Conversation Killers, Smelly Space and Playground Games...

Wednesday at a Glance!

Day 207 of 2012
159 days to go until 2013
152 sleeps to Santa!
149 days till the end of the world… apparently
103 days until Bonfire Night
95 days until the clocks go back
92 days until the 23rd James Bond film ‘Skyfall’is released
31 days until the return of the X Factor
24 days until The FA Premier League is back!
2 days until the Olympics in London

• It’s Ramadan, Act Like A Caveman Day, National Hot Fudge Sundae Day, Galicia National Day (Spain), Santiago Day (Spain), Independence Day (Netherlands), Threading The Needle Holiday (China), Commonwealth & Constitution Day (Puerto Rico), Republic Day (Tunisia), Love Parks Week, Animal Protection Trust Awareness Month, Congo Awareness Month, Independent Retailer Month, Sickle Cell Awareness Month and Science Month. 

• Temperatures are set to top 30 Celsius in the South today – making it the hottest day of the year. 

•  ‘Coronation Street’ star Kym Marsh is in court today on fly-tipping charges. The actress, who plays Michelle Connor, appears charged with fly-tipping after environmental officers found rubbish, allegedly including scripts belonging to the actress, dumped by a Salford roadside. 

• ‘International Cheese Awards’ – The largest cheese show in the world attracts over 3,700 entries competing in over 260 categories. Takes place at the Nantwich show in Cheshire 

• Mel Gibson's stepmother is in court seeking a restraining order against him. Teddy Gibson, who is in the process of divorcing Mel Gibson's father John, has requested a restraining order against the actor, claiming that he committed 'several acts of domestic violence' against her. 

• Olympic Torch Relay – Day 68 – Wembley, London. Torchbearers today include England World Cup '66 goalkeeper Gordon Banks, Harry Potter actor Rupert Grint and decathlon legend Daley Thompson. The oldest female Torchbearer in the relay, Diana Gold, aged 100, meets Mayor of London Boris Johnson at the lunchtime stop at Middlesex University. 

• OLYMPICS – Team GB Women v New Zealand – group stage match. Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, 4:00PM. The GB Women's football team play the first official event of the Olympic Games. 

• CRICKET – Twenty20 quarter-finals – Yorkshire v Worcestershire / Notts v Hampshire 

• The latest GDP figures are out later. Are we still in recession? The Office for National Statistics will publish the latest figures at 9:30 

• Paris Hilton has come out tops in an online poll to find the perfect summer holiday buddy for teenagers… She’s just like that book I took on holiday with me last year…. Thick, cheap and not very intellectually challenging… 

• Men's and Women's Health magazine have got together to find summer's best bodies. "Twilight" star Kellan Lutz topped the men’s' list, while swimsuit model Brooklyn Decker topped the women's list. Brooklyn who?? 

• NOW all sing along… The sun has got his hat on hip hip hoooorayyyyyyy… It was the hottest day of the year so far yesterday. The mercury got to a sweltering 29.7C at the Olympic Village in London with the hottest place being Gatwick Airport… 

• Some London train services were hit with speed restrictions due to the heat affecting overhead power lines yesterday. It led to at least 9 trains not stopping at Stratford – outside the Olympic Village! Don’t worry! It’ll be cooler by the weekend! And wetter… 

• Money is the top conversation killer for millions of us who say it’s the subject we are least happy to discuss with our friends and colleagues. Almost two thirds of us won’t share details of our finances, salary and pensions with people we know. We’re also keen to keep mum about our weight, our relationships and our health, according to new research. 

• A third of us keep a secret photo of an ex-lover hidden from our current partner… 36%, of us admit to keeping a ‘secret’ photo of an ex without the knowledge of the other half, and 62% of these were women.  

• Women who are desperate to lose weight will spend a staggering £25,233 on diets over their lifetime. Researchers say the average woman will diet on three occasions every year – each time shelling out £180.81 on gyms, fitness magazines, slimming clubs, exercise clothes and diet branded foods. That means they waste £542.43 every 12 months – with most not getting down to their ideal weight… And the only pounds they shed are the ones from their purse. 

• Save this date if you’re eager to get the latest bit of tech… Or if you’re a bit sad… The iPhone 5 will ship to eager Apple fans on Friday, September 21, according to sources close to Apple this morning. 

• Chantelle and Alex Reid have finally named their baby girl after a month, they’ve called her Dolly. I wonder if it’s because Alex Reid loves Dolly Parton and her wardrobe, so much?! 

• Stacey Solomon is eating spinach everyday and puts it down to her remarkable baby weight loss. How did you get rid of your baby fat?! 

• David Hunter was the last contestant eliminated on Superstar last night before tonight’s final. So, tonight’s final is between Rory, Ben Forster and Roger Wright to see who wins the role of Jesus in Lloyd Webber's production of Jesus Christ Superstar. 

A campaign is underway to encourage more people to vote in South Yorkshire's police commissioner election. Police Crime Commissioners will replace police authorities in 41 areas when elections get underway in November. But South Yorkshire Police Authority fear there will be a low turnout of voters in this area. 

More students than ever before graduated from the Barnsley campus yesterday, with three ceremonies taking place to cope with the demand. The campus is part of the University of Huddersfield meaning the students had their degree awards overseen by Chancellor Sir Patrick Stewart. 

A conservation project that will help protect habitats in the Dearne Valley has won support from the Heritage Lottery Fund. Barnsley Council has been given £1.8 million to carry out nature improvement work. This will include improving the path ways to the reserve and restoring wildlife habits. The valley is said to have suffered because of rapid industrialisation. 

The decision to close Yorkshire's only children's heart surgery unit is now being referred to the Secretary of State for Health. It follows the region's health watchdog questioning Sir Neil McKay, who led the inquiry into children’s services. He told the scrutiny committee, that the inquiry's conclusion was correct. That means patients being forced to travel to Liverpool or Newcastle for treatment. 

School Test...

Today’s homework question is on Geography... 

Which European city was called Christiania from 1624-1924?  

The answer to yesterday’s question... Who was British Prime Minister at the time of Queen Elizabeth II's Coronation? was Winston Churchill. 

Barnsley At The Games 

Every morning this week, Dearne FM’s Sarah Maine will be profiling someone from the Borough with a connection to the London Games. Today... Sarah talks to youngsters from Kings Oak Learning Centre in Wombwell who will be part of Friday’s Opening Ceremony. 

Headline Makers with the Barnsley Chronicle... 

How would you like to see your words printed in Friday’s Barnsley Chronicle? That’s the reward for coming up with the best headline for this week’s story on Headline Makers. The current score is Dearne FM Listeners 10 Barnsley Chronicle 10...can we get back to winning ways this week? We are looking for your suggestions of a headline for this story... Star Trek star Sir Patrick Stewart was in town this week for the University Graduation Ceremonies. The Chronicle’s offering is "Star Trekkin’ Across The University”can you do better? You have until 8am Thursday morning to submit your headline by email, phone, text, twitter or on our Facebook wall. 

So, what Harry told Sally was right then…Men can't be friends with women. You can deny it all you like, but if you're a man you probably do fancy that friend – who’s a girl – just a little bit. Researchers have found men can't help being attracted to their female friends – although that's far less likely to be the case with women. In a survey of more than 800 man-woman friends they found that men were more attracted to their female friend than vice versa. Men also consistently and mistakenly assumed that their female friend was attracted to them more than they actually were. The study seems to answer the question posed in the classic 1986 film When Harry Met Sally starring Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan. 

Men's and Women's Health magazine have got together to find summer's best bodies. "Twilight" star Kellan Lutz topped the men’s' list, while swimsuit model Brooklyn Decker topped the women's list. Brooklyn who?? 

These are the top-10 best summer bodies for men and women: 

NOW all sing along… The sun has got his hat on hip hip hip hoooorayyyyyyy…It was the hottest day of the year so far yesterday...The mercury got to a sweltering 29.7C at the Olympic Village in London with the hottest place being Gatwick Airport. Some London train services were hit with speed restrictions due to the heat affecting overhead power lines. It led to at least 9 trains not stopping at Stratford – outside the Olympic Village! Don’t worry! It’ll be cooler by the weekend! The outlook is good news for organisers of the London Olympics; the dry conditions are set to stay with us for Friday's opening ceremony. But there's a small chance of a shower or two over the weekend...I did notice it wasn’t just us taking advantage of the hot weather yesterday. Looks like the farmers were rushing to harvest their crops while the rain holds off. The wheat and barley have been left growing for more than a month longer than usual. Across the region, the tractors, combine harvesters, and balers will be out again today in the blazing sunshine, sorting out the crops before it rains again! Today could be even hotter, pushing 31C in the South but by Saturday, we’re likely to have cooled off again. The average temperature will plummet by around 10 degrees to 20 or 21C, with scattered showers for the weekend. 

EXPERTS reckon that August is now going to be a scorcher! Which basically means it’ll tip it down next week and we’ll have the central heating on... They reckon it’s going to warm up and be sunny, hot and warm this weekend and by next week we’ll be breaking records...But how does the hot weather affect our everyday lives? When it’s hot we….. 

• Enjoy a whopping 63 million barbecues.
• Each summer, we eat enough ice cream to fill 5,500 Olympic swimming pools.
• Sales of leg wax go up in the heat by a massive 1,400%.
• You can use hemlines to predict a heatwave. Research by eBay shows the length of skirts sold gets shorter several days before the arrival of sunny skies.
• When the temperature reaches 100F (38C) the Forth Bridge in Scotland expands to become eight inches longer than it is in winter.
• We take more sickies. And if the mercury hits as much as 100F, productivity slumps by 62% – costing the economy a massive £270million every day.
• White wine sales shoot up but sherry sales plummet.
• In one week of hot weather Boots will sell 750,000 bottles of sun cream.
• We feel sexier, buying more lipstick, combs and nail varnish due to what retailers call the feel-good factor. 

More than half of us never leave home without our mobile phone and 44% say we can't live without it… Do you feel like a part of you is missing if you don’t have it to play with in your hands? New research suggests over a quarter of us worry we'll miss a call if we don't have our phones on us. Three-quarters of us spend up to half an hour on the phone every day. We can’t live without our mobiles, but what else cant you live without? 

What would you say it THE top conversation killer with your mates? Nope it’s not that! Money is the top conversation killer for millions of us who say it’s the subject we are least happy to discuss with our friends and colleagues. Almost two thirds of us won’t share details of our finances, salary and pensions with people we know. No, dog’s doings Sherlock! We’re also keen to keep mum about our weight, our relationships and our health, according to new research. The findings have led to Britons being dubbed a nation of DNAs (Dare Not Asks). The research also found that the things we’re less likely to seek advice on include how to get fit, raising the kids and choosing a place to live. When it comes to the gender divide, men are more open with their friends than women. But, women are more likely to confide in their family about every other aspect of their lives. 

A third of us keep a secret photo of an ex-lover hidden from our current partner...The poll of both men and women – which asked what they did with snaps of people they'd been in a relationship with – found women were more likely to keep photos. 36%, of us admit to keeping a ‘secret’ photo of an ex without the knowledge of the other half, and 62% of these were women. Over half of these secret photos (56%) are kept in a purse or wallet; whilst the remaining majority, 32%, are hidden away in a draw or cupboard. And to make matters worse just over a quarter, 27%, of those who admitted to harbouring a picture of an ex-lover said it was ‘naughty’… Have you got a hidden picture of your ex??! 

We spend an estimated £118 million a year on forgotten holiday items. Nearly half (41%) of us forget to pack items for our holiday. A study says nearly 15 million holiday essentials are left behind each year, as we suffer from 'suitcase haste'… That’s being too busy or stressed to pack properly. Whilst we're forgetting essentials such as shoes (27%), mobile phone chargers (25%) and sun cream (13%) we surprisingly find space for some British home comforts. The study found food such as Brown Sauce, Pork Pies and Marmalade are often packed for holidays alongside more bizarre items including fancy dress. 

Top 10 Most Forgotten Items 

1.         Shoes

2.         Mobile Phone Charger

3.         Sun Cream

4.         Book

5.         Glasses

6.         Toothpaste

7.         Tooth brush

8.         Mobile Phone

9.         Flip Flops

10.        Passport 

Ikea is best known for selling flat-pack furniture, but you're more likely to want a bottle opener than a screwdriver for their latest products … Because IKEA has started selling beer. The Swedish store has launched two beers, a dark lager and a regular brew, which are only available in the UK but are set to be rolled out world-wide in August. Brewed by IKEA themselves, the dark lager 'ÖL MÖRK LAGER' and the lighter alternative 'ÖL LJUS LAGER' have a 4.7% ABV. Both bottles feature the famous blue and yellow logo. I’m always happy to see more places selling beer, although we're not sure this is going to make assembling that TV stand any easier. 

On your marks… and get set for London 2012! 

The Olympic Games in Numbers! 

2 – Official mascots – Wenlock for the Olympics and Mandeville for the Paralympics. 

4 – Number of Olympic-themed open-air festivals featuring live music that will light up London during the Games. 

6 – Football pitches – the size of the Broadcast Centre in the Olympic Park, home to 20,000 journalists. 

10 – Miles of steel cable that were used to make the roof of the velodrome – that’s twice the height of Mount Everest. 

17 – Days. How long the Games will last, with another 11 for the Paralympics. 

26 – Number of sports taking place, with medals to be awarded in 300 events. 

62 – Number of buildings in the Olympic Village. There will be 17,320 beds. 

76 – Pounds per second. What it would cost you to see world record holder Usain Bolt in the 100m final with the most expensive ticket priced at £725. The most expensive tickets come in at £2012. The cheapest cost £20, with 90% of tickets under £100. 

140 – Speed in mph of the Javelin rail service from St Pancras International to Olympic Park. The journey will take just seven minutes. 

156 – Length in miles of the cycling road race, which takes competitors outside the city into Surrey and back. 

204 – The number of countries taking part, represented by 10,500 athletes. 

365-1 – Odds from bookies Ladbrokes for footballer David Beckham, 36, to score the winner as Team GB win gold in the football. Cyclist Mark Cavendish, 26, is favourite to be the first gold medal winner at 13-2 and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are 40-1 to light the Olympic flame. 

8000 – How far the Olympic Torch has travelled in miles across country over 70 days, guarded by a security team of 28. 

10,000 – Actors, singers, and dancers who will take part in the opening and closing ceremonies. 

1 Million – Number of people who are expected to visit the Games. 

3.5 Million – The number of tickets which have been sold to the British public so far. 

4 Billion – The global TV audience. Three out of four Brits are expected to tune in. 

9.3 Billion – The budget for building the infrastructure for the Games – with another £2billion on top to stage the extravaganza. 

Women who are desperate to lose weight will spend a staggering £25,233 on diets over their lifetime. Researchers say the average woman will diet on three occasions every year – each time shelling out £180.81 on gyms, fitness magazines, slimming clubs, exercise clothes and diet branded foods. That means they waste £542.43 every 12 months - with most not getting down to their ideal weight…And the only pounds they shed are the ones from their purse. It also emerged that each diet lasts on average just 19 days, with chocolate, crisps and wine being the most common diet breakers. And in odd news the majority of diets end at either 3pm or 8pm With a sneaky chocolate bar being the chief temptation for 58 percent of women. 

When finding a new place to live…. you might take into account – the local transport, shops, schools and green spaces…. At the top of men's lists of what makes a perfect place to live…… That’s right… A good pub! The top priority for a new neighbourhood was having a decent boozer for one in five men. Only 15% of men picked an area for its schools…. Women were more practically minded with a quarter choosing schools and only 12% saying that a good pub was necessary. But for both sexes, 27% were concerned that they may not like their new neighbours….The survey found that the most popular area to move to in the UK is the South West. The areas from which most people moved away from were Romford and Ilford in Essex, Sutton in South London, Stoke on Trent and Uxbridge in West London. 

It’s a question I’ve lain in bed at night desperately wanting to know the answer…What does space actually smell of? Thanks to a couple on the International Space Station we now know…Astronauts say the unique smell aboard is reminiscent of two things – meat and metal. It has been described as like 'seared steak', 'hot metal' and welding fumes'. Well another of the great mysteries of the Universe solved during my feeble time on Earth. If only we knew what God's favourite ice cream was I'd die content. Three-time spacewalker Thomas Jones has tweeted this morning that space smells of ' a distinct odour of ozone, a faint acrid smell' and is 'sulphurous'. NASA is now trying to reproduce that smell for training purposes, and has hired the scent chemist Steve Pearce to recreate it on earth. It’s probably the after effects of Russian Beef Stroganoff with sprouts. 

A dumped husband has got his revenge on his former wife during their divorce proceedings by sawing their furniture into pieces and labelling half of them as his. Kevin Fiore, 56, caused £5,184 of damage to the £130,000 house in Werrington, Staffordshire, which he shared with wife Katrina, 33. He hacked the sofa in half and wrote 'Kev's half' on the cushions. What's wrong with this? 50/50 split? It’s what the courts would want, he just pre-empted their decision. A wardrobe, dressing table and two sets of drawers faced the wrath of him too… He also tore down the loft ladder, trashed the bathroom and scrawled offensive messages on the walls. He pleaded guilty to criminal damage and walked away from Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court with a two-year supervision order as the judge called his antics 'mean and unpleasant'. It's a good job they didn't have a dog! 

The Government’s proposed pasty tax would have been a devastating blow to one Olympic athlete. Anuradha Cooray, a marathon runner and full-time employee of Greggs The Bakers in Buckinghamshire, has revealed the secret to his Olympic success story… A daily pasty fix...The Sri Lankan father of two, known to his friends as Cooray, trains for his marathon dash by running 17 miles to and from work every day, and eating a pasty when he gets there. He says he has breakfast rolls and baguettes, in particular the chicken baguettes – and that’s just breakfast. As a marathon runner he must consume between 5,000 and 6,000 calories a day, and chooses to do most of his eating while at work. 

HOPSCOTCH, British bulldog, conkers and even marbles are disappearing from the playground because today’s kids don’t know how to play traditional games. And electronic gadgets and the internet are being blamed. Just one in seven children knows the rules to knock down ginger and only one in three can play conkers and marbles, says a new report. Many youngsters are also clueless about the indoor games their parents used to play. 69% of parents know the rules to conkers but this falls to just 38% of their children. And though 62% of adults can remember how to play marbles, this has only been passed on to 32% of primary school children. Knock down ginger, battleships and draughts are three more games that parents have no trouble recalling but which are virtually unknown to the modern youngster. Today’s children are also less likely to dress up or play cowboys and Indians and other games involving an element of imagination or adventure. The exception seems to be rock, paper, scissors – a game recalled by 70% of parents and 65% of under-11s – higher than any other traditional pastime. What’s ‘Knock down ginger?!’ 

Alison from Silkstone had a go at Look Who’s Talking, she thought that 8 year old Aiden from Hemingfield was talking about a table...sadly it wasn’t right so the prizes will roll on to 8:20 in the morning!