Dave Moore

He spent lockdown jumping off piers and performing songs on his melodica but Fred Cooke has also been preparing for his biggest role in life since he donned the sequinned jacket in Dancing With the Stars.

Fred, and his new fianceé, comedian Julie Jay are due a baby boy in a few weeks time.

And in the midst of it all, Fred's headed off on a comedy tour!

Speaking to Dermot and Dave, Fred looked for parenting tips and gave us a hint as to what their baby might be called.

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Did you ever hear the one about Karl Marx's sister?

Dave was in top form with his bad jokes this week...and we promise, there's only a few Manchester football ones!

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It's been a long time since teachers last saw their pupils in person, wrote on a real life whiteboard and called for Ciúnas. Next week, schools are returning and it's going to be a completely different environment to the one they left behind in March.

While many teachers, SNAs, school secretaries and principals have been hard at work throughout lockdown offering a multitude of different services, getting back into the school environment is proving to be an intimidating prospect for those working in the schools.

Ann-Marie Ireland from Breathing Space Ireland, runs a Facebook page dedicated to offering well-being support to educators and school leaders. While usually it is a busy page, Ann-Marie has seen a huge spike in people getting in touch who are very concerned about how things will be once schools reopen.

Speaking to Dermot and Dave, Ann-Marie shared some of these concerns, offered some tips for overcoming feelings of stress and explained why we need to consider the mental health of those who look after and teach our children.

Ann-Marie is running an event this coming Saturday where there will be help and advice for educators on everything from chair yoga to meditation and nutrition. You can find more information on the Ignite Your Light website.

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It's a miracle! Have we found the best exercise that requires the minimal amount of effort with the greatest result?

Our man Ronan Murphy took on the role of fitness Agony Uncle this week for Dermot and Dave's Mind Yourself Now and he answered questions on everything from resistance training to when you should be worried about someone taking supplements.

For more detailed answers from Ronan (and some we didn't get to in time) check his website.

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Imagine 11 days with no sleep, travelling through the toughest terrain of Fiji for nearly 700 kilometres. A piece of cake right?

That's the premise of the new Amazon Prime series featuring Bear Grylls.

“World's Toughest Race: Eco-Challenge Fiji” is a ten-part series which features some of the 66 teams taking part in the ultimate endurance challenge including a team from Ireland.

Speaking to Dermot and Dave, Robbie Heffernan and Rachel Nolan from the Irish team spilled the beans on the race from the painful injuries they suffered to how the Fijian's singing Ireland's Call kept them going on the roughest days.

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She's an icon from her days in the Carry On films to the 20 odd years she spent on Albert Square and now the life of Barbara Windsor has been documented in a brand new biopic.

Dermot and Dave producer Maria had all the info on 'Babs' as well as the weeks telly!

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There has been calls by an Irish Driving Instructor for Parallel Parking to be included in the driving test.

This week on Ask Me Anything Dermot was joined by Brendan Morgan from the Irish School of motoring.

When asked by listeners what he thinks should be taken out of the test, Brendan answered by saying the task of having to reverse around a corner is outdated and should be removed from the test.

Brendan said it should be replaced by parallel parking - as its currently not part of the test in Ireland.

This in turn got people talking about their diving test experiences, with one listener even revealing that her tester fell asleep while in the car.

Listen to the full Ask Me Anything in full below.

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Maria is back with her TV recommendations for the weeks.

Today she suggested World's Most Wanted, which is a 2020 docuseries, exploring five of the world's most wanted criminals.

The series explores some of the worlds most wanted criminals, including that of  Samantha Louise Lewthwaite also known as Sherafiyah Lewthwaite or the White Wido.

She is a British woman who is one of the Western world's most wanted terrorism suspects. Lewthwaite, the widow of 7/7 London terrorist bomber Germaine Lindsay, is accused of causing the deaths of more than 400 people.

She is a fugitive from justice in Kenya, where she was wanted on charges of possession of explosives and conspiracy to commit a felony and is the subject of an Interpol Red Notice requesting her arrest with a view to extradition.

His play to hear the podcast in full.

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There is nothing more essential to our health and wellbeing than breathing: take air in, let it out, repeat 25,000 times a day.

Yet, as a species, humans have lost the ability to breathe correctly, with grave consequences.

In Breath, journalist James Nestor travels the world to discover the hidden science behind ancient breathing practices to figure out what went wrong and how to fix it.

Modern research is showing us that making even slight adjustments can:

- jump-start athletic performance

- rejuvenate internal organs

- halt snoring, allergies, asthma and autoimmune disease, and even straighten scoliotic spines

None of this should be possible, and yet it is. Drawing on thousands of years of ancient wisdom and cutting-edge studies in pulmonology, psychology, biochemistry and human physiology, Breath turns the conventional wisdom of what we thought we knew about our most basic biological function on its head.

The author of the book joined Dermot this morning to chat about breathing.

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Knock Shrine will close this weekend for the first time ever due to Covid-19.

The National Novena to Our Lady of Knock (14th – 22nd August) has been postponed due to the pandemic. This decision was taken to prevent gatherings of large numbers of people for the Novena.

The 15th August, the Feast of the Assumption, would normally be the most highly attended day during the National Novena. In previous years the Shrine would be open from 5am for Confessions. Our first Mass would take place at 6am for people who would traditionally walk to Knock during the previous night and early morning.

Masses would continue practically every hour until evening for enormous numbers of people coming from all over the country and beyond. For that day alone over 20,000 people would usually visit the Shrine.

In the light of the current escalation of Covid-19 cases around the country together with the sheer impossibility of having the resources necessary to deal with the potential of large numbers of people gathering at the Shrine for the 15th August and being extremely conscious of our responsibility for the safety of our parishioners, pilgrims, visitors, staff, volunteers and priests, Knock Shrine has taken the unprecedented and heart-breaking decision to close the Shrine and grounds for the 15th August only.

Fr Richard Gibbons the Rector of Knock Shrine joined Dermot this morning to chat about the alternative plans that are in place.

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