Sentinel, The; Stoke-on-Trent (UK)

Beshabar Goes for Cheltenham

IT IS D-Day for connections of Beshabar as the nine-year-old bids to book his Cheltenham Festival ticket at Doncaster. Tim Vaughan's embryonic chaser has a clutch of entries next month, so needs to win the solutions4cleaning.co.uk Beginners' Chase on Town Moor convincingly. It is far from an exaggerated notion, either, as the 149-rated hurdler emerged with a lot of credit from his chasing debut at Cheltenham - even though he was brought down two out. Beshabar jumped satisfactorily on his firs...

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King Fights to Master His Words

TV preview By John Woodhouse The Real King's Speech C4, 9pm BAFTA- winning and Oscar-nominated film The King's Speech has brought to the fore the inspirational story of King George VI's struggle to overcome his crippling stammer. The Real King's Speech meets former patients of Lionel Logue, providing an insight into the working relationship between the therapist and his royal patient, as well as the methods he employed to provide a 'cure'. The programme also underlines the vital role of Queen...

Heat Is On for Budding Chefs

TV preview By John Woodhouse Masterchef BBC1, 9pm AFTER a fascinating X-Factor-esque audition process in which we watched astounded as a middle-aged woman from Leicestershire revealed her stunning ability to make soup, the final 20 amateur cooks have finally gained a place on this year's MasterChef. Sometime around Christmas, after we've watched judges John Torode, right, and Gregg Wallace, left, shovel several thousand vast forkfuls of fodder into their immense mouths, a winner will be annou...

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Song Stories 10pm, BBC R2 GRAMMY Award-winning Canadian singer Michael Buble presents the inside story of a song created for Sinatra, covered by Elvis and desecrated by Sid Vicious: My Way. The song started life as a French song, Comme d'habitude, and has been covered by rap stars, flamenco bands, opera singers and even Sesame Street characters. It became a funeral favourite in the UK and Sinatra himself professed to hate the song. And in the Philippines, My Way killings have been provoked by...

Heston Serves Up Pizza with Worms

"THERE are some kitchens in this country," reports Heston Blumenthal, brother of Beaker from the Muppet Show, "that have massive challenges." He's not wrong, my mother's doubles as a crematorium for fishfingers. Heston has embarked on a mission to transform the fodder found in places such as cinemas, the Navy and airlines. The Bunsen burner-wielding scientist-cum-flanmaker began with the thorny issue of hospital food, shocked to discover the menu on offer at Alder Hey Children's Hospital in L...

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Sales and Lettings Will Increase Soon ; Advertisement Feature

THE latest RICS Commercial Property Market Survey shows further modest improvement in the real estate market but highlights pronounced regional and sector differences in both the occupier and investment arenas. Eighteen per cent more surveyors expected new sales and lettings to increase in the next three months, a rise from eight per cent in the third quarter of 2010. This is the best reading since before the onset of the credit crunch in the first quarter of 2007. Meanwhile, eight per cent m...

All Sam Did Will Not Be Forgotten ; Letters to the Editor

I WOULD like to send a message to Verity and all Sam's loving family. The ache in your heart will be tremendous, but the memories of all the wonderful work Sam did will be far greater. He had the knack of getting right down and so close to people that they thought that it was only them that mattered but it wasn''t, it was everyone.

We Have Lost a Marvellous Man ; Letters to the Editor

I, ALONG with thousands of other people in this city, was devastated to hear of the death of Sam Plank at such a young age. Sam was the people's man. He could not stand injustice. This was proven to me when I was chairman of the action group fighting the Gravestones Saga. He attended many meetings, armed with his microphone, and addressed all those attending. He continually urged us to fight on during the four years it lasted and he was delighted with the outcome. It was indeed Sam, along wit...

In Memory of John, Also a Radio Legend ; Letters to the Editor

THEY do say that things come in threes and that's what has happened recently in our local media reporting area of the Midlands. Last year we saw the death of The Sentinel columnist, John Abberley, then recently we have had Sam Plank, from local radio stations, but little has been said of another Midlands radio presenter who passed away recently - John Taynton. For many years, John presented a live, late-night radio programme called Late Night Live. It was a current affairs and consumer progra...

Pothole Burst Tyre and Busted Wheel ; Letters to the Editor

I AM writing regarding potholes, having had the most horrendous experience recently. Driving on the B5234 Abbots Bromley/ Newborough/ Burton Road (under Staffordshire County Council) at 7.20am one morning, I hit the biggest pothole I think I've ever seen.

I'm Not Fooled by 'Reformed' Tories ; Letters to the Editor

YOUR regular correspondent S Clarke terminated their most recent defence of the Tories' proposed NHS reforms by warning another letterwriter that "You can't fool all of the people all of the time". Indeed you can't, and here is a list of the things the Tories want you to believe: After hundreds of years of representing the interests of the wealthy, the Conservative party is now deeply moved by the plight of the relatively poor. At election times, all those rich people who place Conservative ...

It's Official: Parking Here Is Expensive ; Letters to the Editor

YET again Stoke-on-Trent is in the national spotlight. Which? magazine has done a survey on car parking charges in this country and guess what, parking in Stokeon-Trent was found to be more expensive than the UK's second largest city, Bir mingham.

Charity Should Begin at Home ; Letters to the Editor

I SEE the Government is getting annoyed over the laws on sex offenders, which are being forced upon us because of their human rights. Our politicians ought to take a step back and have a good look at exactly what is happening to our once Great Britain.

Extra Staff Key to Elderly Care ; Letters to the Editor

THE incidents of poor elderly care in our hospitals are easily solved - simply increase staffing levels. I don't mean qualified nurses, I mean the auxiliaries and support staff who provide the level of personal care often complained about.

Dumbing Down? Try Working Hard ; Letters to the Editor

I FELT compelled to write a response to Mr Gunston's letter, entitled "Degree to disagree". He talks about the dumbing down of academic standards over the last half-century, yet he has had nothing to do with the system since his time at university in the 20th century. Why does he feel qualified to strongly contest the system, when he has played no part in it for decades? Perhaps he should adopt a more positive approach when it comes to this issue and stop jumping on the media bandwagon.

Students Get Pounds 500 Bursary

TWO students at Keele University have been handed bursaries of Pounds 500 each by pharmaceutical giant Teva UK Ltd. Tahir Ali Shabir and Ian Osborne have both been awarded the cash to help with each year of their four-year pharmacy degrees.

Job Well Done Earns Award

HOUSING provider Wulvern is celebrating after recently receiving an award. The prestigious Midlands Excellence Award was given to the Crewe- based local affordable housing provider in the efficiency category where organisations are assessed for their approach, effective deployment of resources and positive results.

High Praise for Contest Entries

PHOTOGRAPHERS from Staffordshire, Cheshire and Shropshire have been praised for their participation in an annual competition. More than 250 pictures were entered in Keele University's Three Counties Open Photography Competition 2011, sponsored by architects Hulme Upright Manning.