Daily Post

Hot Snot

hot THIS weekend's X Factor. Let the live finals commence. Plus Robbie Williams is back! COMFORT food. Stews, casseroles, hearty dishes. They are the only good thing about the cold weather. ONLY Fools and Horses - the prequel. A young Del Boy and Rodney, we can't wait to see that.

Essentials

watch it TEN years ago, Piers Morgan was best known for being a tabloid newspaper editor - the youngest for several decades. More recently he has developed a successful television career, hosting a BBC documentary series on fame and presenting his own Channel 4 current affairs programme.

Jones the Voice Still at Full Blast ; Tom Jones May Be Nearly 70, but, As Jade Wright Discovers, He's Still a Teenager at Heart: From Welsh Elvis to National Treasure ... A Life in Pictures

THE idea of throwing your knickers at a man old enough to be your grandad seems somehow wrong. But, still there'll be women thronging to sling their undergarments at Sir Tom Jones when he plays the Echo Arena this month.

A Twist in the Whale Tale ; W Category

WOULD Herman Melville redraft Moby Dick after seeing Spymonkey's version of the maritime adventure? Would he be tempted to pop in a mermaid and cast wandering sailor Ishmael as a lively Spaniard? The theatre company, whose members live in London, Brighton, Bilbao and Vienna, got together with a director in Paris to create their "re- telling" of the well-loved story. It follows the theatrical tradition of a play within a play, but plenty that is not traditional about the show. S "A theatre com...

Tinseltown

HEIDI KLUM is apparently ditching her surname so she can take her husband's name. The supermodel tied the knot with musician SEAL, whose real name is Seal Henry Olusegun Olumide Adeola Samuel, four years ago and has decided she wants to adopt his moniker, reports Access Hollywood.

Help! With Half-Price Tickets

A COLLECTION of 1960s original Beatles movie posters go on sale at The Chester Antiques and Fine Art Show at Chester Racecourse next week. Specialist dealers Quadbod from Birmingham will be showing three rare posters for movies 'A Hard Day's Night' (1964), 'Help' (1965) and 'Yellow Submarine' (1968). The full sized posters each measure 81 x 41ins (205 x 104cms) and will be priced at pounds 850 apiece. The fair runs from October 15-18.

What's It Worth?

Mike Litherland Outhwaite & Litherland 43 Hoghton Street, Southport, PR9 0PG Q. THIS coal box belonged to my mother. I don"t know if it is Victorian or Edwardian, could you give an estimate of what it would be worth? A Evans, Aughton A. IT'S an Edwardian walnut purdonium or, to you and me a coal box, complete with metal liner. The coal shovel housed at rear, this style was patented in the 19th century by Mr Purdon, the lift front nicely carved with foliate. Depending on condition at auction p...

Exploring a Very Rural Retreat ; There's an Adventure Waiting to Happen Just a Few Hours Away. Laura Davis Visits the French Ardennes

'H AVE you met the local bore?" the old man asks us, breaking off from a description of life in the 17thcentury French countryside, supplemented with impressions of farmyard animals. It's a question that is repeated to us often during our mini road trip though the beautiful Ardennes region of Northern France, and it's only when someone asks us in their own tongue that we realise what is meant.

While Natural Gardens and [ ... ]

WHILE natural gardens and meadow plantings may have increased in popularity in the last few years, formal gardens still have a place in our fastpaced, chaotic world. The desire to shape and square, to manipulate plants and space to attain order and create symmetry, is a subject explored by designer pals Diarmuid Gavin and Sir Terence Conran in their new book Planting, in which they share many of their secrets of planting with enthusiasts. "Humans love order and repetition. There is symmetry t...

Up Aims for the Stars - and Hits ; Themain Feature Up (U) Starring: The Voices of Ed Asner, Jordan Nagai, Bob Peterson, Christopher Plummer, Elie Docter, John Ratzenberger. Directors: Bob Peterson, Pete Docter. 102 Mins Rating: .....

THE latest computeranimated masterpiece from the wizards at Pixar (WALL-E, Ratatouille) is an airborne adventure in the company of a cranky 78-year-old man and an excitable eight-yearold boy. Parents would be well-advised to pack a family-sized box of handkerchiefs. By turns hysterical and heartbreaking, this rumbustious romp is guaranteed to have even the hardiest and most cynical soul choking back tears long after the lights go up.

Wdvd

Looking for Eric (15) HE MAY be a hero on the wrong end of the M62, but anyone who's seen brilliant French classic Children of the Marshes knows Eric Cantona can act. Here, of course, he doesn't even have to try, as he's playing himself in director Ken Loach's assured step into the mainstream.

Also Showing

ZOMBIELAND (15) Rating: .... IT'S one of the burning questions of the modern age.

Trailers

DRIVING APHRODITE DRIVING Aphrodite returns Nia (My Big Fat Greek Wedding) Vardalos to her beloved Greece in the guise of an unhappily single tour guide, who is oblivious to Mr Right sitting at the front of her malfunctioning bus. For the first half hour, you'll be hard-pressed to muster a smile as the film hastily introduces all of the holidaymakers, whose journeys of self-discovery run parallel to Vardalos's spunky heroine.

Heath's Spirit Inspired Us to Finish Off in Style ; W Interview: Terry Gilliam Tells Susan Griffin How He Was Determined to Complete His Latest Film Following the Death of Its Star

WHEN news broke that 28-year-old Heath Ledger had died of an accidental overdose of prescription drugs, on January 22, 2008, the world was in shock. A young actor with a formidable talent, he had proved his acting mettle in his Academy awardnominated role in Brokeback Mountain. Shortly after, he'd commenced filming on The Dark Knight, taking on the psychopathic part of The Joker, a role that would win him a posthumous Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. Heath was on the cusp of even greater things.

Your Stars

We'll Raid Our Savings to Help Hard-Up Councils

FINANCE minister Andrew Davies is to take pounds 34m out of reserves to bolster councils against the impact of public spending curbs. The minister told AMs yesterday that 1.6% in efficiency savings across Assembly Government departments had also been imposed from next April.

Rhodri Puts Finishing Touch to Pounds 20m Hq

THE pounds 20m Assembly Government's HQ in Llandudno Junction will be a 'real link' to the people of North Wales, first minister Rhodri Morgan said yesterday. He fitted the final part of the roof membrane on the new office as part of the 'topping out' ceremony.

A494 Noise On the Rise

RESIDENTS living next to homes which were compulsorily purchased by the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) in failed plans to expand the A494 say noise has more than double since the houses were demolished. The 43 homes on the Aston Mead Estate were flattened last month to make way for an affordable housing scheme.

Winter Booster for Home Owners

A POLITICIAN has welcomed the new Warm Wales' Community Warmth programme for Denbighshire. The new scheme has been awarded funding worth more than pounds 236,000.

Movies Nd Shares

THE man who captured the visit of the Wild West legend Buffalo Bill to North Wales will take top billing at a new film festival. A century before blockbusters, multiplexes and Tarantino, North Wales was pioneering the celluloid world with techniques that continue to thrill audiences today. One of the leading figures in the fledging movie industry was the filmmaker and cinema proprietor, Arthur Cheetham, from Rhyl.