Be Happy magazine digital version Summer issue

Inspirational ways to change your life

SUMMER 2012 www.behappymagazine.co.uk

£3.20

LONDON CALLING

Welcome to the Olympics

morocco in style Luxury travel in North Africa

Lost in Laos Man and motorbike head east

PLUS: Valletta • The Eden Project • My Life • REYKJAVIK • CAYMANS • Talking charity

CONTENTS

52

14 REGULARS & FEATURES

28 41

6 INSPIRATION

40 LOST IN LAOS

El Camino de Santiago

Simon Brown heads east by motorbike

8 IN TOUCH

48 HAPPY HOLIDAYS

The latest news and reviews

Our pick of the best trips

12 ICE COOL

50 ALL FOR THE CAUSE

24 hours in Reykjavik

What does it take to start a charity?

14 ON YOUR MARKS

52 EDEN IN BLOOM

Your essential guide to the Olympics

Interview with Eden Project founder Tim Smit

26 MANGOS & MASTERCHEF Interview with winning chef Shelina Permaloo

Valletta, Malta

28 WATCH OUT The best of this summer’s timepieces

30 MAGICAL MOROCCO

37

56 CITY PROFILE

COLUMNS

Photo story by Jane Morgan and an interview with A&K founder Geoffery Kent

9 APPETITE

37 SUN, SEA & SURF

Road cyclist Sean Perry

Sporting break in the Caymans

Eating fish responsibly

58 MY LIFE be happy 03

Editor’s Letter

Contributors Freelance travel, scuba and health writer, Charlotte Boan, is always ready for adventure. ‘The world is such a big place and is full of amazing sights, experiences and people. I’ve been lucky enough to have scuba dived in a variety of places around the globe, but I also relish the chance to try out new activities, particularly in and around the ocean.’

In this issue Charlotte takes a trip to the Cayman Islands in the Caribbean. From a one-mile sea swim to night kayaking, she explores the surprising variety of activities on the British oversea territory’s largest island of Grand Cayman.

Photojournalist Simon Brown does things that makes him happy, and riding a motorbike around Northern Laos delivered smiles by the mile. But motorbikes are not the sole photographic interest; earlier this month Simon was photographing one of the last remaining intact Battle of Britain era German bombers that is now quietly resting in 16 metres of water just off the Kent coast.

And later in July he is taking a trip to Cape Wrath in Scotland to document the Royal Navy conducting underwater bomb disposal beckons, proving that happiness can be very subjective…

What makes Charlotte happy?

What makes Simon happy?

Travel, yoga, sunshine, ocean, hammerhead sharks, manta rays and my dog Marley.

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Scuba diving, motorcycling and taking photographs.

ISSUE 3 Summer 2012

Publisher and Managing Editor Paul Critcher

Art Editor

Bonnie Royle

Chief Sub Editor Michael Johns

Sub editor

Carmelina Cocozza

Webmaster

Eirik Thommessen

Contacts:

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Be Happy is circulated in print through First and Business Class lounges; on flights and in selected luxury hotels.

A free digital version is available at www.behappymagazine.co.uk Be Happy magazine is published by Be Happy Publishing Limited. Company number: 07963519 Registered office: 145-157 St John Street, London EC1V 4PW. Please do not use this address for correspondence. For correspondence please email info@behappymagazine. co.uk. All rights reserved ISSN: 2049-985X

Self-taught marine conservation campaigner, Graham Buckingham, has been diving for a decade and described his first sub-aquatic encounter as: ‘Amazing! The corals are like cathedrals and the fish like brightly coloured birds. Heaven is underwater.’ From that first dive he’s worshipped the ocean and since founded the hugely successful shark and marine conservation charity Bite-Back. Find out more about the fantastic work Bite-Back does to protect sharks on page 50.

What makes Graham happy?

Being underwater, photography, classic cars, laughing with friends, red wine and supporting his British athlete fiancée.

COVER SHOT: BUDDhIST MONK IN LAOS BY SIMON BROWN

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orget spiralling costs, security headaches and traffic congestion – the Olympics arrives in London this summer and we can’t wait.

London 2012 is not only a sporting extravaganza but a cultural one too, and there’s a wide range of activities that visitors can watch or get involved in. We asked correspondent Jo Mattock to provide her guide to the Games which you can read on page 14.

But if the Olympics isn’t your cup of tea, don’t worry, we have plenty of alternative ways of enjoying the summer.

Everything from a trip to Morocco (page 30) to city profiles of Europe’s most northerly and most southerly capital cities – Reykjavik in Iceland and Valletta in Malta (pages 12 and 56).

For the more adventurous, check out the stunning photo story by Simon Brown on page 40, in which Simon enjoys a trip through Laos by motorbike, taking pictures of Buddhist monks and working elephants as he goes.

If a sporting break is more your thing, then read Charlotte Boan’s report on some of the sporting activities in the Cayman Islands (Sun, sea & surf, page 37).

Charlotte waded in with some scuba diving and kite surfing and she put in a great performance in the annual Flowers Sea Swim.

We finish up this issue by interviewing some inspirational people. Sally-Anne Hunter and Graham Buckingham give their insights into the charity sector (page 48), and from the world of travel we chat with Abercrombie & Kent founder Geoffrey Kent (page 34). Our final interview is with Eden Project founder Tim Smit who looks back at the project’s achievements so far (page 52).

Altogether a pretty inspiring issue, from fundraisers, to environmentalists, to Olympiads – we wish them well in 2012.

INSPIRation El Camino de Santiago

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he Way of St James (El Camino de Santiago) is a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in northwest Spain. The final destination is the cathedral at Santiago to see the shrine to St James. Although traditionally a Christian pilgrimage, the Way is now walked by people of all faiths, as well as agnostics and atheists. Early pilgrims would eat locally sourced scallops and their shells littered the route. The scallop shell has since become the sign of the pilgrim and you will see the emblem throughout the route. There are several starting points, but the French route is considered to be the oldest, and many pilgrims start their journeys at Saint Jean Pied-de-Port at the foot of the Pyrenees. The 500-mile route can be done in stages, with many modern-day pilgrims choosing to return each year to do a different section of the walk. Stunning views, like-minded people and the goal of finishing the walk, have led many walkers to some sort of pivotal realisation in their lives – be that spiritual or otherwise.

Among the many thousands who have undertaken the journey is celebrated writer Paolo Coelho who wrote of his experiences in The Pilgrimage, in which he describes a spiritual awakening. Others enjoy the Way for the aesthetic pleasure of the surroundings.

Whatever your motivation for taking the Way of St James, it remains an inspiration.

Photo: Shutterstock.com

Photo: Sybille Yates / Shutterstock.com

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06 BE HAPPY

Photo: Shutterstock.com

Walk on: (this photo) a pilgrim walks the Way of St James; (left) the final destination – the cathedral at Santiago de Compostela

IN TOUCH GOOD lookinG

Wham BAM! W

ant to look the part and be environmentally aware? BAM offers eco-friendly and ethically sourced bamboo clothing that not only looks good but feels good too. Suitable for outdoor enthusiasts and sport lovers, the clothing is moisture wicking, temperature controlled, anti-bacterial, anti-static and UV protective. We used the base layer on several runs and were impressed by its moisture wicking abilities, in addition it feels soft and comfortable. The hoodie also performed well, being warm and snug – perfect to take out to the slopes or for everyday wear. Bamboo products are eco friendly because they yield ten times more per acre than cotton, the bamboo requires less water to grow and it grows naturally without fertilisers. In addition, for every order received BAM plants a tree in the name of the purchaser .

Bamboo hoodie – Navy: £45 Zip neck baselayer – Indigo: £45 For more information and to see the current range go to www.bambooclothing.co.uk 08 be happy

Made in Morocco I

f Jane Morgan’s feature on Morocco (see page 30) gets you thinking about decking your home out in all things Moroccan, then consider a visitor to www.maroque.co.uk. The retailer specialises in sourcing Moroccan products – from gorgeous lamps in all sizes, furniture, soft furnishings, and ceramics, including a wide range of tagines, to hard to find Moroccan and Middle Eastern ingredients. The website also offers recipes, design ideas and information about the artisan craftsmen and women who produce their products.

We particularly liked the handmade Moroccan iron lantern with multi-coloured glass (£34.50) and the large platter in a traditional yellow design (£35).

For more information go to www.maroque.co.uk

aquarium’s latest exhibit ‘Island Stories’.

This is a spectacular interactive exhibition designed to illustrate the vulnerability of small islands to specific challenges such as climate change.

Nausicaá Aquarium is just a 30-minute drive from Calais. For more information go to www.nausicaa.co.uk

photo: Jane Morgan

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ausicaá Aquarium in Boulogne has welcomed over 12 million visitors since opening its doors 21 years ago. It is one of the largest aquariums in Europe and leads the way in sustainable aquaria with stringent environmental policies and educational programs.

The Californian sea lions are not to be missed. Once hunted almost to extinction, numbers are now improving due to a marine sanctuary off the Los Angeles coastline. All the Nausicaá sea lions were born in captivity and the training that they are given is all very practical as they are taught to have their teeth brushed and be checked over as they would be by a vet, so it all comes very naturally if a doctor’s visit is ever required.

Over the summer you can see the

Appetite With some fish stocks at record lows, Simon Rogerson attempts to eat sushi responsibly

I

f you think over-fishing is a myth, take a look at your supermarket shelves and check out the prices for yellowfin tuna. Two decades ago, it wasn’t much more expensive than catfood – now it’s in the luxury section, with jars selling for between £4 and £12. Demand hasn’t changed, but availability has.

There may be plenty of fish left in the sea, but ‘plenty’ is a relative term.

Which is a shame, because as we all know, it tastes fantastic; whether prepared raw, seared, singed or confit, the fish is something special... but ‘special’ isn’t a straightforward deal. Tuna are close to the top of the food chain, which means that various toxins present in the environment can become concentrated in their muscle flesh, the most notorious being mercury.

But do we care? Not at a time when sushi chefs are venerated as culinary demi-gods (if you think I’m exaggerating, Google ‘Jiro Dreams of Sushi’).

Despite my own fondness for the fish, I cut back on my own tuna consumption a few years ago, partly due to a slow–burning guilt complex over overfishing in the Indian Ocean, and partly because I probably had so much mercury coursing through my lower intestine, I was in danger of becoming a human thermometer. But then a holiday in the South Pacific put me back on the heavy metal highway.

I was cooling my heels in the Tahiti Radisson Plaza and the menu was a costly cavalcade of imported luxuries. Tahiti must be one of the most expensive places on the planet – it makes Geneva look like the bad end of the Khao San Road. Anyway, my finger led me down the £60 steak and chips to the local section of the menu, which promised ‘Polynesian Sushi’.

It was a simple enough bowl of sushi rice and local tuna of unstated species, glistening like shards of ruby. The colour comes from myoglobin, an oxygenbinding molecule that tuna generate in huge quantities in order to achieve incredible bursts of speed, up to 45 miles per hour. Yes, I know cheetahs and peregrine falcons can shift even faster, but that’s through air.

Punching through water at 45mph takes a living missile, and that’s exactly what tuna are. When we eat them, we are consuming a true marvel of nature… along with a fair portion of the periodic table.

As my journey continued to the atoll island of Fakarava, I continued my holiday romance with the noble tuna. I was staying with a local family who served tuna and grouper as ‘poisson cru’, marinaded in citrus fruits and coconut milk. And I ordered even more at the little café, Snack Teanuanua, where you could order it in a variety of styles, including one

eccentric variant that had sultanas and dry herbs in the mix. I took the latter as a sign… to stop eating tuna.

Back in Blighty, I return to raw fish when the fancy takes me, but I mostly skip (jack) the tuna, replacing it with farmed Atlantic salmon. Big chains such as Yo Sushi give salmon an equal billing on the menu, and it makes excellent nigiri (oblong blocks of rice topped with fish) and futomaki (rolls of rice and seaweed with two or three fillings chosen for their complementary tastes).

Good sushi comes at price, but even upscale places offer lunchtime deals, with an assortment of sushi, sashimi and other treats served in bento boxes.

My favourite place for Bento boxes is Matsuba in Richmond, Surrey, a low-key affair run by a friendly Korean family. The sushi is prepared with quiet solemnity and presented as a selection of jewels,

“Punching through water at 45mph takes a living missile, and that’s exactly what tuna are” which is exactly how we should regard fresh wild fish.

As with all the best food, there is attention to detail in every aspect of the dish, from the texture of the rice to the keenness of the pickles and the artistry of the presentation.

Matsuba brews its own soya sauce, which has a savoury depth unequalled by any shop-bought brand.

Their pickles, soy and wasabi mustard provide the perfect counterpoint to fresh Atlantic salmon, with its buttery little veins of fat. Salmon doesn’t have to travel all the way from the Indian Ocean, so the fish hasn’t been frozen and defrosted by the time it finds itself on the business end of your chopsticks. These days, I generally ask for the tuna in my bento box to be replaced with salmon.

Genuinely wild Atlantic salmon is a rare commodity but farmed organic is a fine substitute, as long as said farming is not overly intensive and takes place in open water where ocean and tidal currents can sweep away associated detritus. Debates over fish farming are not likely to end, but with bluefin tuna teetering on the brink of commercial extinction and the sustainability of yellowfin fisheries hanging in the balance, responsible farming of alternative species seems to be the way forward.

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BE HAPPY 09

IN TOUCH Comfort Food

Yellow lentil soup with coriander and tomato MasterChef 2012 winner Shelina Permaloo serves up a bowl of warming, Mauritian-inspired soup

‘T

his is my ultimate comfort food for those cold winter nights or on days where you just want to draw your curtains and get your pj’s on early. I don’t think there is anything as comforting as soup and this is a classic Mauritian-inspired soup with a wonderful aroma and a burst of chilli heat. It’s a great warming soup to perk you up if you think the lurgy is on its way.’

Ingredients: 1tsp of vegetable oil 2 cloves of garlic grated 1 inch of ginger grated 3 tbsp of finely chopped coriander stalk 200g yellow lentils 3 fresh vine tomatoes cut into 1-inch cubes 10 be happy

Half a tin (200g) of fresh plum tomatoes 1tsp of dried chilli 1tsp salt (or to taste) 1tsp of smoked sweet paprika black pepper 1 litre of vegetable stock (A gluten free/vegan/vegetarian recipe) This is such an easy one-pot recipe.

• Fry off the garlic, ginger and coriander stalk together in the vegetable oil for approximately two minutes on a medium heat.

• Add all the other ingredients and cook for around 35 minutes. The lentils should be soft all the way through.

• Before serving, make sure it is seasoned well with salt and pepper. Serve with a warm brown pitta bread, or equally good just on its own. I love to sprinkle fresh coriander and fresh chilli over the top, but this is optional and to taste.

Find out more about how Shelina’s MasterChef experience on page 26

travel

ICE COOL

24 HOURS IN REYKJAVIK

T

here’s a laid-back confidence to Reykjavik. Forget the recent financial crisis and erupting volcano, with accompanying ash cloud, the residents of Europe’s northernmost capital city can take comfort in the packed bars and restaurants, in the wide peaceful streets and the pure Icelandic air. Summer is a great time to visit, when it’s light all night and the harbour is at its busiest with tourists setting off on the many whale watching trips in search of humpbacks and minkes.

As we were only in town for 24 hours, we chose to focus on the city itself (rather than the many out of town trips), seeking to immerse ourselves in the capital’s culture.

Most of the action centres on the streets to the south of the harbour – the main shopping street of Laugavegur which leads down to the bars and 12 BE HAPPY

restaurants around Austurstraeti. Nearby you’ll find the modern City Hall which sits on Lake Tjörnin – just one of the many open spaces in what must be one of Europe’s least congested cities.

The intervening streets are made up of traditional Icelandic houses, clad in painted corrugated iron.

During the day it’s uncrowded and serene – in Austurvöllur Square people were so relaxed that some locals had brought their sun loungers with them, to sit back and watch the city go by.

There were a few revellers out and about – a couple of hen (bachelorette) parties provided entertainment for onlookers, but all in good, calm Icelandic fun.

We strolled down to the harbour to view the Harpa Concert Hall. The building, which opened in May 2011, has excited much discussion, both because of its cost and its design, but we found it to be a beautiful, modern addition to

OUT OF TOWN For a real taste of Iceland’s natural wonders, The Golden Circle tour takes in three of Iceland’s top tourist attractions: the Geysir geothermal area; the Gullfoss waterfall and the geological wonder that is Thingvellir National Park. The trip can be done in a day – either independently or as part of a guided tour (www. icelandtouristboard.com)

WHERE TO EAT

Fire and ice: (main photo) bathers in the Blue Lagoon spa; (below left) inside Harpa Concert Hall; (above right) boats in the harbour; (far right) dining at Kolabrautin

the harbour, with the light playing on its many hexagonal panes of glass. Inside it’s equally impressive, with huge auditoriums and staircases – in many ways it takes its design pointers from Iceland’s wonderful glaciers and volcanos rather than the more understated city.

At night, the capital takes on a different hue, with life centred around the many bars and clubs. The dimmed light between 11pm and 3am gives the somewhat inebriated revellers, a slightly surreal quality – a bit like zombies carrying cans of Tuborg. But don’t be put off, this is a fun place and not in the least intimidating – beer was only legalised in Iceland in 1989, so they’re just catching up on lost time.

For all its nightlife, bars, shops and restaurants, it’s the stillness of the city that resonates most. In the early morning, we walked up to the towering Hallgrímskirkja Church and then headed back down to

the harbour. We sat on huge lava boulders whilst watching seabirds swoop around us and taking in the freshest air. In the distance vast volcanic hills jutted into the skyline and we realised there’s a magical quality to this country that truly takes some beating.

Our final stop on our whirlwind tour was at the Blue Lagoon spa (www. bluelagoon.com). Our flight home was from Keflavik Airport (about 30 miles southwest of Reykjavik) and as the Blue Lagoon is only a few minutes drive from the airport it was an opportunity not to be missed. You can buy bus tickets to the lagoon and onwards to the airport from tourist information centres and at most hotels. The spa is fed with water from the nearby geothermal power plant and the hot milky waters are full of reviving minerals. There are skin treatments and massages available and you can even have a drink at the outdoor bar as you bathe in the geothermal seawater. After an hour or so in the spa we were suitably prepared for our onward journey, in fact, I don’t think I’ve ever felt so relaxed for a flight.

If time allows I recommend you visit the spa upon arrival and before departure. It’s the perfect way to bookend your trip to this land of fire and ice.

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Thanks to: Wow Air for providing flights and Hotel Odinsve (www.hotelodinsve. is) for accommodation. Launched in June 2012, Wow Air offers flights to and from Keflavik airport to a number of European cities, including London’s Stansted airport, for more information on routes and prices go to www. wowair.com

Grillmarkadurinn: this smart grill in the centre of town specialises in local produce. The grilled salmon was served with a broccoli puree that contrasted well with a tart sauce and salmon roe.

The rib-eye was suitably pink and tasty and the dessert to share just about finished us off – a luscious if over-the-top collection of a trio of sorbets, chocolate fondant, creme brûlée, mousse and a chocolate and an ice cream bombe! www. grillmarkadurinn.is Kolabrautin: located on the fourth floor of the Harpa building, this is one of Reykjavik’s best restaurants with fantastic views over the harbour to match. We chose a tasting menu which was served with complementing wines for each course. The seared salmon with cucumber and a parsley ailoi was delightfully fresh, the pan fried lobster and monkfish cheek packed with flavour and the lamb shoulder with grapes, nuts, root vegetables and a potato puree offered a complex set of flavours and textures that left two very satisfied guests. Our best food experience in the city. www. kolabrautin.is Lava restaurant: looking out onto the Blue Lagoon, this restaurant is built into the lava and offers a clean-living menu that sits well with the accompanying spa. At lunch the traditional meat soup was reviving after our time in the water and we followed it up with dill cured salmon and a sushi mix – virtuous yet appetising. Watch out for the one o’clock rush. www.bluelagoon.com BE HAPPY 13

EVENT OLYMPICS

On your marks…

It’s the big one: the Olympics come to London this summer and there’s lots to be happy about – plenty of British hopes and a wealth of activities to enjoy.

Jo Mattock guides us through the Games

28 BE HAPPY

be happy 29

Photo: SHUTTERSTOCK

EVENT OLYMPICS

Something for everyone

A day by day guide to the top sporting events – as well as some handpicked suggestions from the thousands of activities on the Festival programme. London 2012 is about much more than sport. Make the most of this summer’s events.

Friday 27 July

Saturday 28 July

Screen test

Hill start

BBC Big Screens will be in 22 cities around the UK this summer and they’ll all be showing the Opening Ceremony today. These screens aren’t just for this event though – there’s plenty on them during the Olympics and afterwards. www.bbc.co.uk/ bigscreens

Box Hill in Surrey will form part of today’s men’s cycling road race. Competitors will make nine laps of the steep hill, which is a National Trust nature reserve.

Ring in the Games Churches, schools, town halls – everyone is invited to join in with ringing bells across the country at 8am on the morning of 27 July. The idea was devised by artist Martin Creed. For more information, visit http://allthebells.com

‘I was worn out. The mental anguish I’d gone through: will I make it? Will the Achilles go? I wasn’t composed, I was knackered. Then there’s an intimate moment you have with yourself when you reflect on the journey that has got you there. But, I admit, there was a little voice at the back of the head saying, “Gosh the British public are going to love this.”’

Denise Lewis on standing on the podium at the Sydney Olympics after winning gold in the heptathlon

30 BE HAPPY

White Water Line Artist Richard Long will be turning part of Box Hill’s Zig Zag Road into an art work. The work will comprise a sinuous line of poured white water, approximately 120 metres long and 1.5 metres wide, forming a curving, twisting and serpentine ‘drawing’.

First Medal The first gold medal will be awarded for the women’s 10m air rifle. You can see the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic medals on display in the British Museum’s Mine to Medal exhibition, which tells the story of how they’re made. www.britishmuseum.org

Sunday 29 July Born free Can Rebecca Adlington win gold again in the women’s 400m freestyle swimming? The heats and final of this race will be held today.

Stars of the Show See the stars of the Olympics up close. The Road to 2012 is a free exhibition of photographic portraits of athletes, as well as the movers and shakers behind the Olympics, and is on display at the National Portrait Gallery. www.npg.org.uk/ roadto2012

Photo: SHUTTERSTOCK

Monday 30 July In sync Tom Daley steps up to take part in the 10m synchronised diving today while the men’s artistic gymnastics takes place at the O2.

Artistic activities If you’re south of the river, why not head to Tate Modern or get the boat to Tate Britain? Tate Britain is displaying the posters of the Olympics, while Tate Modern has a major Damien Hirst exhibition – the first survey of his work to be held in the UK – and live performances in the recently-refurbished

Oil Tanks. Artist Tino Sehgal will be unveiling a new work in the Turbine Hall in July as well. www.tate.org.uk

Tuesday 31 July Paddle power Today sees show jumping in Greenwich Park and the first canoe slalom medals awarded at the Lee Valley White Water Centre.

White water rafting Okay, so you have to wait until after the races have finished for this one, but the Lee Valley White

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Games by numbers: 375 doctors and 150 nurses will be on hand.

600 basketballs, 26,400 tennis balls, 2,700 footballs The Olympic Park is the size of Hyde Park, or 357 football pitches.

The Olympic stadium is 53m high, making it 3m higher than Nelson’s Column. be happy 31 10,000 temporary toilets will be put up – enough to service the entire island of Malta.

EVENT OLYMPICS Water Centre will be open to the public from 8 September. Tackle 300m of holes, eddies, drops, waves and fast-flowing water for a white-knuckle ride. www.visitleevalley.co.uk

A little night music Tonight’s Prom at the Royal Albert Hall is an all-British affair with Vaughan Williams’s ‘Tallis’ Fantasia and Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast. www.royalalberthall.com

Photo: Dmitry Yashkin / Shutterstock.com

Wednesday 1 August One your bike In cycling, the men’s and women’s time trials are being held at Hampton Court Palace, while the rowing gets underway at Eton Dorney in Buckinghamshire.

World Shakespeare Festival How about some Tudor entertainment to go with a Tudor palace? Many of the Bard’s plays are being performed in London and across the country this summer and 1 million tickets are on sale. Shakespeare’s The Tempest was the inspiration for the ‘Isles of Wonder’ theme of the Games’ opening ceremony – you can see the play at the Roundhouse in Camden in June and July or in Stratford-upon-Avon until October. www.worldshakespearefestival.co.uk and www.rsc.org.uk

Thursday 2 August Medal hopefuls Hopefully a good day for the British medal tally as cycling gets underway in the velodrome. There will be medals in the women’s and men’s team sprints.

Architecture of athletics Want to know more about the design of the Olympic venues? The Royal Institute of British Architects is holding an audiovisual installation looking at the stories behind the venues of the Games. www.architecture.com

Friday 3 August On target The athletics gets underway, the first badminton final will be played at Wembley Arena and Lord’s holds the final day of the archery events.

Dig deep: (above) cyclists in the velodrome; (right) Louisa Sawers and fellow canoe team members

Pop-up pineapple With all this sport, you’re bound to work up an appetite, and one of the more eye-catching creations of the Festival is likely to be a pop-up restaurant. The Pineapple Banqueting House will be near Blackfriars Bridge. Details are yet to be released, but keep an eye out for it!

Saturday 4 August Going for Gold 25 gold medals up for grabs today, including the women’s heptathlon (can Jessica Ennis win?), the rowing finals and the last day of swimming. The women’s triathlon is being held in Hyde Park.

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2,000 newts were relocated from the park to a new home in Waterworks nature reserve.

2,818 apartments are being built in the Olympic village, with 16,000 beds.

10 million litres of water fill the pools in the Aquatics Centre.

8,000 people will carry the Olympic torch 8,000 miles in 70 days 32 BE HAPPY passing within 10 miles of 95 per cent of the UK population.

BRITisH HOPEFULS: Louisa Sawers How are you preparing for the Olympics?

We are training every day, with Sunday as a rest day. I get up at 6.30am and go to Dorney Lake, where the Olympics will be.

We do three training sessions a day, at 8am, 11am and 4pm. We’ll start with an interval session or a technique session, then a core or running workout, and between that we have physio or catch up with the nutritionist or psychologist. I’ll relax by watching TV or catch up on programmes I’ve missed on 4OD. Our 4 o’clock session will be in the gym followed by time on the water doing sprints, or a crew session.

Why do you love your sport?

I love working with a team and training to get the best out of a boat. As a crew boat, you develop a bond. I live with one of my team mates – and they’re all like my second family. They’ll pick you up and we all support each other. And I love being out on the river. Every time of year is different and every time of day, the light is different. I love seeing the seasons change.

What are the Olympic facilities like?

The grandstands are going up now [early May] and every day there’s something new.

There’s scaffolding and big screens – it’s exciting seeing it all coming together. School kids have been coming down here, and it’s great that local school and sports clubs can use the excitement surrounding the Olympics to find new talent.

What will it be like competing in front of a home crowd?

It’s going to be pretty exciting. The fact we train here is brilliant – the race will be second nature, hopefully really easy. I’m looking forward to having my family there and friends.

How do you prepare for a race?

Over the past years we’ve perfected our race preparation and pre-race warm up. We have a meeting the night before, we have a planned warm up and 20 minutes before the race we get on the water. Knowing what you’re doing relaxes you.

Who has inspired you?

Tim Brabants – getting gold at the last Olympics [in the K1 1,000m event]. His race was amazing – he won that race from the first stroke.

The 1948 Games became known as the ‘Austerity Games’ because of the economic climate. Rationing was still in place in Britain and no new venues were built.

London had just 18 months to prepare for the 1908 Olympics. It was to be held in Rome, but after an eruption of Mount Vesuvius caused the state financial difficulties, the Italian authorities decided they couldn’t afford to host the Games.

Tug-of-war was an Olympic event in 1908. The final was between two British teams of policemen – the City of London force beat their Liverpool rivals.

The BBC paid just £1,000 for the rights to broadcast the opening ceremony of the 1948 Games and footage from the competitions.

There were just 36 women competing at the 1908 Games. The gold medal in women’s archery was won by Sybil Newall, the oldest woman ever to win an Olympic gold aged 53 years and 275 days.

A star of the 1948 Olympics was 30-year-old Dutch athlete Fanny Blankers-Koen, nicknamed ‘the flying housewife’. The mother-of-two won four gold medals in track events.

There was no automatic timing at the 1948 Games.

Races such as the 100m were decided by photo-finish equipment normally used for horse racing.

At the 1908 Games, the City Toastmaster was called in to act as an announcer. Loudspeaker systems weren’t introduced until the 1920s. How anyone heard him in the 68,000-seater stadium is a mystery.

Bamboo poles were used in the pole vaulting events in 1948. In the early 1950s these were replaced by aluminium poles.

Just one venue from the 1948 Games survives today – the Herne Hill Velodrome in south London hosted the cycling events.

Photo: AE PHOTOS

Canoeist Louisa Sawers is part of the women’s sprint team, competing in the K4 event, where four canoeists race in one boat.

STEP BACK IN TIME

‘The feeling when I won is one of the hardest things to explain. You have never experienced that before.

There’s disbelief, you’re on such a high, you’re in dreamland. It’s the most amazing feeling.’ Sally Gunnell on winning 400m hurdles in Barcelona 1992.

EVENT OLYMPICS BRITisH HOPEFULS: BEN AINSLIE Be Happy recently caught up with British Olympic sailor Ben Ainslie to ask about his training regime and what he’s looking forward to at London 2012.

my World Championships in Falmouth in May. However, it’s important that I peak for the Olympics and this means I have to plan really well – you don’t want to reach burnout.

How does it feel to have the Olympics on home turf ?

The opportunity to race in front of a home crowd in London 2012 Olympics is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I think that goes not just for the competitors but anyone in the UK who can watch and experience the atmosphere of the games – it’s just a fantastic opportunity. Sure, there are added pressures when competing at home, but, you know, with the Olympics there are always those intense pressures and you just have to deal with it. If the pressure wasn’t there then you would be worried!

London 2012! It’s the most important thing in my life at the moment and I have had to work hard just to qualify. There’s more hard work ahead but hopefully come August I’ll be in the best position to achieve my goal.

What are the facilities like?

The facilities at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy are fantastic and as good as anywhere in the world. It’s given us a national training base at the 2012 venue for future generations, which is very inspiring. Part of the brief for the Academy was to provide a facility for local people to get into sailing and it’s great seeing local school kids down there learning to sail.

How’s the training going?

I had three months out as I had a back operation in January. The training is going really well and I have two big events before the Olympics including

Who will be your main competitors at the Olympics?

I just focus on getting my own campaign right and I try not to focus too much on how the opposition are getting on. It’s important to make sure I’m getting it right and doing what I need to do to be best prepared.

Which other British sailors should be looking out for at the Olympics and Paralympics?

The sailing team has great strength in depth. We have good chances to medal in most classes, but the sailing will be very competitive and there are many strong nations, so we just have to concentrate on getting our training and preparation right.

Photo: MARK LLOYD

What’s your training schedule?

I travel a lot and I make sure I’m in a hotel with a gym or a gym close by. I try to do two hours a day in the gym around my time on the water. I have to keep body mass as I’m currently 10kg over my natural weight – it’s easy to lose but hard to put on. I have a structured fitness plan and, whatever happens, I make sure I keep to the plan. The average day is 7am breakfast then two hours of CV, then a technical meeting followed by three hours sailing on the water, then lunch and we finish the day off with a two-hour weight session before a big dinner and an early night.

How do you prepare before a race?

The plan for your overall program is crucial. If that’s right then hopefully you can go out and concentrate on the racing. I also think experience helps, knowing how to handle different situations and making the right decisions at the right time is often down to previous experiences.

Photo: TOBY ADAMSON

‘I won the 800m Olympic gold by the thickness of this shirt. I was celebrating with my arms held out but I was still in denial. I couldn’t have won, could I?’ Kelly Holmes, on winning 800m in Athens, 2004. She also won the 1,500m.

Park life An installation of 11,000 handmade ceramic flowers has been commissioned as part of the Cultural Olympiad. These quintessentially British flowers were made by the artist Paul Cummins and are on display in gardens and parks around the UK. In London, they’re on display at Chiswick House and Gardens, Houses of Parliament and the Southbank Centre. www.paulcumminsceramics.com

Sunday 5 August Lightning Bolt Photo: LONDON 2012

The final of the men’s 100m promises to be the most watched race of the Olympics – and there could even be a new world record.

All the focus is on the Olympic Park today – so let’s take a look around. The striking Orbit is a 115mhigh steel sculpture, and a landmark at the games.

One of the bridges will commemorate the 100m, showing the fastest men’s and women’s times at the London Games and afterwards allowing the public to ‘race’ against the athletes, by chasing a light as it flashes across the bridge. Another bridge is decorated with a swirl of recycled glass, made by Hackney artist Martin Richman. Plus a series of bench plaques provide exciting, informative and inspiring facts, and a massive installation tells you to ‘RUN’.

Monday 6 August Sail away In the sailing, the laser class will be raced today in

Weymouth and Portland, Dorset, and Chris Hoy will be looking to repeat his Beijing performance and win gold in the men’s sprint final.

Maritime mix There’ll be outdoor theatre, mass choral performances, panoramic video projections, music, dance and street celebrations in Weymouth. Most events are free, and many involve local participants as well as professional artists.

Also on display will be The Boat Project, created by an artists’ group called Lone Twin. They have taken wooden items donated by members of the public, such as toys and furniture, and used the materials to make a boat that they will be sailing around the south coast this summer. For more

»

Photo: JEREMY DELLER

Art in the Park

Olympic spirit: (from top) the Collective Spirit forms part of the Boat Project; the RUN installation in the Olympic Park; a Stonehenge bouncy castle; (opposite) Ben Ainslie in action

Up to 70,000 people will volunteer at the Olympics as Games Makers.

There are 350 miles of cabling in the Olympic venues – enough to wrap around the London Eye 1.3million times.

56km of timber has been laid on the Velodrome track be happy 35 And it’s held down by 300,000 nails.

EVENT OLYMPICS information, visit www.theboatproject.com or www.maritimemix2012.co.uk

Tuesday 7 August Windy Weymouth The men’s triathlon takes place in Hyde Park, there’s windsurfing medals to be won in Weymouth and it’s the final day for track cyclists in the velodrome.

Fun for kids Popping up all over London and the UK is an interactive work by Turner-prize winning artist Jeremy Deller. Not much fun for the kids you say? Well, that’s where you’re wrong. It’s a lifesize, bouncy castle replica of Stonehenge, and it’s called Sacrilege.

In London, the Southbank Centre will be home to a labyrinth built from books, named ‘aMAZEme’. www.southbankcentre.co.uk

Wednesday 8 August Perfect volley Taking place right on the doorstep of No. 10 Downing Street and Buckingham Palace, the women’s beach volleyball final is being held on Horse Guards Parade. It’s also the final of the men’s table tennis today.

Playing the Games The Criterion Theatre in Piccadilly Circus will be hosting two weeks of lunchtime conversations between sporting legends and cultural guests, as well as new plays by British playwrights with an Olympic theme. There’s late-night comedy too from Eddie Izzard, Alan Davies and Mark Watson – they’ll be taking a satirical look at the events of these two weeks. www.criterion-theatre.co.uk

Thursday 9 August Boxing clever The final of the men’s 200m and the men’s triple jump – British fingers will be crossed for Phillips

Idowu. The first-ever women’s boxing final will be held today and there’s the women’s football final at Wembley.

A walk in the park Join a guided walk through the Olympic Park and East London with a knowledgeable Blue Badge Guide. Starting from Bromley-by-Bow station, you’ll find out about the construction of the site and its legacy in East London. www.toursof2012sites.com

Friday 10 August Jolly hockey sticks Today’s the BMX finals, the women’s hockey final and the men’s 10km open water swim in the Serpentine, Hyde Park.

Serpentine pavilion The team behind the Beijing National Stadium (nicknamed the Bird’s Nest) will be building a pavilion this summer at the Serpentine Gallery.

Architects Herzog & de Meuron and artist Ai Weiwei will be building a structure that looks back at 11 previous summer pavilions, as well as at the history of the park itself. Events, talks and family days will take place in the pavilion. www.serpentinegallery.org

Saturday 11 August Boat adventures A busy day, with the last day of the canoeing and sailing, the men’s football, women’s basketball and men’s hockey finals and women’s mountain biking at Hadleigh Farm.

For details of many more events before, during and after the Olympics, visit festival. london.2012.com. The London 2012 Festival runs until 9 September and there are 12,000 events across the country.

Find some space A new way to keep up to date with all that’s happening in the Festival, the Space is available on PCs, tablets and phones. Plus you can access unique digital content, such as a tour around John Peel’s record collection and a neverbefore-seen documentary on the subject. http://thespace.org

10,500 Olympic athletes and 4,200 Paralympians will compete in London They’ll be watched by 10.8 million ticket holders and 21,000 members of the press.

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Photo: SHUTTERSTOCK

Sunday 12 August Happy ending The final day of the Games. The women’s modern pentathlon, the men’s marathon and the last of the boxing finals at the ExCeL will be held. The closing ceremony is in the evening.

Showtime!

Wherever you are in London, there’s a feast of free outdoor performances being planned under the banner ‘Showtime – Entertainment Everywhere’ organised by the Mayor. It’ll include a crazy Spaniard who shoots babies from a tricycle 50m into the air, two human gladiators who wrestle 4 million volts of electricity and a Hip Hop bungee dance show about love. There will also be 99 Tiny Games scattered around London for people to find and play, like People Pooh sticks. www.molpresents.com/showtime

‘I remember standing on the podium as a young athlete so excited after winning the silver medal at Seoul in 1988 but, in reality, the Olympics never really worked out for me after that. Of course, I look back on my career with pride – with two world championship gold medals and a world record that stood for over a decade – but the one real regret I have is not being at my best physically when it mattered in Olympic year.’ Colin Jackson on winning silver in the Olympics.

14 million meals will be served at the games happy 37 2.5m sq ft of tents will be erected – enough to cover the whole of HongbeKong.

EVENT OLYMPICS

Best of British

So which British athletes have been tipped for the top? Be Happy rounds up those in Team GB who are going for gold.

Rebecca Adlington – Swimming Adlington was one of the stars of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, scooping two gold medals in the 800m freestyle and the 400m freestyle – she’s Britain’s most successful Olympic swimmer in 100 years.

Aged 23, she’s at the top of her game, winning gold in the 800m freestyle at the World Championships in 2011 and silver in the 400m freestyle.

Other British swimmers to watch are Francesca Halsall, who won silver in the 100m freestyle at the World Championships and Keri-Anne Payne, who won silver at the first 10K marathon swim in Beijing and became World Champion in 2009.

Eleanor Simmonds – Paralympic Swimmer A double gold medal winner at Beijing, in the 100m and 400m freestyle – and she was only 13 years old. She holds five world records and was the youngest person to ever be given an MBE aged 14.

Tom Daley – Diving Tom made a splash at the Beijing Olympics by being Britain’s youngest

‘Anyone sees me go anywhere near a boat, you’ve got my permission to shoot me.’ Steve Redgrave after winning gold at his fourth Olympics in Atlanta in 1996. Four years later he won for a fifth time in Sydney.

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competitor, aged just 14 years old. He specialises in the 10m platform event and was World Champion in 2009.

He won two gold medals at the 2010 commonwealth games. His partner for the synchronised 10m platform event is Peter Waterfield.

Chris Hoy – Cycling Sir Chris Hoy has won four gold Olympic medals and has been World Champion 11 times. His first Olympic gold was in 2004, in the 1km time trial – an event that was dropped for Beijing 2008. There he won three golds in the sprint, Keirin (where competitors follow a lead cyclist or pace setter who leaves before the end of the race) and team sprint. The 36-year-old from Edinburgh is the most successful Olympic male cyclist ever.

Also, look out for the men’s pursuit cycling team at the Games – they came third in the World Championships in 2011 – and Mark Cavendish, who came first in the men’s road race at the World Championships last year, and won 15 stages of the Tour de France between 2008 and 2010.

Victoria Pendleton – Cycling Victoria is both Olympic and World Champion in the individual sprint event and the world record holder. The 31 year old has also been European and Commonwealth champion. In February this year, she set a new world record for the team sprint together with Jess Varnish – 32.754 seconds. The record-breaking

time was set at the Track World Cup, which was held at London’s new Olympic Velodrome.

In the World Championships in 2011, the British women’s pursuit team won gold – look out for them at London 2012.

Shanaze Reade – BMX Expected to win the gold medal in Beijing in 2008, Shanaze crashed out of her final race, losing the chance of a medal. Three times world title holder, she’s competing in the BMX World Championships in Birmingham in May. She’s widely regarded as the best in the world – she just needs to hold her nerve and perform in London.

Shanaze is 23 years old and from Crewe in Cheshire. Also look out for fellow British BMXer Liam Phillips.

Phillips Idowu – Athletics Triple jumper Idowu won a silver medal in Beijing and gold in the World Championships in 2009. Known for dyeing his hair bright colours for competitions, London 2012 really is home turf for Idowu who grew up in Hackney.

Wouldn’t it be great to see him win gold, or even beat the world record (18.29m) currently held by legendary British triple jumper Jonathan Edwards?

Dai Greene – Athletics The 400m hurdler is World, European and Commonwealth champion – he just needs the Olympic gold to complete the set! He could also break a British record at the Olympics – his fastest time, 47.88 seconds, is incredibly close to current record holder Kriss Akabusi’s.

Jessica Ennis – Athletics Ennis is a former World Champion in the heptathlon and current European Champion. She missed out on going to Beijing in 2008 due to an injury to her foot, but this year she’s looking on track.

More than 4,000 trees will be planted, as well as 60,000 10,000 British troops will be attending the Games for free, Heathrow Airport will handle 600,000 pieces of luggage during

The seven-discipline event includes 100m hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200m, long jump, javelin and 800m. Ennis’s personal bests include a high jump of 1.95m – 30cm above her own height which only 10 women have ever managed – and a time of 12.76 seconds in the 100m hurdles, the second-fastest time of any British woman.

David Weir – wheelchair athlete Scooping four medals (including two golds) in Beijing, and two in Athens in 2004, Weir is one of the best wheelchair athletes in the world. He holds all the British records for distances up to 5K as well as 10K, half marathon and marathon records. He won the London Marathon this year – his sixth. His main rival is Marcel Hug of Switzerland.

Ed McKeever – Canoeing One of Britain’s brightest hopes in a boat.

McKeever is both World and European Champion of the 200m canoeing event.

28-year-old Ed is from Bradford on Avon and is studying to become an accountant.

BRITisH HOPEFULS: MO FARAH Current 5,000m World Champion Mo Farah is looking forward to the Olympics. Born in Somalia, Mo came to the UK when he was eight years old, and lived in West London – so London 2012 is home turf for him.

How are you training now, with just a few weeks to go?

Training is going well. I’ve been getting the miles in and just generally working hard. It’s important at this stage to stay injury free, so getting lots of rest in between training is very important.

What do you think of new Olympic facilities?

All of the new Olympics facilities are amazing and it will make a big difference to sport in the UK to have those facilities. We’re very privileged to have the Olympics in the UK. How will it feel to be competing in front of a home crowd?

I’m excited about competing in front of the home crowd – the atmosphere will be electric. The British public always get behind me when I race, which will give me an extra boost.

What do you hope the legacy of the London Games will be?

I hope that more and more people get inspired by the Olympics, which will encourage them to take up sport. With the world’s biggest sporting event taking place in London, we should see sport grow in the UK, especially with the new facilities.

What Olympic events will you be watching?

I’ll be focusing on my own events at the Olympics and so won’t get the chance to watch others unfortunately. However, if I did have the chance, I’d love to watch the football!

Luke Campbell – Boxing A bantamweight boxer who’s looking promising for the Games. He was European champion in 2008 and is currently world number two.

Andy Murray – Tennis Ranked fourth in the world, Murray has not managed to win a Grand Slam tournament. Could 2012 be his year?

Men’s Four – Rowing The team has won gold in the last three Olympics, and will be hoping to make it a fifth. The British rowing team is particularly strong – they won six medals in Beijing.

Also watch out for: Sarah Stevenson, Taekwondo; Laura Bechtolsheimer, Equestrian and Beth Tweedle, Gymnastics

Photo: Sportgraphic/Shutterstock

Peter Norfolk – Wheelchair tennis Two times gold medal winner in the singles tennis and winner of five Grand Slam titles too, Peter will be hoping to defend his title at the London Games.

bulbs and 350,000 wetland plants – it’s the biggest planting project ever undertaken in the UK. and 175,000 children (with accompanying adults!) will also be seeing the Games for free. the Games – 203,000 on the busiest day (13 August). That’s 35 per cent more than a normal day.

8,000 people will be carrying the Olympic torch and it will travel 8,000miles around the UK. be happy 39 76 miles of temporary fencing will be put up

FOOD

MASTERING HER TRADE

With her new trophy on the kitchen table, MasterChef winner Shelina Permalloo is set to take the cookery world by storm.

Be Happy talks mangoes, MasterChef and Mauritius What made you apply to compete in MasterChef ?

I had applied two years before, but this time I spent more time thinking about it and I realised this was a a good time for a change and to commit myself to cooking.

It’s a big step from amateur to MasterChef winner – what cooking had you done previously?

I’m a one-pot cook. There’s always food in the cupboard, but I’ve only ever done basic cooking for other people – perhaps the odd party with a pot of rice etc, but nothing too sophisticated.

What did the qualification process involve?

There were 25,000 applicants who had phone interviews and then some were invited to cook a few dishes. It got down to 70 of us cooking for Gregg and John – but at the stage we didn’t get to meet them.

What was it like meeting Gregg and John for the first time?

Really, really scary. There are loads of people there, including the film crew and so on. I’m not used to having people watching me while I cook – I’m used to being at home in my own kitchen. On camera Gregg and John are very much the judges; there’s a line that you don’t cross, but off screen they are very supportive and give you lots of feedback.

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Are you in the kitchen every day when you’re competing?

It varies – sometime it’s very intense, like when we were in Thailand (cooking for royal family); other times you’re not in for a while, but you’re committed mentally throughout that time. For three and a half months I genuinely didn’t sleep properly.

How did you find the other challenges?

We had to cook for 100 people at a Jane Austen Festival filmed at the Royal Crescent in Bath. My team won that challenge and I realised that one of my biggest skills was project management and managing time.

Did you feel that you grew in strength and confidence as the series went on?

Yes, but I was shocked the night they said I’d won. There was a lot of banter between me and the boys (the other finalists Tom and Andrew) about mangoes and so on.

They were really fun, and I thought they were incredible cooks.

Mangoes – what’s the deal there?

It’s my hidden obsession – now it’s public.

Has there been a run on mangoes at supermarkets?

I don’t know but I should have been on commission.

How did you come up with your winning menu?

The reason I chose octopus and mutton is that they take a long time to cook and I knew we had three hours. I’d been chatting with Tom who asked me what my last supper dish would be and I said octopus, so it had to be octopus on the menu. The mutton was cooked in a pressure cooker and was completely tenderised – it was the equivalent to six hours cooking. Planning for that menu went on throughout the process. I wanted to encapsulate what I would like people to enjoy if I had a restaurant.

What was it like hearing John and Gregg’s reactions to the food that you and the others were serving?

We weren’t always around to hear their reactions, but when we were I found it was always easy to hear compliments about the other people’s food – when it came to me I could only focus on the criticism and think that I’ve got to improve.

What’s next for you – what’s the big ambition?

My long-term goal is to open my own restaurant. But I’m going to take my time, I don’t want to fail like 90 per cent of new restaurants.

You came across really well on TV – would you consider that as a career?

I wouldn’t say no to any opportunity at the moment, but my main ambition is to own a restaurant.

What is it about Mauritian food that you love so much?

The happiest moments of my life have been spent eating Mauritian food. It’s a feeling of nostalgia I want to share with other people – I feel drawn to the island.

And what does a MasterChef winner eat for breakfast?

Well, believe it or not, I’m currently eating malt wheatoes out of my nephew’s bowl!

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Shelina will be cooking live at the BBC Good Food Shows this Autumn.

For more info and to book tickets, visit www. bbcgoodfoodshow.com or call 0844 581 1363.

WATCH OUT Pick and mix of some of the best timepieces available this summer Geometric aesthetic Fashioned in pink gold, this limited edition Vintage 1945 Tourbillon has three gold bridges that contrast to beautiful effect with the colour of the main plate. This timepiece houses the latest technological processes within a stylish Art Deco-inspired case. The self-winding caliber GP9600 movement has an integrated micro-rotor housed under the barrel, and the mechanism’s architecture is visible through the sapphire back. Water-resistant to 30 metres and with 72 components in its Tourbillon mechanism, it includes 31 jewels, alligator strap, a hand-brushed platinum rotor and gold regatta hands that have been diamond polished. A matte-anthracite coating gives the Vintage 1945 (which is limited to only 50 pieces) a distinctive, stylish look. £154,000 www.girard-perregaux.com

Ocean going The Volvo Ocean Race is the ultimate test of a sailor’s endurance and to coincide with the race, which reaches its climax in Galway, Ireland this summer, IWC has launched the Portuguese Yacht Club Chronograph edition. Water-resistant to 6 bar and including a screw-in crown with crown protection, the watch looks rugged enough to take on the challenge of the race. It features an analogue display with two hands in a subdial for long stop times. The sapphire-glass back provides a clear view of IWC’s double-pawl winding, and the back is engraved.

Luminescent hands and indices combine well with the contemporary design, well-organised dial and forward-looking mechanics.

IWC is a Global Sponsor of the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation which uses sport to help disadvantaged youngsters around the world (www.laureus.com). £10,900 www.iwc.com

Sky high Built in honour of the Red Arrows – the RAF aerobatics display team – Citizen’s Eco-Drive Red Arrows Skyhawk A.T Titanium watch is fuelled by light and never needs a battery. Features include Atomic Timekeeping, a 1/100 second chronograph measuring up to 24 hours and a 99 minute countdown timer. The titanium bracelet and red bezel make this timepiece burst with machismo – straight out of Top Gun. £499 www.citizenwatch.com/ 28 BE HAPPY

Made to measure Although packed with displays – including a 30-minute counter, date window, seconds display and 12-hour counter – the Montblanc Sport DLC (diamond-like-carbon) Chronograph Automatic retains a simple chunky yet stylish look. The 44mm black DLC-coated stainless-steel watch has an automatic movement with chronograph functions, a black dial with luminescent indexes, a black alligator-skin strap and is water-resistant to 20 bar. A multi-purpose sports watch, the Montblanc Sport seems happy in its own skin – looking good and lacking pretension. £3,740 www.montblanc.com

Dive in style Linde Werdelin’s interpretation of the ideal timepiece for modern diving, the Oktopus is designed to carry The Reef, its very own dive computer attachment, and offers the user a sophisticated diving instrument.

Each watch is individually crafted in satin-finished titanium with two attachment units at 3 and 9 o’clock and treated with a black DLC (diamond-like-carbon) coating, and a black ceramic bezel to offer superb scratch resistance. The Oktopus II Titanium Yellow features yellow accent on the dial and a big date in double wheels, powered by a Dubois Depraz custom-made automatic movement for enhanced readability.

Using a stencil technique, the two-layered dial is laser-cut into an octopus design on the top layer, with a circular Côtes de Genève finish to resemble water ripples on the layer below. The case back is finely engraved with an octopus drawing created by Morten Linde and the crown carries an engraved octopus symbol.

The Oktopus II currently comes in three versions, Titanium Black, Titanium Yellow, and Rose Gold Titanium, each limited to 88 pieces and available worldwide this autumn. £7,800 www.lindewerdelin.com be happy 29

travel

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THE LEGENDARY SOUK CITY

Sitting in the foothills of the snow-capped Atlas Mountains is the mystical Ochre city of Marrakech with its famous labyrinth of souks, spices and treasure troves. Jane Morgan reports 5 6

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1. A colourful array of scarves in the souk 2. Baboosh slippers in the souk 3. Ornate ceiling in the roof of the Bahia Palace 4. Narrow alleyways of the souk 5 An incredible selection of sticky Moroccan sweets in the souk.

6 Large colourful baskets of petals and potpourri can be seen everywhere.

7. Snake charmer in the Atlas mountains 8. Heading into the Medina 9. The tannery in the Medina 10. Storks nest on all the tall buildings around Marrakech

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10 All photographs by Jane Morgan

ou need to keep your wits about you as you wander around the narrow alleyways of the Medina. All your senses are heightened by the myriad of vibrant colours, smells and the continuous bombardment of humanity, but keep an eye out for motorbikes and the odd galloping donkey and cart. Leather goods, rugs, shoes, kaftans, jewellery, sweets and spices are all on display if you care to haggle. Afterwards you can rejuvenate yourself with a fresh orange juice in the world-famous square, Djemaa el Fna, while marvelling at the snake charmers, magicians and colourful water sellers all under the watchful eye of the Koutoubia Minaret.

Marrakech is a real city of contrasts and like many Moroccan cities consists of the old fortified city (the historic Medina) surrounded by modern neighbourhoods. In the Medina the bustling alleyways quickly give way to the cool serenity of hidden jewels, such as the Ben Youssef Medersa, an impressively designed Koranic school built in 1570. The thick walls block out any noise from the busy market so you can enjoy a place of quiet contemplation as you admire the architecture.

Other architectural delights include the 19thcentury ornate Bahia Palace surrounded by sweet smelling gardens and the largest mosque in Marrakech, the Koutoubia mosque with its famous minaret that fuses both Moroccan and Andalusian styles. At over 70m high it dominates the skyline.

We were guided around all these sensory delights

by Fetah, a guide with Abercrombie & Kent, the

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travel

NEED TO KNOW CLIMATE Marrakech enjoys a semi-arid climate with very hot dry summers and mild wet winters. Expect temperatures up to 40ºC during mid summer and daytime temperatures of around 20ºC in winter.

BEST EXCURSIONS • Watch the sun rise over the Atlas in a hot air balloon.

• Cleanse your body with a traditional Hammam (steam room).

• Take to the hills with quad or mountain bikes.

• See how the world-famous Argan oil is made.

HOW TO GET THERE A four-hour flight from the UK. BA fly from London, Edinburgh and Manchester.

CONTACTS • Tailor-make your visit to Marrakech with Abercrombie & Kent. www.abercrombiekent.co.uk Europe and North Africa; 0845 485 1143 • Riad Joya www.riadjoya.com • Kasbah Tamadot www.kasbahtamadot. virgin.com; 0208 600 0430 32 BE HAPPY

world’s leading luxury holiday maker, who knew everyone and everything there was to know. Fetah has lived in the city all his life and was full of fantastic facts and figures about the place that really brought it to life. Want an antique? He knew the best shop. Somewhere authentic to eat? He knew the owner of a fantastic restaurant.

Morocco is also a city of geographical differences, set in the foothills of the highest mountain range in North Africa with the Sahara desert to the south and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. Marrakech is surprisingly green and skirted by a Palmeraie of no less than 180,000 palm trees. This setting is incredibly serene and to really appreciate the ambiance a camel ride under the shady canopy of the trees is highly recommended.

The city’s gardens are worth a visit, particularly the tranquil Menara Garden set around a central lake and encircled by olive groves. Also the Majorelle Garden, which is a shady haven of palms and cacti and once a favourite place for Yves Saint Laurent whose ashes are scattered here. The perfect way to reach the gardens is a sedate journey by horse and carriage from the main square.

THE ATLAS MOUNTAINS A trip to Marrakech would not be complete without an excursion into North Africa’s greatest mountain range. The temperature drops a few degrees as you

ascend into the mountains and the air becomes wonderfully clean and pure. The pace of life slows right down as you are suddenly surrounded by incredible natural beauty. A favourite excursion is to visit a local village and meet with a Berber family for a traditional tea ceremony. It’s a charming experience to be invited into a native home full of children and farm animals. The terrace where tea is served while visitors sit on a traditional Berber rug offers panoramic views of the villages and mountains.

TASTE BUDS With so many delicious seasonal fruits like oranges, dates, figs, pomegranates and olives you’d expect the food to be good. So don’t go to Morocco expecting to lose weight, in fact many people go in order to learn the local culinary skills. Great food combined with Moroccan hospitality means you will be eating very well. Most meals start off with a selection of salads, dips and bread which are delicious and filling enough to eat just by themselves. But you must leave room for the tagine because they are all fantastic and you can wash it all down with a refreshing Moroccan mint tea.

WHERE TO STAY You need to have a good memory for some of the alleyways in the Medina as they can look very similar, but staying in one of the Medina’s Riads

[a traditional Moroccan house or palace] is a wonderful experience. They tend to be tucked away from the main hustle and bustle with fairly nondescript doorways, but once you step over the threshold you feel like you’ve been wrapped in cotton wool. The thick walls keep the rooms cool and quiet and the welcome is so friendly you really do feel as if you’ve arrived home. Riad Joya is a hop, skip and jump from all there is to see in the 15thcentury souk and is a little enclave of tranquility.

Breakfast is best taken on the roof terrace where you are surrounded by Bougainvillea and the sweet scent of jasmine.

Of course, you may prefer to spend your entire stay within the picturesque Atlas Mountains or at least spend a couple of days there to unwind after the frenetic fun of the Medina. How do you fancy sharing your retreat with probably the luckiest donkeys, mules and camels in the whole of Morocco? If so, then Sir Richard Branson’s Moroccan retreat Kasbah Tamadot could be just what you are looking for. It’s a wonderful boutique hotel with spectacular views, gourmet food, luxurious rooms, a selection of pools, incredibly friendly staff and strutting peacocks in the grounds to keep you entertained. It’s not all about relaxation either as there are plenty of activities that can be arranged for both adults and children to work off those tagines.

Mountains high: [clockwise from main photo] the Atlas mountain; a store owner in the Medina watches the world go by; the Koutoubia Minaret; camels enjoy a spot of lunch in the Palmeraie

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A life in travel 50 years ago Geoffrey Kent launched luxury travel company Abercrombie & Kent, Be Happy puts the questions to this pioneering traveller You went on a two-month motorbike trek at the age of 16 from Nairobi in Kenya to Cape Town in South Africa. What memories do you have of that time?

At 16 I was asked to leave my school – the school wouldn’t allow pupils to have motorbikes and I was caught with one. I had a big argument with father and so I got on my two-stroke motorbike, told him I was leaving and roared down to Nairobi. I bought a tarpaulin and a sleeping bag from the Salvation Army. I built a framework for the bike, for petrol on the one side and water on the other. I bought some biltong [dried meat], put my food in the helmet (we never wore helmets), bought a Shell map and off I went. There was no planning at all. I drove to Nairobi, then into Portuguese Africa, I fell into the Zambesi river and got marooned there and was picked up by a Rhodesian army patrol. Eventually I made my way down to Salisbury, Durban and finally Cape Town. When I arrived I realised I was very lucky to have got there and there was no way I was driving back. I was the first person to travel by motorbike the 5,000 miles between Nairobi and Cape Town. I sold my story to a newspaper and with the money I bought a ticket and sailed back to Mombasa. I was met by my father who promptly sent me to the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst in the UK.

By the time I was 17 I had climbed Kilimanjaro twice, done this motorbike trip, been in the Congo and Uganda, done all sorts of crazy things, was already playing polo – I was way ahead of other 17 year olds at the Royal Military Academy in the UK.

Would you say it was a defining moment in your life?

I think my whole life had been defining up to that point. The fact I was born on a farm where you had to do everything yourself. I had to start the generator, water came from a dam, there were buffalo. We were pioneers.

I rode a horse from the age of two or three.

That’s how I became a polo player – in order to meet my next door neighbours who were 10-15 miles away, I had to go on horseback.

I think the word is ‘pioneering’ in a very difficult place. But it was kind of normal to me – I didn’t find it unusual.

dichotomy as I grew up – my father was a tough outback guy, army guy, while my mother was very graceful.

When I got to Sandhurst and was then commissioned into the 5th Royal Innsikilling Dragoon Guards, I was mixing in the officers’ mess, which was very grand – gold plate, beautiful oil paintings, everybody from very sophisticated backgrounds.

I then went to be aide de camp to a very famous general called General John Frost, a hero of the Battle of Arnhem whose story was retold in the film A Bridge Too Far. He was commanding officer in Libya. So as a

34 BE HAPPY

How did you come to move into the luxury travel sector – when you’d come from a more pioneering background which was not luxurious?

I had a very posh mother – my mother was very smart – she went to Benenden, the same school as the Princess Royal went. She was a debutante. My father was an officer in the King’s African Rifles. So I had this

very young guy I was his aide de camp. He was very wealthy in his own right and did things impeccably. He became my hero.

When I was with the General we had to go on a big expedition to Kufra Oasis and he said: ‘When I get to Kufra Oasis I don’t want to be uncomfortable. I want to have all the exercises, fire ranges etc during the day.

But at night I want what I usually have.’

He wanted the best champagne every night. Everything had to be perfect. And that’s why I arranged for an engineer to make me a refrigerated truck so that I could keep everything cold – ice, champagne.

That’s what gave me the idea [of combining adventurous travel with luxurious accommodation], it was all beginning to take shape inside me. During that time in 1962 I was still in the army and we lost our farm, and that’s when we set up Abercrombie & Kent. My father was running it and I was just helping, but when I came back in 1966 I had a very clear vision of what I wanted.

It had to be rough during the day [full of activity] and total comfort at night.

Once I said to my General: ‘Why do you have to have all this stuff?’ He looked at me and said: ‘Geoffrey, any bloody fool can be uncomfortable.’ I replied to him ‘Now I get it – I understand.’ Those were the defining moments – the motorbike journey and that statement. I then put the two together.

What were the first trips you developed?

I developed the luxury photographic mobile tent by using the same engineer who built my army truck in Libya. I brought him to Kenya and told him to build me the same.

We had the first refrigerated trucks to go on safari and nobody else was doing it. And I came up with the slogan: ‘Hunt with a camera not with a gun’.

That was the first product and we went on from that. And I still run my luxury mobile camps, they’re still famous, still marvellous, still wonderful.

Travel can have positive benefits for the traveller and the local population but it can also have an adverse effect. How have you made sure that A&K benefits the places you travel to?

From day one I realised that the local community where your camp or lodge is built has to benefit commercially. From day one we had something simple that they could understand. We set up a per-night bed fee so for every person we got in they got a fee. It was perfect and it’s worked brilliantly ever since. We created Abercrombie & Kent Philanthropy and decided to focus on the

community, the environment, wildlife and health and education. Those were the pillars of what we did. And it’s been an amazing success. We have helped to protect gorillas [in Rwanda and Uganda] – the communities now get $1-million in fees and half the world’s gorillas now live in our areas. And the people have beautiful schools and our clients donate to these schemes. It goes round and round – the communities do well, the clients love it – it’s a virtuous circle.

How does it work when you’re setting up – does it start with the local community?

I make my money, I’m a businessman. I know what my client wants instinctively. So once I’ve established that I want to set up a place, I negotiate with the government to get a long lease on that place. Once I’ve got that, I engage with the community, asking them what they want and letting them know I’m there as a friend. I show them what I’ve done in the past. Usually they want a hospital built or a school. I say if I do that I don’t want you touching the wildlife – stop any hunting or poaching. We’re partners and I help teach them the monetary value of the wild animals. We improve the situation 100 per cent. The key thing to life is don’t give a man a fish, teach him how to fish.

How much do you still travel?

About 300 days a year. Last week I was in Jordan – I went to the Dead Sea. I said to them that I was only there for one day but I wanted to see all of Jordan. They said that’s impossible. But we got up at 5am and did

everything – 15 hours of driving and we did Wadi Rum, Petra and Aqaba.

What’s your favourite welcome cocktail or drink?

I think in life you change, it used to be Pimms – ice cold Pimms No1 with a bit of mint. But then I got worried about my weight, so now I like a really excellent white wine – a Mersault or something like that.

Why do you travel – what do you get out if it?

I never went to university. My university has been my travel. I immerse myself when I travel. I always meet with local people I study a book on it, now I look on the web as well. I come out of a country understanding everything about it. I talk, talk, talk, talk, talk – it drives my wife wild – asking the guides about their lives, how their family works, why they are going on a march and so on.

I believe travel brings people together. I’m sure that George Bush Junior would never have gone to war if he’d gone to more than two countries in his life.

Travel really does bond people and I wish more people would travel then you wouldn’t have this isolation of people and religions – it’s ridiculous. I say to myself I’m a world citizen. I’m very curious about wildlife and people, and worried about the globe and climate change. I’ve seen climate change for myself – when I first climbed Kilimanjaro the snow was halfway down, today there’s only a little bit on the top. Climate change is here – it’s just a question of how bad it’s going to be.

Are there any more new luxury destinations to be discovered?

How long do you have? My job is to go and look for wild places that are totally primitive and then I find a way of getting our guests there. Driving through the Wadi Rum a few days ago I went to a horrible camp with no air conditioning. And I thought to myself why don’t A&K build a beautiful camp in the Wadi Rum, bring income to the people.

So my guys in Jordan are already working on it. Go over the Wadi Rum in a balloon, have a lovely breakfast. The destinations are everywhere. We’re also looking at building another boat for the Irawaddy in Myanmar.

Unfortunately due to all the conflict the Middle East is largely undiscovered. The Lebanon is fantastic. On the other hand, South America has lots to offer – Brazil, Argentina, Galápagos and Mexico.

Which A&K trip is your favourite and why?

My personal favourite is always the trip I haven’t done and what I’m planning to do.

So I want to go and see the nearest relative to man, the bonobo ape. They have 98.6% of our DNA but they live in an impossible, huge forest just outside Kinshasa [in the Democratic Republic of Congo] and I’m planning an expedition to go there next year.

I’ve spent 50 years developing the company and I’ve been everywhere, but at the end of the day the very best product is the one I started with – go on safari. Do a safari in Gambia or Botswana or Kenya or Tanzania or Uganda. A safari will change your life – it’s just magic.

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Dinner time: [main photo] an elephant approaches the dinner table; [inset] A&K founder Geoffrey Kent be happy 41

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ADVERTISE HERE Be Happy magazine is distributed online and in print through First Class and business class airport lounges, on flights and at selected top-end hotels. If you would like to market your brand in the UKâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most positive publication, then contact our advertising department on 020 8541 0165 or by email to sales@behappypublishing.co.uk

Inspired ideas for summer living.

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travel Surf ’s up: kitesurfing at Grand Cayman

Sun, sea & surf

Charlotte Boan heads for the water as she enjoys a sporting break in the Cayman Islands

PHOTOS: CAYMAN ISLANDS DEPARTMENT OF TOURISM

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right towels were slung over shoulders and goggles were in hand – there was a sense of purpose in the pace of people heading to one of the Caribbean’s most iconic beaches. Nearly 900 swimmers of varying ages descended on the fine white sand, which on a Saturday in June, was peppered with small tents in a buzz of festival excitement for the annual sea swim competition.

Seven Mile Beach on Grand Cayman in the Cayman Islands, edged by an evergrowing number of plush hotels, is the type of idyllic setting you’d drool over on

a computer screensaver. For this muchcelebrated annual event, its cobalt blue waters were teeming with helicopters, speedboats, lifeguards and huge inflatable buoys marking out one mile of its 5.5 mile stretch (since the beach was named it has been reduced by erosion).

Open water swimming has raised its profile in recent years, and is set to trial for inclusion during the Olympics in London later this year. These types of events take place outdoors in open oceans, bays, lakes, rivers, canals, and reservoirs. The distance of each swim

usually varies from 1km to 80km, but major competitions are usually between 5km and 25km.

Now in its 20th year, the Grand Cayman Flowers Sea Swim (www. flowersseaswim.com) is certainly one of the most glamorous of events of its kind and is known to be the ‘world’s richest’, with up to £70,000 in prizes on offer. Top cash prizes lure serious competitors across the globe, with first place for 2012 awarded to Australian swimmers, in both the male and female categories. Winners finished around

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PHOTOS: CAYMAN ISLANDS DEPARTMENT OF TOURISM

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the 20-minute mark. In comparison, I managed a somewhat lengthier time of 52 minutes, but this still put me ahead of 200 or so other swimmers. However, there’s no pressure. The event has a distinct and friendly community feel. Of the 840 odd competitors, the majority lived on the island and were just out for a fun day.

A British overseas territory with a strong American influence, the country’s main industries are offshore banking and tourism, creating a fascinating blend of inhabitants. Whether ex-pat or Cayman national, however, there is a noticeable air of pride and togetherness about the community. Caymanians are also an active bunch and widely passionate about the island’s environment.

Located in the western Caribbean Sea, 38 BE HAPPY

the Cayman Islands, which consist of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, lie south of Cuba and northwest of Jamaica. Famed for beautiful beaches, romantic sunsets and stylish hotels, the tropical Cayman Islands, are perfect for a relaxing beach holiday, yet they are equally suited to the more active traveller. Here’s our pick of some of the best of the other watersports activities on the larger island of Grand Cayman:

Scuba diving The Cayman Islands has some of the best and most diverse range of scuba diving in the Caribbean. Deep walls, shipwrecks, coral gardens and the most famous of all, Stingray City, where divers and snorkellers alike can get up close and personal with

PHOTOS: CHARLOTTE BOAN

PHOTOS: CHARLOTTE BOAN

Island life: (clockwise from above) a swimmer and stingray at Stingray City; kayaking on the mangrove tour; view from the Caribbean Club; Seven Mile Beach; divers at Stingray City; Rum Point is popular with watersports enthusiasts; the Flowers Sea Swim

large stingrays on a natural sandbar 20 minutes boat ride from shore. Care is taken to restrict the number of visitors at any one time, so as to preserve the environment.

One of the most exciting additions to the classic dive sites of Grand Cayman is the wreck of the Kittiwake sunk in 2010 following eight years of planning by local divers (www.divetech.com). Sitting at a depth of around 20m, the 70m-long vessel has lots of open areas in and around to explore. Dive guides tailor the dive to suit experience level, as it reaches as shallow as five metres. Experienced divers have endless areas inside to explore, including engine rooms and a bathroom, where you can check yourself out in the mirrors. There’s lots of life around the

By far one of the best ways to get to know the island is to take a guided kayak trip. A trip not-to-be missed is a mangrove tour, which takes around two hours. Learn about the fascinating species among the mangroves and why these plants are essential to the balance of the Cayman Island ecosystem (www.caymanseaelements.com).

Led by an enthusiastic young entrepreneur, Tom Watling, a nighttime bioluminescence tour near Rum Point is one of the most unique of all the activities on offer. Cruising out in a two-man kayak at a guided leisurely

pace, you paddle into a small bay that has one of the highest concentrations of bioluminescence in the world.

Bioluminescence is light created by living organisms, which produce incredible displays in the water. Watch your paddles light up like Star Wars light sabers through the water and watch out for clouds of stardust underwater as fish dart around you (www.caymankayaks.com).

Surfing Kitesurfing is literally taking off around the world and Grand Cayman is becoming a favoured place to learn, thanks to its large expanse of shallow water sandbars and good winds. The best and most consistent winds are from November to April (www.kitehousecayman.com).

PHOTOS: CHARLOTTE BOAN

PHOTOS: CAYMAN ISLANDS DEPARTMENT OF TOURISM

Kayaking

PHOTOS: CHARLOTTE BOAN

PHOTOS: CAYMAN ISLANDS DEPARTMENT OF TOURISM

vessel with schools of fish and passing pelagic fish.

Paddleboarding is popular with tourists and locals alike. Standing up on flat board, you use a long paddle and lots of balance in those core muscles to propel you along the water. It takes a little while to find your comfortable centre of gravity and is a definitely an activity best suited to calm flat days. Body conscious celebrities love the sport apparently, as it offers an excellent body workout.

For more information about all these activities and many more on the islands, see the Cayman Island Tourist Board website: www.caymanislands.co.uk

CONTACT AND PRICES Charlotte Boan travelled Grand Cayman with Caribtours www.caribtours.co.uk, staying at the Marriot Hotel.

Grand Cayman Marriott Beach Resort, Grand Cayman Caribtours (020 7751 0660: www.caribtours.co.uk) offers 7 nights from £1,369 per person, staying in a deluxe room including breakfast, return scheduled flights and private transfers.

Offer: Seven nights for the price of 6 and complimentary daily breakfast.

Grand Cayman Marriott Beach Resort, Grand Cayman Caribtours (020 7751 0660: www.caribtours.co.uk) offers 14 nights from £1,775 per person, staying in a deluxe room including breakfast, return scheduled flights and private transfers.

Offer: 14 nights for the price of 12 and complimentary daily breakfast.

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Lost in Laos

An adventurous journey through uncharted territory by motorbike gave Simon Brown the chance to discover the charms of Laos

40 BE HAPPY

All photographs by Simon Brown

A motorcycle parked on the ferry slipway on the east bank of the Mekong river

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he entire village turned out and crowded round us. The elders shook hands while the youngsters hid behind the legs of the adults, peering with wide curious eyes at the strange farang (westerners) dressed in boots, helmets and body armour. I had no idea if the cluster of thatch dwellings had a name. If someone asked me where I was, my reply was a simple ‘somewhere in northern Laos’ far beyond the reach of a guidebook. I pulled the camera out of the tank bag. The shutter clicked and the back of the camera lit up, revealing the portrait. Everyone crowded around, pointing, laughing and jabbering away at the villager now displayed on the LCD screen.

Smiles all round. Judging by the reaction, this was the first time anyone had seen their own picture.

Now everyone wanted to see their face on the camera. It started to dawn on me why our arrival carried such significance; the village was maybe 60km from the main road through a jungle of dense bamboo and banana plant thickets. An easy ride by bike, but how long would it take to walk out? Who in the crowd has never left the village?

Who has seen farang before? Who understood the magic of digital photography? I might have been gone only five days, but home was long way away indeed and already Laos was teaching me to expect the unexpected.

Our group – comprising a solitary Brit, four Germans and our Thai guide – had crossed the Mekong river from Thailand two days previously, registering our arrival at the border town of Houei 42 BE HAPPY

Xai. The bikes, riders and backup vehicle carrying the overnight luggage, petrol and spares took the short ferry ride before the formalities of visa and passport stamps. Our trip had started and would end in the Thai city of Chiang Mai, looping into the Golden Triangle along the Burmese border before crossing into Northern Laos and heading south to Luang Prabang some 20km short of China. From Luang Prabang we would cross the Mekong again and head west, back to the Thai border. Taking the road northeast from Houei Xai towards China the tarmac quickly became a casual affair the further from the town we rode and the choice of bike – built to cope with the changing conditions – was perfect. Each of us was riding an enduro-competent Honda CRM250. In the third world reliability counts more than looks and the simple two-stroke kick-start CRM I rode was not showroom standard, but was both rugged and easy to maintain with few things like starter motors or

Clockwise from top: the bikers pass an Asiatic elephant on the road; biker Thomas makes a friend; villagers greet the team

batteries to go wrong or fail. Headlights, brakes and suspension were all in order and things like the o-ring chain checked daily, but the indicators were gone, the rear brake light missing and the speedo didn’t work. Everything that didn’t work on the bike didn’t matter and was considered optional in the third world. Unless you choose to ‘go native’ and ride a step-thru Honda 90, spares are generally not available locally.

The first night in Laos was spent in Vieng Phoukha. The shower was cold, but compared to the locals washing in the river at the bottom of the gorge I was staying in luxury. I showered and changed by candlelight. The sun had set an hour ago and the electricity was not switched on until 19:00 and would be available for two hours, just enough time to recharge the camera batteries. The small matter of a cold shower is less important when most of the village are subsistence farmers and earlier that day I had seen the locals bathing in the river. When measured against the open river, the privacy of a cold shower is a luxury. Dinner that night was basic – boiled eggs, chilli powder and a few strips of barbequed meat – and the seating was in the pitch dark alongside the main road to China. In an hour of dining just two lorries passed us by.

Laos is a quiet place, sandwiched between Thailand, Myanmar, China, Vietnam and Cambodia and has the unfortunate distinction of being the most heavily bombed country on the planet.

During the Vietnam War, the Americans dropped millions of tons of high explosive in Laos in an effort to bomb the Ho Chi Min trail back to the Stone Age. The American efforts failed, but for all its past suffering Northern Laos is a quiet, beautiful place draped in dense jungle, inhabited by people who just cannot help but smile. Outside of the towns protein can be hard to come by and many exist on subsistence agriculture with paddy fields and thatched huts dotting the roadside. In complete contrast, wander into any of the chic cafés in French-influenced Luang Prabang and order a coffee and croissant for breakfast followed by a baguette for lunch before rounding off the day

Clockwise from top: crossing a river; boarding the ferry; a macaque hitches a ride; a handcranked petrol pump in Hong Sa; crossing a suspension bridge

sipping ice cold beer while enjoying the sunset over the Mekong river. It didn’t matter if you chose the rural hospitality or town lifestyle, the cost of living was cheap and around €22 would see you straight for three meals, petrol and beer for the day.

For the extravagant, an hour–long Laos body massage with oil would set you back 50,000 Kip, which equated to the princely sum of €4.25. The massage was a perfect way to unwind and release

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travel the tension of being on the saddle all day. Thailand is more affluent, more western and generally more expensive than Laos. But the biggest contrast between the two countries is the lack of traffic. In Thailand, the entire country seems to be on the move with Toyota pickup trucks the affluent choice and the ever-popular and almost indestructible Honda 90 step-thru for those who aspire but cannot afford to own a car. Riding through the main street in Houei Xai, fresh off the ferry and seeing Laos for the first time, the town felt like any we had passed through in Thailand.

There was plenty of traffic on the move, and we passed a near-new Triumph Street Triple in limegreen in the main street. I had expected Laos to have a different feel from Thailand and felt a little disappointed, but I didn’t have to wait long before the nature of the country changed. Five minutes outside of the town and traffic vanished, the road was empty. People still lived in bamboo and thatch houses on stilts at the edge of the road, but unlike their Thai neighbours across the river there wasn’t a shiny pickup parked underneath.

As we headed east the road rose and fell through the hills, passing the occasional village. The road to Luang Nam Tha is the main route from China into Thailand and consisted of sections of bad tarmac interspersed by good gravel and for most of the time the road was empty of other travellers. But it was not without hazards. After riding for ages

and seeing nothing, a pickup truck rounded a blind bend on the wrong side of the road squeezing the bike closer to the solid wall of rock. Quick reactions and concentration are needed in the villages too. Dogs, children and chickens can run out from nowhere, and moped riders tend to not look or indicate when pulling out…..no one learns the Highway Code in Laos. For all the chaos, there are some ‘rules’ worth remembering; broken tree branches or banana leaves lying in the road just before a bend means ‘slow down, there is a broken down vehicle ahead’ and hazard lights flashing as you approach a roundabout mean ‘I’m going straight on here’.

After two days of travelling, we left Luang Nam Tha and headed south towards Udom Xai. Just a few kilometres from the Chinese border (reported to be closed to westerners but not verified) a sign was firmly planted at the roadside, apologising for any delays we might encounter on the way. The Sunny Road and Bridge Building Company was repairing the route to Udom Xai and for the next 50km the road swapped between unmade gravel and good tarmac interspersed with potholes, piles of sand, rubble and workers encampments.

Machinery was minimal, with most of the work being done by hand and at time it seemed like every able-bodied man in Laos was toiling to get the road finished.

As the sun set later that evening, I rode into

“Five minutes outside of the town and traffic vanished, the road was empty”

44 BE HAPPY

Udom Xai looking for a quiet spot to photograph the sunset. High on a hill overlooking the town I found a large building shuttered and closed up with a perfect spot for photography. From what I could tell, the building had been refurbished with the help of Vietnam, but the place was deserted.

If anyone objected to me parking my motorcycle out the front I would use the ‘lost tourist’ routine and excuse myself. As the sun set I started to snap away, when I heard a voice. Looking round I saw a Buddhist monk standing there. He asked me if I would like to take his photograph. Not only did the monk speak English, but he was willing to pose.

Once the sun had set and the photo shoot was over we sat on the steps, chatting in English as the monk took the opportunity to practise the foreign language he had learnt in the monastery. From under his robe he pulled his exercise book and started to make corrections as we spoke about our families, where I lived and what the weather is like.

Unplanned and unexpected, the monk was just one of those ‘sit and wait’ Laos moments.

Eight days since leaving Chiang Mai in Thailand we rode into Luang Prabang along the main road from Udom Xai. The first section of road after

leaving Udom Xai was a cracking ride, twisting through the mountains higher and higher with little tarmac to spoil the ride. The main challenge was trying to overtake an almost suicidal truck driver who only knew one throttle position, kicking up choking dust and rocks as he hammered round the bends. Most westerners arrive in Luang Prabang via a two day boat ride from upriver. All have missed a section of country that is both beautiful and remote and almost all of the boat-borne traffic is clutching a guidebook. My personal tip? Leave the Lonely Planet at home. The country is full of surprises no guidebook can predict. In the west we are used to answers from books, experts or Google. In Laos ‘no idea, but let’s see’ becomes the answer to almost any question – from the state of the road to what the day will bring. Western culture can struggle with this thought process, but the unknown, the unexpected, was my reason for travelling.

Luang Prabang is a World Heritage site and very popular with travellers. For a break in the routine of noodle soup breakfasts and cold river water showers the comforts offered are certainly very pleasant, but the town is not representative of what the rest of Laos is really like and whilst it was good to take

Clockwise from top: a pair of monks admire the motorbikes; shopping Laos-style; in traffic in Chiang Rai

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a break from the rougher side of life and enjoy coffee and croissants for breakfast, it was also a reminder of how parts of the planet are losing their identity. It was interesting to watch tourists in a restaurant order an omelette and smother the food in tomato ketchup – if the familiarity of home is needed, why travel?

After a few days in Luang Prabang I found myself on a ferry crossing the Mekong and heading for the western bank. Our destination was the border town of Muang Ngnuen. Midstream the ferry cut its engine while the skipper walked around, collecting the fare. I wondered just how far would we drift if we didn’t pay? And if we did pay the fare, would the dilapidated engine restart?

After collecting a fistful of Kip, the skipper fired up the engine and landed us on the far side. Gone were the funky cafes, Danish bakery and 24/7 wi-fi Internet of Luang Prabang. This was back in the 46 BE HAPPY

real Laos. Raw meat lay on the open stalls of the roadside market and a trickle of less than aromatic filthy effluent-rich water flowed down the ditch draining straight into the Mekong. We were only just across the river, but life here was almost like a different planet. The few reminders of civilisation ceased when the telephone and electric lines ended after a few kilometres. The roadside villages got smaller and less frequent but the track just got better and better as conditions deteriorated the further west we headed. The road may well have been marked on the basic maps we carried, but there was no hint in the little chain of black dashes marking the route as to just how good the ride would be or what we would encounter. Tourist guides didn’t even bother mentioning the route and as a result the buses crammed with backpackers didn’t bother trying to force their way through the jungle. We didn’t quite have the road to ourselves,

A Buddhist monk poses for a photograph as the sun sets; (inset) one of the many temples on the route

Country Lao People’s Democratic Republic is a one-party communist state, but free enterprise is encouraged and prolific. Tourist visas are available at the border for around $35US, which secures the visa and entry stamp. Official language is Lao but English is spoken in the larger towns. The currency is Kip, and at 11,500 Kip to €1 changing a small amount of sterling can leave you a Kip millionaire. US dollars are generally accepted.

Bikes Two-stroke Honda CRM250s were the preferred choice. Reliable and robust are key requirements for Laos, and kickstart two-strokes have fewer parts to go wrong. Do not expect speedos or brake lights to work but everything else is maintained by the mechanic.

Tour Anyone with a full motorcycle licence can ride this tour. Daily mileage is not extreme and everyone sets their own pace. One rider was used to a Buell and tarmac at home but he adapted to gravel quickly. The off-road sections are not motocross-standard, more like a graded track. Take it easy, enjoy the people and scenery and savour the time.

There are tour operators who will run bikes and riders with a policy of ‘insured until the next accident’. This is to be avoided at all costs.

Relatives expect compensation for fatal road accidents. Prison beckons if you cannot pay.

but there was virtually no traffic. The few who can afford to travel by Honda 90 while the rest walk and those on foot outnumbered bikes by perhaps 15 to 1. It may have been remote, but the road was not completely empty and rounding one bend a pair of lorries straining up a steep climb honked their horns, reminding us the rule of the road; who is biggest has right of way.

From the hilltops we dropped down a winding, gravel and rock strewn track to the valley below to find a logging lorry laden with timber parked in the river. We stopped for a break. As we sat there resting, an elephant with a burden of felled timber came lumbering out of the jungle to the waiting lorry. The elephant, urged on by the mahout, dragged the logs up the hill before unhitching and returning back into the jungle, only to be followed by a second elephant with more logs. This was unscripted magic, something a guide book just

cannot hint of and discovered that Laos rewards those who take their time.

Seven hours after leaving Luang Prabang the first hint of commercialisation appeared in the form of a roadside shop. Commerce had reached into the jungle and the bamboo and thatch equivalent of the local shop was selling canned drinks. The ride had lined my mouth with dust and the taste of warm, fizzy orange never felt so good on the tongue while the village turned out in force to watch farang drink out of a can. After 145km of dirt the tarmac returned and we stopped in Hong Sa for fuel. Hand cranked from a 220-litre drum, the petrol is delivered to the tank using nothing but gravity via the glass sight tube engraved in 1litre intervals.

The road to Muang Ngnuen is remote and way off the beaten tourist path, set in stunning scenery with conditions ranging from dust to hardpacked mud to loose gravel and blinding dust. The challenging-yet-not-impossible road that twists and turns over the hills and can be ridden by anyone and you do not need hardcore motocross skills or superhuman fitness. Just forget the guidebook, visit Laos and ride the road. Savour every one of the thousand or so bends before it’s cursed with tarmac or washed away in the wet season. Laos and Thailand is the kind of biking destination where being on the bike is just half the adventure, the rest is unknown until a monk asks to be photographed at sunset, or an elephant appears from the jungle hauling timber.

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travel activity breaks

Happy Holidays

Check out some of these great trips, all guaranteed to put a smile on your face – from diving in the Red Sea to getting the perfect night’s sleep

Learn to sail in the Mediterranean Warm waters, sunshine and reliable winds make Gibraltar an ideal year-round destination to learn to sail. Cruise the stunning coastlines of Spain and Morocco. Rock Sailing is offering a five-day, sixnight RYA sailing course from Gibraltar from only £485. www.rocksailing.com

Improve your swing Tired of not improving on the golf course despite putting in the hours and effort? Grand Resort Bad Ragaz in Switzerland is offering golf check-ups especially designed to improve ‘the swing’ and game skills for players of all levels, while also enabling them to enjoy the gorgeous backdrop of mountains and fresh Swiss air. The Golf Check-Up at Grand Resort Bad Ragaz costs 1,293 Euros for two days per person.

Nightly rates at Grand Resort Bad Ragaz start from 490 Swiss Francs (approx £330) staying in a double room www.resortragaz.ch

Learn to dive in the Red Sea Calm conditions, warm water and incredible marine life make the Red Sea an ideal place to embark on any diving course. Oonasdivers is offering a seven-night package to Sharm El Sheikh in October staying at the Camel Dive hotel for only £800 www.oonasdivers.com

Hiking in Mallorca With full day hikes, this trip offers a glimpse of rural life – climbing through wooded valleys and past spectacular waterfalls to Santa Maria del Cami with its 17th-century church.You can also enjoy the prolific birdlife at Llevant Natural Park including Audouin seagulls, Eleonora’s falcons and booted eagles. Join Saga Holidays on a seven-night trip in October staying in the S’Olivaret Hotel and the Sentido Pula Suites for £849. www.sagaholidays.co.uk

Experience the Masai Mara in luxury Sanctuary Olonana is an awardwinning tented camp on a private stretch of the Mara River, at the foot of the impressive Siria Escarpment, in Kenya’s Masai Mara. Make your stay here as active or leisurely as you desire, choosing activities that include game drives, bush walks, or spa treatments at your luxury lodge. www.abercrombiekent.co.uk

A perfect night’s sleep Having trouble sleeping? If so head for Lasource in Grenada.

This holistic allinclusive resort has added additional dates to its highly successful sleep school.

In partnership with leading UK insomniac specialist Dr. Guy Meadows and Kuoni, the sevenday workshop runs from November 25 to December 2 with more planned for 2013. Kuoni offers seven nights all-inclusive at La Source Grenada in a luxury room, including flights from £2,059 per person. www.kuoni.co.uk

FUNDRAISING THE CHARITY SECTOR

All for the cause

Working for a charity is more than just a job – for the people on the front line it’s an all-consuming passion. Be Happy speaks to two people about their work in the charity sector

Sally-Anne Hunter Founder and Director of Commando Spirit As a passionate and effective fundraiser, Sally-Anne has helped raise more than £15 million for charity and was most recently a founder member of the successful Booby Birds, that saw 20 women raise £440K for Scottish breast cancer charities by skydiving, and Event Director of the Caledonian Challenge – a 50 BE HAPPY

54-mile walk across the West Highland Way annually raising over £1 million.

Sally-Anne’s latest and most ambitious fundraising endeavour is as the Founder and Director of Commando Spirit, and last year she recruited 20 courageous participants to ‘Escape the Dunker’ the terrifying underwater escape training all Royal Marines have to undertake in order to gain their green beret. No one bottled it and more than £120,000 was raised for the Commando Spirit Appeal.

This year, Commando Spirit is challenging a small band of brave participants to Take The Leap; an eye-watering fast rope abseil from iconic London landmarks this September.

‘When I was in my early twenties, and as a recently trained barrister, I was selected to go on Operation Raleigh, an overseas expedition for young people, taking part in scientific, adventurous and community projects in Peninsula Malaysia, Sarawak and Sabah.

To secure my place I went through a selection process, including a weekend of command tasks and bivouacking (my only tactic was to keep positive and keep smiling and to keep awake at all times!) and had to raise £2,500, which was a significant sum of money back then.

‘After I returned from the expedition, which in itself was an unforgettable lifechanging adventure, I started practising as a barrister specialising in entertainment and charity law and continued to work each August at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe as Event Director of Fringe Sunday, something I had started as a student. The Bar Council and Law Society announced they were going to raise £1 million for the homeless and because of my experience with Raleigh and with the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, they enlisted my help. One of the things Operation Raleigh instils in you is the notion of the ‘Fourth Challenge’, giving something back to your community, and with this in mind I put together a team and organised The Legal Challenge – a weekend of command tasks and sleeping rough under the stars for 45 teams of lawyers, which raised £45,000 for CRISIS, the homeless charity.

‘The event was a turning point and I found it so fulfilling that I decided to leave law to focus on my passion for event directing and especially for delivering challenge events that raise money for charity. During my fundraising career I have been fortunate enough to work with fantastic charities such as CRISIS

(The Legal Challenge), Breakthrough Breast Cancer (The Breakthrough Women’s Challenge and The Booby Birds) SCOPE (The Banking Challenge) and Operation Raleigh (The Power Challenge), and I now run Lifetime Challenge events working with clients such as the Woodland Trust and the Royal Marines Charitable Trust Fund. I get a real kick out of creating events that give people once-in-a-lifetime experiences that raise life-changing sums for charity.’

For more information on the Commando Spirit Appeal, the Commando Spirit Series or Take the Leap, including how to get involved, please visit www.commandospirit.com

Graham Buckingham Founder of Bite-Back ‘Two years ago I dared to turn my back on a successful PR career in the motor industry. Instead of being passionate about people’s mode of transport I had become more concerned about people’s choice of fish. However, this epiphany wasn’t as random as it sounds. Eight years earlier, I had learned to scuba dive.

‘Of course when you learn to dive, the last thing you want to see underwater is a shark. Yet by the time I had logged 50 dives I couldn’t wait to see one. When I saw my first shark I felt a glow of peace, calm and admiration. It’s a feeling I have enjoyed with every shark encounter

since. Sadly, though, underwater shark sightings have become increasingly rare but, perhaps, hardly surprising when you realise that 125 countries currently trade in shark fins for the controversial dish, shark fin soup.

‘In fact, the single biggest threat facing sharks and the oceans right now is overfishing. The problem is so out of control that scientists predict that 20 species of shark will be extinct by 2017 and that the world will run out of commercial fish by 2048. Of course, the problem only persists because we’re choosing to eat the same familiar fish quicker than they can reproduce.

‘Alarmed by this news I decided something needed to be done to reverse the slide to extinction. It’s become the biggest PR challenge of my life. In 2004 I launched an online charity to educate and inspire UK restaurants and retailers to put conservation before commerce and stop selling key species known to be most at threat from over-fishing.

‘Since then, Bite-Back’s online campaigns have encouraged five major supermarket chains to halt the sale of some of these key species. It has even prompted Holland & Barratt to stop selling shark cartilage capsules in 550 stores and it has inspired numerous Chinese restaurants to remove shark fin soup from menus across the country.

Over time Bite-Back’s campaign victories have won thousands of new supporters and even captured the imagination of high-profile celebrities including Gordon

Ramsay, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Bear Grylls.

‘But one thing that I really like about Bite-Back’s approach is that there’s no barrier to participation. Supporters only need access to a computer and an appreciation that that fish are the only truly wild item you can find in a supermarket, fishmonger or restaurant. By uniting like-minded people and delivering a clear and concise message, Bite-Back is changing the way that Britain goes shopping for fish.

‘Considering the urgency of the issues, the more people who take part in the online campaigns the faster change can happen. The web site asks visitors to do three things: 1) Send the campaign emails; 2) invite restaurants to stop selling shark fin soup; 3) tell Bite-Back if you see any shark items for sale in the UK. As you might expect, raising money for shark and marine conservation can be pretty tough, so Bite-Back is unapologetic about asking for donations too.

‘Supporters who do any, or all, of these things can be confident they are contributing to Bite-Back’s success.

In fact they could regard it as marine conservation without getting wet!’

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For more information about the Bite-Back campaign and to donate visit www.bite-back.com To buy tickets for the fundraising event Bite-Back@Cancer go to www.bite-back@cancer.org BE HAPPY 51

travel

environment EDEN PROJECT

Eden in bloom The Eden Project is a great success story – regenerating a china clay pit and transforming it into a lush oasis. Be Happy talks to Eden founder Tim Smit about realising a dream

Med mission: (this photo) the Mediterranean biome is home to temperate plants; (above right) Eden Project founder Tim Smit 30 BE HAPPY

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uilt on the site of a china clay pit a few miles from St Austell in Cornwall, the Eden Project has transformed a barren landscape into a startling visitor attraction that includes two sets of adjoining domes or biomes, which house plants from all over the world. The tropical biome is home to an abundance of tropical plants, and its environment is kept at tropical moisture levels and temperature – it even has its own waterfall. The Mediterranean biome is home to warm temperate plants such as olive trees and vines.

Since opening in 2001, the Eden Project has widened its scope and activities to include community based projects, outdoor events, education and social projects and regeneration protects both in Cornwall and overseas. Here, we speak to Eden’s founder Tim Smit about how the project has developed.

PHOTOS: The Eden Project

What was the original vision – where did you hope to go with it right at the start?

‘My original idea was to create the impression of coming across a lost civilisation in the crater of a volcano. It was very Arthur Conan Doyle. I thought that environmentalists were usually so boring, I wanted to do something that was so theatrical that people would have to suspend cynicism.

You seem to be incredibly positive – have you overcome cynicism?

I actually hate cynics and negative people on the grounds that if you’re a cynic you might as well go an blow your brains out as what on earth is the pointing of going forward?

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environment EDEN PROJECT Regeneration game: overlooking the biomes and buildings of The Eden Project

‘I have never knowingly thought out of the box.

I’ve never worked at the cutting edge, the leading edge or the bleeding edge’

Can you sit back now and say that you’ve achieved your vision?

No, because whatever you do, a vision -– if that’s the right word for it – evolves, and that wherever you are is going to be different from where it began. We began wanting to create the greatest plant exhibition people had ever seen, which was about the theatre of people and plants.

We wanted to use plants like a canvas on which we painted human stories, but the very act of building Eden and its power as a regenerative engine led us to explore issues of community and dependence of communities on one another, which led us to embed a whole range of policy about local sourcing and sustainable management protocols that were to shape what we would do thereafter, because in doing that we forged close relationships with our communities and indeed the funding agencies, both state and private, which made them see the possibility of collaboration in a way they never had done before.

You’ve spoken in the past about the ‘social role’ in business – how important is the social role in business for you?

It’s critical – we are a special enterprise at Eden, if you like surpluses for a purpose, and for us just making profit is not interesting. We want a wider number of stakeholders to benefit from what we’re doing. We’re always mindful of whether we can get bigger wins from operating in different ways. For example, we behave in a way that a normal limited company would find impossible – we will hire local staff even if it’s slightly more expensive, provided that the greater expense isn’t because of their incompetence. If it’s a matter of geography we’ll just take it on the chin. We feel that if we can help regenerate Cornwall it will be good for everybody and, by extension in the medium term, for ourselves.

The number of local projects you’re involved in is staggering – did you ever imagine you would become so involved in so many projects?

I initially would never have thought about that because I don’t think I was

thinking that way. The original decision to do Eden had regeneration as a major element because we built it in an area where everybody said it was hopeless, but I’ve always been a fan of waifs and strays and ‘hopeless’ was particularly appealing as a challenge. So, a lot of the things we’re now involved, no I didn’t hope for them, but only because I wasn’t thinking about them.

Successful people often don’t stop and enjoy their success – they’re always onto the next thing. Have you had the chance to stop, take stock and say I’m proud of that?

In truth, no I don’t stop because I’m very superstitious. Perhaps it’s a form of illness to not take the time out to celebrate.

However, I feel that wherever you are you’re then aware of another challenge you’d like to meet. So you never get this sense of arriving – there’s the famous Dorothy Parker quote: ‘The trouble with getting there is that when you get there, there is no there there’, which I think reflects my life – where I am today I can see where Eden can go in a way that I never could have to start with because I needed other stuff done before I could actually see that.

You’ve been described as someone who thinks out of the box – how does someone do that?

I have never knowingly thought out of the box. I’ve never worked at the cutting edge, the leading edge or the bleeding edge. I’ve never done joined up thinking and I don’t think the unthinkable. I fire people for doing any of those things. Let me put it another way -– there is hardly a young person in school today aged 12 who hasn’t dreamt of building a giant dam, a castle or even an Eden Project. That is not particularly unusual, the unusual thing is to, if you like, have the power of grim to say let’s try and do it.

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For more information about The Eden Project go to www.edenproject.com be happy 55

CITYVALLETTA PROFILE

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popular destination with European holidaymakers, Malta has much to offer – wonderful weather, good food, hospitable people, excellent scuba diving and quality hotels. The capital city, Valletta, more than merits a visit as part of your stay, and we’d argue that this exquisite city alone is worth the journey to Malta – great for a long weekend. This month’s City Profile focuses on Valletta itself, but keep an eye out for a future issue when we’ll be taking a gastronomy tour of both Malta and nearby Gozo.

Phoenicans, Romans, the French, the Knights of St John and the British have all had an interest in the islands of Malta, before this most southerly of Europe’s nations finally gained its independence in 1964. The resulting blend of architecture, customs and culture is no better exemplified that in the wide streets of the capital city Valletta, where ornate baroque buildings rub shoulders with statues of Queen Victoria and red telephone boxes.

Located as it is in the middle of the Mediterranean, it’s not surprising that what is a relatively small island nation should have had such an important place in European history.

Its strategic importance has given rise to many conflicts over its history and has formed the island as it is today.

The Knights of St John (a religious organisation that fought for Christianity in Jerusalem and was given the islands by Emperor Charles V) have had the most influence over the city. Indeed, it was a leader of the knights, Grand Master La Valette, who gave the city its name when it was rebuilt following the Great Siege of 1565, when 600 knights and a militia of some 5,000 successfully defended the city against a Turkish army of 30,000.

Following Napoleon’s invasion of the islands in 1798, a rebelling Maltese population requested the aid of the British who took the islands in 1800, and Malta eventually became a British colony.

During the Second World War the islands were under siege yet again, as Italy and Germany rained down bombs on the islands. The number of bombs was staggering, in a two-month period more bombs were dropped on the islands than were dropped on London during the whole war.

Starving and reduced to living underground, the Maltese eventually received help and supplies in August 1942. In recognition of the incredible fortitude and bravery of the Maltese, the island was awarded the George Cross. In September 56 BE HAPPY

1964 Malta became fully independent from the British.

But don’t think that Malta is living in the past, the island remains of the moment and is currently a candidate to become European City of Culture in 2018. It has become a favoured spot with those filmmakers in search of historical site close the the sea and has a healthy music scene, with MTV’s Malta Week playing host to such stars as Flo-rida and Lady Gaga.

If classical music is more your thing, the The Valletta International Baroque Festival is a feast of music, opera, dance and art held in January 2013 Today’s invaders are of the tourist variety, taking the opportunity to walk around the attractive streets of the fortified city. Built on a peninsula, Valletta benefits from wonderful views on all sides, with Marsamxett Harbour to the northwest, the Grand Harbour to the east and at the tip of the peninsula Fort St Elmo.

A great start pointing for any visit to the city is the Republic Square where a statue of Queen Victoria takes pride of place in front of the National Library. Take the time to absorb the relaxed, sophisticated ambience by stopping for refreshments outside the Café Cordina and watching the world pass by.

From the library it’s a short walk to two of Valletta’s major attractions, the Palace of the Grand Master and and the Co-Cathedral of St John. In fact, it’s a short walk to anywhere in the city as it is less than a mile long and two thirds of a mile wide. Now the seat of the Maltese government, the Palace of the Grand Master was originally the residence of the Grand Masters and was built in the late 16th century. The palace has two internal courtyards and inside there is access to the Throne Room and the Tapestry Chamber where Gobelin tapestries adorn the walls. Take the time to visit the Armoury, which houses a pristine collection of the Knights’ suits of armour and weaponry.

St John’s Co-Cathedral is another magnificent building in the heart of Valletta, which was built between 1573 and 1577 during the reign of Grand Master Jean de la Cassiere. Don’t be fooled by its plain exterior – the inside of this baroque masterpiece is lavishly decorated. Every surface seems glitter with colour, including the floor which is inlaid in marble with the Knights’ tombs. Taking pride of place is one of Malta’s greatest treasures, The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist by Caravaggio.

If all this culture and history is beginning

Maltese magic: (clockwise from this photo) aerial view of Valletta; a view of the city’s fortifications from the sea; the lavish interior of St John’s Co-Cathedral

Highlight With its baroque architecture, marble tombstones and glorious tapestries, the Co-Cathedral of St John (www. stjohnscocathedral.com) is a must-see for visitors to Valletta. The opulent interior was decorated in the 17th century by celebrated artist Mattia Preti, but the stand-out work of art has to be The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist

by Caravaggio. This huge altar piece, measuring 361cm by 520cm, was completed in 1608 and is the largest painting produced by the artist and the only one that is signed.

Air Malta (www.airmalta.com) operates flights to and from all the major airports in Europe (including airports throughout the UK), North Africa and the Middle East. Malta International Airport is located 10km from Valletta. There is a good bus service and taxis from the airport operate on a fixed tariff basis. A regular ferry and catamaran service links several Italian and Sicilian ports to Valletta, and there is regular ferry service between Malta and Gozo. For more information go to www.visitmalta.com

ACCOMMODATION Experience Valletta in style in a 17th-century building originally built by the Knights of Malta, that has been has been lovingly restored and is located right in the middle of the city.

Palazzo San Pawl offers four apartments as accommodation with views into the central courtyard or onto the streets below. The roof terrace has wonderful views of the city www.livinginvalletta.com

PHOTO: viewingmalta.com

When to go

to overwhelm you, head towards the Grand Harbour to the Upper Barrakka Gardens, which offer panoramic views across the Grand Harbour towards the Three Cities. Alternatively, get close to Maltese nobility at Casa Rocca Piccola. This 16th-century palace is the ancestral home of the ninth Marquis de Piro and is open to the public who can visit the rooms of this living museum. Don’t miss the huge Second World War underground bomb shelters, which were cut out from the foundations of the palace.

Given that it surrounded by water, no journey to Valletta would be complete without a trip to the Valletta Waterfront, an area that is currently being redeveloped, where you can take a trip on a traditional dghajsa (a Maltese gondola-shaped boat) to get a real appreciation of the scale of the city’s fortifications.

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Spring is beautiful in Malta, there’s the chance of rain but the landscape is greener and the hordes haven’t yet arrived, a good time for strolling through Valletta and enjoying a beer or coffee in Republic Square. If you want your holiday to go off with a bang, the Malta International Fireworks Festival takes place in the Grand Harbour at the end of April. Summer is hot and popular with holidaymakers and scuba divers, it’s also festa time, when villages around the island compete to put on the best party.

Don’t miss Nenu The Artisan Baker (www.nenuthebaker. com) in St Dominic Street is a restaurant with in-house bakery that offers authentic Maltese food. The bakery specialises in producing traditional Maltese delicacies. Try the ftira, a sort of pizza that has Maltese bread as a base and a variety of toppings – delicious but filling!

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PHOTO: viewingmalta.com

Travel

MY LIFE I

Would you like to contribute to My Life? Email your positive experiences to editorial@behappymagazine.co.uk

‘Cycling is as natural for me as, well, breathing’

t’s hard to say exactly when I started riding a bike....

Like many people, I have vague memories of being pushed along with encouraging words being shouted behind me, followed by a head turn to see where my parents were, followed by a wobbly crash.

Somewhere between then and now, and a few crashes, I’ve ridden a lot of miles.

I remember riding in Bicester in the early 1970s on a KHE Highriser (a German version of the Raleigh Chopper), complete with plastic tassels hanging Easy Rider style from the bar grips.

Grunting every time I hit even the smallest incline on my Raleigh 3-speed racer that I pedalled to school, on my paper round, and everywhere else I wanted to go around Maidenhead. Zooming around Sydney in the late 80s on a slightly too small Pinarello, but feeling oh so stylish. Cycling in the Rockies, where some of the hills seem to never end, but are worth it for the freewheeling speeds reached on the way back down. My first experiences of mountain biking on a Specialized Stumpjumper in the Forest of Dean in the early 90s, once crashing into a deer (I still don’t know who was more startled). Arriving at the end of Land’s End to John O’Groats, wondering if cycling some 900-plus miles was what normal people did to celebrate their 40th birthday.

But even now, whatever the bike, wherever I ride, the sensation is not that different. That exhilaration I felt as a young boy, that sense of freedom, the sense of achievement, not to mention the smile it puts on my face. It’s as natural for me as, well, breathing. Okay, nowadays I ride with a helmet, so I don’t have that wind in my hair feeling I had as a teenager – mind you, nor do I have the same bushy head of hair.

Riding a bike as a kid, I realised that I no longer had to stay within earshot of my parents. I was free to go further afield. At first, just on the same estate, then out to neighbouring villages, then to the nearest town. As I grew, so did the miles I could pedal, and the freedom that comes with distance.

I’m lucky enough now to live in Rome, where cycling is best described as a combination of exhilaration and fear. I challenge

the New York Times writer who wrote that cycling in New York was like ‘meditation at gunpoint’ to try cycling in Rome. But aside from the chaos, cycling in Rome is like cycling anywhere. I can stop anywhere I like, park where I like, and get pretty much anywhere in the centre quicker than anyone in a car. On the plus side, in less than an hour on the train I can be in Umbria, where I can cycle through hills full of olive trees and sloping vineyards, stopping for a gelato mid-afternoon of course.

In Britain and many other countries cycling is once again becoming not just a leisure activity but a viable means of transport for many. Apart from a brief period in my early twenties, I’ve always cycled. As the saying goes, you never really forget. It doesn’t matter what you ride, or how far you ride it.

It doesn’t matter when you last rode a bike.

Try it. A quick pint at the local, no problem, go on the bike. Cycling to and from work, easy – and a morning ride through any major urban conurbation will often throw enough surprises your way that you’re sure to arrive in the office wide awake. But then there are the things that you didn’t expect, but just add to the charm: hearing birdsong as you pedal along on a spring morning; stopping at the traffic lights and exchanging words with a complete stranger; tinkering with your bike; taking a wrong turn but discovering something you never knew was there; listening to the sound of your newly cleaned chain whirring along (okay, maybe only I enjoy that one...).

But now, after a lifetime of cycling, I find that it has done me good. Papers regularly regale me with the news that because I cycle I will live five years longer that I expected – although I never really expected anything, so I’m not sure where that extra five years takes me. I’ve never had to think about what I eat, so at the age of 49 I find myself, if I may say so, in fine fettle. Cycling is the new gym.

At the time of writing, I’m getting over another crash. The difference between a wobbly crash at the age of five and coming off your bike at the age of 49 is, well, painful. This time I broke my left femur and wrist (last time it was my back). But despite these painful mishaps, I wouldn’t give it up for the world... Sean Perry

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PHOTO: PIETRO PESCE

“Okay, nowadays I ride with a helmet, so I don’t have that wind in my hair feeling I had as a teenager – mind you, nor do I have the same bushy head of hair”

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APRIL/MAY 2012 www.behappymagazine.co.uk

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IN TOUCH WIN! A HardnutZ HiVis Orange Road Cycle helmet worth £49.99 S

£3.20

Years of Bond

Sailing Special

pring is in the air and those of you who like to rest your road bikes during the winter will be oiling chains, adjusting seats and pumping up tyres. But, remember, it’s safety first, so enter our draw to win this HiVis Orange helmet… inspired by the ever present motorway workman, you’ll really stand out on the roads wearing this one! Features include a PC outer shell with impact-absorbing inner EPS, 13 reflective 3M Scotchlite panels, 360-degree ventilation, a removable visor and a dial-fit adjuster to ensure a proper fit. www.hardnutz.com To enter simply go to www.behappymagazine. co.uk and sign up for a free copy of the digital magazine and to double your chances go to our Facebook page at Be Happy Magazine and press ‘Like’.

The competition closes on the 15th April 2012.

• Ben Ainslie interview • Learning the ropes • Where to sail

DJs head to the Caribbean S ome serious beats are on the cards for the inaugural DJ Tour to Grenada organised

by Kalinago Resort. Featuring artists such as Choice FM’s Martin J, LiveLinq Sounds and Antz International from the UK supported by local talent, Explosion in the Sun runs from 6 to 20 June 2012 and includes a packed calendar of waterfall parties, barbecues, beach fests, catamaran cruises and river rafting – as well as plenty of music. Available from £1,090 per person including flights, accommodation, entry fees and all-inclusive drinks exclusively from SN Travel at www.SNTravel.co.uk

Magic of Monaco Formula 1 in style

Comfort Food

SPORT

MONACO GRAND PRIX

The magic of Monaco

The Monaco Grand Prix combines glamour, decadence and pizzazz, with some fantastic motor sport thrown in for good measure. Phil Royle samples the high life

THE TOP FIVE REGRETS OF THE DYING A Life Transformed by the Dearly Departing

By Bronnie Ware ISBN 978-1-4525-0234-2

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uite a few ‘inspirational’ books have been published recently – but this one is a bit different. It’s partly a voyage of self-discovery for the author herself, and partly words of wisdom from some of the patients she worked with in palliative care.

The top five regrets of the dying included wishing that they hadn’t worked so hard, living true to their own hearts, finding the courage to express their feelings, keeping in touch with friends and allowing themselves to be happy. The book is beautifully written and shows great respect and love for all the patients. Bronnie Ware’s caring bedside manner guides most to find an inner peace before passing. If you read this book, as one lady points out: ‘You cannot go to your deathbed and say you wished you’d worked it out sooner. You are being blessed by all our mistakes instead’. The main message is that the only really important thing at the end of the day is love and ‘keeping it simple’. One word of advice – keep a pack of tissues on hand when you start reading.

Jane Morgan

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s well as being an incredible spectacle of motor sport, the Monaco GP has become one of the social highlights of the year and attracts gorgeous film stars, handsome race aces and the super rich accompanied by more multi-million pound yachts than you can wave a Rolex Submariner at. The rich and famous fill luxury hotels, such as the Hotel de Paris, the Columbus and the Grand as they arrive in their droves for their annual dose of motor sport.

Nearby Nice is also rammed with Monaco lovers when the F1 circus comes to town; in fact, the whole Riviera is awash with Caspian Sea caviar, 1893 Veuve Clicquot champagne, Parisian fashions and the motor sport and celebrity elite.

The Principality of Monaco is a sovereign city state on the French Riviera incorporating the prosperous district of Monte Carlo. It lies just ten miles from the Italian border and a polished stone’s throw south east of Nice. Bordering the Mediterranean Sea, it is the mostly densely populated country in the world as well as being the second smallest (the Vatican City is the smallest).

François Grimaldi – the Genoese leader of the Guelphs – seized the fortress of Monaco in 1297 from the Italians. Disguised as a monk he entered the castle with his men and reclaimed it in the name of the Pope. Over the centuries, Monaco’s port has prospered as a trading route and strategic naval base, with the Grimaldi dynasty at the helm

for more than 700 years – most famous in recent years for Prince Rainier II who married Hollywood actress, Grace Kelly. Their son, HSH Prince Albert II is now the Sovereign Prince of the state, which has become famous for its casinos and tourism, all played out under the Grimaldi’s chic influence.

Formula One has been basking in the glamour of Monaco since 1950, and the circuit itself offers something unique in the F1 season – it is not a dedicated race track but instead drivers have to negotiate the tight, twisty, treacherous streets of the city state. As such, it’s conceived to be the most demanding and dangerous of all the F1 GP’s in the world (since the Grand Prix at the Nürburgring Nordschleife was stopped anyhow), with many drivers crashing spectacularly, including Alberto Ascari in 1955 and Paul Hawkins in 1965, both of whom ended up in the harbour.

The Monaco Grand Prix first took place on 14 April 1929 and was run by a Monte Carlo resident who was the founding president of the Automobile Club de Monaco, Anthony Noghès. William Grover-Williams won the inaugural race, driving a Bugatti Type 35B. The Formula One World Championship first came to Monaco in 1950, and has been run 69 times. The event was an instant hit – as it was on a road racetrack, people were able to relate to the incredible speed and drama instantly. The glamorous, Mediterranean location gave the event a sense of occasion, romance and

Winning formula: one of the McClaren cars sweeps around the Monaco circuit as race marshals look on

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RICE PUDDING

In the first of a series of recipes that we can’t resist, MasterChef’s Gregg Wallace serves up a delicious dessert

‘R

ice pudding is the ultimate in comfort food. To get really creamy rice pudding, the trick is to use whole milk and cream, and bake it slowly. Any dish that can be eaten with a spoon is comfort. Rice pudding is creamy hot and sweet, dive in and float away. I love it!’

SERVES 6 100g PUDDING RICE 15g BUTTER, softened 50g CASTER SUGAR 1–2 tsp PURE VANILLA EXTRACT 1 litre WHOLE MILK 150ml DOUBLE CREAM 1 Preheat the oven to 140ºC (275ºF/ Gas 1). Rinse the pudding rice under cold running water and leave to drain.

2 Use the butter to liberally grease the inside of 6 large ramekins on a baking tray, or a 1.4 litre ovenproof dish. Add the rice to the dish along with the sugar.

3 Mix the vanilla in the milk, to taste. Pour half over the rice, stir well, cover and bake in the oven for 30 minutes.

4 Mix the remaining milk and cream together. Remove rice from the oven, stir in the milk and the cream mixture, and bake for a further 1 hr–1hr 20 minutes or until rice is soft and swollen, the mixture is thick and creamy, and the top is lightly golden.

The pudding should wobble slightly when the dish is shaken.

Serve warm.

The new cookbook, MasterChef Everyday, is out now (dk.com £20). Gregg will be appearing at the BBC Good Food Show Spring launching at Glow, Bluewater this April. Visit BBCGoodFoodShow. com or GlowBluewater.co.uk for more information.

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Photo: McLaren

Inspirational ways to change your life

15 22 BE HAPPY

ACTIVITY SAILING

BE HAPPY 23

Learning the ropes

Photo: XSUNSIL

Experience adventure and freedom or simply mess around in boats. Jo Mattock finds out what sailing is all about

PLUS: CITY PROFILE • STRICTLY BALLROOM • RETRO PACKAGING • MY LIFE • SPRING INTO ACTION

28 BE HAPPY

be happy 29

ADVENTURE ANDY TORBET sure that being the biology department’s unofficial social secretary meant they were kind to me when it came to marking the work.’

Andy’s military career began as a trainee fighter pilot in the Royal Navy, but after a few months of training decided that life as a pilot was not for him.

‘All the other recruits were desperate to fly, but I wanted to be on the ground sleeping in a ditch. I wanted to be a commando‚ I’d rather jump out of a plane than fly one.’

Nevertheless, he logged 25 hours of flying time before transferring to the Royal Marines where he started his officer’s course. However, just before his batch of recruits were to earn their green berets, Andy was involved in a life-changing accident. ‘We were on a training exercise and I, as the smallest in the group, was given the biggest guy to carry across an assault course. We fell off a platform. It was only 12 feet high but I smashed my lower vertebrae and was temporarily paralysed in the left leg.

‘At the time the situation didn’t seem that bad, but in retrospect it was a huge blow and I lost the plot a bit. I became quite aggressive because I missed the training. It wasn’t just psychological, it was chemical‚ I was missing the endorphins.’

He was left with a tough choice: give up his dream of being a soldier by being discharged on medical grounds with a pension or be classified as physically unsuitable for commando service but still be allowed to continue in a less physical role. Andy chose the latter, thinking that over time he would be able to prove himself fit for full commando service. When I put it to him that this was a brave choice, he gives a typically direct response. ‘I struggle when I’ve nothing to work for, but can be incredibly focused once I’ve got something to go for. I don’t do excuses. It’s easy to find excuses.

People blame school, the government, their parents for things that have gone wrong in their lives‚ and this might be true‚ but it’s your life and it’s up to you to change it.’

So, Andy set about changing his by enlisting in the Royal Engineers. It took him two years to prove himself medically fit and he then took the army diving course. ‘It was six weeks of being beasted [an army term for very hard physical training] senseless‚ mostly press ups and running,’ he says.

‘But it makes you mentally a lot stronger, and the soldier next to you wants to know that the guy next to him is mentally and physically fit. From then on his career progressed quickly, he had already served in Kosovo and Bosnia and was now a lieutenant.

With the question mark over his fitness gone he applied to P Company‚ the paratrooper selection course. It was the toughest four weeks of his life, stretching him to the limits. ‘It’s a nails course, it

Going solo: deep-water soloing on the Dorset coast. This a form of climbing where no ropes are used for protection or safety. But the climber ascends above deep water which should, if landed correctly, prevent a fatal accident

Integrity and creativity “I struggle when I’ve got nothing to work for, but can be incredibly focused once I’ve got something to go for”

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THE MAKING OF A MUSEUM

CULTURE MUSEUM

Forty years ago, Robert Opie saw the need to unravel the fascinating story of how consumer products and promotion had evolved since Victorian times. By 1975 Robert had enough material to hold his own exhibition, The Pack Age, at the Victoria & Albert Museum, and then, after 16 years in market research, he opened the first museum devoted to the history of packaging and advertising in Gloucester in 1984.

You can take your pick as to whether Robert Opie is a consumer historian or a supermarket archaeologist, but after writing some 20 books and appearing on endless television and radio shows, he has become a leading authority on his subject.

Robert Opie said: ‘On 8 September 1963, at the age of 16, I bought a packet of Munchies at Inverness Railway Station. While eating them I was struck by the idea that I should save the packaging and start collecting the designed and branded packages which would otherwise surely disappear forever.

Forty years later, I am still collecting and have a list of about 1000 items which need to be collected. The Museum houses the highlights of my collection – evidence of a dynamic commercial system that delivers thousands of desirable items from all corners of the world, a feat arguably more complex than sending man to the Moon, but one still taken for granted. The collection has the power to stop visitors in their tracks as they reach a certain part of the Museum’s time tunnel and the era which contains their first memories.’

Spangles, space hoppers & Spectrums Be Happy editor Paul Critcher enjoys a journey through time at the Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising

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or many of us history and the past is a fascinating subject, but for others it can seem a little staid – an endless parade of dates, battles and political ideologies to make sense of.

Nevertheless, great strides have been made in popularising the study of history – you only have too look at the success of TV shows such as Who do you think you are? (in which celebrities trace their family roots) and the series of books and programmes for children Horrible histories (which focuses on what to us now seem the more ludicrous or even disgusting elements of the past) to show that the subject can be wonderfully engaging. But, if parking yourself in front of the goggle box doesn’t appeal, then a visit to

the Robert Opie Collection at the Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising (MOBPA) makes for an evocative trip to the past. Here you’ll find an evolving collection of seemingly everyday objects amassed over almost 50 years, which tells the story of more than 150 years of British consumer society.

The museum is a stone’s throw away from Portobello Market. A short walk through the affluent streets of Notting Hill brings you to a tucked away mews, where the MOBPA is housed. In many ways it’s an ‘old school’ museum, there’s little in the way of interactive exhibits – that you can pull, grab or watch on a screen – that you get at so many other museums. But it doesn’t matter and it’s not necessary – the exhibits speak for themselves.

My visit coincided with young group of foreign exchange students and, while my heart sank slightly at the prospect of fighting my way through them to view the exhibits, it was curious to watch their obvious delight when they discovered

Sweet memories: [main photo] a selection of early sweet wrappers; [below left] a wartime guide to gardening; [below right] Lucozade bottles through the ages

items they recalled from their recent childhoods. I had the same response, the only difference being that their giggles of excitement occurred in the Nineties and Noughties sections of the museum, mine took place in the Seventies and Eighties – isn’t age a wonderful thing!

The MOBPA is split into different time zones, which you walk through in chronological order, starting in the Victorian era and gradually making your way through the years until you reach the present day. It’s a deceptive space, far bigger than you imagine when you first walk in and you could easily spend a couple of hours picking your way through the 10,000 items, although if time is short it’s a great way to kill half an hour or so.

Kicking off in Victorian times, the move from trade sales to consumer sales is evident as and you can see that the products on view were packaged with the shopper in mind. Even this early there were brands that we still know today, such as Cadbury chocolates, Roses lime

juice and Colman’s mustard. It was a time when advertising was coming more to the fore with Millais’ painting of bubbles used to promote Pears soap. But it’s the curiosities that stick in my mind, products such as Swinborne calves feet gelatine and Goodall’s ginger beer powder. Even better are the cleaning products and pest repellants on show, which helped the Victorians fights against cholera and typhoid. One example, Battles vermin killer, has the tagline ‘Mice eat it readily and die on the spot’ – a touch out of step with the touchy feeliness of today’s advertising.

Moving into Edwardian times there are tins of biscuits, plates and posters showing support for the Boer War, badges with ‘Votes for women’ slogans and the advent of comedy in advertising. One particular advert shows two jolly coppers smoking Park Drive cigarettes, I think they are meant to appear in rapture at the purported good flavour of the tobacco, but to the modern audience – or at least me – they look stoned!

And so it goes on, with comics in the 1920s, such as Film-Fan which includes the tag line – ‘The lively larks of Harold Lloyd’; recruitment posters during the war years asking ‘Daddy what did you do in the Great War?’; and the new affluence of the 1950s when TVs, cosmetics and household appliances all make an appearance.

By the time I reached the 1960s section, I could see more and more brands that are familiar today – brands such as Heinz, Cornflakes, Coca Cola and Bird’s Eye frozen foods. But for me it was the time of my youth – the Seventies and Eighties

– that were so evocative. Here the impact of TV on advertising is evident with Mr Spock on packets of Kellogg’s Sugar Smacks and other brands from my childhood such as Monster Munch, Discos, Smiths Crisps, and Frazzles. This was the beginning of the digital age, with handheld games consoles such as Astro Wars and ZX Spectrum computers.

There are other sections to view, including an area dedicated to Royal

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Photo: Andy torbet

projects has always been there.’

Andy was born in Irvine, South Scotland and raised on the northeast edge of the Cairngorm National Park between Aberdeen and Inverness.

With a forester and gamekeeper father, he was born to an outdoors life and for he and his schoolmates walking through the forest to school, snaring rabbits and bushcraft generally was a way of life.

A move to Aberdeen at the age of 12 did nothing to curb his enthusiasm for adventure, and he spent a lot of time with his uncle who was a passionate hillwalker and camper.

Inspired by the work of David Attenborough, Jacques Cousteau and particularly the Martha Holmes Sea Trek documentary, Andy joined the British Sub Aqua Club (BSAC) at 12, initially as a snorkeller and then qualified as a novice diver and then sports diver by the time he was 16. ‘When I joined BSAC, membership was £7 a year plus 50p a week subs. I would snorkel out and follow the divers below me. Then, when I started diving, I cobbled together some gear – it was all a bit rough and I wouldn’t recommend that anyone does the same. The worst thing was my wetsuit‚ it was made up of a pair of long johns and an ill-fitting woman’s jacket. I was always frozen‚ as a kid I was nails, there’s no way I could dive like that now.’

Climbing became another interest in his life.

At the time a teachers’ strike meant that no extra curricular activities took place at his school, but one teacher, a man called Wilson Moir who was one of the best climbers in the country, introduced Andy and a couple of schoolmates to the sport, setting up a training climb at the back of the school.

With an interest in all things adventurous, it’s no surprise that Andy was nursing an ambition to join the army, an ambition that was fuelled by his older brother, who joined the forces at 16. However, a couple of years later when Andy reached 16 and tried to join up himself, he was advised by the army recruitment officer to go to university and to then join as an officer.

‘I knew I was going in the army, so I thought I’d study something I really enjoyed rather than worry about something specific for a career. I quite fancied zoology and the University of Sheffield seemed to fit the bill as it was more concerned with natural history than the commercial side of zoology. I wasn’t interested in the impact of mites on crops, I wanted to learn about sharks, gorillas, tigers, eagles‚ cool stuff!’

A positive time at university, punctuated by a three-month trip working across Canada in which he got a job as a horseback trail guide even though he had never ridden before, led to a second-class honours degree. ‘I just scraped a 2.1‚ I’m pretty

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INSPIRation MUHAMMAD ALI

O

ften referred to as the ‘greatest boxer of all time’, Muhammad Ali celebrated his 70th birthday in January. A sporting giant, Ali

was also a social activist who refused conscription in opposition to the Vietnam War. As a result he was stripped of his boxing licence and titles during what would arguably have been his best years as a sportsman. He eventually returned to the ring four years later and fought a succession of classic boxing matches, including The Rumble in the Jungle against George Foreman and the Thriller in Manila against his greatest rival Joe Frazier. Ali was World Heavyweight Champion three times. A charming and articulate man who could speak across class and racial divides, he was and is a hugely popular figure. In 1984 he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, but nevertheless remains an active public figure.

This image, taken by Neil Liefer and featured in the book GOAT (Greatest Of All Time) published

Whatever your publishing requirements – you can be sure of Be Happy

by Taschen, shows a unique view of an Ali bout, which was fought at the Houston Astrodome.

A jubilant Ali raises his arms aloft to celebrate victory in his 1966 title fight against Cleveland

GOAT (Greatest Of All Time) costs £99.99 and is available from www.taschen.com 08

Photo: Neil liefer (1966)

Williams, who lies prostrate following a knockout.

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Dive time: 16 minutes Water temperature: 23 Ë&#x161;C Depth: 11 m Experience: Out of this world

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