm

Emmerdale, 8pm

Bedlam, 9pm

Person of Interest, 10pm

▼

6.00 BBC News (S,HD); Weather.

6.30 Regional News (S); Weather.

6.00 Eggheads (S,HD). 93/140. Quiz show, hosted by Jeremy Vine.

6.30 Strictly Come Dancing – It Takes Two (S,HD). A look ahead to the weekend’s action.

6.00 Regional News (S); Weather.

6.30 ITV News and Weather (S).

6.00 The Simpsons (R,S,HD). 16/21.

Moe joins an online dating agency.

6.30 Hollyoaks (S,HD). The hostage situation continues to escalate.

6.00 Home and Away (R,S,HD). Jett and John disrupt Marilyn’s date with Winston.

6.30 NewsTalk Live (S,HD).

▼

7.00 The One Show (S,HD). Topical stories from around the UK. 7.30 EastEnders (S,HD). Bianca’s new boyfriend has a surprise for the Butchers. Followed by BBC News; Regional News.

7.00 Celebrity Antiques Road Trip (S,HD). 4/20. Actors Simon Williams and Duncan Preston compete.

7.00 Emmerdale (S,HD). Priya thinks she might be pregnant, and Bernice is taken aback to see Jimmy with her bra.

7.30 How to Cut Your Energy Bills: Tonight (S,HD).

7.00 News (S).

7.55 4thought.tv (S,HD).

7.00 Police Interceptors (R,S,HD).

Dougie and Mark chase a serial offender on foot. Followed by 5 News Update.

▼

6 7 8 9

Question Time, 10.35pm

8.00 Waterloo Road (S,HD). 10/20.

Christine and Simon clash over how best to deal with a bullied pupil – just as they vie for the role of head – and the Barrys are torn apart when Kacey’s boxing fund is stolen. Last episode in the current run.

8.00 MasterChef: The Professionals (S,HD). 4/24. Six chefs battle it out in the quarter-final, demonstrating a dish of their own invention before four of them go on to prepare two courses for a panel of food critics.

8.00 Emmerdale (S,HD). David is left reeling after Priya says her potential pregnancy isn’t his problem.

8.30 Britain’s Secret Treasures (S,HD). 4/8. A look at important artefacts found by members of the public in Northern Ireland.

8.00 George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces (S,HD). 3/9. The architect meets a carpenter who wants to turn a 30-yearold double-decker bus into a luxury holiday retreat, and a couple using their life savings to design a boat hotel.

8.00 Benidorm ER (S,HD).

See Choices Above.

▼

(R) repeat (S) subtitles (HD) highdefinition

9.00 Truckers (S,HD). 5/5. See Choices Above.

9.00 Don’t Panic – The Truth About Population (S,HD).

See Choices Above.

9.00 Breathless (S,HD). 5/6.

See Choices Above.

9.00 Bedlam (S,HD). 2/4. The documentary follows staff and patients at Lambeth Hospital in south London, which has pioneered the use of short-stay emergency wards for patients in crisis.

9.00 Wife Slayer: Countdown to Murder (S,HD). 5/6. Docudrama using witness testimony, crime reports, forensic evidence and expert commentary to examine the events that led Brian Lewis to murder his partner Hayley Jones in 2007.

▼

11

10.00 Mock the Week – Again (R,S).

9/12. An edition of the comedy show from September 2012, with Greg Davies, Jo Caulfield and Gary Delaney joining Hugh Dennis, Andy Parsons and Chris Addison. Dara O Briain hosts.

10.30 Newsnight (S,HD). Followed

by Weather.

10.00 ITV News at Ten (S).

10.30 Regional News (S); Weather.

10.35 The Jonathan Ross Show (R,S,HD). 4/10. The host is joined by Paul Hollywood from The Great British Bake Off, actor and comedian Steve Coogan, Jonathan Rhys Meyers (The Tudors) and Pet Shop Boys, who provide the music.

10.00 Bouncers (S). 1/3. See Choices Above.

10.00 Person of Interest (S,HD).

3/22. The daughter of a Brazilian diplomat is targeted by kidnappers, while Carter suspects that Snow made a post-mortem incision into Corwin’s body and removed something.

▼

10

10.00 BBC News (S,HD).

10.25 Regional News (S); Weather.

10.35 Question Time (S,HD). 9/38.

David Dimbleby chairs a debate from Boston, Lincolnshire, with panellists including Ukip leader Nigel Farage facing questions from the audience.

11.35 This Week (S). Andrew Neil introduces a round-table chat, in which he, Michael Portillo and Alan Johnson take a lighthearted romp through the political and parliamentary developments of the past seven days.

11.20 World’s Busiest Maternity Ward (R,S,HD). Anita Rani visits the Dr Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital in the Philippine capital Manila.

11.40 Wild Britain with Ray Mears (R,S,HD). 5/10. The survival expert takes a trip down the River Wye, where he observes the sea lamprey, sand martins tending their young and all three species of British wagtail.

11.05 999: What’s Your Emergency? (R,S,HD). 5/6.

Paramedics across Britain treat patients over the age of 65, who account for two thirds of all ambulance calls every year.

11.00 Law & Order: Criminal Intent (S,HD). 8/8. Last-ever episode.

Twin brothers are found dead in the offices of a successful internet dating website, and Goren attends his final therapy session. Last in the series.

12.20 Holiday Weatherview (S). 12.25 BBC News (S,HD).

12.20 Sign Zone: After Savile: No More Secrets? – Panorama (R,S).In other countries, evidence of child abuse must be reported to the authorities. But that is not the case in Britain, where turning a blind eye to such behaviour in a school, hospital or church is not a crime. 12.50 This Is BBC Two (S). Preview of upcoming programmes from BBC Two. 4.00 BBC Learning Zone

12.05 Jackpot247. Viewers are offered the chance to participate in live interactive gaming from the comfort of their sofas, with an entertaining mix of roulette-wheel spins and lively chat from the presenting team. 3.00 How to Cut Your Energy Bills: Tonight (R,S,HD). 3.25 ITV Nightscreen (HD). 5.05 The Jeremy Kyle Show (R,S).

12.10 One Born Every Minute 1.05 Random Acts 1.10 Embarrassing Bodies: The Man with Half a Face 2.05 Energy Bills Exposed: Channel 4 Dispatches 2.30 Unreported World 3.00 Jungle Special: Inside Nature’s Giants 3.55 SuperScrimpers’ Challenge (R,S,HD). 4.50 Deal or No Deal: Freaky Fun Fayre (R,S,HD). 5.40 Countdown

12.00 SuperCasino. Viewers get the chance to take part in live interactive gaming, with an entertaining mix of roulette-wheel spins and lively chat from the presenting team. 3.05 Bomb Patrol (S,HD). 3.55 HouseBusters (R,S). 4.20 House Doctor (R,S). 4.45 Great Scientists (R,S). 5.10 Michaela’s Wild Challenge (R,S). 5.35 Wildlife SOS (R,S).

▼

after

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BENIDORM ER 8pm, Channel 5

TROLLIED 9pm, Sky1

A Lancashire pensioner is admitted after falling off a toilet and landing on a metal pipe, and a father brings in his four-year-old daughter with a suspected dislocated elbow.

The latest series of the sitcom draws to a close with a double bill. Julie is worried about the drop in customers since the makeover as she and Richard prepare for the supermarket awards. Meanwhile, recent events have knocked the stuffing out of Gavin, who is a shadow of his former self.

ITV2 ITV2

E4 E4

6.00 Emmerdale 6.25 Coronation Street 6.55 You’ve Been Framed! 7.25 Up All Night 7.50 Ben and Kate 8.10 You’ve Been Framed! 8.40 Dinner Date 9.40 Real Housewives of New York City 10.35 Real Housewives of Orange County 11.30 Big Rich Texas 12.30 Emmerdale 1.00 Coronation Street 1.30 You’ve Been Framed! 2.00 The Jeremy Kyle Show 4.10 The Real Housewives of Orange County 5.05 Big Rich Texas

6.00 Switched 6.25 90210 7.10 Ugly Betty 8.00 Charmed 9.00 Glee 10.00 New Girl 10.30 Suburgatory 11.00 Rules of Engagement 11.30 Charmed (R).

12.30 Hollyoaks 1.00 How I Met Your Mother 2.00 The Big Bang Theory 3.00 New Girl 3.30 Suburgatory (R,HD). 4.00 Rules of Engagement (R,HD). 5.00 How I Met Your Mother (R,HD).

Sky1 Sky1 6.00 Dog the Bounty Hunter (R,S). 6.30 Dog the Bounty Hunter (R,S). 7.00 The Middle (R,S,HD). 7.30 The Middle (R,S,HD). 8.00 Stargate SG-1 (R,S,HD). 10.00 NCIS: Los Angeles (R,S,HD). 1.00 NCIS: Los Angeles (R,S,HD). 2.00 Hawaii Five-0 (R,S,HD). 3.00 Stargate SG-1 (R,S,HD). 5.00 Futurama (R,S). 5.30 The Middle (R,S,HD).

FILM PICKS

Thursday television&radio THAT TOUCH OF MINK 1.15pm, Channel 4

QUANTUM OF SOLACE 10.50pm, ITV2

A sophisticated millionaire businessman goes in passionate pursuit of a strait-laced secretary. Comedy, starring Cary Grant.

Gold GOLD 6.00 2point4 Children 6.30 Brittas Empire 7.00 2point4 Children 7.40 The Brittas Empire 8.20 Just Good Friends 9.00 Green Green Grass 9.40 As Time Goes By 10.20 Last of the Summer Wine 11.40 Porridge.

12.20 Ever Decreasing Circles. 1.00 Harry Hill’s TV Burp 2.00 As Time Goes By 2.40 Goodnight Sweetheart 3.20 The Vicar of Dibley 4.00 Last of the Summer Wine 5.20 One Foot in the Grave

Spy thriller sequel, starring Daniel Craig, Olga Kurylenko, Judi Dench, Gemma Arterton and Mathieu Amalric.

SkySports1 Sky Sports 1 6.00 Live Test Cricket (HD). India v West Indies. 11.30 Football Gold (S). 11.45 Football Gold (S). 12.00 What’s the Story? (HD). 1.00 UEFA Champions League Goals (HD). 2.00 Sporting Heroes (HD).

Interview with a leading sportsman.

3.00 What’s the Story? (HD). 4.00 UEFA Champions League Goals (HD). 5.00 FIFA Futbol Mundial.

5.30 Premier League World (HD).

Celebrity Juice, 10pm

Suburgatory, 8pm

Trollied, 9pm

Yes, Prime Minister, 8.20pm

The Rugby Club, 8pm

6.00 Dinner Date (R,HD). A man from London takes part in the dating show.

Narrated by Charlotte Hudson.

6.00 The Big Bang Theory (R,HD).

6.30 The Big Bang Theory (R,HD).

6.00 The Middle (R,S,HD).

Rusty moves some stolen furniture into the Hecks’ garage.

6.30 The Simpsons (R,S).

6.00 Harry Hill’s TV Burp. A comic look at soaps and celebrities.

6.30 Harry Hill’s TV Burp.

6.00 Ringside (HD).

7.00 You’ve Been Framed!

(R).

7.30 You’ve Been Framed!

(R). Harry Hill narrates another selection of camcorder calamities.

7.00 Hollyoaks (HD). The villagers deal with the tragic repercussions of the hostage situation.

7.30 How I Met Your Mother (R,HD).

7.00 The Simpsons (R,S,HD).

Bart discovers a passion for American history.

7.30 The Simpsons (R,S).

Bart buys a rare comic.

7.00 Porridge. Fletch sorts out Godber’s love life.

7.40 Blackadder Goes Forth. Captain Blackadder organises a stage show.

7.00 FL72 Preview. A look ahead to the latest round of fixtures in the Championship, League One and League Two.

8.00 You’ve Been Framed!

(R). Harry Hill comedy capers include a group of workmen messing about.

8.00 Suburgatory (HD).

Tessa worries she has lost her cool persona.

8.30 The Big Bang Theory (HD). Leonard and Sheldon go through an adjustment period.

Johnny Galecki stars.

8.00 Modern Family (R,S,HD). Phil takes the family on a road trip in his new motor home.

Comedy, starring Ty Burrell and Ed O’Neill.

8.30 Modern Family (R,S,HD).

8.20 Yes, Prime Minister. Sir Humphrey’s pro-Euro scheme seems to have failed, but some embarrassing expenses claims may provide a means to salvage his plan.

8.00 The Rugby Club (HD).

Alex Payne rounds up the latest domestic rugby union action, hearing from the players in the news and finding out how the game is developing at grass-roots level.

9.00 Trollied (S,HD). See Choices Above.

9.30 Trollied (S,HD). Richard gets some of the staff to pose as shoppers. Last in the series.

9.00 Only Fools and Horses.

Rodney aspires to be a pop star, but Del-Boy manages to ruin his chances. Guest starring DJ Mike Read.

9.40 Gavin & Stacey. Smithy worries about seeing Nessa again.

9.00 Ringside (HD). Boxing magazine, including highlights of recent bouts and interviews with the stars currently causing a stir in the ring.

9.00 Tricked (HD). Magician 9.00 2 Broke Girls (HD). New Ben Hanlin messes with series. A rumour about former footballer Robbie an incident involving a Savage’s £150,000 rock star boosts business supercar, giving him an for Max and Caroline’s expensive surprise. Plus, pop-up shop.

Essex girl Amy Childs has 9.30 Drifters (HD). Meg is a shock at a teddy bear offered an internship at shop. a local radio station.

10.20 You, Me & Them. Ed makes meticulous plans for living in domestic bliss with Lauren – but Alan keeps getting in the way.

12.55 The Only Way Is Essex (R,HD). Reality programme following a group of people in Essex, with each episode filmed just a few days before transmission.

1.40 Tricked (R,HD). 2.30 Teleshopping. Buying goods from the comfort of home.

12.00 Men Behaving Badly. Gary and Dorothy take a weekend break at a country hotel to spice up their love life. 12.40 Men Behaving Badly. Tony tries to make Deborah jealous. 1.15 Rev 1.45 Men Behaving Badly 2.15 Just Good Friends 2.45 Cr*pston Villas 3.00 Home Shopping

RADIO

10.00 A League of Their 10.00 Celebrity Juice (HD).

10.00 Educating Essex (R).

Own (R,S,HD). Radio 1 Holly Willoughby and a Headmaster Mr DJ Sara Cox and One guest team captain are Goddard faces one of Direction’s Harry Styles, joined by girl band Little the toughest decisions Louis Tomlinson and Mix and Geordie of his career when he Niall Horan join the comedian Chris Ramsey. has to deal with a pupil sports-based comedy Hosted by Keith Lemon. whose home life is quiz, hosted by James having a negative 10.50 Quantum of Solace Corden. impact on his academic (HD) (2008). James Bond results. sets out on a personal mission of vengeance and uncovers a plan to 11.05 How I Met Your 11.00 Gravity Movie Special cause a coup in a Latin Mother (R,HD).

(S,HD). Behind the American country. Spy scenes of Alfonso 11.35 The Big Bang Theory thriller sequel, starring Cuarón’s sci-fi thriller.

(R,HD). Amy is caught in Daniel Craig, Olga a conflict between 11.30 Road Wars (R,S). Video Kurylenko and Mathieu Sheldon and Penny. footage of dangers on Amalric. See Choices the road.

Above. ●●● 12.00 The Big Bang Theory (R,HD). Leonard accompanies Amy to her colleague’s wedding. 12.30 Happy Endings (R,HD). 1.00 Misfits (R,HD). 2.00 Educating Essex (R). 2.55 The Cleveland Show (R,HD). 3.15 The Cleveland Show (R,HD). 3.40 Glee (R,HD).

4.20 Ugly Betty (R,HD).

Radio 1 6.30am The Radio 1 Breakfast Show with Nick Grimshaw 10.00 Gemma Cairney 12.45pm Newsbeat 1.00 Scott Mills 4.00 Greg James 7.00 Zane Lowe 9.00 In New DJs We Trust 10.00 Phil Taggart Midnight The Residency: Mosca 2.00 Toddla T 4.00 Dev Radio 2 5.00am Sara Cox 6.30 Chris Evans 9.30 Ken Bruce Noon Jeremy Vine 2.00 Steve Wright in the Afternoon 5.00 Simon Mayo 7.00 Bob Harris Country 8.00 Jo Whiley 10.00 Country to Country Festival 11.00 Nigel Ogden: The Organist Entertains 11.30 Listen to the Band Midnight Janice Long 2.00 Alex Lester

12.00 Cop Squad (R,S,HD). The work of police officers in Cambridgeshire. 1.00 Road Wars (R,S,HD). 2.00 Hawaii Five-0 (R,S,HD). 3.00 Road Wars (R,S,HD).

4.00 Dog the Bounty Hunter (R,S). 4.30 Dog the Bounty Hunter (R,S). 5.00 Airline (R,S).

5.30 Airline (R,S).

Radio 3 6.30am Breakfast 9.00 Essential Classics Noon Composer of the Week: Ethel Smyth 1.00 News 1.02 Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert 2.00 Afternoon on 3 4.30 In Tune 6.30 Composer of the Week: Ethel Smyth 7.30 Radio 3 Live in Concert. Andrew Manze and the BBCSSO continue their Vaughan Williams cycle with his Sinfonia Antartica, and perform Mozart’s Piano Concerto No 20 with Shai Wosner, as well as Tippett. 10.00 Free Thinking. A debate on whether Britain has lost touch with nature.

10.45 The Free Thinking Essay: New Generation Thinkers 11.00 Late Junction 12.30am Through the Night

Radio 4 5.30am News Briefing 5.43 Prayer for the Day 5.45 Farming Today 5.58 Tweet of the Day 6.00 Today 8.31 (LW) Yesterday in Parliament 9.00 In Our Time 9.45 (LW) Daily Service 9.45 (FM) Book of the Week: Olivier 10.00 Woman’s Hour 11.00 From Our Own Correspondent 11.30 Behind the Looking Glass Noon News 12.01 (LW) Shipping Forecast 12.04 You and Yours 1.00 The World at One 1.45 The Roots of Scottish Nationalism 2.00 The Archers 2.15 Afternoon Drama: Titanium 3.00 Open Country 3.27 (LW) Radio 4 Appeal 3.27 (FM) Radio 4 Appeal 3.30 (LW) Bookclub 3.30 (FM) Bookclub 4.00 The Film

BBC3 BBC3

7.00 Great TV Mistakes (R,S).

7.10 Doctor Who (R,S).

8.00 Motorway Cops (R,S). Traffic police enforce the law on Britain’s most dangerous highways.

9.00 Hotel of Mum and Dad (S). A couple from Swansea sample life away from a doting mother.

Last in the series.

10.00 Live at the Apollo (R,S).

Micky Flanagan introduces Jason Byrne and Seann Walsh.

10.30 EastEnders (R,S).

11.00 Family Guy (R,S).

11.25 Family Guy (R,S).

11.45 American Dad! (S).

12.10 American Dad! (R,S). Stan becomes his boss’s adviser. 12.30 Staying In with Greg and Russell (R,S). 1.00 Sweat the Small Stuff (R,S). 1.30 Hotel of Mum and Dad (R,S). 2.30 Unsafe Sex in the City (R,S). 3.30 Some Girls (R,S).

BBC4 BBC4

7.00 World News Today; Weather.

7.30 The Sky at Night (R). The team watches a lunar eclipse.

8.00 Survivors: Nature’s Indestructible Creatures (R).

Richard Fortey explores the KT boundary, a line across Earth that geologists believe was created when an asteroid struck the planet 65 million years ago.

9.00 Defiance (2008).

Second World War drama, starring Daniel Craig and Jamie Bell. ●●● 11.05 Timeshift: When Coal Was King (R). A look at the lost world of coal mining.

12.05 Lost Horizons: The Big Bang (R). 1.05 The Sky at Night (R). 1.35 The Final Frontier? A Horizon Guide to the Universe (R). 2.35 Survivors: Nature’s Indestructible Creatures (R).

10.00 FL72 Preview

11.00 Harry Hill’s TV Burp.

11.00 Ringside (HD).

The quirky comic takes a surreal look at soap sagas and celebrities, subjecting them to his unique brand of scrutiny.

11.30 Harry Hill’s TV Burp

Programme 4.30 Inside Science 5.00 PM 5.54 (LW) Shipping Forecast 5.57 Weather 6.00 Six O’Clock News 6.30 Clare in the Community 7.00 The Archers 7.15 Front Row 7.45 Petite Mort 8.00 Law in Action.

Developments in the legal world.

Presented by Joshua Rozenberg. Last in the series. 8.30 The Bottom Line 9.00 Inside Science 9.30 In Our Time 9.59 Weather 10.00 The World Tonight 10.45 Book at Bedtime: The Goldfinch 11.00 Seekers 11.30 Today in Parliament Midnight News 12.30 Book of the Week: Olivier 12.48 Shipping Forecast 1.00 As BBC World Service 5.20 Shipping Forecast

WCL-E01-S2

12.00 NFL – A Football Life (HD).

1.00 Live NFL (HD). Minnesota Vikings v Washington Redskins (Kick-off 1.25am). 4.30 FL72 Preview 5.30 Premier League World (HD). A round-up of the latest news surrounding the Premier League, featuring interviews with managers and players.

Radio 5 Live 5.30am Wake Up to Money 6.00 5 Live Breakfast 10.00 Tony Livesey Noon Shelagh Fogarty 2.00 Richard Bacon 4.00 5 Live Drive 7.00 5 Live Sport 8.00 5 Live Sport: 5 Live Rugby. Matt Dawson presents the latest rugby union news and interviews, looking ahead to the latest round of matches in the autumn internationals.

9.30 5 Live Sport: 5 Live Rugby League 10.00 Question Time Extra Time 1.00am Up All Night Classic FM 6.00am More Music Breakfast 9.00 John Suchet 1.00pm Jamie Crick 5.00 Classic FM Drive 8.00 The Full Works Concert 10.00 Smooth Classics 2.00am Nick Bailey

SATURDAY NOVEMBER 2 2013 WEST COUNTRY LIFE 51

Fr iday Television television&radio Friday’s Guide TV PICKS

HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU 9pm, BBC1

GREATEST KIDS’ TV SHOWS 9pm, Channel 5

Alexander Armstrong takes to the host’s chair, with Ian Hislop and Paul Merton joined by MEP Godfrey Bloom and TV presenter Victoria Coren Mitchell.

BBC1 BBC1

6.00 Breakfast (S,HD). 9.15 Remembrance Week (S,HD). 10.00 Homes Under the Hammer (R,S). 11.00 Saints and Scroungers (S,HD). 11.45 Escape to the Country (S). 12.15 Bargain Hunt (S,HD). 1.00 News (S,HD). 1.30 Regional News (S). 1.45 Doctors (S,HD). 2.15 The Indian Doctor (S,HD). 3.00 Pressure Pad (S,HD). 3.45 Paul Hollywood’s Pies & Puds (S,HD). 4.30 Antiques Road Trip (S,HD). 5.15 Pointless (S,HD).

FILM RATINGS ●●●●● Excellent ●●●● Very good ●●● Good ●● Average ● Poor

Countdown of the 50 best-loved British children’s TV shows, looking back on a host of hugely popular programmes including Blue Peter, Bagpuss, Captain Pugwash, Going Live, Tiswas and Peppa Pig. Featuring contributions by many of the famous faces involved, including Phillip Schofield and Chris Tarrant.

BBC2 BBC2

6.00 This Is BBC Two (S). 6.30 Homes Under the Hammer (R,S,HD). 7.30 Saints and Scroungers (R,S,HD). 8.15 Sign Zone: Real Rescues (R,S). 9.00 Sign Zone: Flog It! Trade Secrets (R,S). 10.00 Question Time (R,S,HD). 11.00 BBC News (S,HD).

11.30 BBC World News (S,HD). 12.00 Daily Politics (S). 1.00 Animal Park (S).

Darcy the antelope runs away. 2.00 Live Tennis: ATP World Tour Finals (S,HD). 5.00 Flog It! (R,S).

THE NATION’S FAVOURITE ELVIS SONG 9pm, ITV

MAN DOWN 9.30pm, Channel 4

Brian introduces Dan to a guru with a secret so powerful he can only tell it to one person at a time, which keeps the teacher completely mesmerised. Meanwhile, unexpected visitors in the classroom and an extreme wake-up call from his dad stand in the way of Dan getting his life back on track.

A countdown of the King’s 20 greatest hits. There’s also a rare interview with Elvis’s ex-wife Priscilla Presley and stories from a host of songwriters.

ITV1 ITV

6.00 Daybreak (S,HD). 8.30 Lorraine (S).

9.25 The Jeremy Kyle Show (S). 10.30 This Morning (S). 12.30 Loose Women (S,HD). 1.30 ITV News and Weather (S).

1.55 Regional News (S). 2.00 Dickinson’s Real Deal (R,S). From Ironbridge, Shropshire. 3.00 The Alan Titchmarsh Show (S,HD). Features, music and conversation. Presented by Alan Titchmarsh.

3.59 Regional Weather (S). 4.00 Tipping Point (S,HD). 5.00 The Chase (S,HD).

Channel Channel 4

6.25 The Treacle People (R,S). 6.35 The Hoobs (R,S). 7.05 According to Jim (R,S,HD).

7.30 Will & Grace (R,S). 7.55 Everybody Loves Raymond (R,S). 9.00 Frasier (R,S).

10.00 Undercover Boss USA (R,S,HD). 11.00 Beat My Build (S,HD). 12.00 News Summary (S). 12.05 Gordon Ramsay’s Home Cooking (S,HD). 12.35 River Cottage Bites (S,HD).

12.50 Film: Escape to Athena (S,HD) (1979). ●● 3.10 Countdown (S,HD). 4.00 Deal or No Deal (S,HD). 5.00 Four in a Bed (S,HD). 5.30 Come Dine with Me (S,HD).

Channel Channel 5

6.00 Milkshake! 9.15 The Wright Stuff (HD). 11.10 The Hotel Inspector (R,S).

12.10 5 News Lunchtime (S,HD). 12.15 Construction Squad: Operation Homefront (R,S,HD). 1.15 Home and Away (S,HD). 1.45 Neighbours (S,HD).

2.20 The Mentalist (R,S). 3.15 Film: Meltdown: Days of Destruction (S) (2006). Premiere. Thriller, starring Casper Van Dien. ●● 5.00 5 News at 5 (S,HD). 5.30 Neighbours (R,S,HD).

Gardeners’ World, 8.30pm

Off the Beaten Track, 8pm

8 Out of 10 Cats, 9pm

The Mentalist, 2.20pm

▼

6.00 BBC News (S,HD); Weather.

6.30 Regional News (S); Weather.

6.00 Eggheads (S,HD). 94/140. Quiz show, hosted by Jeremy Vine.

6.30 Strictly Come Dancing – It Takes Two (S,HD). A look ahead to tomorrow’s live show.

6.00 Regional News (S); Weather.

6.30 ITV News and Weather (S).

6.00 The Simpsons (R,S,HD). 17/21.

6.30 Hollyoaks (S,HD). The villagers deal with the tragic repercussions of the hostage situation.

6.00 Home and Away (R,S,HD).

Zac’s nephew Oscar calls from the lodge asking for help.

6.30 NewsTalk Live (S,HD).

▼

7.00 The One Show (S,HD). Hosted

by Chris Evans and Alex Jones.

7.30 A Question of Sport (R,S,HD).

With Chris Hoy and Joe Calzaghe. Followed by BBC News; Regional News.

7.00 Celebrity Antiques Road Trip (S,HD). 5/20. Colin Baker and Peter Purves take part in the challenge.

7.00 Emmerdale (S,HD). David finds out Priya definitely is pregnant.

7.30 Coronation Street (S,HD).

Hayley gets a shock when she visits the hospice to see Jane.

7.00 News (S).

7.30 Unreported World (S). 6/8.

How political unrest has affected Egypt’s tourism industry.

7.55 4thought.tv (S).

7.00 Chris Tarrant Goes Fishing (S). Salmon fishing on the Baronscourt Estate in Co Tyrone. Followed by 5 News Update.

▼

6 7 8 9

Room 101, 8.30pm

8.00 EastEnders (S,HD). The thought of lying in court has Ian in a panic, so he visits Carl to try to get out of their agreement.

8.30 Room 101 (R,S,HD). 5/8. With Alistair McGowan, Hilary Devey and Josh Groban.

8.00 Mastermind (S,HD). 12/31.

Specialist subjects include Star Trek and the rugby union world cup.

8.30 Gardeners’ World (S,HD).

30/31. Joe Swift visits the garden of Wayne and Gerardine Hemingway.

8.00 Off the Beaten Track (S,HD).

2/6. Christine Bleakley visits Dedham Vale on the EssexSuffolk border.

8.30 Coronation Street (S,HD).

Todd is ordered out of the Bistro by Nick.

8.00 Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD (S,HD). 6/22. When floating corpses appear, Coulson and the agents must hunt down an elusive killer in an investigation where nobody is safe. Comicbook drama, starring Clark Gregg.

8.00 Stobart: Trucks, Trains & Planes (S,HD). See Choices Above.

▼

(R) repeat (S) subtitles (HD) highdefinition

9.00 Have I Got News for You (S,HD). 6/11. See Choices Above.

9.30 Citizen Khan (S,HD). 6/6. Mr Khan is eager to appear in a video for the mosque. Last in the series.

9.00 Cold War, Hot Jets (S,HD). 1/2.

Part one of two. James Holland examines how the development of the jet engine resulted in Britain acquiring a world-leading aviation industry during the Cold War.

9.00 The Nation’s Favourite Elvis Song (S,HD). See Choices Above.

9.00 8 Out of 10 Cats (S,HD). 6/9.

Jimmy Carr hosts the comedy panel show.

9.30 Man Down (S,HD). 4/6.

See Choices Above.

9.00 Greatest Kids’ TV Shows (S).

Countdown of the 50 bestloved British children’s TV shows, looking back on a host of hugely popular programmes including Blue Peter, Bagpuss, Captain Pugwash, Going Live, Tiswas and Peppa Pig. Featuring contributions by many of the famous faces involved, including Phillip Schofield, Chris Tarrant, John Craven, Christopher Biggins, Dani Harmer, Phyllida Law, Morwenna Banks, Helen Skelton, Johnny Ball, Peter Purves and Valerie Singleton, as well as cast members from Grange Hill and Sylvia Anderson, who was the voice of Lady Penelope in Thunderbirds.

See Choices Above.

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11

10.00 QI (S,HD). 10/18. See Choices Above.

10.30 Newsnight (S,HD).

10.30 ITV News and Weather (S).

10.00 Alan Carr: Chatty Man (S,HD). 11/18. Robin Thicke talks to the host and performs his latest single, Paul O’Grady discusses his new chat show, and Jack Whitehall is joined by his father Michael to promote their book.

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10

10.00 BBC News (S,HD).

10.25 Regional News (S). Followed

by National Lottery Update.

10.35 The Graham Norton Show (S,HD). 5/20. With Lady Gaga, Jude Law, June Brown and Greg Davies.

11.20 Bluestone 42 (S,HD). 4/8. Nick tries to prove to Mary that he is not superstitious.

11.50 The 13th Warrior (S) (1999).

See Choices Above. ●●●

11.00 Weather (S).

11.05 Later with Jools Holland (S,HD). 8/8. Extended edition.

With the Killers, Chase and Status, Boy George, Jimmy Webb and Justin Currie. Last in the series.

11.00 Regional News (S); Weather.

11.05 Wanted (S,HD) (2008). A man joins a secret society of superpowered assassins that kills people destined to commit acts of evil. Action adventure, starring James McAvoy. ●●●

11.05 Stand Up for the Week (S,HD). 2/8. Paul Chowdhry hosts the satirical comedy show.

11.55 Was It Something I Said?

(S,HD). 5/8. Extended edition, with guests Robert Webb and Miles Jupp.

1.30 Weatherview (S). 1.35 BBC News (S,HD).

12.10 Film: Spider (S) (2002). A schizophrenic pieces together the traumatic childhood events that led to his condition. David Cronenberg’s psychological thriller, starring Ralph Fiennes and Miranda Richardson. ●●●● 1.45 Sign Zone: Question Time (R,S).

2.45 Sign Zone: The Paradise (R,S,HD).

3.45 This Is BBC Two (S).

1.00 Jackpot247 Viewers get the chance to participate in live interactive gaming from the comfort of their sofas, with a mix of roulette-wheel spins and lively chat from the presenting team. 3.00 Film: Columbo: Death Hits the Jackpot (S,HD) (1991).

Detective drama, with Peter Falk and Rip Torn. ●●● 4.40 ITV Nightscreen (HD).

Text-based information service.

12.40 Gogglebox (R,S). 1.25 Random Acts (S). 1.30 Film: Greenberg (S,HD) (2010). See Choices Above. ●●● 3.15 The Big C (S,HD). 3.45 2 Broke Girls (S,HD).

4.10 Don’t Trust the B**** in Apartment 23 (S,HD). 4.30 Deal or No Deal: Freaky Fun Fayre (R,S,HD). 5.25 Kirstie’s Vintage Gems (R,S,HD). 5.30 Countdown (R,S,HD).

▼

after

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12.00 SuperCasino Viewers get the chance to take part in live interactive gaming, with a mix of roulette-wheel spins and lively chat from the presenting team.

3.05 Criminals: Caught on Camera (R,S,HD). 3.55 Motorsport Mundial (HD).

4.20 House Doctor (R,S). 4.45 Great Scientists (R,S). 5.10 Michaela’s Wild Challenge (R,S). 5.35 Wildlife SOS (R,S).

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STOBART: TRUCKS, TRAINS & PLANES 8pm, Channel 5

QI 10pm, BBC2

The return of the programme about the haulage company. Ashley Maddocks and Craig Garside go head to head with drivers from Ice Road Truckers at Truckfest Scotland.

ITV2 ITV2 6.00 Emmerdale (R,HD). 6.55 You’ve Been Framed! (R). 7.25 Up All Night (R,HD). 7.50 Ben and Kate (R,HD). 8.10 You’ve Been Framed! (R). 8.40 Dinner Date (R,HD). 9.40 The Real Housewives of New York City (R,HD). 10.35 The Real Housewives of Orange County (R,HD).

11.30 Big Rich Texas (R,HD). 12.30 Emmerdale (R,HD). 1.30 You’ve Been Framed! (R). 2.00 The Jeremy Kyle Show (R). 4.10 The Real Housewives of Orange County (R,HD). 5.05 Big Rich Texas (R,HD).

South Shields comedienne Sarah Millican and Salford stand-up Jason Manford are joining in the fun on Stephen Fry’s irreverent, intelligent quiz tonight. QI frequent flier Bill Bailey represents the south-west, with the ever-present Essex boy Alan Davies in for the south-east.

E4 E4 6.00 Switched (R). 6.25 90210 (R,HD). 7.10 Ugly Betty (R,HD). 8.00 Charmed (R). 9.00 Glee 10.00 New Girl (R,HD). 10.30 Suburgatory (R,HD). 11.00 Rules of Engagement (R,HD). 11.30 Charmed (R). 12.30 Hollyoaks (R,HD). 1.00 How I Met Your Mother (R,HD). 2.00 The Big Bang Theory (R,HD). 3.00 New Girl (R,HD). 3.30 Suburgatory (R,HD).

4.00 Rules of Engagement (R,HD).

5.00 How I Met Your Mother (R,HD).

Sky1 Sky1 6.00 Dog the Bounty Hunter (R,S). 6.30 Dog the Bounty Hunter (R,S). 7.00 The Middle (R,S,HD). 7.30 The Middle (R,S,HD). 8.00 Stargate SG-1 (R,S,HD). 10.00 NCIS: Los Angeles (R,S,HD). 1.00 NCIS: Los Angeles (R,S,HD). 2.00 Hawaii Five-0 (R,S,HD). 3.00 Stargate SG-1 (R,S,HD). 5.00 The Simpsons (R,S).

5.30 The Middle (R,S,HD).

FILM PICKS

Friday television&radio THE 13TH WARRIOR 11.50pm, BBC1

GREENBERG 1.30am, Channel 4

A nobleman joins forces with Norse warriors to fight a shadowy band of attackers at the end of the first millennium.

Adventure, starring Antonio Banderas.

Gold GOLD 6.00 2point4 Children 6.30 The Brittas Empire 7.00 2point4 Children 7.40 The Brittas Empire 8.20 Just Good Friends 9.00 As Time Goes By 9.40 Last of the Summer Wine 11.00 One Foot in the Grave 11.40 Porridge 12.20 Ever Decreasing Circles 1.00 Harry Hill’s TV Burp 2.00 As Time Goes By 2.40 Goodnight Sweetheart 4.00 Last of the Summer Wine 5.20 Only Fools and Horses.

Comedy drama, with Ben Stiller, Rhys Ifans, Greta Gerwig, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Brie Larson, Juno Temple, Chris Messina and Susan Traylor.

SkySports1 Sky Sports 1 6.00 Good Morning Sports Fans (HD). 7.00 Good Morning Sports Fans (HD). 8.00 Good Morning Sports Fans (HD). 9.00 FL72 Preview 10.00 The Rugby Club (HD). 11.00 Ringside (HD). 12.00 NFL (HD). 1.00 Football 3.00 The Rugby Club (HD). Rugby union magazine. 4.00 FL72 Preview A look ahead to the latest round of fixtures. 5.00 NFL (HD).

I’m a Celebrity … 8pm

2 Broke Girls, 8.30pm

Karl Pilkington … 10pm

Porridge, 8.20pm

The Fantasy … 6.30pm

6.00 Dinner Date (R,HD).

Londoner Luan chooses three blind dates.

Narrated by Charlotte Hudson.

6.00 The Big Bang Theory (R,HD). Penny arranges a date for Raj. 6.30 The Big Bang Theory (R,HD).

6.00 The Middle (R,S,HD).

Axl and Sue are teamed up on a school project.

6.30 The Simpsons (R,S).

The nuclear plant is sold.

6.00 Harry Hill’s TV Burp. A comic look at soaps and celebrities.

6.30 Harry Hill’s TV Burp.

6.00 Champions League Weekly (HD). A look back at matchday four.

6.30 The Fantasy Football Club (HD).

7.00 You’ve Been Framed!

(R).

7.30 You’ve Been Framed!

(R). Camcorder clips, including a flying lawnmower.

7.00 Hollyoaks (HD). Cindy, Lindsey and Mercedes work together to keep their grim secret hidden.

7.30 How I Met Your Mother (R,HD).

7.00 The Simpsons (R,S).

Barney gives up alcohol.

7.30 The Simpsons (R,S).

With the voices of Melanie Griffith and Larry Hagman.

7.00 Gavin & Stacey. Smithy worries about seeing Nessa again.

7.40 You, Me & Them. Alan gets in the way of Ed’s plans for domestic bliss.

8.00 I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here Now: Golden Moments (R).

Highlights of the first 12 series.

8.00 The Big Bang Theory (R,HD). Leonard and Sheldon go through an adjustment period.

8.30 2 Broke Girls (R,HD).

The business is boosted by a rumour involving a rock star.

8.00 Football’s Funniest Moments (R,S,HD). A look back at comical incidents from the world of Premier League football, including interviews with players and pundits.

8.20 Porridge. The inmates take advantage of the relaxed atmosphere – and of Barrowclough – with Mackay away on holiday.

7.30 Live Victory Shield Football (HD). England v Northern Ireland (kickoff 7.35pm). All the action from the latest match of the tournament for under-16s sides, which takes place at Dean Court, Bournemouth. This is England’s second fixture in a competition they have become accustomed to winning in recent years.

9.00 Quantum of Solace (HD) (2008). James Bond sets out on a personal mission of vengeance as he pursues the secret criminal organisation Quantum. His search leads him to the head of an ecological corporation, who is plotting to orchestrate a coup in a Latin American country to get his hands on a precious natural resource. Spy thriller sequel, starring Daniel Craig, Olga Kurylenko, Judi Dench, Gemma Arterton and Mathieu Amalric. Including FYI Daily. ●●●

9.00 Shooter (HD) (2007). A 9.00 A League of Their 9.00 The Royle Family. Dave 9.30 The Fantasy Football former Marine sniper is Own: Best Bits (S,HD). grows a goatee beard Club (HD). John Fendley coaxed back into action James Corden presents and the Royles throw a and Paul Merson present when government out-takes from series party to celebrate baby a discussion on key officials need his help to seven of the comedy David’s christening. fantasy football issues, as prevent an assassination quiz, featuring team well as the weekend’s 9.40 The Royle Family at attempt on the US captains Jamie Redknapp Premier League matches.

Christmas. The Royles president. However, the and Andrew “Freddie” watch Rolf Harris on the intended target is in fact Flintoff, plus regular box. an African archbishop, panellist Jack Whitehall. and the marksman is set 10.20 Come Fly with Me. 10.00 Karl Pilkington: The 10.30 Premier League up by double-crossing Taaj Manzoor bumps Moaning of Life Preview (HD). A look agents to take the fall, into Harry Potter star (R,S,HD). Karl sets off ahead to the weekend’s forcing him to go on the Rupert Grint, and Great around the world in an fixtures, which include run as he fights to clear British Air’s snobbiest attempt to understand Manchester United v his name. Action thriller, employee is forced to why people want Arsenal, Sunderland v with Mark Wahlberg, deal with passengers children, including visits Manchester City and Michael Pena and Danny from the lower classes. to a fertility festival in Southampton v Hull City.

Glover. ●●● Japan and a natural birthing centre in Bali.

11.00 Harry Hill’s TV Burp.

11.00 Trollied (R,S,HD).

11.00 Champions League The quirky comic takes a Weekly (HD).

11.30 Trollied (R,S,HD). surreal look at soap Richard gets some of the 11.30 Victory Shield Football sagas and celebrities, staff to pose as shoppers.

(HD). England v Northern subjecting them to his Last in the series.

Ireland. unique brand of scrutiny.

11.30 Harry Hill’s TV Burp.

1.25 The Vampire Diaries (R,HD).

As a winter wonderland-themed party fills the streets of Mystic Falls, Stefan and Caroline find themselves at odds with Tyler over his plans for Klaus and his hybrids.

2.10 Usher: The Hot Desk (R,HD).

2.25 Teleshopping 5.55 ITV2 Nightscreen

12.00 Film: The Last Samurai (2003). Adventure, starring Tom Cruise. ●●●● 2.55 Hawaii Five-0 (R,S,HD). 3.45 Futurama: Welcome to the World of Tomorrow (R,S). 4.00 Dog the Bounty Hunter (R,S). 4.30 Dog the Bounty Hunter (R,S). 5.00 Airline (R,S). 5.30 Airline (R,S).

RADIO

11.10 2 Fast 2 Furious (HD) 11.35 The Big Bang Theory (2003). A disgraced cop (R,HD). Raj feels upset is given a chance to about not being in a redeem himself by going relationship, so Penny undercover to bring a sets out to find a date drug trafficker to justice. and introduces him to a Thriller, with Paul girl he can actually talk Walker. ●● to.

12.05 The Big Bang Theory (R,HD). 12.35 Drifters (R,HD). 1.10 PhoneShop (R). 1.40 Noel Fielding’s Luxury Comedy (R,HD). 2.15 Chris Moyles’ Quiz Night (R,HD). 2.55 Full English (R,HD). 3.20 Show and Tell (R).

4.00 Glee (R,HD). 4.45 Ugly Betty (R,HD).

Radio 1 6.30am Nick Grimshaw 10.00 Gemma Cairney 12.45pm Newsbeat 1.00 Huw Stephens 4.00 Greg James 6.00 Radio 1’s Dance Anthems with Greg James 7.00 Annie Mac 9.00 Pete Tong 11.00 Skream and Benga 1.00am Radio 1’s Essential Mix 3.00 Annie Nightingale Radio 2 5.00am Sara Cox 6.30 Chris Evans 9.30 Ken Bruce Noon Jeremy Vine 2.00 Steve Wright in the Afternoon 5.00 Simon Mayo 7.00 Desmond Carrington: The Music Goes Round 8.00 Friday Night Is Music Night 10.00 The Radio 2 Arts Show with Claudia Winkleman Midnight Huey Morgan 3.00 Richard Allinson

Radio 3 6.30am Breakfast 9.00 Essential Classics Noon Composer of the Week: Ethel Smyth 1.00 News 1.02 Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert 2.00 Afternoon on 3 4.30 In Tune 6.30 Composer of the Week: Ethel Smyth 7.30 Radio 3 Live in Concert. The BBC Philharmonic, conducted by Gianandrea Noseda, performs Verdi’s Overture to Nabucco, Bruch’s Violin Concerto with Renaud Capuçon, and Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony. 10.00 Free Thinking.

Patrick Ness and Charles Fernyhough discuss the development of memories.

10.45 The Free Thinking Essay: New Generation Thinkers 11.00 World on 3 1.00am Through the Night

12.00 Men Behaving Badly Gary digs himself into a hole with a drunken proposal, and Tony spies on Deborah. 12.40 The Royle Family 1.15 The Royle Family at Christmas 1.45 Come Fly with Me 2.15 Men Behaving Badly 2.45 Cr*pston Villas 3.00 Home Shopping

Radio 4 5.30am News Briefing 5.43 Prayer for the Day 5.45 Farming Today 5.58 Tweet of the Day 6.00 Today 8.31 (LW) Yesterday in Parliament 9.00 Desert Island Discs 9.45 (LW) Act of Worship 9.45 (FM) Book of the Week: Olivier 10.00 Woman’s Hour 11.00 Electric News: The World’s First Radio Station 11.30 The Gobetweenies Noon News 12.01 (LW) Shipping Forecast 12.04 You and Yours 12.52 The Listening Project 12.57 Weather 1.00 The World at One 1.45 The Roots of Scottish Nationalism 2.00 The Archers 2.15 Afternoon Drama: Moving Music 3.00 Gardeners’ Question Time 3.45 Edinburgh Haunts

4.00 Last Word 4.30 Feedback 4.56 The Listening Project 5.00 PM 5.54 (LW) Shipping Forecast 5.57 Weather 6.00 Six O’Clock News 6.30 The News Quiz 7.00 The Archers 7.15 Front Row 7.45 (LW) Petite Mort 7.45 (FM) Petite Mort 8.00 Any Questions? Political debate and discussion in Glasgow. 8.50 A Point of View 9.00 Friday Drama: A Slow Air 9.59 Weather 10.00 The World Tonight 10.45 Book at Bedtime: The Goldfinch 11.00 A Good Read 11.30 Today in Parliament 11.55 The Listening Project Midnight News 12.30 Book of the Week: Olivier 12.48 Shipping Forecast 1.00 As BBC World Service 5.20 Shipping Forecast

WCL-E01-S2

BBC3 BBC3

7.00 Great TV Mistakes (R,S).

7.10 Atlantis (R,S).

Hercules visits a witch in an attempt to win Medusa’s heart.

8.00 Snog, Marry, Avoid? (R,S). A tan-lover from Merseyside.

8.30 Snog, Marry, Avoid? (R,S). A pole-dancing Essex girl.

9.00 Streetdance (S) (2010). Drama, starring Nichola Burley. ●●● 10.30 EastEnders (R,S).

Ian tries to get out of his agreement with Carl.

11.00 Family Guy (R,S).

11.25 Family Guy (R,S).

11.45 Fuzzbox (S).

12.10 American Dad! (R,S). Stan meets an old flame. 12.35 American Dad! (R,S). 12.55 American Dad! (R,S). 1.20 American Dad! (R,S). 1.40 Staying In with Greg and Russell (R,S). 2.10 Sweat the Small Stuff (R,S). 2.40 Unsafe Sex in the City (R,S). 3.35 Fuzzbox (R,S).

BBC4 BBC4

7.00 World News Today; Weather.

7.30 Symphony (R).

Classical music in the rapidly changing world of the 20th century. Last in the series.

8.30 Sacred Music: The Story of Allegri’s Miserere (R).

Featuring a performance of the choral work by the Sixteen.

9.00 Elvis Costello: Mystery Dance.

A profile of the singer-songwriter.

10.00 Later Presents – Elvis Costello in Concert (R).

11.00 Blondie: One Way or Another (R). Profile of the pop group fronted by singer Debbie Harry.

12.10 Guitar Heroes at the BBC (R). 1.10 Elvis Costello: Mystery Dance (R). 2.10 Later Presents – Elvis Costello in Concert (R). 3.15 Sacred Music: The Story of Allegri’s Miserere (R).

1.30 Premier League Preview (HD). 2.00 The Fantasy Football Club (HD). 3.00 Champions League Weekly (HD). 3.30 Premier League Preview (HD).

4.00 Victory Shield Football (HD).

Radio 5 Live 5.30am Wake Up to Money 6.00 5 Live Breakfast 10.00 Tony Livesey Noon Shelagh Fogarty 2.00 Kermode and Mayo’s Film Review 4.00 5 Live Drive 7.00 5 Live Sport.

Dan Walker presents the day’s sports news and previews the weekend’s action, including football debate with Peter Schmeichel, Jonathan Northcroft and Robbie Savage. 9.00 5 Live Sport: 5 Live Racing 10.00 Stephen Nolan 1.00am Up All Night Classic FM 6.00am More Music Breakfast 9.00 John Suchet 1.00pm Jamie Crick 5.00 Classic FM Drive 8.00 The Full Works Concert 10.00 Smooth Classics 2.00am Bob Jones

SATURDAY NOVEMBER 2 2013 WEST COUNTRY LIFE 53

Puzzles and poetry

west crossword

poem David Prowse

1

TURNING THE TABLES Three cheers for Greater Manchester, they’ve started something new, An innovation worthy of acclaim, A playground park reserved for those of sixty years or more, Perhaps it’s time that others did the same.

We won’t be getting high on drugs but still they’ll play a part As we discuss our ailments and our ills, Comparing miscellaneous pains as though to win a prize For the most impressive multitude of pills.

Just a nook for gentle exercise, a stretching of the limbs With more long-johns than lycra, I should think, No skate-board ramps or sand-pits, no climbing frames or swings But enough to keep our muscles in the pink.

We’ll spend ages on our mobiles sending imbecilic texts And chatting when we’ve nothing much to say, Making plans in secret for the parties we shall hold When the young ones have a night or two away.

In this turning of the tables, we’ll adopt the ways of youth And respond to every question with a shrug, Blowing bubbles through our dentures as we chew upon our gum While looking round for hoodies we could mug.

Come, join me in the playground on the dot of nine o‘clock When the cold air makes it good to be alive, Knee-bends, assorted push-ups, then it’s running on the spot ....

And at ten, the paramedics will arrive.

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For book enquiries, ring 01752600366.

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We’ll drink a lot and swear a lot and, every Friday night, We’ll infiltrate the night-clubs and the bars, Menacing the dee-jays and insisting on a waltz Instead of all that rubbish with guitars.

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chess Bob Jones Scrabble, poker etc making them more accessible to a viewing public. Their ultimate goal is to have 12 festivals happening every year – four in Europe, four in North America and four across Asia and the rest of the World.

They have events planned for Las Vegas and Prague in December but much nearer to home is one to be held at Plymouth Guildhall on November 16-17 involving a range of games including chess. Visit their website (mindsportsinternational.com) to find out more.

The 14th Senior Congress at the Royal Beacon Hotel, Exmouth, starts a week on Monday. Entries are filling up fast, but there is still space for a few latecomers. For details contact me on 01395-223340.

Here is a game by the winner of last year’s Bournemouth Congress.

White: David Howell. Black: Francis Rayner English Opening [A34] 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.Nc3 Nc6 4.e3 e5 5.d4 cxd4 6.exd4 e4 7.Ne5 Bb4 8.Be2 0–0 9.0–0 Re8 10.Bf4 d6 11.Nxc6 bxc6 12.Qa4 c5 13.Rad1 Bd7 14.Qb3 Qb6 15.dxc5 dxc5 16.Rd6 Qa5 17.Rxf6 gxf6 18.Nd5 Kh8 19.Nxf6 Bd2 20.Qg3 Bxf4 21.Qxf4 White now finishes off in style. 21...Re7 22.Qh6 Bf5 23.Nh5 Black is now faced with mate on g7 or losing his rook to 24.Qf6+ 1–0 The general rule is that knights should avoid getting stuck on the edge of the board where they tend to be least effective, (“knights on the rim are dim”) but in the case of last week’s problem 1.Nd1! was, in fact, the key move, as Black has no way of avoiding all the various mates next move. In this position, White has an easy knight fork that wins the exchange, but there may be a quicker way to finish the game off.

54 WEST COUNTRY LIFE SATURDAY NOVEMBER 2 2013

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ACROSS 1 We went to a florist right in the centre ofright Cherhill to oforder 1 We went to a florist in the centre toto take taketo ato a Cherhillsome to order flowers some flowers funeral (6) funeral (6) 4 Rex, a man from Chantmarle, 4 Rex, a has man from an unan Chantmarle, unusual has Swiss-style usual Swiss-style home (6) home (6) 9 I saw a religious community 9 I saw a religious community leader in a leader in a bar in Bournemouth bar in Bournemouth – I was most – I(5)was most surprised! (5) surprised!

10 My daughter has a second home has which is next to a islake 10 My daughter a second home which oneone mile next to aabout lake about milefrom from Blackwood Blackwood (7)(7) 11 Ned from Devon is going to get 11 Ned from is going get five fiveDevon bantams in toorder tobanhave a tams in order to have a supply supply of eggs (3)of eggs (3) 12 This pretty avenue quickly 12 This pretty avenue quickly became a debecame a desirable address – sirable address – it's near Tavistock (5,4) it's near Tavistock (5,4) 13 village This village near has Blackdog has 13 This near Blackdog a sursurprisingly large green in the prisinglyalarge green in the centre – we last – we last visited itcentre at the weekend (11) visited it at the weekend (11) 18 I18 hearI Elle hadElle just an hour in Hilton hear had just an hour in before she had tobefore return toshe her northern Hilton had to return suburb of toCardiff her (9)northern suburb of Cardiff (9) 21 Rob from Oborne is single (3) 21 Rob from Oborne is single (3) 22true, It'sthetrue, thewe six nights we 22 It's six nights arranged to arranged have Falmouth have in Falmouth lastto April werein really relast April were really relaxing laxing (7) (7) 23 They stock astock variety a of variety grapes in of thisgrapes 23 They greengrocer's shop greengrocer's in Ottery St Mary (5) in this shop in Ottery St Mary (5) 24 I'm Gina intoGina the centre Chel24taking I'm taking into ofthe centre tenham – we'll have a bit of a look around of Cheltenham – we'll have a bit before getting something to eat (6) of a look around before getting something to eat 25 Yes, we ended up moving to a(6) place near 25 Yes, Burbage (6) we ended up moving to a place near Burbage (6)

ACROSS

Our tee-shirts will have pictures of the Zimmers on the front And we’ll squeal and scream and swoon when they perform, Bobbing in our three-piece suits with hearing aids aloft While swigging on Wincarnis as the norm.

Devon’s Team Blitz Tournament was held on Sunday at the Newton Abbot Club and there were several prizewinners. Overall winners were Newton Abbot A who took the Thomas Cup. Teignmouth A won the Hodge Cup for the highest score by a team with a total grade of Under-600, while Newton Abbot B took the cup for U-450s. The only undefeated team was Exmouth Eagles whose Meyrick Shaw took the new trophy for the highest individual score.

A new Plymouth-based organisation has recently started operations in the Westcountry, although their ambitions stretch far beyond these shores. They are called Mind Sports International, a subsidiary of Living it Loving it Ltd, and their aim is to harness modern technologies like web TV and live streaming to tournaments involving chess,

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And imagine, in the mornings, from a play-pen of our own, We could all be thumbing noses at the young, Jeering from the safety-screen afforded by a fence, Pulling faces with a wiggle of the tongue.

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DOWN 1 They are building a sports centre in a sports this centre townin this near 1 They are building (6)(6) town Potterne near Potterne 2 After Oscar left Charlie from 2 After Oscar left Charlie Creacombe she from wasCreacombe so upset – she was so upset – I went giveaher a I went round toround givetoher big big hug (7) (7) hug 3 I spent four hours driving 3 I spent four hours driving around trying to around trying to find this village find this village near St Erme (7) near St Erme (7) 5 Last I left 5 Last week Iweek left Huntley andHuntley travelled toand a a place– just outside place travelled just outsideto of Exmoor I'm the sort of ofwho Exmoor – onI'm person likes to go longthe walkssort (5) of person who likes to go on long 6 I saw a woolly walks (5)animal running around by the of a lake just outside of Latcham (5) 6 side I saw a woolly animal running around by the side of a lake 7 Thejust last time Henryof from Tehidy had outside Latcham (5)a make-over, he took on the style that was 7 The last time Henry from Tehidy popular with hippies in the late 1960s! (3-3) had a make-over, he took on that was new popular 8 My the fatherstyle has the loveliest place –with it's hippies in the near Kingsteignton (11) late 1960s! (3-3) 8 My father has the loveliest new 14 To place observe–anit's astronomical event, Elsie near Kingsteignton and Penny (11) are off to a place in West Cornwall they gatheran to watch it (7) 14 where To observe astronomical event, Elsie and Penny are off 15 I take to this rightCornwall on the to my a dogs place in place West outskirts of Upton for a run around – the where gather land is actuallythey part of a manorto (7) watch it (7) 15This I take my Stdogs to athis place 16 place near Allen has central right on ofallUpton supermarket thatthe has outskirts trees growing forit (2,4) a run around – the land is around actually part of a manor (7) 17 of this church on the of 16Part This place near Stoutskirts Allen has a Totnes has got very dilapidated (6)that has central supermarket trees growing all around it (2,4) 19 These Devon settlers were looking for a 17 Part of this church on the place for a fresh start (5) outskirts of Totnes has got very dilapidated (6) around the fen at 20 There's seven dwellings 19bottom These Devon settlers were the of this valley, not far looking for a place for a fresh start (5) 20 There's seven dwellings around the fen at the bottom of this valley, not far from Boduan in Wales (5) DOWN

Solutions on Page 56 WCL-E01-S2

Stars Claire Petulengro

cryptic crossword Cryptic ACROSS

Crossword

ACROSS DOWN 8 Convinced it’s inevitable (7) 9 A fat insect? (9) 8 Convinced it s one’s seat 1 (5)Period in which the 13 Revolted, had left 14 Move inevitable the teeniest (7) bit (5) main issue appears 15 Best when (7) 9 satisfied A fat insect?

(9) they fall sharply (6) 16 Suppress the had antileft- anti is2wrong 13 Revolted, Level(7) with the post 17 A quarrel when one s seat (5) you take the new (8) car for a drive (3-2) 14 Move the teeniest bit 3 Where you had a try18 Something you wear because you’ve (5) it? (5) ing time while shopalways worn 15 happy Best satisfied 20 Not about,when we gave the ping? chop(7,4) to (5) theyrushed, fall sharply 4 (6) It s true the aunt 22 Off one to (7) the police 16 language Suppress the anti - be Frenchpassed 23 The could (6) away at nine25 Drawing box with (7) (9) anti isa wrong (7) a hole in it ty-nine 27 Play part when of the (7) to hang on 17 the A quarrel youharbourman 5 It s wrong 30 He’s on takethe thewatch new carfor for athe Second to someone s pay (7) Coming drive (6) (3-2) 6 Emphasised that it 31 Show a film about partition? (6) 18 Something you wear been published 32 Has Dante heartlessly put intohad the because you ve (7,3) inferno (5) it? (5)(5) 7 For 15 , the top of 35 Couldalways be Mrworn Right 20 Not happy about, we nothing the tree (4) 36 Declaim, though having to complain about gave(5) the chop to (5) 10 Jokes that create rifts 37 Why don’t remember 22 we Off one rushed, to the the men (6) who struggledpolice in Asia?

(7) (6) 11 For the present, hav39 A23 fight inlanguage the carcould ahead (7) ing electricity (7) The 41 Tea at home, or one of the many be French (6) 12 Try to get the rent restaurants? (5) Drawing a box with in a textile together, but it s a 42 A25 well-known name (5) hole inmakes it (7) a surprise start pain!to(6)a 43 Plan that 27game Play the 19 He robs from the ship rough (9) part of the harbourman (7)“America Atas well (7) (7) 44 Reading through Large” 30 He s on the watch for 21 Won t bother about DOWNthe Second Coming the hat stand with (6) shelves (7) 1 Period in which the main issue appears 31 Show a film about 24 Does it spray(6) ink all 2 Level with the post (8) partition? (6) over the place? (8,3) 3 Where you had a trying time while shop32(7,4) Has Dante heartlessly 26 Averted one s gaze ping? putthe intoaunt the inferno from, when refused 4 It’s true passed away at (5) (9) admittance (6,4) ninety- nine Couldtobehang Mr Right 28 Whenpay the cars 5 It’s35 wrong on(5) to someone’s (7) 6 Emphasised it had 36 Declaim,that though hav- been crashed, got bad published ing(7,3) nothing to comchest abrasions (9) 7 For “15”, top(5)of the tree29 (4) Leaves out the R in plainthe about 10 Jokes thatwecreate rifts (6) 37 Why don t remem divers (7) 11 For the present, having electricity (7) ber the men who 30 Leave the TV 12 Try to get the rent together, but it’s a unplugged (3,3) pain! (6) struggled in Asia? (7) 39robs A fight in the carship as well 32 Distributes about a 19 He from the (7) (7) about the hat stand thousand 21 Won’tahead bother with(5,3) shelves 41 (7) Tea at home, or one 33 Has been worried, 24 Does it all over the place?

(8,3) of spray the manyink restauyou know, and agitat26 Averted one’s rants?

(5) gaze from, whenedrefused (6) admittance (6,4) name in 42 A well-known 34 Gosh! A mug for the 28 When the cars crashed, got bad chest textile (5) drink! (7) abrasions (9) 43 Plan makes Yell Be off! grabbing 29 Leaves outthat the R ina “diver38 s” (7) to a 30 Leavesurprise the TVstart unplugged (3,3) the key (6) rough game (9) a thousand 40 Spoil 32 Distributes about (5,3) a table (4 44 been Reading through you know, and 33 Has worried, agitated America (6) At Large 34 Gosh!(7) A mug for the drink! (7) 38 Yell “Be off !” grabbing the key (6) 40 Spoil a table (4)

1

2

3

4

8

5

6

7

9

10

11

13

12

14

15

16

18

17

20

22

21

Favours have not been appreciated but the time will come when they can pay you back, so try not to kick up too much of a stink. New relationships hit the next level and life feels good again. Finally you’re back in the driving seat. Ring now to reveal your true calling.

19

Time spent with those from your past can tie up loose ends and help you to work out what people really mean to you. Be nice to those you meet in work.

Rumour are likely to be unfounded, so do not act upon them. Call to hear what should be important.

23 24

25

26

27 28

30

29

31

Emotional ties keep you in a friendship which ran its course a long time ago but take a stand. Better suited friends and perhaps even lovers come into your life from Thursday. Ring to hear about your future.

32

33

Many of your sign are infatuated with someone who has shown you that life does not have to be mundane. Just make sure it’s the real you they’re getting to know. Call now to better understand family who are acting so strangely.

34 36

35

40

39

Saturn, the planet of structure, helps you to work out where your career needs to head in order to get the most from it. The Sun casts you in an attractive light.

Just beware of attached signs playing games. Ring now to hear why it’s worth putting in overtime.

38

37

42

41

43

44

Overseas links are well starred and you have the backing of the stars to ensure a trip goes smoothly.

Don’t accuse close ones of things they haven’t done.

Act only on what you see and not what you hear. Ring to hear what Mars is waiting to give you.

quick Quickcrossword Crossword ACROSS ACROSS

DOWN

8 Caretaker (7) 89Caretaker (7) Arrogant (9) 913Arrogant (9) (5) Indian language 13 (5) 14 Indian Period language of darkness (5) 15 Period Live together (7) 14 of darkness (5) 16 Live Eat (7) 15 together (7) 17 Eat Oily(7) fruit (5) 16 18 Oily Allude (5) (5) 17 20 Unit fruit of weight (5) 18 (5)(6) 22Allude Very dirty 20 23Unit Pangof(6)weight (5) 22 25Very Scorndirty (7) (6) 27Pang Worship 23 (6) (7) 30Scorn Monarch s 25 (7) son (6) 31 Worship Academy (7) Awards (6) 27 32 Musical drama (5) 30 M o n a rch ’s 35 Inexpensive son (5) (6) 31 36Academy Weak (5) Awards (6) 32 37Musical Planet (7)drama (5) 35 39Inexpensive Small bet (7) (5) 41 Weak Big (5)(5) 36 42Planet Playground 37 (7) item (5) 43Small Relevant 39 bet(9) (7) 44 Issue (7) 41 Big (5) 42 Playground item (5) 43 Relevant (9) 44 Issue (7)

1 Big gun (6) gun(8) (6) 2 1 Big Derision 3 2 Derision Forgery (11)(8) 4 3 Forgery Two weeks(11) (9) 5 4 Two Spikes of ice (7) weeks (9) 6 5 Spikes Orderly retreat of ice(10) (7) 7 6 Orderly Pavementretreat edge (4) (10) 107 Pavement Young birds (6) 11 Base (7) edge (4) Youngofbirds (6) 1210 Deprive food (6) Base (7) (7) 1911 Adroitness Deprive 2112 Opening (7)of food (6) 2419 Miscellaneous Adroitness items (7) (4,3,4) 2621 Behead (10)(7) Opening 2824 Attacker (9) Miscellaneous items (4,3,4) 29 Duck (7) 26 Behead (10) 30 Appease (6) Attacker 3228 Reverse (8) (9) Duck (7) 3329 Requite (6) Appease 3430 Insult (7) (6) 3832 Concord (6)(8) Reverse 4033 Second-hand Requite (6)(4) 34 Insult (7) 38 Concord (6) 40 Second-hand (4)

DOWN

You’re running out of patience with a close one who has taken advantage. Listen, don’t talk this week.

New faces bring an attraction you haven’t felt in years and life gets interesting again. Ring now to hear how your career is in for a massive boost.

Silly mistakes are likely at work. New ways to get on with those you have to work with make your life an easier place to be. Tests or exams taken now go better than you’d dreamed. Call now to hear how Saturn can finally give sense and clarity.

The chance to go somewhere new is just what the doctor ordered, it should turn out to be just the tonic after a very stressful few weeks. Instant attractions bring smiles and tears if you don’t take things slowly.

I can see we have much we need to talk about.

Your element of earth is making it hard for you to adapt to recent changes. You’ve had more than your fair share to deal with but delegating ‘that’ problem can ease most of your problems. Venus sees you laying your heart on the line. Ring now.

Solutions on Page 56

scribble pad

You find yourself saying the first thing which comes into your mind. At least you’ll be saying how you feel.

Travel you make in the name of a relationship brings good news. Give me a ring to hear how property changes work in your favour this month.

You’ve come through so much this year, but I don’t think you’ve stopped and given yourself any gratitude.

If you don’t make some time for yourself then others won’t value you either. Ring now to hear why it’s worth sticking to family and friends’ arrangements.

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SATURDAY NOVEMBER 2 2013 WEST COUNTRY LIFE 55

Puzzles

1

PICTURE: STEVE KEMP

Where in the West?

6

4

PICTURE: CLARE GREEN

Can you name and locate these five wellknown West Country landmarks?

Solutions to the right.

PICTURE: PETER YOUNG

Crossword solutions West

Across: 1 Wreath, 4 Chalet, 9 Rabbi, 10 Oakdale, 11 Ova, 12 Peter Tavy, 13 Kennerleigh, 18 Thornhill, 21 One, 22 Restful, 23 Pinot, 24 Eating, 25 Pewsey Down 1 Worton, 2 Embrace, 3 Trispen, 5 Hiker, 6 Llama, 7 Tie-dye, 8 Fosterville, 14 Eclipse, 15 Grounds, 16 St Erme, 17 Vestry, 19 Onset, 20 Nefyn

5

PICTURE: STEPHEN JONES

PICTURE: KEVIN BATES

PICTURE: STEVE KEMP

1 The Grenadier Quarterjack on St Cuthburga’s minster at Wimborne, Dorset. 2 Tea Rooms at Birnbeck Pier, Weston-super-Mare. 3 Sellack Bridge across the Wye in Herefordshire. 4 Statue

by Mark Foster in Southgate, Bath. 5 The chimney on Trooper’s HIll, Bristol. 6 Standing stones at Avebury, Wiltshire.

3

2 Cryptic

Across: 8, Certain 9, Butterfly 13, Risen 14, Touch 15, Plum-met 16, Con-tain 17, Run-in 18, Habit 20, Sa-we-d 22, Ran-CID 23, (French) Polish 25, Cart-O-on 27, Port-Ray 30, S-entry 31, Screen 32, Ha-D(ant)e-s 35, Title 36, O-rate 37, A-mne-sia 39, For-war-d 41, Cha-in 42, Serge 43, Strat-agem 44, Per-USA-L Down: 1, Sea-son 2, Standard 3, Fitting room 4, Authent-IC 5, Sti-pend 6, Brought out 7, Plum(met) 10, Cracks 11, Current 12, Stitch 19, Brig-and 21, W-hat-not 24, Fountain pen 26, Turned away 28, Scra-tches 29, Seve-R-al 30, Set off 32, Hands out 33, Sha-ken 34, Cor-dial 38, Scr-E-am 40, Rot-a

Quick

Across: 8, Janitor 9, Conceited 13, Hindi 14, Night 15, Cohabit 16, Consume 17, Olive 18, Refer 20, Stone 22, Filthy 23, Twinge 25, Disdain 27, Idolise 30, Prince 31, Oscars 32, Opera 35, Cheap 36, Frail 37, Neptune 39, Flutter 41, Large 42, Swing 43, Pertinent 44, Edition Down: 1, Cannon 2, Ridicule 3, Counterfeit 4, Fortnight 5, Icicles 6, Withdrawal 7, Kerb 10, Chicks 11, Ignoble 12, Starve 19, Finesse 21, Orifice 24, Odds and ends 26, Decapitate 28, Assailant 29, Mallard 30, Pacify 32, Opposite 33, Avenge 34, Affront 38, Unison 40, Used

56 WEST COUNTRY LIFE SATURDAY NOVEMBER 2 2013

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