Cheese and Onion born in 1954

6th March | 0 comments | 1 person likes this

It is believed that the original potato chip recipe was created by Native American/African American chef George Crum, at Moon’s Lake House near Saratoga Springs, New York on August 24, 1853. He was fed up with a customer — by some accounts Cornelius Vanderbilt — who continued to send his fried potatoes back, because they were too thick and soggy. Crum decided to slice the potatoes so thin that they couldn’t be eaten with a fork. Against Crum’s expectation, the guest was ecstatic about the new chips. They became a regular item on the lodge’s menu under the name “Saratoga Chips”. They soon became popular throughout New England. Eventually, potato chips spread beyond chef-cooked restaurant fare and began to be mass produced for home consumption

In the 1880’s in a Midlands town in Leicester, a butcher named Henry Walker opened a new butcher’s shop and for a while things went well but by 1945 meat was so scarce that Henry branched out and began cooking slices of potato.  They sold well and in 1954 the first flavoured crisps were created, Cheese and Onion was born! Henry Walker became Walkers and by the 1980’s.

Walkers claim they can liven up any sandwich, I love brie and Salt n’ Vinegar, what’s your trick?

Comedienne and patron of Headway East London Jo Brand

1st March | 0 comments | 1 person likes this

Last night, Headway East London organised a dance marathon at Hoxton Hall, to raise money for people suffering from long term brain injuries.

As a patron of the charity, Jo Brand was on hand to offer support and advice to contestants who were expected to dance for a staggering 8 hours.

The event began at 3pm and lasted until 11pm - with contestants dancing to every genre from salsa to hip hop, provided by guest DJs the 9000, La Supercool Discotheque and the nine-piece The Funk Soul Brothers.

To find out more about the work Headway East London check out their site at www.headwayeastlondon.org

Jack Bruce and Cream - a personal recollection

15th February | 1 comments | 1 person likes this

Jack Bruce is a classically trained musician. As a teenager he composed for string quartets and improvised on piano. Then he heard Thelonious Monk and Charlie Mingus and left home to play jazz bass. He found the London blues scene and  joined John Mayall, Graham Bond and Manfred Mann. Then came Cream, the first Supergroup, selling 35 million albums in the two years in the late ’60’s.  Jack co-wrote the hits with Pete Brown. Jack went on to record solo albums again ahead of their time and often too musically difficult for commercial success.  www.jackbruce.com 

I don’t think I heard Cream until I came to London in 1967. But I do remember buying Cream’s Disraeli Gears  on vinyl of course  for the first and not last time in NYC in 1968 . It was discounted at the now defunct Alexander’s department store whose slogan was “You’ll find Alexander’s has what you’re looking for; how lucky can you get?!” We had flown over to NYC on a Ronnie Scott’s jazz charter flight with John McLaughlin and Dave Holland  on board who were apparently joining Miles Davis.  We were visiting NYC to see friends, the City, buy records  and listen to  jazz. 

Unbelievably, I heard the Bill Evans Trio at the Village Vanguard and talked to Bill. Also the Sun Ra Archestra in some inappropriate NY dive. My love of jazz worked with Cream, and especially with Jack Bruce. Some of the music was difficult like jazz, but that’s what I wanted.

I couldn’t get a ticket for their Farewell Concert in 1968 but drove by the Royal Albert Hall in the vain hope of  buying one. I watched the show on TV much later. I made up for it to when Cream re-formed in 2005. I got to know Jack Bruce over the years in jazz and rock settings with Chris Spedding, John Mclaughlin, Billy Cobham, Carla Bley and Tony Williams. I even thought  “Cream”  was back with a vengeance when I heard  Tony William’s Lifetime at the Croydon Fairfield Hall in late 1970 . Sadly they were ahead of their time and themselves. But jazz fusion had arrived alongside Miles Davis’  ” In a Silent Way “  and  ” Bitches Brew ” , and John McLaughlin’s  ” The Inner Mounting Flame ” .

I listened to Jack’s second solo album Harmony Row, a favourite, at his house before it was released. We sat on the floor  around  a record player and I swear Jack’s eyes were closed during both sides of the album. I tried to do the same but obviously failed. That taught me something about listening to music and I’m better at it now. And I’m not sleeping.

I haven’t read Harry Shapiro’s biography of Jack Bruce yet but I know that Jack’s powerful voice and the rhythm will be there. Harry Shapiro is an author, journalist and lecturer who has written widely on drugs, popular music and film. He wrote Waiting For The Man: The Story Of Drugs And Popular Music, Shooting Stars: Drugs, Hollywood And The Movies, Jimi Hendrix: Electric Gypsy and biographies of Graham Bond and Alexis Korner. Harry is a leading commentator on drugs and has written in depth and with feeling about music. I’d rather listen than read about music, but Harry gets very close to the sounds on paper.

Jack and Cream have a special place in many people’s lives. I was at Sixth Avenue Skatepark in Nashville TN recently with my skateboarding musician son Andy when to my amazement a young skateboarder took off a pop CD and replaced it with Cream. I asked him why and he said his Dad had introduced him to Cream and had followed the band around the USA. Sunshine of Your Love mixed with the sound of trucks on decks in a skatepark never sounded better.
Jack  Bruce is a shy straight forward Scot with a cheeky sense of humour whose life hasn’t been without tradegy.  Drugs and a liver transplant to begin with. We always had plenty to talk about including fast cars. Yet curiously, he doesn’t seem to appreciate his eminent position in music and doubts whether anyone could learn anything from him. I expect Harry’s biography to reveal otherwise.

Jack Bruce  -  Composing Himself  -  The Authorised Biography by Harry Shapiro

Come to the Launch on Thursday 11th March 2010 at 7pm - Hornsey Library, Haringey Park, Crouch End, London N8 9NJ - Call 020 8489 1429 to book.

Published: February  2010
ISBN: 978-1-906002-26-8
Price: £14.95
320 Pages

This week on t5m: Solar Eclipse, The Sharpener and Deadly Movies

15th January | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree

What a week it has been here at t5m towers….While most people are routinely breaking their new year’s resolutions, bemoaning the snow and being engrossed by Celebrity Big Brother (Sov to Win), we’ve been launching publications, reviewing the very latest cinema and anticipating the award ceremony season with trepidation.

And on top of that? Well, we even took time out to enjoy these incredible images of today’s eclipse in the Maldives (courtesy of Cat Vinton)… yes we’ve been changing the future of online publications, indulging in popular culture and learning about natural phenomena (we hope you aren’t feeling too inadequate).

Firstly, we announce the arrival of The Sharpener – our pithy, withering and topical look at the world of celebrity gossip. Forget trash talk or regurgitated press releases, The Sharpener is all about getting to the point of celebrity news…The Sharpener is also joined by Deadly Movies – the ultimate authority on horror movies – from shark attacks, to zombies and axe murderers! All very uplifting, but somehow very appropriate for the end of the week!

Of course, our film contingent have been out in force, reviewing everything from The Road to Precious and Sherlock Holmes – don’t go see anything until you’ve read the review here!

And finally, back to the eclipse (we love a bit of a spooky supernatural here..)! Guests staying at the Soneva Fushi luxury hide away reported feeling goose bumps as the moon started moving away from the Sun…which is funny, cos we kind of felt like that here when our very first publication went live?

Spooky stuff…

Happy Weekend!

Clueless star Brittany Murphy dies, aged 32

20th December 2009 | 2 comments | 3 people like this

In eerily similar circumstances to the death of Michael Jackson - with the story of a reported ‘death’ circulating online through Twitter and celebrity gossip site, TMZ - actress/singer Brittany Murphy is reported to have died earlier this morning from a heart attack.

Aged 32, the actress was said to have been found unconscious in the shower by her mother - and when paramedics were called to the house she shared with her husband Simon Monjack they immediately began CPR in an attempt to revive her.

They continued mouth-to-mouth as they sped to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, several miles away from her home, but Brittany was pronounced dead on arrival.

Today reports have emerged that Brittany has been very ill in the lead up to her death - with her vomiting and taking medication for flu like symptoms. Reports from TMZ claim that Brittany was found surrounded by vomit when her mother discovered her in the shower, and while the police search of the house has not yeilded any illegal drugs, a source has told the gossip website that Brittany was definitely taking prescription medicine.

Brittany’s mother also revealed to paramedics that her daughter suffered from diabetes.

Again, the similarities with the death of Michael Jackson earlier this year continue, with the internet already alive with speculation as to what caused Brittany to go into cardiac arrest - notorious blogger Perez Hilton has spent the evening Tweeting about Britanny’s alleged drug and eating disorders, going so far as to Tweet at fellow celebrities Courtney Love and Lindsay Lohan about the dangers of drug use.

Despite these allegations, Brittany had always strongly denied any drug abuse problems, saying in a previous interview “I have never tried it in my entire life, I’ve never even see it, and I don’t leave the house too much, except to go to work. My worst vice is caffeine. The rumour is pretty far - fetched, it couldn’t be further from the truth. I have known people over the course of my life that have bad problems with drugs, and it’s something really serious”.

Born in Atlanta and raised in New Jersey, Brittany shot to fame with her role in the 1995 film Clueless, and went on to star alongside Eminem in his semi-autobiographical film 8 mile, and Ashton Kutcher in the rom-com Just Married.

Ashton used his Twitter page to pay tribute to his co star early today:

 ’2day the world lost a little piece of sunshine. My deepest condolences go out 2 Brittany’s family, her husband, & her amazing mother Sharon. See you on the other side kid.’

Irrespective of the rumours and speculation, the death of a talented, successful young woman in such tragic and sudden circumstances deserves sensitivity and sympathy from the rumour mills and commentators.

Our thoughts go out to Brittany’s family and fans.

Avatar leaves us blue, the British Fashion Awards and the best of 2009

15th December 2009 | 2 comments | 1 person likes this

What a year it’s been. Katie Price and Peter Andre part company (the final blow to the institution of marriage), Obama wins the Nobel Peace Prize despite being in the midst of two wars, the Pre Budget Report made more depressing reading than one of Jan Muir’s columns and the world wakes up to the urgency of climate change at the Copenhagen Conference.

We panicked about H1N1, we voted for Joe McElderry, we were told we probably wouldn’t be voting on the Lisbon Treaty, we wore leather leggings, cropped tops and green nail varnish. We watched apocolyptic films, listened to GaGa and Tweeted.

Going in became the new going out, and going out got so much cheaper. Good  thing too, because 2009 was the year of ‘fierce’ - the fine line between trash and bling - and boy, is being fierce expensive.

Need some help remembering what you loved and what you didn’t? Neil Innes counts down his top 10 albums - and seems to entirely disagree with Chris Mugan and his countdown of the top ten musical highlights of the year. If you don’t agree with either of them, maybe Mark Davison will win your vote?

Having seemingly spent most of the year in the cinema, shifting through what should have been straight to DVD releases, as well as era defining epics, Nick Clarke counts down this year’s top 10 films - and is entirely contradicted by Stephen Bains, our most provocative Upriser to date.

Our film experts, Neil and Joe attended the world premiere of Avatar last week, while fashionista authority Carli Humphries translates what the British Fashion Awards are, and explains to us why we should care.

Katy Morton reviews Nancy Reddin Kienholz’s  Hoerengracht tableaux at the National Gallery, while Julia Kollewe counts down the best art shows of the year.

If that’s not enough - we even managed to add our thoughts to the X Factor / Sports Personality of the Year / Susan Boyle / Strictly Come Dancing debate.

Reality sucks? Joe wins, Giggs scores and Ali exits

14th December 2009 | 2 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree

This morning I am faced with the stark realisation, that after months of booked up weekends (Strictly followed by X Factor, followed by The Thick Of It), I have to get myself a life.

Joe is now the X Factor Dauphin - his sweet and mild manners, toothy grin and ill fitting wardrobe endeared him to the British public - while cheeky chappy Olly has only his bromance with Robbie Williams to comfort him today, as he prepares to be branded with the moniker  ’ X Factor Runner Up 2009′ for innumerable Christmas panto posters to come…

Of course, the victory should have gone to Miss Frank, who were the only contestants that made their soulful and raw ballads sound vaguely innovative with impromptu MCing and without looking like a carbon copy of The Saturdays / Girls Aloud / Sugababes etc. If the holy grail of the show was ‘making a song your own’ and avoiding sounding like a ‘wedding singer’, then there really was no competition. And if they weren’t your secret favourites, there was always Rachel Adedji, whose directional hair and gravelly vocals really didn’t deserve to lose out to Lucie Jones, Danyl Johnson and THOSE twins.

With 62% of the 10 million votes cast over the weekend, the future looks suitably shiny for Britain’s very own Zac Efron.

Perhaps more deservedly, over on the BBC veteran footballer and all around good guy Ryan Giggs beat Jenson Button to be crowned BBC Sports Personality of the Year, only the fifth footballer to be awarded the prize.

Clean living, modest and hard working - Ryan, who at 36 is about 1000 years old in footballer terms - saw a collective ‘aww’ from the nation with his oh-so-humble acceptance speech:

“If I wasn’t nervous enough, my heroes are here: Seb Coe and Michael Johnson. Honestly this is unbelievable. This is a shock as you can tell by the speech I prepared.”

Clearly, the Beeb needed to deliver some good news, after Strictly’s shock result with Ali Bastian of Hollyoaks and The Bill being booted off the show, despite getting straight 10s for one of her dances. Outrageous. Clearly the British public enjoyed the haphazard stylings of sports reporter Chris Hollins.

To finish on a high note, ‘I Dreamed a Dream: The Susan Boyle Story’ closed off ITV’s evening of Simon Cowell programming - with Piers Morgan hosting as SuBo performed with famous fans, including Elaine Paige. Performing songs from her best selling album, including Wild Horses her debut single, Susan looked suitably overwhelmed if not uncomfortable as she was trussed up in floor length beaded evening wear and plastered in make up. 

And while the sneering non-believers chastise us reality- TV devotees, it is not the case that Cowell was last night’s real winner, but rather us, the viewers.

Ps. Do see above for Olly Murs’ pre-X Factor debut…

Prominent Australians rally to save ‘City of Adelaide’

12th December 2009 | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree

Dozens of prominent Australians are behind an appeal to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to prevent the demolition of the world’s oldest surviving clipper ship, the City of Adelaide.

Led by the Queen’s representative and Governor of South Australia, Rear Admiral Kevin Scarce, other notable Australians include United Nations Special Envoy to Cyprus and former Australian Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer; State and Federal ministers, the Lord Mayor of Adelaide and four former Adelaide Lord Mayors; several current and former Chancellors of Australian universities; and numerous academic, business and political figures.

Built in 1864, the rare passenger ship - which is considered to be of greater historical significance than the Cutty Sark - made annual runs from London to South Australia carrying thousands of UK and European migrants who would lay the foundation for the state’s economic and social history. Today, a quarter of a million living descendants can trace their origins to passengers that sailed on the City of Adelaide.

The clipper ship currently sits on a slipway in Scotland and the Scottish Maritime Museum has called tenders to demolish it. The North Ayrshire Council in Scotland has approved the museum’s application to demolish which stated the cost could be as high as £650,000 (A$1.3m). This decision was forced on the museum after the landowners (of the slipway) called for the ship’s removal, purportedly for developers, to build a housing complex. Tenders for demolition close on November 23.

The City of Adelaide Preservation Trust, which is driving the campaign, says their major objective is to move the ship to a temporary location in the United Kingdom, which will cost in the region of £750,000 (A$1.5m).
“Ultimately, we wish to transport the vessel to Adelaide – and this can be undertaken for a further £1.2 million (A$2.5m) – but our first priority is to ensure it is not demolished,” said naval architect Peter Roberts, peter.roberts@cityofadelaide.org.au , a descendant of one of the earlier migrants.                            

“I would also like to dispel rumours that the vessel is in disrepair and rotting. This is definitely not the case and until the 1980s, it was used as clubrooms for the local naval reserves.”             

Roberts said preserving the ship for future generations is a far better outcome than demolishing it.

“To keep down the costs, we are seeking support from Australian and UK companies and individuals to assist us move the City of Adelaide to a temporary site in the UK,” he said.

t5m’s make over, exclusive tickets to an invite only Stereophonics gig and so much more

3rd December 2009 | 1 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree

So, while the rest of the world is preoccupied with everything from Tiger Woods’ transgressions to the sad demise of Ab-Fab favourite, Christian LaCroix, with the economy and weather thrown in for good measure - t5m has been all smiles as we celebrate our newly revamped site.

Gone are the days of gun metal grey back grounds, endless lists of channels at the bottom of the page and just a few categories - welcome to the brave new world.

Now, you will find it much easier to find our prolific and talented Contributors  work - whether it’s a review of Twilight by Mark Davison or horror film Orphan by Neil Innes, a prediction of this year’s Turner prize winner from art authority Julia Kollewe or a pithy look at the weeks news from our top current affairs correspondent, Phil Wadley.

Then of course we have the weekly updates from hapless, hopeless and utterly adorable Madelaine Greene, style advice from fashionista - in - chief Carli Humphries and make up recommendations from our beauty siren, Jennifer O’Shea.

Keeping us all one step ahead of the recession is Daphne Thissen and her invaluable insight into the world of networking, and Louise Mowbray shares her thoughts on personal branding. Amanda Eliasch, our epic blogger / socialiate / fashion editor / photographer and just about everything else, gives us her opinions on everything from flying business class to boys having Botox, while Tim Willis critiques, amuses and informs…

Our Contributors come from all corners of the globe, with Blackmarket Boo based in New York, Kristina Dryza reporting from Japan and Michele Nardelli flying the flag for Australia in her Koala Diaries. Anna Blundy shares relationship and lifestyle advice from her enviable Italian moutain, while Twilight Moonlighter, Lorabell and Eyes of Amber are regular fixtures in Forks, Washington. Julie-Anne Rhodes beams in the California sunshine, with a little bit of help from Lisa Marks, while Deborah Willimott provides us with some apres-ski straight from the snowy French alps.

Do you like funny? Our in-house comedienne, Charlotte Browne is tracking her rise to stardom, while Mark Pilkington is keeping all the gamers firmly stuck inside with his video game reviews.

And that’s not even a handful of our informed, amusing and downright brilliant Contributors, sharing everything from the latest films and music, relationship advice, sport news, restaurant reviews, style tips, celebrity gossip, current affairs, techy gadgets and eco initiatives.

But wait.

There’s more - not even do we promise to keep you amused from dawn to dusk - we also have just announced a V.V.V.V.V.I.P competition - the chance to win tickets to an exclusive, invite only Stereophonics gig.

So please, look around. Follow us on Twitter, sign up for our newsletter, enter our competitions and comment on our articles.