Hello, it's Peter here and welcome to Tuesdays Levy Letter. I hope your day is going well and I hope youll be able to join me tonight on BBC One at 6.30pm. Ill have all the days news and also Paul, as ever, will have the forecast.
On tonight's programme, we will be visiting one local nature reserve, which is at the frontline in the battle against the spread of bird flu in our region. Its a worrying time for our regions poultry farmers and well be showing the work thats going on to protect our poultry economy. More on that later. Also tonight, you may remember this story, we'll be popping back for a visit with the Gainsborough man, who was told that he was too fat to have an operation. Hes in an awful lot of pain with his knee and is unable to walk very far. He needs a new knee operation, but the hospital refused on the grounds that his body mass index was too high. However, because of his mobility problems, he was unable to exercise and he came to us to tell us his problem. Well, two weeks on and it's all change in the NHS. Find out how he's getting on in his fight to have an operation which will vastly change the quality of his life. Ill have his story tonight on the programme. Find out why Hull City Council is hitting the headlines yet again after another report from the Audit Commission. I'll be meeting the landscape photographer, whose dramatic photos of the East Coast are causing a storm in the art world. I'll also be meeting the schoolgirl, who has come up with a novel way to save energy. And if you're a James Bond fan, find out tonight how you can get your hands on some 007 memorabilia. All that tonight on the programme at half past six! Emails Thanks for the emails on a variety of subjects. Keep them coming in. Whatever you want to write about, then drop me a line. Also if youve got a story that you think we should know about, or if theres something that we can help with for Leave it to Levy, then the address as usual is [EMAIL PROTECTED] I was talking yesterday about older people using the Internet and doing a bit of surfing! This one comes from Abby, I just wanted to say that my grandparents, who are both in their eighties, are silver surfers and I think it is great. To all, who think theyre too old to give it a go, then they should just bite the bullet and get in touch with Learn Direct, who can help them get on a course and get online. Yey for the oldies! says Abby. And hello to her grandparents, who are both in their eighties, but are silver surfers! If you have a view on that one, then do get in touch. Plumbers If you fancy a new career, then plumbing might be the answer. It seems that many white collar Britons are downing their pens and reaching for the plunger as they train to be plumbers. Thousands are quitting their dull office jobs to learn a manual trade. Well, why would you do that? It doesnt sound like the most exciting job in the world, but when you find out that they can make up to £75.00 an hour and some plumbers are on eighty, ninety, and even a hundred thousand pounds a year, then you can perhaps understand why! So there you are. More and more people are learning to train up to be plumbers. Champers If you like champagne, then Valentines Day is just around the corner. Supermarkets have launched a price war, ahead of Valentines Day. Some labels have been slashed by up to a half, with the cheapest bottle of bubbly now costing less than £10.00. Oh how things have changed! Thats welcome news for the romantics, who can add a little bit of fizz to February 14th without breaking the bank. Champagne, of course, is the preserve of the rich, but shops have been increasingly using this as a weapon in the battle for customers. Among the big discounts on offer at the moment is Chanoine vintage champagne, which is down from £36.00 to £18.00. And you can now buy a bottle of champagne from one supermarket for £9.99! So if youre a champagne drinker then thats good news. Maureen Shes one of our countrys favourite and most famous and talented actresses. She is Maureen Lipman of course from Hull. I had the pleasure to interview Maureen two or three times over the years. Shes a lovely lady and it was sad news that three years ago she lost her playwright husband, Jack Rosenthal. I never actually met Jack, although he wrote one of my favourite shows of all time The Bar Mitzvah Boy and also The Evacuees. Spend Spend Spend is another one, and he won Baftas for all three. Jack also wrote several early episodes of Coronation Street, but he died three years ago. Now, if its to be believed, Maureen, according to one of the newspapers, has found love three years later. The sixty year old mother of two is allegedly dating a Scottish businessman, David Gordon, whos also sixty. So if that is true, then I do hope that she is happy. She deserves to be. A marvellous lady. Maureen was from Hull and was made a CBE in 1999. We wish her all the very best. Driving If you do a lot of driving for your work, like sales reps and long distance lorry drivers, then be warned. Drivers, who spend a lot of time at the wheel, increase their risk of skin cancer. Repeated exposure to sun through car windows is to blame. Drivers, who roll down the window, are at even greater risk. Most plain glass, used for side windows, block UVB rays, which cause sunburn, but do not block the deeper penetrating UVA rays. Experts want car companies to install tinted glass all round to give greater protection. So if you do a lot of driving, then be warned. The sun coming in through the windows is bad for you. And thats especially concerning if the rumours are true about the wonderful summer approaching. Shilpa Shilpa Shetty, the Bollywood actress, whos just out of Big Brother, seems to be poised to make an absolute fortune. She gave an interview, which was the first major interview since the show just a couple of days ago. She is the most serene, beautiful, charming person you could meet. The question always comes to my mind why she ever agreed to go on Big Brother in the first place. But I guess its done what all the other contestants hoped it would do and that is to make her famous. It could start her career in the UK. Apparently, since leaving the Big Brother house, the model turned actress has been inundated with lucrative offers for adverts, TV appearances, and even for her autobiography. According to one report, shes due to meet the Queen in a gala dinner for Commonwealth Day next month. Im not sure whether thats true or not. The other thing is that shes being lined up to star alongside Hugh Grant in a new British film. Again, these are all rumours, but Shilpa looks se! t to be busy in the next year or so! Shilpa went into the house to make a career and to make herself some money and it certainly looks like shes achieved that! All the best to her. Well, that's it from me for today. Thank you very much indeed for reading the Levy Letter. Enjoy your Tuesday afternoon. Join me tonight on BBC One at 6.30pm as usual. Bye for now, Peter And for the latest news and more where you live, go to: http://bbc.co.uk/humber and http://bbc.co.uk/lincolnshire ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the BBC Look North newsletter, go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/england/looknorthhull/newsletter/newsletter_index.shtml, enter your email address in the unsubscribe box. 1.94.4
