Hello, it's Peter here and welcome to Monday's Levy Letter. I hope you'll be 
able to join me tonight on BBC One at half past six as usual. A very busy 
programme tonight to start off the week.

We'll have a special report as nightclub doormen are being given policing 
powers in a scheme to combat violence on the streets of Grimsby. And we'll be 
exploring the controversy of the books given to primary school children, which 
are introducing the idea of same sex relationships. And I’ll be wanting your 
views on those, so get ready tonight to email in with your comments about those 
stories. 

And this is a story that I was reading about in the papers this morning. 
Scientists are warning us of the danger of ‘electronic smog’! That’s waves from 
cordless phones, baby monitors, wireless internet, radios and mobile phones. 
Tonight on the programme, we'll be meeting the woman from Horncastle, who's 
lined her house in tin foil to protect herself from this electronic smog! More 
on this later. 

And has the sunshine at the weekend brought out your green fingers? We'll be 
live at the Chelsea Flower show tonight, meeting the Beverley gardener, who is 
making his debut at the world's biggest horticultural event. And we'll be 
meeting the artist, whose inspiration lies in the rubbish found on the beach at 
Spurn Point. That’s all tonight on BBC One at half past six. I hope you can 
join me then.


Weekend

Whatever you had planned this weekend, then I hope it went very well indeed. I 
know that the old vintage car run between Hull and Scarborough seemed to go 
very well. And there were quite a few other events as well, including a Beer 
Festival in Brigg organised by the Brigg Lions. It wasn’t great weather on 
Saturday, but I hope it was a good weekend anyway! If you’ve got something 
coming up in the next couple of weeks, which is for a good cause and you’d like 
a little plug in the Levy Letter, then drop me a line and give me the details. 
And if there’s something that you think I should know about or you know of a 
story that we should take a look at, or a problem that we could tackle for you, 
then let me know. It’s [EMAIL PROTECTED] to get in touch. 


Garden

If you’ve been in the garden this weekend, or if you’re selling your house in 
the near future, then the top ten plant turn offs that will wipe thousands of 
pounds off the value of your property are here. The top plants that you may 
have in your garden that will put people off are Leylandii at number one – and 
that’s certainly something that gets people annoyed. We’ve done many stories 
with angry neighbours and tall Leylandii hedges! Ivy is at number two, pampas 
grass is at three, conifer trees is at four. This is a surprise – wisteria 
growing up the house is a no-no apparently. Most hated garden features – of 
course at number one are gnomes! No surprise at that one. Water features and 
ponds are a big turn off apparently. Do you think that’s right? Shabby 
greenhouses and sheds and also extravagant Christmas decorations are a big turn 
off too! Surprising though that water features and ponds are a turn off. Estate 
agents make a big thing out of a house if it’s got a pond, but a!
 pparently that’s not so, according to this research just out. 


WI

Jam, chutneys and retired ladies running church hall fetes are what the Women’s 
Institute bring to mind, but one WI in East Dulwich has got a new generation of 
members. The WI is ninety-two years old now by the way. One of their new 
members is photographed in the paper looking extremely glamorous. She’s Katy 
Arnold and she’s only twenty-seven. This is a story that’s around in the papers 
at the moment, but I remember, quite a few months back now, we had an extremely 
glamorous lady come in, who was only in her twenties too and she was involved 
with the WI locally. I can’t for the life of me remember where she was from or 
her name. So that story is not actually all that new at all. 

And talking of not as new as it seems, there’s this current fad for people 
showing off products that they’ve had for years and years and are still going 
strong. The latest is Stanley Waller. He’s got a vacuum cleaner that his 
parents bought in 1933. The former RAF pilot’s father, Henry, paid £9 for the 
Triumph Goblin and that was two weeks wages for him in those days. Seems 
incredible doesn’t it? Two weeks wages on a vacuum cleaner! And can you imagine 
today paying two weeks wages for a vacuum? It was built and bought in 1933. 
Seventy-four years later and Stanley is still using the Goblin Triumph vacuum 
cleaner. Is that a record? Unless you know different… what’s the oldest 
household equipment that you’ve got that’s still working and still being used 
regularly? 


Compliment

The average chap is so confused by political correctness that he’s afraid to 
pay women compliments, according to a new survey. Gone are the days when men 
were happy to go out on a romantic limb and say something flattering to women, 
especially to women they don’t yet know. That’s so much so that they are not 
paying any compliments at all. What’s most confusing though is that 90% of 
women say that they love to receive flattering remarks. They love to receive 
compliments from strangers as well as friends and yet two thirds admit that 
they rarely receive any from a loved one or anyone else. One in ten women had 
not received a single complimentary remark in the past three months and 60% 
said that they were given far fewer than just five years ago. So men are scared 
to pay compliments, but women say they love getting them! What a state we’re 
in. The top ten ways to impress her – “I love your dress, is it new?” “You look 
amazing, have you lost weight? Not that you needed to!” “Hav!
 e you had a facial, your skin is really glowing.” “That colour really suits 
you, it compliments your eyes.” “You look so much better without makeup, it 
shows off your natural beauty!” Men don’t give compliments like those, because 
they’re scared to! And women are moaning that they never get any. 


BAFTAs

It was a great night at the BAFTAs last night. Did you watch it? Well done to 
Ricky Gervais for Extras. Another award for him. Even though poor old Stephen 
Merchant was nominated, he not only had to lose to Ricky, but he had to go and 
collect the award on Ricky's behalf!! That must be friendship! Well done as 
well to Lincolnshire actor Jim Broadbent for his award and to Victoria Wood, 
who so clearly hadn’t even contemplated winning anything for her serious work 
as opposed to comedy. She won her award for a drama called ‘Housewife, 49’. 
Very different to her normal work, but obviously it went down well with the 
Fellowship. Spare a thought as well for Graham Norton, who’s got to be one of 
the hardest working presenters on TV at the moment. He always seems to be on 
the box doesn’t he? And it was very moving when producer, Richard Curtis, was 
awarded the very special BAFTA fellowship. That was for his incredible work 
over his lifetime producing and writing ‘Blackadder’, ‘Vicar O!
 f Dibley’, ‘Four Weddings And A Funeral’, ‘Notting Hill’, ‘Love Actually’ – 
the list goes on and on. And of course, he’s the founder of Comic Relief  and 
the ‘Make Poverty History’ campaign for Live8. They said last night that Comic 
Relief has raised about £500 million pounds for worthy causes. Just incredible 
isn’t it? And that’s all down to Richard Curtis’ incredible work. So well done 
to him on his special BAFTA fellowship award.   


Pictures

If you’ve taken a photograph recently that you think we should see for our Big 
Screen and our picture slot, then send it to me. It’s the usual address of 
[EMAIL PROTECTED] 


Well, that's it from me for now. Have a lovely day and join me tonight on BBC 
One at half past six.

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

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