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In this podcast, Chris who has never (ever) seen a Star Wars film, interviews movie goers as they leave the cinema after watching the film Star Wars – The Force Awakens, just to see what all the fuss is about. Listen in as people give their opinion of the film just as they are leaving the cinema, it's hot off the press with authentic excitement and street noise too.

Did you know that Shakespeare coined* over 1000 words, many of which we still use today and some of them we use everyday!

But WHY did he invent so many words ? This is a good question. He didn't it simply to fit in with the rhythm of his text, he needed words with the right number of syllables to fit in with the meter rhythm of the line.

Indeed many of the words that Shakespeare coined came from adding suffixes and prefixes such as -ful, -able - fied. For example, laugh and able,  un and dress, care and less. So if you find English adjectives confusing you know who to blame !

Sometimes he put 2 words together, for example bed and room. Thank you Shakespeare for that one! Plus, birth and place, farm and house.

In this podcast, Sue asks Chris to explain 10 Shakespearian inventions and then he "turns the tables" on her... you can thank Shakespeare for that one too !!!

Listen out for these words and expressions:

It's Greek to me

To be tongue tied

fair play / foul play

A fool's paradise

A hard day's night

A green eyed monster

Laughable

An eyesore

What the Dickens !

To puke

to coin means to invent a new word or expression

listen to Chris' 5 minutes of fame, as he tells some pretty good jokes (well that's what he told us to write anyway) - we hope you like them!

Star Wars - The Force Awakens

In this podcast, Chris who has never (ever) seen a Star Wars film, interviews movie goers as they leave the cinema after watching Star Wars - The Force Awakens, just to see what all the fuss is about.

It seems like he isn't the only one, there is even a BBC Radio 4 program called "I've never seen Star Wars."

Read more about the radio series here.

Star Wars - The Force Awakens - Thirty years after the defeat of the Galactic Empire, the galaxy faces a new threat from the evil Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) and the First Order. When a defector named Finn crash-lands on a desert planet, he meets Rey (Daisy Ridley), a tough scavenger whose droid contains a top-secret map.

Star Wars is an American epic space opera franchise centered on a film series created by George Lucas. It depicts the adventures of various characters "a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away".

The first film in the series, Star Wars (later subtitled Episode IV: A New Hope), was released on May 25, 1977 by 20th Century Fox and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon.

It was followed by the similarly successful sequels The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983); these three films constitute the original Star Wars trilogy.

A prequel trilogy was later released between 1999 and 2005, which received a more mixed reaction from critics and fans, compared to the original trilogy.

All six films were nominated for or won Academy Awards, and were commercial successes, with a combined box office revenue of $4.38 billion, making Star Wars the fifth-highest-grossing film series.

The series has spawned an extensive media franchise—the Star Wars expanded universe—including books, television series, computer and video games, and comic books, resulting in significant development of the series's fictional universe. Star Wars also holds a Guinness World Records title for the "Most successful film merchandising franchise."

In 2012, the total value of the Star Wars franchise was estimated at USD $30.7 billion, including box-office receipts as well as profits from their video games and DVD sales.

In 2012, The Walt Disney Company acquired Lucasfilm for $4.06 billion and announced three new Star Wars films; the first film of that trilogy, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, was released on December 18, 2015.

20th Century Fox retains the physical distribution rights to the first two Star Wars trilogies, owning permanent rights for the original 1977 film and holding the rights to Episodes I–III, V and VI until May 2020.

The Walt Disney Studios owns digital distribution rights to all the Star Wars films, excluding A New Hope.

Talking about films requires specific vocabulary so check out this quiz which will show you how to use new words in the right context.

A one-hit wonder is any group or solo singer that achieves mainstream popularity, often for only one piece of work, and becomes known among the general public solely for that momentary success.

The term is most commonly used in regard to music performerswith only one hit single that overshadows their other work.

Sometimes, artists dubbed "one-hit wonders" in a particular country have had great success in other countries.

Music artists with subsequent popular albums and hit listings are typically not considered a one-hit wonder.

One-hit wonders usually see their popularity decreasing after their hit listing and most often don't return to hit listings with other songs or albums.

In this podcast, Chris turns the tables on Sue and asks her a question - listen out for it.

Book Signing in Toulouse

Book signing is popular because an author's signature increases the value of books for collectors.

The author may add a short message to the reader, called a dedication, to each book, which may be personalized with the recipient's name upon request.

A simple author's signature without a dedication is typically more valuable to collectors (exceptions include inscriptions to persons of note, e.g., from Hemingway to Fitzgerald, or to persons of significance in the author's life).

Sometimes an author will sign additional copies for future sale.

An additional advantage to authors for doing this is that once a book has been signed, it cannot be returned to the publisher for a refund.

Many authors today spend a great deal of time signing their books, and sign many thousands of copies.

For example, James Ellroy is known for signing every copy of the 65,000 strong first run of My Dark Places

Listen to Sue as she interviews people in a bookstore in Toulouse, where the author is signing copies of his book.

If you have written, or are writing a book, here are 35 ways to make your next book signing an event.

Guitars on the beach with Ian Gillan of Deep Purple

DEEP PURPLE singer Ian Gillan joined thousands of guitarists at the Guitars On The Beach event in Lyme Regis, United Kingdom to perform the band's classic song "Smoke On The Water".

Organizers were hoping to draw more than the 2,267 guitarists that appeared at last year's record-breaking event.

As of mid-June, more than 3,000 guitarists had already signed up for the event.

The musicians were given the chance to play along to a number of songs, with the three main ones being Buddy Holly's "Rave On", STATUS QUO's "Rocking All Over the World", and "Smoke On The Water".

Gillan contacted the organizers and asked them if he could to appear at the gig. He wrote in a letter: "I hear you might be doing 'Smoke' with the massed guitars, and if that is the case, I thought I’d offer my services if you need a singer."

Geoff Baker, who has organized the event, told the Dorset Echo back in June: "My jaw hit the floor.

"This is sensational news. Ian's involvement will take Guitars On The Beach to an entirely different level. Everybody involved is thrilled and blown away by his hugely generous offer."

He added: "Clearly 'Smoke On The Water' will now be the main event for many.

"It's the classic guitar riff and not difficult to play. Massed guitar bands in America, Germany, Canada and Poland have all had a crack at the world record playing 'Smoke' — but none of them has ever been led by Ian Gillan before.

"This is going to be amazing, and many more people will now want to take part.

"It’s quite something to write home about, that you once played with Ian Gillan in a band with thousands of guitarists.

"'Smoke On The Water' was recently voted the greatest guitar riff ever written, it is universally popular and it is anybody’s guess how many will join the band now."

Read more

A visit to the David Bowie memorial, Brixton, London

Opposite the Brixton tube station in South London is  a street mural on Turnstall Road, there are flowers, candles, cards, pictures, tee shirts and magazines all with a message or a picture of the music icon that was David Bowie, where fans have publicly paid their respects.

The mural, painted by Australian artist Jimmy C in 2013  has become a shrine to the great man, where fans have been congregating from near and far.

The site feels almost like some kind of religious experience, a cultural pilgrimage where every visitor is free to mark their respects and pay tribute in whichever way they feel.

Most people, fans or not, took photos to remember the moment, or to send them on to friends, whilst taking a few moments to reflect on the life and music of David Bowie - who was born in Brixton.

After standing at the site for a few minutes, I was watching individual ceremonies and acts people had prepared, with great care, love and attention.

Some got on their knees and decorated the ground with rainbow flowers, cards and messages, messages written with care on the walls next to the mural.

The most striking thing was the clear ability that Bowie had to reach out to generations, I saw people from 70 + years old to teenagers all going through their own rituals of saying goodbye and marking the moment in their own personal ways.

Going to the mural was a special occasion - it was both touchingly sad and happy at the same time, with a busker striking up a rendition of Bowie's song, "Five Years."

A thank you and goodbye to a man that you didn’t know personally but had definitely positively affected either you or the world that you live in - as a message I saw on Facebook so rightly put it, be thankful that you grew up and lived at the same time as David Bowie.

As a huge Bowie fan since my teenage years, I enjoyed, although I'm not sure this is the exact term to use, A visit to the David Bowie memorial, Brixton, London.

R.I.P. David Bowie.

James Bond - Spectre - The movie

Susan manages to catch people as they leave the Gaumont Cinema in Toulouse, after James Bond - Spectre - The movie.

A cryptic message from the past leads James Bond (Daniel Craig) to Mexico City and Rome, where he meets the beautiful widow (Monica Bellucci) of an infamous criminal.

After infiltrating a secret meeting, 007 uncovers the existence of the sinister organization SPECTRE.

Needing the help of the daughter of an old nemesis, he embarks on a mission to find her.

As Bond ventures toward the heart of SPECTRE, he discovers a chilling connection between himself and the enemy (Christoph Waltz) he seeks.

James Bond - Spectre - The movie (2015) is the twenty-fourth James Bond film produced by Eon Productions. It features Daniel Craig in his fourth performance as James Bond, and Christoph Waltz as Ernst Stavro Blofeld, with the film marking the character's re-introduction into the series.

It was directed by Sam Mendes as his second James Bond film following Skyfall, and was written by John Logan, Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and Jez Butterworth.

It is distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Columbia Pictures. With a budget around $245 million, it is one of the most expensive films ever made.

The story features James Bond's first encounter with the global criminal organisation Spectre, marking the group's first appearance in an Eon Productions film since 1971's Diamonds Are Forever, and tying Craig's series of films together with an overarching storyline.

Several recurring James Bond characters, including M, Q and Eve Moneypenny return, with the new additions of Léa Seydoux as Dr. Madeleine Swann, Dave Bautista as Mr. Hinx, Andrew Scott as Max Denbigh and Monica Bellucci as Lucia Sciarra.

James Bond - Spectre - The movie was released on 26 October 2015 in the United Kingdom on the same night as the world premiere at the Royal Albert Hall in London, followed by a worldwide release.

It was released in the United States on 6 November 2015.

It became the second James Bond film to be screened in IMAX venues after Skyfall, although it was not filmed with IMAX cameras.

James Bond - Spectre - The movie generally received mixed reviews from critics in comparison to its predecessor, being criticised for its length and writing, but received praise for the cast's acting, the direction and score. As of 17 November 2015Spectre has grossed $548 million.

Self publishing a book

Simon Duke talks to Susan about his experiences of self publishing a book, his own book, "Out of Bounds."

Self publishing a book is popular for many reasons.

Securing a traditional publishing contract may not work for you — they're hard to get, and you give up a lot of rights when you finally do get one.

Self-publishing should allow you to retain more rights over the final product, offer the product at a substantially lower cost, and give you an outlet to do traditional marketing and advertising yourself.

No matter what your reason, self publishing is a great way to make your book available to anybody interested. Read on for a discussion of the different ways that you can self-publish a book.

Both Simon Duke and Chris self-published their own books.

Despite technology making it both easier and cheaper to self-publish books, going down the independent road is nothing new. In 1931 the author of The Joy of Cooking paid a local printing company to print 3000 copies.

Later Bobbs-Merill Company acquired the rights, and since then the book has sold over 18 million copies.

The contemporary trilogy Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James was originally published online as Twilight fan-fiction before the author decided to self-publish it as an e-book and print on demand.

The key distinguishing characteristic of self-publishing is that the author has decided to publish independently of a publishing house.

In the past, self-published authors had to spend considerable amounts of money preparing a book for publication, purchasing bulk copies of their title, and finding a place to store their inventory.

Print-on-demand and e-book technology have allowed authors to have a book printed or digitally delivered only when an order has been placed.

In 2008, for the first time in history, more books were self-published than those published traditionally.