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The View

Edition 10 - July 17th 2015

THIS WEEK IN PAGE 1 – COVER PICTURE ­ TROLLTUNGA CLIFF, NORWAY PAGE 3 – GENERAL NEWS STORIES PAGE 4 – THE WEEK IN PICTURES PAGE 5 – CHRISTMAS IS COMING PAGE 6 – THE EDITOR’S VIEWS PAGE 7 – SPANISH RELATED NEWS PAGE 8 – THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF DISNEY PAGE 9 – LIKE IT OR GRUMP IT PAGE 10 & 11 – SPANISH RELATED NEWS PAGE 12 – LAW ENFORCERS IN SPAIN – THE GUARDIA CIVIL PAGE 13 – THE OLD HOME GUARD PAGE 14 – SPANISH RELATED NEWS PAGE 15 – CROCKER’S CORNER PAGE 16 – READERS LETTERS & LOTTERY RESULTS PAGE 17 – THE PROMS 2015 PAGE 18 & 19 – UK RELATED NEWS PAGE 20 – SPANISH RELATED NEWS PAGE 21 – SHE WAS SIMPLY MRS. B PAGE 22 – THE VIEW THROUGH THE LENS PAGE 23 to 25 – FOR YOUR INFORMATION PULL­OUT PAGE 26 – THE LOCAL ENTERTAINERS – DAVY JONES PAGE 27 – OLLIE’S MOOD SPILLS PAGE 28 – WHAT’S ON THE TELLY? PAGES 28 to 31 – CONCISE TV LISTINGS PAGES 32 & 33 – FASHION, HEALTH & BEAUTY PAGES 34 & 35 – FOOD & DRINK PAGE 36 – OVER 50s LIFESTYLE PAGE 37 – IT’S YOUR PAGE PAGES 38 & 39 – PUZZLE PAGES PAGE 40 – CAPTION COMPETITION PAGE 41 – MOTORING PAGE 42 – BUS JOURNEY – GUARDAMAR PAGE 43 – TRAVEL AROUND SPAIN – FUERTEVENTURA PAGES 44 & 45 – THE VIEW OUTLETS / CLASSIFIED ADVERTS PAGES 46 – BRITISH SPORTING LEGEND – SIR NICK FALDO PAGE 47 ­ SPORT

EDITOR’S WEEKLY MESSAGE I

was very shocked to read on Facebook this week that one of my former radio colleagues and one of the best on the local entertainment circuit, Suzy G, was attacked and badly hurt last week.

She was on a trip to Benidorm with her fiancé when out of nowhere they were both set upon by a couple of English thugs as they stepped out of their taxi. Suzy has been left battered and bruised with her most worrying injury being caused when her throat was stamped on damaging her vocal chords. I wish her a speedy recovery and hope the cowardly people who did this to her are found quickly.

One of the features in THE VIEW this week on the Over 50s Lifestyle page 36, is “Another Silent Killer” which takes a detailed look at the subject of triglycerides. I’d never heard of them until September last year when I had to visit a doctor to get to the root of the discomfort I was experiencing in my right side near the liver. Blood tests showed my triglyceride levels were high (318) and I was advised to stop drinking alcohol until they reduced. A combination of too much of a particular white wine in the summer, dehydration for not drinking enough water, and not enough exercise was my downfall. I heeded the warnings and feel better for it.

THE VIEW is also pleased to bring you its first “pull­out” section from page 23 to 26.

Our FOR YOUR INFORMATION feature has been extended – and will be every fortnight until the end of August – to give both residents and visitors alike details of the upcoming Moors & Christians parades, more bus and train timetables, market days and a feature on our local entertainers. If you know of people on holiday and staying near to you, why not get them a copy of THE VIEW or let them borrow yours?

We’ve had a great response to our Recognise These? competition in last week’s

edition. You’ve still got until 6pm this evening (Friday 17th) to enter. Answers and our one lucky winner will be announced next week.

July 17th, today, is a very significant date for me. I’m casting my mind back 26 years to 1989 when I boarded a coach at Victoria to begin the 36 hour journey to my new life in Spain.

Because I had so much luggage, it was easier and cheaper to travel by that method rather than fly. I was lucky to get the front seat behind the driver all to myself for the entire journey to Alicante with the first stop on the Tuesday morning being Barcelona. This was pre­motorways in Spain and making progress on the journey seemed an eternity. Was it worth it and do I regret it? After almost half of my 54 years spent in another country I would have to say 70/30 in favour.

As I write this message on Wednesday evening, the £ to € exchange rate of £1 = €1.428 is the highest it’s been since November 2007. Fantastic for people with UK pensions and excellent for the tourists spending power as the schools break up and the family breaks begin. Not so good if you’re among the many that migrate back “home” for the summer to avoid the heat!

This was bound to happen with the uncertainties caused by the situation in Greece. If the events of the past week in Europe have proved nothing else, it’s that even the most radical of politicians cannot get their own way where money is involved.

Economics will defeat politics at every stop.

I think I would be a tad disappointed if I were Greek and had voted for Syriza and also voted “No” at the recent referendum.

Stay safe in the sun (or dreading the next Iberdrola bill) and enjoy THE VIEW! P.S. This week’s front cover is Trolltunga Cliff in Norway.

All art is propaganda. It is universally and inescapably propaganda: sometimes unconsciously, but often deliberately, propaganda.

(Upton Sinclair) Editor – DEREK JAMES SHANKLAND

News Editor – DARREN JAMES The professional NEWSpaper The View is solely owned by the owners of TV CHOICE

Mobile – 602 604 213 E-mail – editor@theview.es Postal Address – Apartado De Correos 255, 03193 San Miguel De Salinas, Alicante

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A 440 - 2015

Printed by – LOCALPRINT, c/Manuel de Falla, 16 Elche Parque Empresarial 03203 Elche, Alicante

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PAUL CAMPBELL E-mail – design@theview.es

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DISCLAIMER – THE VIEW, its publisher or members of staff do not accept responsibility for claims by advertisers or its contributors nor can it be held responsible for any errors in advertisements which are reproduced from poor quality artwork or inadequate instructions for text or any other features. Any artwork produced by THE VIEW remains the property of THE VIEW. Further, no responsibility is accepted for any loss or damage caused by an error, inaccuracy or non-appearance of any

advertisement, although all advertisements produced for advertisers are checked prior to insertion. We regret that we cannot accept responsibility for more than ONE incorrect insertion and that no re-publication will be granted in the case of typographical or minor changes which do not affect the value of the advertisement.

THE VIEW does not guarantee distribution times. Any change to distribution days will, where possible, be publicised a week in advance.

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Edition 10 - July 17th 2015

MAY SAYS DECEMBER

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ritish Home Secretary Theresa May has announced via a Written Statement to the House of Commons, that new measures are being taken to prevent a repeat of the scenes at Calais in recent weeks.

Part of the statement covering immigration issues in general said that, a new "secure zone" at Calais for British lorries hopes to tackle the migrant crisis at the French port town.

The new area will house some 230 vehicles bound for the UK, to prevent people trying to stow away on lorries crossing the channel.

Theresa May said authorities had stopped 8,000 attempts to cross the border illegally.

In a statement to the Commons, the Home Secretary said the UK was "enhancing" its work to tackle criminal gangs trafficking people to Europe, as well as boosting aid for the countries of origin for many migrants.

"It's imperative they are allowed to continue their business unimpeded, so today I can announce the creation of a new secure zone at the port of Calais for UK­bound lorries," she told MPs. "This will provide a secure waiting area for 230 vehicles, the equivalent of removing a two­and­a­half mile queue from the approaching road. This should transform protection for lorries and their drivers, removing them from the open road where they can become targets for migrants attempting to board their vehicles."

The problems at Calais were highlighted when a strike by French port workers resulted in long tailbacks and scenes of

would­be migrants trying to board lorries.

Mrs May said that £12 million has been committed to reinforcing security in northern French ports, including new fencing, which should be completed next month.

The problems in Calais are "symptomatic" of a wider issue that needs to be "tackled at source", the Home Secretary said, as she referred to the Mediterranean migrant crisis.

"The Government is clear that we must break the link between people making the treacherous journey across the Mediterranean and achieving settlement in Europe," Mrs May added. She said work to dismantle "callous" people­trafficking gangs

is being "enhanced", while £900 million has been provided to help those displaced by the Syrian crisis. However, Mrs May warned that the UK will "be tough on those who flout our immigration rules".

Her statement came as new figures showed that hauliers had paid £6.6 million in fines for carrying illegal migrants last year, a £2.4 million increase on 2013/14.

Mrs May revealed that 93% of fines are levied on foreign drivers, as Home Office figures showed that 4,307 penalties had been issued since January 2014.

The recent problems came amid a migrant emergency in Calais, where around 3,000 spend money on the islands themselves.”

Sñr Battle said he would shortly be meeting with representatives of the islands and also hotel associations to discuss the way forward.

The permanent population for the Canary Islands is around 2.1million and tourism currently accounts for about 30% of the islands’ total GDP. Four million of those tourists annually come from the UK.

TOURISM BATTLE AHEAD

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ot on the heels of newly elected mayors in both Barcelona and Madrid stating that they want to curb certain aspects of the tourism market (although Manuela Carmena from the capital city has pulled back slightly), the President of the Canary Islands has now expressed his own views.

Fernando Clavijo Batlle, leader of the

nationalist party Coalicion Canaria and only in post since last Thursday, allegedly wants to set a maximum limit on tourists’ visiting the island group. He told Spanish newspaper, El Pais, that “The pursuit of the largest possible number of tourists is killing the quality of Spain. It’s the Magaluf effect. There is no need for 20 million tourists if they all come on prepaid package deals; we need them to

STILL FLYING HIGHER AND HIGHER

people displaced from countries including Eritrea, Syria and Afghanistan have set up camp near the port.

Last week a migrant died on a freight shuttle trying to reach Britain.

James Hookham, chief executive of the Freight Transport Association, highlighted the issue of loads having to be written off because of contamination fears when migrants hide on vehicles.

He said: "Although the cost to the vehicle is high, the consequential cost of the loss of the load in orders is of greater magnitude. The cost of lost consignments could run to millions of pounds in the case of cargos such as pharmaceutical products.

Richard Burnett, chief executive of the Road Haulage Association, added that the annual cost of products being written off because of the crisis could be as high as £1 billion. "Full loads are being destroyed," he said.

Mr Burnett said the situation was now "out of control" and was critical of the fact that the secure zone announced, to be monitored by French officials, will not be in place before December.

He added: "This isn't fast enough. We've got drivers being threatened with bars and knives. We've had an example of a driver being threatened with a gun. We've got a problem right now. This is unprecedented and it's escalating. We need action now."

Asked if he believed his organisation's drivers have been let down by the Government, he replied: "Absolutely."

GAS DOWN AGAIN

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ecords continue to tumble on a monthly basis throughout this year to date as Alicante­Elche Airport has had the best June figures in their history, dealing with 1,073,957 passengers.

This is a rise of 3% on the same period as last year, and according to a statement released by AENA, is the fourth consecutive month when a record has been broken.

Spanish domestic traffic totalled 107,905 travellers in June, 3.1% more than the same period of 2014, while international passengers grew nearly 3% over the same month last year, accounting for more than 960,000 users.

Once again, passengers from the UK

topped the list with 473,274, followed by Germany (73,033); Norway (66,693); Holland (60,275); Belgium (46,781) and Sweden (40,786).

With regard to air operations, Alicante­ Elche airport handled 7,392 flights in June, a 2.3% increase compared with the same month of 2014, with the UK leading the rest with 2,811; Spain (1,217); Germany (442); Norway (419); Holland (374); Belgium (324) and Sweden (250).

In the year to date, from January to June, Alicante­Elche Airport recorded 4,684,771 passengers, 3.6% more than in the first half of last year and handled 33,326 flights, up 2.1% from the same period of 2014.

hen it was announced in May that the price of bottled gas had been cut and was due for review in the middle of July, it was probably accepted that an increase was on the cards.

Far from it, it’s been cut again by a massive 5%, making a drop of 23.3% in this year alone.

A normal 12.5 kilo orange bottle has been reduced from €14.12 to €13.42 off the shelf, although customers who use some petrol stations which sell them will charge a further euro for lifting them down from the rack.

At the start of 2015, a 12.5 kilo orange gas bottle cost €17.50, having nearly doubled in six years due to the government's energy supply deficit. The prices of gas are reviewed every two months and went down in May because the ministry of industry said this

debt had been wiped out.

Now that the deficit has been cleared, July has seen the government comfortably in credit, meaning gas bottles should really have gone down in price by 6.9% ­ but the maximum price adjustment every two months is 5% either up or down, meaning costs cannot fall any further until September.

Distributors however, say they are struggling to make ends meet, despite gas being a basic necessity.

They say they were delivering 150 million bottles of gas a year back in 2005, but this has fallen to 70 million ­ partly because of the financial crisis with households doing everything they can to save on fuel and partly with the expansion of mains natural gas networks across the country.

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Edition 10 - July 17th 2015

The View

THE WEEK IN PICTURES....

NOVAK DJOKOVIC Winning his third Wimbledon Men’s Singles Championship

GREECE TURMOIL Tsipras, Merkel and Hollande

OSKAR GROENING 94 year old Nazi “bookkeeper” sentenced

FIRST DAY AT WORK William begins career as Air Ambulance pilot

THE LAST OF THE FEW Battle of Britain 75th Anniversary commemoration

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Edition 10 - July 17th 2015

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CHRISTMAS IS COMING W

By Matt Collins

e all have different ideas as to what constitutes the first signs that Christmas is on the way, although the seemingly unrelenting high temperatures being experienced at the moment may well see some wishing their lives away for the cooler times around that time of the year.

I’ve only been in Spain full time for a handful of years – since 2009 – and Christmas on the Costa Blanca takes some getting used to with neighbours and friends planning big events on the beach in glorious sunshine for most of the time.

In my final years in the UK, I knew I was counting down to the festive season when the X­Factor auditions and the partners for Strictly Come Dancing were announced. Now, it’s the annual announcement of the El Gordo (The Big One)

Christmas Lottery tickets going on sale!

Even though it’s not drawn until December 22nd every year (a Tuesday for 2015), the world famous state lottery tickets always go on sale in July. The aim of making them available so soon is to encourage holidaymakers to buy one of the décimo, or 10th of a ticket which are sold at a set price of €20 per ticket. This is the price charged in the official lottery offices but you may see some in other venues for €22 or €23. Usually, these tickets have been purchased by a club or fund raising society and they are allowed to add an extra couple of euro.

The state lottery board chairperson, Inmaculada Garcia, said that the main reason for the July selling was to encourage tourists to “take a piece of Spanish luck home with them.” Also, it will help cash flow for year­round residents who would otherwise decide not to buy an El Gordo ticket in December as the usual extra Christmas expenditure means €20 is harder to find. Many local people form syndicates and pay in so much a week to buy the tickets from different parts of Spain, and I can remember delighted customers in my local asking me to get a couple of El Gordo tickets for them when I announced I was off to Barcelona for a weekend!

Over 10,400 points of sale have opened across Spain this week, but mostly in coastal areas and other towns popular with tourists. The campaign is accompanied by the advertising slogan on a poster reads: “¿Y si cae aquí el Gordo de Navidad?” ('What if the Christmas El Gordo

lottery struck here?').

Offering the same prize money as last year, the El Gordo lottery will again hand out €640 million in prize money, with the winning ticket netting a cool €4m. However, because a full ticket costs €200, most people only buy a décimo, or 10th of a ticket at €20, meaning the first prize will be €400,000.

Second prize is €1.25m for a full ticket or €125,000 for a décimo, whilst for third place, the pot comes to half a million for a ticket or €50,000 for a décimo. There is a selection of fourth or fifth prizes too and if your ticket is picked out among the hundreds of individual numbers drawn, that décimo is worth €200.

The traditional singing of the lottery numbers on December 22nd by children of the San Ildefonso School in Madrid is, for many, and probably me too after my six years the real start of Christmas.

THE VIEW already gives you the weekly lottery results on page 16 and this feature will be enhanced soon to explain in more detail how all the Spanish lotteries work, including this one. Keep an eye out for our own special and unique competition leading up to Christmas which will be linked to the El Gordo lottery!

6 THE ED’S WEEKLY VIEWS By Darren James Edition 10 - July 17th 2015

Tie break

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hen I made the observation in my weekly message in last week’s edition of THE VIEW that I wouldn’t be happy dealing in serious matters with men in officialdom, such as the former Greek Finance Minister, that weren’t wearing a tie, I wasn’t expecting such a backlash!

By the way, if anyone thought I was being sexist, I would have said the same thing about a woman who wasn’t dressed “business­like” either. Perhaps it comes from my own standards and the way I’ve been brought up.

I had a letter from James Moone in Cabo Roig which we’ve reproduced on page 16 suggesting that tie wearers were in fact nothing more than a “hired help.” Personally speaking, and it is my view after all, a tie makes the wearer look smart as well as authoritative, especially if they’re in the public eye. It’s the same with the growing trend, to

excuse the pun, of not the designer stubble look but simply unshaven.

THE VIEW also received a Facebook message from someone stating that my opinions on tie wearing people went as far as saying that, “one can only presume from this comment that the editor would prefer someone in a suit and tie, perhaps someone like war criminal Obama, or Bush, or Tony Blair?

A psychopath is a psychopath no matter what he’s wearing. I found this to be a rather childish and naive statement.”

Likewise, madam, likewise.

You can imagine therefore that I had more than a big smile on my face then I learned that the empty seat in the front row I saw in the Royal Box for the Gentleman’s Singles Final at Wimbledon on Sunday was due to be filled by Lewis Hamilton who’d been refused entry for not wearing a jacket and a tie! It’s the dress code

The View

and it’s the agreed rules and regulations of the All­England Club. It’s the same to gain access to the pavilion at Lord’s Cricket Ground. It’s tradition.

STOP THIS SCAREMONGERING NOW!

I

do feel sometimes there is a hidden agenda among the British press simply to stop people leaving the shores of the UK. It’s another example of the proverbial mushroom world.

Even the hardiest of minds were affected by the tragic scenes in Tunisia some three weeks ago, and of course the worry is that it could happen anywhere. The impression is often given that Britain is the safest country in the world to live and to visit. That everything is under control and as long as the security services and the population keep vigilant, the streets will be safe.

Fascinating that when the UK puts their own security threat levels up to amber or red, you don’t hear of any other countries advising their citizens not to visit Blighty.

In the aftermath of Sousse, Spain’s prime minister lifted its own security levels as the perceived threat increased on these shores. That’s the word – a threat.

There is always a threat of a lone mad individual working on their own or part of an organised group anywhere in the world, but when it’s (no offence intended) blown up out of all proportions.

Now, if the problems, the violence or worse is continuous or part of a war zone, I can totally understand warnings to tourists. In the current climate, you probably wouldn’t want to visit Syria and in the 70s and 80s, parts of Northern Ireland were probably off limits; yet from what I can remember, visitors were never discouraged from touring that part of the Emerald Isle.

As for closer to home, it didn’t take long for the Daily Star to have the headline of “Brits in Costa Del Sol, Costa Brava

and Costa Blanca now top targets for ISIS attack!”, which then went viral across social media. Needless to say, and judging by a few of the comments, some over here immediately locked their doors, stocked up with food and water and began to cower in the corner of their villas. “We don’t go to the beach much but I think we’ll give even the occasional visits a miss for a while.”

The Daily UKIP, Extreme Weather & Medical Breakthrough (Express) carried a statement saying “last year” a group of extremists claiming to be associated to ISIS vowed to invade Spain. "I tell you, Spain is the land of our forefathers, and, Allah willing, we are going to liberate it, with the might of Allah. I say to the entire world as a warning: We are living under the Islamic banner, the Islamic Caliphate. We are going to die for it until we liberate all the occupied lands, from Jakarta to Andalusia."

The Daily Star even went as far as producing a “ten point plan” including recommending people carry out detailed checks on the amount of security offered in the locality of your holiday destination, checking on the Foreign & Commonwealth Office website for up to date advice, and even taking a virtual tour of the resort via Google Earth to “see if there are any police patrols on the beach”!

Admirable in the intention but let’s be completely honest; how many people when booking their holiday in the sun anywhere in the world really go that far in their research? People of all ages simply want, certainly when it comes to visiting Spain, the oft­quoted four “S words” and nothing else, and despite all the general and more specific warnings post­Sousse, thousands more people are arriving on these Iberian shores having changed their holiday plans.

It won’t stop me visiting Benidorm later in the year and doesn’t affect my occasional trips to the beach and other towns or cities in the area full of tourists.

I worry more about the mini earthquakes – 1.5 magnitude or not!

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Edition 10 - July 17th 2015

AIRPORT TAXI ROW CONTINUES All E H lche City Council will ask the Valencian Government for greater control over the “foreign” taxis that exceed the limits allowed in Alicante­ Elche Airport. There are an increasing number of taxi drivers based at the airport that consider that, those infringing the rules are not being punished enough.

The councillor for Institutional Representation, Mireia Molla, has raised the subject with the ruling authorities and asked for more and regular inspections to control the rogue taxis from outside of Elche. The councillor for Urban Mobility, Esther Diez, simply said that “it’s not being done correctly!”

After a meeting earlier this week with representatives of the taxi drivers in Elche, Diez said that the local government of Elche has committed to review the working practices of the taxis, at the request of the group, in relation to advertising and marketing, believing the current situation is outdated.

Sñra Diez explained that the objective pursued is to "promote sustainable mobility, providing good public transport service to Elche and making the city more pedestrian friendly” The problems at the airport were

exacerbated last year when the level of rogue, outside the area taxi drivers, were reaching levels of 40 per day, mainly from Torrevieja, Murcia and Cartagena compared to the 82 drivers from Elche. Taxi association figures showed the official drivers were seeing a 40% decrease in their passengers.

Taxi drivers from areas outside of the control of Elche are able to drop off passengers, but officially are limited as to the number of fares they can collect from the airport.

Local police were charged to monitor the official measures introduced by the Department of Transport which allowed just six monthly visits by the foreign taxi drivers, but still the abuses continued. Subsequently, a license plate reader was installed to control the entry of taxis that had limited access, but the problem still exists.

CALL FOR BENIDORM RESCUE

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icture the scene. It’s nine o’clock last Friday morning and the emergency services in Benidorm receive a 112 call.

There’s a fire on the 15th floor of a skyscraper and people are in trouble. Ten minutes later, national and local Police had already cordoned off the street next to the Plaza de Toros and allowed fire trucks through to extinguish the fire.

But there never was such a fire and nobody really called the fire brigade. Even when the services arrived at the scene, everything was fake, even the smoke coming from the windows of the “burning building”, but it didn’t stop a group of worried and concerned onlookers lining the street.

Yes, it was an exercise and an important one too, when you consider the amount of high­rise buildings occupying the tourist capital of the Costa Blanca. Forty­five fire fighters, police and members of the medical services, practiced evacuating people from smoke filled corridors and stairwells in a co­ ordinated operation with the Unified Police Union, (SUP) and is an extension to the work undertaken by both groups in the reaction to urban fires.

Doctors to know who

ealth and social services in all Spain's 17 autonomous regions will at last be 'talking to each other' following the introduction of a new computer system, that means any doctor anywhere in the country will be able to access a patient's medical history.

Computer information at present is still only accessible by medical staff within the same region where a patient lives or is habitually treated.

Electronically­stored medical files have only just become fashion. Patients in the past had to carry bundles of X­ray plates and consultants' reports to their GP when released from hospital, or following a specialist appointment, as they would not otherwise know anything about the actions taken at the hospital.

This posed a problem when residents go on holiday or for weekend breaks to other parts of Spain and fall ill or suffer accidents, or if they move house to another part of the country. So now, if a patient from Torrevieja travels to Toledo, or from Guardamar to Gandia, Montesinos to Madrid or La Marina to Leon, doctors will still be able to read their entire healthcare and treatment file, without having to ask a long list of questions.

Spanish Health Minister Alfonso Alonso said that within just five years from now, one­fifth of Spain's population will be aged 65 and over and in patients of all ages it will be chronic, or ongoing and long­lasting conditions, which become the main cause of disability, daily home care needs and doctors' and hospital visits. For this reason

alone, he says systems need to be in place by then to guarantee any treatment plan or monitoring which has been started, which will carry on uninterrupted wherever the patient is based.

Eventually, the systems will include full data about dependent patients' care needs, including their current situation, their support network ­ family members, friends or professional carers who are mainly involved with their day­to­day ­ and even financial details to ascertain whether they may need necessary emergency help.

Chronic conditions included in this crossover system include, age­related health problems, physical conditions and also mental health. It will specifically indicate those patients who do not have a sufficient support network, or whose home and surroundings are not in suitable conditions for their health issues.

The overall aim in this case is to ensure every effort is made for elderly, sick or disabled persons to be able to carry on living in their own environment rather than in nursing homes, by providing home care and medical visits, and travelling pharmacy services.

ITV ON THE MOVE

D

Residents in neighbouring buildings unaware of the exercise, were shouting for people to jump from their windows and be caught by the emergency services in blankets below and indeed challenged the officers in charge why this wasn’t happening!

Chief of the Marina Baixa Fire­fighters, Santiago Rivera said, that method is “not the safest. That happens in the movies. The best advice is, as long as the fire isn’t in the immediate environment, to stay in their homes and wait for a rescue. The most dangerous part of a fire in high buildings is in the stairwells where there is the highest smoke concentration”

on’t panic, it’s got nothing to do with the TV and your weekly fixes of Coronation Street.

The ITV is the Spanish equivalent of the MOT, and any vehicle owners in the area know where their local ITV inspection stations are.

Every year, the inspectors go on the road and there may be a mobile ITV station closer to your normal location. Last weekend the Spanish Government announced the programme for this summer.

The dates for the Alicante province in the coverage area of THE VIEW are below: Pilar de la Horadada – 3rd to 31st July and 1st to 30th September Santa Pola – 21st to 30th September

The mobile ITV stations are set up for operations of light vehicles, passenger cars and vans up to 3,500 kilos. The Valencian Community has six mobile stations and 25 fixed ITV stations.

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Edition 10 - July 17th 2015

The View

THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF DISNEY

T

o quote the home page of the website itself, “Enter a magical kingdom where you can sail with pirates, explore exotic jungles, meet fairy­tale princesses, dive under the ocean and rocket through the stars—all in the same day!”

Disneyland Park, originally Disneyland, is the first of two theme parks built at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California, and celebrates its 60th year of opening today, 17th July. It is the only theme park designed and built under the direct supervision of Walt Disney himself and was originally the only attraction on the property; its name was changed to Disneyland Park to distinguish it from the expanding complex in the 1990s.

Walt Disney came up with the concept of Disneyland after visiting various amusement parks with his daughters in the 1930's and 1940's. He initially envisioned building a tourist attraction adjacent to his studios in Burbank to entertain fans who wished to visit; however, he soon realized that the proposed site was too small. After hiring a consultant to help him determine an appropriate site for his project, Walt bought a 160­acre site near Anaheim in 1953. Construction began in 1954 and the park was unveiled during a special televised press event on the ABC Television Network on July 17, 1955.

Since its opening, Disneyland has undergone a number of expansions and major renovations, including the addition of New Orleans Square in 1966, Bear Country (now Critter Country) in 1972 and Mickey's Toontown in 1993. Opened in 2001, Disney California Adventure Park was built on the site of Disneyland's original parking lot.

The concept for Disneyland began when Walt Disney was

visiting Griffith Park in Los Angeles, with his daughters Diane and Sharon. While watching them ride the merry­go­round, he came up with the idea of a place where adults and their children could go and have fun together, though his dream lay dormant for many years. He may have also been influenced by his father's memories of the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago (his father worked at the Exposition).

The earliest documented draft of Disney's plans was sent as a memo to studio production designer, Dick Kelsey, on August 31, 1948. It was referred to as a "Mickey Mouse Park"; based on notes Walt made during his and Ward Kimball's trip to Chicago Railroad Fair the same month, with a two­day stop in Henry Ford's Museum and Greenfield Village, a place with attractions like, a Main Street and steamboat rides, which he had visited eight years earlier.

While people wrote letters to Disney about visiting the Walt Disney Studios, he realized that a functional movie studio had little to offer to visiting fans and began to foster ideas of building a site near the Burbank studios for tourists to visit.

His ideas evolved to a small play park with a boat ride and other themed areas. The initial concept, the Mickey Mouse Park, started with an 8­acre plot across Riverside Drive. He started to visit other parks for inspiration and ideas, including Tivoli Gardens in Denmark, Efteling in the Netherlands and Greenfield Village, Playland, and Children's Fairyland in the United States. His designers began working on concepts, though the project grew much larger than the land could hold.

Disney hired Harrison Price from Stanford Research Institute to gauge the proper area to locate the theme park, based on the area's potential growth. Based on Price's analysis (for which he would be recognized as a Disney Legend in 2003), Disney acquired 160 acres of orange groves and walnut trees in Anaheim, southeast of Los Angeles in neighbouring Orange County. The Burbank site originally considered by Disney, is now home to Walt Disney Animation Studios and ABC Studios.

For its first five years of operation, Disneyland was owned

by Disneyland, Inc., which was jointly owned by Walt Disney Productions, Walt Disney, Western Publishing and ABC. In addition, Disney rented out many of the shops on Main Street, U.S.A. to outside companies. By 1960, Walt Disney Productions bought out all other shares, a partnership which would eventually lead to the Walt Disney Corporation's acquisition of ABC in the mid­1990s. In 1952, the proposed project had been called Disneylandia, but Disney followed ABC's advice and changed it to Disneyland two years later, when excavation of the site began.

Construction began on July 16, 1954 and cost $17 million to complete. The park was opened one year and one day later.

Disneyland was dedicated at an "International Press Preview" event, held

on Sunday July 17, 1955, which was only open to invited guests and the media. Although 28,000 people attended the event, only about half of those were actual invitees, the rest having purchased counterfeit tickets! The opening day was a string of catastrophes, with not enough piped water being available. Disney was given a choice of having working

drinking fountains or running toilets. He chose the latter, leaving many drinking fountains dry.

This generated negative publicity since Pepsi sponsored the park's opening; disappointed guests believed the inoperable fountains were a cynical way to sell their products, while other vendors ran out of food. The asphalt that had been poured that morning was soft enough to let ladies' high­ heeled shoes sink into it. A gas leak in Fantasyland caused Adventureland, Frontierland and Fantasyland to close for the afternoon. In later years, Disney and his 1955 executives referred to July 17, 1955, as "Black Sunday".

In September 1959, Soviet Premier, Nikita Khrushchev, spent thirteen days in the United States, with two requests: to visit Disneyland and to meet John Wayne, Hollywood's top box­office draw. Due to the Cold War tension and security concerns, he was famously denied an excursion to Disneyland!

Increasing popularity of the park meant that in the late 1990s, work began to expand the one­park, one­hotel property. Disneyland Park, the Disneyland Hotel, the site of the original parking lot and acquired surrounding properties were earmarked to become part of the Disneyland Resort. At this time, the property saw the addition of the Disney California Adventure theme park, a shopping, dining and entertainment complex named Downtown Disney, a remodelled Disneyland Hotel, the construction of Disney's Grand Californian Hotel & Spa and the acquisition and re­ branding of the Pan Pacific Hotel as Disney's Paradise Pier Hotel. At this time, the park was renamed as Disneyland Park, to distinguish it from the larger complex under construction.

Because the existing parking lot (south of Disneyland) was built upon by these projects, the six­level, 10,250­space Mickey and Friends parking structure, was constructed in the northwest corner. At the time of its completion in 2000, it was the largest parking structure in the United States.

Ten years ago, the "Happiest Homecoming on Earth", was an eighteen­month­long celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Disneyland Park, also celebrating Disneyland's milestone throughout Disney parks worldwide. In 2004, the park underwent major renovations in preparation, restoring many classic attractions, notably Space Mountain, Jungle Cruise, the Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room.

The View

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Edition 10 - July 17th 2015

LIKE IT OR GRUMP IT DONNA GEE’S VIEW

ALAS MYTH AND CONES I've had a traffic time - now just get me to the airport on time!

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am lucky enough to have two homes. One is a sunshine villa 30 minutes’ drive from Alicante airport, the other a modest semi 18 miles north of Manchester’s three flight terminals.

An airport trip at the English end is subject to an electrifying hazard in the form of 50 sets of traffic lights. The consolation is that no more than 47 tend to be stuck on red at any given time.

If you are lucky enough to actually catch your flight, you do at least face a delightful evening discussing traffic lights with the Spanish cabbie driving you to Guardamar on the N332.

Mention the super­hazard of every street corner in Britain and the taxi driver’s conversation is likely to consist of a quizzical look and the words ‘Que es trah­fick­lie­eat?’

Odds are he won’t know what you are talking about because, believe it or not, there’s not a single set of the things between Alicante and my Costa Blanca home.

At the Manchester end one can, of course, avoid the red­light menace by heading for the airport via the city’s Park­And­Don’t­Move service, otherwise known as the M60 motorway.

That trip is no fun either, and unless you give yourself at least two days to get to the airport, a couple of hours with your head immersed in 50 Shades of Red may well be less stressful than counting traffic cones.

Either way, both routes to the airport provide ideal material for a ‘100 Reasons to Escape Manchester’ publicity blitz.

What sort of voyeur gets a kick out of watching traffic cones breeding on the M60, for heaven’s sake? Last time I used the so­called ring road I counted 428 million giant ice­cream cornets during a six­mile crawl to the Trafford Centre. The 14­hour trip was marginally quicker than taking the car but my knees didn’t half hurt

by the time I reached my destination. And I was suffering from orange­and­white colour blindness into the bargain.

One of the few perks of driving to Manchester airport via the city centre is that you can stop off for a coffee and a bacon butty. The down side is the £60 parking fine you’ll inevitably get in addition to burning off eight gallons of unleaded in a desperate attempt to park sideways on the single metre of kerb untainted by double yellow lines.

I appreciate that comparing the Costa del Salford with the Costa del Sol is akin to confusing Bury Market with the London Stock Market. But that’s a bourse­case scenario.

There are, in fact, many leisurely compensations for those who choose not to drive in what must surely be the wettest part of the UK. One is enjoying a morning swim to the office in downtown Mancunia’s high­street ocean, known to the aquatic community as the Sea of Umbrellas. The rush hour is so busy that there’s no choice but to do the crawl, and not only because the breast stroke is illegal and a

butterfly as rare as an English Mark Spitz.

Which brings me on to football or, for the gob­ fearing amongst us, the mouths of Wayne Rooney and Kompany.

Manchester is of course home to two top football teams, namely Bury and Oldham Athletic. Fortunately I don’t support Man United or Man City either, which is a bit of a relief since I don’t speak German (heaven help whoever puts the names on United players’ shirts) and with my flight back to Spain only 24 hours away, I’m pretty low on Sterling too (boom boom).

Oh, a geeky friend just called to say there are actually 49 sets of traffic lights between my Whitefield home and Manchester Airport. Using the bacon­butty route, that is.

I believe there are also 49 million traffic cones between Anfield in Liverpool and Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium.

All paid for in Sterling, of course.

(That’s enough Sterling jokes, Donna!

There’s no Raheem or reason for repeating yourself – Editor)

YOUR VIEW ON DONNA’S VIEW...

Christine Hoggett of Impact Regarding feral kittens, they train fighting dogs. If they are are wild animals at the end of wild or it has been bred into Pets Charity comments: I find the day. Ask the people who them, chances are it will David's claims quite hard to have raised cute little lion/tiger resurface again. As always, believe. Feral kittens are easily cubs that have attacked later in thank you for an excellent read. tamed as long as there caught life. I am not trying to compare Here I am again, emailing a early enough. Ask anyone if they feral cats with other wildlife but newspaper, something I have would rather pin down a dog or it does happen. I was told today never done before. If your a cat to clean their eyes, and of a lady who took in two feral reporters are good enough to nine out of 10 will say dogs. Cats kittens which attacked and get a response from others, they are vicious animals when being treated or if in pain. When cats killed her domesticated tabby must be good. so she threw them back out on ­ DAVID ALLAN, Almoradi are out on the street they fight and sometimes they will kill but the street. Sum total of futile for feral kittens to kill experiment ­ zero. It is the same trying to WANT TO REPLY TO DONNA? Email your someone's grown cat seems a bit far fetched. domesticate and re­ comments to donnagee1@aol.com

RAINING POMS AND NEW SOUTH WAILS I flew to the UK on June 25 amid a fanfare of UK weather optimism. Britain, insisted the forecasters, was about to be hit by a heatwave that would break every record in the book. Never mind the baking July and Au­ gust heat of the Costas, this was going to be something exceptio­ nal. Why, the thermometer might even hit 40 degrees, said the weathermen – and this time, unbelievably, they weren’t talking Fahrenheit.

The Michael Fish impersona­ tors cannot be cirrus, I thought.

Their cotton­wool heads had to be in the clouds. And of course the hot gossip turned out to be a load of nonsense. One day of Spanish proportions, followed by a progressive deterioration to the normal misery of a wet and wild English July.

Highlight of my stay in the UK was the lavish wedding anni­ versary party my friends Brenda and Richard hold an­ nually under a giant marquee in the garden of their suburban Cardiff home.

The omens for the Saturday evening shindig were great as the sun shone in the build­up to the big bash. Come the great oc­ casion and halfway through the evening, whoosh! Wales wailed as the Evans opened.

Sunday predictably turned into a washout, but no­one was complaining…apart from Aus­ tralian cricket fans, that is.

They had seen their Ashes go up in smoke during the first spell of four continuous dry days any Cardiffian, living or dead, can remember. Had the Aussies managed to force the First Test into a fifth and final day, the only winner would have been the weather. Instead, the weekend bounced to the rhythm of the Vast Might of the Poms.

The fallen wizards of Oz are now aware of what every Taff has known since birth, so more New South wails, please.

God is a Welshman ­ or Welsh woman, to be more accurate.

And long may she rain over us.

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The View

NIGHT TABLE CRACKDOWN Heart unit not a failure

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ollowing numerous complaints from affected neighbours and pedestrians, Alicante City Council has announced plans to take tough measures against those bars and restaurants that fill the streets with tables and chairs during the evening.

The Deputy Mayor of Town Planning & Public Highways, Miguel Angel Pavon, announced last week that even though the goal is to make leisure activities popular in the centre of Alicante it should also be compatible with the rights of neighbours to rest at night and also not to affect proper access to public roads.

It was announced that no new sets of these “night tables” will be authorised without a full survey being made of the area. The district committees will meet on a monthly basis to discuss any applications and the subsequent reports.

The Mayor announced a tightening of sanctions of any businesses that do not comply with these new laws which could rise

to €3,000 in cases of repetition.

Furthermore, it may also order those businesses to suspend trading from a minimum of 15 days for minor offences and a maximum of six months for the very serious.

Sñr Pavon stressed that these measures were necessary due to more and more roads being saturated with tables and chairs and is causing potential serious hazards with the overcrowding of people. It was also hinted that there could be a reduction or limitation of the spaces currently occupied on these terraces.

This announcement comes after two years of pressure being placed on the authorities by groups of local residents who had visited over 100 separate places in the city that have these large expanses of outside table areas.

Some of the venues were noticed to have painted their own boundary lines on the terraces adding more than the permitted space.

aunched in August 2012, the Heart Failure Unit of the Elche University Hospital, is the first hospital in the Alicante region to have this service and only one of four examples throughout the Valencian Community.

The aim of the service being offered is the control and treatment of patients with heart failure on an outpatient basis. It has a significant advantage for patient care to enable their conditions to be treated without hospitalisation. Another advantage of the service is the savings to the health system.

The unit serves patients once discharged from hospital and offers continuing care and monitoring. Another important aspect covered by the service is the health education of the patients, who are instructed in recognising future signs and symptoms so they know to act early.

Within this program of patient awareness, training about the importance of lifestyle choices such as, a healthy and balanced diet, regular physical exercise and the eradication of smoking and alcohol use

is given.

Bearing in mind that heart failure is the third highest cause of cardiovascular death and the main reason people over the age of 65 are in hospital, the outpatient clinics are seen as important from both health and budgetary reasons. Heart disease accounts for 70% of inpatient spending and 2% of the total Spanish health budget.

In this regard, Dr. Fernando Garcia de Burgos, Chief of Cardiology at the University General Hospital of Elche, explained that, "after analyzing the results from its implementation, we can say that the day hospital and the work of professionals in the Heart Failure Unit, have reduced hospitalization with cardiovascular causes by 73% and hospital stays by 61%.

These figures are certainly very positive and encourage us to continue working along the same lines."

Since its launch, the day clinic has received a total of 551 patients accounting for 4,287 examinations and tests. For the first half of 2015, 113 patients have been treated.

The View

Elderly movers and swingers M

ore and more green areas throughout Spain are being fitted out with what are fast being called “Grandparent’s Playgrounds”. Some have popped up in the UK with one of the most popular found in Hyde Park.

These outdoor circuits made especially for senior citizens, provide an opportunity for

exercise and prove that whilst the body may be aging, the spirit never does. So when the weather’s warm and the days are long, the elderly aren’t sitting on the sidelines while their grandchildren are having a good time – they’re getting in on the action too.

A 63­year­old retiree named Manuel Francisco Martin told local Spanish radio that, the point is simply “to be able to keep going. To never stop – because once you stop moving, things go badly.”

The outdoor exercise parks were designed in Finland, but Spain has cornered the market with some 600 already in place, and orders for hundreds more.

But before the seniors get to swinging, spinning and stretching, they’re usually in need of a mini­walkthrough.

“People’s first impression is always,

VALENCIAN HEALTH SERVICE REVIEW

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ince 2012, many people of all nationalities in our area have been expected to pay a small percentage of the cost of their prescription charges, subject to certain conditions and limits.

According to a report in the Spanish press, "Informacion", the Councillor for Universal Health and Public Health for the Valencian region, Carmen Stack says that, during this parliament these payments for retirees who earn less than €1,000 will be removed. This, she says, is one of the big plans of the department for the next four years, although the intention is for it to be implemented as quickly as possible.

At the same time immigrants who lost certain rights to healthcare under the same legislation three years ago, will see them restored. Sñra Stack said, these plans are part of a greater audit and investigation of all aspects of the Valencian Health Service, following 20 years of a Partido Popular (PP) government. Following the local and regional elections of May 25th, the Valencia region is now in the control of the PSPV­PSOE with the support of the Podemos and Compromis parties.

It’s also been confirmed that, the plan isn’t to terminate any of the existing private health contracts set up by the previous administration, but they would be closely monitored and would be cancelled if certain conditions are not met.

Stack said that, the previous policies of the PP were based on business rather than the health of the patients. The new

administration’s plan is to reverse this trend, making the regional health service “a right and a benefit for the welfare of the people.

There should be no first or second class citizens, nor nationals or immigrants. Only people.”

The head of the Health Department points out in this regard, that one of the commitments of the PSOE was to restore the free assistance to illegal immigrants "and we will meet that," she said. “Health knows no borders or residence permits."

Moreover, the councillor admits that ending the problem of waiting lists "will not be an easy matter, because it involves a lot of planning and budgeting" and, on that point, added that "we lack funding of €1.2bn."

Therefore, she insists that "we must take money from wherever it is squandered," but at the same time clarified that "we know that it is difficult after 20 years of the PP." Finally, Sñra Stack said that they will be taking action against the twenty or so Valencian based chemists in the area, that are claiming a form of “conscientious objection”, in refusing to provide the morning after pill.

She stressed that “we must not allow or, be indifferent to any threat that violates the rights of women to decide freely about their sexual and reproductive health.”

INTERNATIONAL HABANERAS 2015

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ne of the highlights of the Torrevieja calendar, the International Habaneras, begins this Sunday.

Located in the Eras de la Sal, for eight days, the area becomes the world capital of singing the Habanera, and The International Habaneras and Polyphony of Torrevieja is the most important cultural event of the city, featuring choirs from all around the world.

The opening night is dedicated to the soloists where prizes are awarded following an audience vote.

It’s not a free event and tickets are available for every night at different prices depending on the date and the event. For more details either visit the Municipal Theatre in Torrevieja or call 96 571 25 70.

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Edition 10 - July 17th 2015 ‘huh? What are we going to do here?’” physical therapist Paz Vidal remarked. But eventually, the elders who are “mostly used to strolling” and not “stretching” usually come around.

“We loved the idea of creating spaces in public to encourage the elderly,” Barcelona’s Josep Sole told Public Radio International.

“We value these for the exercise, but the key

is that it’s not in a gym, not in a retirement home, but outside.”

Barcelona and its suburbs are scheduled to get 300 more of the playgrounds, which considering analysts estimate that 40 to 45 per cent of the population will be retired by the year 2050. The demand will get higher and higher as people live longer and longer thanks to this exercise initiative.

INTER-EUROPEAN FORCES

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hroughout this summer, members of the Spanish Guardia Civil will be part of a joint service initiative and will be on patrol with their colleagues from the French Gendarmerie, Gendarmerie Royal Moroccan, Portuguese National Republican Guard, and the German and Italian Carabinieri police.

They will conduct monitoring and security operations in the areas of Andalusia, Valencia, Balearic Islands, Canary Islands and Galicia.

These international joint patrols are part of Tourism Security Plan launched by the Spanish Ministry of State Security and are in the areas of greatest influx of tourists from these countries above. The aim is not only to increase safety, but also promote international cooperation in the fight against global crime.

At the same time and part of the Tourism Security Plan, a total of six members of the Guardia Civil will be deployed in France and Italy for the season. In Italy, three members will be working with the Italian Carabinieri in Venice, Amalfi and Sorrento for two months and in France, two will be collaborating and supporting the French

authorities during the Tour de France.

Similarly, another Guardia Civil member is to be deployed in the Castle of Chambord, between Tours and Orleans, during the month of August.

There is no doubt that Spain is a tourist power of the first order, with about 53 million tourists a year, placing it in a privileged place as a worldwide tourist destination. Revenues generated by tourism make it the principal production sector of the Spanish economy, with around 11% of GDP. The security of its visitors and citizens alike are a priority to stop activities that may affect the status quo.

Overall, Spain is among the safest countries in the European Union, with a crime rate well below the EU average which is undoubtedly an important factor which affects the high competitiveness and popularity of the tourism sector.

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The View

LAW ENFORCERS OF SPAIN PART TWO – THE GUARDIA CIVIL

The Guardia Civil or the Civil Guard is a military force charged with police duties. Its members are colloquially known as benemérita (reputable man), derived from earlier less formal formations (much as British slang Bobby or Peeler derives from Robert Peel). It has both a regular national role and undertakes specific foreign peace­keeping missions.

As a national police force, the Guardia Civil is comparable today to the French Gendarmerie, the Italian Carabinieri, the Portuguese National Republican Guard and the Dutch Royal Marechaussee, as it is part of the European Gendarmerie. The Guardia Civil uses as its leading emblem the words "El honor es mi divisa" (Honour is my emblem), a motto emphasizing the unit's esprit de corps.

According to the Spanish institute for social research, the Guardia Civil is the institution in which most Spaniards trust.

Guardia precincts are called casas cuartel (garrison posts), which are both minor residential garrisons and fully equipped Police Stations.

The Guardia Civil was founded as a national police force in 1844 during the reign of Queen Isabel II of Spain, by the Navarrese aristocrat, Francisco Javier Girón y Ezpeleta; 2nd Duque de Ahumada and 5th Marqués de las Amarillas, an 11th generation descendant of Aztec Emperor Moctezuma II. Formerly, law enforcement had been the responsibility of the Holy Hermandad, an organization of municipal leagues.

Corruption was pervasive in the Hermandad, where officials were constantly subject to local political influence and the system was largely ineffective outside the major towns and cities. Criminals could often escape justice by simply moving from one district to another. The first Guardia police academy was established in the town of Valdemoro, south of Madrid, in 1855. Graduates were given the Guardia's now famous tricorne or Cavaliers hat as part of their duty dress uniform.

The Guardia was initially charged with putting an end to criminal activities on the nation's highways, particularly in the province of Andalucia, which had become notorious for numerous robberies and holdups of businessmen, peddlers, travellers and even foreign tourists. Banditry in this region was so endemic that the Guardia found it difficult to completely eradicate. As late as 1884, one traveller of the day reported that it still existed in and around the city of Málaga.

The Guardia Civil was also given the political task of restoring and maintaining land ownership and servitude among the peasantry of Spain by the king, who desired to stop the spread of anti­monarchist movements inspired by the French revolution. The end of the First Carlist War had left the Spanish landscape scarred by the destruction of civil war and the government was forced to take drastic action to suppress spontaneous revolts by a restive peasantry. Based on the model of light infantry used by Napoleon in his

European campaigns, the Guardia Civil was transformed into a paramilitary force of high mobility, that could be deployed irrespective of inhospitable conditions, able to patrol and pacify large areas of the countryside. Its members, called 'guardias', maintain to this day a basic patrol unit formed by two agents, usually called a "pareja" (a pair), in which one of the 'guardias' will initiate the intervention, while the second 'guardia' serves as a backup to the first. Now you know why there’s ALWAYS two on their motorbikes.

Today the Guardia Civil is a police force subject to the checks and supervision expected in a democratic society. Moreover, their proven effectiveness throughout history, whether in controlling banditry or in addressing the subsequent challenges and tasks given them, meant that additional tasks have been added regularly to their job description.

The Guardia Civil is the largest police force in Spain in terms of area served. Today, they are primarily responsible for policing and/or safety regarding the following (but not limited to) areas and/or safety related issues, law enforcement in all Spanish territory, excluding cities above 20,000 inhabitants, highway patrol, protection of the Royal Family and the King of Spain, military police, counter drugs operations, anti­smuggling operations, customs and ports of entry control, airport security, safety of prisons and safeguarding of prisoners, weapons licenses and arms control, security of border areas, bomb squad and explosives, anti­terrorism and special operations unit, coast guard, police deployments abroad, intelligence and counter­intelligence gathering (SIGC), cyber and internet crime, hunting permits and environmental law enforcement.

Members of the Guardia Civil often live in garrisons (casa­cuartel) with their families.Since the Guardia Civil must by law accommodate the families of its "guardias", it was the first police force in Europe that accommodated a same­sex partner in a military installation.

The symbol of the Guardia Civil consists of the Royal Crown of Spain, a sword and a fasces (a bundle of wooded rods). The different units have variations of this symbol.

The traditional headdress of the Guardia is the tricornio hat, originally a tricorne, with its use now saved for parades or ceremonies. For other occasions a cap, a beret or the characteristic "gorra teresiana" is worn. A wide range of clothing is worn according to the nature of the duties being performed. The historic blue, white and red uniform of the

Guardia, is now retained only for the Civil Guard Company of the Royal Guard and the gastadores (parade markers) of the Civil Guard Academy.

A modernised new style of working uniform was announced for the Civil Guard in 2011, for general adoption during 2012. This comprises a green baseball cap, polo shirt and cargo pants.

Throughout the nineteenth century, the Spanish army regularly became involved in politics and the Guardia Civil was no exception. For this reason, the guardias were seen historically as a reactionary force. On 3 January 1874, General Manuel Pavía y Rodríguez de Alburquerque, stormed congress and ended the Spanish First Republic with a company of thirty guardias civiles.

The first three decades of the 20th Century in Spain was a time of great political turmoil. During this period, the Guardia Civil served frequently in the restoration of order, remaining mostly loyal to established regimes. Thus, it supported the dictatorship of General Miguel Primo de Rivera (1923– 1930), but it also supported the Second Spanish Republic (1931–1939). During the Spanish Civil War, the Guardia Civil forces split almost evenly, between those who remained loyal to the Republic, 53% of the members (which changed their name to Guardia Nacional Republicana ­ "National Republic Guard") and the rebel forces.

After the war, under the authoritarian government of General Francisco Franco (1939–1975), the Guardia Civil was reinforced with the members of the Real Cuerpo de Carabineros de Costas y Fronteras ­ "Royal Corps of Coast and Frontier Carabiniers".

The involvement of Guardia Civil figures in politics continued well to the end of the twentieth century. On 23 February 1981, Lt. Col. Antonio Tejero Molina, a member of the Guardia Civil, participated with other military forces in the failed 23­F coup d'etat. Along with 200 members of the Guardia Civil, Lt. Col. Tejero briefly took hold of the lower house of the Cortes before the coup collapsed, following a nationally­televised address by King Juan Carlos which denounced the coup.

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Edition 10 - July 17th 2015

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THE OLD HOME GUARD

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ignificant happenings and events of World War II are coming up for remembering and commemorating throughout the rest of 2015. Last week in THE VIEW, we took a look at the beginning of The Battle of Britain; today, we go back again 70 years to when an iconic organisation was renamed after just two months of operation.

The Home Guard (initially "Local Defence Volunteers" or LDV), was operational from 1940 until 1944 and comprised 1.5 million local volunteers otherwise ineligible for military service, usually owing to age, acted as a secondary defence force, in case of invasion by the forces of Nazi Germany and their allies. The Home Guard guarded the coastal areas of the United Kingdom and other important places such as airfields, factories and explosives stores.

The origins of the Home Guard can be traced to Captain Tom Wintringham, who returned from the Spanish Civil War and wrote a book entitled, How to Reform the Army. In the book, as well as a large number of regular army reforms, Wintringham called for the creation of 12 divisions similar in composition to that of the International Brigades, which had been formed in Spain during the conflict; the divisions would be raised through a process of voluntary enlistment targeting ex­servicemen and youths.

When Britain declared war on Nazi Germany on 3 September 1939, debates began in official circles about the possible ways in which the German military might launch an invasion of Britain; in the first week of the conflict numerous diplomatic and intelligence reports seemed to indicate that there was the possibility of an imminent German amphibious assault. Many government ministers and senior army officials including the Commander in Chief Home Forces, General Walter Kirke, believed that, the threat of invasion was greatly exaggerated and were sceptical, but others were not, including Winston Churchill, the newly installed First Lord of the Admiralty.

Churchill argued that some form of home defence force should be raised from members of the population, who were ineligible to serve in the regular forces, but, wished to serve their country; in a letter he wrote to Samuel Hoare, the Lord Privy Seal on 8 October 1939, Churchill called for a Home Guard force of 500,000 men over the age of 40 to be formed. At the same time that government officials were debating the need for a home defence force, such a force was actually being formed without any official encouragement; in Essex, men not eligible for call­up into the armed forces were coming forward to join the self­styled 'Legion of Frontiersmen'.

Officials were soon informed of the development of the legion, with the Adjutant­General, Sir Robert Gordon­ Finlayson, arguing that the government should encourage the development of more unofficial organisations. However, the fear of invasion quickly dissipated as it became evident that the German military was not in a position to launch an invasion of Britain. Official enthusiasm for home defence forces waned and the legion appears to have dissolved itself at the same time.

Fears of an invasion rapidly began to grow, spurred on by reports in both the press and from official government bodies, of a fifth column operating in Britain, which would aid an invasion by German airborne forces. The government soon found itself under increasing pressure to intern suspect aliens to prevent the formation of a fifth column and to allow the population to take up arms to defend themselves against an invasion. Calls for some form of home defence force soon began to be heard from the press and from private individuals, as the government began to intern German and

Austrian citizens in the country.

Concern among the population caused private defence forces to be formed throughout the country, placing the government in an awkward position. These private forces, which the army might not be able to control, could well inhibit the attempts by the army during an invasion, yet to ignore the calls for a home defence force to be set up, would be politically problematic. An officially sponsored home defence force would allow the government greater control and also allow for greater security around vulnerable areas such as, munitions factories and airfields, but there was some confusion over who would form and control the force.

The government and senior military officials rapidly compared plans and by 13 May had worked out an improvised plan for a home defence force, to be called the Local Defence Volunteers. On the evening of 14 May 1940 the Secretary of State for War, Anthony Eden, gave a radio broadcast announcing the formation of the Local Defence Volunteers and called for volunteers to join the force.

In the radio announcement, Eden called on men between the ages of 17 and 65 in Britain, who were not in military service, but wished to defend their country against an invasion, to enrol in the LDV at their local police station.

The announcement was met with a great deal of enthusiasm on the part of the population, with 250,000 volunteers attempting to sign up in the first seven days; by July this number increased to 1.5 million.

On 17 May the LDV achieved official legal status when the Privy Council issued the Defence (Local Defence Volunteers) Order in Council and orders were issued from the War Office to regular army headquarters throughout Britain, explaining the status of LDV units; volunteers would be divided into sections, platoons and companies, but would not be paid and leaders of units would not hold commissions or have the power to command regular forces.

However, implementation of the legislation proved to be extremely difficult, particularly as the primary focus of the War Office and General Headquarters Home Forces was on Operation Dynamo – the Dunkirk evacuation. This apparent lack of focus led to many LDV members becoming impatient.

The presence of many veterans and the appointment of ex­ officers as commanders of LDV units, only worsened the situation, with many believing that they did not require training before being issued weapons. This led to numerous complaints being received by the War Office and the press and many ex­senior officers attempting to use their influence to obtain weapons or permission, to begin patrolling. The issue of weapons to LDV units was particularly problematic for the War Office, as it was recognised that the re­arming and re­equipping of the regular forces would have to take

precedence over the LDV. Instead, the War Office issued instructions on how to make Molotov cocktails and emergency orders were placed for First World War vintage Ross rifles from Canada and Pattern 14 and M1917 rifles from the United States. In the absence of proper weapons, many LDV units broke into museums and appropriated whatever weapons could be found, or equipped themselves with private weapons such as shotguns.

After listening to many of those commanding the LDV, Churchill wrote to Eden stating that, in his opinion, one of the main causes of disciplinary and morale problems, stemmed from the uninspiring title of the LDV and suggesting that it be renamed as the 'Home Guard'. Despite resistance from Eden and other government officials, who noted that one million 'LDV' armbands had already been printed and the cost of printing another million 'Home Guard' armbands would be excessive, Churchill would not be dissuaded; on 22 July 1940, the LDV was officially renamed the Home Guard.

The Home Guard did not, initially, admit women to its ranks. Some women formed their own groups like the Amazon Defence Corps. In December 1941, a more organised, but still unofficial Women's Home Defence (WHD) was formed under the direction of Dr Edith Summerskill, Labour MP for Fulham West.

Even once the threat of invasion had passed, the Home Guard remained in existence, manning guard posts and performing other duties to free up regular troops for duties overseas. In 1942 the National Service Act, allowed for compulsory enrolment where units were below strength. At this time, the lowest rank within the Home Guard, 'volunteer', was renamed to 'private' to match the regular army usage.

It is a common fallacy that the Home Guard never fired a shot in anger during the whole of the Second World War. In fact, individual Home Guardsmen helped man anti­aircraft guns as far back as the Battle of Britain during the summer of 1940.

By 1943 the Home Guard operated its own dedicated batteries of anti­aircraft guns and rockets, plus coastal defence artillery, as well as engaging German planes with their machine guns. They are credited with shooting down numerous Luftwaffe aircraft and the V­1 flying bombs, which followed them in the summer of 1944. The Home Guard's first official kill was shot down on Tyneside in 1943. The Home Guard in Northern Ireland also took part in gun battles with the IRA. However, following the successful landings in France and the drive towards Germany by the Allies, the Home Guard were formally stood down on 3 December 1944 and finally disbanded on 31 December 1945. Male members were rewarded with a certificate, bearing the words: "In the years when our Country was in mortal danger, (name) who served (dates) gave generously of his time and powers to make himself ready for her defence by force of arms and with his life if need be. George R.I."

Aside from deaths in accidents, the Home Guard lost a total of 1,206 members on duty to air and rocket attacks during the war.

Notable former members of the Home Guard were Tony Benn, C S Lewis, Sir Patrick Moore, George Formby and George Orwell. One of the co­writers of the successful TV series “Dad’s Army”, Jimmy Perry, was also a member of the Home Guard, as were actors in the programme, John Laurie (Private Fraser) and Arnold Ridley (Private Godfrey).

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Edition 10 - July 17th 2015

The View

SIT DOWN PROTEST FTHE LIONS FINAL ROAR

F

eatured as part of The Creators Project, anonymous art group Luzinterruptus is responding to the enforcement of Spain’s new ‘gag law’ with glowing toilets!

Under the heading of The Government don't give a s*** about the Spanish Constitution is the group’s newest project, created out of protest for the highly controversial Protection of Public Safety Bill enacted July 1st by the Spanish Government’s majority in Parliament. The new bill has been met with serious backlash by activists and law experts in the past week.

In the new project’s online description, Luzinterruptus frames the bill as a major encroachment on Spanish civil rights that targets civil movements active both online and in the streets: “It directly affects us all who work in the street as we do our interventions in public spaces," they say on their site, "without permits, expressing political views, and spreading them over the Internet.”

LED light is a recurring component of the Spanish collective’s public installations. As

with previous projects, such as their previous protests against Madrid's dog poop problem and Spain's health care policy, the installation team took to the streets to express their opinion.

The day the laws were first enforced Luzinterruptus went to the Plaza de la Constitucion (Constitution Square) in the neighborhood of Vallecas and lined the landmark with lit­up toilet seats, each containing an article out of the Spanish constitution related to the rights of citizens and

MORE AMOR FOR JULIO

S

panish singing legend Julio Iglesias has announced a new album of songs inspired by Mexico, scotching speculation that the 71­ year­old is retiring.

Latin music’s top­selling artist announced he was releasing the single Fallaste Corazon (“You Failed, Dear”), as a teaser and the first track on his album Mexico — Julio Iglesias that will come out September 18.

The album will be his first studio work since 2006’s Romantic Classics, in which he interpreted well­known English­language songs and his first in Spanish since 2003’s Divorcio.

Iglesias said that the new album will feature 12 songs with a Mexican flavour and pay tribute to the country’s great songwriters.

“Mexico is a country that I love dearly. The Mexican people have given me many indelible moments in my life,” he said in a statement last week.

“I know this country as if it was my homeland and I always carry it in my soul,” he said.

Iglesias said he dedicated the album to Mexico’s “outstanding composers who, generation after generation, filled our lives with love, nostalgia, memories and moments”. Known for his romantic ballads and prolific love life, Iglesias is considered by Guinness World Records to be the top­selling Latin artist with more than 300 million albums sold.

Unusually for a Spanish­language artist, much of his fame comes from other parts of the world and he enjoys an avid fan base in China and other parts of Asia.

Iglesias recently underwent minor surgery on his back but he has rejected speculation in recent years that he was preparing for retirement, confirmed by him already performing concerts this year in Bulgaria, Portugal, Romania, Russia and Turkey.

immigrants. Each, they explain, serves "as a graphic, visual reference to what comes to our mind when we hear about such laws.”

ollowing the announcement in March

by Lions Club President Iain Bennett that the Torrevieja Costa Lions Club was closing due to falling membership and general inability to recruit suitable members who were prepared to offer the required commitment, the Club has now finally completed the disbursement of all Club funds.

The final "Roar" was to donate funds raised from an event run by the Lions last year in association with JB Brass and the Barbershop Harmonisers. The event was held in the Teatro Municipal Torrevieja with all funds raised in aid of Vecinos de San Miguel Archangel. Full in the knowledge that box office funds from the Teatro Municipal take an absolute eternity to be released, the Lions made an interim payment of €500 to Vecinos immediately following the event, with a promise that the balance would be forthcoming as and when funds were released.

On Monday evening the former Lions President presented Vecinos Presidente, Manuel Gomez Costa, with €400 being the balance payable as promised. The presentation took place at the Vecinos office in San Miguel.

The Lions have been delighted to be able to assist Manuel and his many international volunteers in San Miguel over the years.

Since closing the Club in March the Lions have obviously not held any fund raising events; however they have disbursed over €11,000 to those in our community less fortunate than themselves.

The View

Edition 10 - July 17th 2015

Crocker’s Corner

T

here is no better time to do a bit of social anthropology than the summer months in Spain on the beach. I hear you, “What are you on about Crocker?” Alright, alright, people watching; or stalking as the Guardia would have it.

The Northern Europeans tend to congregate in small ­ we need our space ­ groups. The Spanish however come mob handed and virtually sit on your lap, which in certain cases is quite acceptable if Mrs Crocker the 3rd is in siesta mode, and they’re getting bigger and bigger ­ literally in some cases. Last weekend a couple waddled along the sands looking like they had left the third bear with the babysitter, and plonked themselves under our brolly. They soon shifted when a Japanese whaling fleet started to show interest (You don't see too many of those off La Mata beach). What all this proves I know not other than the Southern Europeans seem to embrace the whole family unit right through the generations more readily than us Northern Palefaces.

Having said that, MrsC3 comes from a very tight family ­ sorry missed out the knit bit ­ and I found it quite hard to adapt to the concept of the nuclear family because to call my family dysfunctional would be like saying Sally Bercow & Karen Danczuk are vacuously selfie delusional.

There was no warmth and I asked my mother and father about this. “Mr & Mrs Ashley may I make an appointment for a family conference?” It never happened.

However on one joyous occasion me and my dad did play chase. I ran around shouting and screaming while he chased me ­ in his seven ton Luton Transit!

Another time we played hide & seek. I hid ­ they moved house. Took me 4 years to track 'em down! Aaahhhh, happy days!

With this in mind it was important to have a good friend and I did in Big Bad Barry, who has been mentioned in previous rambles. Before he hit his teens he was a 6 foot tall 15 stone knuckle dragging mouth breather: my friend Baz. One day some 10 years after WW2 we were exploring a bomb site in Worthing, apparently after the Hun (Ed the Diplomatic Anorak; “Steady Crocker I'm sure you mean our fraternal colleagues from Deutschland”) OK Ed, so after the Hun had finished bombing the c**p out of Coventry they off­loaded any surplus bombs and bullets over the Sussex coast. BBB & me were scavenging the site playing Cowboys and Indians ­ in those

days it was perfectly acceptable to use that generic phrase ­ and while we're at it the UK should be mindful of a slack immigration policy and benefits system which did for the Indians in 1926 when they let in the Dutch to rip them off by buying Manhattan for $24.

Where were we? Oh yes, on the bomb site, and Barry found a bullet which he brought to school, Our Sacred Lady Of The Broken Windows (a very, very rough school ­ we had our own mortuary) and he took the bullet into the metalwork class where there was a fully fired up furnace. To my eternal shame, I knew what Bazza was going to do before he did and I was about to say “DON'T PUT THE BULLET IN THE FURNACE BAZ!”, but part of me thought “Oh go on” and he did.

Mr. Sidebottom our teacher, a very unassuming chap who had been a member of the West Sussex branch of Dad's Army (imagine Walmington­on­Sea’s finest Private Godfrey on valium) spent the next 4 years in an Army Repatriation Hospital shell shocked into silence and only able to ingest food through a straw.

After Barry's bullet incident and a number of other miscreant misdeeds and subsequently my enforced departure from school it was mooted that going to live with distant relatives in Australia might be a bonza idea, to which Mummy & Daddy agreed with far too much alacrity methinks.

There I was, a £10 Pom in early 60s Sydney experiencing the sophisticated party life style with local rituals like King Hit. This is where an unsuspecting English chap with unfashionably long hair (The Stones & The Beatles hadn't quite arrived yet) enters a back street pub and asks in a very British accent “A

15

pint of your finest mead my good man and sharpish about it.”

At this point a local yahoo (way before computer search engines) would come up behind you blind side and hit you very, very hard and at the same time puckishly pointing out that as well as being a Pommy, there was a strong possibility that there had never been a marriage ceremony twixt your mother and father. Such jolly japes!

After a couple of incidents of this mindless violence I decided to get proactive and join a boxing club and after some intensive training I got my first proper bout which lasted 27 seconds as I was caught by a roundhouse punch delivered by a dairy fed Goliath from the back of beyond. I woke up after five minutes spark out on the canvas, but as I looked up into the crowd I recognised a face. IT WAS MINE! Well at least pater never got to witness this fisticuffs farrago, although I rather suspect he may well have enjoyed it. Altogether now sing along with Sister Sledge & the Crocker “WE ARE FAMILY ­ I'VE GOT ALL MY FAMILY WITH ME!” Yeah right!

P.S. I teased you in last week’s THE VIEW by describing a fellow U.K. local radio D.J. from the late 70's, later to become a national TV star, as “A chubby, irritating, egomaniac” Let's see if you can identify him through Crocker's Accursed Cryptic Conundrum – MRS ROGERS TRIGGERS A VICTORY WITH A CENTURY! Email: crockerscorner@yahoo.com If you get it right and you come out of the draw there's a meal for two (Cod or Haddock & Chips with a bottle of wine) to be won from Quesada Fish & Chips. (See their main advert on Page 35).

Good luck you slippery genius!

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Edition 10 - July 17th 2015

The View

The Reader’s View on....

THE VIEW will feature a selection of your letters every week on this page. If you have anything to say about something you read in THE VIEW, or you have opinions or views on stories of the day, please contact us via e­mail at editor@theview.es or by post to Apartado De Correos 255, 03193 San Miguel de Salinas, Alicante.

We do our best to publish as many as we can and reserve the right to edit where necessary.

Dear Editor, Roaches are dirty ­ False! Roaches are obsessive compulsive about cleanliness!

They spend most of their time resting, and the rest of their time cleaning themselves, much like a cat. Roaches are actually some of the cleanest animals around.

Roaches spread disease ­ True/false. This is a little less clear cut. Roaches themselves do not have diseases, but can transmit germs with their hairy legs and sticky feet. For example, if you leave residue from raw meat on your counter, it is possible a cockroach may walk through it and track it around, but if your counter is clean and disinfected, that roach will stay clean! There have actually been studies where a cockroach and a human finger touched the same dirty kitchen floor.

They were each swabbed and the swab was smeared into a Petri dish to be cultured. At the end of the study, the human finger produced several times the amount of bacteria the cockroach did.

Roaches can hurt you ­ False! Roaches are equipped with no more than a set of jaws for chewing. They are capable of biting, which would not hurt at all – but that’s really not their style; they’re more into running away.

They have no stinging appendages or anything like that. They are harmless.

Cockroaches can give my child asthma ­ True. Unfortunately, a heavy infestation of cockroaches can cause asthma in allergen­ sensitive individuals, especially children. If you have hundreds of cockroaches in your walls, the faeces will build up and become airborne. This is all the more reason to keep your house clean!

Well, there you have it folks, the skinny on cockroaches. I hope that some of you may look at cockroaches in a new light and next time you see one – give it break! It’s not their

fault they have a bad rap. If you still feel nauseous thinking of them, just make sure your house is sparkling clean. If we clean up after ourselves, the roaches don’t have to do it for us. Skip the poison, it’s bad for the environment and kills all of those wonderful bugs. After all if they were cute and furry everyone would love them.

Regards ­ Jolanda Adams Editor’s Note: I did re­read the article about cockroaches in last week’s edition and I can’t see any reference to saying that they are “dirty”, “can spread disease” or “can hurt you.” You’re more than welcome to share my bed in my clean house and have them crawl over your face when sleeping at any time!

Dear Editor, I find it a little unfair that the editorial in last week´s View criticised the tube drivers for refusing to accept a take it or leave it offer from Transport For London (TFL) without giving both sides of the argument. Others in the right wing press were portraying these men and women as being greedy and selfish without giving their readers the full story. By the way, tthese were the same men and women that only 10 years ago were being lauded as heroes for helping the dying and injured after the 7/7 bombing.

Yes it´s true that tube drivers rightly earn a good salary for the jobs they do but then they are responsible for the lives of hundreds of thousands of passengers they carry every single day of the week; underground, in the dark. Under new terms TFL say that they may need to work unlimited night shifts. All the drivers want is a decent proposal that prioritises a safe and efficient overnight service, and the wellbeing of those tasked

with running it.

The fact is the dispute has never been just about money. It is about protecting work life balance and making sure that change in contracts are negotiated, not just imposed.

And it’s not only Train drivers that voted for industrial action, it’s every grade of staff that works on the Underground network. But it has to be introduced in a way that is fair; that recognises that staff are human beings with lives and families as well as a job.

And finally to the people calling tube drivers overpaid. Did you ever think that's perhaps it's you who is underpaid? The choice is simple. Fight for everyone to be fairly paid or fight for those that already are to be as unfairly paid as everyone else?

Les Adams Editor’s Note: I would love to be paid the same as tube drivers for doing this job. If I was, then you certainly wouldn’t be reading a FREE newspaper! At the end of the day, what is fairly paid?

Dear Sir, In this week’s editorial you remark that the "traditionalist in you wouldn't want to deal with such serious matters with someone who doesn't wear a tie."

Wearing a tie in a high powered meeting has long since marked you down as the hired help, i.e. an employee such as an accountant or lawyer. The real power in the room symbolically resides in the non tie­wearer; typically the business owner or entrepreneur. They signal their higher status through non­conformity.

That said, perhaps the most appropriate necktie of choice for the Greek delegates would be a hangman's noose.

Yours faithfully ­ James Moone

Editor’s Note: I have commented on this letter and other postings about this subject on Page 6 Dear Editor, Last Friday I went to Quesada Fish & Chips in Las Torretas, where my wife and I enjoyed a delicious take­away meal, and I noticed a pile of papers headed ‘The View.’ I picked one up and took it with me (you never know what might be on offer in those freebies).

When we’d finished eating, I started a journey through the pages of my free­bee. I was amazed ­ practically every article was well written factual, detailed and complete (forgive me for saying this, but I have worked, throughout Europe, for several major international companies in sales promotion, advertising and marketing).

There was only one article I could not understand ­ Keeping the change. It contains figures that, for me, do not make sense ­ perhaps I should read it again before saying more.

I have not read everything in The View, but will do so with, I am sure, pleasure. We have lived, on a permanent basis, in Spain for fifteen years now and, in general, I have grieved at the poor standards of English that has appeared in so many of the other freebies. The View is like a breath of fresh­air especially in this time of extreme heat.

Very kind regards and future success ­ Derek Bridger Editor’s Note: Thank you Derek for your kind words and encouragement. I think the confusion in the article you refer to possibly surrounds the amount of pesetas used in the figures which were based on 166pts to €1 on it’s introduction in 2002.

SPANISH & UK LOTTERY WINNING NUMBERS

The View

17

Edition 10 - July 17th 2015

THE PROMS – SEASON 2015 T

he 121st season of the annual BBC Promenade Concerts gets underway tonight, (Friday) with “The First Night of the Proms”. Sakari Oramo conducts this year’s opening concert, in a programme that includes Walton’s 'Belshazzar’s Feast' and Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 with soloist Lars Vogt.

Promenade concerts had existed in London's pleasure gardens since the mid 18th century, but on 10 August 1895, impresario Robert Newman, arranged the first series of indoor promenade concerts, in the Queen's Hall in Langham Place. Newman's idea was to encourage an audience for concert hall music who, though not normally attending classical concerts, would be attracted by the low ticket prices and more informal atmosphere. In addition to promenading; eating, drinking and smoking were all allowed. He stated his aim to Henry Wood in 1894 as follows: “I am going to run nightly concerts and train the public by easy stages. Popular at first, gradually raising the standard until I have created a public for classical and modern music.”

Businessman Dr George Cathcart, gave financial backing to Newman for the series (called "Mr Robert Newman's Promenade Concerts"), on condition that Henry Wood be employed as the sole conductor. Wood, aged 26, seized this opportunity and built the "Queen's Hall Orchestra" as the ensemble specially devoted to performing the promenade concerts. Although Newman remained involved in artistic planning, it was Wood's name which became most closely associated with the Proms. As conductor from the first concert (which opened with Wagner's Rienzi overture) in 1895, Sir Henry was largely responsible for building the repertoire heard, as the series continued from year to year.

While including many popular and less demanding works, in the first season there were substantial nights devoted to Beethoven or Schubert and a programme of new works was given in the final week.

THE EARLY PROMS

Proms moved again, this time to the Bedford Corn Exchange, which hosted the concerts until the end of the War. Wood continued his work with the Proms until his death in 1944. During the War Sir Adrian Boult and Basil Cameron also took on conducting duties for the Proms and after the War maintained them until the advent of Malcolm Sargent as Proms chief conductor in 1947. Sargent held this post until 1966; his associate conductor from 1949 to 1959 was John Hollingsworth.

Sargent was noted for his immaculate appearance (evening dress, carnation) and his witty addresses, where he good­naturedly chided the noisy Prommers.

MODERN ERA

In the first two decades Wood firmly established the policy of introducing works by contemporary composers, (both British and international) and of bringing fresh life to unperformed or under­performed works. A bronze bust of Sir Henry Wood recovered from the ruins of the bombed­out Queen's Hall in 1941 and now belonging to the Royal Academy of Music, is still placed in front of the organ for the whole Promenade season and has a laurel wreath placed over the head by one of the selected “Prommers” on the last night. Though the concerts are now called the BBC Proms and are headlined with the BBC logo, the tickets are subtitled "BBC Music presents the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts".

With the outbreak of World War II in 1939, the BBC withdrew its support. However, private sponsors stepped in to maintain the Proms, always under Sir Henry Wood's direction, until the Queen's Hall was devastated beyond repair during an air raid in May 1941. (The site is now occupied by the St George's Hotel and BBC Henry Wood House). The Proms were therefore moved to their current home, the Royal Albert Hall, at which point the BBC resumed control. In 1944, under increased danger from bombing, the

From the 1960s, the number of guest orchestras at the Proms also began to increase, with the first major international conductors (Leopold Stokowski, Georg Solti and Carlo Maria Giulini) performing in 1963 and the first foreign orchestra, the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra, performing in 1966. Since that time, almost every major international orchestra, conductor and soloist has performed at the Proms.

The Proms continue today and still present newly commissioned music alongside, pieces more central to the repertoire and early music. Innovations continue, with pre­ Prom talks, lunchtime chamber concerts, children's Proms, Proms in the Park, either appearing, or being featured more heavily over the past few years.

From 1998 to 2007, the Blue Peter Prom, in partnership with long­running BBC television programme Blue Peter, was an annual fixture. Aimed at children and families, the Prom is informal, including audience participation, jokes and popular classics. High demand for tickets – which are among the lowest priced in the season – saw this Prom be split in 2004, into two Proms with identical content. In 2008, the Blue Peter Prom was replaced with a Doctor Who Prom which was repeated in both the 2010 and 2013 seasons.

For the 2015 season, accusations have been made as to the further dumbing down of the event with Radio 1’s first ever Prom, described as less concert and more dance­party – a musical homage to Ibiza and its infectious, energetic brand of club music. 2015 marks the 20th anniversary of Radio 1 in Ibiza and this will be a celebration to remember. Celebrated British DJ Pete Tong, presents a line­up of live artists, who perform with Jules Buckley and his Heritage Orchestra.

PROMMING

The tradition of Promming remains an important aspect of the festival, with over 1,000 standing places available for

each concert, either in the central arena or high in the hall's gallery. Promming tickets cost the same for all concerts (still only £5 in 2013), providing a considerably cheaper option for the more popular events. Since the tickets cannot be bought in advance (although there are full­season tickets, first weekend and weekly passes available), they provide a way of getting into otherwise sold­out concerts.

LAST NIGHT OF THE PROMS

There is a Prom every night for two months during the summer with the final concert appropriately called, the “Last Night of the Proms”. It has become very famous over the years, attracting TV viewers who wouldn’t usually listen to any form of classical music.

It’s a party night; it’s a celebration, where many of those that go, dress up in funny or evening dress clothes accompanied by flags and whistles. One of the tradition pieces is "Fantasia on British Sea Songs", written by Henry Wood in 1905. It is based on sailors' sea shanties including a 'hornpipe'. The dance gets faster and faster and the audience clap and stamp along, trying to keep up with the orchestra.

The musicians themselves join in the fun and games and on one occasion the percussionist, at the back of the orchestra, banged a drumstick on the bald head of one of his colleagues in time to the music!

The finale always includes Thomas Arne’s, Rule Britannia and Edward Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance March No 1, which has the tune Land of Hope and Glory. The concert finishes with Parry's hymn Jerusalem, which follows the traditional conductor’s speech.

All concerts are broadcast on BBC Radio 3, an increasing number are televised on BBC Four, with some also shown on BBC One and BBC Two. Check in your copy of the TV CHOICE Magazine for details of the broadcasts from now until the middle of September.

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Edition 10 - July 17th 2015

The View

BETTER RENTAL DEALS AHEAD Floodline on message

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otorists will benefit from better car rental terms at home and abroad following a Europe­wide review of the sector.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has led a European­wide project, facilitated by the European Commission and involving member state consumer protection authorities, which has resulted in five leading EU car rental companies committing to improving the way they deal with their customers.

The companies – Avis Budget, Enterprise Rent­a­Car, Europcar, Sixt and Hertz, which in total represent around two thirds of the UK and EU markets – have agreed to introduce the following improvements over the next 6 months: • Improved transparency when making a website booking or reservation: consumers will now have more of the key information they need to shop around for the best deal for them.

• Better information at the booking stage about optional waiver and insurance products.

• More upfront information about pre­ and post­rental vehicle inspection processes.

• Improved notification of and dispute processes for, any charges for damage.

Each company has committed to make these bespoke changes depending on the standard of their existing practices, with each committing to an overall better package of practices that includes one or more of the above.

Nisha Arora, CMA Senior Director, said: “We welcome the improvements made by the leading EU car rental companies to ensure that consumers are given clearer information upfront about their rental. These changes

go a long way to ensuring that consumers know exactly what they are getting when they rent a car.

The CMA, together with the European Commission and our EU counterparts, have worked constructively with the leading EU car rental companies to reach agreements on revised practices, that will benefit motorists who rent vehicles in the UK and abroad. The improvements by these 5 businesses now set a benchmark for the rest of the industry to follow.”

In the UK, the CMA has worked closely with the trade association; the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (BVRLA). Following a review of its UK Code of Conduct, significant improvements similar to those adopted by the main car hire businesses have been adopted into the Code, to which companies representing the vast majority of the UK car rental fleet are signatories. The revised Code will be launched at the beginning of 2016.

At a European level the CMA, European Commission and enforcement authorities in other EU member states have worked with Leaseurope, the umbrella body for the European car rental trade associations.

Leaseurope has already adopted the general principles underlying the agreed improvements into its Code of Conduct, with further guidance due to be published in the next few months.

Within the UK, the total value of car hire sales was estimated to be around £1.2 billion in 2012. These sales were generated from 12.3 million transactions and a fleet of 189,000 vehicles. Leaseurope estimates that in 2014 its reporting members owned around 928,000 hire vehicles in Europe and made a total of 23.5 million individual rentals.

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he Environment Agency has teamed up with digital communications company EE, for a new scheme to send flood warnings to mobile phone users in Somerset, Dorset and Wiltshire.

From last Monday, EE customers registered in flood risk areas were able to receive messages from the Environment Agency’s Floodline Warnings Direct service, giving people valuable time to prepare.

The scheme is the first of its kind in England and follows a successful pilot in Staffordshire in March this year.

Since 2010, the Floodline Warnings Direct service has enabled the Environment Agency to automatically register and send warnings to 600,000 homes and business landline numbers, but

this will be the first time that flood warnings will be issued directly through a mobile phone provider.

Jason Rees, EE’s Director of New Business, said, ‘This new service clearly demonstrates the positive contribution that mobile technology makes to our everyday lives. The Floodline Warnings Direct service offers our customers a free and essential service.’

Craig Woolhouse, flood risk manager at the Environment Agency, said, ‘We want to ensure that everyone has as much time as possible to prepare for flooding and by working with EE we’re now able to warn even more people about the risks. Flood warnings save lives and this ground­ breaking initiative is another way of raising awareness of flood risk.’

The View

Edition 10 - July 17th 2015

19

PIRATES! THEY’RE COMING FOR YOU

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ccording to a report in the London Evening Standard, regulators have raided almost 400 suspected pirate radio stations in the capital over the last two years alone.

Figures released by OFCOM in response to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request, show nearly a quarter of the raids took place in Haringey, north London, while 90 resulted in equipment being seized.

Lambeth, south London, was the next biggest offender, with more than 50 raids on suspected pirates between April 2013 and March this year.

OFCOM says, internet radio and the introduction of community broadcasting licences have taken away some of

the incentive for pirates to broadcast, but pirate stations remain a problem because they can interfere with vital communications channels used by the emergency services.

It's not about raising revenue," Clive Corrie, OFCOM's head of spectrum enforcement, said. "It's about protecting the spectrum from harmful interference".

"Last year, OFCOM received 53 complaints of interference to aviation services ­ ground­to­air radio location and radio navigation systems."

Of the 53 complaints, 48 related to the London area.

Mr Corrie added, the problem was largely confined to the capital, though the reason for this has experts at something of a loss.

"It's a big problem, especially in London," he said. "There are about 70 active stations in the London area. In the whole of the UK we've got something like just over 100".

"From the enquiries we've carried out, this problem doesn't exist in New York or Rome or Paris ­ it's a London phenomenon."

As an interesting sideline, the true figures are likely to be even higher as councils don't have to tell OFCOM when they raid pirate radio setups!

Hackney Council revealed last month it had dismantled 29 masts and transmitters being used by pirate broadcasters in 12 months ­ only five of which are recorded in the FOI disclosure.

Aviation doesn't use the same bandwidth as FM radio, but because the home­made transmitters are typically a dozen times stronger than community radio equipment ­ sometimes up to 300 Watts ­ and are often poorly installed, they can inadvertently take over higher frequencies.

Corrie added, pirates typically chose tower blocks on high

ground and often hide equipment in lift shafts and air vents ­ not just to stop authorities from getting to it, but also to protect it from other pirate groups. "It's a bit of a Wild West situation," he said.

Three years ago, the Army inadvertently raided an illegal dance music station in north­east London. Soldiers stumbled upon a group of "young men" broadcasting from Highfield Towers in Collier Row, as they set up surveillance equipment ahead of the Olympics.

The numbers quoted in the UK are a mere drop in the ocean compared to the amount of pirate radio stations in Spain, which are nearer to 3,000. Some of the well­known local stations in our area have had their own issues with affecting the airport communications and explains why all of a sudden frequencies are changed at short notice. The problem in Spain is that radio airwaves are not subject to the same amount of scrutiny as in the UK and the pirates would’ve been closed down almost immediately if they’d tried to run similar operations as they do here.

Back in December 2011, an official radio “concurso” (a form of tender process) was launched by the Valencian authorities, by way of trying to clean up the airwaves and offering 31 license opportunities. Some 116 companies applied for these concessions and a decision is still awaited. In February 2013, a similar exercise was announced for the Murcian region with 51 licenses being chased by 72 companies, also, as yet, unresolved.

Sources close to some Spanish run local, established and legal stations say that, following the local elections at the end of May, the new left­wing authorities in Valencia may take the issue of local pirate radio more seriously than the previous administrations by either making the long­awaited decisions, or simply starting a new application process.

DJ

20 EUROPE – IN FIGURES Going hot and cold Edition 10 - July 17th 2015

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opulation and related data in respect of the European Union (EU) for 2014 have been officially released by the organisation.

On 1 January 2015, the population of the European Union was estimated at 508.2 million, compared with 506.9 million on 1 January 2014. During the year 2014, 5.1 million babies were born in the EU, while 4.9 million persons died, meaning that the EU recorded a positive natural change of its population of 0.2 million, double that of 2013. The remainder of the change is driven mainly by net migration. Germany (81.2 million residents), France (66.4 million), the United Kingdom (64.8 million) and Italy (60.8 million) are the most populated EU Member States. Together, they are home to more than half of the EU population.

During 2014, the population increased in sixteen EU Member States and decreased in twelve. The largest increase was observed in Luxembourg (+23.9 per 1 000 residents), well ahead of Sweden (+10.6‰), Malta (+9.3‰), Austria (+9.1‰) and Denmark (+7.5‰). In contrast, the largest decreases were recorded in Cyprus (­12.9‰), Greece (­ 8.4‰), Latvia (­7.7‰) and Lithuania (­7.6‰). In total, the population of the EU increased by slightly more than 1 million people (+2.2‰) during the year 2014.

Germany continues to be the most populated Member State, ahead of France (13.1%), the United Kingdom (12.9%), Italy (12.0%), Spain (9.1%) and Poland (7.5%).

Compared with 1995, Spain (from 8.2% of total EU population in 1995 to 9.1% in 2015, or +0.9 percentage points), France (+0.8 pp) and the United Kingdom (+0.7 pp) were the Member States having increased the most their weight in total EU population, while Germany (­0.9 pp), Romania (­0.8 pp) and Poland (­0.5 pp) registered the largest

relative falls. Share of the Member States in EU total During the year 2014, 5.1 million babies were born in the EU, 33 000 more than the previous year. Across Member States, the highest crude birth rates in 2014 were recorded in Ireland (14.4 per 1 000 residents), France (12.4‰), the United Kingdom (12.0‰) and Sweden (11.9‰), while the lowest were registered in Portugal (7.9‰), Italy (8.3‰), Greece (8.5‰) and Germany (8.6‰). At EU level, the crude birth rate was 10.1 per 1 000 residents. There were 4.9 million deaths registered in the EU in 2014, 46 600 less than the previous year.

Bulgaria (15.1 per 1 000 residents) had in 2014 the highest crude death rate, followed

by Latvia (14.3‰), Lithuania (13.7‰), Hungary (12.8‰) Romania (12.7‰) and Croatia (12.0‰). At the opposite end of the scale, Cyprus (6.2‰), Ireland (6.4‰) and Luxembourg (6.9‰) recorded the lowest.

The crude death rate was 9.7 per 1 000 residents in the EU. Consequently, the highest positive natural change of the population (the difference between live births and deaths expressed per 1 000 residents) was registered by far in Ireland (+8.1‰). Cyprus (+4.7‰), France and Luxembourg (both +4.0‰) and the United Kingdom (+3.2‰) had also notable positive natural change of their population in 2014. Among the eleven EU Member States which registered a negative natural change in 2014, the largest were to be found in Bulgaria (­5.7‰), Romania (­3.5‰), Latvia and Lithuania (both ­3.4‰) and Hungary (­3.3‰).

It should also be noted that though total population increased in 2015 in Germany and Italy, the natural change was negative in both Member States, meaning that the population growth recorded in 2014 was driven by net migration.

lobal temperatures so extreme fall between 2030 and 2040, so that it could reach a 'mini Ice Age ', according to a report by scientists from the University of Northumbria, UK. The Daily Telegraph echoed this study, which suggests that when solar activity is reduced by more than 60%, that will make a "drastic" difference to thermometers worldwide.

According to the study, this phenomenon will cause rivers, mountains and meadows to freeze, altering the development of the fauna and flora of the Earth.

The paper said that the Earth has already experienced a similar phenomenon in the seventeenth century, called the Maunder Minimum, and that caused the freezing of the River Thames. But what exactly is the “Maunder Minimum”?

The Maunder Minimum roughly coincided with the middle part of the Little Ice Age, during which Europe and North America experienced very cold winters. A causal connection between low sunspot activity and cold European winters has recently been made using the longest existing surface temperature record.

A potential explanation of this has been offered by observations by NASA's Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment, which suggest that solar UV output is more variable over the course of the solar cycle than scientists had previously thought.

In 2011, an article was published in the “Nature Geoscience” journal that uses a climate model, which found a link between

low solar activity to jet stream behaviour and mild winters in some places (southern Europe and Canada/Greenland) and colder winters in others (northern Europe and the United States). In Europe, examples of very cold winters are 1683­4, 1694­5 and the winter of 1708–9.

In such years, River Thames frost fairs were held. However, the Thames ceased to freeze in the 19th century largely because of the removal of the Old (medieval) London Bridge in 1825, which dramatically increased the river's flow into the Pool of London. The original 800–900 ft bridge stood upon 19 irregularly spaced arches that were set into the river bed on large starlings. It acted as a weir holding back the slack upstream waters from the tidal brackish, salt water downstream. The construction of Thames Embankment (began 1862), further increased the river's hydrological flow by narrowing the width of waterway through the centre of capital.

However, a report on the thinkprogress.org website says that there will be no “Little Ice Age”; in fact the opposite will be true!

STOP THE PIGEON

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n what could be described as a “coo to stop the poo”, the City of Badia del Valles in Barcelona plans to sterilise its pigeons to reduce the population by 80% over the next four years.

According to a statement from the council, this week it started using a product called Ovistop, which is made from corn kernels coated nicarbazin, a substance that acts as a contraceptive for these birds.

“Every morning, three automatic dispensers will scatter the required dosage to the pigeon population," said the statement.

Each pigeon will be fed 10 grams of Ovistop. The first dispenser was installed on Monday near the town's Guardia Civil

headquarters, while the other two will be installed on school roofs next week.

The plan is to put the pigeons on the birth control pill from July until December, the high season for pigeon breeding.

Local association Corazon de Paloma (Heart of the Pigeon), collected over 13,000 signatures calling for the new mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, to act on the problems caused by the birds to the city and to find ways of controlling the population in a humane way.

Pigeons are sexually mature at two months and each pair can generate up to 48 offspring a year.

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SHE WAS SIMPLY MRS.B

S

ince the first, in 1960, there have been 73 different female presidents and prime ministers around the world. Some names are more readily recalled, such as, Margaret Thatcher, Golda Meir, Indira Gandhi, Benazir Bhutto in the past and in more modern times there’s been Mary Robinson, Kim Campbell, Angela Merkel and the Jodie Foster lookalike, Julia Gillard of Australia.

Depending on the result of the Labour Party leadership in the UK, Britain could see another female prime minister in the shape of Liz Kendall or Yvette Cooper; and with David Cameron indicating that he won’t be standing at the 2020 election, one of the early favourites for his job is Theresa May. But who was the first woman leader of her country?

Sirima Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike, born on 17 April 1916, was commonly known as Sirimavo Bandaranaike, or simply Mrs Bandaranaike. She was a Sri Lankan politician, who served as Prime Minister of Ceylon and Sri Lanka three times, 1960–65, 1970–77 and 1994–2000 and, was a long­time leader of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party.

She was the widow of a previous Sri Lankan prime minister, Solomon Bandaranaike and the mother of Sri Lanka's fourth Executive President, Chandrika Kumaratunga.

Mrs Bandaranaike was born into to a prominent Radala family, who were descended from Ratwatte Dissawa, Dissawa of Matale, a signatory on behalf of the Sinhalese to the Kandyan Convention of 1815. She was the eldest of six children, with four brothers and one sister. Her father was member of the State Council and the Senate of Ceylon.

Bandaranaike was educated at St Bridget's Convent, Colombo, but was a practising Buddhist. In 1940 she married Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike, a member of the State council and son of Sir Solomon Dias Bandaranaike, the Maha Mudaliyar (chief native interpreter and advisor to the Governor). They had three children, Sunethra, Chandrika, and Anura.

Her husband Solomon was a founding member of the United National Party (UNP), and in 1946 was elected to the House of Representatives, in the first elections of the

Dominion of Ceylon in 1947.

Breaking away from the UNP, he went on to form the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and became its leader. A coalition led by the SLFP, won a majority in the House of Representatives in 1956 general election and Solomon became Prime Minister.

After initiating much change on socialist and nationalistic lines, he had his tenure cut short three years later, when he was assassinated by a Buddhist monk on 26 September 1959.

The assassination created a power vacuum, due to Solomon's likely successor C. P. de Silva being gravely ill and in London for treatment at the time.

During this uncertain time, Sirimavo was brought forward as legitimate successor to her husband's party leadership and she entered politics. In 1960, M. P. de Zoysa Jnr, stepped down from his seat in the Senate, paving the way for Mrs. B to be appointed as a member of the Senate from the SLFP. She led her party to win the July 1960 elections on the pledge to continue her husband's policies, notably the Sinhala Only Act and to proceed with repatriation of the estate Tamils to India. On 21 July 1960, as a Senator she became prime minister, thus becoming the first female prime minister in the world.

Known also to her fellow Sri Lankans as Mrs. B, she could skilfully use popular emotion to boost her support, frequently bursting into tears as she pledged to continue her assassinated husband's policies. Her opponents and critics called her the "weeping widow", saying, she got herself nominated a Senator and made head of her husband's party after his death, by making capital out of his death, going around to different villages and weeping over their children.

She was a socialist who continued her husband's policies of nationalising key sectors of the economy, such as banking and insurance and also nationalising all schools then owned by the Roman Catholic Church in 1961. Bandaranaike was on a roller­coaster ride from the moment she took office. Within a year of her 1960 election victory, she declared a "state of emergency", which followed a civil disobedience campaign by part of the country's minority Tamil population, who were outraged by her decision to drop English as an official language and her order to conduct all government business in Sinhala, the language of the majority Sinhalese. This they considered a highly discriminatory act and an attempt to deny Tamils access to all official posts and the law. This led to an increase in Tamil militancy, which escalated under succeeding administrations.

Further problems arose with the state takeover of foreign businesses, particularly petroleum companies, which upset the United States and Britain; they ended aid to Sri Lanka. As a result, Bandaranaike moved her country closer to China and the Soviet Union and championed a policy of nonalignment. At home, she crushed an attempted military coup by Christian officers in 1962 and appointed her uncle William Gopallawa, Governor­General of Ceylon.

In 1964, she entered into a historic coalition with the Marxist Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP), but at the end of 1964, she lost a vote of confidence. The SLFP coalition was defeated in the 1965 elections, ending her first term as Prime Minister.

She regained power after the United Front coalition (SLFP, LSSP, and the Communists) won the 1970 elections with a large majority.

But after just 16 months in power, the government was almost toppled by the 1971 JVP Insurrection of left­wing youths.

Bandaranaike had disbanded the government's intelligence service, suspecting that it was loyal to the opposition United National Party (UNP). Thus, there was no warning of the uprising and Sri Lanka's small army was caught off guard. The

army mobilized its reserves and held the capital, but some outlying areas were occupied by the insurgents. The government was saved by military aid from both India and Pakistan, thanks to Bandaranaike's skilful foreign policy. In those tough political years, she turned herself into a formidable leader. "She was the only man in her cabinet", one of her officials commented during the height of the insurgency.

Her second term saw a new constitution introduced in 1972, replacing the Soulbury constitution. Ceylon was renamed Sri Lanka and became a republic, abolishing the monarchy of Ceylon. The 1973 oil crisis had a traumatic effect on the Sri Lankan economy: the government had no access to Western aid and her socialist policies stifled economic activity.

Rationing had to be imposed. Bandaranaike became more and more intolerant of criticism and forced the shut­down of the Independent newspaper group, whose publications were her fiercest critics. Earlier she had nationalized the country's largest newspaper, Lake House, which has remained the government's official mouthpiece.

Bandaranaike enjoyed continued success in foreign affairs.

She was chosen chairman of the Non­Aligned Movement in 1976 and hosted the Movement's conference, attended by numerous heads of state. Despite her high international standing, she was losing Sri Lankan support rapidly, amid allegations of corruption and against the background of a rapidly declining economy.

Under the Soulbury constitution, the election would have been held in 1975. However, the government had become very unpopular. Bandaranaike used a clause of the 1972 constitution to delay elections until 1977. This did not help and in the 1977 elections the United Front was routed, winning only 8 seats.

Bandaranaike held her own seat, but in 1980 she was charged with abuse of power for the 1975–77 delay in elections, expelled from parliament and banned from public office for seven years.

The 1980s were her dark days. She became a political outcast, rejected by the people who had once worshipped her.

Bandaranaike spent the next seventeen years in opposition, warding off challenges to her leadership of the SLFP, even from her own children.

In 1994, the SLFP­led coalition won the general elections. Her daughter Chandrika, then outmanoeuvred her mother to become prime minister; and then was elected President the same year.

Bandaranaike became prime minister again, but the constitution had changed since her last tenure. As prime minister she was now subordinate to her daughter, the President. She remained in office till a few months before her death, but had little real power.

Somewhat ironically, she died on Election Day, 10 October 2000, at the age of 84, after having cast her vote for the last time.

MC

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THE VIEW THROUGH THE LENS

John­Ross Hainey from JR Photography based in Guernsey shares some of his techniques for taking the perfect photographs in all kinds of conditions and light. This week, it’s a stunning group picture showing light and perspective in the same frame.

There are always two people in every picture: the photographer and the viewer Ansel Adams

PICTURE OF THE WEEK Shot Info: A99, 24­70mm at 70mm, 25th of a second at f2.8, ISO1600

Summer is well and truly upon us and people are taking photographs here there and everywhere. Have you taken one that you think is spe­ cial and like to share it with readers of THE VIEW on this page?

Send it to editor@theview.es

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FOR YOUR INFORMATION

THE VIEW is pleased to present its first “pull-out” section continuing our commitment to bringing you all the information you need whether you’re a resident or a welcome visitor to our parts. Over four pages, you’ll find details of the local Moors & Christian Festivals, bus and train timetables, market days, 24 hour chemists and a feature on one of our local entertainers. THE VIEW – keeping an eye out for you, too!

GUARDAMAR

MOORS & CHRISTIANS Friday 17th July 21:30 – LADIES PARADE Saturday 18th July 22:00 – MULTICOLOUR PARADE Sunday 19th July 20:30 – GRAND MUSIC CONCERT Parque Reina Sofia.

Monday 20th July 20:30 – CHORAL CONCERT Parque Reina Sofia Wednesday 22nd July 20:00 – FIRING OF THE MUSKETS

21:00 – ENTERING THE CASTLE THE MOORS Thursday 23rd July 20:00 – FIRING OF THE MUSKETS 21:00 – ENTERING THE CASTLE THE CHRISTIANS Friday 24th July 20:30 – ENTRANCE OF THE CHRISTIANS Saturday 25th July 21:00 – PROCESSION OF SAN JAIME Sunday 26th July 20:30 – ENTRANCE OF THE MOORS 01:00 – GRAND FIREWORK DISPLAY

LOS MONTESINOS

Sunday 19th July 21:30 - NIGHT OF RHYTHM - GYM CULTURAL WEEK Ballesta Friday 17th July Monday 20th July 21:30 - NIGHT OF DANCE by the AMPA 21:30 - CONCERT OF HABANERAS Dance School followed by the “Asociación Cultural Aromas de AzaFOOTWORK Dance School. har” followed by LOCAL SINGERS. DISSaturday 18th July PLAY OF SALSA & BACHATA by DEISA 21:30 -OPEN AIR THEATRE WELLNESS Centre of Los Montesinos.

Tuesday 21st July 21:30 - NIGHT OF DANCE by the AMPA Dance School.

MOORS & CHRISTIANS Wednesday 22nd July Thursday 30th July to Sunday 2nd August MUSICAL COMEDY “Ceferina se quiere casar”. Organized by (Further details in next week’s issue) Asociación de Pension.

ALMORADI

ORIHUELA CITY

MOORS & CHRISTIANS Friday 17th July 21:00 – ENTRANCE OF THE MOORS Saturday 18th July 21:30 – ENTRANCE OF THE CHRISTIANS

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IF IT’S TUESDAY, IT MUST BE........

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ocal markets are as much a part of daily Spanish life as sun, sangria, siestas and mosquitoes! If you’re on holiday or new to living in Spain, there is bound to be a market somewhere close to you every day of the week.

Yes, support your local markets but why not, from time to time, get in the car and investigate one a little

further away, especially those in Alicante, Benidorm and Altea.

As part of the policy at THE VIEW to bring you more and more information, we’ve produced below a “cut out and keep” comprehensive list of the markets in our coverage area. If you know of any others, please let us know at editor@theview.es

MONDAY

THURSDAY

Elche Formentera Orihuela San Pedro del Pinatar Santa Pola

Albatera Alicante Gran Alacant Rojales San Javier Urb. La Marina

TUESDAY FRIDAY Altea Benijofar Orihuela San Fulgencio (Village) WEDNESDAY Benidorm Callosa Guardamar del Segura La Mata San Miguel de Salinas

Benejuzar Crevillente Dolores Los Montesinos Pilar de la Horadada Torrevieja SATURDAY Alicante Almoradi Catral

Elche La Marina (N­332 Lidl & Iceland) Playa Flamenca Santa Pola SUNDAY Algorfa Benidorm Benijofar Campoverde Campo de Guardamar (Lemon Tree) Elche El Zoco (Quesada – San Miguel Road) Urb. La Marina

NEW 24 HOUR DUTY CHEMISTS

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he commitment of THE VIEW to bring you important information continues with more lists of 24 HOUR DUTY CHEMISTS in our coverage area. Known in Spanish as FARMACIAS DE GUARDIA, most towns have at least one chemist on the duty rota which changes on a weekly basis.

TORREVIEJA

There are two chemists that open 24 hours, 7 days a week: CALLE RAMON GALUD, 196 (Corner of Calle Virgen de La Paloma) AVENIDA ANTONIO MACHADO, 115

Of course, we hope you’ll never need to use the services of the emergency chemists. The advice of THE VIEW is to visit your local farmacia to see if they’re on the rota. There is usually a list posted outside the building if they are.

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OUR LOCAL ENTERTAINERS Over the rest of the summer THE VIEW will be featuring some of the very best of the local entertainers of all kinds. You may be a resident and possibly never had the chance of seeing these performers before or you’re a visitor looking for a great night out.

D

No1 - DAVY JONES

avy Jones was originally from North Staffordshire and has had entertainment in his genes from a very early age. At school, he was a member of the choir and joined the amateur dramatics group which led to him appearing in a couple of shows on children’s television on both BBC1 and ITV. He began his career as a DJ in the mid 1980s with local independent radio in Stoke­ on­Trent.

He headed up the outside broadcast unit as well as working and liaising with promoters for events and shows in the area. In 1987, he teamed up with a fellow DJ to form their own roadshow which they then sublet to the growing corporate market who were beginning to see the value of live presenters and popular music.

He later went solo and invested in the live music scene with

a successful acoustic duo, but it was around this time that the “K” word started to dominate the music and entertainment venues in the UK. Karaoke! The circuit came calling and Davy took advantage of the surge in its popularity and ended up with five nights work a week in Staffordshire, something he would bring to Spain many years later.

Davy arrived on the Costa Blanca in 2008 and almost immediately slotted into the local entertainment scene. In the same year, shortly after his arrival, he joined radio station TKO and spent five happy years on TKO FM presenting his “Afternoon Locker”, as well as some locum stints on sister station TKO GOLD. Through his work he was approached by VIVA TV to do some presenting work and was lucky enough to interview many of the great and the good that visited the area. One of the most memorable was the all­round entertainer Joe Longthorne.

Early in 2015, Davy revived his interest in amateur dramatics with a far from amateur production of The Rocky Horror Show. The six­night, sell­out production was staged by the Matrix Studios and his role as Dr Frank N Furter was met with critical acclaim from many who had seen versions all around the world. Due to popular demand, he’s looking forward to reprising the part later on in the year.

Davy is the consummate professional with a rich voice able to sing a wide range of styles and musical genres. His personality comes through in his interaction with the

audiences and he really does what it says on his own tin.

“Davy Jones Entertains” You can find Davy at the following evening weekly venues.

Tuesday ­ Shannons Bar, El Limonar Wednesday ­ Spanglish Bar, Balsicas Thursday ­ Trinity Bar, Cabo Roig Friday ­ Princess Lounge, Punta Prima Saturday ­ Celtic Drop ,Playa Flamenca Sunday ­ The Local, La Florida You can also catch Davy at some afternoon singing gigs in and around the area, including The Posh Club, La Marina.

For more information, email: davyjonessings@hotmail.com

FOR YOUR FAMILY DAY OUT...

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OLLIE’S MOOD SPILLS We have New Horizons, or is it just for U.S.?

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By Gordon Oliver

s New Horizons speeds past Pluto, travelling at 14km/s, the planet which can be between 2.8 and 5 billion miles away from us, is indeed a massive occasion.

As the probe from our little rock sped toward the dwarf planet, it sent back a phenomenal picture, in very high resolution, the best ever seen, the closest ever been sent back to Earth, shortly before the probe shot past the planet only 12,500 km from the planet surface. Quite magnificent. But I am left bamboozled as to why, firstly, with all this going on, I cannot receive WiFi in my bathroom and secondly, why at two foot away, I cannot take a picture of my new treasured White Gardenia without it blurring.

Indeed, yesterday was a massive day in probing. We have finally explored every planet in the solar system. Or as the Americans will have every report state and every photo include, the U.S. explored. Indeed, over the last 50 years we have sent probes to every planet in our solar system. Or as N.A.S.A. report, over the last 50 plus years, since President Kennedy began and now today under President Obama.

The history books will certainly read as if the planet was called the U.S. and was run by an overlord called President.

How directly contrite, when used in the use of describing exploration of our solar system, of describing how we as a species are expanding our horizons. But even these new discoveries, which everyone has been built up to get excited for, being labelled as the most exciting event in modern space

exploration, which has been promoted to be the most significant development in space exploration, hasn't really lived up to the hype. In fact, it seems more an exercise of self abuse by the U.S. A country who, abhorrently describes the country’s history as a little more than 200 years. The country who landed upon the moon and planted an American flag to claim it in the name of the United States. Yeee haaa 'Merica......

I do often think of the Mars Rover’s panoramic photos, I look at the way the panoramic lens makes it look like the rover has been going in circles or doing donuts. Sometimes I imagine it was chasing a cockroach or a spider. "Mission log. MARS Rover. 8th March 2014. Life found. Chased it. Killed it........ Yee haw......"

But this leads me to the next moral conundrum. Do we deserve to expand out into the universe? Have we earned the right? I do not think for one blind minute that we have. As a whole, as a people, we have not preserved or cared for this planet or our own history for that matter. Let me ask you, how much of our history is actually preserved? A large amount of the oldest recorded history of our people’s time on this planet only dates back 5,000 years. Much of it lies in the Middle East and is being destroyed, shrine by shrine, either by dissidents or localised bombing.

So, how many times has this been enacted in our past? How many times have we pushed our people to the brink of extinction and destroyed the records of our history. I find it very difficult to believe we have not been in a situation of advanced technological abilities before.

There are far too many unanswered questions when it comes to wondrous achievements from our history, which has no records other than cave paintings and hieroglyphs. The precision of monuments such as the pyramids, the traps inside, the level of technical ability are truly awe inspiring.

The Incan and the Mayans built the most complex buildings and temples, all to be in order with the stars. Massive testament to the people, but, the history has been destroyed, the people massacred for their gold. The history of America­ land itself is slowly being ebbed out and forgotten in a rush of gold from the casinos, that remain as testament to the

indigenous Algonquin­speaking people. The people who the colonist armies described as savages and spread racist slander of, so the eradication would be the removal of a blight, not the massacres of millions of innocent people. 'Merica.....

Of course understand, at that point, those murderous people were not American. Oh no, no, no! They were of course British, French, German, Spanish, Italian and the slaves they brought with them. They do say, you cannot blame a child for being a thug; you must look at the parents who bore him. Well bastardised America is the dirty son of a bastardised Europe.

After all, we can study our own histories back for a few thousand years and it is not pretty. Murder, pillage, rape, lies, deceit, gold­fueled wars of attrition.

So let’s be honest, there are two questions here.

If we were to find life upon another rock in the galaxy, if we wanted said rock, would we take it? Secondly, if we did take it, would it be taken in the name of Earth, of the human race?

Or of the small land mass the explorers came from?

Actually there is a third question. Does it even matter?

We have destroyed the very planet we live upon, small measures are being made now to change the way we are raping the planet of its nature. They are small measures because it is too late. The damage is done and I for one doubt strongly that in 300 years we will have the ability to do more than scrabble to survive. The planet is changing fast to remove the erosive bacteria from its back. The itch that bothers has become too much.

Of course N.A.S.A is desperately trying to find places to colonise, because we have small time left with the resource here to continue searching. Time is running out, fast.

So, looking at this wondrous picture of a world far, far away, is indeed glorious. The stuff of dreams, but maybe that’s where we should leave it, in our dreams. After all, we are a vile, gluttonous, violent bacteria. Yes, we have glory, wonder and the most amazing things on our planet. Music, art, nature, family, history, science. Some beautiful things.

Because we, let it be.

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WHAT’S ON THE TELLY?

JOANNA’S ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS STORY

Sunday night TV at 10pm is going to be an even more pleasurable experience for at least the next couple of weeks as I look forward to the remaining two parts of Joanna Lumley’s Trans Siberian Adventure.

The trailers for the past week or so had drawn me into the programme and within the opening minutes you just knew you were in for a real treat. Joanna is simply charming personified in spades with her voice her poise and her elegance, and is perfect for this new role. It’s like Michael Portillo, with a handbag replacing the ever present and well­thumbed Bradshaw’s Guide.

It’s almost 7,000 miles from Hong Kong to Moscow as she began her trip in the place she hadn’t been to since she was five and her father was in the 6th Gurkha Rifles. Hong Kong looked stunning (It’s not on my bucket list ­ I haven’t got one ­ but it might just be added to it if I did) as did the first part of her journey to Beijing beginning on a local metro accompanied with the unexpected announcement, in

English, of “mind the gap”. Whether the director noticed the film cameraman zooming in on a slightly apart pair of legs at this point is debateable!

She arrived in Beijing after a 10 ½ hour trip on the wonderful Bullet Train and if you thought Hong Kong was modern and sophisticated, on

00:35 This Week 01:20 Holiday Weatherview 01:25 BBC News 07:00 Breakfast 10:15 Right on the Money: Live 11:00 Homes Under the Hammer 12:00 Call the Council 12:45 Helicopter Heroes Down Under 13:15 Bargain Hunt 14:00 BBC News; Weather 14:45 The Link 15:30 Escape to the Country 16:30 Channel Patrol 17:15 Flog It! 18:15 Pointless 19:00 BBC News 19:30 BBC London News 20:00 The One Show 20:30 A Question of Sport 21:00 EastEnders 21:30 Celebrity MasterChef 23:00 BBC News 23:25 BBC London News; Weather 23:35 Room 101 - Extra Storage

00:15 Weather 00:20 Britain's Forgotten Slave Owners 01:20 Panorama 02:20 The Met: Policing London 03:20 The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 04:20 This Is BBC Two 05:00 Schools: Children at Work - Cocoa 05:30 Schools - Children at Work: Bollywood 06:00 Schools - Virtually There: Germany 06:25 Schools - Virtually There: Spain 06:55 Wonders of Nature: Birds of Paradise - Display 07:15 Homes Under the Hammer 08:15 Call the Council 09:00 Gardeners' World 09:30 Nigel Slater: Eating Together 10:00 Golf: The Open Championship 21:00 BBC Proms 2015 23:00 The Perfect Morecambe & Wise 23:30 Newsnight

Friday 17thJuly

a scale of one to ten it was probably a three when first seeing the Chinese capital.

Communism obviously seems to work, and big time; a fact that Joanna herself seemed to allude to while noting it was a paradox – capitalism thriving in a Communist run country.

Joanna was given a trip around

Beijing, not in a rickshaw but a £500,000 Rolls Royce driven by Madame Lu who, doing her cross between Wei Wei Wong and Jenson Button continued to use her gold mobile phone driving one handed.

You could detect a squeaky bum tone to her guide when she asked, “Please ask Madame Lu to stop taking photos!” Forget a high amount of bicycles in Beijing; there are now nine million Rollers!

Wherever you looked and wherever she went, Chinese culture was dominant, which included a magnificent restaurant with traditional cabaret and a Chairman Mao tribute act allowing selfies.

The local customers seemed in total Heaven with one showing his pride saying, “We are grateful to the Chinese people for working so hard to make China what it is.”

Brainwashed to say it or a genuine sentiment?

Joanna showed her obvious disgust at the way the Chinese portrayed Tibet and displayed an irony stating you could buy a Prada handbag but not access Google and

YouTube even though everyone had an iPhone. It wouldn’t be for me, but there is an argument for being in an ignorant bubble not knowing what’s going on in the rest of the world as long as you’re happy with your lot.

Her visit to a local school was one of the many highlights of this enthralling hour where the pupils looked happy, contented, all dressed the same in smart track suits, and in a class where poor discipline looked the last of the worries. No “Harvey Smith’s” for the benefit of the cameras here.

They all loved Hally Potter.

My education was also enhanced discovering that the spectacular Great Wall of China was originally planned to be 5,500 miles long, took 276 years to build and had over one million people per year to work on it.

It was 60 minutes of pure joy accompanied by superb scenery mixed in with a first class geography and history lesson. And, Joanna was sober, darling, throughout!

00:40 Murder, She Wrote 01:35 Jackpot247 04:00 Tonight 04:25 ITV Nightscreen 06:05 The Jeremy Kyle Show 07:00 Good Morning Britain 09:30 Lorraine 10:25 The Jeremy Kyle Show 11:30 This Morning 11:55 ITV News 12:00 This Morning 13:30 Loose Women 14:30 ITV News and Weather 14:55 ITV News London 15:00 Judge Rinder 16:00 Secret Dealers 17:00 Tipping Point 18:00 The Chase 19:00 ITV News London 19:30 ITV News and Weather 20:00 Emmerdale 20:30 Coronation Street 21:00 Gino's Italian Escape 21:30 Coronation Street 22:00 Doc Martin 23:00 ITV News at Ten and Weather 23:30 ITV News London 23:40 Gladiator (2000)

00:00 Big Fat Gypsy Weddings 01:05 Inside the Ku Klux Klan 02:00 The Tribe 02:55 Dispatches 04:20 Running the Shop 05:15 Secret Eaters 06:10 Fifteen to One 07:00 Countdown 07:45 Will & Grace 08:35 The King of Queens 09:00 Everybody Loves Raymond 10:00 Frasier 11:00 The Big Bang Theory 12:00 Undercover Boss USA 13:00 Channel 4 News Summary 13:05 Come Dine with Me Abroad 14:10 Phil Spencer: Secret Agent 15:10 Countdown 16:00 Fifteen to One 17:00 A Place in the Sun: Winter Sun 18:00 Couples Come Dine with Me 19:00 The Simpsons 19:30 Hollyoaks 20:00 Channel 4 News 21:00 Location, Location, Location 22:00 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown 23:00 The Last Leg

01:15 SuperCasino 04:10 Big Brother 05:45 House Doctor 07:00 The WotWots 07:10 Igam Ogam 07:20 Lily's Driftwood Bay 07:30 Fireman Sam 07:40 Toot the Tiny Tugboat 07:50 Peppa Pig 08:10 Little Princess 08:20 The Mr Men Show 08:35 Thomas & Friends 08:50 Noddy in Toyland 09:00 Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom 09:15 Peppa Pig 09:35 Toby's Travelling Circus 09:45 Bananas in Pyjamas 09:55 Milkshake! Monkey 10:00 Tickety Toc 10:15 The Wright Stuff 12:10 Cowboy Builders 13:10 5 News Lunchtime 13:15 Stop! Roadworks Ahead 14:15 Home and Away 14:45 Neighbours 15:15 NCIS 16:15 The Accidental Witness (2006) 18:00 5 News at 5 18:30 Neighbours 19:00 Home and Away 19:30 5 News Tonight 20:00 Cricket on 5 21:00 Conspiracy 22:00 20 Moments 23:30 Lip Sync Battle 23:55 Tattoo Disasters UK

The View

29

Edition 10 - July 17th 2015

Saturday 18th July 00:15 Pretty Woman (1990) 02:10 Weather for the Week Ahead 02:15 BBC News 07:00 Breakfast 11:00 Golf: The Open Championship 13:00 BBC News; Weather 13:10 Golf: The Open Championship 19:45 BBC News 19:55 BBC London News; Weather 20:00 Prized Apart 21:05 The National Lottery: Who Dares Wins 21:55 Casualty 22:45 The John Bishop Show 23:30 BBC News; Weather 23:50 Not Going Out

00:00 Artsnight 00:30 T in the Park 2015 02:30 Pinewood: 80 Years of Movie Magic 03:30 La Traviata: Love, Death and Divas 04:30 This Is BBC Two 06:35 The Maggie (1953) 08:05 The Master of Ballantrae (1953) 09:30 The Women's Football Show 10:00 Saturday Kitchen Best Bites 11:30 The Box 12:00 Alex Polizzi: Chefs on Trial 13:00 Athletics 14:00 Live Davis Cup Tennis 17:00 Holiday of My Lifetime with Len Goodman 17:45 Escape to the Continent 18:45 Flog It! 19:45 Golf: The Open Championship 20:45 Edwardian Farm 21:45 Dad's Army 22:15 Melvyn Bragg: Wigton to Westminster 23:30 Mock the Week

02:25 Jackpot247 04:00 Britain's Best Bakery 04:50 ITV Nightscreen 07:00 The Aquabats! Super Show!

07:25 Pat & Stan 07:35 Dino Dan 08:00 Canimals 08:15 Sooty 08:30 Super 4 08:45 Fish Hooks 09:00 Young Justice: Invasion 09:25 ITV News 09:30 Weekend 10:25 Murder, She Wrote 11:20 The Jeremy Kyle Show 13:25 ITV News and Weather 13:30 The Jeremy Kyle Show 14:35 Surprise Surprise 15:35 The Chase 16:30 All Star Family Fortunes 17:15 Tipping Point 18:15 Catchphrase 19:00 ITV News London 19:15 ITV News and Weather 19:30 You've Been Framed!

20:00 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011) 22:30 ITV News and Weather 22:45 Live Boxing

00:05 Josh Widdicombe: And Another Thing 01:10 Shallow Grave (1994) 02:45 Obsessive Compulsive Cleaners 03:40 The Hotel 04:35 Supernatural 05:20 The Renovation Game 06:15 Fifteen to One 07:05 Triathlon 07:35 The Grid 08:00 Swimming 09:00 The Morning Line 10:00 Frasier 10:30 Frasier 11:00 The Big Bang Theory 12:25 The Simpsons 12:55 The Simpsons 13:25 The Simpsons 13:55 Rude(ish) Tube 14:25 Channel 4 Racing 17:15 Come Dine with Me 19:40 Channel 4 News 20:00 Homes by the Sea 21:00 Walking Through History 22:00 The Watch (2012)

00:25 Tattoo Disasters UK 00:55 Access 01:00 SuperCasino 04:10 Can't Pay? We'll Take It Away 05:00 Trauma Doctors 05:45 House Doctor 07:00 Peppa Pig 07:05 Bananas in Pyjamas 07:20 Angelina Ballerina 07:35 Pip Ahoy!

07:45 The Mr Men Show 08:00 Chloe's Closet 08:10 Roobarb and Custard Too 08:20 Make Way for Noddy 08:30 Paw Patrol 08:45 Toby's Travelling Circus 08:55 Little Princess 09:10 Wanda and the Alien 09:20 Zack and Quack 09:30 Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom 09:45 Jelly Jamm 10:00 LazyTown 10:30 Dora and Friends 11:00 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 11:45 Cowboy Builders 14:35 Columbo: Death Lends a Hand (1971) 16:10 The Dog Rescuers with Alan Davies 17:05 Sick Note Skivers Exposed 18:05 Nightmare Tenants, Slum Landlords 19:05 Can't Pay? We'll Take It Away 19:55 5 News Weekend 20:00 Cricket on 5 21:00 Deep-Sea Super Predator 22:00 Transporter: The Series 23:00 The Siege (1998)

00:05 Little Voice (1998) 01:35 Heavenly Creatures (1994) 03:10 This Is BBC Two 07:15 The A to Z of TV Gardening 08:00 Big Dreams Small Spaces 09:00 Countryfile 09:55 Weather for the Week Ahead 09:55 Saturday Kitchen Best Bites 11:25 Weather for the Week Ahead 11:25 Mary Berry's Absolute Favourites 12:00 Golf: The Open Championship 13:15 Live Davis Cup Tennis 17:15 Songs of Praise 17:50 Hair 18:50 Natural World 19:50 Laurence LlewelynBowen: Cracking China 20:50 Dragons' Den 21:00 Dragons' Den 22:00 Odyssey 22:45 The Javone Prince Show 23:15 Family Guy 23:35 Family Guy 23:55 Family Guy

00:00 The Chase 01:00 Jackpot247 04:00 Ejector Seat 04:50 ITV Nightscreen 07:00 The Aquabats! Super Show!

07:25 Pat & Stan 07:35 Dino Dan 08:00 Canimals 08:15 Sooty 08:30 Super 4 08:45 Fish Hooks 09:00 Young Justice: Invasion 09:25 ITV News 09:30 Weekend 10:25 The Jeremy Kyle Show 13:30 ITV News and Weather 13:34 ITV London Weather 13:35 Love Your Garden 14:40 Long Lost Family: What Happened Next 15:40 Dirty Rotten Scoundrels 17:50 Midsomer Murders 19:45 ITV News London 20:00 ITV News and Weather 20:15 Catchphrase 21:00 Surprise Surprise 22:00 Joanna Lumley's TransSiberian Adventure 23:05 ITV News and Weather 23:20 Bear Grylls: Mission Survive

00:00 Scary Movie (2000) 01:45 The Last Leg 02:40 Hollyoaks 04:50 You Deserve This House 05:45 River Cottage Bites 06:00 Fifteen to One 06:50 How I Met Your Mother 08:05 British GT Championship 08:35 Everybody Loves Raymond 09:30 Frasier 10:30 Sunday Brunch 13:30 Jamie and Jimmy's Friday Night Feast 14:30 The Big Bang Theory 16:00 The Simpsons 16:30 The Simpsons 17:00 The Simpsons 17:30 Location, Location, Location 18:35 Phil Spencer: Secret Agent 19:30 Channel 4 News 20:00 Grand Designs 21:00 Secret History 22:00 Humans 23:00 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown

01:10 SuperCasino 04:10 Caught on Camera 05:00 Police Interceptors 05:50 Make It Big 06:40 Angels of Jarm 07:00 Peppa Pig 07:05 Bananas in Pyjamas 07:20 Angelina Ballerina 07:40 Pip Ahoy!

07:45 The Mr Men Show 07:55 Chloe's Closet 08:05 Roobarb and Custard Too 08:15 Make Way for Noddy 08:25 Paw Patrol 08:40 Toby's Travelling Circus 08:50 Little Princess 09:05 Wanda and the Alien 09:15 Zack and Quack 09:25 Milkshake! Monkey 09:30 Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom 09:45 Jelly Jamm 10:05 LazyTown 10:30 Dora and Friends 11:00 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 11:35 The Secret Life of Pets 12:00 Police Interceptors 15:00 Jack and the Beanstalk 16:45 Madeline (1998) 18:30 The Emperor's New Groove (2000) 20:00 Cricket on 5 20:55 5 News Weekend 21:00 Police Interceptors 22:00 Red Dawn (2012) 23:45 Under Siege (1992)

Sunday 19th July 00:20 Would I Lie to You? 00:50 Seraphim Falls (2006) 02:35 Weather for the Week Ahead 02:40 BBC News 07:00 Breakfast 10:00 The Andrew Marr Show 11:00 Sunday Morning Live 12:00 Sunday Politics 13:15 Golf: The Open Championship 19:50 BBC News 20:00 BBC London News; Weather 20:10 Countryfile 21:00 Fake or Fortune?

22:00 The Outcast 23:30 BBC News 23:50 BBC London News; Weather

30

Edition 10 - July 17th 2015

The View

Monday 20th July 00:00 Prized Apart 01:00 Don't Tell the Bride 02:00 Weather for the Week Ahead 02:05 BBC News 07:00 Breakfast 10:15 Council House Crackdown 11:00 Homes Under the Hammer 12:00 Close Calls: On Camera 12:30 Heir Hunters 13:15 Bargain Hunt 14:00 BBC News; Weather 14:45 Doctors 15:15 The Link 16:00 Escape to the Country 16:45 The Instant Gardener 17:30 Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is 18:15 Pointless 19:00 BBC News 19:30 BBC London News 20:00 The Housing Enforcers 21:00 EastEnders 21:30 Panorama 22:00 Britain at the Bookies 23:00 BBC News 23:25 BBC London News; Weather 23:35 Have I Got a Bit More News for You

00:20 The Infidel (2010) 02:00 Perfect Creature (2005) 03:20 Countryfile 04:20 Holby City 05:15 This Is BBC Two 07:00 Homes Under the Hammer 08:00 Call the Council 08:45 Helicopter Heroes Down Under 09:15 Escape to the Continent 10:15 Victoria Derbyshire 12:00 BBC News 12:30 BBC World News 13:00 Daily Politics 14:00 Coast 14:20 Athletics 15:20 Triathlon 16:50 Yes Minister 17:20 'Allo 'Allo!

17:45 Are You Being Served?

18:15 Flog It! 19:00 Two Tribes 19:30 Eggheads 20:00 Antiques Road Trip 21:00 University Challenge 21:30 Only Connect 22:00 Cake Bakers and Trouble Makers: Lucy Worsley's 100 Years of the WI 23:00 Hair 23:30 Newsnight

00:20 Piers Morgan's Life Stories 01:15 Jackpot247 04:00 Motorsport UK 04:50 ITV Nightscreen 06:05 The Jeremy Kyle Show 07:00 Good Morning Britain 09:30 Lorraine 10:25 The Jeremy Kyle Show 11:30 This Morning 11:55 ITV News 12:00 This Morning 13:30 Loose Women 14:30 ITV News and Weather 14:55 ITV News London 15:00 Judge Rinder 16:00 Secret Dealers 17:00 Tipping Point 18:00 The Chase 19:00 ITV News London 19:30 ITV News and Weather 20:00 Emmerdale 20:30 Coronation Street 21:00 Vet School 21:30 Coronation Street 22:00 Rookies 23:00 ITV News at Ten and Weather 23:30 ITV News London 23:40 Plebs

00:05 It's Complicated (2009) 02:15 Secret History 03:10 Come Dine with Me 05:35 Secret Eaters 06:30 SuperScrimpers 06:35 Draw It! 07:00 Countdown 07:45 Will & Grace 08:35 The King of Queens 09:00 Everybody Loves Raymond 10:00 Frasier 11:00 The Big Bang Theory 12:00 Undercover Boss USA 13:00 Channel 4 News Summary 13:05 Come Dine with Me Abroad 14:10 Phil Spencer: Secret Agent 15:10 Countdown 16:00 Fifteen to One 17:00 French Collection 18:00 Couples Come Dine with Me 19:00 The Simpsons 19:30 Hollyoaks 20:00 Channel 4 News 21:00 Supershoppers 21:30 Superfoods: The Real Story 22:00 How to Get a Council House 23:00 Lookalikes 23:30 Tattoo Fixers

01:45 Tattoo Disasters UK 02:15 SuperCasino 04:10 Under the Dome 05:00 House Doctor 05:25 Make It Big 06:45 Angels of Jarm 07:00 The WotWots 07:10 Igam Ogam 07:20 Lily's Driftwood Bay 07:30 Fireman Sam 07:40 Toot the Tiny Tugboat 07:50 Peppa Pig 08:10 Little Princess 08:20 The Mr Men Show 08:35 Thomas & Friends 08:45 Milkshake! Monkey 08:50 Noddy in Toyland 09:00 Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom 09:15 Peppa Pig 09:30 Milkshake! Bop Box 09:35 Toby's Travelling Circus 09:45 Bananas in Pyjamas 10:00 Tickety Toc 10:15 The Wright Stuff 12:10 Cowboy Builders 13:10 5 News Lunchtime 13:15 The Dog Rescuers with Alan Davies 14:15 Home and Away 14:45 Neighbours 15:15 NCIS 16:10 Til Death Do Us Part 18:00 5 News at 5 18:30 Neighbours 19:00 Home and Away 19:30 5 News Tonight 20:00 Cricket on 5 21:00 Stop! Roadworks Ahead 22:00 Ben Fogle: New Lives in the Wild 23:00 Under the Dome 23:55 Next (2007)

00:20 Have I Got a Bit More News for You 01:05 Weather for the Week Ahead 01:10 BBC News 07:00 Breakfast 10:15 Council House Crackdown 11:00 Homes Under the Hammer 12:00 Close Calls: On Camera 12:30 Heir Hunters 13:15 Bargain Hunt 14:00 BBC News; Weather 14:45 Doctors 15:15 The Link 16:00 Escape to the Country 16:45 The Instant Gardener 17:30 Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is 18:15 Pointless 19:00 BBC News 19:30 Weather 19:30 BBC London News 20:00 Rip Off Britain: Food 20:30 EastEnders 21:00 Holby City 22:00 Death in Paradise 23:00 BBC News 23:25 BBC London News; Weather 23:35 Imagine

00:15 Weather 00:20 Odyssey 01:00 Nature's Greatest Dancers 02:00 The Bank: A Matter of Life and Debt 03:00 This Is BBC Two 05:00 Exploring the House of Commons 06:00 Schools: Ten Pieces 06:50 What Makes Me, Me 06:55 Bringing Books to Life 07:00 Homes Under the Hammer 08:00 Close Calls: On Camera 08:30 Heir Hunters 09:15 The £100K House: The Final Fix 10:15 Victoria Derbyshire 12:00 BBC News 12:30 BBC World News 13:00 Daily Politics 14:00 The Super League Show 14:45 Cash in the Attic 15:15 Dean Spanley (2008) 16:50 Yes Minister 17:20 'Allo 'Allo!

17:45 Are You Being Served?

18:15 Flog It! 19:00 Two Tribes 19:30 Eggheads 20:00 Antiques Road Trip 21:00 The House That £100K Built 22:00 Great Ormond Street 23:00 Hair 23:30 Newsnight

00:10 The Jeremy Kyle Show USA 01:00 Jackpot247 04:00 The Jeremy Kyle Show 04:55 ITV Nightscreen 06:05 The Jeremy Kyle Show 07:00 Good Morning Britain 09:30 Lorraine 10:25 The Jeremy Kyle Show 11:30 This Morning 11:55 ITV News 12:00 This Morning 13:30 Loose Women 14:30 ITV News and Weather 14:55 ITV News London 15:00 Judge Rinder 16:00 Secret Dealers 17:00 Tipping Point 18:00 The Chase 19:00 ITV News London 19:30 ITV News and Weather 20:00 Emmerdale 20:30 A Great Welsh Adventure with Griff Rhys Jones 21:00 Love Your Garden 22:00 Virgin Atlantic: Up in the Air 23:00 ITV News at Ten and Weather 23:30 ITV News London 23:40 Benidorm

00:30 Married at First Sight 01:25 24 Hours in A&E 02:20 Child Genius 03:15 One Born Every Minute USA 04:10 Mary's Bottom Line 05:05 Secret Eaters 06:00 SuperScrimpers 06:05 You Deserve This House 07:00 Countdown 07:45 Will & Grace 08:35 The King of Queens 09:00 Everybody Loves Raymond 10:00 Frasier 11:00 The Big Bang Theory 12:00 Undercover Boss USA 13:00 Channel 4 News Summary 13:05 Come Dine with Me Abroad 14:10 Phil Spencer: Secret Agent 15:10 Countdown 16:00 Fifteen to One 17:00 French Collection 18:00 Couples Come Dine with Me 19:00 The Simpsons 19:30 Hollyoaks 20:00 Channel 4 News 21:00 Obsessive Compulsive Cleaners 22:00 Child Genius 23:00 Not Safe For Work 23:50 Britain's Benefit Tenants

01:45 Tattoo Disasters UK 02:15 SuperCasino 04:10 Benefits by the Sea: Jaywick 05:00 Wildlife SOS 05:25 Divine Designs 05:50 House Doctor 07:00 The WotWots 07:10 Igam Ogam 07:20 Lily's Driftwood Bay 07:30 Fireman Sam 07:40 Toot the Tiny Tugboat 07:50 Peppa Pig 07:55 Pip Ahoy!

08:10 Little Princess 08:20 The Mr Men Show 08:35 Thomas & Friends 08:45 Milkshake! Monkey 08:50 Noddy in Toyland 09:00 Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom 09:15 Peppa Pig 09:30 Milkshake! Bop Box 09:35 Toby's Travelling Circus 09:45 Bananas in Pyjamas 10:00 Tickety Toc 10:15 The Wright Stuff 12:10 Cowboy Builders 13:10 5 News Lunchtime 13:15 Nightmare Tenants 14:15 Home and Away 14:45 Neighbours 15:15 NCIS 16:15 Stolen from the Womb 18:00 5 News at 5 18:30 Neighbours 19:00 Home and Away 19:30 5 News Tonight 20:00 Police Interceptors 21:00 The Dog Rescuers 22:00 Benefits by the Sea: 23:00 Botched Up Bodies

Tuesday 21st July

The View

31

Edition 10 - July 17th 2015

Wednesday 22nd July 00:45 Once (2006) 02:10 Weather for the Week Ahead 02:15 BBC News 07:00 Breakfast 10:15 Council House Crackdown 11:00 Homes Under the Hammer 12:00 Close Calls: On Camera 12:30 Heir Hunters 13:15 Bargain Hunt 14:00 BBC News; Weather 14:45 Doctors 15:15 The Link 16:00 Escape to the Country 16:45 The Instant Gardener 17:30 Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is 18:15 Pointless 19:00 BBC News 19:30 BBC London News 20:00 The Sheriffs Are Coming 21:00 Don't Tell the Bride 22:00 The Interceptor 23:00 BBC News 23:25 BBC London News; Weather 23:35 Cashing In

00:15 Weather 00:20 Dragons' Den 01:20 Don't Tell the Bride 02:20 The Bin Laden Conspiracy?

02:50 Haslar: The Secrets of a War Hospital 03:20 This Is BBC Two 05:00 Orbit: Earth's Extraordinary Journey 06:00 Schools - The Science of Harvest 06:30 Schools - The Burrowers 07:00 Homes Under the Hammer 08:00 Close Calls: On Camera 08:30 Heir Hunters 09:15 Claimed and Shamed 09:45 Antiques Roadshow Detectives 10:15 Victoria Derbyshire 12:00 BBC News 12:30 BBC World News 13:00 Animal Park 14:00 The Rockford Files 14:45 Cash in the Attic 15:15 We Dive at Dawn (1943) 16:50 Yes Minister 17:20 'Allo 'Allo!

17:45 Are You Being Served?

18:15 Flog It! 19:00 Two Tribes 19:30 Eggheads 20:00 Antiques Road Trip 21:00 Trust Me, I'm a Doctor 22:00 Britain's Forgotten Slave Owners 23:00 QI 23:30 Newsnight

00:40 Murder, She Wrote 01:30 Jackpot247 04:00 Loose Women 04:45 ITV Nightscreen 06:05 The Jeremy Kyle Show 07:00 Good Morning Britain 09:30 Lorraine 10:25 The Jeremy Kyle Show 11:30 This Morning 11:55 ITV News 12:00 This Morning 13:30 Loose Women 14:30 ITV News and Weather 14:55 ITV News London 15:00 Judge Rinder 16:00 Secret Dealers 17:00 Tipping Point 18:00 The Chase 19:00 ITV News London 19:30 ITV News and Weather 20:00 Emmerdale 20:30 Coronation Street 21:00 Vera 23:00 ITV News at Ten and Weather 23:30 ITV News London 23:40 Exposure

00:50 Undercover Boss USA 01:45 KOTV Boxing Weekly 02:10 Gillette World Sport 02:40 Triathlon 03:10 The Grid 03:35 Swimming 04:35 British GT Championship 05:05 Secret Eaters 06:00 River Cottage Bites 06:10 Fifteen to One 07:00 Countdown 07:45 Will & Grace 08:35 The King of Queens 09:00 Everybody Loves Raymond 10:00 Frasier 11:00 The Big Bang Theory 12:00 Undercover Boss USA 13:00 Channel 4 News Summary 13:05 Come Dine with Me Abroad 14:10 Phil Spencer: Secret Agent 15:10 Countdown 16:00 Fifteen to One 17:00 French Collection 18:00 Couples Come Dine with Me 19:00 The Simpsons 19:30 Hollyoaks 20:00 Channel 4 News 21:00 The Autistic Gardener 22:00 One Born Every Minute 23:00 Witnesses

00:00 20 Moments 01:30 Lip Sync Battle 02:00 SuperCasino 04:10 Sick Note Skivers 05:00 Wildlife SOS 05:25 Divine Designs 05:45 House Doctor 07:00 The WotWots 07:10 Igam Ogam 07:20 Lily's Driftwood Bay 07:30 Fireman Sam 07:40 Toot the Tiny Tugboat 07:50 Peppa Pig 07:55 Pip Ahoy!

08:10 Little Princess 08:20 The Mr Men Show 08:35 Thomas & Friends 08:45 Milkshake! Monkey 08:50 Noddy in Toyland 09:00 Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom 09:15 Peppa Pig 09:30 Milkshake! Bop Box 09:35 Toby's Travelling Circus 09:45 Bananas in Pyjamas 10:00 Tickety Toc 10:15 The Wright Stuff 12:10 Cowboy Builders 13:10 5 News Lunchtime 13:15 Can't Pay? We'll Take It Away 14:15 Home and Away 14:45 Neighbours 15:15 NCIS 16:15 Audrey's Rain (2003) 18:00 5 News at 5 18:30 Neighbours 19:00 Home and Away 19:30 5 News Tonight 20:00 Police Interceptors 21:00 Carry on Caravanning 22:00 Nightmare Tenants 23:00 Wentworth Prison

00:35 Britain at the Bookies 01:35 Weather for the Week Ahead 01:40 BBC News 07:00 Breakfast 10:15 Council House Crackdown 11:00 Homes Under the Hammer 12:00 Close Calls: On Camera 12:30 Heir Hunters 13:15 Bargain Hunt 14:00 BBC News; Weather 14:45 Doctors 15:15 The Link 16:00 Escape to the Country 16:45 The Instant Gardener 17:30 Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is 18:15 Pointless 19:00 BBC News 19:30 BBC London News 20:00 Fake Britain 20:30 EastEnders 21:00 DIY SOS 22:00 Celebrity MasterChef 23:00 BBC News 23:25 BBC London News; Weather 23:35 Reggie Yates: Extreme Russia

00:15 Weather 00:20 Great Ormond Street 01:20 The Truth About Your Teeth 02:20 Alex Polizzi: Chefs on Trial 03:20 This Is BBC Two 04:55 Fit to Rule 05:25 Schools - How God Made the English 06:00 Schools - The Modern Monarchy 07:00 Homes Under the Hammer 08:00 Close Calls: On Camera 08:30 Heir Hunters 09:15 Coast 10:15 Victoria Derbyshire 12:00 BBC News 12:30 BBC World News 13:00 Animal Park 13:55 Coast 14:10 The Rockford Files 15:00 The Glass Bottom Boat (1966) 16:50 Yes Minister 17:20 'Allo 'Allo!

17:45 Are You Being Served?

18:15 Flog It! 19:00 Two Tribes 19:30 Eggheads 20:00 RHS Flower Show Tatton Park 2015 21:00 Natural World 22:00 Coast 23:00 The Javone Prince Show 23:30 Newsnight

00:40 Tipping Point 01:35 Jackpot247 04:00 Ejector Seat 04:50 ITV Nightscreen 06:05 The Jeremy Kyle Show 07:00 Good Morning Britain 09:30 Lorraine 10:25 The Jeremy Kyle Show 11:30 This Morning 11:55 ITV News 12:00 This Morning 13:30 Loose Women 14:30 ITV News and Weather 14:55 ITV News London 15:00 Judge Rinder 16:00 Secret Dealers 17:00 Tipping Point 18:00 The Chase 19:00 ITV News London 19:30 ITV News and Weather 20:00 Emmerdale 20:30 Real Stories with Ranvir Singh 21:00 Emmerdale 21:30 Coronation Street 22:00 Britain Sees Red: Caught on Camera 23:00 ITV News at Ten and Weather 23:30 ITV News London 23:40 Sports Life Stories

00:10 How to Get a Council House 01:10 Four to the Floor 01:35 Strippers 02:30 One Born Every Minute USA 03:25 Gambit (1966) 05:15 Secret Eaters 06:10 Fifteen to One 07:00 Countdown 07:45 Will & Grace 08:35 The King of Queens 09:00 Everybody Loves Raymond 10:00 Frasier 11:00 The Big Bang Theory 12:00 Undercover Boss USA 13:00 Channel 4 News Summary 13:05 Come Dine with Me Abroad 14:10 Phil Spencer: Secret Agent 15:10 Countdown 16:00 Fifteen to One 17:00 French Collection 18:00 Couples Come Dine with Me 19:00 The Simpsons 19:30 Hollyoaks 20:00 Channel 4 News 21:00 Grand Designs 22:00 Married at First Sight 23:00 Dogs on the Dole

00:00 Benefits by the Sea: 01:00 Police Interceptors 02:00 SuperCasino 04:10 Conspiracy 05:00 Wildlife SOS 05:25 Divine Designs 05:50 House Doctor 07:00 The WotWots 07:10 Igam Ogam 07:20 Lily's Driftwood Bay 07:30 Fireman Sam 07:40 Toot the Tiny Tugboat 07:50 Peppa Pig 08:10 Little Princess 08:20 The Mr Men Show 08:35 Thomas & Friends 08:45 Milkshake! Monkey 08:50 Noddy in Toyland 09:00 Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom 09:15 Peppa Pig 09:35 Toby's Travelling Circus 09:45 Bananas in Pyjamas 10:00 Tickety Toc 10:15 The Wright Stuff 12:10 Cowboy Builders 13:10 5 News Lunchtime 13:15 Police Interceptors 14:15 Home and Away 14:45 Neighbours 15:15 NCIS 16:15 Baby Sellers (2013) 18:00 5 News at 5 18:30 Neighbours 19:00 Home and Away 19:30 5 News Tonight 20:00 Trauma Doctors 21:00 The Holiday Airport 22:00 Supersized 23:00 Person of Interest

Thursday 23rd July

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Edition 10 - July 17th 2015

fashion forward

The View

ACCESSORIES

“LITTLE BLACK DRESS JUST WALKED IN THE ROOM MAKING HEADS TURN COULDN’T STOP LOOKING AT YOU”

STRAWBERRY FIELDS Add a dash of red CORI Slingback – 135€ www.phase­eight.com

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Dorothy Perkins – Black Open Toe Sandals – 39€ www.dorothyperkins.com

Moda in Pelle ESPANA Lonero – Black shoe – 109€

Bank Fashion – Belle Lattice Ballet Flats – 24€

Glitzy Secrets – Ruby Rebel Ear­ rings – 62€ www.glitzysecrets.com

Red Trio Flower Necklace – 25€ www.evans.co.uk

Dune – Brionie – 155 € www.dunelondon.com

The View

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Edition 10 - July 17th 2015

JUST ADD WATER......

I

have always dreamt of a natural garden pool at the bottom of my garden, one that is eco­friendly and chemical free. Thankfully now it can actually be a reality.

Most natural swimming pools feature two interconnected pools separated by a submerged wall, one for swimming, the other to hold the plants and contain their root systems. The water circulates between the pools via a pump.

There a two types of planting: deep submerged water plants known as oxygenators, which are vital to the pool’s equilibrium, and a plant filter – essentially a reed bed, planted into filtration grit and perforated pipes, through which the water circulates.

The plant filter is also the pool’s ‘solar system’ – the sun rapidly heats up the shallow water in the plant filter and this in turn helps the pool water to warm up naturally.

Each pool has a skimmer, which collects surface debris such as leaves, a plant filter and a submerged pump to circulate the water through the plant filter and back into the pool.

Maintenance is relatively low when compared to traditional chlorinated pools, although plants will need cutting back in the summer and pruning in the autumn­ just as you would in your garden. Throughout the swimming season you will need to vacuum the floor of the swimming pool every six weeks.

For more information on natural swimming pools visit – www.naturalswimmingpond.org or www.treehugger.com

CHIC CHIMINEAS When the sun goes down and the night turns chilly these attractive chimineas will keep you toasty –

DEBENHAMS £129 ­174€

WHITESTORES £99.95­135€

www.debenhams.co.uk

www.whitestores.co.uk

MORSO ­ £999­1,348€ www.morsoliving.com

Q - Why does my touchy skin always break out after long-ish haul flights and what can I do about it?

A - This common reaction to long flights with sensitive skin expert Sarah Brown, founder of Pai skincare. Sarah founded Pai, a certified organic range (which we love and use ourselves), after suffering a bad skin allergy for many years. She launched Pai in 2007 with the goal of creating the cleanest, plant-based skin care for people with sensitive skin.

Here’s Sarah Brown’s advice, with her suggested products: ‘The air on planes is extremely dry with humidity usually below 20 per cent, combine that with the stress of getting away (planning, packing, last minute work issues, airport transfers…) plus lack of sleep and poor food on the plane and you have ideal conditions to create a breakout.’

‘The dry air on planes dehydrates the upper layers of skin, causing the oil glands to spring into action and overproduce sebum in an attempt to correct the balance. This excess oil causes blackheads and inflammation, resulting in a breakout.’

‘The trick is to plan ahead,’ advises Sarah. ‘Ensuring your skin is properly hydrated before, during and after the flight is key in lowering the risk of blemishes.’

WYEVALE ­ £99.99­135€ www.wyevalegardencentres.co.uk

INDOOR CHIMINEAS The south of Spain is not traditionally associated with cold winters or crisp frosty evenings but, as those who live here all year round will testify that effective heating is a must over the winter months.

These beautiful indoor chimineas can be seen at Chimineas Candela Elche, Alicante. www.chimineascandela.es

• NEW LOOK Kukui & Jojoba Bead Skin Brightening Exfoliator (75ml) • Rosehip BioRegenerate Oil (30ml) For a limited time only, save £11 when you buy our radianceboosting bestsellers together.

Carolines view on.....INSTANT TAN

In my younger years I was a “sun worshipper” and barely wore any sunscreen, thankfully there are some benefits to getting older, I have now learnt to use fake tanning lotions and potions from a bottle or tube – save the wrinkles!

This week I am testing three products, prices from 13 Euros to 31 Euros.

BOBBI BROWN ALL OVER BRONZING GEL – SPF 15 Tinted, oil­free gel based. Instant wash off self tanner with an SPF of 15. It comes in one shade, called Joe Brown, in a 50ml tube, it can be used on the face and body. Price ­ £23 – 31 Euros FAKE BAKE GOLDEN FAUX GLO PERFECTION INSTANT TAN SPRITZ WASH­OFF & PROFESSIONAL MITT. It claims to be transfer resistant and suitable for all skin tones. Vanilla scented. It has a liquid texture and comes in a 125ml bottle with a spray pump, and includes

a pair of waterproof application gloves and an application mitt. Price when tested: £15 – 20 Euros ST. TROPEZ INSTANT TANNER. WASH OFF FACE AND BODY LOTION Instant wash­off bronzer suitable for all skin types. It claims to be water and transfer resistant for up to 24 hours. It comes in two shades, medium and dark in a 150ml tube.

Price £10 – 14 Euros All products gave me a healthy glow, however after reading the fine print what really impressed me was FAKE BAKE PERFECTION – Why? The product does “what it says on the tin” it gave me a natural healthy glow, it’s Paraben Free and the drying time is only 1­2 minutes. The application glove & mitt is a great addition and the best part of all has a lovely smell of vanilla. At only 20 Euros it is a BEAUTY STEAL.

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The View

Roasted fennel & pine nut polpette These are great with spaghetti, or simply tossed through this rich tomato sauce.

Ingredients • 1 large fennel bulb, or 2 small (400g), trimmed, fronds reserved • extra virgin olive oil • 20 g pine nuts • 20 g pumpkin seeds • 3 cloves of garlic, peeled • 1/2 red chilli, deseeded and roughly chopped • 50 g parmesan • 100 g breadcrumbs • 1 large egg yolk • 1/2 bunch of parsley, leaves picked and stalks finely chopped • 400 g tin of chopped tomatoes • a splash of balsamic vinegar Preheat the oven to 180C/gas 4. Cut the fennel into 2–3cm wedges and lay out in a roasting tray. Add a splash of oil, season, then roast in the oven for 30 minutes.

Sprinkle over the pine nuts and pumpkin seeds and pop back in the oven for 8 minutes, until the fennel is cooked through. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for 5 minutes.

Place 2 garlic cloves and the chilli in a food processor and blitz until finely chopped. Add the fennel, pine nuts and pumpkin seeds, then pulse again until chopped but still quite chunky.

Grate in the parmesan, then add the breadcrumbs, egg yolk and a pinch of salt and pepper. Pulse until everything just comes together.

Drizzle a roasting tray with olive oil. With wet hands, roll the mixture into about 20 walnut­sized balls, then place on the tray and leave in the fridge for 15 minutes. Preheat your oven again to 200C/gas 6.

Drizzle the polpette with oil and bake for 20–25 minutes, until the balls are golden and crisp.

While they are cooking, make a tomato sauce. Place a medium­sized, non­stick pan over a medium heat and pour in a glug of oil. Finely slice the remaining

garlic clove and add to the pan, along with the parsley stalks. Fry for 1 minute before pouring in the tinned tomatoes.

Fill the tin halfway with water and add, along with the balsamic, then gently bring to the boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook over a low heat for 8–10 minutes, until thickened. Pour the sauce into a food processor and blitz until smooth, then return to the pan and keep warm until needed.

Divide the sauce between plates, arrange the polpette on top, sprinkle with the chopped parsley and serve.

Mini vegan doughnuts Ingredients • 50 g dairy­free margarine • 120 ml organic soya milk • 1.5 litres sunflower oil • 250 g plain flour • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder • 1/2 teaspoon sea salt • 50 g golden caster sugar • 200 g ripe raspberries • 1 heaped tablespoon icing sugar • 1/2 orange • For the vanilla sugar • 1 vanilla pod • 50 g caster sugar

Method

Melt the margarine, soya milk and 2

tablespoons of the sunflower oil in a small pan over a medium heat. Meanwhile, combine the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a large bowl. Make a well in the middle, then tip in the melted mixture.

Gradually bring the mixture together with a fork until it forms a wet, thick dough, then divide and roll into 24 golf­ ball sized balls.

Heat the remaining sunflower oil in a medium­sized deep pan over a high heat.

To test if the oil is hot enough, drop a piece of bread into the pan – if the bread floats to the surface, sizzles and turns golden, it's about right. Reduce the heat to medium, then use a slotted spoon to carefully lower six dough balls into the hot oil. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes, or until golden, cooked through and they've

floated to the surface, turning occasionally.

Meanwhile, make the vanilla sugar.

Halve the vanilla pod lengthways and scrape out the seeds. Bash the seeds and half the sugar in a pestle and mortar, then place into a large bowl with the remaining sugar.

Transfer the cooked doughnuts to a double layer of kitchen paper to drain.

Allow to cool for a few minutes, roll in the vanilla sugar to coat, then place on a tray.

Repeat with the remaining dough balls.

Meanwhile, make the raspberry dip.

Place the raspberries, icing sugar and a squeeze of orange juice into a bowl, then crush well with the back of a fork. Serve the mini doughnuts with the raspberry dip, then tuck in! .

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Cosmic Cuisine: The Evolution of Space Food

W

hat did astronauts eat on their celestial voyages?

From dehydrated spaghetti to bacon cubes, the answers might surprise you.

Space food had to fit a number of requirements. Easily portable was a given, as just bringing food into space is incredibly expensive: even today, it costs a whopping $10,000 to take one pound of food up to the International Space Station. Food had to be nutrient­dense and filling, as the astronauts would be expending a fair amount of calories up in space, particularly during space walks. And NASA engineers didn’t just have to deal with the meals themselves, but how certain foods would affect the digestive system in space.

The technology NASA employed to solve these problems was truly state of the art. Astronauts on the Mercury missions, including John Glenn, had to rely mostly on unappetizing semi­liquids, sucked through straws. But food options improved during the later Gemini and Apollo missions. A lot of the space food, and almost all of the space drinks, flew up dehydrated. Milk, coffee, grapefruit juice and even soups could be eaten with just some added water. NASA was obsessed with food in cube form: cinnamon toasted bread cubes, strawberry cubes and even bacon cubes formed part of a balanced space breakfast, and cubes of sugar, chocolate and peanut butter were available for snacking. In fact, the first food eaten on the moon was a bacon cube.

One real breakthrough was an invention called the spoon­ bowl pack. Looking like a hybrid of a zippable plastic freezer

bag and an IV bag, the spoon­bowl was a plastic packet full of dried food that could be rehydrated via a valve at the bottom.

The hot water turned bricks of inedible stuff back into chicken stew, chicken and rice and spaghetti with meat sauce.

Astronauts unzipped the top of the bag and fed spoons into a small opening: they could eat without fear of food flying away since the moisture in the food caused it to stick to the spoons.

But how did all this food taste? There’s surprisingly little record of any answer to that question. In a “Nutrition Today” article from the fall of 1969, a NASA scientist reported that the astronauts “enjoyed the food we put aboard. The variety was satisfactory, and there was enough to satisfy their hunger and maintain their performance.” It’s hardly a ringing endorsement for space food, but keep in mind that our taste buds react very differently to foods eaten in the air. Decreased atmosphere plus a dry cabin environment decreased our taste buds’ ability to taste by about 30 percent. Buzz Aldrin, though,

had very positive things to say about one of the mission’s appetizers, shrimp cocktail. He later explained, “they were chosen one by one to make sure they would be tiny enough to squeeze out of the food packet, and they were delicious!”

By the 1970s and ‘80s, culinary options on spacecraft like Skylab and the space shuttle included more than 70 food items. Celebrity chefs even contributed tasty dishes for our men and women far, far from home. Today, much like newly engaged couples planning a wedding, astronauts are invited to Houston’s Johnson Space Center for taste­testing sessions and the Space Food Systems Laboratory, where they help recommend dishes for their upcoming missions. A month before a mission launches, the food (up to 3.8 pounds, including packaging, per astronaut, per day) is packaged and prepared, with partially or fully dehydrated items still making up many of the meals, though condiments and spices (including salt suspended in water) are readily available.

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ANOTHER SILENT KILLER A

TRIGLYCERIDES

re you sitting down right now reading this article? If so, you could be raising your triglycerides and lowering your life expectancy. Mounting research is proving that sloth is indeed one of the seven deadly sins. In particular, the more time you spend sitting on your backside, the higher your levels of triglycerides and other risk factors associated with heart disease, diabetes, and, death.

Because the human body is designed to move, regular physical activity lowers our risk of heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and colon and breast cancers.

Now scientists in the intriguing new field of “inactivity physiology” are starting to tease out important distinctions among the benefits and risks of being physically active, inactive, and just plain sedentary.

It turns out that triglycerides, a type of fat in the blood, are a great indicator of the nuances that occur within our bodies in response to activity ­ or a complete lack thereof. When your muscles are actively working, even if only to keep you standing up and pottering about, enzymes such as lipoprotein lipase (LPL) are revved up. The LPL cues your active muscles to take in triglycerides from your bloodstream. When you sit, you hit the pause button on your LPL, and levels of triglycerides rise in your bloodstream, where they can wreak havoc.

A number of scientific studies are now uncovering a relationship between sitting time and risk factors for heart disease and diabetes such as elevated blood pressure, higher blood glucose levels, and lower levels of HDL, or “good,” cholesterol, in addition to higher blood levels of triglycerides.

Research is also showing a relationship between sitting time and mortality. The real kicker is that these relationships even occur in individuals who are physically active.

Prolonged sitting on your bottom, whether at your office, in front of your TV, or in your car, adversely affects your health. We all need to make an extra effort to get up and move

around and not sit for long periods of time. Frequent movement revs up numerous tissues in your body, including your heart and skeletal muscles.

Lifestyle choices have a big impact on triglyceride levels.

For many people, good health habits are all it takes to keep triglycerides under control. For those who already have above­normal triglycerides, lifestyle changes can often bring them back down. If necessary, medication may also be prescribed. But even then, healthy habits play a key role in making the most of drug therapy.

These six lifestyle habits can help keep your triglycerides at a healthy level: 1. Weight loss ­ If you're overweight, even a moderate weight loss may reduce your triglycerides.

2. Exercise ­ There is strong evidence that regular physical activity helps

manage triglycerides. The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention recommends at least 2.5 hours of moderate­intensity aerobic activity every week. This activity should be done for at least 10 minutes at a time, spread throughout the week. Examples of moderate­ intensity aerobic activities include brisk walking, casual cycling and water aerobics. Be sure to check with your doctor before starting any exercise plan.

3. Alcohol ­ If you drink alcohol, doing so only in moderation helps keep triglycerides in check. Moderate drinking is defined as no more than two drinks a day for men or one drink for women. However, people who already have severely elevated triglycerides (above 200 mg/dL) may be advised not to drink at all.

4. Smoking ­ Cigarette smoking is linked to both increased triglycerides and heart disease.

5. Carbohydrates ­ High­carbohydrate diets increase triglycerides for some people, so it pays to be aware of the carbs you eat. Focus on nutrient­rich carb choices, such as vegetables, fruits, and whole grains. Limit foods that contain added sugars (such as non­diet soft drinks, sweets, cookies, pastry, and sweetened yogurt) and refined grains (such as white bread, corn flakes, white rice, and most pasta).

6. Dietary fat ­ The type of fat in your diet also makes a difference. Limit saturated fat (found in beef, pork, lamb, poultry with skin, full­fat cheese, whole milk, cream, and butter) and trans fat (found in many packaged baked goods and restaurant fried foods). Replace them with healthier monounsaturated fat (found in olive oil, avocados, peanut butter, and many nuts and seeds) and polyunsaturated fat (found in soybean oil, corn oil, walnuts, and sunflower seeds).

Also, include fish on the menu at least twice a week. Fatty varieties ­ such as salmon, trout, mackerel, herring, tuna, and sardines ­ are rich in beneficial omega­3 fatty acids.

FUTURE PENSION CONCERNS

he National Association of Pension RECENTLY RETIRED SERVICE PERSONNEL TFunds (NAPF) has published new complained about. However, this time limit f you have now left the armed forces research commissioned to understand

I

and had administrative action taken against you as a result of a police caution between December 2008 and September 2011, it may be that you have grounds for a complaint.

The MOD has written to serving and former serving personnel because of changes to the law which took effect in December 2008 that meant such cautions should not have been taken into account after that date.

However, whilst action has been taken to contact those affected directly, it is apparent that we have not managed to reach some people and they will be unaware of efforts to contact them about this issue.

The letters sent out on 10 Mar 2015 informed personnel that they may wish to consider a service complaint if they believe they have been wronged in a matter relating to their service. Information about service complaints is contained in Joint Service Publication 831.

Under the relevant legislation, service complaints generally need to be submitted within 3 months of the act that is being

may be extended at the discretion of the prescribed officer dealing with the complaint if, in all the circumstances of the case, he or she considers it just and equitable to do so.

Any complaints received in connection with this issue will be considered entirely on their own merits but the date on which personnel received a letter or were first made aware of this issue may be one of the factors taken into account when considering whether to allow a complaint to proceed.

Should you wish to find out more information and discuss your options then please contact the relevant office below: Navy ­ ROA Casework, CNLS, M­P 4­2 Leach Building, Whale Island, Portsmouth, PO2 8BY Email: NAVYLEGAL­ ROACASEWORKMAILBOX@mod.uk Army ­ Email: ArmyPersSvcs­PS2­SC­ Helpline@mod.uk or phone 01264 382 746 RAF ­ Air Personnel Casework, 1E11 Hurricane Building, HQ Air Cmd, RAF High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, HP14 4UE E­mail: Air­COSPERS­POL­APCSWRK­ MLBX@mod.uk

what the 2.2m people aged 55­70 with approximately £175bn in defined contribution (DC) pension pots not yet in payment plan to do with their savings under the new Pension Freedom reforms.

According to Pensions World, the research found that 70% were attracted to the idea of drawdown. This implies a potential market of 1.5m investors and between £50bn and £100bn in assets. An interesting figure was that even among those with smaller pots (less than £25,000) the majority (54%) were attracted to the idea of drawdown.

Joanne Segars, chief executive, NAPF, commented: “While all savers can still transfer their pot from a scheme or buy an annuity, many are understandably frustrated at what they perceive as a lack of the promised flexible options, such as drawdown. It’s easy to see the appeal to savers of drawdown − it offers flexibility, control and investment growth. But what’s concerning are the assumptions that many people have about drawdown: just over half (53%) of the people we asked believe drawdown will offer a guaranteed income and one quarter (25%) thought that drawdown carried no risks at all.

“The NAPF and our members want to see all pension savers, including those with smaller pots, offered the full freedom and choice promised to them by the Chancellor in his 2014 Budget. For this to happen we have to see a market develop that works for all savers, with products that are transparently

priced and offer value for money, designed to help savers navigate the twenty or thirty years during which they will rely on their pension savings. These products will need to be well run and clearly communicated to customers.

“The plain truth is these products aren’t yet freely and readily available for savers with small pension pots. Government must act now to encourage a pensions market that works in the interest of all savers including those with smaller pension savings.”

To help achieve this they are recommending the Government take three steps: 1. Government must ensure there are no barriers to a market where good value products are available to savers with pots of all sizes, large and small.

2. Support the development of standards by which trustees can evaluate whether products offer quality and value for money to their members.

3. Company pension schemes and Pension Wise must be enabled to clearly signpost savers to the products that meet these standards.”

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IT’S YOUR PAGE...

FOND MEMORIES OF THE LIMON EXPRESS

By Robert W. Barnes

I

'm sure that within the readership of THE VIEW, there are many that remember fondly, the colourful aircraft that were Courtline Aviation, along with Freddie Laker's Skytrain. Both companies opened the way to many of us living in the United Kingdom at the time, to spend a couple of weeks or so on the Spanish Costa Blanca. Did

we really, after a few lemon sherbets, stand on the dance floor, acting out all the movements to "The Birdie Song"?

Yes! To many of us at the time, a trip to the Costa Blanca would not have been complete without a trip on The Limon Express.

This diesel hauled train took holiday makers through the lemon and orange plantations via the narrow gauge line between Benidorm and Gata de Gorgos.

Not quite as well known as Benidorm, Gata is a pleasant

little town, famous for its many wicker workshops and a notable guitar manufacturing company. During the return trip, copious bottles of Cava were passed along the carriages and it was always a jovial band of travellers that eventually disembarked at Benidorm.

It could never be said to be the most reliable mode of transport, with the locomotive failing a couple of times and jumping the line on at least five occasions, but this was part of the excitement of travelling the Limon Express. There were originally 12 coaches, built from rescued railway carriages and flat bed trucks from the 1920's and 30's era.

It was railway enthusiast David Simpson, who first conceived the idea to run a "tourist" train along the tracks, within the existing timetable of the Alicante to Denia Railway.

The goods yard at Gata De Gorgos, provided turning facilities for the locomotive, so was an ideal northern terminal for the Limon Express. David's dream was to have run a steam locomotive through the orange and lemon plantations, but with the ever present risk of hot coals dropping onto a tinder dry track bed, it was diesel locomotives from Bilbao that eventually became the motive power of choice.

Looking for retirement, David sold the business to one Rudi Meyer, who continued for some 18 years, to market and run the little yellow tourist train, along the rickety track bed, between Benidorm and Gata. With ever increasing running costs, it soon became evident, that profits would be impossible, so locomotives and open­ended carriages, were shunted into a back siding, soon becoming target to the spray paint vandals.

In 2005, the Valencian Government along with the Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat Valenciana, agreed they would look to invest some money into the Limon Express. That was 10 years ago and we are still waiting!

Owner Rudi, at this time, said he would love to see the "special" running again, but without funds, it's not going to happen. Due to new track diagrams and building modernization at Benidorm Station, Altea would have to be the departure point for a new Limon Express service, but with the good folk of Benidorm being the main source of passengers, this would not be practicable.

The graffiti covered carriages, until recently, could be noticed from the N332 / AP 7 ­ E15 road, looking forlorn, in a siding at the Alicante Tram Terminal.

ordered to attempt to halt and arrest the guerrillas but only to fire in self defence. This was the first time in my life that I could expect to see real action and I was quite apprehensive – so were all the 35 Nigerian soldiers who made up our patrol.

But we had trained hard for this mission; everyone was alert and ready to respond. By mid­morning, we had climbed up from the jungle canopy and were making our way through a mix of bamboo and high deciduous trees in the foothills of a mountain range.

Suddenly Corporal Aika Riba, our lead scout, signalled for us to halt. We went to ground. Aika Riba whispered his report ­ “You see them there, there must be at least 20 in the group.

Look, there's one up in the tree, he seems to be an alert sentry and I think he's seen us.”

The other guerrillas seemed to be holding some sort of meeting. We had to act quickly. We immediately despatched a machine gun support group up to our left to an enfilade position to provide covering fire. It was then my job to take a fire group forward. I hoped we could get them to surrender.

But due to the high enemy numbers, it would be likely they would engage us in a shoot­out. I wondered how I would react

to a live firing situation. Everything had gone fine in training but this was the real thing. The adrenaline started to flow. I hoped I would be able to cope OK but who knows?

Whatever ­ I was determined to give a good example to my all black soldiers.

We prepared our assault group and I signalled the advance. We moved in, weapons cocked and ready to return fire. We were within 20 metres of the group when Aiki Riba shouted “hold your fire!” It was then that we realised that our “dangerous enemy” was in fact a family of gorillas.

We had disturbed their slumbers. When they saw us, they got up as a group and ambled away into the bush. Of course no shots were fired. We were overwhelmed by the anti­climax.

We had been all set if needed, to fight our way through this seemingly threatening situation, then suddenly there was no threat at all, quite the reverse. It was our group who had threatened this beautiful family of gorillas, whose natural habitat we had disturbed.

All we could do was to fall about laughing. But the joke was on us. These were gorillas not guerrillas!!

Later that day, we did indeed meet a group of genuine human guerrillas. This time it was no joke and we needed all our training to see us through. But that's another story!

Sadly, for reasons covered here, I don't think there is very much hope of hearing a "new" Limon Express, making its way through the lemon and orange groves, along with the sound of corks, popping from bottles of Cava, but I would love to be proved wrong!

GUERRILLAS OR GORILLAS?

O

By Mark Durman

riginally from Bath, Somerset, MARK DURMAN was called up for UK National Service in 1959. After officer training, he was seconded to Nigeria with the Nigerian army, later based in the Cameroons and the Congo, the latter as part of the UN peace keeping force.

He got hooked on army life and joined as a regular, with assignments around the world and working with NATO. He left after 32 years service and joined a US global commercial company. He retired first to France and then to Spain. He now lives in Rojales.

Background: Cameroons 1960 in an emerging independent Africa. Communist led fighters were attempting to infiltrate the country aiming to carry out a coup. I was seconded to the Nigerian army. Our mission: to block and resist communist infiltration.

Starting out on this mission, we were briefed to expect to meet small groups of guerrilla forces, infiltrating through our area of responsibility. They were smuggling weapons (Russian/Czech) to groups further to our south. We were

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THE BIG CROSS WORD

singer who dresses up as a nun to avoid the mob? (6,3) 23 Elland Road and Headingley Stadium are both located in which city in West Yorkshire? (5) 24 See 1

SPORTS QUIZ 1. The Ski Resort Of Zermatt Stands At The Foot Of Which Swiss Mountain?

2. What Was Won In June 2002 By High Chaparral?

3. The G.R.A. governs which sport?

4. 74 year old Margaret Weldon got 2 holes in one, in 2 days. What was so unusual about this?

5. What was the first US team to win the Stanley Cup? 6. Who Was The First Formula One Driver To Register 50 Grand Prix Wins?

Down 1 Phoebe who starred as Kate Beringer in the films Gremlins 1 and Gremlins 2: The New Batch?

(5)

2 Österreich is the German name for which country? (7) 3 Pb is the chemical symbol for which heavy, bluish­grey, soft, ductile metal? (4) 4 In Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night,

7. Who Did John McEnroe Play 3 Times In The Wimbledon Mens Final?

8. Who said "This game is about beating the crap out of everyone"?

9. In 1996 Who Lit The Olympic Flame In Atlanta Georgia?

10. How Many Events Are There In A Heptathlon?

11. What Was Alex Ferguson's Team Before He Left To Manage Manchester United?

12. Which nation won the cricket World Cup in 1983?

13. What Is The Nickname Of Bradford City Football Club?

14. In A Judo contest What Is Known As The Tatami?

Answers:

1/24 Which League One team are nicknamed the Addicks? (8,8) 7/10 Which British tea clipper built in 1869 is preserved as a museum ship at Greenwich, London? (5,4) 8 Which arm of the South Pacific lies between Australia and New Zealand? (6,3) 9 In Coronation Street, what was the first name of the character played by actor Peter Adamson from 1961 to 1983? (3) 10 See 7 11 Which financial services organisation currently sponsors rugby league’s Super League? (6) 13 What was the surname of the 40th president of the USA? (6) 14 What name is given to a dealer in textile fabrics, especially silks, velvets, and other fine materials?

(6) 17 What was the title of country singer C W McCall’s only British hit single? (6) 18 What name is usually given to a long accompanied song for a solo voice, typically one in an opera or oratorio? (4) 20 What was the nickname of the former American general and Republican president, Dwight D Eisenhower? (3) 22 Which 1992 film starred Whoopi Goldberg as a nightclub

which character speaks the opening line, ‘If music be the food of love, play on’? (6) 5 What name is given to a priest’s silk vestment worn over the shoulders and hanging down to the knee or below? (5) 6 To what did Burma change its name in 1989? (7) 7 Which 1966 film musical, with music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb, was based on a book written by Christopher Isherwood?

(7) 12 House of Fun in 1982, was which group’s first British number one hit single? (7) 13 Which Italian dish consists of small pasta envelopes containing minced meat, cheese, or vegetables? (7) 15 Which small dried fruit, made from a small seedless variety of grape originally grown in the eastern Mediterranean region, is much used in cookery? (7) 16 Dorchester is the county town of which county? (6) 17 In Roman mythology, what was the name of the corn goddess? (5) 19 What name was given to a member of the American Indian people dominant in Mexico before the Spanish conquest of the 16th century? (5) 21 Which singer married top fashion model Heidi Klum in May 2005? (4)

1. The Matterhorn 2. The Epsom Derby 3. Greyhound Racing Association 4. She was totally blind aided hubby 5.

Seattle Metropolitans 6. Alain Prost 7. Bjorn Borg 8. Bears Quarterback, Jim McMahon 9.

Muhammad Ali 10. Seven 11.

Aberdeen 12. India 13. The Bantams 14. The Mat

Across

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Edition 10 - July 17th 2015

SUDOKU

FILL-IT-IN

Complete the crossword grid by using the given words:

Cryptic

Across 1 Sound on a trail perhaps (8) 7 Quiet street to fleece (5) 8 Coral bean cooked in Spain (9) 9 Low order of animal but very wise (3) 10 Pass over little captain (4) 11 Hide seal in salty water (6) 13 Never­ending week’s shift makes one spit (6) 14 Acquires cue ball in delivery (6) 17 Apportions company stock (6) 18 Thing found in ammunition (4) 20 Stop filming a share of the profits (3) 22 Underlying principle, to do it wouldn’t please beer drinkers (9) 23 Calls of nature devastated ringleader Rosa (5) 24 Carte blanche for an unpaid employee (8)

Down 1 End of December decorations for dressing gowns (5) 2 White ant is a form of emitter (7) 3 Finished on top (4) 4 It’s unprincipled to let little Albert roam around inside (6) 5 Ocean going craft?

Hardly (5) 6 Understand how to convert into cash (7) 7 Send­ups are strange, I assert (7) 12 Fixes rapiers (7) 13 Respect drunken spirit (7) 15 May say goodbye to this choral composition (7) 16 The odd poem with Euro metal (6) 17 Let off when mates go out together? (5) 19 Scottish flower used to make rough material (5) 21 The poet’s said to be finished (4)

7 Trim (5) 8 Spanish city (9) 9 Night bird (3) 10 Hop (4) 11 Containing salt (6) 13 Metal pin (6) 14 Save (6) 17 Divides (6) 18 Item (4) 20 Dissect (3) 22 Reasoning (9) 23 Bellows (5) 24 Carte blanche (8) Down 1 Garments (5)

2 White ant (7) 3 Finished (4) 4 Shameless (6) 5 Small boat (5) 6 Comprehend (7) 7 Uses witty language to insult (7) 12 Mends (7) 13 Phantom (7) 15 Choral work (7) 16 Alloy of tin and lead (6) 17 Vapour (5) 19 Thick woollen fabric (5) 21 Finished (4)

Last weeks Crossword Solution

Standard

Across 1 Logical (8) 2 letter words Is No 3 letter words Ago Ale Are Ban Bog Dab Dye Elm End Ewe Flu Lea Lei Oak Oar

Pal Rot Rye Sin Sow Ted Tie Ton Uke Via 4 letter words Abed Acme Ages Bean Boer Bore Cony Cuss

Data Dole Dolt Doss Dust Ease Elan Else Fees Halo Lava Lean Made Ogee Ogle Ones Only Oval Roue

Sane Sent Slat 5 letter words Bosun Stage Valet 6 letter words Bathos Senate 7 letter words Castled Portals Tetanus Trefoil 8 letter words Boastful Semester

The Big Crossword Answers

Sudoku Solution

40

Edition 10 - July 17th 2015

The View

CAPTION COMPETITION THE VIEW has reproduced an image taken from recent news archives. We’re challenging you to come up with a caption to fit. We’ll publish our favourite suggestion next week.

E­mail your wit to editor@theview.es or send them to Apartado de Correos 255, 03193 San Miguel de Salinas. Alicante.

Last week’s image was of a young Prince Charles on the set of Carry On Cabby with Sid James. The entry that made us laugh the most came in from Paul Cogin.

“Oh! It's you Charlie. From the back I thought it was another taxi with the doors open.”

The View

Edition 10 - July 17th 2015

41

Renault cashes in on Qashqai

I

n the “old days” there was little a mobile phone could do other than make and receive calls.

By contrast, today’s multi­talented smartphone can do almost anything. And it is the same with cars.

In the past few years, the crossover – a car that combines a family hatchback and an off­roader – has become the hottest thing on the highway, constituting more than a quarter of all cars sold across the world.

The most popular crossover in the UK is the Nissan Qashqai (nearly 50,000 were sold last year, making it the sixth best­ selling car in Britain).

Now Renault has decided it wants a piece of the action with the new Kadjar.

The French firm should be on to a winner here, if only because the Kadjar is a Qashqai with a different body and interior.

That is because Renault and Nissan now share platforms and components to save on development costs.

The French manufacturer’s design department is on a bit of a roll at the moment, so it is no surprise that this sleek and curvy machine is so eye­catching.

From the slim grille that flows into the headlights to the upright, unfussy rear hatch, the Kadjar will impress those buyers for whom style is among their important considerations.

In the same way that the design isn’t too over­elaborate, the engine range isn’t dizzyingly extensive with just one petrol and two diesels, all of which are turbocharged.

The 1.2­litre turbo petrol produces 128bhp while boasting 50.4mpg and 126g/km emissions. Both numbers are very respectable for a car of this size.

Performance isn’t quite as impressive though. Many buyers will find it perfectly acceptable for low­speed urban use and at motorway cruising speeds but it lacks any real power low down and acceleration is on the tardy side.

As is often the case, most buyers will opt for one of the diesels.

The entry­level 1.5­litre produces 108bhp while returning a pretty impressive 74.3mpg.

Emissions are also low at a road tax­exempt 99g/km (or a still­low 103g/km on upper trim levels).

With such low running costs, this is likely to be the most popular engine in the range.

The 1.6­litre diesel produces 128bhp, taking the car from 0 to 60mph in 9.6 seconds before going on to a top speed of 118mph.

It provides plenty of usable power for most situations and boasts a smooth and refi ned feel, even when pushed.

The optional four­wheel drive system on the 1.6 takes its toll on fuel economy (57.6mpg) and emissions (130g/km) so the reality is that it is worth going for only if you really need it.

Otherwise the extra £1,500 on the purchase price and the additional running costs just don’t make economic sense.

Unsurprisingly, on the road, the Kadjar feels a lot like the

7 reasons to buy a Jaguar F-Type Coupé

J

AGUAR'S successor to the E­Type took its time in arriving, but now it's here, it's living up to expectations.

1. That roar. A Jaguar sports car is meant to have the kind of feline roar from under the bonnet that makes you, frankly, proud to be British.

The 3.0­litre V6­powered machines are pretty special, but the 545bhp supercharged 5.0­litre V8 is something else ­ a snarling beast of a machine that sounds sublime when given its head.

2. That pace. The V6 cars are no slouches, with their 5.3­ second 0­62mph time, but the variants fitted with the V8 are seriously rapid ­ 4.2 seconds for the same sprint, or 4.1 with all­wheel­drive.

3. All­wheel drive? On a sports car?

Yep, the traditional rear­wheel­drive set­up for out­and­out sports cars has now been augmented with all­wheel drive.

However, purists shouldn't be too concerned: in normal conditions, the system still sends 100% of the engine's power to the rear wheels, only transferring some to the front wheels when it senses that the limit of available grip has been reached.

Which should help keep over­enthusiastic drivers out of too much trouble.

4.

Cool gearshift.

Jaguar's shifter for the Quickshift automatic

Qashqai, which is no bad thing.

Renault has wisely resisted the temptation to make any palpable changes to the dynamic set­up of the Nissan, so the Kadjar steers neatly and accurately, handles with plenty of grip and stability and rides well, with plenty of compliancy and control.

One area where the French car does divert ever so slightly from the tried­and­tested Qashqai formula is the interior.

The Nissan is fine but Renault has made a number of improvements, especially in the quality of the materials.

There are lots of soft­touch plastics and even the harder ones feel durable.

Renault has also rearranged the layout of the Kadjar to create more boot space (472 litres, up from the 430 litres in the Qashqai).

This is largely not to the detriment of space in the cabin, which has plenty of room for a family of four (or even five).

However, headroom in the rear means that anyone taller than six foot will have to hunker down slightly.

The Kadjar is offered in four trim levels (Expression+, Dynamique Nav, Dynamique S Nav and Signature Nav) with lots of safety equipment fitted as standard.

Renault’s R­Link infotainment system (which is pretty good, but not the best system of its kind on the market) is found on all but the base spec.

The Kadjar enters a market that already has some strong candidates for the crossover buyer’s pound.

There’s the Qashqai (obviously) and the likes of the Skoda Yeti and Volkswagen Tiguan.

But it has a lot to commend it, not least of which is its attractive design.

It is also a very capable car, able to carry a family and their luggage in comfort – even off­road – while also looking cool.

So perhaps we can have it all. gearbox is still the coolest you'll find in any car (apart from other Jags and Land Rivers, which also use it).

A rotary knob that rises from the centre console when the engine is switched on, you never fail to be wowed by it, however many times you fire the car up.

5. Superb handling. It's a Jaguar, so you'd expect the company's engineers to have worked hard to make it as sporty a drive as possible ­ and it doesn't disappoint.

Taut and fantastically focused ­ with direct, feelsome steering and a brilliantly balanced, agile character ­ the F­Type Coupé grips the road better than a One Direction fan to a lock of Harry Styles' hair.

6. It's even tech­filled. The F­Type isn't just a superb driver's car, it also contains the latest connectivity technology, in the form of Jaguar's InControl Touch system.

Included are an eight­inch touchscreen, a text­voice function that reads out incoming messages from your phone, plus apps for your smartphone and remote technology.

7. Cor, what a stunner! We've kept the most obvious thing to last ­ the stunning looks of the F­Type Coupé.

This is truly a worthy modern successor to the E­Type, its muscular curves catching the eye immediately.

Own one of these and you'll be black and blue ­ from constantly pinching yourself.

42 W

Edition 10 - July 17th 2015

The View

GUARDAMAR DEL SEGURA

e’re well over half way on our coastal bus journey between Cartagena and Alicante. Our next stop is GUARDAMAR DEL SEGURA or simply Guardamar, located at the mouth of the River Segura.

Historically an area of fishermen and farmers, Guardamar del Segura is the southernmost point where the Valenciano language is spoken. A Phoenician colony called Herna, by Roman geographer Avienus in his book, Ora Maritima, was the first settlement near the mouth of the Segura. In Spanish, "guardar" means "safekeeping" and "mar" means "sea" and this is another possible basis for its current name.

Around 1277, Alfonso X founded the Christian town of Guardamar up to the actual castle and it formed part of the Government of Orihuela.

The people of medieval Guardamar were mainly engaged in fishing, salt mining and to a lesser extent agriculture. There was also a floating population of smugglers, bandits and pirates, who preyed on the locals.

In 1829 one major earthquake caused numerous deaths, left homeless more than three thousand people in the whole region and destroyed the medieval village, forcing the planning of a new town. The new Guardamar was planned with a criterion of urbanism neoclassical (straight and perpendicular streets running north to south and three plazas

symmetrically) and a housing design with a purpose of prevention against earthquakes (low houses with large yards). The ancient site was used as a quarry for the construction of new housing.

Guardamar is famous for its forests, some 800 hectares, the sand dunes and its beaches such as Los Tusales and Playa del Rebollo (the nudist beach), Los Viveros, Babylon Beach, Moncayo Beach, Golf Beach and Las Ortigas. The deliberate policy of planting the forests in an attempt to prevent the windblown dunes from invading the northern part of the town and threatening several homes. From 1896, they began the planting of 600,000 pines, 40,000 palm trees and 5,000 eucalyptus.

For miles around you can see the Torreta de Guardamar, a 370 metre tall guyed radio mast erected by the US Navy, which is the tallest structure not only in Spain and the Iberian Peninsula, but also in the European Union since the

reduction of the Belmont TV mast in Lincolnshire.

Guardamar del Segura is also home to the Reina Sofia and Alfonso XIII parks, ideal for a leisurely stroll or for cycling.

Here you will find lots of wildlife – squirrels, swans, birds and fish, which all make the local park environment a place for nature lovers.

The municipal Marina de las Dunas is a splendid addition for tourism and is found at the mouth of the river Segura in its unique natural environment. It has 494 moorings and has all the services and facilities of a top­ranking marina. It also provides two kilometres of the new navigable river course for small boats and a risk­free place for sea sports.

In 1986 the World Health Organisation recommended the climate of the area as one of the most equitable in the world ­ neither too hot in the summer, nor too cold in the winter. On average it can boast 325 sunny days each year, making it an ideal all year round destination.

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43

TRAVEL AROUND SPAIN

W

e’ve visited much of the mainland in Spain and we will return in due course. We’ve toured the Balearic Islands and we’re now almost at the end of our trip to the Spanish Canary Islands.

FUERTEVENTURA, loosely translated as "strong winds", is the second largest of the Canary Islands, after Tenerife. It was declared a biosphere reserve by UNESCO in May 2009.

GEOGRAPHY

The elongated island has an area of 1,660 km2 (641 sq mi) and is 100 kilometres long and 31 kilometres wide. It is part of the province of Las Palmas and divided into six municipalities. It lies on the same latitude as Florida and Mexico and temperatures here rarely fall below 18 °C (64 °F), or rise above 32 °C (90 °F). There are no fewer than 152 beaches along its coastline — 50 km (31 mi) of fine, white sand and 25 km (16 mi) of black volcanic shingle.

Fuerteventura is the oldest island in the Canary Islands, dating back 20 million years to a volcanic eruption from the Canary hotspot. The majority of the island was created about 5 million years ago and since then has been eroded by wind and other weather. The last volcanic activity in Fuerteventura was between 4,000 and 5,000 years ago.

The highest point in Fuerteventura is Mount Jandía (807 m), in the south­western part of the island. Geographical features include Istmo de la Pared which is 5 km wide and is the narrowest part of Fuerteventura. The island is divided into two parts, the northern portion which is Maxorata and the south­western part called the Jandía peninsula.

HISTORY

The first settlers are believed to have arrived there from North Africa ­ the word Mahorero or Maho, is still used today to describe the people of Fuerteventura and comes from the ancient word 'mahos', meaning a type of goatskin shoe worn by the original inhabitants. They lived in caves and semi­ subterranean dwellings, a few of which have been discovered and excavated revealing relics of early tools and pottery.

In the 11th century BC, the Phoenician settlers arrived in Fuerteventura and Lanzarote. Several Spanish and Portuguese expeditions occurred in about 1340 around the island and were inhabited by Maurs and were afflicted with European slave holders. By the time of the conquest, the island was

divided into two Guanches kingdoms, one following the king Guize and the other Ayoze. The territories of these tribes were called Maxorata (in the north) and Jandía (in the south). The kingdoms were separated by a wall whose remains are still preserved today. The wall crossed the La Pared isthmus. The ancient name for the island, Erbania, refers to that wall.

The conquest began in 1402, commanded by Jean de Béthencourt and Gadifer de la Salle. They arrived with only 63 sailors out of the original 283 as so many had deserted. After arriving and settling in Lanzarote, the invaders made their first excursions to the neighbouring islands. In 1404, Bethencourt and Gadifer founded Betancuria, the first settlement on the island. After numerous difficulties, Gadifer took charge of the invasion, while Bethencourt went to the Spanish peninsula to seek the recognition and support of the Castilian king.

The first census showed a population of 1,200 inhabitants.

Following that, the population increased gradually. In 1476 the territory became the Señorío Territorial de Fuerteventura, a subject of the Catholic Monarchs. Over the years, the island has been invaded by the Spanish, French and the English.

The island suffered from various pirate incursions. A Berber expedition invaded in 1593, sweeping as far as the capital. Various castles were built to protect against this type of attack. The castles were built all along the coast.

The military regiment was created in 1708. Its colonel assumed the title of Governor at Arms, a hereditary lifetime appointment which stayed in the hands of the Sánchez­ Dumpiérrez family. Over time they acquired more power in the other islands through the family of Arias de Saavedra, the Lady of Fuerteventura.

In 1852, the free trade zone was extended by Isabella II to the Canary Islands. The military rule over the island which began from 1708, dissolved in 1859 and Puerto de Cabras (now Puerto del Rosario) became entirely the new capital.

The Canary Islands obtained the right to self­govern in 1912.

By the 1940s the island had an airport (just west of Puerto del Rosario on the road to Tindaya, still visible today).

Tourism arrived in the mid­1960s with the building of the present airport at El Mattoral and the first tourist hotels.

TOURISM & CULTURE

The economy of Fuerteventura is mainly based on tourism.

Primary tourist areas are located around the existing towns of Corralejo in the north and Morro Jable in Jandia, plus the purely tourist development of Caleta de Fuste, south of Puerto del Rosario. Other main industries are fishing and agriculture (cereals and vegetables). The famous Majorero cheese is locally made from the milk of the indigenous majorera goat.

The first tourist hotel was built in 1965, followed by the construction of Fuerteventura Airport at El Matorral, heralding the dawn of a new era for the island and placed firmly on the world stage as a major European holiday destination. While having fully developed tourist facilities, the island has not experienced the overdevelopment found on some other islands and consequently caters for visitors attracted by its rugged natural beauty.

Excellent sandy beaches are found in many locations. Western beaches, such as those around El Cotillo, can experience strong surf. The beaches adjoining the extensive sand dunes east of Corralejo are popular, as are the more protected extensive sandy shores of the Playa de Sotavento de Jandia on

the south­eastern coast between Costa Calmaand the Morro Jable. Naked sun bathing and swimming are the norm on beaches away from inhabited areas.

Much of the interior, with its large plains, lavascapes and volcanic mountains, consists of protected areas, although there are organised tours and vehicular access across them.

Like the rest of the Canaries, Carnival is traditionally one of the biggest festivals celebrated on the island. It is celebrated in different ways in all the towns during February and March. These festivities have a different theme each year. They include activities such as parades and galas to choose the Carnival King.

Festival Internacional de Cometas / The International Kite Festival, is held on the second week of November each year centred on the Corralejo Beaches. It attracts kite fliers and kite surfers from all over Europe and is popular because the winds are warm and constant and the beaches become filled with hundreds of colourful kites of all shapes and sizes.

Sites of interest of Fuerteventura include El Cotillo, a small fishing village in the north­west of the Island, famous for a very long beach to the south of the village and few very calm beaches to the north. The northern beaches frequented by snorkelling enthusiasts and sun worshipers alike, are referred to as lakes by the locals.

At Cofete on the western side of Jandía, a remote and imposing house ­ Villa Winter ­ looks out to sea across wide and generally empty beaches. It was reputedly built by a Mr Winter on land given by Generalisimo Franco. Despite being one of the most beautiful parts of Fuerteventura, Cofete has very little touristic facilities.

For a time, the beaches were home to a popular accidental attraction. On 18 January 1994, the once­beautiful and proud United States Lines ocean liner, SS American Star (former America, USS West Point, Australis) was beached in Playa de Garcey during a severe storm. Within a year, it broke in two and later lost its back half. By 2007 the rest of the severely deteriorated ship had collapsed onto its port side, gradually keeling over further and almost completely submerged. By 2008­2012, most of the remains finally slipped below the surface.

Next week, we visit the remaining Canary Islands before returning to the mainland, to discover some of the lesser known cities and towns.

44

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The View

BRITISH SPORTING LEGENDS T

No1 – SIR NICK FALDO

o give him his full name, Sir Nicholas Alexander Faldo MBE, who celebrates his 58th birthday on July 18th, was an English professional golfer on the European Tour.

Regarded as one of the top players of his era and renowned for his single­minded dedication to the game, Sir Nick was ranked No. 1 on the Official World Golf Ranking for a total of 97 weeks. His 40 professional wins include, 30 victories on the European Tour and six major championships: three Open Championships (1987, 1990, 1992) and three Masters (1989, 1990, 1996).

Faldo was born in Welwyn Garden City, England, and after watching Jack Nicklaus play the 1971 Masters on television, he was inspired to take up the game of golf at the age of 13.

Four years later, in 1975, while working as a carpet fitter, Faldo won the English Amateur and the British Youths Championship.

Faldo turned professional in late 1976.

Faldo achieved instant success on the European Tour, finishing 8th on the Order of Merit in 1977 and 3rd in 1978, winning a European Tour event in each of those seasons. In the former year, he became the youngest player to appear in the Ryder Cup at the age of 20. (The record was later broken by Sergio García at the age of 19.)

It took him 10 years on the circuit, in July 1987, when Faldo claimed his first major title at The Open Championship at Muirfield. Rounds of 68, 69 and 71 meant that Faldo went into the final round one stroke behind American Paul Azinger. Faldo parred every hole in his final round for a one shot victory, a day after his 30th birthday.

Faldo won his second major championship at the 1989 US Masters. Starting his fourth round five shots off the lead, held by Ben Crenshaw, Faldo's final round of 65

(consisting of eight birdies, nine pars and one bogey) was the lowest round of the tournament and enabled him to get into a playoff with Scott Hoch, which he won on the second extra hole following a 25­foot birdie putt.

At the 1990 Masters, Faldo successfully defended his title coming from behind to get into a playoff with Raymond Floyd, once again winning on the second playoff hole. In doing so, Faldo became the first player to win back­to­back Masters titles since Jack Nicklaus in 1965­66.

Faldo won his second Open Championship in 1990 at St Andrews, Scotland, by five shots, becoming the first golfer since Tom Watson in 1982 to win two majors in the same year. He then won the famous Claret Jug trophy for a third time in the 1992 Open Championship at Muirfield and also claimed the European Tour Order of Merit in that year too.

Throughout the early 1990s Faldo remained a European Tour player, while also visiting America regularly and playing events around the world. But in 1995 he decided to concentrate on playing on the U.S. PGA Tour, as his priority was to win further major championships (and three out of the four majors are played in the United States). At first this strategy didn't seem to work, as he had a moderate 1995 season, but in April 1996, he won a famous victory at Augusta to collect his sixth and final major championship.

After Faldo's victory at the 1996 Masters, he had just one further tournament win in his career at the 1997 Nissan Open in Los Angeles, at the age of 39. As Faldo entered his

forties, his form gradually declined and he devoted more time to off­ course activities. The last season that he played regularly on the PGA Tour was 2001. Afterwards, he refocused on the European Tour, but has consistently played less than a full schedule.

At the 2002 U.S. Open, a month before his 45th birthday, Faldo finished in a very creditable position of tied for 5th place. At the 2003 Open Championship at Royal St George's, Faldo shot a fine third round of 67 and was briefly in contention for the tournament during the final round.

Faldo did not take part in the 2008 Open at Royal Birkdale, which was the first time he had not taken part in the competition since failing to qualify as an amateur in 1975. He entered in 2009 at Turnberry and 2010 at St Andrews, but missed the 36­hole cut at both. Faldo opted not to take part in the 2011 Open at Royal St George's. He also decided not to compete in the 2012 Open, instead joining the BBC Sport commentary team for the event.

Faldo competed at the 2013 Open at Muirfield and missed the cut. Faldo decided to make the 2015 Open Championship at St. Andrews (currently taking place), his final Open Championship appearance, the same year that Tom Watson's eligibility to the event is coming to an end.

Sir Nick Faldo has won more major golf championships than any player from the continent of Europe since World War I. Only one European golfer, Harry Vardon, who won seven majors in a span between 1896–1914, has had more major victories than Faldo. Other than Vardon, only one golfer from outside the United States (Gary Player from South Africa) has won more majors than Faldo.

Faldo is the most successful Ryder Cup player ever, having won the most points of any player on either team (25) and having represented the European Team a record 11 times. He played a key role in making Europe competitive in the event.

Having won 23 of his matches, lost 19, and halved 4, he also holds the record for having played the most Ryder Cup matches.

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47

Edition 10 - July 17th 2015

DISMISSED – LACK OF INTEREST

T

he Champions League Twenty20 cricket tournament has been discontinued with immediate effect due to dwindling interest from fans.

The competition ­ which is jointly organised by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Cricket Australia (CA) and Cricket South Africa ­ was first held in 2009 with the best teams from each of those nations' domestic T20 leagues taking part.

All three boards made a unanimous decision to cancel the tournament, meaning that the 2015 Champions League T20 that was scheduled for September and October will not go ahead. Despite the ending of the format, CA's executive general manager operations, Mike McKenna, is hopeful of reviving a similar concept in the future.

"We still believe there is genuine value in this concept," McKenna said in a statement on CA's official website. "That may require different thinking and a fresh approach, but we are committed to exploring new opportunities to deliver on the original objective of the Champions League which was

to provide further context and meaning for domestic T20 competitions around the world and opportunities for players to experience high­level competition in a different environment.

"There is an established period of time to stage an event of this nature in September and October of each year, and it is about identifying a model that works for the long­ term."

BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur said the winding down of the joint venture between the three governing bodies would be completed soon.

"Unfortunately, off the field, Champions League T20 wasn't sustaining the interest of the fans as we had hoped. This decision was made after consultation with all our commercial partners and meeting the contractual obligations of all parties involved.

Further details associated with winding down the league including settling with the three nations that had invested time and effort in the competition, will be completed very soon."

MAC SAYS NO STOPPING NOVAK O ne of the tennis greats has joined a long list of pundits and supporters alike that believe the victor of last Sunday’s Men’s Singles Championship at Wimbledon won’t be his last for a very long time.

John McEnroe, a former champion and world number one himself, reckons Novak Djokovic will win at least four or five more Grand Slam titles. His victory in four sets against Roger Federer on Sunday to retain his title was his third at SW19 and his ninth Major in total.

"Novak is just coming into his prime and it is pretty hard not to think that he is getting stronger and stronger," said McEnroe in an interview with the BBC. "If he stays healthy, he is going to dominate the next couple of years."

Djokovic has been top of the world rankings for the last 53 weeks and has won

two out of the three Grand Slams this year, losing in the French Open final.

"He is definitely into my all­time top five," added McEnroe. "My top four are Rod Laver, Pete Sampras, Roger and Rafael Nadal but Novak is at number five and rising. Novak does not have as many Grand Slams as those guys but I am thinking his total is going to rise quickly. He could be moving up even further in my eyes, but he has already jumped some people by winning Wimbledon again."

Djokovic's best year since he turned professional in 2003 came eight years later in 2011 when he won the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open. He won only two more majors in the next two­and­a­half years but McEnroe, who won three Wimbledon titles, does not foresee any more slip­ups in form from Novak. His final ambition is to win the French Open on clay –

E d i to r ’ s Co m m e n t : T h e o f f i c i a l statement sites “dwindling interest from fans”. Could it simply be that this is the thin end of a long wedge

that will creep into football too, as t h e re i s j u s t to o m u c h o f i t b e i n g p l aye d a n d s h ow n ? M o re i s l e s s etc.

the only title missing from his tennis CV – to make up for the shock defeat to Stan Wawrinka in early June this year.

"He is a different player now," McEnroe explained. "Mentally he is tougher but he has also added more to his game. He is a better volleyer, he is more resilient defensively, and he is also a better returner. Now he is not just able to do that consistently, he also steps in

and just crushes the ball. I did not think that was possible, but he is more aggressive now when before there were times that he was content to just get it back."

Djokovic also seems much more settled off the court, celebrating his first wedding anniversary with Jelena during Wimbledon fortnight, and enjoying family life with son Stefan, who was born in October last year.

BRAVE BRIAN BACK ON COURSE

H

aving waited over two years to make his return to the saddle at Southwell last Sunday, Brian Toomey is hoping he only has to wait until this weekend for his second ride after a possible ride on Wednesday was not declared.

Toomey, the jockey whose heart stopped for six seconds after a fall from Solway Dandy at Perth in July 2013, and had hoped to ride at Uttoxeter, but his boss Philip Kirby had declared just the one runner. Kirby has four runners entered over this weekend and Toomey said: “I’m not too sure when my next ride will be; there’s plenty of racing at the weekend so that looks like my next chance.

I’m hoping to pick up something.

Reflecting on his return to the saddle last week, when he pulled up the 1/3 favourite Kings Grey, the 26 year­old added; “It felt great, it’s good to be back. On paper he looked to have a massive chance but it wasn’t

to be. I worked so hard to be there and couldn’t have done it without the support of some very special people.”

After spending just over five months in hospital and having been given just a three percent chance of surviving by paramedics after suffering serious head and brain injuries, Toomey’s fairytale return to the saddle attracted major media interest.

“It’s been crazy, it’s been such a big story,” he said of all the attention. “I just hope my story can inspire others, in and out of racing.

You can overcome these things.” It’s taken two years getting back to doing what he loves and the rider now has his sights set on a winner.

“Now I’m just looking forward to writing the next chapter and getting my career back on track,” he said. “I just want to get going again, get back in the winner’s enclosure. I want to be competitive.”

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Edition 10 - July 17th 2015

The View