VAUXHALL SKATE
- Bringing you even more fun on wheels this summer -

29th July 2009 – 8.00pm til late
Secret location, East London, EC2

Roll up, Roll up – London’s ultimate roller disco is finally here. With Carl Barat, Remi Nicole, Alfie Allen & Smash and Grab’s very own DJ duo Queens of Noize providing the soundtrack of the evening and none other than ‘Shoreditch’s ringmaster’ Jonny Woo hosting a car-aoke - complete with dress-up props galore - time to get your skates on to bag yourself the hottest ticket in town.

Vauxhall Skate is a FREE invite-only event – visit http://tiny.cc/vauxhallskate for more information on how to join in.

Vauxhall Motors has teamed up with a hand-picked selection of the hottest musical, design and style talents of the moment to drive some serious excitement into London’s Shoreditch.  Journeying through space and time, guests will be transported to a road that belongs to a late 20th Century vision of the future, 70’s disco meets Knight Rider on roller skates.  Extra treats include specially commissioned Vauxhall Corsa roller boots and an in-car pit-stop hair salon with free styling from a huge name in celebrity hairdressing.

DJ’s providing Vauxhall Skate’s hugely road-worthy tracks:

• Sophie Ellis Bextor & Richard Jones
• Remi Nicole
• Alfie Allen
• Queens of Noize with the help of their special dj guest Florence (Florence and the Machine)
• Carl Barat

Combine all the above with a rotating mirror-ball car, hot dogs, cup cakes and four-wheeled art commission by none other than legendary illustrator Kate Moross, Vauxhall Skate is sure to provide the rock and the roll.

BLU-RAY DEFIES RECESSION TO LEAD THE HOME ENTERTAINMENT MARKET AT HALF YEAR MARK

New figures on the home entertainment market released today by the British Video Association using data from the Official Charts Company reveal that Blu-ray Disc sales continue to rise despite the recession biting the sector as a whole in the first half of the year.

More than 3.1 million Blu-ray Discs have sold in 2009 to date, a rise of 231 per cent on the same period last year, signifying public interest in the high definition format’s unparalleled picture and sound quality.

Hannah Conduct, Marketing Manager at the British Video Association says:

“The continuing success of Blu-ray is testament to the growth of consumer confidence in the high definition format. There are now almost 1500 Blu-ray releases in the market covering a breadth of titles. Seeing is believing with Blu-ray and the figures show that once consumers have experienced the format, they continue to spend their money on the product.” 

Hannah Conduct adds, “Older releases such as Trainspotting (4DVD), Bladerunner (Warner Home Video) and The Day the Earth Stood Still (20th Century Fox Home Entertainment), have all experienced sales success on this exciting format, years after their initial DVD release.  Many more Blu-ray titles are anticipated in the latter part of this year so consumers will have plenty of opportunities to add to their home entertainment collections.”

With consumers upgrading to Blu-ray this has led to a fall in the numbers of DVD purchased. Sales are down 9.5 per cent year-on-year bringing the total number of discs sold in 2009 to 100 million*.

The outlook for the second half of the year is more promising.  The BVA’s 2009 Yearbook shows that 30% of all sales take place in the last two months of the year and some of this year’s big pre-Christmas releases including Bruno (Universal Pictures), Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince (Warner Home Video), Ice Age 3 (20th Century Fox Home Entertainment), Terminator: Salvation (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment), Tinker Bell (Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment) and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Paramount Home Entertainment) are expected to perform extremely well on DVD and Blu-ray.

Lavinia Carey, Director General of the British Video Association, says:

“The home entertainment industry has weathered the recession extremely well during the last year but, sadly, with the loss of around 900 high street stores at the start of the year, following the demise of Woolworths and Zavvi, the sales generated from impulse purchases have been hit.  This changing retail landscape has had a huge impact on our half year result. We hope as the year progresses that new retailers will fill the gap by stocking home entertainment products to give consumers a wider choice.”

The BVA also points to industry research conducted at the end of last year by TNS, indicating that 72% of consumers felt that they would have significantly less disposable income in 2009, with 31% strongly agreeing.  Most respondents (98%) said they would be actively seeking out promotions and offers. 

Lavinia Carey adds, “People must also be increasingly tempted to search out methods of downloading illicit content for free on the Internet.  With an increasing number of new internet services coming on stream, the industry is aiming to encourage greater consumer up-take of legitimate downloads.”

The latest forecasts from Screen Digest suggest that legitimate online video will grow in significance, comparative to growth in physical discs, as a distribution channel and revenue source between now and 2012.

Bespoke Mini Goes Under The Hammer
At Goodwood Festival of Speed

POLICE THREAT TO FESTIVAL LIFTED
Court gives Stokes Bay Festival Go-Ahead

A police objection to the Stokes Bay Festival in Hampshire has been successfully resolved following an agreement between the police and Festival organisers for some extra stewards and minor changes to the Festival site plan.

The agreement was approved at Portsmouth Magistrates Court today (Friday).

The Court gave the Festival the go-ahead.

The 5-day event will now take place as planned between Wednesday 29 July and Sunday 2 August at Stokes Bay near Gosport in Hampshire.

Artists confirmed include The Zutons; The Proclaimers; Seth Lakeman; The Saw Doctors; Oysterband; Adrian Edmondson & The Bad Shepherds; Lunasa and The SAS Band (Spike's All-Stars featuring Paul Young, Fish, Tom Robinson and special guest vocalists).

Festival organiser Peter Chegwyn said he was "absolutely delighted" with the police agreement which lifted a threat to stop the Festival happening this year.

"This is wonderful news and a huge relief.  We have always enjoyed a very good working relationship with the police who recognise that Stokes Bay is one of the safest and friendliest festivals in the land.

"The objection to the licence resulted from complaints by a handful of politically-motivated local residents who try every year to stop any music festivals being held at Stokes Bay.  It is good news for the vast majority of local residents who support the Festival that it will now go-ahead as planned."

http://www.stokesbayfestival.co.uk

KIDS WEEK BOOKING LINES OPEN ON TUESDAY 14 JULY 2009

Kids go FREE to top London shows from 14 - 28 August 2009

There’s no business like show business and the biggest deal of all for families this summer is the much-loved and eagerly awaited annual initiative - Kids Week in the West End!  Now in its 12th year, Kids Week offers children aged 5 - 16 the opportunity to experience the magic of London theatre for free.  The countdown to Kids Week 2009 can now begin as the official booking lines open on Tuesday 14 July 2009, offering families the chance to snap up tickets to over 28 top London shows for a fortnight of theatrical fun from 14 to 28 August 2009.

The ticket deal is simple - one child (aged between 5 and 16) can go absolutely free to any participating show when accompanied by a full paying adult, and another two children can go for half price.  Kids Week 2009 is proud to be supporting Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity, Theatres for Theatres Appeal.  See www.kidsweek.co.uk for more information.

Whatever you’re into, whether it’s smash hit musicals, comedies, dance, or captivating plays, Kids Week guarantees a great theatre experience for all the family.  Participating shows include popular musicals Billy Elliot The Musical, Disney’s The Lion King, Hairspray, Sister Act and Wicked as well as plays such as Carrie’s War, Peter Pan, The 39 Steps, War Horse, plus many more. 

The Kids Week fun doesn’t stop there, children can take part in a range of free show linked activities and workshops designed to engage and inspire the next generation of theatre lovers.  Children can go ‘Behind the Barricades’ with Les Misérables, ‘Unleash Your Inner Dancing Queen’ with Mamma Mia! or meet the cast and crew of Wicked at an exclusive question and answer session.  In addition to these fantastic show linked activities, Kids Week offers a series of unique workshops including a dance class with English National Ballet, an opportunity to peek behind the scenes of the Lyric Hammersmith or learn about stage and set design with The Tricycle Theatre.  For a full list of participating shows, show linked activities and workshops, visit www.kidsweek.co.uk.

So don’t miss out, get ready to book from Tuesday 14 July 2009 at www.kidsweek.co.uk or by calling the Kids Week ticket hotline on 0844 248 5151.  Let the theatrical extravaganza begin!

Music and Climate Change unite – Cuba’s Rhythms Del Mundo team up with The Killers, Editors, KT Tunstall, The Kooks and more to raise awareness to one of the Globe’s biggest challenges

Rhythms Del Mundo – Classics

Also featuring contributions from Amy Winehouse, The Rolling Stones, Jack Johnson, Keane and many more

Scheduled for International release date:
13th July 2009 on Universal Music

THE BIGGEST STARS in the music industry have joined forces on the latest Rhythms Del Mundo album, ‘Classics’ produced to raise awareness and funds for climate crisis projects and natural disaster relief. The album is released on Universal Music on July 13, 2009.
The sublime talent of Cuba’s finest musicians together with the unmistakable vocals of artists including Amy Winehouse, The Killers, Jack Johnson, The Rolling Stones, Kaiser Chiefs, Fall Out Boy, and many others, results in a unique album merging Afro-Cuban rhythms with some of the most memorable songs of the last 40 years. With brand new recordings from The Killers, Editors, KT Tunstall, The Zutons and OneRepublic, through to special recordings from contributing artists such as Amy Winehouse and Jack Johnson, this long player is set to be the soundtrack to the summer!
Rhythms Del Mundo – Classics is the latest project from UK climate change charity, Artists Project Earth (APE) which was formed in 2005 following the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami. This album follows in the footsteps of their first release Rhythms Del Mundo – Cuba! (ft. Coldplay, U2, Radiohead, Arctic Monkeys and others) which went platinum and gold in many countries across the globe and was met with much critical acclaim; “....an album made with such integrity and passion that turns out as entertaining as this, is hard to resist.” – The Independent.  

As a result more than 175 groundbreaking projects have been funded globally, all of which are developing solutions to climate change, thanks to support from APE and the Rhythms Del Mundo albums.
To celebrate the launch of Rhythms Del Mundo – Classics, APE will make an award of $100,000 to the project judged most likely to make a significant impact on climate change. Previous projects include the natural rebuilding of coral reefs, and reforestation in Brazil and Africa.
Kenny Young, RDM’s producer and founder of APE says: “These great artists have given up their time to be part of an album that will raise awareness and funds for the most crucial crisis facing us today. Climate change is our greatest global challenge – so join us and act now to do something positive for our future.”

Rhythms Del Mundo – Classics
Track-listing

Hotel California – RDM ft The Killers
Cupid – RDM ft Amy Winehouse
Walk On The Wild Side – RDM ft Editors
Imagine – RDM ft Jack Johnson
Beat It – RDM ft Fall Out Boy and John Mayer
Under Pressure – RDM ft Keane
Satisfaction – RDM ft Cat Power
Heard It Through The Grapevine – RDM ft Kaiser Chiefs
Because The Night – RDM ft KT Tunstall
Bohemian Rhapsody – RDM ft Augusto Enriquez
Under The Boardwalk – RDM ft The Rolling Stones
Runaway – RDM ft The Zutons
For What Its Worth – RDM ft OneRepublic
Big Yellow Taxi – RDM ft Aquila Rose and Idana Valdes  
Purple Haze – RDM
Smells Like Teen Spirit – RDM ft Shanade
Are You Ready For Love – RDM ft The Kooks
My Cherie Amor – RDM ft Eros Ramazzotti
Stairway To Heaven – RDM ft Rodrigo Y Gabriela

Julian and Cynthia Lennon
Return to Liverpool to
Launch White Feather:
The Spirit of Lennon

Exhibition tells the story of life as
the family of the Beatles legend

Now open at The Beatles Story, Pier Head, Liverpool
Julian and Cynthia Lennon say the exhibition has brought them
Back to Where They Once Belonged.

Julian Lennon and his mother Cynthia arrived back in their home town of Liverpool earlier this week to launch a moving and emotional exhibition of their family life with the Beatles legend John Lennon. With many of us celebrating our paternal relationships this weekend with Fathers Day, Julian offered a rare insight into his feelings about his, saying that whatever had happened in the past, he was now in a place where his thoughts are of love. His said that his motivation for collecting the memorabilia over the last ten years was to share his family’s history with future generations of Lennons – and Beatles fans.

He said: “Rather than have everything locked up in storage in a safe packed away for no-one to see I felt it would be better to be outside, especially in this city, the city of Liverpool for the fans to see”.
He also spoke emotionally about how the personal possessions have been brought back into family ownership. “Slowly but surely I have been gathering things. Nothing was passed down to me after Dad passed. The only way I could actually regain any of my dad’s belongings, or the Beatles work, was to go out and buy them myself. I felt that not only for my sake but also if I have a family of my own, whether it’s in their personal possession or at an exhibition like this, they have a chance to see their family history”.

Cynthia spoke fondly of the bond between herself and her son. “We’re the best of mates, Julian and I. Rather than being mother and son, we’re more than that. We’ve been through some very fascinating times. Why not share that?” An upbeat Cynthia even quoted a Beatles lyric to express her joy at returning to the city: “We’re back to where we once belonged!”

Jerry Goldman, Beatles Story said: “During the ‘08 Capital of Culture year many of the great events were in fact Cultural imports! The White Feather exhibition was produced in Liverpool by Liverpool people and tells the story of a Liverpool family. This is evidence that we are now a Capital of Culture”.

Digital Britain Delays Action on
Digital Copyright Theft

Responding to the publication of the Digital Britain Report published this afternoon, the Director General of the British Video Association, Lavinia Carey said,

“The BVA welcomes the Digital Britain Report and its recommendations for ISPs to play a greater role in the prevention of illegal downloading of content.  However, we are disappointed that the report recommends that the technical measures such as bandwidth squeezing are only to be introduced after notice sending has been shown to fail and after further consultation. The 2009 Digital Entertainment Survey, published last week by Wiggin LLP, indicates that simply sending warning letters would deter less than a third of those who illegally file-share, meaning the government is set to fall short of its target to reduce online copyright theft by 70-80% in two to three years.  If the government are serious about meeting that target they must take effective action now.

“The Government is right to place increased responsibility on ISPs to protect on-line content as by working together with content providers, ISPs will make it harder for persistent file sharers to operate without rights owners resorting to immediate legal action.

“The creative industry in the UK is not only an enormous source of pride, but is hugely popular with the public, provides thousands of jobs and contributes significantly to the British economy. Copyright theft damages this industry by taking away profit that should be used to pay wages, launch new projects and explore  innovative new services.  It is not a victimless crime and we are glad the DBR reflects this in today’s report but would urge that the government acts without further delay.

“Given the range of different business models and content already legally available online, it makes sense for the ISPs to work with industry to reduce the level of illegal traffic on their networks as this would increase broadband speeds and make legitimate services a more satisfactory experience to end users.

“We are pleased that the Government clearly recognises that without a strong and healthy content industry providing the products which consumers so clearly demand in the digital world, broadband expansion will fall significantly short of everyone’s hopes and expectations.”

NEW TURF FOR SMURF WORLD RECORD

Jokers’ Masquerade and Swansea University Smash
Guinness World Record™ with 2, 510 strong Smurf Turnout

The Smurf Wars are over.  Following almost two years of Universities, towns and villages donning white pointy hats and blue face paint to break the Smurf World Record, the bar has been raised; significantly.  This morning Guinness confirmed that leading UK fancy dress costume seller Jokers’ Masquerade (www.joke.co.uk) and Swansea University have smashed the current world record with an enormous 2, 510 Smurfs gathering in the South Wales city last night.

At 1AM on the 9th June 2009, triumphant Smurfs in the Swansea nightclub Oceana celebrated after conquering the record, jubilant that they had recorded the biggest blue turn-out in history.

THE WINNER of the first ever Britain’s Smelliest Cheese Championships at The Royal Bath and West Show is Stinking Bishop made by Charles Martell of Martell & Son Gloucestershire. The winning cheese blew the judges away with its pungency, described as smelling like a rugby club changing room.

Chair of the judges Tim Rowcliffe, of Antony Rowcliffe speciality cheeses said: ‘The cheeses were all fantastically smelly but Stinking Bishop absolutely knocked us out.’

Charles Martell said: ‘I’m thrilled and surprised to win. I hope more people will get into eating more speciality cheeses because there are so many in Britain – more than in France.’

The judging panel comprised Tim Rowcliffe, owner of Anthony Rowcliffe & Son, purveyors of speciality cheese; Chris Rundle, a food and drink journalist; Alec Lawless, perfumier and owner of Essentially Me natural perfumes. The professional judges were joined by a group of junior judges, children aged 10/11 from Wells Cathedral School, specially selected for their sensitive noses.

Stinking Bishop is a washed rind cheese. It is washed in a local Gloucestershire perry made from a pear variety called Stinking Bishop. The pear in turn was named after a reprobate farmer with an appalling reputation as a drunkard, who famously shot his kettle when it took too long to boil.

Mike Pullin, chair of the Dairy Produce Awards and organiser of the Championships added: ‘This has been a brilliant opportunity to show off the creativity of British cheese-makers. We’ve also successfully proved that British speciality cheeses can give the French a run for their money!’

COUNTDOWN TO A HEALTHY BODY

- ACTIVE HEALTH WITH CAROL VORDERMAN-

• ACTIVATE A HEALTHIER LIFESTYLE WITH CAROL VORDERMAN ON NINTENDO DS

Get in shape the fun way and kick start a healthier new you with the latest software from Nintendo, Active Health with Carol Vorderman. Designed in collaboration with TV personality Carol Vorderman, this latest lifestyle title is exclusive to the Nintendo DS and launches across the UK on August 7th 2009.

It’s widely recognised that to stay in shape we need to combine healthy eating with regular exercise but with today’s busy lifestyles it’s not always easy to put into practice!

Active Health with Carol Vorderman offers a fun, motivating programme that anyone can follow. Inputting your personal details into the software allows Carol to calculate your BMI and provide you with a personalised programme outlining how many calories you need to consume and how much exercise you should do to maintain or lose weight.

Carol acts as your motivational guide throughout, helping you to achieve your personal goal whether it is to lose weight, boost energy levels, improve your fitness or all three combined!

HEALTHY EATING
The software is pre-set with popular foods, allowing you to track your daily food consumption, monitoring calorie count as well as levels of fat, salt and sugar. Using the Government supported traffic light system, foods are graded green, amber and red based on your Guideline Daily Amounts (GDA), allowing you to keep an easy to use record of the food you eat, to ensure you’re eating a balanced diet every day.

It also includes over 70 inbuilt recipes, published by Carol Vorderman, providing healthy inspiration for meal times for you and your family. Each recipe provides step by step instruction on how to prepare the dishes and comes with a handy shopping list facility where you can keep track of those extra ingredients needed from the supermarket.

The software also includes a variety of sample meal plans for the entire day, providing inspiration on how to eat healthy, varied dishes while sticking within your recommended daily calorie intake.

KEEP ON MOVING
Active Health with Carol Vorderman comes packed with a sleek, specially designed pedometer, called an Activity Meter, which monitors your activity levels throughout the day when placed in your bag or pocket.

Carol provides you with a daily step target and at the end of each day you simply point the Activity Meter at the Nintendo DS, like a TV remote control, and with one click of the button your data will be sent to your DS by infrared signal.

Additional activity can also be entered into the software so whether you go for a long walk, a swim or do some gardening, it will all count towards your daily activity goal. You can even sync Active Health with your Wii Fit to keep track of additional exercises completed on the Wii.

KEEPING YOU MOTIVATED
To encourage users to reach their goal, you can earn incentive points by maintaining exercise levels and selecting healthy food options as part of your diet programme. As points are earned, additional features such as new background music and images become unlocked.

Active Health with Carol Vorderman also offers a variety of fun mini-games to help motivate you to keep healthy such as the Walking Challenge which converts your steps into miles so you can attempt to walk the distance between Land’s End and John O’Groats!

To help improve your knowledge of the calorie count of popular foods Calorie Count Up is a mini game you can play alone or against Carol. You have to choose items from a selection shown on screen and see if you can reach the target of 1, 000 calories.

Active Health with Carol Vorderman is a simple and motivating way to get you on track to a healthier lifestyle. It’s easy to use, fits around your life and can help to bring the fun back into healthy living.