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A Shakeup in the British Royal Household?
March 27, 2009 9:51 AM
By EMILY WITHER, ABC News London
Buckingham Palace is in talks with Prime Minister Gordon Brown about rewriting the royal laws when it comes to marriage and succession to the throne.
As the law stands now, if Prince William decides not to marry Kate Middleton, his on-off girlfriend of seven years, he could wed anyone he wishes as long as she is not a Roman Catholic. If he did decide to marry a Catholic, he would lose his chance to become king of England.
This dates back to a 300-year-old rule from the 1701 Act of Settlement stating that if a royal converts to Catholicism or marries a Catholic, the royal cannot succeed to the throne.
Brown hopes to scrap the archaic rulings, saying he finds them discriminatory and out-of-place in the 21st century.
The prime minister also said it’s time to stop the discrimination against female heirs. Currently, precedence is given to male heirs over their female counterparts, and princesses are superseded by younger male siblings.
Under the proposals, which could come into force next year, the royal line would take on a new order, and Princess Ann would move from 10th in line to the throne to fourth.
But there would be no change to the constitutional role of the monarch or the Church of England as the established church.
An overhaul of the rules is going to take a long time. The Queen ought to get the blessing of every country of which she is a head of state, such as Canada and Australia. It’s thought Brown will bring the topic up at the commonwealth leader’s summit in November, which The Queen will attend, a spokesman at No. 10 Downing Street told ABC News.com
"People expect the government to look at issues of discrimination. The laws concerning marriage to Catholics and the primacy of male members of the royal family should change, but that can only happen with the agreement of the palace.”
MPs in the House of Commons debate a private members bill later today, suggesting changes. The Queen had to grant permission for the debate to take place, but Brown isn’t backing the bill.
The spokesman from Downing Street told ABC News.com that the government is keen to begin discussions with Buckingham Palace. But Brown recognizes that changes cannot happen overnight, and this is why he’s not supporting the bill today.
Similar reviews have already been made for the royal families of Belgium, the Netherlands and Sweden.
It looks as if Brits think its time for a change too. A survey, by ICM for the BBC, showed 89 percent of voters backed giving female heirs equal succession rights and 81 percent believed heirs who married Catholics should still be able to succeed to the throne.
Buckingham Palace refused to comment on the proposals, saying it was a matter for the government.
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March 27, 2009 in Emily Wither | Permalink | User Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
Buy a Slice of English Life for $32M
March 19, 2009 11:09 AM
By EMILY WITHER, ABC News, London
Got a spare $32 million lying around? Then why not buy yourself a classic quintessentially English village in southern England?
The entire village of Linkenholt, about 73 miles from central London, has just come on the market for an asking price of around $32 million.
For your money you’ll get a grand Edwardian manor, 21 rental houses and cottages, a thriving pheasant and partridge shoot, 1,500 acres of farmland and an additional 425 acres of ancient woodland.
Real estate agent Tim Sherston told ABCNews.com that entire villages like this don’t come on the market often. “This is very rare, particularly in the south of England. I don’t remember a village like this ever coming up.”
The sale includes a village shop, the old schoolhouse and cricket grounds. The only thing not included in the sale is the village Church St. Peters, which, according to the estate agent, “is owned by God.” The village is also missing a pub and residents have to walk to the neighboring village if they fancy a pint.
Located in the Test Valley of Hampshire, with its rolling hills, unspoiled landscape and outstanding natural beauty, the village is sure to be popular, the brokerage says.
The property went on the market Wednesday and Sherston told ABCNews.com that it’s already had a lot of interest from perspective buyers. “In these uncertain times this is a very safe and sound investment for anybody with the money and not sure where to put it for the next five-10 years.”
The roots of the village, which was created out of a former estate, can be traced back to the 11th century; the village has been owned since the late ‘70s by the Herbert and Peter Blagrave Charitable Trust.
In order to not cause any anxiety among the 40 or so community members, the Linkenholt trustees held a village meeting and gave residents new leases on their homes for a couple more years. The estate rents the cottages to the villagers for $830 to $7,000 a month.
If the new owner moves into the manor house, he or she will not become a traditional lord of the manor because the estate comes with no title. But if the owner wishes, he or she could earn the title of president of the cricket club.
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March 19, 2009 in Emily Wither | Permalink | User Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
A Right Royal Tweeting
March 09, 2009 4:03 PM
By EMILY WITHER, ABC News, London
It seems even the queen of England can’t escape the Twittering bug as she becomes the first member of the royal family to join the Internet craze.
Subscribers can sign up to twitter.com/thequeen and receive “tweet” updates today as Queen Elizabeth, the Duke of Edinburgh and other high-ranking officials take part in a ceremony at Westminster Abbey to mark the 60th anniversary of the creation of the modern Commonwealth.
The observance is the centerpiece of London’s commonwealth celebrations and takes place every year. Twitter users will be able to follow the Queens’ attendance at the event online as “tweets” will be sent during the rehearsals, the preparations and the service itself.
A spokesman for the abbey told the Telegraph newspaper that the first tweets will be "pretty spontaneous and in the spirit of Twitter."
But with only 236 followers so far receiving her updates, the queen isn’t as popular as some of Twitters’ other famous users.
The queen (or shall we say her press team) has been pretty good at keeping her finger on the technological pulse and her majesty has been keen to reach out to the younger generation. She now has her own Royal channel on YouTube; it’s claimed that she e-mails her grandchildren and a revamped royal Web site was launched last month.
But before you conjure up images of the queen in her finery sitting through the ceremony with a blackberry in her hand, it seems “one won’t actually be tweeting.” A spokesman from Buckingham Palace told ABC News that “press officers from Westminster Abbey will be doing the ‘twittering’ not the Queen herself.”
One can’t help but think that the late-night party antics of her majesty’s grandchild, Prince Harry, would be a more interesting royal micro-blog to follow.
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March 9, 2009 in Emily Wither | Permalink | User Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
U.K. Law Firms: Here’s $14K; Take a Year Off
March 07, 2009 5:29 PM
By EMILY WITHER, ABC News London
Law students in Britain expecting to start training contracts at law firms this fall are being offered up to $14,000 to stay away from the office for a year while the economy calms down.
Top law firms in London hit by the credit crunch are worried their trainees won’t get the experience they need to qualify because there simply isn’t enough work for them to do in the current climate.
One leading firm, Norton Rose, confirmed to ABCNews.com that it has offered 55 trainees a little more than $14,000 to delay their contracts by a year.
“We cannot ignore the economic downturn and we are not immune,” said a spokesman, Sean Twomey. “This is a voluntary initiative intended to ensure that we have the correct numbers for the highest quality of training.”
Just over a third of graduates have decided to grab the cash. They must now promise to do “something meaningful and constructive” with their year off.
Twomey said that while Norton Rose won’t tell anyone what to do, the firm wants its trainees to benefit from the next 12 months.
“Some individuals have said they want to do a masters, go traveling, learn a language, even get a job somewhere else,” he said. “If it’s going to give them better experience to be a lawyer that’s fantastic.”
Other law firms involved, such as Pennington’s, DLA Piper and Baker & McKenzie are offering trainees just over $7,000. Some firms have given trainees conditions for their year while others have said they can spend their time off in whatever way they like. It’s thought some volunteers will take jobs in other law firms as paralegals.
Graduate law student Kirsty Fradley is doing her training contract with a law firm in London. She told ABC News.com that you don’t sign your contract until you start so firms could just tell you not to bother turning up.
“I think firms are actually being very generous in an attempt to avoid the bad PR of turning future trainees away,” she said.
If she’d been offered money when she started she would’ve jumped at the chance, Fradley told ABCNews.com.
“The fact is you train to qualify, and there is a shortage of newly qualified jobs,” she said. “Far better to use the time to travel, learn a language, build an orphanage and all the other socially worthwhile things you'll never have the chance to do once you start working properly, and hopefully qualify at a time when there might be jobs.”
Norton Rose told ABCNews.com that since launching the initiative it has received lots of calls from charities, language schools and clients offering the trainees "something constructive" to do with the time off.
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March 7, 2009 in Emily Wither | Permalink | User Comments (12) | TrackBack (2)
Aniston’s Hairstyle a Mere Snip at over $56,000
March 04, 2009 3:17 PM
March 4, 2009 6:45 PM
By EMILY WITHER, ABC News, London
Her hair has inspired a generation of women to buy hair-straighteners, and in the mid-1990s we were desperate to have the famous “Rachel cut.” But how much would you pay to get a Jennifer Aniston ‘do?
It seems the most famous locks in show business don’t come cheap, with Aniston’s latest hair bill coming in at just over $56,000, according to the London newspaper the Daily Mail.
The actress has just been on a weeklong trip to Europe promoting her latest romantic comedy, “Marley & Me,” about a mischievous Labrador. But after admitting that she felt upstaged by her canine co-stars during filming, she certainly didn’t want to be upstaged on the red carpet. According to the Daily Mail, Aniston decided she had to have round-the-clock care from her hairdresser, Chris McMillan, and brought him along for the promotional trip.
The actress clearly isn’t feeling the credit pinch, as the paper claims she shelled out for her hair guru’s first-class flights from L.A. to London (estimated $20,000), a private jet to a premiere in Paris (estimated $5,656) and hotel accommodations for the seven-day trip (estimated $14,800), not to mention her stylist’s daily rate of $2,120.
It is unconfirmed whether “Marley & Me’s” production company, Fox, funded McMillan’s trip or whether Aniston paid for him personally.
But Aniston’s red-carpet look this week hasn’t been much of a hairspiration – she’s been sporting a fairly simple, arrow-straight style. At least women can be confident that for a fraction of the price they can probably copy her look with just a bit of backbone and straightening irons.
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March 4, 2009 in Emily Wither | Permalink | User Comments (24) | TrackBack (0)
Chef Gordon Ramsay’s Mini Kitchen Nightmare
February 24, 2009 4:31 PM
By EMILY WITHER, ABC News, London
Gordon Ramsay may have a rival in the kitchen who isn’t even old enough to drink in one of the British celebrity chef’s many restaurants.
A 9-year-old boy from southern England, who with his blond locks and blue eyes looks like a mini-Gordon, is causing quite a stir on the Internet. More than 2 million viewers have logged on to catch the innocent schoolboy’s hilarious impersonations of the notoriously foul-mouthed chef.
But the kid’s biggest fan is Ramsay himself, who was so impressed by the wannabe chef that he’s flown his mini-me to Los Angeles to take part in his TV show “Hell’s Kitchen USA.”
Ramsey told the Daily Mirror he thought the kid – child actor and model Felix Light -- was a hoot. "We all sat there laughing our heads off,” he said. “Felix had me down to a T. I thought we just have to get this kid on ‘Hell's Kitchen.’ He's a star."
Felix was picked to take part in three video advertisements for the hospitality recruitment company Caterer.com. They were intended to provide a humorous portrayal of the qualities needed to work in the restaurant business.
In the viral films, the young chef can be seen attacking his mother’s sandwich-making skills as she packs his lunch, ordering her to make it to his high standards. He also screams at the wait staff in a restaurant about bad service and goes off on a rant about his school lunch. All F-words are carefully bleeped out.
Ramsay is famous for his hot-tempered kitchen tantrums – during one show he used the F-word 240 times.
But speaking to the Daily Mirror, Felix’s mom made it very clear that once the cameras are off, cussing is strictly off the menu for her son. It also seems Felix hasn’t set his sights on a job in the catering business. He told the paper he’d “rather be a rock star because it’s more fun than cooking.”
Watch the three advertisements and outtakes here
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February 24, 2009 in Emily Wither | Permalink | User Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Cheap Romance: I Love You on a Budget
February 20, 2009 11:27 AM
By EMILY WITHER, ABC News London
Getting married is expensive business and nothing says “I love you” more than a big sparkly rock. But who says you can put a price on romance during these tough economic times?
One British store, Marks and Spencer, thinks that love should cost a little less during the credit crunch. It has launched a $25 engagement and wedding ring set for bridegrooms who want the look of diamonds but can't afford them.
The platinum-plated sparklers are made of tin alloy and are diamante encrusted with a fake diamond. The bands come in a purple box in four sizes, and the M&S logo, rather than a hallmark, is inside the ring.
The You & Your Wedding magazine's survey says the average cost of an engagement ring in Britain last year was the equivalent of more than $2,000. With the latest figures from the Office of National Statistics claiming that marriage rates in the United Kingdom are at their lowest since records began in 1862, M&S hopes couples won’t put marriage off because of the cost. During a sale last year, it was selling a $21 wedding dress on its Web site.
But does love have a price tag? Thrifty men will be delighted that monetary worries don’t need to keep them from proposing to their loved one. But whether a 25-buck ring will have your partner screaming “I do!” is another matter.
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February 20, 2009 in Emily Wither | Permalink | User Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
One Concert You Won’t Hear the End Of
February 12, 2009 9:28 AM
By EMILY WITHER, ABC News London
No one can blame the audience for getting fidgety in their seats at this concert, but if they’re lucky they may be able to buy a packet of peanuts during the interval in a couple of centuries.
On an organ in an abandoned church, musicians in Germany are performing a piece of music by the U.S. experimental composer John Cage, in what is officially the world’s slowest musical recital. And how slow is slow? The composition’s title, "Organ 2/ASLSP," which stands for "as slow as possible," has been taken quite literally. It will last for 639 years.
The piece, originally lasting 20 minutes, began in September 2001 on what would have been Cage's 89th birthday. However, the first year and a half of the performance was total silence, with the first chord finally sounded in 2003. Since then, notes have been sounding only once or twice a year, with special weights placed on the organ to hold down the chords. Neighbors of the church were said to have complained at first that the continuous tone sounded like an air-raid siren.
The residents of Halberstadt, Eastern Germany, have had years to get used to the noise, along with the hundreds of tourists that now flock to the church each time the sound changes. But the organizers of the John Cage Organ Project have said the performance is not meant as a tourist attraction but to "rediscover calm and slowness in today's fast-changing world."
The project is also keeping in tune with Cage’s ethos. Many considered him a philosopher as well as a musician. He died in New York in 1992 and one of his most notorious works was "4'33"," in which the perfomers sat in silence for four minutes, 33 seconds. The score has been divided up into nine segments, each movement lasting around 71 years. Because some notes will not be needed for decades, pipes will be added and removed from the organ as the performance continues.
Music fans will now have to wait very patiently for the finale of the performance in 2639 and hope that the will of future generations keeps the concert going. I wonder if there’ll be an encore…
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February 12, 2009 in Emily Wither | Permalink | User Comments (0) | TrackBack (1)
Kids Watch Out! Big Mother Knows Your Every Move.
January 15, 2009 4:53 PM
By EMILY WITHER, ABC News London
It’s a parent's dream and every kid’s nightmare. Your child’s every move, tracked by a device while you sit back and monitor them via the Internet or your cell phone, is soon to become a reality. Enter the Nu.M8 digital watch set to be launched by a company in England.
Parents can buy their children a virtual chaperon in the form of a wrist accessory for $218. Their minds can then be put at ease as the satellite tracking device plots their kid's every move as it happens.
Just like Sat Nav for your car, the Nu.M8 digital watch uses GPS satellite technology and claims to have an accuracy down to about 10 feet.
Customers will also have to pay a monthly subscription charge, which varies according to the chosen tariff.
For your money you get access to a secure Web site and messaging service run by the company. Parents can text “wru” from their cell to Nu.M8 or click “where r you” on the site. Their child’s location will then be presented as an icon on Google maps and/or the street address and postcode are displayed.
Parents can also pick exactly where they want their children to play by setting up “safe zones.” If they stray from those areas an alert will be sent to your cell or computer.
The watch also claims to be shock-, water- and impact-proof. If the child tries to take it off, an alert will be set off and parents or carers will be immediately informed where their child is.
Steve Salmon, chief executive of Lok8u, told ABC News that the motivation behind the product is about giving children freedom. “Nu.M8 gives parents the reassurance of knowing where their children are; anytime, anywhere. Hopefully in using this product girls and boys can now be given the similar freedom to play outside that I enjoyed as a child.”
The company claims that recent reports in the UK indicate 25 percent of 8- to 10-year-olds have never played outside without a parent or guardian present, and one in three parents will not even allow older children, aged 8 to 15, to play outside the house or garden unsupervised. They hope the watch will change that.
But Claude Knights of the children’s safety charity Kidscape told ABC News she has some reservations about the watch. “We wouldn’t want any parent or carer to develop a sense of false security; you could end up finding the object but not necessarily the child.”
The company is calling the watch a new best friend for children and parents, but those made to wear the accessory may disagree.
The watch is scheduled to become available in the United States in the late spring.
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January 15, 2009 in Emily Wither | Permalink | User Comments (0) | TrackBack (3)
A Lovely Proposal, Actually
January 09, 2009 2:34 PM
By EMILY WITHER, ABC News London
One loved-up man in Britain went to a lot of effort to make his marriage proposal so special that his girlfriend simply couldn’t refuse.
When Caroline Thomas sat down to watch "Love Actually," her favorite film, with boyfriend Dan Ferguson she was ready for some onscreen romance but ended up thrilled to tears when the leading man turned out to be her very own boyfriend.
For those of you familiar with "Love Actually," the famous scene in which a guy holds up words on a series of cards telling actress Keira Knightley 's character he loves her had been replaced.
What appeared instead was Dan in a number of brightly colored T-shirts. During the inserted segment, he proceeded to take off the shirts one by one to reveal his words of love on their second anniversary. The t-shirts ranged from “I think you’re amazing” to “You mean the world to me.”
Dan had hid the final T-shirt under his sweater, which he quickly whipped off at the end of the tape, popping the question, “Will you marry me?” Caroline, 28, also known as Caz didn’t hesitate. She quickly grabbed a pen and scribbled the word "yes" underneath his proposal.
Dan, 30, explained to ABC News' that he had asked his brother-in-law to help him make his DVD Proposal. “It’s one of Caz’s favorite films, which gave me inspiration for the whole idea. I obviously didn’t want it to be a direct copy, though, so after a brain-storming session, I decided to put it on the T-shirts. We secretly filmed it over at his house.”
The pair have been together for two years, and actually dated when Dan was 18. But they didn't see each other again until they met at a party 12 years later. It was love at second sight.
Caroline told ABC News it was the perfect proposal. “I was gob-smacked and just cried and cried happy tears. I didn’t think he had it in him!”
The couple, who live together in Cardiff, Wales, said they are planning to tie the knot at the end of this year. Dan wouldn’t reveal his secret romantic plans for the wedding to ABC News. “What if she ends up reading this!” he said.
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January 9, 2009 in Emily Wither | Permalink | User Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
