| Ben Collins: former Stig driver's mother told him to 'drive slower' during teenage lessons Ben Collins, who formerly played The Stig, the enigmatic racing driver on the BBC's Top Gear programme, has disclosed that his mother taught him to drive as a teenager. telegraph.co.uk |
Care farm work 'aids mental health' A Suffolk farm has been so successful in the care of adults with mental health problems that they are about to roll out a new farm in South Norfolk. bbc.co.uk |
Universities 'face closure over £4.2bn cuts' Universities across England could be closed after being hit by "devastating" cuts of £4.2billion under the Coalition's austerity measures. telegraph.co.uk |
Sally Holloway My mother, Sally Holloway, who has died aged 84, was a journalist for nearly 70 years, a BBC news reporter and author of the official history of the London Fire Brigade.She was born Sylvia Gray in Clapham, south London, and educated at Clapham county school. Her parents were both working-class Londoners. At barely 16 she joined the Press Association as a telephonist. Her colleagues decided to call her Sally, and she was too shy to object. By the end of the second world war, she was a fully trained reporter. She covered the VE Day celebrations in London from the roof of a telephone box in Trafalgar Square and was part of the (four-strong) team that covered the 1948 London Olympics for PA.She joined the News Chronicle in 1950 on the same day as another young reporter, David Holloway. They came to know each other better when they went to report on an air crash in south Wales. Two years later they married at St Bride's church, Fleet Street.In 1951 Sally became the first trained female journalist in the BBC news division. She worked for Radio Newsreel and the fledgling television news service, covering everything from the coronation to the east coast floods. She left full-time work in 1954 to bring up three children at the family home in Barnes, south-west London, and look after her elderly parents. David became literary editor of the Daily Telegraph and a Booker prize judge while Sally continued to work, contributing to Woman's Hour and the Observer, and writing eight books. Endlessly energetic, she was also a governor, the registrar and historian of Godolphin and Latymer school, in Hammersmith, and a mainstay of the Barnes Community Association.Sally's father, Douglas, was the son of a London fireman. She grew up with his stories of horse-drawn fire engines racing through the city's streets. In 1973 she wrote a popular history, London's Noble Fire Brigades 1833-1904. This led to her being approached by the brigade to write an account of the 1975 Moorgate Tube disaster, Moorgate (1988), and Courage High! (1992), a history of firefighting in London. Sally celebrated the professionalism, courage, hard work, service to others and – not least – sense of humour that she so admired in the fire service. These are all qualities that characterised her own life.David died in 1995. Sally is survived by two sons, Paul and myself, a daughter, Pippa, and three grandsons, Ken, Jack and Will.Firefightersguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Same economists who work out Budget figures are producing OBR data Two men had the job of signing off Alistair Darling’s growth and borrowing forecasts, which have now been revised by the independent Office for Budgetary Responsibility: Sir Nick Macpherson, Permanent Secretary to the Treasury, and Dave Ramsden, Chief Economic Adviser. timesonline.co.uk |