Daily Archives: October 2, 2012
Please support Breast Cancer awareness month
Unless you’ve been living on another planet for the last few years, you will be aware that October marks Breast Cancer Campaign’s action month. The event aims to raise awareness about the devastating disease, its effects and ways to prevent it throughout October.
Last night London’s skyline was speckled with pink as its most famous landmarks were lit up in support of the UK’s leading breast cancer research charity. Buckingham Palace, Nelson’s Column, the Tower of London and the BT Tower were among the capital’s icons that were bathed in a rosy pink glow.
I am sure there will be plenty of fundraising activities going on in your area, but you can also donate whatever you can afford on the Breast Cancer Campaign website at: http://www.breastcancercampaign.org/about-us. The money is vital as the statistics speak for themselves:
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Breast cancer is the most common cancer
- Around 47,700 women and 340 men are diagnosed with breast cancer each year
- One woman in eight will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime
- Around 12,000 women and 90 men will die from breast cancer each year
- More people are surviving breast cancer than ever before
- 80% of people with breast cancer are still alive five years after diagnosis
- People are surviving longer thanks to advances in research, new treatments, earlier diagnosis, breast screening and breast cancer awareness
As one of the 80% – it is now almost 10 years since my diagnosis – I would urge you to give generously to help people like me survive this horrible disease and, in time, find a way to prevent it. Thank you.
Here we go again!
I’ve read today that Cadbury is launching a chocolate bar aimed at women in an attempt to win back lost sales among the diet-conscious. Regular readers will know just how much this type of targeted advertising really annoys me – just check out my post on Man Crisps!
The Crispello is the first new chocolate bar launched by the company since the 1990s and will be backed by a £7million advertising campaign. Apparently annual sales of single chocolate bars have fallen by some 6.6 per cent in a market worth around £800million a year. Evidence suggests that this slump is almost entirely caused by women buying less chocolate.
Cadbury, owned by American food company Kraft, believes the Crispello will particularly appeal to women who are worried about putting on weight. The new bar comes in at 165 calories, compared with 260 for a Mars bar and the Crispello, which is similar in taste and consistency to Ferrero Rocher chocolates, has three chocolate-covered wafer shells with a soft milk chocolate filling. It is designed with a resealable pack so it can be eaten one piece at a time. [yeah, right!]
The more cynical amongst us might say that perhaps their sales have fallen because since Kraft took them over Cadbury chocolates just don’t taste the same. If you’ve ever had the misfortune to try Hershey chocolate from the US you’ll know what I mean when I say that the Americans just don’t do chocolate like Cadbury used to!
Instead of these half-hearted attempts to win sales on gender, why not just go back to the old recipes that we know and love? Just a thought …..
Good Grief Charlie Brown!
The latest in my occasional series “On this day in History”.
On 2nd October 1950 “Peanuts”, the comic strip created by Charles M. Schulz, was published for the first time in seven newspapers. This successful cartoon continued until 13th February 2000, the day after Schulz died.
An incredible 17,897 strips were published in all, and at its peak, Peanuts ran in over 2,600 newspapers, with a readership of 355 million in 75 countries, and was translated into 21 languages. It helped to cement the four-panel gag strip as the standard in the United States ,and together with its merchandise earned Schulz more than $1 billion. reprints of the strip are still syndicated and run in almost every U.S. newspaper.
Charles “Charlie” Brown (occasionally called Chuck by certain characters) is the main character. He is a lovable loser, a child possessed of endless determination and hope, but who is ultimately dominated by his insecurities and a “permanent case of bad luck”. He is often taken advantage of by his peers.
The first strip from 2nd October 1950
In early 1988, Schulz abandoned the four-panel format in favor of three-panel dailies and occasionally used the entire length of the strip as one panel, partly for experimentation, but also to combat the dwindling size of the comics page.
Good Grief!
You’re not as happy as you think you are
Final strip 13th February 2000
If ever there is an iconic comic strip, it is Peanuts which has developed into an enduring classic. Whether you’re pernickety like Lucy, a philosopher like Linus, a joyous Flying Ace like Snoopy, or a lovable underdog like Charlie Brown, there is something to touch your heart or make you laugh, whoever you are, in Peanuts.
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