Hello, it’s Peter here and welcome to Monday’s Levy Letter and the start of 
another week. I hope your day is going well and I hope you’ll be able to join 
me on BBC1 at 6.30pm for Look North tonight and every night this week. I hope 
your weekend was good. Whatever you got up to then I hope it was good. 

And just a reminder that this week is an extremely busy week for us. We’ve got 
some big names coming in for the programme and also Thursday is the next date 
for our Sofa Tour. Paul and I will be in Princes’ Quay between 10.30am and 
12.30pm on Thursday morning. There’s no broadcasting. There’s just a sofa and a 
chance to have a chat. So if you want to spread the word, and if you want to 
come down and say hello, then the more the merrier. It’s 10.30 in the morning 
until 12.30pm in Princes’ Quay. Paul and I will be there. If you can get down 
then I look forward to seeing you. 

I hope that you’re going to be able to join me tonight on BBC1 at 6.30pm for 
all the day’s news. Paul will have the forecast and also tonight, the 
comedienne, Jo Brand, will be joining us on the programme ahead of her tour in 
our region. And the BBC weatherman, Alex Deakin will be going head to head with 
Paul Hudson. Alex is a local boy from North Ferriby and his parents, I believe, 
are still living there and Alex is joining me on the sofa tonight. 

I’ll also be looking at plans in Hull to build a tunnel under one of the major 
roads through the city and of course, I’ll have an update from the Police on 
the death of the thirteen year old girl from Bransholme. That’s tonight on BBC1 
at 6.30pm. 


Guests

Thanks for all the emails suggesting guests for the programme and also ideas 
for stories for the programme. There’s been some great emails in. If there’s 
someone you’d like to see on or if there’s a story that you think we should be 
covering that everyone’s talking about, then drop me a line straight away to 
[EMAIL PROTECTED] 


Val Doonican

I had an email this week from somebody asking if Val Doonican was still with us 
and more importantly if we could get him on the show. I didn’t know, but I did 
a little bit of research. Val Doonican, for the younger readers of the Levy 
Letter, is an Irish singer, who for many years was on TV on a Saturday night 
with his own show, The Val Doonican Show. His legendary trademark was the 
armchair, a rocking chair. He was one of the few people, who could be trusted 
with a live TV show, because he was so cool that live TV didn’t faze him. 
Unlike, most people television has to be recorded, because it’s too scary to do 
live, but he was superb. I found a little quote here from him that says, “Young 
people have never heard of me. With a name like mine, most of them think that I 
am a woman!” Well, Val Doonican was a pin up for the ladies of the 1960s and 
was also known for his very dodgy sweaters that he used to wear. Apparently, he 
has no plans to retire, but says that, “when I come on!
  stage these days the chair gets more applause than I do!” Anyway, that’s Val 
Doonican. And if you’re wondering, because I didn’t know either, he is 
seventy-nine now! 


Lincoln

At the weekend I did some shopping in Lincoln and enjoyed a trip round with the 
tours that they’re doing around Lincoln Cathedral. And it’s well worth it. What 
a fabulous building it is. And inside there is an exhibition on at the moment 
of photographs of when they were actually filming the Da Vinci Code. There are 
also some obelisks and tombs that were props in the film. They’re probably 
about half my height again and they look as if they’re made of granite or 
stone, but they are actually plastic and they’ve left some of those props there 
and they are on display at the moment. It’s fascinating stuff, but if you 
haven’t been, then it’s well worth it. The building itself is just astonishing. 
I was amazed to read that it costs a million pounds a year just for the upkeep 
of the cathedral. Although, if you think about it, I can understand why it 
does. It’s a lovely building and if you haven’t been then it’s well worth a 
visit.


Gazumping

I see that Britain is in the Gazumping capital of Europe with millions of house 
hunters losing their dream homes.  Property experts last night warned that the 
situation is going to get worse as the demand for homes outstrips supply. Where 
do all these people keep coming from? I know they say that less people are 
getting married these days, but it’s just extraordinary. Gazumping happens, 
when after accepting an offer from one buyer, the seller decides to go with a 
new offer, a higher offer. Well, in the UK, 3.3 million buyers get gazumped 
every year as they wait to get on or move up the property ladder. The true 
extent of the scandal was revealed in a Europe wide study, which has just been 
published. Britain is actually one of the highest rating countries where 
owners’ sales fall through. It’s second only to Italy, but gazumping itself is 
actually more rife here than anywhere else. In places like Germany, it’s 
virtually non-existent. Well, have you been gazumped? Are you a vi!
 ctim of gazumping or have you gazumped somebody else? Well, let me know to the 
usual address of [EMAIL PROTECTED] 


Burglars

You might have seen this in the papers. It’s had quite a lot of coverage, but 
house holders, who find strange marks scrawled on their property are being 
urged not to dismiss them as mere graffiti, for burglars are using symbols like 
these to identify vulnerable residents, and identify those, who are rich 
pickings and so on. There are different diagrams apparently for different 
goings on. I’ll give you a few examples. A chalk cross basically means a good 
bet and a likely crime target. Three or four circles, full circles, mean rich 
pickings - symbols that owners are wealthy. A Y in a square shows that this 
house is an easy target when the occupier is a vulnerable female. That’s quite 
interesting isn’t it? And a house with a large circle with a cross through it 
means it’s a house with nothing worth stealing from it! I think that’s the 
symbol, which would probably appear outside my house on Victoria Dock if I’m 
honest! Symbols left by burglars! 


Wedding 

And just finally, well you can buy just about anything at the supermarket these 
days. I was saying not long ago that one well-known supermarket is selling 
wedding dresses. Well, Britain’s two biggest supermarkets are engaged in a new 
bout of store wars, vying to woe couples preparing to tie the knot. One 
well-known supermarket and their rival have moved into the wedding business, 
offering rings, confetti and dresses at a fraction of their normal prices. One 
of them is offering a solitaire engagement ring at £1297! That’s a fifth of the 
£6000 tag on similar rings being sold in Mayfair. They’re also offering a three 
quarter carat diamond ring for £750, compared with the high street price of 
£1250. Also, a wedding guest book for £6.97 and Cru Champagne at £14.97 a 
bottle and so it goes on. There are even gowns for £60, bridesmaid dress for 
£17! So maybe, it’s not quite as expensive to get married after all these days, 
if you go to the supermarket.


Well, that’s it from me for today. Join me tonight on BBC1 at 6.30pm.

Take care

Peter 


And for the latest news and more where you live, go to:
http://bbc.co.uk/humber and http://bbc.co.uk/lincolnshire

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