The Daily: November 25
Wonderful products and reasonable prices
Bargain expert Martin Lewis has reported that Lidl's £4 Suddenly Madame Glamour is essentially identical to Chanel's £70 scent of Coco Mademoiselle. Whilst the more expensive scent is advocated by actress Kiera Knightley in lavish packaging, its reasonable alternative is presented with a less glamorous appearance. Lewis claims that there are many cheap perfumes on the market that smell indistinguishable from their expensive alternative, including Next's £14 Just Pink which is exceptionally alike to the £50 Ralph Lauren Romance. In an interview with Radio Times, he explains: 'When you buy perfumes and aftershaves, a lot of the cost goes into the branding and the marketing'.
Also offering reasonable prices for exceptional products is Aldi who are outshining traditional sellers with their 'Super Premium' range of fine wines, cognacs, brandy and whisky. Although a 1993 bottle would be expected to cost shoppers about £185, Aldi is offering a bottle of 'six-rated' white, Hungarian Chateau Pajzos Tokaji Aszu 6 Puttonyos 2008 for just £18.99 in hopes of captivating affluent shoppers. Certain exclusive retailers, including Fortnum & Mason and Selfridges, sell 'five-rated' Puttonyos Tokaji for £23.50 and £35.99 respectively.
Building a conservatory can increase home value
Investing in home improvements not only enhances the comfort of your living, it can even raise the value of your home. Research from peer-to-peer platform Zopa states that the average home improvement could contribute a generous 10 per cent to the value of your home, with those building conservatories benefitting the most with a potential 108 per cent. A conservatory is a marvellous and uncomplicated development idea. Dissimilar to an extension, you do not need planning permission as long as no more than 50 per cent of the land of the original house is covered. You will also be immune from building regulations if at least 50 per cent of the new wall and 75 per cent of the roof is translucent or glazed and the conservatory is detached from the house by external doors.
Gas lamps of Kensington Palace Gardens
The lengthy avenue of Kensington Palace Gardens which is home to embassies and the mansions of billionaires is lit simply by gas lights. This is one of the scarce places in the city where people can envisage what it might have been like to walk through 19th Century London at night, just like when Charles Dickens wrote his gloomy captivating novels. In a city ablaze with electricity, these beautiful sentry posts are amongst the last Victorian gas lamps in London with merely 1,500 remaining. There are now only five lamplighters left in London, a stark contrast from the hundreds there used to be pacing the city at dusk. These gas lamps are a delightful tribute to English Heritage, which has preserved and maintained these wonderful reminders of 19th Century London.
Married couple celebrate their 109th and 102nd birthdays on the same day
With a combined age of 211, husband and wife, Karam and Kartari Chand from Bradford have just celebrated their joint 109th and 102nd birthdays this Sunday. The couple were married 89 years ago in December 1925 after meeting as teenagers in India. They discuss their life together and explain, 'We really have lived a good life. We just get along with each other and we are family focused'. Their son Paul Chand is extremely proud to witness his parents celebrate almost a century of married life. He describes the special day, explaining how all their relatives joint them in celebration, 'Relatives have flown in from India to be with us'. Having always been asked what they eat to stay so healthy, Mr Chand explains, 'Eat and drink what you want but in moderation. I have never held back from enjoying my life.' The couple moved to England 50 years ago, making Bradford their home for more than seven decades and have had the joy of raising eight children, 27 grandchildren and many great grandchildren.
The world's most inspiring women are celebrated
The Queen, Margaret Thatcher and J.K. Rowling have all been honoured as members of the top 40 women who changed the world in a list assembled by Sky Arts after a poll of 2,000 British adults. Pioneering Polish chemist Marie Curie, who was the first women to win the prize, took first place, followed by British nurse Florence Nightingale then former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Concluding the top five positions were Suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst and Mother Teresa. The list also celebrates Marilyn Monroe and 17-year-old girls' education activist Malala Yousafzai. The utmost commended and inspirational quality of women in the list was their confidence to challenge the beliefs of their time. Two thirds of those polled said young women today have limited inspirational figures and eight in ten believe the younger generation admire modern celebrities too much. A spokeswoman for Sky Arts said, 'There's no doubt that the women on this list changed the world and continue to inspire people today'.
Bargain expert Martin Lewis has reported that Lidl's £4 Suddenly Madame Glamour is essentially identical to Chanel's £70 scent of Coco Mademoiselle. Whilst the more expensive scent is advocated by actress Kiera Knightley in lavish packaging, its reasonable alternative is presented with a less glamorous appearance. Lewis claims that there are many cheap perfumes on the market that smell indistinguishable from their expensive alternative, including Next's £14 Just Pink which is exceptionally alike to the £50 Ralph Lauren Romance. In an interview with Radio Times, he explains: 'When you buy perfumes and aftershaves, a lot of the cost goes into the branding and the marketing'.
Also offering reasonable prices for exceptional products is Aldi who are outshining traditional sellers with their 'Super Premium' range of fine wines, cognacs, brandy and whisky. Although a 1993 bottle would be expected to cost shoppers about £185, Aldi is offering a bottle of 'six-rated' white, Hungarian Chateau Pajzos Tokaji Aszu 6 Puttonyos 2008 for just £18.99 in hopes of captivating affluent shoppers. Certain exclusive retailers, including Fortnum & Mason and Selfridges, sell 'five-rated' Puttonyos Tokaji for £23.50 and £35.99 respectively.
Building a conservatory can increase home value
Investing in home improvements not only enhances the comfort of your living, it can even raise the value of your home. Research from peer-to-peer platform Zopa states that the average home improvement could contribute a generous 10 per cent to the value of your home, with those building conservatories benefitting the most with a potential 108 per cent. A conservatory is a marvellous and uncomplicated development idea. Dissimilar to an extension, you do not need planning permission as long as no more than 50 per cent of the land of the original house is covered. You will also be immune from building regulations if at least 50 per cent of the new wall and 75 per cent of the roof is translucent or glazed and the conservatory is detached from the house by external doors.
Gas lamps of Kensington Palace Gardens
The lengthy avenue of Kensington Palace Gardens which is home to embassies and the mansions of billionaires is lit simply by gas lights. This is one of the scarce places in the city where people can envisage what it might have been like to walk through 19th Century London at night, just like when Charles Dickens wrote his gloomy captivating novels. In a city ablaze with electricity, these beautiful sentry posts are amongst the last Victorian gas lamps in London with merely 1,500 remaining. There are now only five lamplighters left in London, a stark contrast from the hundreds there used to be pacing the city at dusk. These gas lamps are a delightful tribute to English Heritage, which has preserved and maintained these wonderful reminders of 19th Century London.
Married couple celebrate their 109th and 102nd birthdays on the same day
With a combined age of 211, husband and wife, Karam and Kartari Chand from Bradford have just celebrated their joint 109th and 102nd birthdays this Sunday. The couple were married 89 years ago in December 1925 after meeting as teenagers in India. They discuss their life together and explain, 'We really have lived a good life. We just get along with each other and we are family focused'. Their son Paul Chand is extremely proud to witness his parents celebrate almost a century of married life. He describes the special day, explaining how all their relatives joint them in celebration, 'Relatives have flown in from India to be with us'. Having always been asked what they eat to stay so healthy, Mr Chand explains, 'Eat and drink what you want but in moderation. I have never held back from enjoying my life.' The couple moved to England 50 years ago, making Bradford their home for more than seven decades and have had the joy of raising eight children, 27 grandchildren and many great grandchildren.
The world's most inspiring women are celebrated
The Queen, Margaret Thatcher and J.K. Rowling have all been honoured as members of the top 40 women who changed the world in a list assembled by Sky Arts after a poll of 2,000 British adults. Pioneering Polish chemist Marie Curie, who was the first women to win the prize, took first place, followed by British nurse Florence Nightingale then former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Concluding the top five positions were Suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst and Mother Teresa. The list also celebrates Marilyn Monroe and 17-year-old girls' education activist Malala Yousafzai. The utmost commended and inspirational quality of women in the list was their confidence to challenge the beliefs of their time. Two thirds of those polled said young women today have limited inspirational figures and eight in ten believe the younger generation admire modern celebrities too much. A spokeswoman for Sky Arts said, 'There's no doubt that the women on this list changed the world and continue to inspire people today'.