Daily Post

Flying Visit ; Gary Wilmot Is Set to Reprise His Role in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

ALWAYS smiling, always full of beans, Gary Wilmot is one of those performers who tends to brighten people's days. He certainly does when he hits the musical stage as anyone who saw him in Me and My Girl at the Liverpool Empire a little while back can attest. Now he is heading back to the same theatre for a reprise of his appearance in the musical Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Rising Star Brings Her Talents Home ; Philip Key Talks to Amy Smith About Her Growing International Career

FEMALE singers will be getting their own showcase at Liverpool's Philharmonic Hall on Sunday with the launch of the third WIMFEST event, this year bigger than ever. WIMFEST (it stand for Women in Music Festival) was created to celebrate women's music and eight different performers will be taking to the stage in two shows, one in the afternoon another at night.

Soon: Taking a Jazzy Approach to Singing ; Jazz

IT WAS ten in the morning and one of Britain's leading jazz singers, Clare Teal, was about to go into a recording studio. Was it really the best time of day to be singing sultry jazz songs? "Well, there are other things to do in a studio, I'm not singing all day," she explains. "And there are some low notes to be had."

Classical

THE cellist Stephen Isserlis admitted recently that he thinks music 24 hours a day. He plays and teaches and, inspired by his young son Gabriel (now 16), he wrote a book called Why Beethoven Threw the Stew.

Cd Review

Lost Prophets Liberation Transmission (Visible Noise)

Box Office: Also Showing ; Just My Luck (Pg) Rating **

WHY do film-makers choose titles that are ready-made for the critics? Just My Luck is a case in point and I won't resist the opportunity. It is the phrase most customers will be muttering after viewing this lame comedy.

Film: Animal Instinct ; the Big Picture Over the Hedge (Cert U) Starring the Voices Of: Bruce Willis, Gary Shandling, Steve Carell, Wanda Sykes and William Shatner' Directed by Tom Johnson and Karey Kirkpatrick.83 Mins. Rating: ***

EVER since film animators discovered the joys of computer animation, film-goers have been faced by a glut of cartoon movies. Personally, a little of this stuff goes a long way with me. Take this week's entry Over the Hedge.

Jools Holland Gets Summer Pops Off to a Swinging Start

Four Times Your Daily Salt Intake in One Dish ; City Launches Takeaway Warning System

LIVERPOOL'S takeaways were under fire last night after a survey revealed single meals with more than four times the recommended daily dose of salt. The city is now to become the first in the country to pilot traffic-light warning labels after testing found alarming levels of fat, salt and calories. Trading standards officers uncovered huge health risks when they analysed 300 meals from outlets across the city including pizza and kebab houses, burger bars, and fish and chip shops.

Obituary

HE HAD in his nature the confidence of a gambler on a roll, always willing to tumble the dice when a new idea danced into his thoughts. Some saw him as a chancer, but he was just as much a keen calculator, whose instincts were usually a whisker ahead of the next trend.

The Daily Postcard

Thought for the Day

I OFTEN take tours around our synagogue. The beautiful interior with a rich Victorian decoration, is one of the hidden glories of our city. The architects and the founding fathers of the building designed a structure and decorated it to encourage the worshipper to raise their head and look up, at the beautiful ceiling in many rich colours. The decor is the result of assiduous fundraising by our 19th-century ladies. Yet, through constant exposure, even this most florid Victorian vision of Medi...

Time to Get Serious About Happiness

THESE days, if you can't do something, don't worry. There's a course for everything: raffia work, guide dog handling, grit lorry driving, telephone sanitisation. But maybe this is all a bit too advanced. And sometimes we can go backwards with regard to our life-skills. For example, have you forgotten how to be happy? And is it children, those little darlings who are supposed to make us so happy, who are actually to blame?

Boris, Caught Without Egg On His Face

YOU'VE got to admit it, there is always the temptation that you'd like to try a bit of direct action against politicians who get on your nerves. So it was when a passer-by spotted Boris Johnson, pictured left, in Islington, rushed into a corner shop, bought some eggs and pelted them at the surprised Tory MP

Pop Stars Inevitably

POP stars inevitably arise from among the common folk and continue to draw on the goodwill of being just one of the ordinary herd made good throughout their careers. But it's amazing how quickly this veneer cracks when they get into trouble. Boy George has had a brush with the law in New York over wasting police time after a raid on his flat.

Richie and Mischa Barton

TEENAGERS would rather be slim than brainy, according to a new survey. Exam success is ignored in favour of being super-slim like the "lollipop girls" (big heads and stick-like bodies) such as Nicole Richie and Mischa Barton. First Magazine reported that, in its survey, 32% of teenagers wanted to be thinner, but only 25% wanted to be more intelligent.

Harry Potter

THE end could be nigh for teenage wizard Harry Potter. JK Rowling has said that two main characters would die in the final and seventh instalment of her phenomenally successful children's novels.

A Home Where Carers Become Part of the Family ; Care Crisis Paying for Treatment

RIGHT up until the last, the carers at Kelton Grange showed their compassion and dedication to Eileen Morrison. That is why the relatives of the residents at the Aigburth home are determined to fight tooth and nail to save it.

Time Out: Looking Back

Quiz Challenge

1. What was the USA equivalent of Britain's music hall variety entertainment? 2. In which country was President Salvador Allende overthrown in a coup led by General Augusto Pinochet?