Pop Buzz UK

Last July I told you about JK Rowling’s plans for a possible eighth book in the hugely popular Harry Potter series.

Now before anyone gets their hopes up, we’re not talking a new fictional work to carry on the series where The Deathly Hallows left off, but rather an encyclopaedia full of fascinating facts and undiscovered details about the Harry Potter universe and the characters which reside within it.

Unfortunately it seems that someone has beaten her to it, and in an attempt to gain fame and fortune, is trying to publish an unofficial reference book about everything Harry Potter.

Writer Steve Vander Ark and publisher RDR Books have plans to release an encyclopaedia of their own, which is obviously being fought with legal action by Rowling. She said:

“I am very frustrated that a former fan has tried to co-opt my work for financial gain. I believe that RDR’s book constitutes a Harry Potter rip-off of the type I have spent years trying to prevent,”

“Both I, as the creator of this world, and fans of Harry Potter would be exploited by its publication.

“I feel intensely protective, firstly of the literary world I spent so long creating, and secondly, of the fans who bought my books in such large numbers.”

And of course the money that you’d lose if this book came out without your permission. Rowling is perfectly right though, because this book, titled Harry Potter Lexicon, would be using her work, and the characters she spent so long giving life to, without any guarantees of accuracy.

The book was due for release last November but publication was delayed after Rowling sought an injunction. A legal case will now follow, and a decision made as to whether the book is lawful or not.

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Almost a year to the day that there was speculation that Prince Harry would be going to Iraq to fight with his A Squadron of The Blues and Royals, part of the Household Cavalry Regiment, it has emerged that Charles and Diana’s son has been fighting in Afghanistan since before Christmas.

He is reported to have been working in Helmand province of the war torn country, as an Air Controller, responsible for covering front line troops. It has also been confirmed that he has been personally involved in clashes with the Taleban.

He is currently two and a half months in to a four month deployment, although now that the news is out, army chiefs have a tough decision to see if they can risk him staying out there, or whether he should be brought back prematurely.

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There I was merrily minding my own business last night when an earthquake hit Britain and made me feel like the house was about to collapse. Okay, it was only a minor earth tremor in the big scheme of things, but this is the UK, and earthquakes are not regular occurrences. In fact, this is the first one since 2001, and the first I have ever experienced.

I was actually sitting in the bath at the time, reading a book, and looking forward to bed when the earthquake hit at 12.56am. The bath was probably the worst place to be, as I could feel the water shaking around me, and actually thought the whole unit was going to rip apart and leave me on the floor in a puddle of water.

It’s a really weird experience as not being used to quakes in the UK, it’s not the first thing that goes through your mind. I thought the guy upstairs was banging about at first, and then when the tremor stopped, wondered what on earth could have caused it. Luckily my girlfriend explained, having been in the area when the 2001 one hit, and knowing the signs.

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Oh God, here we go again, the Paul ‘Gazza’ Gascoigne story has gone public again, this time with the former England footballer being sectioned under the mental health act, after being arrested at a hotel in Gateshead.

It seems not a few months can go by without some story or event happening in the life of Gazza, and drag his name, kicking and screaming, back in to the media.

For those that are too young to remember, Paul Gascoigne was one of the most talented soccer players England has ever known, and when he was on form, for both his various clubs, and country, he was up there with the best in the world.

Unfortunately, he was also very highly strung, and didn’t seem to be able to switch off between games. When he was injured just after signing for Lazio in a career making move to Italy, he descended in to a downward spiral of boozing which meant the second half of his career never matched up to the first. Basically, he had a touch of the George Bests.

This latest twist to the saga that is his life, started after he stayed at a hotel near his home town of Newcastle to recuperate from a hip operation.

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The Brit Awards took place tonight in Earls Court, London, and here we have all of the latest news, gossip, winners and losers.

The annual event was presented by the Osbourne clan, with Sharon and Kelly taking most of the stage time. Unfortunately, Sharon spent the whole evening looking and acting drunk, while Ozzy sat in the background shaking.

There was a particularly memorable moment when Vic Reeves came on to the stage to present the award for Best British Album. He was pissed as a fart, and so he and Sharon fought over who was going to announce the winner. That was about the only controversy on a night celebrating a year of great British music.

Most of the awards went the way I had expected, or at least secretly hoped for. The big winners of the night ended up being Take That, Arctic Monkeys, and Foo Fighters, who all walked away with two awards each.

Leona Lewis ended up as the biggest loser, as even though she managed to win The X Factor in 2006, she managed to lose in all four of the categories she was nominated in.

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It seems the marriage between Katie Price aka Jordan, and Peter Andre isn’t the dream that they make out it is in public. In fact, things got so bad at one point that the big breasted model actually contemplated suicide.

Jordan and Australian pop singer (former) Peter Andre famously got together and fell in love after both being stars on I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here in 2004. They then got married, and had a child together, but despite acting in public as if life were 100% rosy, behind the scenes was another matter entirely.

The revelations have have come out as a result of Katie Price finally writing her long awaited (although not by me) autobiography titled Jordan: Pushed To The Limits. I’m guessing the title refers to her mental well-being rather than her bra cups, but I could be wrong.

The News Of The World newspaper has printed some exclusive previews from the book, and it reveals quite a bit of anguish for the couple over the past few years.

Firstly, after having the couple’s first baby together, Junior Savva Andreas in 2005, Jordan suffered from post natal depression, which drove her to thoughts of suicide.

She struggled to bond with Junior, and eventually ended up in The Priory clinic and was prescribed anti-depressants.

Then after going home again, she went completely off sex, and refused all of Andre’s sexual advances. I can’t say I blame her, as he is a creepy guy, but then again, I didn’t marry him did I.

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It looks as though the divorce battle currently being fought at the Royal Courts of Justice in London is set to continue on to a second week, with no sign of any divorce settlement being offered.

The messy break up, and ensuing divorce battle between Sir Paul McCartney and Heather Mills finally neared its end this past week, when they both finally showed up to court to thrash out a settlement, but after five days of behind the scenes talks, no deal is anywhere near forthcoming.

Both the 65 year old McCartney and the 40 year old Mills have refused to talk to the press while the hearing has been continuing. Mills, in a move which further reflects her mental state, has been representing herself, while McCartney has an expensive legal team.

A settlement is expected to be made before too long, but it seems neither Mills or McCartney is willing to budge an inch from their long held positions.

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One of my favourite programmes on British television when I was growing up is being axed by the BBC after 30 years of being on air, simultaneously making me feel old, and rather sad at the demise of yet another British institution.

Grange Hill began on February 8th, 1978, less than a year after I was born, so it’s a programme which has been there nearly all of my life, whether I was actively watching it or not.

Although a children’s programme in essence, it’s hard hitting subject matter, and at time brilliantly acted plots made it a family favourite. I know myself that I watched it right up until I was about 21, when despite the story lines not being aimed at me any more, I found myself watching religiously in the same way I’d watch Eastenders and Coronation Street.

The BBC has now announced, in its infinite wisdom, that the series which will air later this year, will now be its last.

CBBC controller Anne Gilchrist paid tribute to the show and said:

“[It is] sad to say goodbye to such a much-loved institution. The lives of children have changed a great deal since Grange Hill began and we owe it to our audience to reflect this.”

The show’s axing has been announced as part of a wider shake up of the Children’s BBC programming schedule, but is definitely the biggest news to come out of the whole re imagining of what today’s kids want to watch on television.

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I’m as much a fan of the Carry On series of films as the next man, having grown up with the repeats of them every Sunday evening on television, but I’m not sure how I feel about the possible return of the series, and who is being lined up to appear in it.

It seems that a new film is being planned, called ‘Carry On To The Next Round’, and comedian Russell Brand, along with Girls Aloud singer Sarah Harding are just two of the big names being lined up to star in it.

For those who don’t know, the Carry On films were bawdy, rude, and slapstick movies which basically revolved around trying to fit as much sexual innuendo in to a 90 minute film as possible.

The series did very well during the 1960s and 1970s, with the ever present cast of people like Sid James, Hattie Jacques, Charles Hawtrey, Kenneth Williams and Barbara Windsor. Although they were low budget parodies, us Brits used to love them… simple times.

The 1980s brought with it a whole new generation of people, and with Margaret Thatcher leading the country, and yuppies ruining it, the clamour for cheap and cheerful laughs came to an end, and so did the series.

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Kylie Minogue, she’s almost British, even though she’s an Australian by the simple technicality of being born over there. She launched her pop career here under defunct record label Stock, Aitken and Waterman, and now spends most of her time in the UK, living here when she’s not gallivanting around the world on tour… she’s even appeared in Doctor Who for cripes sakes!

So that’s my justification for writing about her here on Pop Buzz UK.

The latest saga to emerge from camp Kylie is the video for new single Wow (crappy title, not bad song) being banned from British television, or at least it’s first version.

The video was meant to be getting an exclusive première on Channel 4 last Wednesday, but was pulled at the last minute due to Ofcom (the television regulators) rules about flashing light effects.

The video heavily features strobe lighting which could affect epileptics and people sensitive to that sort of thing. Yes, while you’re happily sitting there watching a Kylie video, and wishing you could be her, or be with her, depending on your gender, you could suddenly start fitting or convulsing. Which isn’t a good look by anyone’s standards.

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