THE ALIMONY TOUR

We went to The Lowry last night to help John Cleese pay his ex-wife $20m alimony.
For two hours he retraced his glory days - after giving us a droll potted history of his dreary upbringing in Weston-super-Mare. Numerous lucky breaks, he modestly maintained, were his rare advantage, whether it was landing a role in Half a Sixpence alongside Tommy Steele on Broadway - fresh out of university and flushed with the surprise success of the Footlights revue Cambridge Circus - or David Frost’s summons for him to take a leading role in the career-making The Frost Report.
The funniest bits were the well-remembered (by me anyway) clips from Fawlty Towers and Monty Python and it's prompted me to revisit my boxed sets.
But the whole idea of such a great entertainer having to come out of well-deserved retirement to flaunt his stuff for a few thousand pounds is rather sad. I hope he's learnt his lesson!

TV BODY IMAGE DOCUMENTARY

Another tvdocumentary appeal:

Mums - is your daughter a pre-teen beauty?

Cherry Healey show is looking to talk to mums with daughters for a new TV documentary about body image.

We want to talk to mums with daughters between the ages of 5 and 11 for a programme about body image. We’d like to hear from mothers about when young girls start thinking about their bodies and mums who want to encourage their daughters to make the most of their looks.

Is it important to you for your daughter to look good?

Do you want your daughter to have the opportunities to stand out in a way that you never had?

What does looking good mean to you and your daughter?

Whether your daughter wants to be an actress, a model or just loves dressing up - get in touch!

Please email body@renegadepictures.co.uk  or call 0207 449 3242 for more information about the programme

IT COULD BE US

Roughly once every other month I get an email that says "Good news about your ticket" from Lotto. For the ten seconds that it takes to log onto the Lotto site, I believe that we are at last millionaires. But no, it's another tenner. That ten-second feeling is so good though, that next time I get the email, I think I'll delay visiting the Lotto site for 24 hours - or maybe longer - perhaps the feeling that millions might lie in a bank waiting for me to claim them, is almost as good as getting the cheque. I'll have to consult the psychologist son on that one.

Oscar is now at the age where his truthfulness knows no bounds and if he opens a present and sees that it's something he's already got, he'll say so. When Hugo was born just over a week ago, our daughter wrapped a lovely knitted dog called "Boofle" for Oscar to look after when his mummy looks after Hugo. Our daughter's not aquainted with Oscar's truthfulness so I briefed her, and told her not to be offended when he said "Oscar not want one of those, Oscar already has lots of teddies at Oscar's house." So she was fully prepared when, half way through pulling the wrapping paper off, the sentence was uttered word for word. But we gave Boofle a voice and he sat and watched Oscar having his dinner. When I next called at Oscar's house, during a thunder storm, he was covering Boofle's ears so he wasn't afraid of the lightning and "to keep Boofle safe".  When he visited us this week and opened yet another present from a friend and began to recite his mantra, I explained why it's always better just to say "thank you". Later in the day some cholcolate buttons were received at the door, wrapped in coloured paper. I cringed as he opened the package in front of the donor. "Chocolate buttons" shouted Oscar as though he'd never experienced them before, and he only needed a slight reminder before yelling: "Thank you!" Phew!

The truthfulness also extends to physical peculiarities. As I sat next to him in the car, he pointed to a small (tiny!) spot on my top lip and demanded to know what it was - in fact he stared at it for most of the journey. When he did avert his eyes, he said that Grandad had "very funny hair". When Grandad asked him if he'd rather get out and walk, he said Yes!

HUGO

Weighing in at 8lb 10oz, Hugo, our beautiful new grandson, entered this exciting world on Friday. He is a baby brother for Oscar who has already offered him his blanket and his juice.

HUGO

As every hour passes he looks more and more like his big brother did at the same age.

HUGO

OSCAR

And by a happy coincidence a letter of mine was published in the Times on Friday. So when, aged 21, he receives the edition of the Times from the day he was born, there will be his grandma's letter!

BBC DOCUMENTARY

I've been asked to put this on my blog - maybe you can help?

I'm working on a BBC Three one off documentary on body image. In the programme our presenter, Cherry Healey, will meet seven women at different stages of life and talk to them about body image. The idea is to hear from a range of voices who ultimately represent what sort of a relationship British women have with their own bodies. We want the documentary to be positive, inspiring and thought provoking.

We are currently looking for women to get in touch and share their views and opinions and are particularly keen to hear from mothers with daughters who are perhaps starting to display body image awareness at a young age. Perhaps the mum herself is or was a big dieter or has body hang-ups that she has come to realise may be passed on to her daughter if she's not careful. She may or may not have already taken steps to make sure that negative messages aren’t reinforced at home.

We are also looking to speak to new mums who are feeling the pressure to lose their pregnancy weight and may feel that the way they look is closely connected to their new role as a mother.

  

If anyone is interested in taking part the best address for them to use is:

body@renegadepictures.co.uk

PRINCE / PRINCESS

Oscar's pre-school group held a Royal Wedding party and each child was asked to dress as a prince or a princess - perhaps because the word was longer and therefore probably more important, Oscar said he wanted to be a princess. His dad made a crown and placed it on his head telling him that he was now a prince. "No, princess" said Oscar. Eventually the matter was resolved by them both deciding that he could be a king.

Over Sunday dinner I was talking to my mother about housekeeping, what I used to spend and what I spend now. Oscar's dad said: "What's housekeeping?" I could hardly believe my ears. Did he not realise that for the 20-odd years he lived at home I worked to a budget and that every one of his three-course meals came out of it? Apparently not, because when I explained the concept he said that he thought it was a bit quaint and old-fashioned.
When his brother was home over Easter I laughingly told him about this episode, expecting him to laugh with me. "What is housekeeping?" he asked. I explained once again. "It sounds quite sensible" he said. This left me wondering what young couples do these days if there are no financial boundaries in place. It also left me wondering whether they had ever noticed that for most of their lives they ate steak at the beginning of the month and shepherd's pie at the end. Probably not!

A LITTLE KICKER

Oscar has joined the Tuesday afternoon Little Kickers club. On his first visit he won a race and scored a goal cheered on by a very proud Dad. I'm not sure but it looks to me as though he was sent off!

The half time drink proved to be a big attraction.

I hope he doesn't prove to be as rough as his uncle (our younger son) who arrived at our house last night with bruised knees and cut feet after taking a dive in a mixed sex football match during which he sent a female member of the team flying.