Brit Celeb Radio #1 – All Things British and Langdon

Catherine Lyn Scott

Editor’s Note: This is the start of an exciting new weekly column on Anglotopia – Catherine Lyn Scott is a British publicist in Los Angeles who specializes in representing British Celebrities in Hollywood. She also happens to host the brilliant Brit Celeb Radio on LA Talk Radio. Catherine has kindly consented to post about the show every week and share it with Anglotopia’s readers. Enjoy!

Welcome to the first Brit Celeb Radio show played on ‘Anglotopia’…

Brit Celeb Radio is a fun filled British celebrity based show. Each week a special celebrity guest joins bubbly British host Catherine Lyn Scott in the studio.  Get your British celebrity fix with weekly reports from our Brit Entertainment Reporter Emily, who will share what those naughty British celebrities are up to.

Emily

If you love London, British Accents, Brits or anything British – this show is a must.    You can hear it each week LIVE on www.latalkradio.com at 1pm PST or 9pm GMT (UK time) or check back here and listen.
Past shows can be heard here: http://www.latalkradio.com/Catherine.php

This week those naughty British Celebrities are at it again… Listen to the show to find out who Brit Hottie ‘David Beckham’ took a bath with, news about Kate Winslet, Pop Group Girls Aloud and much more.  Here it from the Brits about the amazing ‘Notting Hill Carnival’, British TV and tea drinking from the Brits!  We were also joined in the studio with Radio Celebrity Langdon from Langdon Nation.

Listen to this week’s show now!

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Dispatches from the South: American Things I Still Can’t Do in Britain

Photo from Flickr

To continue with my “I’ve been here how long?” theme, this week we’ll take a look at some of the things I would like to adapt to, but just can’t seem to get the hang of.

On the up side, I am pleased to say I can now travel around without getting lost (too often), can complain about the weather with the best of them, and even speak the language like a native. What I still cannot get to grips with however, are British eggs, electricity, aspirin and time.

The electrical sockets here are 220 volt. Yes, even for a night light or a Glade Room Freshener. This makes the Brits very cautious around electricity and practically eliminates amusing anecdotes about the time you convinced your little brother to stick a bobbie pin into an outlet. As a safety precaution, wall plugs have switches on them, so you can turn the power off “at the mains.”

This is all well and good, as long as you remember to turn it on at the mains. I wish I had a 5 pence piece for every time my laptop ran out of power or I turned a light off and on half a dozen times wondering what was wrong with it or I returned to the kitchen after 20 minutes to see why I didn’t smell dinner cooking only to find the stove stone cold and the mains power still switched off.

And time, over here, is military-style, with trains arriving and leaving at such times as 16:34 or 19:04. And for some reason, I just cannot get used to this. The simple formula of subtracting 2 and losing the first digit (turning 18:46 into 16:46 or 6:46, for example) often has me thinking that my 18:47 train is due at 16:47 so that would make it 4:47. Even with a 24-hour watch, I would still have problems adjusting. The whole thing gives me a headache.

Which brings me to aspirin. The abiding belief that topping yourself by eating a handful of aspirin means you cannot buy it by the gross, as in the US. So I am forced to buy it in boxes of 12. And you can only buy one at a time. Consequently, when I get a headache, I have to go buy a box, take two and then put the box somewhere that I will remember it in the future. The medicine cabinet seems like a good place, and I swear that is where I put them, but weeks later, when I have another headache, the box has disappeared. So I have to buy another box.

Somewhere in this flat, there are about 187 12-packs of aspirin with 10 tablets left in them. I expect we’ll find them if we ever move out.

Photo from Flickr

As for eggs, I spent 46 years developing the perfect tapping technique for cracking an American egg and then found out—to my bitter disappointment—that the skill is non-transferable. The problem, in my opinion, is they don’t feed their chickens enough DDT or whatever it is we feed them in the States because the shells here (on their brown, not white, eggs) are hard as walnuts.

Since it is my privilege to make breakfast on weekend mornings, and since my vegetarian wife and I have a limited selection of foods in common, a typical morning meal inevitably includes eggs. A favourite of mine is eggs over easy, and my wife likes fried eggs (they are the same thing, by the way) but the odds of me getting a yolk out of an eggshell in one piece are about the same as the Labour government sweeping to victory at the polls in the next general election.

Now, I know from experience that I have to hit the egg harder than I am used to, so I steel myself and give it a good whack. Generally, the first blow glances off the armour plating leaving hardly a nick. The second blow, delivered with more determination, adds a dent and a few cracks. So the third blow is practically guaranteed to end up with me holding a dripping mass of canary yellow goo, splintered eggshell and a good deal of something that unnervingly resembles snot in my hand.

We eat a lot of scrambled eggs.

But only if I remember to turn the stove on at the mains.

This Week in Doctor Who: 11th Hour Promo Pics, BBC America Launch, Matt Smith and Karen Gillan Interviewed,

We’re just under 3 weeks now until the premiere (and five weeks until it premieres in America) of Matt Smith as the new Doctor in Doctor Who Series five. The publicity machine is ramping up and there’s much to report this week in our weekly edition of This Week in Doctor Who.

Official 11th Hour Synopsis Released

The BBC has released the official synopsis for the first episode of series 5. And it sounds exciting!

The Doctor has regenerated into a brand new man, but danger strikes before he can even recover. With the TARDIS wrecked, and the sonic screwdriver destroyed, the new Doctor has just 20 minutes to save the whole world – and only Amy Pond to help him.

The 11th Hour Promo Pics

Here are some official promotional pictures from the BBC for the first episode of series 5 – The Eleventh Hour.

Special Doctor Who Event at Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo

BBC America will be hitting the road and attending the upcoming Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo with an exclusive airing of the first 2 episodes of Series 5.

From the C2E2 blog:

The new series of Doctor Who – featuring the debut of Matt Smith as The Doctor and Karen Gillan as companion Amy Pond – kicks off on BBC America on Saturday, April 17, but BBC America and C2E2 are giving Chicago fans a head start!

BBC America presents its special premiere screening of the first two episodes of Doctor Who on Friday, April 16. Fans attending will be the first to see Episode 2 in the U.S.

After spending the day at the con, gather together with your fellow Who fans at 8 PM in room E353 to witness the first two adventures of The Doctor and Amy Pond.

This happens to be right in our backyard and we’re going to try and attend if we can get press access. It would be a lot of fun!

Matt Smith Interview in the Guardian

New Doctor Matt Smith was recently interview by the Guardian. They followed him for 6 months as the new series filmed and there are some very interesting tidbits about the upcoming series.

Here’s an excerpt:

Today Smith is wearing jeans and a sweater rather than the Time Lord’s natty new bow tie and tweed jacket – but there’s still no mistaking the thick, shiny quiff that will surely spawn a million youthful imitations this spring. (The bow tie, with tweed jacket and braces, was Smith’s idea, and a last-minute replacement for a ‘more piratey’ look that the producers had developed.) Though Smith, 27, received good notices for his breakthrough TV role, in the little-watched BBC2 political drama Party Animals, he was a surprise choice to play the Doctor. His energy and projection silence the room as the read-through gets under way, but they are almost matched by Moffat, who reads the stage directions so fast that people have trouble turning their pages quickly enough to keep up.

‘It’s basically Trumpton,’ Moffat says of Leadworth, the fictional English village in which the Doctor – his Tardis out of control – crash-lands at the beginning of the episode. At 60 minutes, this episode will be a third longer than most, yet it still has plenty to get through. Smith hasn’t quite finished regenerating – a process that varies in length from Doctor to Doctor, but for Smith will carry on throughout episode one of the new run. There’s his new companion to introduce: Amy Pond, played by 22-year-old Karen Gillan – who was the last person to audition for the role, and who Moffat says was ‘a bit kookier’ than the others. And then, of course, there’s the obligatory threat of global annihilation – in the form of the Atraxi, an orbiting crowd of thuggish galactic policemen – to dispatch.

Read the rest of the excellent article here.

Karen Gillan Interviewed at the BBC

New companion Karen Gillan was recently interviewed over at BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat and let slip some interesting tidbits about her upcoming work on Series 5.

Here’s an excerpt:

Doctor Who’s new companion, actress Karen Gillan, says she’s “completely nervous” about the airing of her first episode.

The 22-year-old admitted the series debut was always going to be daunting but that the production team were all “really proud” of their work.

Doctor number eleven – Matt Smith – will also be introduced when the show returns at Easter.

Gillan said her on-screen partner would win over fans and silence those who’ve raised eyebrows about choosing a relatively unknown young actor.

“What Matt’s done is something completely incredible”, she said. “He’s completely made the part his own and I think people really are going to fall in love with his Doctor.”

The Inverness-born actress said that Smith is a bit of a joker on set and “like an annoying older brother – but annoying in a brilliant way.”

Read the rest of the Karen Gillan interview here.

She also revealed that the 27-year-old brings a guitar to the set, to strum away at during takes. (Although she’s yet to find out if he’s any good).

Be sure to check back next Monday for more great Doctor Who News in This Week in Doctor Who.

Recap of Our First British American Business Council Event – BABC Chicago

As I wrote about last week – Anglotopia was invited to join the British American Business Council of Chicago and we couldn’t be more delighted about that. Wednesday night was our first after work drinks event or ‘drinky-do’ as Jim Hacker from Yes, Minister would say.

After browsing the BABC Chicago website and seeing the caliber of people that are in the organization, I was extremely nervous to be attending. Generally, I’m shy and nervous anyway when it comes to these sorts of things. Thankfully, I had my lovely wife Jackie with me to prod me along.

I work in downtown Chicago so it was only a short cab ride away from the office to the building where the event was being held. We got there early and were some of the first to arrive. The event was on the 44th floor of a high rise – which in itself was an experience as I’ve only ever been up that high once! The views were amazing. We were so high up you could see the curvature of the earth!

We connected with Chris Brenkus, who runs the BABC in Chicago and she was kind enough to introduce us to key people – which was very lovely. It saved us from being the weird wallflowers in the corner! We met some great people – the kind of people that will help us with our goals for Anglotopia. Everyone was very interested in hearing all about Anglotopia.

It was also rather amusing – many of the people we met were Brits living in Chicago and when we said we run a website for people that love Britain – they couldn’t really understand how I could love Britain so much! Typical British self-deprecation indeed!

One person I was very shocked/excited to meet was Toni Hargis – also known as Expat Mum and author of the brilliant book Rules, Britannia: An Insider’s Guide to Life in the United Kingdom. I had no idea she lived in Chicago! Small world indeed!

I met a very interesting Brit who’s trying to start a business selling British style bacon and sausages in the USA – which there is a huge market for. He even brought us some samples and we can’t wait to have a good ‘ol British style breakfast fry-up this weekend. So, we will report on that! And I’ve invited him to write a guest post for Anglotopia telling us all about his business and how you can get your hands on authentic British Bangers.

We met some lovely people from the British Consulate in Chicago and I’m very much looking forward to connecting with them in the future. We also had a good chat with a fellow named Robert Gibbs – a principal at the new media marketing firm 101 Worldwide – we had a very interesting chat about how important web analytics are and the challenges facingdigital agencies when dealing with clients.

By the end of the event, we were knackered and quietly make our exit and headed back home to Indiana. Overall, it went excellently and I cannot wait for the next event. So very excited to be a part of BABC in Chicago.

Next month we’ll get inducted formally into the organization at the Consul’s residence – which I’m sure will be an amazing experience.

Guest Post: Guide to Renting a Self Catering Cottage in Britain and in England

Editor’s Note: The following is a guest post from Jane – who owns the fabulous Updown Cottage which we had the pleasure to stay in last November. Since she’s an expert on everything self-catering – I asked who to put together this excellent guide to renting self catering accommodation in the United Kingdom. Thanks Jane!

Until very recently I had no idea that the concept of a ‘self catering holiday’ was almost unknown outside Europe. As a little girl in England we always rented holiday cottages in Cornwall for our annual fortnight holiday and I often spent them devouring books, perhaps by Enid Blyton, which told of the adventures children had whilst staying at the house their parents or grandparents had rented for the summer holidays.

My children have often spent their holidays in Cornwall where we usually get together en famille with grandparents, cousins and friends but also in France and Italy where we have rented gites or villas by the week. With 3 small children there was no thought to do otherwise as far as we were concerned – a holiday free from the constraints and worries of staying amongst strangers and at perhaps a tenth of the cost. If you’ll excuse the expression – it was a no brainer!

In the last few years we have taken the plunge and invested in a cottage in Dorset which we set up to run as a holiday cottage with the express purpose of providing everything that we would expect to find (and hopefully more!) when renting a holiday property. In retrospect, had I realised that self catering was unusual in other countries, I wouldn’t have been so mystified by the charming American gentleman who insisted on booking a particular room that he had seen on the website. I kept trying to explain that he could choose any room he liked when he arrived, as the whole house would be his….. I think eventually we got there!

I have no idea of the number of holiday properties in England but they undoubtedly run into the many thousands and will come in every variety of shape and size imaginable. Some will be in the centre of a city, others in a wild, remote location. There will be those which are akin to (I would even go so far as to say ‘surpass’) staying in the best hotels and there will be those which are quite basic.

I was going to say that probably the only people they would not suit would be those requiring room service or portering but in fact there are even serviced apartments in some cities and towns which provide these. The really exciting thought is that self catering offers travellers absolute freedom of choice in every possible way, from location and facilities to price and décor. The advantages over hotel accommodation are numerous – a whole house to call your own for the duration of your stay, absolute privacy, the freedom to eat in or out at whatever time suits (haven’t we all craved an egg or beans on toast at some point in a holiday rather than yet another hotel or restaurant meal?), to eat breakfast in your dressing gown in the garden and perhaps, above all else, to really feel that one has a ‘home away from home’.

The question is how to filter through the myriad properties and choose one to stay in?

Without doubt your route lies on the internet – guide books will only ever show a miniscule selection, a fraction of the detail and will inevitably be out of date. There are many, many agency and listing sites out there in addition to the individual property sites. Some of these sites will have inspected and positively accepted the properties they list whereas others make no such claims.

From my own experience I would start by creating a list of your specific requirements, perhaps armed with Google maps which are able to zoom in and out. Try to picture your dream location and style of property and any particular requirements. A modern, city centre apartment or a cosy country cottage? Within easy reach of public transport or will you have a car? In the midst of heritage and history or activities and sports? Do you need Wifi? Is luxury a pre-requisite? Have you dreamed of snuggling up in front of a roaring log fire or sitting on a terrace with spectacular views? Be as specific as you can about the nearest town.

If you identify a suitable property on a listing site, try to search further for its own website which should give a much better feel of both the place and its owner.

In almost all cases these days, UK holiday homes will come equipped with linen & towels; heating and final cleaning should be included but it is a good idea to read the website carefully and email or speak to the owners to ensure that there are no hidden costs. Many owners pride themselves in ‘going the extra mile’ and also provide a welcome basket of groceries, toiletries, recommendations for local services such as chefs, yoga instructors, florists and additional cleaning payable locally. On that note, guests are expected to leave the house as they find it but a full clean and ‘changeover’ will always be done between guests. Don’t even think of renting anywhere which suggests otherwise!

The vast majority of holiday homes will be professionally set up businesses rather than someone’s home but should still be equipped with books, films, music and more than enough kitchenware for your needs.

Visit Britain run an assessment scheme which awards star ratings and Gold or Silver awards to the highest scoring but it is a significant expense to the owner so not being rated is not necessarily an indication of poor quality. The overwhelming factor for me in reaching a decision is the quality of the website, the efficiency of the owner in answering your queries and of course the location and style of the property which is entirely personal! Try also to bear in mind a favourite family saying, ‘if you pay peanuts you’ll get monkeys’!

A deposit of between 10 and 50% will usually be required to secure the booking; the balance and some form of refundable housekeeping deposit will be payable between 4 and 8 weeks in advance of the holiday, at which point you should be given details of how to access the property, directions, local knowledge and who to contact in an emergency. Agencies may accept credit card payments, however individual property owners are only likely to take sterling cheques, bank transfers or credit cards via Paypal or Google Checkout. There are pros and cons to renting through an agent versus directly with the owner – you may feel that you have more consumer protection with an agency but the constant vigilance of the owner will usually ensure a high standard of maintenance and care of their property. It is always advisable to check the cancellation policy and to take out travel insurance.

You will often be able to rent a home for short breaks of 3 or 4 nights rather than just by the week, however to really feel at home I would book for as long as possible!

You may find the following sites useful:

Visit Britain Self Catering Cottage Database: Click the self catering button. Lists graded accommodation only.

Special Escapes: Inspected properties with something special whether it be the welcome, the location or quirky style.

Tourist Information Centre Database: For tourist information centres throughout Britain which are excellent sources of local accommodation and knowledge.

And lastly do feel free to contact me on Twitter in case I can help with any advice.

Should anyone be looking for a cosy, country 16th Century English cottage, stuffed with beams and character, in the very midst of heritage and historical sites but with Wifi and within easy reach of public transport, with every luxury, rated 5* with a Gold award and yes, both the roaring log fire and terrace with spectacular views…..perhaps you might like to take a look at www.updowncottage.co.uk!

Next Page »