Daily Post

Dinner date ; Simon Whitnall, 29, personal trainer for Synergy Fitness Camps and 3D People

Who would you invite to your dream dinner party? Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan and all of The New Zealand All Blacks. Who would be your nightmare guest? Gordon Ramsay. If I was cooking, he would rip me to pieces and try to make my good farm food too fancy! What would you all drink? New Zealand white wine, Italian Red wine and plenty of great HO..

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Victorian valuesTELEVISION chefs Clarissa Dickson Wright, right, and Kevin Woodford will be joined by archeologist Alex Langlands, from The Victorian Farm, in full Victorian dress, at the Cheshire Show this year. The trio will be demonstrating their crafts on both days of the event - June 23 and 24 - in the Roberts Bakery Food Hall's live cookery theatre.

Taste with a twist from an award-winning chef ; Loyalty has paid dividends for one young chef who now finds himself in charge at a top restaurant. William Leece reports

DARREN SMITH is nothing if not loyal to his employers. Whereas many a skilled chef has hopped from one job to the next faster than a reshuffled Cabinet minister, he has stayed with the Warehouse Brasserie, in Southport, ever since he came out of catering college.

Spice up your life th he Thai way ; Emma Pinch has her taste buds excited by the new Thai restaurant in Liverpool One

IT'S healthy, light, packed with flavour and reassuringly exotic. Demand for good Thai food has largely outstripped supply on Merseyside, with Thai restaurants never becoming as ubiquitous as their High Street Chinese counterparts. But with Thai food now becoming widely available - the highly- rated Chaophraya restaurant opened in Liver pool One yesterday - people want to try their hand at dishes from South East Asia that are more healthy and authentic than chicken with sweet and sour sauce f...

Great Newz for lunchtime diners

L ONG after many a pretender to its A-list crown has lost its shine, Liverpool's Newz Bar remains a star attraction. But, if the killer-heeled blondes capture all the headlines at Newz after dark, then in the daytime it's an altogether different story.

The Peacock Bar ; Best bar none

FROM day one, it acquired a trendy word-of-mouth vibe which meant The Peacock was pleasantly brimming with a varied crowd - from laid- back, cool types to older drinkers. It occupies a plot in Liverpool's trendy clubland area around St Peter's Square, with Chaya, Heebies and Alma de Cuba as neighbours.

Sommelier - Mathew Sloane

TO QUOTE a friend of mine - "What's that big yellow ball in the sky? Stone me, it's the sun ... in summer ... brilliant!" Yes, folks, my years of burning old fridges and driving to work on an aerosol-propelled, 18-wheeled, 30-ton, lizard-shaped juggernaut have finally paid off - my name is summer, and I am funky. Break out the paddling pools, waste some hard-earned wedge on a pair of designer, blimping goggles and get set for headlines not seen since the late seventies - "PHEW, WHAT A SCORCHE...

Treat your dad this Father's Day ; Advertising Feature Tso's Restaurant

WITH Father's Day fast approaching, where better to celebrate than Tso's Oriental Buffet Restaurant? Conveniently located in Queen Square, Liverpool, the renowned allyou-can-eat Chinese restaurant offers exceptional value for money, firstclass food and friendly, attentive service. A fantastic place to enjoy a mouthwatering meal out without breaking the bank, Tso's prides itself on its extensive menu, which features more than 60 delicious Oriental dishes with something to tempt every taste.

Wirral toddler dies in hospital from meningitis bug ; Meningitis kills two-year-old boy

A TWO-YEAR-OLD boy fr om Merseyside has died from meningitis, the Health Protection Agency (HPA) confirmed last night. The toddler, who has not been named but attended the Pitter Patter Nursery, in Wallasey, died on Saturday after contracting meningococcal infection. The child's family and close personal contacts are being treated with antibiotics as a precautionary measure..

CONTENTS

INSIDE

Relationship in spotlight THE touching tale behind The Beatles' most successful single - the relationship between John and Cynthia Lennon, below, and their son, Julian - will be told at a deeply personal exhibition next week. PAGE 3

Macho Brown must says MP ; Kennedy quits government with stinging attack on PM

JANE KENNEDY became the latest former minister to launch a vitriolic attack on Gordon Brown last night. She accused him of running a "macho" Gover nment in which "bullying politics" and "character assassination" were common, and called on him to stand down.

pounds 800k haul ; IN BRIEF .

Team to help ; IN BRIEF .

NHS 'burden' ; IN BRIEF .

President of Gabon dies ; IN BRIEF .

Ten killed as gunmen open fire on mosque ; IN BRIEF .

POLICE say at least 10 people were killed yesterday in southern Thailand when gunmen opened fire on a mosque during evening prayers. Police say five or six men with automatic rifles opened fire on a mosque in Narathiwat province.

Police find torture scene in blood-spattered bar

A BLOODIED man was found battered in a Merseyside street after attempts were apparently made to set him on fire. Police discovered the 20-year-old lying on the ground near South Road, Waterloo, just after 1.30am last Monday.

LOTTERY .

Dead child's mother 'lied about abuse'

A MOTHER from Runcorn whose boyfriend allegedly killed her toddler son deceived the authorities about weeks of abuse he dished out to the child, a court has heard. Joshua Jones was found dead at the home of Nichola Bowman and Wayne Davenport in Tilbury Place, Runcorn, in 2007. The two-year- old had sustained a bang to the head and died from brain swelling.