Daily Post

The Essentials: 10 Questions ; Having Recently Left His Post As Head of Continuing Drama at the Bbc, Huyton Boy Mal Young This Month Starts Work with Music Svengali Simon Fuller As Director of Drama for Itv

Philosophy of life: Be passionate, aim high and enjoy it. Idea of happiness: Having a hit TV show and listening to my partner, Mari Wilson, sing. Most memorable moment: Being asked to join the BBC as their head of series. Biggest regret: That I only met my partner three years ago, rather than 20.

The Essentials: Leading Pin-Up

YOU might think of Beckham as being the calendar god or perhaps Lord of the Rings star the beautiful Orlando Bloom? But both of these hunks have been beaten in this year's pin-up stakes by chubby comedian Peter Kay, right.

The Essentials: If You Are Looking for Love

IF YOU are looking for love this year, be warned it could seriously damage your bank balance. Britons spent around pounds 2bn last year in the pursuit of a partner, made up of dates and romantic gifts.

The Essentials: Quote

The Essentials: Pepper Mill

NEXT time you go to put your hand over your plate when the waiter arrives with the pepper mill - think again. Research shows that peppercorns ground from the huge pepper mills favoured by Italian waiters can have untold health benefits. Long prized for its great flavour and aroma black pepper is known to spice up your libido as well as your food. But it doesn't end there - packed with iron, manganese, magnesium and fibre and bursting with antioxidant and antibacterial properties pepper is als...

The Essentials: Health Ambitions

p NO DOUBT you, like millions of Brits, will have made at least one resolution last night amid the haze of party poppers and Champagne. The most popular resolution made this year will be to lose weight, followed closely by quitting smoking, saving money, getting a better job, becoming more organised and promising to exercise more.

The Essentials: Spotted

The Essentials: Spotted

The Essentials: Spotted

The Essentials: There Are No Paparazzi Here

The Essentials: Hot Not

p THE start of a new year and a chance to put all last year's regrets behind you and start afresh and give up smoking, chocolate, go the gym more etc, etc. p CHRISTMAS sales. If you have got the spirit and the stamina there are real bargains to be had out there right now so get your skates on and go out and get them.

The Essentials: A Good Resolution

My Best Friend ; Debbie Swarbrick, 30, From Designated Associates Business Development Shop in Birkenhead and Husband Brendan, 28

BREN is far more than a best friend. He is my soul mate and the one person who knows me inside out. No matter how I feel he can make me laugh but more importantly, he is always there for me when I need a shoulder to cry on. We first met each other in a dodgy nightclub in Birkenhead about six years ago.

My Sons' Big Joy in Life Is to Jump On Me From a Great Height ; Wil Marlow Talks to Distant Shores Star Peter Davison

IT WAS a case of art imitating life during filming of Peter Davison's new comedy drama Distant Shores. In the show the actor plays successful plastic surgeon Bill Shore, a natural city-dweller who is forced to adapt to new surroundings when his family move to the remote (fictional) island of Hildasay.

Antiques: Searching for the Missing Treasures

JUDGING by the plaintive note of a recent e-mail, one reader's New Year celebrations seemed to be in jeopardy even before December was out. She wrote: "I wonder if you can help me. As long as I can remember, (50 years!) we have been using a blue and white dinner service, which is now missing many bits.

Antiques: What's It Worth?

I THINK that these are lovely prints showing 1800s hunting scenes. I have a total of eight in all and they measure 23 / 4 " width and 18 2 in depth. They have written on them in small print "Edward Orm, Printseller to the King, engraver and pubnlisher, Bold Street. I would appreciate if you could give me an idea of how much they may possibly be worth as I may be looking to sell them soon.

Travel: Deal of the Week

WHEN the storm buffeting the world's largest ocean liner reaches Force 10, the only place to head for is the ship's Golden Lion pub. Not to seek Dutch courage you understand, but because the bar offers the best vantage point on the Queen Mary 2 to confront the North Atlantic at its fiercest.

Travel: Late Breaks

UK/IRELAND MANCHESTER: Mid-Jan break at The Old Trafford Lodge costs pounds 12 per person B&B (four sharing), with optional upgrade to Golden Tulip (pounds 250 and Copthorne Hotel (pounds 35), to explore Salford Quays museums and shops. Reservations: 0870 420 4145. ISLE OF WIGHT: Wightlink(0870 982 0202) offers three nights' half board for price of two pounds 107 through Jan, incl return car ferry ex-Portsmouth/ Lymington.

Travel: Lap of Luxury in Paradise Isle ; Mike Chapple Explores Sun-Kissed Antigua

T MAY have been a Caribbean sun burning down tempered by a beautifully balmy breeze but for some reason Van Morrison's sublime Summertime in England was incongruously playing in the sound track of the mind. This was because it was the start of December in Antigua but sitting on a verdent cliff gazing out to sea it could have been blazing July or August in Cornwall with just the palm trees and the scampering mongooses as a giveaway.

Travel: The Lowdown . . . On Teesdale

THINK of a countryside break easily accessible from Merseyside or Cheshire, and you'll usually think of either the Lake District or North Wales. But just a little bit further afield is the lovely and relatively undiscovered area of Teesdale, which offers spectacular scenery, cosy country pubs and plenty of history (visit and you'll be following in the footsteps of everyone from Oliver Cromwell to Charles Dick-ens). It's a tranquil place which does not suffer from massive numbers of visitors -...