Doctor Who writer Tom MacRae has praised 'fantastic' new companion Jenna-Louise Coleman. MacRae told the Digital Spy website that he had been impressed by the twenty six-year-old actress's original audition tapes. 'She just had this amazing energy,' he explained. 'She's actually a couple of years older than Karen [Gillan] but she seems younger - she seems more of a teenager and bouncy. She's fantastic. It's really hard to take over from any companion that's loved like Amy and Rory are, and she's just going to be so different whilst still being a Doctor Who companion. It's a very good choice from the producers.' MacRae also confessed that he had been 'aware' of Coleman's surprise guest appearance in Doctor Who's series seven premiere Asylum of the Daleks prior to transmission. 'I was amazed that it stayed secret, but thrilled that it did,' he revealed. 
'It was a very clever decision of Steven's to tease in that way, because he's given away absolutely nothing but created a lot of interest.' MacRae's most recent contribution to Doctor Who was 2011's superb The Girl Who Waited, with the writer admitting that he had been overwhelmed by the 'extraordinary' reaction to the episode. 'It got just incredible, incredible reviews,' he said. Like on this blog for instance. 'I don't think Doctor Who fans liked me very much before that, because I was very young when I got the job and I think they thought I hadn't really earned it. "So I worked really hard to do something that would prove the point that I had the right to sit at that table, and then everyone just loved it and I couldn't believe it. I was so overwhelmed.' However, he refused to confirm if he would be contributing a new Doctor Who episode for the show's initial 2013 run. 'I can tell you there are some unconfirmed spots, but I can't say anything more than that,' he stated.
BBC1's latest period drama, The Paradise, set in an 1870s department store in Northern England, launched with an overnight average audience of 5.5 million viewers on Tuesday night. The Paradise, loosely adapted by Bill Gallagher from an Emile Zola novel, won its 9pm slot comfortably. BBC1's new drama was up against ITV's Midsomer Murders, which averaged 4.3 million.
Other 9pm competition included BBC2's Vikings (1.7m) and Channel Four's The Boy Who Can't Forget (2.3m). The Great British Bake Off continued its strong ratings performance on BBC2 in the 8pm hour, averaging 4.5 million viewers and beating Midsomer Murders in the quarter hour to 9pm. 8pm competition included BBC1's Holby City (4.7m). BBC3's new comedy Cuckoo, starring Greg Davies, silly little Helen Baxendale and former Saturday Night Live comedian Andy Samberg, started with an average of 1.15m viewers – the network's best ever launch figures for a comedy from 10pm. Competition at 10pm included BBC4's Lilyhammer (two hundred and twenty one thousand).
BBC4's Only Connect was Monday's most-watched multi-channel broadcast. Shown at 8.30pm, eight hundred and nine thousand watched the quiz show's latest episode, picking up nearly one hundred thousand punters week-on-week. Fronted by the divine Victoria Coren, the programme has steadily grown since its 2008 debut into one of the channel's most popular shows.
Both New Tricks (7.52 million) on BBC1 and ITV's Leaving picked up viewers week-on-week, the latter logging 3.73m and a further two hundred and ninety thousand on +1. Elsewhere on BBC1, Panorama interested 3.02m at 8.30pm, while Citizen Khan was watched by 2.8m from 10.35pm. Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs continued to go from strength to strength, attracting 4.74m in the 8pm junction between Coronation Street's double bill on ITV. University Challenge managed 2.83m for BBC2 at 8pm, then Nigella Lawson's new finger-licking series Nigellissima took 2.61m at 8.30pm. Overall, BBC1 led primetime with 23.7 per cent of the audience share, ahead of ITV's 21.7 per cent.
Several Strictly Come Dancing contestants have reportedly been struck down with a cold virus. Dani Harmer, Louis Smith and Denise Van Outen were among the celebrities who were hit by the illness and were unable to train at different stages over the last few days.
The Tracy Beaker actress told the Sun: 'I've come down with man-flu. I caught it off Vincent [Simone] but we've all got it, everyone on Strictly. It's crazy. My eyes are watering so much and I can't stop coughing which makes training difficult but I am still really enjoying the rehearsals.' Van Outen had previously tweeted on Monday: 'I've got a stinking cold.' Last week, Louis Smith wrote: 'Really don't wanna leave my house today feel ill.'
Former News International executive and well-known Crystal Tipps lookalike Rebekah Brooks and ex-Downing Street communications chief - and the prime minister's former 'chum' - Andy Coulson have learned that their trial over phone-hacking claims will take place next September. The pair and five other ex-Scum of the World journalists appeared at the Old Bailey on Wednesday, accused of conspiracy to access voicemails, and the date was set. Prosecutors say the charge could relate to more than six hundred victims. Private investigator Glenn Mulcaire also appeared in court. Mulcaire is accused of four counts relating to specific people. The former staff members from the disgraced and disgraceful Scum of the World newspaper who are also appearing are its ex-managing editor Stuart Kuttner, former news editor Greg Miskiw, former head of news Ian Edmondson, ex-reporter James Weatherup and former chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck. 
The five journalists, plus Coulson and well-known Crystal Tipps lookalike Brooks, are accused of conspiracy to unlawfully intercept communications. Coulson was Scum of the World editor from 2003 to 2007 and Brooks edited the paper from 2000 to 2003, before moving to edit the Sun and then becoming chief executive officer of the two papers' parent group News International. In a separate case, well-known Crystal Tipps lookalike Brooks, from Churchill in Oxfordshire - along with her husband, millionaire Old Etonian Charlie, and five others - are accused of perverting the course of justice. The charges relate to an alleged attempt to hide evidence from police investigating phone-hacking claims and illegal payments to public officials by the Scum of the World and the Sun. Well-known Crystal Tipps lookalike Brooks's chauffeur Paul Edwards, former personal assistant Cheryl Carter, head of security at News International Mark Hanna, and security staff Daryl Jorsling and Lee Sandell also face the charges. The provisional trial date was set for 9 September next year and all defendants were released on bail.
Ex-Sun editor and odious louse Kelvin MacKenzie, staggeringly, wants South Yorkshire Police to apologise, to him, for the 'vilification' he received in the wake of the lies he printed related to the Hillsborough tragedy. MacKenize, a despicable wretched carbuncle on the backside of humanity has employed lawyers who have contacted the force asking for an apology over his 'personal vilification for decades,' the BBC reports. MacKenzie printed a front page story about Liverpool fans, shortly after the 1989 disaster, headlined The Truth. Ninety-six football fans died as a result of the tragedy in Sheffield. In an article for The Spectator to be published on Thursday, MacKenzie writes: 'I hope that after twenty three years we can all agree on the truth.' Most of us could agree with it in 1989, Kelvin.
People in Liverpool (and beyond) boycotted the Sun - a protest which continues to this day in many parts of Merseyside - after the article claimed that some fans had pickpocketed the dead and urinated on police. The Hillsborough Independent Inquiry report, which was published two weeks ago, said that there was no evidence whatsoever to support the allegations made in the paper. It stated: 'The documents disclosed to the panel show that the origin of these serious allegations was a local Sheffield press agency informed by several SYP officers, an SYP Police Federation spokesperson and a local MP. They also demonstrate how the SYP Police Federation, supported informally by the SYP chief constable, sought to develop and publicise a version of events that focused on several police officers' allegations of drunkenness, ticketlessness and violence among a large number of Liverpool fans.' MacKenzie, who says he has been 'deeply affected by the affair,' adding that he is not a victim but has 'suffered collateral damage.' Were he to visit Liverpool, he claimed, he would 'literally be in mortal danger.' And that , almost certainly, is the most truthful thing that Kelvin Mackenzie has ever written in his journalistic career. Describing the circumstances which, he claims, led him to publish the false story, he said a 'trap was sprung' when he was handed copy from 'a reputable news agency.' The story was sourced from four senior South Yorkshire police officers, he says, and 'copper-bottomed' by a Conservative MP. 'I thought nothing of running the story with the headline The Truth,' he writes. 'There was not a doubt in my mind - and I was by no means the only man in Fleet Street who believed the police's story.' And interesting claim. Certainly some other newspapers did, indeed, carry versions of the same story, although by no means all - the Daily Mirra, for instance, famously asked its reporters in Sheffield and Merseyside whether there was any truth to the the claims, was told that there was not and refused to touch it. All of the other newspapers which did carry the story - the Evening Standard, the Daily Scum Express and the Daily Scum Mail amongst them - at least, did so with headlines that made clear these claims were exactly that, and were unsubstantiated. Within four months of the tragedy occurring, in August 1989, Lord Taylor's report had already established that Liverpool fans were not to blame for the tragedy - the police were - and yet, for years, Mackenzie and the Sun brazenly stuck to their story. 
As late as November 2006 MacKenzie is reported to have said, at a private function, of his coverage of the Hillsborough disaster: 'All I did wrong there was tell the truth. There was a surge of Liverpool fans who had been drinking and that is what caused the disaster. The only thing different we did was put it under the headline The Truth. I went on The World at One the next day and apologised. I only did that because Rupert Murdoch told me to. I wasn't sorry then and I'm not sorry now because we told the truth.' Nice. MacKenzie's Spectator piece concludes: 'This week my lawyer, Ian Rosenblatt, sent a letter to South Yorkshire Police explaining that the lies their officers told to the news agency had led to my personal vilification for decades and that on that basis I was seeking an apology in terms to be agreed between us. I hope that after twenty three years we can all agree on the truth.' Talking more broadly about Hillsborough, MacKenzie highlights the countless other publications which ran the same 'copper-bottomed' story. He goes on to suggest a political motive for the Sun being singled out by a city for which he and the paper 'had nothing but warm thoughts prior to that ghastly day. Liverpool fans didn't turn on other media, only the Sun. That has always puzzled me. Was it picked out because the paper had always backed Thatcher, while the city had always been pro-Labour?' Simply staggering, dear blog reader.
Amusingly, David Cameron may struggle at passport control when he returns home from his current trip to the US and Brazil after fluffing a mock citizenship test on The Late Show with David Letterman. 'You have found me out. That is bad, I have ended my career on your show tonight,' the prime minister said, after struggling when Letterman fired a series of questions at him. Oh, if only wishing made it so. Shifting slightly awkwardly in his seat, Cameron first ran into trouble when Letterman asked him who composed the music for 'Rule Britannia.' 'Elgar,' Cameron said uneasily. 'You are testing me,' he added. Letterman waited until near the end of Cameron's appearance to point out that Thomas Arne composed the music, and that the poem was by James Thomson. Letterman picked on 'Rule Britannia' to remind the prime minister that Britain once had an empire on which the sun never set. Cameron showed a better grasp of American history as he rattled through Anglo-American relations. 'We had a bit of a falling out, [though] I think we are getting over that,' the Oxford PPE graduate said. 'We interfered in your politics two hundred years ago when we sailed up the river and burnt the White House.' Cameron asked to become the first sitting prime minister to appear on the Letterman show, recorded at the legendary Ed Sullivan Theatre on Broadway, to fly the flag for British business. He told Letterman he was 'shamelessly' exploiting the afterglow of the Olympics and Paralympics. Cameron retrieved his honour when asked to explain the difference between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. He summed up the partition of Ireland in a few seconds and went on to praise the Queen's visit to Dublin last year. He made one minor slip when he said she was the first member of her family to visit since independence. The Prince of Wales has visited there on numerous occasions. The interrogation turned to Magna Carta.
It seems, she really did die in vain. '1215,' Cameron shot back when asked the date it was signed. It took him a few minutes to give the venue – Runnymede – before delivering a first class essay about its significance in checking the powers of the English crown. But he did not know the English for Magna Carta. Cameron's Eton chum, Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, who has appeared on the show, will no doubt be chuckling. Letterman eventually ended Cameron's agony, explaining it meant 'Great Charter.' Letterman's producers gave the show a Southern English middle class theme, providing the US audience with a guide to the British class system. The other guest was the British actor Jonny Lee Miller, who made his name in Trainspotting. Miller, the former husband of Angelina Jolie, is from Kingston-on-Thames, and was educated at Tiffin, a local grammar school. Mumford & Sons, the folk rock band from Wimbledon, offered a song from their new CD Babel. Cameron, who ran rings round Jeremy Paxman during the 2005 Tory leadership contest, took care to prepare for his encounter with Letterman. One joke doing the rounds was that Sir Kim Darroch, Britain's national security adviser who has a quick and dry humour, would stand in for Letterman in rehearsals. In the end the Cameron prep team, led by his communications director and former television news editor Craig Oliver, fired a series of questions at him. Top of the list were queries about the Queen after the Letterman team told No 10 they were fascinated by the British monarch after her walk-on part in the James Bond section of the Olympics opening ceremony. The Cameron team studied with care Johnson's appearance on the Letterman show in June, when the mayor was asked how long he has been cutting his hair. 'That's a low blow,' Johnson replied with a smile. One alleged senior British 'source' allegedly said: 'It is just a good opportunity. Britain has had an extraordinary year with the Jubilee, with the Olympics and with the Paralympics. We have got something good to shout about. So getting out there talking up Britain is important. We should never forget that we are the biggest investor in America, America is the biggest investor in us. There is a saying in business that when you want to do better you go back to your biggest customers and try and squeeze out a bit more.' Cameron sought to show a modern Britain. Letterman did his best to counter that in laying the ground for Cameron's appearance by releasing dry ice to depict 'London fog.'
The BBC has denied claims that BBC Breakfast is planning to return part of the show to London because it is struggling to attract high-profile guests. The flagship BBC1 news programme moved to its new home of Salford earlier this year. Reports quoting an unamed 'source' claim the 'light news' section of the show could be transferred to London. A BBC statement said 'there are no plans to move any part of the show.' On the contrary, 'the show is working very well from Salford,' the statement continued.
'We're delighted with the calibre of guests and experts regularly appearing on the programme.' The Daily Scum Mail - that well known bastion of truthful, accurate and fair reportage - claimed, with absolutely no supporting evidence whatsoever, that 'discussions had been held' about whether to turn the latter part of BBC Breakfast into a separate programme based in the South. The section of the show, broadcast between 08:30 and 09:15, is currently known as 'the bridge' as it 'bridges' the transition from morning news to daytime TV. Breakfast relocated to Salford's Media City in April this year, joining several other departments including 5Live, Blue Peter, Newsround and BBC Sport. The move was intended to help the BBC be better placed to reflect the whole of the UK.
Vic Reeves is to transform York into 'a magical wonderland' with his artwork. The comedian, who studied art, was given 'free rein' to design three huge light projections to illuminate the ruins of St Mary's Abbey, the Yorkshire Museum and part of the city walls for the Illuminating York festival, which runs from 31 October to 3 November.
Born in nearby Leeds, and brought up in Darlington, Vic is said to have taken his inspiration from absurdist works such as Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. A spokeswoman for the event, which attracted sixty thousand visitors in 2011, said that the comedian and writer and his project team would be 'creating a new world that turns the expected upside down and revels in the beauty of the unexpected.' Councillor Sonja Crisp said: 'The scale and ambition of this year's festival will be truly spectacular.'
A man has been found guilty of causing a public nuisance after disrupting this year's University Boat Race by swimming into the path of the crews. Trenton Oldfield of Myrdle Street, East London, denied the charge of causing a public nuisance, at Isleworth Crown Court. But he admitted swimming in front of the crews. The incident stopped the one hundred and fifty eighth race between Oxford and Cambridge for about half-an-hour on 7 April. Footage of the race, which was eventually won by Cambridge, was shown to the jury. Earlier they heard from a statement by rower Sir Matthew Pinsent, who was assistant umpire of the race. The four-time Olympic gold-medallist was immediately behind the two eight-man university crews on a launch with umpire John Garrett and was followed by twenty five motorised boats with officials, police, sponsors and camera crews. He spotted what he believed was a balloon about halfway through the race and informed Garrett, but when they got closer Sir Matthew was 'alarmed' to realise that it was a person and he was 'worried about the safety of the swimmer.' His statement, read by prosecution barrister Louis Mably, said: 'The risk for the swimmer was great. He could have been killed if he had been struck by an oar or the rigging, which is metal.' Oldfield said he decided to 'demonstrate' after hearing about the government's public spending cuts, which he said were 'worse than in Dickens' time.' On targeting the race, he said: 'It's a symbol of a lot of issues in Britain around class. Seventy per cent of government pushing through very significant cuts are Oxford or Cambridge graduates. It was a symbolic gesture to these kind of issues.'
TV presenter Justin Lee Collins compiled a graphic dossier of his girlfriend's sexual history, a court has heard claimed. St Albans Crown Court heard Collins had a 'prurient' interest in her previous relationships, which he 'used against her in arguments and assaults.' Collins is on trial after denying causing fear of violence in Anna Larke, of Pirton, Hertfordshire. It is alleged he verbally abused and physically assaulted her, last year. Collins, star of Channel Four's Friday Night Project, is currently appearing in the West End musical Rock of Ages. The jury heard that to 'control' Larke, he forced her to close her Facebook, Twitter and e-mail accounts once he had read messages. He is said to have asked her who she was texting or phoning, insisted she did not sleep with her back against him and made her get rid of DVDs which featured actors she might find attractive. Prosecutor Peter Shaw said Collins began a 'campaign of abuse' and asked questions about Larke's sexual history and wrote 'done' in the notepad when he was satisfied with an answer.
'The defendant would refer to entries in the pad about particular sexual activities that she had engaged in and then question why she had not done such things with him,' he said. 'Collins would often verbally abuse her and mention details in the pad. He once told her she was riddled with sexually-transmitted diseases.' The Bristol-born comic from High Park Road, Kew, pleads not guilty to a charge of harassment by causing Larke fear of violence between January and August last year. The couple had a nine-month relationship from November 2010, during which Larke struggled with alcoholism, the court heard. Collins would lose his temper and hit her in the face, pulled her hair and 'would at times threaten to put her in hospital unless she shut up,' the court heard. Larke screamed so loudly after Collins grabbed her hair, pulled her to the floor and spat on her in a hotel room that staff came to check on them, Shaw said. On another occasion, in May last year, she was 'forced to flee the flat, screaming for help,' when he accused her of infidelity and slapped her, the jury was told. A recording was played to the court of Larke on her mobile phone, in which Collins apparently called her a slag and accused her of having unprotected sex with many men. Shaw said Larke told police she had made the recording in case she ever needed reminding of why the relationship ended. When questioned by police, Collins said Larke had wanted to detail her sexual history for therapeutic reasons and said she had self-harmed. The case continues.
One of the most colourful characters in 1970s football, the former Norwich City and Manchester City manager John Bond has died at the age of seventy nine. During three years in charge at Maine Road, Bond took City to the 1981 FA Cup final, where they lost 3-2 to Tottenham in a memorable classic. He also took Norwich to Wembley for the 1975 League Cup final but missed out on the trophy as Aston Villa beat his Canaries 1-0. Born in Colchester, renowned as a goal-scoring right-back he spent sixteen years as a player at West Ham United, making four hundred and forty four appearances for the Hamsters and was in the side which won the FA Cup in 1964. He then moved on to Torquay, playing under former West Ham teammate Frank O'Farrell for a further three years before calling time on his playing days in 1969 – opening a sweet shop in the south coast town called Bondy's Tuck Shop. 'John was a real character with a great sense of humour and presence. He will be sadly missed,' said Howard Wilkinson, chairman of the League Managers' Association. It was during his time at West Ham that Bond formed his management ethos.
He would join a number of his West Ham team-mates - all future managers, Malcolm Allison, O'Farrell, Ken Brown, Noel Cantwell and Dave Sexton - to discuss forward thinking ideas about tactics and formations. After he finished his career, Bond took his first steps into management at Bournemouth & Boscombe United. Helped by the goals of centre-forward Ted MacDougall, Bond masterminded The Cherries' promotion from Division Four in 1970-71. In November 1973 he took charge at Norwich and recovered from relegation during his first season in charge to win promotion back to the top flight a year later. After seven successful years at Norwich, he resigned in 1980, replacing his old mate Allison at Manchester City, and took the club to the FA Cup final during his first campaign as manager. During his time at City, Bond was reportedly interviewed for the Real Madrid job. Bond subsequently went on to manage Burnley, Swansea, Birmingham City and Shrewsbury Town without repeating his earlier success. His last post as a manager was a short spell at Northern Premier League side Witton Albion in 1998. Ken Brown, his assistant at Bournemouth and Norwich, said Bond was passionate about being a manager. 'He used to think it was his fault if the game didn't go right,' he told BBC Radio Norfolk. 'It wouldn't be the players' fault. I couldn't quite get to grips with that but when I became manager I got the same feelings - you do have to take responsibility.' John is survived by his wife, Jan and their children Kevin - recently Harry Redknapp's assistant at Tottenham - and Toni. Bond's son Kevin played under his father at Bournemouth, Norwich and Manchester City, as well as a spell at Southampton.
Singer Andy Williams has died at his home in Branson, Missouri, after a year-long battle with bladder cancer, aged eighty four. Williams revealed in November 2011 that he had been diagnosed with cancer but said he planned to continue performing at his own theatre. In July he left hospital in order to spend his final days at home with his family. He is probably most famous for his Oscar-winning rendition of Henry Mancini's 'Moon River', featured in the film Breakfast at Tiffany's. Oddly enough, it was never issued as a single although he had plenty of massive hits with other songs including 'Can't Get Used To Losing You', 'Solitaire', 'Almost There', 'Can't Help Falling In Love', 'The Most Wonderful Time of the Year' and 'Where Do I Begin?' the theme from the film Love Story. From his first Transatlantic number one, 'Butterfly' in 1957, as late as 1999 he was still having top ten singles with a reissue of his lounge classic 'Music To Watch Girls By' after it was used in a car advert. Williams was born in Wall Lake, Iowa. He first performed in a children's choir at the local Presbyterian church. Williams and his three older brothers Bob, Don, and Dick formed The Williams Brothers quartet in late 1938, and they performed on radio in the Midwest. The Williams Brothers sang with Bing Crosby on the hit record 'Swinging on a Star' (1944). They also appeared in four musical films: Janie (1944), Kansas City Kitty (1944), Something in the Wind (1947) and Ladies' Man (1947).
This led to a nightclub act with entertainer Kay Thompson from 1947 to 1951. In 1962 he started popular Andy Williams Show on NBC with a cookie-loving man in a bear costume as his co-star. Trust me, dear blog reader, when you were eight it was the funniest thing in the world. The show won three Emmy Awards for outstanding variety programme. Apart from the bear, among the series other regulars were The Osmond Brothers. Andy gave up the variety show in 1971 while it was still popular and retrenched to three specials per year. His Christmas specials, which appeared regularly until 1974 and intermittently from 1982 into the 1990s, were among the most popular of the genre. Williams also hosted the most Grammy award ceremonies (seven from 1971 to 1977) He returned to television to do a syndicated half-hour series in 1976–77. 
He also ran the Andy Williams Moon River Theater in his home town since the 1990s. The singer was one of the most enduring stars of the 1960s and 70s whose easy style and mellow voice led President Ronald Reagan to call him 'a national treasure.' Despite being a lifelong Republican - and, at times, a pretty right-wing one at that - Andy was close friends with Robert and Ethel Kennedy, campaigning for Kennedy's 1968 presidential campaign. Williams was among the celebrities who were present at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles on the night Sirhan Sirhan shot and mortally wounded Kennedy in June 1968. Williams solemnly sang 'The Battle Hymn of the Republic' at RFK's funeral, by request of his widow. No fan of Nixon, Andy also raised funds for George McGovern's 1972 presidential campaign, performing at benefit concerts. Williams is survived by his second wife, Debbie, and three children, Robert, Noelle and Christian from his first marriage to the dancer Claudine Longet.
The Hubble Space Telescope has produced one of its most extraordinary views of the Universe to date. Called the eXtreme Deep Field, the picture captures a mass of galaxies stretching back almost to the time when the first stars began to shine. But this was no simple point and snap - some of the objects in this image are too distant and too faint for that. Rather, this view required Hubble to stare at a tiny patch of sky for more than five hundred hours to detect all the light. The XDF will become an invaluable tool for astronomy. The objects embedded in it will now be followed up by other telescopes. It will keep scientists busy for years, enabling them to study the full history of galaxy formation and evolution. The new vista is actually an updating of a previous HST product - the Hubble Ultra Deep Field. That was built from data acquired in 2003 and 2004, and saw the telescope burrow into a small area of space in the Constellation Fornax.
Again, it necessitated many repeat observations, and revealed thousands of galaxies, both near and far, making it the deepest image of the cosmos ever taken at that time. But XDF goes further; it dials down into an even smaller fraction of the UDF. It incorporates more than two thousand separate exposures over ten years using Hubble's two main cameras - the Advanced Camera for Surveys, installed by astronauts in 2002, and the Wide Field Camera Three, which was added to the observatory during its final servicing in 2009. To see what it does, Hubble has to reach beyond the visible into the infrared. It is only at longer wavelengths of light that some of the most distant objects become detectable. Of the more than five thousand galaxies in the XDF, one is seen as it existed just four hundred and fifty million years after the Universe's birth in The Big Bang. Scientists time that event to be 13.7 billion years ago. This remarkable image will be updated again when Hubble's successor gets into orbit. The James Webb Space Telescope is scheduled to launch in 2018. This next-generation observatory's larger mirror and more sensitive infrared instruments will allow it to go deeper still, to witness the very first starlight in the Universe.
And so to yer actual Keith Telly Topping's 45 of the Day. Heeeeer'es Andy.
'It was a very clever decision of Steven's to tease in that way, because he's given away absolutely nothing but created a lot of interest.' MacRae's most recent contribution to Doctor Who was 2011's superb The Girl Who Waited, with the writer admitting that he had been overwhelmed by the 'extraordinary' reaction to the episode. 'It got just incredible, incredible reviews,' he said. Like on this blog for instance. 'I don't think Doctor Who fans liked me very much before that, because I was very young when I got the job and I think they thought I hadn't really earned it. "So I worked really hard to do something that would prove the point that I had the right to sit at that table, and then everyone just loved it and I couldn't believe it. I was so overwhelmed.' However, he refused to confirm if he would be contributing a new Doctor Who episode for the show's initial 2013 run. 'I can tell you there are some unconfirmed spots, but I can't say anything more than that,' he stated.BBC1's latest period drama, The Paradise, set in an 1870s department store in Northern England, launched with an overnight average audience of 5.5 million viewers on Tuesday night. The Paradise, loosely adapted by Bill Gallagher from an Emile Zola novel, won its 9pm slot comfortably. BBC1's new drama was up against ITV's Midsomer Murders, which averaged 4.3 million.
Other 9pm competition included BBC2's Vikings (1.7m) and Channel Four's The Boy Who Can't Forget (2.3m). The Great British Bake Off continued its strong ratings performance on BBC2 in the 8pm hour, averaging 4.5 million viewers and beating Midsomer Murders in the quarter hour to 9pm. 8pm competition included BBC1's Holby City (4.7m). BBC3's new comedy Cuckoo, starring Greg Davies, silly little Helen Baxendale and former Saturday Night Live comedian Andy Samberg, started with an average of 1.15m viewers – the network's best ever launch figures for a comedy from 10pm. Competition at 10pm included BBC4's Lilyhammer (two hundred and twenty one thousand). BBC4's Only Connect was Monday's most-watched multi-channel broadcast. Shown at 8.30pm, eight hundred and nine thousand watched the quiz show's latest episode, picking up nearly one hundred thousand punters week-on-week. Fronted by the divine Victoria Coren, the programme has steadily grown since its 2008 debut into one of the channel's most popular shows.
Both New Tricks (7.52 million) on BBC1 and ITV's Leaving picked up viewers week-on-week, the latter logging 3.73m and a further two hundred and ninety thousand on +1. Elsewhere on BBC1, Panorama interested 3.02m at 8.30pm, while Citizen Khan was watched by 2.8m from 10.35pm. Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs continued to go from strength to strength, attracting 4.74m in the 8pm junction between Coronation Street's double bill on ITV. University Challenge managed 2.83m for BBC2 at 8pm, then Nigella Lawson's new finger-licking series Nigellissima took 2.61m at 8.30pm. Overall, BBC1 led primetime with 23.7 per cent of the audience share, ahead of ITV's 21.7 per cent. Several Strictly Come Dancing contestants have reportedly been struck down with a cold virus. Dani Harmer, Louis Smith and Denise Van Outen were among the celebrities who were hit by the illness and were unable to train at different stages over the last few days.
The five journalists, plus Coulson and well-known Crystal Tipps lookalike Brooks, are accused of conspiracy to unlawfully intercept communications. Coulson was Scum of the World editor from 2003 to 2007 and Brooks edited the paper from 2000 to 2003, before moving to edit the Sun and then becoming chief executive officer of the two papers' parent group News International. In a separate case, well-known Crystal Tipps lookalike Brooks, from Churchill in Oxfordshire - along with her husband, millionaire Old Etonian Charlie, and five others - are accused of perverting the course of justice. The charges relate to an alleged attempt to hide evidence from police investigating phone-hacking claims and illegal payments to public officials by the Scum of the World and the Sun. Well-known Crystal Tipps lookalike Brooks's chauffeur Paul Edwards, former personal assistant Cheryl Carter, head of security at News International Mark Hanna, and security staff Daryl Jorsling and Lee Sandell also face the charges. The provisional trial date was set for 9 September next year and all defendants were released on bail.Ex-Sun editor and odious louse Kelvin MacKenzie, staggeringly, wants South Yorkshire Police to apologise, to him, for the 'vilification' he received in the wake of the lies he printed related to the Hillsborough tragedy. MacKenize, a despicable wretched carbuncle on the backside of humanity has employed lawyers who have contacted the force asking for an apology over his 'personal vilification for decades,' the BBC reports. MacKenzie printed a front page story about Liverpool fans, shortly after the 1989 disaster, headlined The Truth. Ninety-six football fans died as a result of the tragedy in Sheffield. In an article for The Spectator to be published on Thursday, MacKenzie writes: 'I hope that after twenty three years we can all agree on the truth.' Most of us could agree with it in 1989, Kelvin.
People in Liverpool (and beyond) boycotted the Sun - a protest which continues to this day in many parts of Merseyside - after the article claimed that some fans had pickpocketed the dead and urinated on police. The Hillsborough Independent Inquiry report, which was published two weeks ago, said that there was no evidence whatsoever to support the allegations made in the paper. It stated: 'The documents disclosed to the panel show that the origin of these serious allegations was a local Sheffield press agency informed by several SYP officers, an SYP Police Federation spokesperson and a local MP. They also demonstrate how the SYP Police Federation, supported informally by the SYP chief constable, sought to develop and publicise a version of events that focused on several police officers' allegations of drunkenness, ticketlessness and violence among a large number of Liverpool fans.' MacKenzie, who says he has been 'deeply affected by the affair,' adding that he is not a victim but has 'suffered collateral damage.' Were he to visit Liverpool, he claimed, he would 'literally be in mortal danger.' And that , almost certainly, is the most truthful thing that Kelvin Mackenzie has ever written in his journalistic career. Describing the circumstances which, he claims, led him to publish the false story, he said a 'trap was sprung' when he was handed copy from 'a reputable news agency.' The story was sourced from four senior South Yorkshire police officers, he says, and 'copper-bottomed' by a Conservative MP. 'I thought nothing of running the story with the headline The Truth,' he writes. 'There was not a doubt in my mind - and I was by no means the only man in Fleet Street who believed the police's story.' And interesting claim. Certainly some other newspapers did, indeed, carry versions of the same story, although by no means all - the Daily Mirra, for instance, famously asked its reporters in Sheffield and Merseyside whether there was any truth to the the claims, was told that there was not and refused to touch it. All of the other newspapers which did carry the story - the Evening Standard, the Daily Scum Express and the Daily Scum Mail amongst them - at least, did so with headlines that made clear these claims were exactly that, and were unsubstantiated. Within four months of the tragedy occurring, in August 1989, Lord Taylor's report had already established that Liverpool fans were not to blame for the tragedy - the police were - and yet, for years, Mackenzie and the Sun brazenly stuck to their story. 
As late as November 2006 MacKenzie is reported to have said, at a private function, of his coverage of the Hillsborough disaster: 'All I did wrong there was tell the truth. There was a surge of Liverpool fans who had been drinking and that is what caused the disaster. The only thing different we did was put it under the headline The Truth. I went on The World at One the next day and apologised. I only did that because Rupert Murdoch told me to. I wasn't sorry then and I'm not sorry now because we told the truth.' Nice. MacKenzie's Spectator piece concludes: 'This week my lawyer, Ian Rosenblatt, sent a letter to South Yorkshire Police explaining that the lies their officers told to the news agency had led to my personal vilification for decades and that on that basis I was seeking an apology in terms to be agreed between us. I hope that after twenty three years we can all agree on the truth.' Talking more broadly about Hillsborough, MacKenzie highlights the countless other publications which ran the same 'copper-bottomed' story. He goes on to suggest a political motive for the Sun being singled out by a city for which he and the paper 'had nothing but warm thoughts prior to that ghastly day. Liverpool fans didn't turn on other media, only the Sun. That has always puzzled me. Was it picked out because the paper had always backed Thatcher, while the city had always been pro-Labour?' Simply staggering, dear blog reader. Amusingly, David Cameron may struggle at passport control when he returns home from his current trip to the US and Brazil after fluffing a mock citizenship test on The Late Show with David Letterman. 'You have found me out. That is bad, I have ended my career on your show tonight,' the prime minister said, after struggling when Letterman fired a series of questions at him. Oh, if only wishing made it so. Shifting slightly awkwardly in his seat, Cameron first ran into trouble when Letterman asked him who composed the music for 'Rule Britannia.' 'Elgar,' Cameron said uneasily. 'You are testing me,' he added. Letterman waited until near the end of Cameron's appearance to point out that Thomas Arne composed the music, and that the poem was by James Thomson. Letterman picked on 'Rule Britannia' to remind the prime minister that Britain once had an empire on which the sun never set. Cameron showed a better grasp of American history as he rattled through Anglo-American relations. 'We had a bit of a falling out, [though] I think we are getting over that,' the Oxford PPE graduate said. 'We interfered in your politics two hundred years ago when we sailed up the river and burnt the White House.' Cameron asked to become the first sitting prime minister to appear on the Letterman show, recorded at the legendary Ed Sullivan Theatre on Broadway, to fly the flag for British business. He told Letterman he was 'shamelessly' exploiting the afterglow of the Olympics and Paralympics. Cameron retrieved his honour when asked to explain the difference between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. He summed up the partition of Ireland in a few seconds and went on to praise the Queen's visit to Dublin last year. He made one minor slip when he said she was the first member of her family to visit since independence. The Prince of Wales has visited there on numerous occasions. The interrogation turned to Magna Carta.
It seems, she really did die in vain. '1215,' Cameron shot back when asked the date it was signed. It took him a few minutes to give the venue – Runnymede – before delivering a first class essay about its significance in checking the powers of the English crown. But he did not know the English for Magna Carta. Cameron's Eton chum, Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, who has appeared on the show, will no doubt be chuckling. Letterman eventually ended Cameron's agony, explaining it meant 'Great Charter.' Letterman's producers gave the show a Southern English middle class theme, providing the US audience with a guide to the British class system. The other guest was the British actor Jonny Lee Miller, who made his name in Trainspotting. Miller, the former husband of Angelina Jolie, is from Kingston-on-Thames, and was educated at Tiffin, a local grammar school. Mumford & Sons, the folk rock band from Wimbledon, offered a song from their new CD Babel. Cameron, who ran rings round Jeremy Paxman during the 2005 Tory leadership contest, took care to prepare for his encounter with Letterman. One joke doing the rounds was that Sir Kim Darroch, Britain's national security adviser who has a quick and dry humour, would stand in for Letterman in rehearsals. In the end the Cameron prep team, led by his communications director and former television news editor Craig Oliver, fired a series of questions at him. Top of the list were queries about the Queen after the Letterman team told No 10 they were fascinated by the British monarch after her walk-on part in the James Bond section of the Olympics opening ceremony. The Cameron team studied with care Johnson's appearance on the Letterman show in June, when the mayor was asked how long he has been cutting his hair. 'That's a low blow,' Johnson replied with a smile. One alleged senior British 'source' allegedly said: 'It is just a good opportunity. Britain has had an extraordinary year with the Jubilee, with the Olympics and with the Paralympics. We have got something good to shout about. So getting out there talking up Britain is important. We should never forget that we are the biggest investor in America, America is the biggest investor in us. There is a saying in business that when you want to do better you go back to your biggest customers and try and squeeze out a bit more.' Cameron sought to show a modern Britain. Letterman did his best to counter that in laying the ground for Cameron's appearance by releasing dry ice to depict 'London fog.'The BBC has denied claims that BBC Breakfast is planning to return part of the show to London because it is struggling to attract high-profile guests. The flagship BBC1 news programme moved to its new home of Salford earlier this year. Reports quoting an unamed 'source' claim the 'light news' section of the show could be transferred to London. A BBC statement said 'there are no plans to move any part of the show.' On the contrary, 'the show is working very well from Salford,' the statement continued.
'We're delighted with the calibre of guests and experts regularly appearing on the programme.' The Daily Scum Mail - that well known bastion of truthful, accurate and fair reportage - claimed, with absolutely no supporting evidence whatsoever, that 'discussions had been held' about whether to turn the latter part of BBC Breakfast into a separate programme based in the South. The section of the show, broadcast between 08:30 and 09:15, is currently known as 'the bridge' as it 'bridges' the transition from morning news to daytime TV. Breakfast relocated to Salford's Media City in April this year, joining several other departments including 5Live, Blue Peter, Newsround and BBC Sport. The move was intended to help the BBC be better placed to reflect the whole of the UK.Vic Reeves is to transform York into 'a magical wonderland' with his artwork. The comedian, who studied art, was given 'free rein' to design three huge light projections to illuminate the ruins of St Mary's Abbey, the Yorkshire Museum and part of the city walls for the Illuminating York festival, which runs from 31 October to 3 November.
Born in nearby Leeds, and brought up in Darlington, Vic is said to have taken his inspiration from absurdist works such as Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. A spokeswoman for the event, which attracted sixty thousand visitors in 2011, said that the comedian and writer and his project team would be 'creating a new world that turns the expected upside down and revels in the beauty of the unexpected.' Councillor Sonja Crisp said: 'The scale and ambition of this year's festival will be truly spectacular.'A man has been found guilty of causing a public nuisance after disrupting this year's University Boat Race by swimming into the path of the crews. Trenton Oldfield of Myrdle Street, East London, denied the charge of causing a public nuisance, at Isleworth Crown Court. But he admitted swimming in front of the crews. The incident stopped the one hundred and fifty eighth race between Oxford and Cambridge for about half-an-hour on 7 April. Footage of the race, which was eventually won by Cambridge, was shown to the jury. Earlier they heard from a statement by rower Sir Matthew Pinsent, who was assistant umpire of the race. The four-time Olympic gold-medallist was immediately behind the two eight-man university crews on a launch with umpire John Garrett and was followed by twenty five motorised boats with officials, police, sponsors and camera crews. He spotted what he believed was a balloon about halfway through the race and informed Garrett, but when they got closer Sir Matthew was 'alarmed' to realise that it was a person and he was 'worried about the safety of the swimmer.' His statement, read by prosecution barrister Louis Mably, said: 'The risk for the swimmer was great. He could have been killed if he had been struck by an oar or the rigging, which is metal.' Oldfield said he decided to 'demonstrate' after hearing about the government's public spending cuts, which he said were 'worse than in Dickens' time.' On targeting the race, he said: 'It's a symbol of a lot of issues in Britain around class. Seventy per cent of government pushing through very significant cuts are Oxford or Cambridge graduates. It was a symbolic gesture to these kind of issues.'
TV presenter Justin Lee Collins compiled a graphic dossier of his girlfriend's sexual history, a court has heard claimed. St Albans Crown Court heard Collins had a 'prurient' interest in her previous relationships, which he 'used against her in arguments and assaults.' Collins is on trial after denying causing fear of violence in Anna Larke, of Pirton, Hertfordshire. It is alleged he verbally abused and physically assaulted her, last year. Collins, star of Channel Four's Friday Night Project, is currently appearing in the West End musical Rock of Ages. The jury heard that to 'control' Larke, he forced her to close her Facebook, Twitter and e-mail accounts once he had read messages. He is said to have asked her who she was texting or phoning, insisted she did not sleep with her back against him and made her get rid of DVDs which featured actors she might find attractive. Prosecutor Peter Shaw said Collins began a 'campaign of abuse' and asked questions about Larke's sexual history and wrote 'done' in the notepad when he was satisfied with an answer.
'The defendant would refer to entries in the pad about particular sexual activities that she had engaged in and then question why she had not done such things with him,' he said. 'Collins would often verbally abuse her and mention details in the pad. He once told her she was riddled with sexually-transmitted diseases.' The Bristol-born comic from High Park Road, Kew, pleads not guilty to a charge of harassment by causing Larke fear of violence between January and August last year. The couple had a nine-month relationship from November 2010, during which Larke struggled with alcoholism, the court heard. Collins would lose his temper and hit her in the face, pulled her hair and 'would at times threaten to put her in hospital unless she shut up,' the court heard. Larke screamed so loudly after Collins grabbed her hair, pulled her to the floor and spat on her in a hotel room that staff came to check on them, Shaw said. On another occasion, in May last year, she was 'forced to flee the flat, screaming for help,' when he accused her of infidelity and slapped her, the jury was told. A recording was played to the court of Larke on her mobile phone, in which Collins apparently called her a slag and accused her of having unprotected sex with many men. Shaw said Larke told police she had made the recording in case she ever needed reminding of why the relationship ended. When questioned by police, Collins said Larke had wanted to detail her sexual history for therapeutic reasons and said she had self-harmed. The case continues.One of the most colourful characters in 1970s football, the former Norwich City and Manchester City manager John Bond has died at the age of seventy nine. During three years in charge at Maine Road, Bond took City to the 1981 FA Cup final, where they lost 3-2 to Tottenham in a memorable classic. He also took Norwich to Wembley for the 1975 League Cup final but missed out on the trophy as Aston Villa beat his Canaries 1-0. Born in Colchester, renowned as a goal-scoring right-back he spent sixteen years as a player at West Ham United, making four hundred and forty four appearances for the Hamsters and was in the side which won the FA Cup in 1964. He then moved on to Torquay, playing under former West Ham teammate Frank O'Farrell for a further three years before calling time on his playing days in 1969 – opening a sweet shop in the south coast town called Bondy's Tuck Shop. 'John was a real character with a great sense of humour and presence. He will be sadly missed,' said Howard Wilkinson, chairman of the League Managers' Association. It was during his time at West Ham that Bond formed his management ethos.
He would join a number of his West Ham team-mates - all future managers, Malcolm Allison, O'Farrell, Ken Brown, Noel Cantwell and Dave Sexton - to discuss forward thinking ideas about tactics and formations. After he finished his career, Bond took his first steps into management at Bournemouth & Boscombe United. Helped by the goals of centre-forward Ted MacDougall, Bond masterminded The Cherries' promotion from Division Four in 1970-71. In November 1973 he took charge at Norwich and recovered from relegation during his first season in charge to win promotion back to the top flight a year later. After seven successful years at Norwich, he resigned in 1980, replacing his old mate Allison at Manchester City, and took the club to the FA Cup final during his first campaign as manager. During his time at City, Bond was reportedly interviewed for the Real Madrid job. Bond subsequently went on to manage Burnley, Swansea, Birmingham City and Shrewsbury Town without repeating his earlier success. His last post as a manager was a short spell at Northern Premier League side Witton Albion in 1998. Ken Brown, his assistant at Bournemouth and Norwich, said Bond was passionate about being a manager. 'He used to think it was his fault if the game didn't go right,' he told BBC Radio Norfolk. 'It wouldn't be the players' fault. I couldn't quite get to grips with that but when I became manager I got the same feelings - you do have to take responsibility.' John is survived by his wife, Jan and their children Kevin - recently Harry Redknapp's assistant at Tottenham - and Toni. Bond's son Kevin played under his father at Bournemouth, Norwich and Manchester City, as well as a spell at Southampton.Singer Andy Williams has died at his home in Branson, Missouri, after a year-long battle with bladder cancer, aged eighty four. Williams revealed in November 2011 that he had been diagnosed with cancer but said he planned to continue performing at his own theatre. In July he left hospital in order to spend his final days at home with his family. He is probably most famous for his Oscar-winning rendition of Henry Mancini's 'Moon River', featured in the film Breakfast at Tiffany's. Oddly enough, it was never issued as a single although he had plenty of massive hits with other songs including 'Can't Get Used To Losing You', 'Solitaire', 'Almost There', 'Can't Help Falling In Love', 'The Most Wonderful Time of the Year' and 'Where Do I Begin?' the theme from the film Love Story. From his first Transatlantic number one, 'Butterfly' in 1957, as late as 1999 he was still having top ten singles with a reissue of his lounge classic 'Music To Watch Girls By' after it was used in a car advert. Williams was born in Wall Lake, Iowa. He first performed in a children's choir at the local Presbyterian church. Williams and his three older brothers Bob, Don, and Dick formed The Williams Brothers quartet in late 1938, and they performed on radio in the Midwest. The Williams Brothers sang with Bing Crosby on the hit record 'Swinging on a Star' (1944). They also appeared in four musical films: Janie (1944), Kansas City Kitty (1944), Something in the Wind (1947) and Ladies' Man (1947).
This led to a nightclub act with entertainer Kay Thompson from 1947 to 1951. In 1962 he started popular Andy Williams Show on NBC with a cookie-loving man in a bear costume as his co-star. Trust me, dear blog reader, when you were eight it was the funniest thing in the world. The show won three Emmy Awards for outstanding variety programme. Apart from the bear, among the series other regulars were The Osmond Brothers. Andy gave up the variety show in 1971 while it was still popular and retrenched to three specials per year. His Christmas specials, which appeared regularly until 1974 and intermittently from 1982 into the 1990s, were among the most popular of the genre. Williams also hosted the most Grammy award ceremonies (seven from 1971 to 1977) He returned to television to do a syndicated half-hour series in 1976–77. 
He also ran the Andy Williams Moon River Theater in his home town since the 1990s. The singer was one of the most enduring stars of the 1960s and 70s whose easy style and mellow voice led President Ronald Reagan to call him 'a national treasure.' Despite being a lifelong Republican - and, at times, a pretty right-wing one at that - Andy was close friends with Robert and Ethel Kennedy, campaigning for Kennedy's 1968 presidential campaign. Williams was among the celebrities who were present at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles on the night Sirhan Sirhan shot and mortally wounded Kennedy in June 1968. Williams solemnly sang 'The Battle Hymn of the Republic' at RFK's funeral, by request of his widow. No fan of Nixon, Andy also raised funds for George McGovern's 1972 presidential campaign, performing at benefit concerts. Williams is survived by his second wife, Debbie, and three children, Robert, Noelle and Christian from his first marriage to the dancer Claudine Longet.The Hubble Space Telescope has produced one of its most extraordinary views of the Universe to date. Called the eXtreme Deep Field, the picture captures a mass of galaxies stretching back almost to the time when the first stars began to shine. But this was no simple point and snap - some of the objects in this image are too distant and too faint for that. Rather, this view required Hubble to stare at a tiny patch of sky for more than five hundred hours to detect all the light. The XDF will become an invaluable tool for astronomy. The objects embedded in it will now be followed up by other telescopes. It will keep scientists busy for years, enabling them to study the full history of galaxy formation and evolution. The new vista is actually an updating of a previous HST product - the Hubble Ultra Deep Field. That was built from data acquired in 2003 and 2004, and saw the telescope burrow into a small area of space in the Constellation Fornax.
Again, it necessitated many repeat observations, and revealed thousands of galaxies, both near and far, making it the deepest image of the cosmos ever taken at that time. But XDF goes further; it dials down into an even smaller fraction of the UDF. It incorporates more than two thousand separate exposures over ten years using Hubble's two main cameras - the Advanced Camera for Surveys, installed by astronauts in 2002, and the Wide Field Camera Three, which was added to the observatory during its final servicing in 2009. To see what it does, Hubble has to reach beyond the visible into the infrared. It is only at longer wavelengths of light that some of the most distant objects become detectable. Of the more than five thousand galaxies in the XDF, one is seen as it existed just four hundred and fifty million years after the Universe's birth in The Big Bang. Scientists time that event to be 13.7 billion years ago. This remarkable image will be updated again when Hubble's successor gets into orbit. The James Webb Space Telescope is scheduled to launch in 2018. This next-generation observatory's larger mirror and more sensitive infrared instruments will allow it to go deeper still, to witness the very first starlight in the Universe.And so to yer actual Keith Telly Topping's 45 of the Day. Heeeeer'es Andy.
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