Henry's say

Sunday 4 March 2012

Another EuroMillions winner from the UK

ANOTHER lucky person from the UK has won a massive EuroMillions prize.

The winner of £22.1m from Friday night’s draw has yet to claim their prize, Camelot has said.

On Friday the winning numbers were 5, 6, 11, 30, 44 and the lucky star numbers were 2 and 6.

This is the fourth winner of the jackpot in the last few weeks.

A Camelot spokesman said: “It’s amazing to have another big winner in the UK – we’ve been extremely lucky in recent years.

“As well as the chance to win a life-changing prize, EuroMillions players have raise over £27 billion for National Lottery Good Causes, benefitting communities across the UK.”

In February Casey Carrington and Matt Topham won over £45m.

Sunday 19 February 2012

The Open returns to Royal Lytham this July

THE Open Golf Championship is to return to Royal Lytham and St Anne’s this July.

This is the first time the event has been held at the North West course since 2001, when David Duval took the title.

That was the same year Ian Woosnam was leading the competition, but had to take a two-shot penalty at the first tee on the Sunday because he had too many clubs in his bag.

In 2001 Duval finished with a 67 with birdies at the 6th, 7th and 11th. His total was 274, which was three better than Niclas Fasth who came second.

The Open has been played 10 times at Royal Lytham and St Anne’s.

American amateur Bobby Jones was the winner of the first Open to be staged at the course in 1926. He finished with rounds of 72, 72, 73 and 74 with a combined score of 291.

The first European winner of The Open was England’s Tony Jacklin in 1969.

Seve Ballesteros, the only other European to win the event at Lytham, won his first Open in 1979 and his third and last Open at the course in 1988. He also took the title in 1984 at St Andrews.

The first American to win at Lytham after Bobby Jones was Tom Lehman in 1996. He played in the last round with Nick Faldo, who the majority of home fans were cheering for.

Lehman won by two that year from Ernie Els who came joint second with Mark McCumber.

Nick Faldo finished fourth.

Sunday 12 February 2012

The Artist up for 12 awards at the BAFTAS

FILM lovers will be following the BAFTA film awards which take place tonight (Sunday) at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden and are hosted by Stephen Fry.

This ceremony is an early indication of which way the awards may go at the Oscars, taking place at the end of the month.

The film, which has received the most nominations is The Artist (a silent film), which has 12.

The next film is Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy with 11, including one for Gary Oldman as lead actor.

At the event, the most prestigious award is for Best Film and the films competing in that category are The Help, The Artist, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Drive and The Descendants.

One of the favourites for Leading Actress is Meryl Streep for her portrayal of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady. She will be up against Berenice Bejo (The Artist), Viola Davis (The Help) and Michelle Williams (My Week With Marilyn).

The most likely to take Leading Actor is George Clooney for his character in The Descendants. He will be competing against Brad Pitt (Moneyball), Gary Oldman, Michael Fassbender (Shame) and The Artist’s Jean Dujardin.

Other films to receive multiple nominations include Martin Scorsese’s first film for children, Hugo, which received nine nominations.

Steven Spielberg’s latest blockbuster about the First World War, War Horse, was given five nominations.

The awards are shown on TV from 9pm.

Sunday 30 October 2011

Amazon pilots City centre lockers

AMAZON is piloting a new service that will enable people to pick up parcels from City centre lockers.

The internet firm is introducing collection points to take delivery of books, CDs and even food.

Items are brought to collection points on the same day they are ordered.

The company has already started trials in America and in London.

Shoppers order goods and the items are then delivered to 7ft high lockers, which have been placed outside office blocks. They have a touchscreen on the front and over the top is the name of the company.

Greg Buzek, president of the IHL Group, a research firm for retail technologies said: “No other online retailer has lockers, and traditional retailers should be scared too.”

Shoppers using Amazon could be given the opportunity to ask for their purchase to be sent to a locker instead of it being delivered to their home address. When the item is delivered they will receive an email and a code to access the locker.

The scheme has already been run close to London’s St Paul’s Cathedral at a shopping complex called One New Change.

The idea would reduce Amazon’s shipping expenses, which this year are about $1billion (£625m). It is predicted that they have doubled over the last 12 months.

In the future the lockers could be refrigerated so fresh food could be ordered and stored in them.

Sunday 23 October 2011

£16.5 billion profits for Apple

IT was surprising that analysts were disappointed with Apple’s annual profits of £16.5 billion, which were up 85 per cent.

In the three months to September the company sold 17.7 million iPhones. However experts had predicted it would sell 20 million.

The firm also sold 11.1 million iPads during the same time – this was an increase of 166 per cent on the year before.

Apple closed many of its stores for an hour last week to mark its founder Steve Jobs, who has recently died.

Meanwhile non-United fans will remember for a long time the expression on Sir Alex Ferguson’s face as his team conceded goal after goal at Old Trafford to Man City. He looked furious.

In the end it was 6-1 to Man City, who completely outplayed United with some fantastic goals.

This was United’s worst result at home to Manchester City since 1926.

After the game Sir Alex Ferguson said: “I can’t believe it. It’s our worst-ever day.”

You know it is the autumn and that Christmas is round the corner because a lot of CDs and books are released.

For example Coldplay are issuing their new album tomorrow, just in time to be considered as a Christmas present.

A host of celebrity autobiographies are now in the shops too.

It is a good time of the year to have a birthday as there are plenty of new books and CDs to choose from.

Finally has X Factor’s bubble burst? Viewers are switching off in droves and it is not surprising. It was unbelievable that the first studio show this year was on for about two and a half hours with less than an hour’s singing in it.

Sunday 16 October 2011

The Open returns to St Andrews

IT has been announced that The Open is to be played at St Andrews in 2015 from July 16-19.

This will be the 29th time the old course has hosted golf’s oldest Major and it will be the 144th Championship.

The last time The Open was at the Home of Golf was in 2010. Louis Oosthuizen, from South Africa, was the winner that year by seven shots and he had a total of 16-under par, with an aggregate of 272.

The R&A’s chief executive Peter Dawson said: “We are delighted to announce that The Open will be returning to St Andrews and the historic old course in 2015.

“St Andrews has proved time and again that it is perfectly equipped to host The Open and I am certain we will yet again see a worthy winner lift the Claret Jug.

“Players, spectators and officials alike will welcome a return to the game’s spiritual home and I fully expect that we will witness another thrilling championship.”

Tiger Woods won at St Andrews in 2000 and 2005, by eight and five shots. Other winners at St Andrews are: JH Taylor (1895, 1900), James Braid (1905, 10), Bobby Jones (1927), Peter Thomson (1955), Bobby Locke (1957), Jack Nicklaus (1970, 78), Seve Ballesteros (1984), Sir Nick Faldo (1990) and John Daly (1995).

In recent years The Open has returned to St Andrews every five years.

The R&A, who organise The Open, have said independent research they commissioned with Event Scotland showed that the Open Championship in 2010 brought a £100m benefit to Scotland, and of this £40.1m entered the local economy.

Sunday 9 October 2011

£101m EuroMillions prize claimed

LAST Friday’s EuroMillions winner has come forward to collect the £101m jackpot.

The prize has been won by someone in Britain and they will collect the third biggest prize in the UK.

A national lottery spokesman has said: “This is amazing news – we are absolutely delighted for the winner.

“We’ve got the champagne on ice and look forward to welcoming the ticket-holder into the National Lottery millionaires’ club.”

Camelot, who run the Lottery, said that they are not yet able to say if the winning ticket holder is part of a syndicate.

The biggest-ever Euro Millions win went to Colin and Chris Weir, from Scotland. They collected £161m in the first part of 2011.

The second biggest prize was collected by one ticket-holder in October 2010. The lucky winner won £113m and has stayed anonymous.

The winners of Friday’s draw are now £1m richer than David Bowie, who is Britain’s 703rd richest person.

They could now buy 600 of the most expensive sports cars – the Ferrari 458 Italia, which has a price tag of £140,000.

Or if they wanted to they could have a party and invite Rihanna to sing at it. She charges £500,000 a performance.

Meanwhile, the best way to watch the X-Factor is to record it, so that you can fast forward all the adverts. It was on for a mind numbing two and a half hours on Saturday and then a further hour tonight (Sunday).

There seemed to be endless adverts during its slot. But I suppose it gives you a chance to make a brew.

You know when the studio programmes start that Christmas is not far away.