Remember remember the 5^th November.... and the 4th^..... as here we are again to regale you with more top notch A1 exploits.

It has been an extremely busy couple of weeks at A1 VOX with more showbiz than you can shake a sequined stick at!

Gyles Brandreth has been in for an amazing three weeks on the trot - so we must be doing something right. Aled Jones came in for an early morning fixture and I can vouch for the lad when I say he ain't all treble and no substance.

We have also had the legend that is Russ ‘I love a Party’ Abbott in, which caused Chris to be ever so star struck.

My dad was extremely jealous to hear that we had actual royalty in the form of Rula Lenska at the studio, and for those who like a bit of the old two step, Arlene Philips of Strictly fame dropped by, and Carrie Grant of Fame Academy launched her way up the stairs with her flame red hair.

There is almost too much to cover in this weeks blog as we also had the charming Mr Anthony Head of Buffy fame in, as well as the amazing Mr Nigel Short who became a Grandmaster (chess player) at age 19.

Life, as they say, is never dull at VOX Towers!!!!!

On first visit to us he managed to cram in a total of ‘four’ clients. He sure don’t hang about!

Gyles is a writer, broadcaster, former MP and Government Whip - and one of Britain's most sought-after award ceremony hosts and after-dinner speakers. Currently a reporter on The One Show and a regular on Radio 4's Just a Minute, his acclaimed Victorian detective stories - The Oscar Wilde Murder Mysteries - are now being published in twenty-one countries around the world.

Gyles Brandreth’s forebears include George R Sims (the highest-paid journalist of his day, who wrote the ballad Christmas Day in the Workhouse) and Jeremiah Brandreth (the last man in England to be beheaded for treason - YIKES!). His great-great-grandfather, Benjamin Brandreth, promoted ‘Brandreth’s Pills’ (a medicine that cured everything!) and was a pioneer of modern advertising and a New York state senator.

Today, Gyles Brandreth has family living in New York, Maryland, South Carolina and California. He has been London correspondent for Up to the Minute on CBS News and his books published in the United States include the New York Times best-seller, The Joy of Lex as well as Philip & Elizabeth: Portrait of a Marriage and the aforementioned Oscar Wilde Murder Mysteries.

He has appeared on countless TV programmes including Countdown and TV-am and was renowned for his seemingly endless collection of jumpers. Many of the more outrageous examples were sold in a charity auction in 1993 and he has since displayed somewhat more restraint in his dress sense. Such a shame as I was looking forward to a lewd yellow knit with royal navy piping!

When asked why he loves, in some people's opinion, particularly awful people such as Fanny Cradock, Jeffrey Archer and Prince Philip, he replies: “They’re larger than life.” He met Philip through the National Playing Fields Association and often goes to Buckingham Palace. In fact, he went fairly recently and flips open his diary to prove it: “Buckingham Palace,” he reads. “All friendly in the state dining room but a little strange ... the food was excellent, the fresh pineapple best, the camp footmen so playful as ever.” Certainly no wall flower, this silver tongued celeb certainly mixes in the right circles - What!

Aled Jones became famous for the cover version of "Walking in the Air", the song from Channel 4's 1982 animated film The Snowman. The record reached No. 5 in the UK charts in 1985, however, the version used in the film was not performed by Jones, but by Peter Auty, a St. Paul's Cathedral choirboy! Hmmmmm - quite a well kept secret that.

In June 1985, Jones was also the subject of the Emmy award winning BBC Omnibus documentary "The Treble".

His recording career was temporarily halted when his voice broke at sixteen. By this time he had recorded sixteen albums, sold more than six million albums, and sung for Pope John Paul II, the Queen, and the Prince and Princess of Wales in a private recital, as well as presenting numerous children's television programmes. He sang at the wedding of music celebrities Bob Geldof and Paula Yates in 1986, the same year that his first biography was published, "Walking on Air".

Jones's appearance as a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing in 2004 brought him to the attention of a wider audience, leading to further tours and albums. It also led to increasing demands on him as a broadcaster.

On 11 October 2010 it was announced that Jones would be taking over as stand-in presenter of the early morning breakfast slot on Radio 2 following the departure of Sarah Kennedy, a role which he occasionally covered in the years leading up to Kennedy's departure. It is not known yet if Jones will be permanently assuming the role but if you tuned in to our very own Mr Nove last week then you would have heard him have a little banter with the Welsh lad. Charles tells me that Aled is a very funny chap and having landed a prestigious spot at Radio 2 it seems the voice from Bangor is definitely still walking on air!.

Rula Lenska was born in St Neots, Cambridgeshire, the eldest daughter of Major Count Ludwik Maria Lubienski and Countess Elzbieta Tyszkiewicz. Rula's parents came to the UK from Poland as refugees in 1946. Although Rula was christened Roza-Marie Leopoldyna Lubienska, she has always been known as Rula - rolls off the tongue a lot easier I find.

Rula studied at Ursuline College in Westgate-on-Sea before training at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Arts and by the time she had started her acting career, she had renounced her title as a Polish countess, saying "In England it doesn't count - if you'll excuse the pun."

Rula has been married twice, to actors Brian Deacon (1977-1987) and Dennis Waterman (1987-1998).

Her big break was as Little Ladies' band member, "Q," in the British TV series Rock Follies (1976) and its sequel Rock Follies of '77 the following year.

Rock Follies was not widely seen in North America, but in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Lenska became famous in the United States and Canada for her Alberto V05 hair products commercials. The commercial began with a closeup of her stating, "I'm Rula Lenska." People assumed this was a product endorsement by a celebrity whose name the advertisers expected them to know.

In a Tonight Show monologue that aired after the commercials started running, Johnny Carson asked "Who the hell is Rula Lenska?" and began using Lenska's name as a running joke on his show. Around the same time, Jane Curtin played Lenska in a sketch on Saturday Night Live. Soon (at least to US audiences) Lenska became famous for merely pretending to be famous. Most people in the U.S. were unaware that she had an acting career in the United Kingdom, and believed she was a model.

She has appeared in television series such as Special Branch, Minder, Boon, The Detectives, Footballers' Wives, To the Manor Born, One Foot in the Grave, Casualty, Space: 1999,Return of the Saint, Robin of Sherwood, Doctors and EastEnders, in which she played Frank Butcher's girlfriend, Krystal, in a Costa del Sol special (2002)

As of 2009, Lenska starred in Coronation Street as new character Claudia Colby, an old friend of Audrey Roberts.

However, Rula is probably now best remembered for her stint in Celebrity Big Brother. On 13th January 2006, with fellow housemate, renegade British MP George Galloway, she attracted the attention of the media by indulging in a role-play task, in which Galloway, as a cat, pretended to lick milk from her cupped hands, and Lenska stroked his ears and moustache. No other word for it but Odd!

This incident has actually benefited Rula as after her departure from the Big Brother house she was offered a five figure deal to promote a famous cat food brand. It just goes to show that no publicity is bad publicity when it comes to this red haired countess!

Random Rula Fact:

Rula is a practicing Buddhist of the Nishiren Daishonin way and describes herself as "passionate, romantic and slightly eccentric".

We think she is just purrrrrrfect.

Nigel David Short MBE (born 1 June 1965 in Leigh, Lancashire) is often regarded as the strongest English chess player of the 20th century. He challenged for the World Chess Championship against Garry Kasparov at London 1993. Still active, Short continues to enjoy international success. He is also a chess columnist, coach and commentator.

A chess prodigy, Short first attracted significant media attention, as a 10-year-old, by defeating Viktor Korchnoi in a simultaneous exhibition. In 1977 he became the youngest ever participant in the British Chess Championship by qualifying three days before his twelfth birthday. He was awarded the grandmaster title in 1984, aged nineteen - becoming the youngest grandmaster in the world at that time.

In 1992, the Englishman overcame the legendary Russian Anatoly Karpov in a match that was described as "the end of an era." In the final, in San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Short defeated Dutchman Jan Timman to earn the right to meet defending World Champion Garry Kasparov.

Kasparov won convincingly - the largest margin of victory in a world title contest since Botvinnik defeated Tal in 1961. Short's play came in for heavy criticism from BBC commentators Bill Harston and Tony Miles. Oh give him a break - we all have our 'off days' – even international prodigies.

Nigel now lives in Athens and I had a very interesting conversation with him about the Greek deficit. I think I managed to hold my own – Checkmate!

So to the last guest this week – the one and only Russ Abbott – WHAT A LOVELY MAN

You know when you meet someone for the first time and they just exude warmth and generosity, well that is this gent all over.

Our in house 'voice in the know', Trevor Nichols, told me of a story that once, after filming had wrapped, Russ invited the cast and crew back to his house for an impromptu visit and personally cooked a meal for them all. They don’t make em like they used to eh!

Russ Abbot is an English musician, comedian and actor who first came to public notice during the 1970s as the singer and drummer with British comedic showband the Black Abbots.

From 1980 onwards, Abbot released some albums as a solo artist, and appeared in several TV series. The most successful of his music singles was called "Atmosphere", which did well in the UK top 10, peaking at No 7. I once danced at a holiday camp to this track and came first in the talent competition – my prize......a big box of Maltesers!!!! – Weird the things you remember.........maybe that’s one to try and forget.

The Russ Abbot Show showcased his talents as an all-round entertainer, attracting millions of viewers. This show was especially popular among younger viewers, prompting two annuals to be published in 1982 and 1983. These annuals featured comic strips based on popular characters, plus some publicity photos of Abbot in a variety of guises, including his well-known James Bond satire featuring characters named Basildon Bond and Miss Funnyfanny. Chris and I both reminisced about watching this show religiously as young tots – it was blooming top banana.

From 2000, Abbot played the lead role in the British National Tour of Doctor Dolittle. Taking a break over the Christmas period, Russ stepped down for Phillip Schofield to take the plate, but returned to the tour subsequently.

Abbot's theatre roles include Alfred P. Doolittle in My Fair Lady (starring Amy Nuttall) at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane and on tour; The Narrator in The Rocky Horror Show; Grandpa Potts in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at the London Palladium and Fagin in Oliver! both in 1998 and 2009. From July 2007, he took over the role of Roger De Bris in the UK tour of Mel Brooks' The Producers.

In 2008, the BBC announced that Abbot would be joining the cast of Last of the Summer Wine for the show's 30th series playing Luther 'Hobbo' Hobdyke and in 2009, when Rowan Atkinson fell ill during the original run of Cameron Mackintosh's West End revival of Oliver!, Abbot stepped into the role of Fagin for the second time.

He is currently playing the role again, having taken over from the previous Fagin Griff Rhys Jones who left the show on 12 June 2010. You gotta pick a pocket or two, but pick Russ for anything and you will be a winner.

Just like Russ everyone at A1 ‘loves a party’ and can you imagine letting your hair down with Russ Abbott, Gyles Brandreth, Rula Lenska and Nigel Short – something for everyone I think you’ll agree.

But it would be Arlene Philipps and Carrie Grant getting everyone going on the dance floor, as long as Arlene has her make up. The lithe ex dancer refused us a piccie as she didn’t have her slap on and who can really blame her.

Carrie Grant however was slap-tastic and had all the girls in the Green Room cooing over her outfit, hair and accessories.

So I hope that is enough to keep you all going for another couple of weeks. Firework night is looming and so as is the mantra of many a celeb – Be Safe, but more importantly - Be Seen!

Well the term it’s raining cats and dogs might be an understatement for poor Chris last week. The young chap took his daily bike ride to A1 VOX when out of nowhere the heavens opened and dropped more H2O than the Atlantic.

Chris arrived at the studio drenched to the bone only to find all the alarms going off in the building and none of our neighbourly occupants able to switch them off. Chris to the rescue, (after greeting his clients, making them tea and mopping the floor!), managing to turn the said alarm off and thus releasing everyone from audible hell. Well done Chris!

Now Chris is a very organised, client facing, professional, and as such he always brings a spare change of clothing to work with him. So all was well...until after the session. Once Chris could finally relax and took himself off to the loo, he found his face smeared with mud – remnants from a co cyclist that morning it would seem! Poor fella. He also had to walk around with bare feet after forgetting a second pair of socks and then managed to stub his toe whilst mooching around the office. Ouch!

So if I said to you... an Inspector Called at Casualty only to be greeted by Santa Claus singing along with Chas and Dave you would probably think I had gone mad! It just so happens that they are all little links as to what some of our in-house voices are up to this week.

Ellie Howell had her opening night of An Inspector Calls last Wednesday at 'The Torch Theatre' and it was a rip roaring success. We didn't expect anything else from the lovely lass with the four pronged ‘S’ vocal chords – Soft, Sensual, Spicy and Self-assured. You better believe it mama!

The ending stays with you long after the play is finished, with its chilling twist, throwing the whole play into a completely different light. It will make you want to go back and re-watch certain scenes with a very different perspective. Just like our Ellie - you never know how she is going to turn – she tried to kick me in the head once – no really – she is 5 foot 11 and I barely reach her armpit – plus I was sitting down! Good luck with the run Ellie, we can’t wait to have ya back smiler.

Casualty comes in the form of Mr Stephen Critchlow - no he is still in one piece folks and able to voice another day – but he has been filming for the TV programme ‘Casualty’ in Bristol for the last two weeks.

Whilst on the blower to him the other day he said that he would be filming his stunt scenes that afternoon. Well, as you can imagine I was very impressed but Critch was quick to point out... ‘Sarah...I am no Fall Guy....though I do look a little like 'Lee Majors' - my stunt consists more or less of stumbling into a wall!’ Well we can all be the judge of that once it hits our screens. What a man.

We recorded our first Christmas advert in July - that’s right - record it and weep people, but that isn't the Santa Claus link that we are here to discuss. I am actually inferring to the very sassy and sexy in house voice member Charlie Norfolk. The Christmas TV ad she recorded for Hasbro Games last year was such a hit that they have just started re-running it.

Catch our scintillating brunette sitting on Father Christmas’ knee telling him what she wants to find under the bauble laden tree...steamy stuff people...and what is Charlie’s yearning ....”Brad Pitt dipped in chocolate” – Well I’m with her on that one, but unfortunately the likelihood is that Charlie will actually find a My Little Pony or Star Wars action figure under the evergreen if Hasbro have their way. There’s always next year and hopefully there will be another year for Charlie to sizzle her way onto Santa’s knee. You go girl!





At last the moment you have all been waiting for.....a Chas and Dave musical!!!!

Call them what you will – but Chas and Dave are the biz when it comes to no nonsense cockney rock n roll – some may call it ‘Rockney’.

The rockney style was from the start intentional, as they felt an alternative to the way British bands copied, American accents was needed. Chas has said “I was singing in an American accent. I thought, 'You're being a fraud, you should sing in your own accent', and that's when I started to work on the idea”.

Well they both benefited from such golden thoughts and now Chas & Dave have joined forces with legendary comedy stage writer Ray Cooney to create 'Stop Dreamin' - a musical based on the music of Chas & Dave with a great story and script.

It’s London in the 1960s and family man Fred has a lot on his plate: a troubled marriage; wayward children; and a father who is slowly losing his grip on reality! Thankfully help is at hand in the form of “Mr Music,” a mysterious new ‘friend’ who is invisible to everyone but Fred. Hilarity ensues in this feel-good comedy about family, love and the inspirational power of music.

It is still in production at the moment and the superb cast is led by Cliff Parisi who is best known as the loveable Minty from 'Eastenders'. He is joined by Trevor Bannister, famous for his long-running role as Mr Lucas in the classic British comedy Are You Being Served, Vicki Michelle, who shot to fame as the saucy Yvette in 'Allo Allo' and well known actor Royce Mills.

But forget all of that comedy rabble, cause it also features none other than our gorgeous songstress, with the smile that lights up any room - Miss Felicity Duncan!!!!!

Flick trained at the Webber Douglas Academy and has enjoyed a great mix of theatre and voice work. In 2009 she travelled the world with the touring production of 'Mamma Mia'.

One critic said of her performing the song Take a Chance On Me - This is sung by Rosie (Felicity Duncan) and Bill (Damian Myerscough) just before the wedding and is probably the funniest song of the show. It's one of ABBA's most popular songs, and the audience loved it, clapping along and laughing aloud. Even Felicity Duncan had trouble keeping a straight face whilst she was singing, which was great to see. I do love it when an actor cracks up onstage! Her voice was very polished and strong.

Sounds just like our Flick getting right stuck in and loving every minute. If you want to see her injecting the same life and soul into another performance then stop ‘rabbiting’ and go get yourself some tickets to Stop Dreamin’ (Theatre Royal Windsor - opening night 13th October 2010).

As it is mainly A1 gals this week, we have injected a little masculinity for you in the form of Mark Straker and Nick Chambers.

Well I say masculinity, but Mark appears to be doing his best impression of Louie Spence from 'Pineapple Dance Studios'!!! OOO Give Over.


Nick and Mark have both been linked by the new Harry Potter film 'The Deathly Hallows'. Mark has been recording some ADR sound effects for the new film and if you listen closely you may hear him as one of the scary Dementors.

Nick has turned his hand to a spot of drama school teaching and some of his pupils star in the upcoming film. Well I never.

We have some pictures of some of the A1 gals in black and white this week so as a little nod to one of our in house ladies who we haven’t seen for a while, but all hope to see again very soon..... here is a little tribute for Tracy and a classic picture that I know she loves:

So no London News this week but hope you enjoyed our little round up of A1’s more personal bulletins and catch us next week when we can tell you if Aled Jones is still as white as the ‘snowman’ driven... well...snow, and if Gyles Brandreth still wears those crazzzzy coloured jumpers. Till then Ta-Ra.

I have turned another year older and am hopefully a little wiser for it – I don’t feel like a whole lot has changed, unlike the seasons. I don’t know about you but I kinda like autumn as the leaves turn, crimson, gold and russet and fall to the floor and we get to cosy up at home and give the weather as an excuse for staying in and not having to do anything much.

This week at A1 it has been about The 3 B’s - brains, beauty and brawn.

For the lads we have the gorgeous Gail Porter and for the ladies we have six pack hunk Rav Wilding. Humana Humana!

The brains comes from Dervla Kirwan who on her second visit in two weeks told me about going to 'The Cloth Shop in Berwick Street' to pick up interesting patterned material to make individual duvet covers from. Brilliant idea. Shows she’s not just a pretty face.

Another face that wasn’t too hard on the old eye is Rav Wilding’s. He is also absolutely huge and gives Arnie a run for his money. He managed to pretty much take up all space in the Green Room as he sat in a tight white T-Shirt showing off his olive skin and bulging biceps – I know, I know ladies, my job ‘is’ hard sometimes!.


Due to his stature and physical fitness Rav was selected to undertake parachute training on joining the British Army at seventeen, but a broken leg sustained on a training run cut a career in the, Parachute Regiment short. After four years he left after medical staff advised him that it would be highly unlikely that his leg would ever be back to full fitness.

On leaving the army in 1999, Wilding started working at Harrods store in Knightsbridge as part of the security team and after approximately nine months at 'Harrods', Wilding's application to join the Metropolitan Police Service was accepted and he started training school.

Whilst based at Peckham in Southwark, Rav was involved in the high profile police investigation surrounding the death of Damilola Taylor. Wilding was part of a specialist unit specifically created in the aftermath of the murder where he would work solely on the tough North Peckham estate where Damilola died.

After two years as a policeman he responded to an advert for people to partake in a jungle adventure, to live for three months in an Australian rain forest for a new television programme on Channel 4 called Eden. After numerous auditions and around 50,000 applicants Wilding was picked for the programme and flew out to New South Wales.

After three months in the jungle, Wilding returned to Britain and went back to work in the police but this time in to the CID. He was quickly selected for Detective training and soon became a Detective Constable for the last six years of his service.

Wilding had to go through numerous interviews and auditions as well as formal television presenter training to get to where he is today. Having also auditioned for Blue Peter, he was offered the part on BBC Crimewatch, where he has been since 2004. After taking a period of unpaid leave, Wilding resigned from the police force in February 2008 to concentrate on TV work.

Rav is now a regular reporter on crime issues for BBC One's The One Show and has been co-presenting a new programme called Missing Live, shown every weekday morning on BBC One. Wilding has hosted three series of a fly-on-the-wall series following the lives of the Yorkshire Air Ambulance, Helicopter Heroes on BBC One.

Since April 2008 Rav has appeared in various magazines and publications, including full page pieces in editions of Heat and Now Magazine as well as recent appearances on Ready Steady Cook, Something for the Weekend, Saturday Kitchen, Celebrity Masterchef as well as appearing on and winning the celebrity edition of The Weakest Link.

On 25 August 2009, Wilding was revealed as one of the contestants in the 2009 series of Strictly Come Dancing and was partnered with Aliona Vilani. Rav was made fourth favourite by bookmakers behind former boxer Joe Calzaghe and actor Ricky Whittle, however he became the third celebrity to be eliminated on the show after failing to be saved in a dance-off with Linda Bellingham.

'Strictly' between us it seems that Rav may have bagged a former Miss Wales and Big Brother contestant in Imogen Thomas.

A pal said: "Rav's smitten with Imogen and she's pretty taken with him. He's a good-looking guy and he has that athletic build she likes. They can't keep their hands off each other".

Imogen is desperate to settle down and start a family and Rav has apparently been gushing about wanting to get hitched. So sorry ladies it seems that this pound of muscleman flesh is off the market! Doh.

The delectable Gail Porter bounded up see us on the fourth floor this week and was ever so chatty, making a positive impression on everyone at the studio.

Gail studied a BTEC HND in Media Production at West Hertfordshire College and after making an unsuccessful bid to join the presentation team of the BBC children's show Blue Peter (just like Rav, funny coincidence!), Gail has tended to present family-friendly television programmes, or ones aimed directly at children. This includes The Movie Chart Show, Top of the Pops, and Live and Kicking, work for CITV, and other programmes such as The Big Breakfast and Gail Porter's Big 90s for VH1.

It was whilst working on Top of the Pops that she met our very own Andrew Stanson.

Andy and Gail caught up in the Green Room and reminisced over the golden olden times they shared together. One such story was when they both stepped out with the Manic Street Preachers and got severely, err.... tiddly! Andy left at a somewhat respectable 2am whilst Gail, being the stuff of Rock and Roll legend, partied till 7.30am. She allegedly nipped back home for a shower and change of clothes and two hours later was presenting on live TV!!! – What a gal.

When asked if she gets hangovers her response was: “no, I’m Scottish!” – Fair enough.

In the late 1990s she began to pose for photos in men's magazines such as FHM. Probably the best-known product of her many photo-sessions is one particular still in which she is seen completely nude from behind. The image became well known due to the events of one night in 1999, when FHM beamed an enormous projection of her onto the exterior of the Houses of Parliament, with an accompanying message urging people to vote for Gail in the FHM Top 100 Sexiest Women Poll. In her autobiography, Porter claims that she did not know about the stunt until it was reported in the news the following day.

She married Toploader guitarist Dan Hipgrave in August 2001, and had a daughter, Honey, by him in 2002. They separated in the summer of 2004, and Porter has spoken publicly about her ensuing battles with stress, drugs and post-natal depression.

In 2005 her conditions triggered alopecia areata, causing her to lose much of her hair. She refused to wear a hat or wig, deciding instead to maintain a public profile and raise awareness of the condition. She became Ambassador for the Little Princess Trust, a charity which provides wigs to children with hair loss. As of 2010, her hair has grown back on over 75% of her scalp, and she is beginning to colour and style her hair.

She had been quoted as saying that she’d prefer to stay bald to which she responds – “It was a bit odd, because it started to come back patchy and I was like, Come on! I want one or the other. But now I love it. Its about 1inch long and I’ve bleached it white. I get up in the morning and give my daughter the hair gel and just say, Do what you want! I’m not embarrassed, I’ll wear it any style: flicked up, left down, two horns or whatever, I really don’t care. It’s just such a luxury for me after not having it for so long”.

Gail has met, and seemingly hung out with, a lot of stars in her time, so we asked if she ever get star struck? “Oh god! I had to go and interview Robert De Niro once and I nearly passed out. But then I met Madge from Neighbours and nearly passed out then as well. When I was presenting The Movie Chart Show I got to interview quite a few people. I did Edward Norton and he was so rude, probably the worst-behaved celebrity I’ve ever met. I know they get tired doing interviews over and over again but I hate it when they’re mean. It’s like, how much are you getting paid for this? But some are just lovely, Leonardo DiCaprio was just brilliant, he was so funny”.

Asked to describe herself in three words she says, “Small, happy and furry.....now I’ve got some hair”

We at A1 VOX think she is strong, beautiful and inspirational and it was a pleasure to meet her - fur and all.

(Her autobiography, Laid Bare: My Story Of Love, Fame And Survival, was published in September 2007).

LONDON NEWS

Johnny Depp commuting to work in London everyday by boat !

Continuing with the beautiful theme this week I have dug out a story on every woman’s swoon fest – Johnny Depp.

The Hollywood star has chartered a yacht to sail down the River Thames in London so he can get to the set of new movie Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides on time.

He boards the luxury vessel - nicknamed 'The Jolly Roger' - from Battersea before winding his way up the waterway to Greenwich, where he is reprising his role of Captain Jack Sparrow in the fourth instalment of the Disney franchise.

A source is reported to have said: "Johnny chose to charter a boat for the week because it's the easiest and quickest way to get there. He's been flying in from his home in France some mornings and hopping on the yacht at Battersea and He's been enjoying the views from the water."

Depp's new found love of water comes from his joy at playing character Captain Jack Sparrow in the movie series.

The 46-year-old star - who is reportedly earning £21 million to appear in the sequel - admits the eccentric seafarer has stolen a place in his heart.

Speaking about the role, he said: "Sometimes you fall in love with who you're playing. As filming winds down, you hear the clock ticking because you know you're going to leave your character behind and a kind of odd separation anxiety kicks in. You get irritable and just sort of melancholy."

Well I for one can’t wait to go watch the movie and considering all the ruddy tube strikes of late I may just look into this boat thing.....purely to get on work on time you understand – Ahem.

So let’s say hello to October and embrace the change in weather and I will see all you beautiful people next week.