Bands’ chance to play with star

Published 31 Jul 2012 17:00



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LOCAL bands are being given a chance to perform alongside a guitarist who starred with Ocean Colour Scene and Paul Weller.

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31 July 2012
Last updated at 03:37 ET

By Lucy Townsend
BBC News Magazine

Television chefs have long had a powerful influence on the way we eat. So who are the people teaching the world about food?

Since Marguerite Patten’s TV cookery show in 1947, viewers have watched, copied and tasted. Fanny Cradock taught continental sophistication, Nigella Lawson showed us that roast potatoes are best cooked with goose fat, and Keith Floyd gave us the confidence to estimate and add a dash more.

But some take it further than fancy dinners. Jamie Oliver has campaigned for better school meals, and Heston Blumenthal has tackled in-flight meals for British Airways.

Here are five more celebrity chefs expanding their role and reach beyond the kitchen.

Gaston Acurio

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Peruvian chef Gaston Acurio

Peruvian superstar Acurio runs 32 restaurants across South America and the US, he has a television cookery show, designs dishes for the president and set up a cookery school in one of the country’s poorest slums.

In the Spanish language version of the Disney film Ratatouille, he provides the voice of Anton Ego, the fiercest gastronomic critic in Paris.

Acurios’s famous cebiche dish

Acurio is a classic example of the broad reach of the celebrity chef.

He set up his cookery school in Pachacutec, a sprawling shantytown an hour’s drive north of central Lima, to help youngsters from the poor local families train to become chefs. It is part of an initiative to promote youth achievement and break the poverty chain by teaching employable skills. Many go on to gain work experience in Acurio’s restaurants.

His other passion is his country’s culinary heritage – his particular favourites being the under-appreciated Peruvian anchovy, the raw fish dish cebiche and the 8,000 different potato varieties growing in the Andes. He wants to boost the fortunes of the potato farmers and the food producers, and showcase their wares to the world.

“My cuisine is very connected with the spirit of Peruvians, which is right now hope, dreams, integration,” he says.

“Cooking is essentially memory, you try to trap those memories – the grandmother moment, mother moment, the first girlfriend moments. These are flavour moments.”

• Cebiche: cure raw fish cubes in the acid of Peruvian limes, toss in chopped red onion and crimson rocoto chilli, and served with large choclo corn kernels and sweet potato.

Ghalia Mahmoud

Ghalia Mahmoud was a maid for one of Cairo’s upper class families when she became an unlikely television star in her native Egypt. Spotted by her employer’s brother, the founder of a pro-revolutionary TV station, she was transformed into the host of a live 90-minute prime-time show.

Continue reading the main story

An experiment in creativity

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• More from Collaboration Culture
• Collaboration six: Meet the chefs

Mahmoud’s show was designed to lighten the mood of the channel, which focused on news and current affairs after the ousting of Hosni Mubarak.

Respectfully referred to as “Set” – a term used to describe strong working-class woman loved in their community for their ability to keep a good home – she is the antithesis of the country’s previous television chefs.

They had been polished performers, fluent in a variety of languages and experts in cooking complex recipes for the richer classes. Ingredients were expensive and hard to come by.

Mahmoud’s food by contrast, is tasty and cheap. She cooks in old tin pots on propane burners and mixes her ingredients in plastic pots, out of which come traditional foods such as mahshi (stuffed vine leaves), bisara and keshk – stews based on fava-bean and buttermilk respectively.

Her budget is £2.50 ($4) a day, and the show follows her as she shops at local markets and haggles over prices – a skill honed from her days as a maid and caring for her family in one of the city’s poorest suburbs.

Tina Nordstrom

Tina Nordstrom cooking fish stew

Cucumber soup, beetroot and fish rolls are the typical fare of Swedish television chef Tina Nordstrom. Her food looks as healthy as she does, as she sails and snorkels through her very active programme, often filmed with a backdrop of beautiful scenery.

Her 2001 television series Mat med Tina Nordstrom (Food with Tina Nordstrom) had 17% of the Swedish population tuning in.

“She has a genuine love for food and a very carefree approach to her work,” says Andreas Lindergard, who has produced a number of Nordstrom’s shows.

“This is not to say that she doesn’t care how she is portrayed, but she simply doesn’t think it worth it to worry about the small stuff. A mistake here and there makes the programme seem so much more alive, and Tina seem more like the girl next door.”

Nordstrom has written five cookbooks which have been translated into Danish, Finnish and Norwegian, and sales have reached nearly one million copies.

• Beetroot soup with horseradish: Puree beetroots and stock (or water) through a blender until smooth. Pour into a pot and heat. Season to taste with salt and serve in deep dishes. Top with finely shredded horseradish mixed into sour cream.

Donna Hay

Super brand Donna Hay

This Australian cook has her own magazine, television programme and a number of cookery books. There is a Donna Hay general store, where the Sydney elite can pick up their home essentials, a range of bone china for Royal Doulton, branded children’s party sets and donna hay homeware (she doesn’t use capital letters).

Hay started out as a food writer and editor at Marie Claire magazine. Unusually her television show, called Fast Fresh and Simple, came last – launching last year by which time she was already a household name.

“The public trusts people they know, or they feel they know, which is why television chefs are able to build these huge brands,” says John Reynolds, of Brand Republic.

“There is an inherent mistrust of big corporations that make things for our homes and everyday use, so when something comes along that seems personal, that has a named and known person, then that’s always going to work.”

With appearances in Australian Vogue and a ready-mix macaroon mixture in her product range, Hay is something of a domestic goddess in the mold of Nigella Lawson.

Sanjeev Kapoor

India’s 31st most trusted person

This Indian chef knows how to guarantee a prime time slot – he runs his own 24-hour Hindi-language cooking channel called Food Food. His Khana Khazana programme, one of 40 shows to feature on the channel, started 18 years ago and is the longest-running TV cooking show in Asia.

His success has brought government advisory contracts and jobs with foreign airlines.

Like Hay, Kapoor sells an array of branded products, from pickles to spice mixes. He also endorses brands – a seal of approval highly sought-after by the makers of culinary kit and ingredients.

In the March 2010 issue of Reader’s Digest, Sanjeev figured at number 31 in the list of 100 of India’s most trusted people.

• Pumpkin foogath: Heat a tablespoon of oil and add 1/4 teaspoon of mustard seeds and 10-15 curry leaves. When the mustard seeds start to splutter, add onions and chillies. Stir over a high heat for one minute. Add 700gm diced red pumpkin and a pinch of salt. Cook, covered, on a low heat for five to seven minutes, or until the pumpkin is cooked. Mix in a tablespoon of grated coconut and lemon juice.

Local News

President Jacob Zuma extended his condolences on Sunday to the families of the 18 people who died in the bus accident near Cradock in the Eastern Cape.

22 July 2012
| Sapa

JOHANNESBURG –  “Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of those who lost their loved ones in this tragedy. We also wish those injured a speed recovery so that they can reunite with their families at home,” Zuma said in a statement.

A school principal and at least two school children were among the 18 killed when a bus and minibus collided on the R61 between Cradock and Graaf-Reinet in the Eastern Cape on Saturday. Fourteen others were seriously injured.

Zuma said the numbers of deaths on South African roads was unacceptable.

“Even the death of one South African on our roads is unacceptable and painful, even more so these numbers of our people including children that we now appear to lose each week.

“The law enforcement agencies must therefore conduct necessary investigations and ensure that negligence on anyone’s part is punished to the full extent of the law.”

The Inkatha Freedom Party on Sunday said South Africa’s roads were killing fields which consumed young and old.

IFP spokesman, Joshua Mazibuko said the accidents like the Cradock bus accident demonstrated that government’s “glamorous awareness campaigns” did not achieve the intended objective.

“This was partly due to the fact that some South African drivers and transport providers have lost all sense of Ubuntu and therefore do not care about being law-abiding.”

He said it was time for the government to focus on ensuring that there were many visible police on our roads and that the law was developed with sharp teeth against any law-breaker.

“Otherwise, South Africa may as well resign herself to being the theatre of road carnage.”

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2012-07-26 12:33

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Johannesburg – Two teachers injured in the Cradock bus crash have been discharged from hospital, while another and the deputy principal remain in hospital, The Herald online reported on Thursday.

Seventeen people, including children, died when a school bus for Cradock Primary School and a Mercedes Sprinter minibus crashed outside Cradock on Saturday.

Deputy principal Alfie Blume was recovering in Greenacres Hospital in Port Elizabeth following reconstructive facial surgery, and art and natural sciences teacher Jacques de Meilon is in a stable condition in a Bloemfontein hospital following spinal surgery.

Teachers Ray-Jean Wright and Mariette Adams were discharged from hospital after receiving treatment for minor injuries.

Wright teaches technology, physical education and Afrikaans, while Adams teaches life orientation, English and economics.

“Without these teachers we are obviously severely understaffed,â€? said acting principal Marietjie Maree.
Two other teachers are already booked off for cancer treatment.

Headmaster Wimpie van der Merwe and 10-year-old pupil Stefanus Cornelius “SCâ€? Ferreira were killed in the accident.

Meanwhile, Raymond Mhlaba High School in Tarkastad near Cradock was also mourning.

Grade 11 pupil Olwethu Sonanzi had been returning from holiday in the Sprinter when he died in the crash.

The education department is providing counselling for those involved.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Sixteen people were killed in a collision between two buses in South Africa’s remote Eastern Cape province on Saturday, the latest in a string of public transport tragedies in the continent’s biggest economy.

SAPA news agency said four people were seriously injured. One of the buses was carrying schoolchildren to an event near the town of Cradock, 700 km (440 miles) south of Johannesburg. It was not known how many of the dead were youngsters.

Even though it is Africa’s wealthiest country, South Africa has a dire road-safety record, with poor driving or unreliable vehicles mostly to blame.

Twenty people were killed when a bus careered off a highway near Johannesburg in June, and 26 died earlier this month when a freight train ploughed into a truck carrying farm workers over a level-crossing.

© Thomson Reuters 2012 All rights reserved

The accident which led to 18 people being killed on Saturday near Cradock in the Eastern Cape was shocking and saddening, Deputy Transport Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga said in a statement on Saturday.

“We are terribly shocked and saddened at the news of this horrific incident. The loss of such innocent lives on our roads is completely unnecessary,” said Chikunga.

“We wish to convey our sincere condolences to the families of the bereaved and wish those injured a speedy recovery.”

Two school children were among the 18 killed when two buses collided on the R61 between Cradock and Graaf-Reinet in the Eastern Cape, Arrive Alive said earlier on Saturday.

Fourteen people were seriously injured in the crash. They have all been transported to hospitals in the area.

One of the buses was carrying schoolchildren to an event in Graaf-Reinet when it collided with a bus carrying passengers from Cape Town to Mthatha.

It remains unclear whether the accident was a head-on collision or a side-swip.

Chikunga would visit the scene of the accident and the hospitals where survivors were receiving treatment.

“We urge our traffic law enforcement officers to leave no stone unturned in their investigation of this crash.

“In just the past three weeks, more than 50 people have died on South Africa’s roads as a result of tragic crashes,” Chikunga said.

The Road Traffic Management Corporation has dispatched a team of specialists to the scene of the collision to investigate the exact cause.

Chikunga called on all motorists to exercise caution on the roads.

The lifeless body of the girl, aged about seven, was found by officials in the Cradock Primary School bus. However, teachers at the school were adamant she was not one of their pupils.

It emerged the young girl was a passenger on the minibus and that she must have been flung into the school bus when the two vehicles collided.

Department of Transport external communications director Hilgard Matthews appealed to parents missing their loved ones to contact Cradock police.

According to eye witnesses, the Mtwana Tours minibus, on its way from Cape Town to Mthatha, had overtaken another vehicle on a rise and smashed into the oncoming 60-seater school bus.

At least 17 people were killed in the accident.

According to Mtwana Tours owner TP Mtwana, the driver had only just taken over from his co-driver when the accident occurred.

Mtwana said the deceased man, who cannot be named, had been driving for only about an hour after taking over from his co-driver when he smashed into the school bus.

He said the co-driver was in a critical condition in hospital .

“On behalf of Mtwana Tours, I would like to apologise to the grieving families. My condolences go out to them. We strongly condemn irresponsible driving.”

Cradock Primary School deputy principal Alfie Blume is recovering at Greenacres Hospital. Teacher Jacques de Meillon, who sustained a spinal fracture, will undergo surgery in Bloemfontein today .

His wife, Ursula, said he was stable.

Principal Wimpie van der Merwe and 10-year-old pupil Stephanus Cornelius Ferreira died on the scene.

President Jacob Zuma has extended his deepest condolences to the families, Premier Noxolo Kiviet and all the people of the Eastern Cape after a tragic collision in Cradock in the Eastern Cape yesterday, 21 July 2012 that claimed 18 lives. It has been reported that two buses collided on the R61 between Cradock and Graaf-Reinet.

One of the buses was carrying school children who were travelling to a school event in Graaf-Reinet, whilst the other bus was carrying passengers travelling from Cape Town to Mthatha.

Two of the 18 killed were school children from the bus. Fourteen people were also seriously injured and taken to various hospitals.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of those who lost their loved ones in this tragedy. We also wish those injured a speedy recovery so that they can reunite with their families at home.

Although these collisions appear to be taking place repeatedly leading to many deaths, we must not lose our collective sense of weeping. Even the death of one South African on our roads is unacceptable and painful, even more so these numbers of our people including children that we now appear to lose each week. The law enforcement agencies must therefore conduct necessary investigations and ensure that negligence on anyone’s part is punished to the full extent of the law,” said President Zuma.

“The identification started this morning,” said Tshepo Machaea.

A school bus and a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter minibus crashed on the R61 between Cradock and Graaff-Reinet on Saturday.

In the bus were staff and pupils, mainly from Cradock Primary School in the small Eastern Cape town, who were on their way to a sports event. In the minibus were adults and children travelling from Cape Town to Mthatha.

Machaea said the most of the identification process would take place on Wednesday when relatives and next-of-kin arrived on a bus arranged for them by a private transport company from Cape Town.

“It is very traumatising. The department of social development will have social workers and counsellors on hand to help with this.” Both drivers died in the crash. The school was closed on Monday as it came to terms with the tragedy, said Loyiso Pulumani, spokesman for Eastern Cape education MEC Mandla Makupula.

His office said the school principal had been identified as Wimpie van der Merwe, who The Times reported would have turned 52 next month. One of the schoolchildren who died was SC Ferreira.

Deputy principal Alfie Blume was critically injured and was in hospital in Bloemfontein. Teachers Ray-Jean Wright and Jacques de Meillon were flown by helicopter to Greenacres Hospital in Port Elizabeth, for intensive care, reported The Times newspaper.

Pulumani said Mapakula and his acting head of department, Mthunywa Ngonzo, would visit the school on Tuesday to express their condolences, and to see what help could be provided.

Pulumani said the crash had compounded an impending teaching crisis at the school as, besides existing vacancies, two teachers were booked off ill for treatment and recovery from cancer.

Before the accident, the former model C school had applied for extra teachers.

Now it had lost its principal, and was uncertain about when its deputy and the two other teachers would be able to return.

“He [Mapakula] will have a better outlook once he has a meeting with the school,” said Pulumani.

He said it had been established that Ferreira was not a pupil at Cradock Primary School, but was a Grade R pupil at a preparatory school in the area. Because he was a little older, he could play rugby for the Cradock Primary School team, so was on the trip.

Machaea said Transport Deputy Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga and the Road Accident Fund would help next-of-kin with the funerals by transporting the remains of those who were killed.

Related Stories

• Principal killed in ECape accident
• Two children killed in bus crash
• 16 killed in bus crash

Eighteen people died in a horror collision between two buses – one carrying school pupils and the other Western Cape mourners to a funeral in the Eastern Cape – at about 6am on Saturday.

The school bus, driven by the principal of Laerskool Cradock, collided on the R61 outside Graaff Reinet with a “midi bus” apparently carrying people to a funeral in Ngcobo. The cause of the collision is unclear.

Principal Wimpie van der Merwe died in the crash, and so did at least one of the children. Four teachers were injured seriously.

The R61 stretches from Beaufort West in the Western Cape to Port Shepstone in KwaZulu-Natal, via Graaff Reinet, Queenstown, Mthatha and Port Edward in the Eastern Cape. The accident happened on a notorious death stretch listed on an undated list of most hazardous routes for fatal crashes on the Arrive Alive website.

Eastern Cape Transport Department spokesman Ncedo Kumbaca said 16 people died on the scene and two more later in the day.

The chairman of the governing body at Laerskool Cradock, Michael Lord, said he believed Van der Merwe, who was taking pupils to a sports event in Graaff Reinet, had taken “evasive action” to protect those on the bus when the other bus came over a blind rise.

“There were between 50 and 53 children on the bus and five teachers, of whom four were injured seriously.” Two of the teachers were taken to hospital in Port Elizabeth and two to Bloemfontein.

Lord said he knew of only one child – a boy from nearby Cradock Preparatory School – who had been playing on their school’s under-11 rugby team, who had died. He declined to name him.

But Arrive Alive spokesman Tshepo Machaea said he understood two children from the school bus had died. Of the 16 people who died on scene, three had been on the school bus, with the remainder from the other bus.

A total of 28 people were treated and discharged, while 14 were admitted to hospitals at Graaff Reinet, Port Elizabeth, Bloemfontein and East London.

Lord described Van der Merwe as having been a dedicated, “hands-on and very active principal” who had often worked late.

“Teaching was his passion.”

Deputy Transport Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga, who had on Saturday been attending the funeral of 25 farm workers who died in an accident in Mpumalanga last week, left to travel straight back to the Eastern Cape.

She said that while she didn’t have all the facts, it was likely that they would find “an element of human error and possibly even negligence” in the cause of the accident.

“Accidents like these should not be happening and once again, it’s happened on public transport.”

She sent her “heartfelt condolences to the families”, and would meet the families and school personnel when she arrived.

Meanwhile, one person was killed in an accident at Three Sisters near Beaufort West when a minibus transporting Transnet workers collided head-on with a truck on Friday night.

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Fanny Johnnie Cradock Cook the Great American Songbook: Bristol theatre review

 

Rudy Millard reviews Fanny Johnnie Cradock Cook the Great American Songbook, playing at various Britsol venues until 28 July

The great thing about reviewing theatre in this city is that you are often surprised, and regularly delighted. So far, so Bristol. Show Of Strength’s new show, Fanny Johnnie Cradock Cook the Great American Songbook, serves surprises and delights in equal measure. Factor in a slap up seventies meal included in the ticket price, and this Bristol theatre company have cooked up a delicious treat that you won’t want to miss.

 

Most people will be familiar with iconic British cook Fanny Cradock, and her hapless husband Johnnie. What they won’t necessarily know are the ins and outs of her tragic life and loves, and in a charmingly relaxed production that seamlessly blends wonderful music with fantastic performance and non-stop laughs, the audience certainly gets their fair share of Fanny.

 

John Telfer is just perfect as Johnnie, and his musical stylings as he ushers us around the world of a culinary legend are worth the price of admission alone. He has a delightful voice, and shows a deft touch at the keyboards. But he is almost intentionally muscled out of the spotlight by Kate McNab as Fanny Cradock, who rules the room as she must have ruled their relationship with a tour de force personality and voice. Putting it simply, she is Fanny, and it was all I could do to stop myself asking her for cookery tips when the show was over.

 

Writer/producer Sheila Hannon has created a real experience with this show, and her cast and crew effortlessly transformed the Create Centre cafe into an intimate dinner and jazz venue. You are drawn into Fanny and Johnnie’s world from the moments the lights dim, and it’s genuinely surprising to find yourself back in 2012 as the show closes. The performance is wrapped around a lovely two course meal, and you will find yourself enjoying the good company of your fellow diners as well as the terrific theatre on offer.

 

Fanny Johnnie Cradock Cook the Great American Songbook is touring a selection of Bristol venues including Square Food Foundation, Riverstation, Arnos Manor Hotel, Folk House Cafe, The Square and Hen Chicken. Tickets will go very fast indeed (and some venues are already sold out), so get your skates on theatrical foodies, it looks like dinner theatre is back on the menu at last.

 

Click here for Bristol Restaurants

 

Sixteen people were killed in a collision between two buses on the R61 between Cradock and Graaf-Reinet in the Eastern Cape on Saturday, Arrive Alive said.

Arrive Alive spokesman Tshepo Machaea said that one of the buses was carrying schoolchildren to an event in Graaf-Reinet when it collided with a bus carrying passengers from Cape Town to Mthatha.

He said it was unclear whether the accident was a head-on collision or a side-swipe.

Four people were seriously injured and another 27 suffered slight injuries. All were taken to Cradock hospital for further treatment.

Machaea said the 16 were killed instantly and many of the injured were trapped in their buses until they could be cut free by rescue workers.

By BNO News

CRADOCK, SOUTH AFRICA (BNO NEWS) — A school bus collided head-on with a minibus in the southern region of South Africa on Saturday, killing eighteen people and injuring more than 30 others, emergency officials said on Sunday. The cause was not immediately known.

The accident occurred on the R61 road between the towns of Cradock and Graaf-Reinet, located in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, when a school bus slammed into a Mercedes Benz Sprinter bus. The school bus was carrying dozens of children to a rugby match in Graaf-Reinet while the minibus was carrying passengers from Cape Town to Mthatha.

Emergency officials said sixteen people died at the scene while two others later succumbed to their injuries. Two of the fatalities were said to be children, but their ages were not immediately released. Thirty-one others were injured, including fourteen people who remained in a serious or critical condition on Sunday.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of those who lost their loved ones in this tragedy. We also wish those injured a speedy recovery so that they can reunite with their families at home,” South African President Jacob Zuma said following the accident. He also called on law enforcement agencies to conduct necessary investigations and ensure that negligence on anyone’s part is punished to the full extent of the law.

Police said the cause of the accident was not immediately known. “We urge our traffic law enforcement officers to leave no stone unturned in their investigation of this crash,” Deputy Transport Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga said. “In just the past three weeks, more than 50 people have died on South Africa’s roads as a result of tragic crashes.”

The Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC), an agency of the Department of Transport, dispatched a team of road crash and incident reconstruction specialists to the scene to establish the exact cause of Saturday’s deadly accident.

Despite good infrastructure, roads in South Africa are considered to be among the world’s most dangerous, with more than 13,000 people killed every year. Many accidents are attributed to reckless driving, speeding, drunk driving, fatigue, and the poor maintenance of buses and taxis.

(Copyright 2012 by BNO News B.V. All rights reserved. Info: sales@bnonews.com.)

2012-07-23 13:24

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Johannesburg – The task of formally identifying the remains of the 17 people who died in a bus crash near Cradock began on Monday, an Arrive Alive spokesperson said.

“The identification started this morning,” said Tshepo Machaea.

A schoolbus and a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter minibus crashed on the R61 between Cradock and Graaff-Reinet on Saturday.

In the bus were staff and pupils, mainly from Cradock Primary School in the small Eastern Cape town, who were on their way to a sports event. In the minibus were adults and children travelling from Cape Town to Mthatha.

Principal killed

Machaea said the most of the identification process would take place on Wednesday when relatives and next-of-kin arrived on a bus arranged for them by a private transport company from Cape Town.

“It is very traumatising. The department of social development will have social workers and counsellors on hand to help with this.”

Both drivers died in the crash. The school was closed on Monday as it came to terms with the tragedy, said Loyiso Pulumani, spokesperson for Eastern Cape education MEC Mandla Makupula.

His office said the school principal had been identified as Wimpie van der Merwe, who The Times reported would have turned 52 next month. One of the schoolchildren who died was SC Ferreira.

Deputy principal Alfie Blume was critically injured and was in hospital in Bloemfontein. Teachers Ray-Jean Wright and Jacques de Meillon were flown by helicopter to Greenacres Hospital in Port Elizabeth, for intensive care, reported The Times newspaper.

Pulumani said Mapakula and his acting head of department, Mthunywa Ngonzo, would visit the school on Tuesday to express their condolences, and to see what help could be provided.

Teacher shortage

Pulumani said the crash had compounded an impending teaching crisis at the school as, besides existing vacancies, two teachers were booked off ill for treatment and recovery from cancer.

Before the accident, the former model C school had applied for extra teachers.

Now it had lost its principal, and was uncertain about when its deputy and the two other teachers would be able to return.

“He [Mapakula] will have a better outlook once he has a meeting with the school,” said Pulumani.

He said it had been established that Ferreira was not a pupil at Cradock Primary School, but was a Grade R pupil at a preparatory school in the area. Because he was a little older, he could play rugby for the Cradock Primary School team, so was on the trip.

Machaea said Transport Deputy Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga and the Road Accident Fund would help next-of-kin with the funerals by transporting the remains of those who were killed.

Make the most of the week ahead with our guide to what’s on in Bristol.

1. At the end of the week the Olympics will be kicking off. If you haven’t got a ticket and your living room doesn’t have the right atmosphere, try the big screen in Millennium Square from Friday.

1. ?

   If you haven’t got a ticket for the Olympics and your living room doesn’t have the right atmosphere, try the big screen in Millennium Square.

2. The last performances of show Fanny and Johnnie Cradock Cook The Great American Songbook will be on this week. Kate McNab and John Telfer play Fanny and Johnnie Cradock, cooking up a storm in restaurants, pubs and cafes across Bristol. As part of the evening’s entertainment the audience enjoys a 2-course meal a la Cradock. On Tuesday it will be at Arnos Manor Hotel , Wednesday at Folk House Café in Park Street, Thursday at The Square in Berkeley Square and Friday and Saturday at the Hen and Chicken in Bedminster.

3. Comedian Frankie Boyle will be at Colston Hall on Tuesday night.

4. This is the second and final week of Ferment at the Old Vic – highlights of the Bristol theatre year. Events most evenings this week and tickets £4.

5. At a loose end with your kids? Take 5-9-year-olds to Marksbury Road library in Bedminster on Monday (July 23) from 5-6pm for an Olympics craft club. Kids’ entry is 50p.

6. Head to the Clanage in Bower Ashton on Thursday to watch The Lashings – a team of current and ex-international cricketers including Ian Harvey, Phil DeFreitas and Curtly Ambrose – take on a Bedminster XI. Entry is free.

7. On Monday and Wednesday it’s pre-season training at Bristolians RFC at Memorial Playing Fields, Failand, 7pm-9pm. New players welcome.

8. Pub of the week to try: The Rose of Denmark, Dowry Place.

9. Restaurant of the week to try: Clifton Sausage in Portland Street, Clifton.

10. Recipe of the week to give a go if you decide to eat in: A Baileys and chocolate cheesecake .

And if you need some ideas for the weekend, check back at ThisisBristol later in the week.

Known to Radio 4 staff as Lady Macbeth (thanks to her husky vocal delivery, courtesy of a 20-a-day habit and plenty of after-dinner Corona cigars), seen by some as a beacon of post-war female empowerment and others as a figure of fun, Fanny Cradock was many things – but dull certainly wasn’t one of them.

The daughter of a failed gambler, the flamboyant TV chef was our queen of cuisine for two decades from the mid 1950s, introducing impossibly exotic gourmet cooking to a nation still adjusting from the straitjacket of rationing. Married four times (twice bigamously), Cradock grew ever more eccentric as the years wore on, by the 1970s sporting ball gowns and tiaras on set, her face caked with make-up and eyebrows gradually inching up her forehead.

An effortlessly theatrical character, in short. Small wonder, then, that Bristol’s excellent Show of Strength theatre company have chosen to build their latest show around this flawed but fascinating woman. Fanny Johnnie Cook The Great American Songbook, to give it its full name, is a cabaret evening, performed in cafes and restaurants around Bristol this month, in which actors playing Fanny and her long-suffering husband Johnnie stir, sing, boil and bicker their way through an evening’s cooking, just as they did on their inimitable TV show all those years ago.

“I love writing about real people – and when it comes to the Cradocks, you simply don’t need to make anything up. It’s all there in front of you,” explains Sheila Hannon, SoS’s creative producer and Fanny and Johnnie’s creator. “Fanny wrote an autobiography which failed to mention, for example, the fact that she had married four times. So I started digging around on the internet and unearthed some fascinating and wonderful stuff. We may need to issue health warnings, as audiences will laugh so much they may choke.”

While researching the show, Sheila also discovered Fanny’s little-known ties to Bristol and Bath. “The grandfather who brought her up – Fanny seems to have been effectively abandoned by her own parents and went on to treat her own two sons in the same way – was born in Weston on the edge of Bath. The ancestral home, Apthorp, is still there… And, if that weren’t enough, her great-grandfather was an undertaker with premises in Bath and a shop on Park Street in Bristol – right opposite the Folk House where we’re doing the show!”

With well-known local actress and jazz singer Kate McNab playing Fanny and John Telfer – perhaps best known as The Archers’ resident vicar – as Johnnie, audiences are in for an uproarious evening, performed in cabaret style, with tables for dining and the Cradocks demonstrating the dishes they’re cooking up.

“John’s got far too much hair for Johnnie, but apart from that, he’s perfect,” Sheila smiles. “Kate’s well known as both a jazz singer and with her own company, Ministry of Entertainment. And they’re both great musicians. We all need a bit of cheering up right now – the recession seems to have affected the weather as well as everything else. Dinner with the Cradocks will be a great night out at a really affordable price.”

After a two-course dinner, it’ll be time to get the ouija board out. “I had to find a way to reveal Fanny’s dodgy past, which proved a bit of a problem as she was a terrible snob and would never have admitted she came from ‘trade’,” Sheila explains. “She and Johnnie were both firm believers in The Other Side (another little-known fact), so towards the end we have somebody rather unusual turning up to reveal the skeletons in the Cradock closet.”

Skeletons, snobbery and soufflés: wherever you sit, it all adds up to a most appetising evening.

Fanny Johnnie Cook The Great American Songbook is performed at various venues around Bristol from Friday, July 20, to Saturday, July 28. See listings for details.

Carmel Loggenberg | 4 days ago

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Eastern Cape officials say efforts to remove vehicles stuck in snow are yielding positive results.

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CAPE TOWN – Several roads in the Eastern Cape remain closed, but police and traffic officials say efforts to remove vehicles stuck in snow are yielding positive results.

Areas which include Kleinskool, Salt Lake, Missionvale, Motherwell and Wells Estate were affected by snowfall and heavy floods.

Police spokesperson John Fobian said more than 100 people and several cars were rescued on the road between Cradock and Graaff- Reinet on Sunday.

Lootsberg Pass was cleared.

Some vehicles and two trucks are still stuck on the road. The trucks will be removed by heavy machinery once the snow melts, said Fobian.

Cars are being removed with tractors and 4X4s.

Meanwhile, residents who were affected by flooding in the Eastern Cape are being accommodated in local halls.

(Edited by Thato Motaung)

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STEVE Cradock plays two sell-out shows at The Blue Walnut in Torquay this weekend.

Torquay-based Steve, who is best known to music fans as a founder of Ocean Colour Scene and long-time guitarist with Paul Weller’s band, will be playing solo material during the two gigs, one on Saturday evening and the other on Sunday afternoon.

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   GUITARIST: Steve Craddock plays at The Blue Walnut twice this weekend

Expect songs from his critically-acclaimed solo albums as well as new material.

Support will come from Mark Pascall from local band Empire of Fools.

Although the gigs are currently sold out, it’s worth giving the Walnut a call on 01803 394113 just in case there have been any cancellations.