Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

They are green , they are mean and they walk around in a half shell, they are the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! If you have not come across them yet, brace yourselves because they are back for the children’s summer holidays. After encountering a radioactive leakage, a group of crime fighters became half human, half turtle, although undisturbed by their accident they set about putting the world to rights in some great cartoon capers.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles The central characters are Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo who are the quartet of Ninja Turtles, fighting crime and fighting to save the world. They are assisted in their task by their adoptive father ”Splinter” who is a wise old man who guides and advises them. While all of the Turtles are experts in martial arts, they each have a special skill and power which they use throughout the series to assist in their tasks.

The cartoon (currently showing on the Fox channel) has spawned a massive market in merchandise, from toys to back packs to a full length feature film. The cartoon graphics are excellent and each Turtle has it own particular characteristics, something which many children can relate to. There adventures are also fast and exciting although as you might expect, good always wins over evil!

While it all may sound a little strange, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have become a massive hit around the world with children everywhere looking to grow up like their favourite. The beauty of such cartoons is the fact that they are used to get across positive messages to kids, in a manner in which they will understand.

If you don’t know your Leonardo from your Donatello or your Raphael from your Michelangelo, you had better get some practice, as you will be tested over the school holidays!

Cowell in smash hit

X Factor judge Simon Cowell must be used to turning heads…although I can’t for the life of me think why…but his latest neck twister could have ended up in a neck brace!

To clarify, Simon was in Cardiff yesterday to film the second round of auditions for the new X Factor series, which nearly caused a smash hit in itself.

As he stepped out of his Mercedes in the carpark of the Angel Hotel, a passing motorist spotted him and was so starstruck she forgot all about the road and rammed straight into the car ahead.

A hotel worker saw the incident: “It was hilarious - the woman was so distracted by Simon pulling up that she lost concentration as she approached traffic lights.

“She couldn’t take her eyes off him and ran into the back of the other car which had stopped on the red light.

“Simon saw it all and had one of his funny perplexed looks on his face.”

Hilarious indeed.

Thankfully nobody was hurt in the crash, and the woman even got to speak to the hero of the story as he came over to check the drivers were both uninjured, before swooping off to make yet another wannabe star’s dream come true.

The Barclays Scottish Open Golf Championship

As we get ready for the British Open golf championships in a couple of weeks time, many of the world’s best golfers have met in Scotland for a great warm up tournament. Set on the banks of beautiful Loch Lomond, there are few sporting events around the world which can compete with the scenery, the views and the passion of the Scottish people.

As you would expect, Scot’s favourites Colin Montgomerie makes the journey back to his homeland in pursuit of his 10th top 10 finish in an event which has proved very fruitful for him. While the tournament may be missing the likes of Tiger Woods, the likes of Ernie Els, Retief Goosen and Ian Woosnam are expected to take part, along with reigning champion Johan Edfors of Sweden.

While Montgomerie himself has enjoyed some great success in Scotland, he has still to win that elusive first “major” golf title. There are rumours that the crowd favourite is pumped up for this years event, with a real chance of bringing home that elusive title. Few golfers in the world have performed at the highest level for so long without “bagging” that first “major”, but there are real hopes that this could be his year.

However, “Monty” will need to overcome the world’s best golfers in the British Open, including the ever impressive Tiger Woods who seems to be able to turn on the style at will. On his day there are few in the world of golf who can even stay on his coat tails, although if a little pressure is exerted early on who knows what could happen?

Barclays are this year’s proud sponsor of the Scottish Open, an event which is growing in popularity on a yearly basis. They have taken advantage of a beautiful area of the Scottish countryside, to host what promises to be a useful warm up to the “big one”.

Close encounters of the Beale kind

Superbitch Cindy Beale is set to make a comeback to Albert Square from beyond the grave, it has been revealed.

East end chip shop magnate Ian Beale’s former wife, who died giving birth to a daughter in jail, is to begin sending ghostly text messages and emails to her husband.

As if this wasn’t enough to send Ian round the bend, the daughter who survived childbirth is also set to turn up, unannounced to confront Mr Beale.

Speaking on TV’s Loose Women, Michelle Collins - who played Eastenders’ most famous bitch - said: “What’s really strange is that one of the girls in my [real] daughter’s class was up for the part of my daughter in EastEnders - and I was like, ‘Well, I haven’t got a daughter.’

“Then I suddenly remembered that I died in childbirth and my daughter survived, so that obviously is the daughter!”

Michelle admitted that she has no plans to return to the soap, but added that she would “never say never”…watch this space!

Dallas : Do You Remember Who Shot JR Ewing?

In a blast from the past UK Gold have brought back that favourite of the 1980s, Dallas, with a whole new audience showing interest in the blockbuster. This show had the power to keep the whole UK audience in suspense and the current storyline - “Who shot JR?” - was one of their most successful.

Dallas Set in the murky world of the US oil industry where competitors routinely set about destroying there rivals, JR Ewing was up there with the most ruthless around. He had many run ins with his family and regularly tried to cheat them out of millions. The show had a number of different characters including JR Ewing, Bobby Ewing, Sue Ellen, to name but a few.

The Ewing family were multi millionaires from their oil exploits, much of which was based up on some really “dodgy” dealing in years gone by. Affairs, bribery, embezzlement and blackmail were just many of the every day events which were part of the Ewing clan. A step down those famous mansion stairs, a quiet breakfast together and then it was off to business, and whatever came along that day.

The show itself made stars out of Larry Hagman, Patrick Duffy, Victoria Principal, Linda Gray, Charlene Tilton and Jim Davis to name but a few, and enjoyed an extended run on both the UK and US television screens.

There was much anger and frustration when the show was axed, but many believed that it had run its course. Despite having been off screen for over a decade, the show is still instantly recognised by the UK public, many of whom grew up with the Ewing clan.

While there are few US shows today which would make such an impact upon the UK viewers, Dallas is still held in high esteem by many. Forums, websites and merchandise still help to keep the name and the show alive, and it looks as though UK Gold are on to a winner with these repeats.

Cape Wrath - not all that it seems

Cape Wrath (known as Meadowlands in the USA) is the name of a new 4-episode drama series on Channel 4, with a British cast including David Morrissey and Melanie Hill. It is also the name of an isolated Cape in Northern Scotland and is a term used to describe a remote and forbidding landscape.

The programme starts with Danny Brogan (David Morrissey) and his wife and two teenage children being taken blindfold to a picturesque housing estate to “make a fresh start”. They are instantly greeted by the neighbours and told that Meadowlands is a safe place, but in wanting a shopping trip to the next town, come across some strange happenings.

The Brogans meet Brenda (Melanie Hill), who constantly brags about the beauty of her daughter Jezebel, who is on a high impact detox regime. They also come across Jack Donnelly (a scary highly-sexed handyman) who has an unsavoury interest in teenage Zoe Brogan. The local policeman decides to enforce his own form of punishment by organising for Donnelly to be roughed up on the football pitch.

Danny Brogan and family are on a witness protection programme and find out that the all of the neighbours in Meadowlands are also under witness protection. The idyllic location is not all that it seems.

Whilst trying to escape his past, Danny is convinced that someone that he knows has found him and that person (Mr Ormond) turns up to live in the community.

Zoe and Jezebel become friends intent on finding out why Jack Donnelly is full of rage and what he has done to be in Meadowlands. He admits that he killed a woman when he was 14. Accompanying her mother to a dinner party hosted by the local doctor, Dr. York and his wife Abigail, she suspects that the hostess is rather close to Donnelly. Zoe is intent on saving Jack from himself, but her father has other ideas.

The first episode of the drama is promising, with various residents harbouring secrets.

Jade: Miscarriage ‘is God’s punishment’

Jade Goody has explained how she believes her miscarriage, which occurred last month after a 12-week pregnancy, was “God’s punishment” for her race row on Big Brother.

After only three months Jack Tweed and Jade Goody’s unborn baby miscarried, leaving Jade wondering why such a thing happened.

“After the miscarriage I did ask, ‘Why is all this happening?’,” Jade told Closer.

“I thought it was God’s punishment for something I’d done.”

Jade explained that she believed the miscarriage could have been a punishment for the race row which erupted after her falling out with Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty on this year’s Celebrity Big Brother.

“This year, it’s been one thing after another. But after losing the baby I felt I’d never recover,” she added.

The news broke just as Hertfordshire police announced its refusal to serve next year’s Big Brother due to a row over the cost of policing the event.

Deal Or No Deal?

In a surprise to many, Deal Or No Deal has taken the TV ratings by storm and given Channel 4 one of their best successes for some time. Hosted by the Noel Edmonds the show is one of the simplest ever shown on TV, no bells, no whistles, just straight forward game play, masses of audience participation and no idea what is going to happen next!

Deal or No Deal? The game itself is simple, 22 coloured boxes each containing an amount of money from 1p to £250,000. The contestant in the “crazy chair” is asked to pick box numbers at random, working down to only 2 boxes in the end. However, after each round the “Banker” will make an offer to buy the players box, depending upon how much money is left in the game. Sound too simple to be interesting - you will be surprised!

While the boxes and the money are the main part of the game, the show is played in a great fashion with costumes, crazy hats, chanting from the audience and much more. Every game is different as contestants aim to put their own individual slant on the show. So far the jackpot of £250,000 has only been brought to the “table” twice by the contestant of the day, with one person going all the way to bank a cool £250,000 and the other selling early, living to regret the day.

This game has spawned a mass of websites and similar games on the internet, and has assisted in relaunching the career of Noel Edmonds who was once one of the biggest stars on the BBC. He had actually offered Deal Or No Deal to the BBC, only to be rebuffed, before going on to Channel 4 - a move that the BBC will regret for years to come.

If you are looking for light hearted fun, with the opportunity to see contestants win up to £250,000 then check out the show (Sunday to Friday).

Boozy butcher faces the chop

Steven Arnold, who plays butcher Ashley Peacock in Coronation Street, is in the firing line today after failing to turn up on set following an alcohol-fuelled night out.

Steven neglected to turn up to work after a family party, ignoring attempts made by the show’s producers to contact him.

Corrie bosses were less than pleased when Steven missed work last month, after a going to a charity fundraiser where, somewhat the worse for wear, he climbed into a boxing ring at a gala dinner and challenged former boxing champs, Chris Eubank and Nigel Benn to a fight.

Corrie takes a firm stance on actors missing work because of hangovers, as Bruce Jones, who played Les Battersby in the soap until March when he was axed for his drinking and partying, can testify.

Steven faces suspension over this latest incident and had better put his wild ways behind him if he wants to stay in the soap.

Live Earth Concerts in 7 continents

We have certainly hit the Festival season with Radio One’s “One Big Weekend”, Glastonbury and A Concert for Diana in recent weeks. The Live Earth concerts are taking place on 7 July 2007, in 7 continents (8 locations) including Wembley Stadium in the UK.

The purpose of the concerts are to raise awareness of climatic changes and Live Earth is the beginning of a campaign to ensure that people and governments take action against global warming. Former Vice-President of USA, Al Gore is head of one of the groups - The Alliance for Climatic Protection .

The concerts will reach a world-wide audience by radio, television (including the BBC) and the internet. They are being staged at:

Giants Stadium in New York; Wembley Stadium in London; Aussie Stadium in Sydney; Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro; the Coca-Cola Dome in Johannesburg; Makuhari Messe in Tokyo; the Oriental Pearl Tower in Shanghai; and HSH Nordbank Arena in Hamburg.

More than 100 bands and artists will perform and the Wembley concert will include Madonna, Razorlight, Duran Duran, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Snow Patrol and Genesis. Hopefully the concerts will be as successful as Live 8 in “Making Poverty History”.

Music fans have a rare treat this weekend with another festival taking place in Perth and Kinross, Scotland - the annual “T in the Park” from Friday 6 July to Sunday 8 July. Fresh from Live Earth, Razorlight will also be performing on Sunday and will be joined by the likes of Arctic Monkeys, Amy Winehouse, The Killers, James Morrison, Mika and Snow Patrol. Festival-goers can camp on the site, but it would be wise to prepare for the rains or catch coverage on BBC3, BBC Scotland or Radio One.

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