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Re-tune your digital service on the 30th of September

Many people have bought new digital TVs over the last few years and have now switched over to digital. Some people who may have a nearly new TV might have bought a digital set top box so the can watch digital TV on their analogue Television.

Whatever situation you are in it is worth taking note that from lunchtime tomorrow you will need to re-tune your digital television service to pick up new channels and to receive channels whose frequency is changing.
The digital service needs to move channels around to make room for freeview HD channels. This could mean problems for people who do not know how to retune their boxes and some viewers boxes may no longer work completely. We will wait for Friday afternoon to find out.


Snooker Loopy Chas and Dave call it a day

The youth of today could be forgiven at not knowing who Chas and Dave are. The enigmatic pair recorded a number of catchy (or some say annoying) songs during the 1970’s and 80’s and have influenced many budding artists over the years. Songs such as Snooker Loopy, Rabbit and the Sideboard Song elevated them to stardom. But, sad news reaches us that the pair have decided to call it a day after 35 years together. They had eight top 40 singles over the years but pianist Chas Hodges will now go it alone under the name ‘Chas and his Band’. Dave Peacock will retire from the music business after the death of his wife Sue from Cancer. One of their last major performances was at the Glastonbury festival in 2005.


The reintroduction of the cheetah to India

A meeting of wildlife experts and officials form around the world has discussed the reintroduction of the cheetah to India. The big cat s[species has been extinct in the country since the 1960’s. Reintroduction of large animals is always difficult, but with cheetah numbers falling in Africa and especially Iran the reintroduction could be just the lifeline the big cat needs.

The initial phase will see the animals introduced to semi-captive conditions, but further work must be done to also restore valuable habitat and increase the cheetahs natural prey requirements. Cheetah numbers in India were around 10,000 during the reign of the Mughal emperor Jahangir but had fallen to just over only 200 in the early part of the last century, with no cats reported in the wild after around 1968.


Shoe wear war finally ends

Adidas and Puma have finally decided on a date to end the shoe wear war that has been ongoing for the last 60 years. On Monday the 21st of September, employees from both companies will play a charity football match in aid of the Peace One Day organisation.

The companies have been in competition since brothers Adi and Rudolf Dassler fell out during the Second World War. They both stated new companies at the time on different sides of the river in the Bavarian town of Herzogenaurach. Communities became divided due to the fierce competition between both factories with many families being divided because of their allegiance to one factory.

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Renault F1 in turmoil

The Renault Formula 1 team have decided not to contest the charges brought against them concerning the alleged race fixing furore surrounding Nelson Piquet Jr’s crash at the Singapore Grand Prix last year.

Piquet Jr was sacked by the team earlier in the season and had since suggested that Renault asked him to crash to further the chances of team mate Fernando Alonso.

As a result of the allegations Renault were asked to answer charges with regard to the incident in question. As a result, the two men that Piquet Jr testified had instructed him to crash the car, Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds, have now left the team.

Renault had previously stated that Piquet Jr had made false allegations and would be taking legal action against him. It now seems likely that this will not happen and the removal of the two men by Renault themselves could be read as an admission of guilt by Renault.

What punishment they will receive is yet to be seen, but it is not a good day for Formula 1.


TV chef Keith Floyd dies age 65

The always effervescent and sometimes tipsy Keith Floyd has died of a heart attack aged 65. The TV chef enjoyed many years of success in the 1980’s with brilliant TV shows that he mainly presented with wine glass in hand.

His unplanned and often chaotic style of presentation won the hearts of many viewers and the shows are still re-run today. Former manager Stan green commented it was the:

“end of an era for many of us”

Floyd wrote over 20 books with most of them topping the best sellers list and his autobiography is scheduled to be released next month.


Mysteries of the Bermuda Triangle

Whenever the Bermuda Triangle is mentioned thoughts turn straight away to the mysterious disappearances of ships and planes when travelling through the region. The region first received notoriety when investigators suggested that an external cause could be the reason why the vehicles disappeared. The comments like these proved a field day for conspiracy theorists and hence the mystery surrounding the region evolved.

The mysteriousness was fuelled by the fact that no wreckage was found when the first aircraft disappearances took place. However, new research has now been conducted focusing on the late 1940’s and found that many errors could have contributed to the planes loss. Mainly due to late arrival of search and rescue teams at the site.

If you want to find out more, Radio 4 have produced 10 radio shows dedicated to the subject. The first will be aired today at 3.45pm.


Silver stealers plead guilty

We often hear of robberies on the news, they are an unfortunate occurrence of day-to-day life. Mostly however we associate them with the younger generations. Not so it seems in Scotland. Two pensioners have just been charged with steeling £2,000 in cash and other items from a shop in Glasgow.

Before the jokes start, they did not did not steal slippers from M&S or pretend their walking sticks were guns. They actually committed the crime knowingly and willingly. One man distracted staff while the other stole the goods. Police later recovered cash and goods from the man’s house.

Sentencing has been deferred and the men have now been released on bail.great train


Pigeon power is faster than the internet

It is quite common to bit a little disappointed when your internet service provider says they are providing you with a certain internet speed and they are actually not. Download and upload speeds can vary and your provider will often use the age old excuse of you being too far from the exchange to get full usage.

A South African IT company that has had problems with internet speeds has finally found the solution – pigeon power. The company attached a 4GB memory stick to the pigeon’s leg and timed how long it took the bird to travel from one office in Howick to another in Durban. The bird took only two hours whereas the ASDL line the company used had only managed to send 4% of the same data in that time.

So, if you thought the internet was getting bigger all the time, think again, there is still a lot to be said for pigeon post.


999 Day on the 9th of September

We all know when we are supposed to dial 999, or do we? A recent report states that the British public seem to be calling the emergency number for the most bizarre of reasons. Greater Manchester has a huge population and the emergency number is dialled around 6,500 times every day by people that need either the Police, Ambulance or Fire service. But, sometimes these calls are bogus or even for purposes we can only stand back and be astonished about.

The Greater Manchester Police force has just released recordings of some of the weird and downright stupid reasons people have called the number. One man angry about the cash amount he received for his win on a bet called 999 because he wanted to complain, whilst a woman called 999 just because she had no credit on her phone and needed to call someone.

A police spokesman stated:

“999 Day has been launched to appeal to the public to only ring 999 in a real emergency as tying up the lines unnecessarily puts people’s lives at risk and could delay someone in need of urgent help getting through.”