Thank God It's Toby Highlights

Award-winning performer John Owen-Jones (Les Miz/Phantom) releases a Christmas single - track one Holly Jolly Christmas and track two On Christmas Eve. Both tracks are taken from John Owen-Jones: The Christmas Album released last year. On Christmas Eve, is a previously unheard track from the vaults of legendary songwriter Les Reed who wrote Delilah and It’s Not Unusual among many others.

John said “I was given permission to update the original demo Les made and give it a more contemporary feel, so I completely re-orchestrated it. At the same time I took the opportunity to rewrite some of the original lyrics by Bill Martin (Puppet On A String/Congratulations) too and I’m delighted with the result”

On Holly Jolly Christmas John said: “This is my fun take on an always popular Christmas classic that was a joy to record and I think it really captures that live-from-your-living-room vibe. I even got some pals into the studio with me to capture some realistic Christmas party crowd sound effects!”

Highlights of 2022 include John performing at the Sydney Opera House, creating a leading role in the brand new musical Great British Bake Off and a successful solo UK concert tour culminating with a sold-out show at Her Majesty’s Theatre in London’s West End. John will be performing more concerts in December. In 2023 John returns to the West End in the Great British Bake Off Musical with a lead role as Phil Hollinghurst!

This year John released his own theatre-based podcast with fellow Broadway and West End star Alistair Brammer called ‘The Last Show on Earth’ that asks special guests the question: What show would you see if you had one night left on Earth? The first episode aired on Friday 3 June with guest Matt Lucas and new episodes are released monthly.

At just 26, John became the youngest actor ever to play the role of ‘Jean Valjean’ in the West End and was the first British actor to play the role both in the West End and on Broadway. John Owen-Jones has also played the role of ‘The Phantom’ in ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ nearly 2000 times - more than any other actor in the history of the West End production. John has so far released five albums, ‘John Owen-Jones’ (2009), ‘Unmasked’ (2012), ‘Rise’ (2015), ‘Bring Him Home’ (2016) ‘Spotlight’ (2019) and ‘The Christmas Album’ (2021)

Highlights from Toby's Friday afternoon show on Shout Radio. Featuring chat with top showbiz guests.

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Christmas brings out excitement, joy, and love of family. For siblings, Ryan and Natalie, it does even more than that. It stirs up anticipation and friendly competition because when Santa visits their house, he leaves clues. He hides them under couches, in cookie jars, outside in the snow, and even in the bathtub. Santa doesn't simply drop off the presents and leave like usual through the chimney. At Ryan and Natalie's house, he gives them the thrill of a Christmas morning scavenger hunt. It's a mad dash after all the other presents are opened, as they take turns reading clue after clue and rhyme after rhyme in hopes to find their last gift.

Highlights from Toby's Friday afternoon show on Shout Radio. Featuring chat with top showbiz guests.

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This year, the Light Lounge's Drama Group have been working towards their Christmas play. They are proud to present you with:

SCROOGE - A comedy self-created production.

They promise you lots of laughs, drama and of course - CHRISTMAS SPIRIT.

They will be raising donations for their local soup kitchen and food bank - Amazing Graze Soup Kitchen All they ask for in exchange for a free ticket is a donation of a food item which will be appreciated by those struggling to eat this Christmas.

The production will take place on Sunday 18th December 2022 at 5 pm at the Light Lounge.

You can collect a free ticket from the Light Lounge by asking a member of staff.

Highlights from Toby's Friday afternoon show on Shout Radio. Featuring chat with top showbiz guests.

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Money mules allow cash to enter their account to send on to others, often with financial incentives. Even without knowing they are doing so, they may be partaking in money laundering and therefore, breaking the law.

You can be approached in person or online, with perpetrators often being criminals or part of gangs seeking to ‘clean’ money through multiple transactions. They often target those they feel would be the easiest to manipulate, which is often older and younger people.

This is particularly worrisome for parents, as young children can easily be recruited into this, given 44% of those aged 13-24 admit they would consider letting someone use their account if offered money, while 11% would unknowingly become a money mule – transferring money from their account to others after someone has sent it on to them.

According to new research from the Nationwide Building Society, 20% worry about their financial situation and 77% wish they had more money to buy the things they want, without having to ask their parents for money.

Shappi Khorsandi, bestselling author and British comic, is a mother of two and has partnered with the building society to educate the nation’s parents about these perils, not only to protect themselves but to pass on knowledge and telltale signs to their children.

Shappi herself has been a victim of fraud and has spoken to her children about protecting their finances.

Highlights from Toby's Friday afternoon show on Shout Radio. Featuring chat with top showbiz guests.

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Timothy W Young wrote a textbook which explains the power of the number one in great detail with examples and illustrations to emphasize the amazing power of the simplest of numbers. The textbook is a must-read by all students in college who are preparing to be elementary teachers or secondary mathematics teachers. The topics covered in the book range from finding equivalent fractions, performing operations with fractions, ratios, percentages, rational expressions, and even calculus limit problems. The simple procedures introduced to find equivalent fractions in 3rd or 4th grade are the same procedures used to simplify the limit problems in calculus. When he was in college preparing to be a secondary mathematics teacher, he never took a course focused on “How to teach secondary mathematics courses" such as Algebra 1, Algebra 2, Geometry, Trigonometry, Precalculus, Calculus 1, or even arithmetic. His wife, who was an elementary teacher, was not required to take a course focused on “How to teach arithmetic rules and procedures”. It is impossible to write an arithmetic or a mathematics book which focuses on one specific topic. His book focuses on ways third and fourth-grade elementary educators can introduce and teach the concepts and rules needed to solve problems involving fractions, ratios, conversions, percentages, and decimals. Many mathematicians believe these topics become the foundation required to work with high school mathematics problems including simplifying/solving rational expressions in algebra and derivative problems in calculus. 

Since Timothy's book is a “How to teach arithmetic and mathematics textbook”, it goes beyond what one would normally expect. Two new theorems are introduced, emphasized, and illustrated throughout the book. These theorems simplify the world of fractions, ratios, conversions, percentages, and much other arithmetic and mathematics topics. 

His editor, Steve Everhart, made the following summarization. It is impossible for someone to read this textbook, study the illustrations, and finally solve the assignment problems (which are directly related to the illustrated problems) and not master the procedures and rules illustrated.

The first six chapters focus on arithmetic concepts and procedures. Chapter 7 emphasizes the same rules demonstrated in the preceding chapters to solve Algebra, Precalculus, and Calculus problems. Even though Timothy does not expect all elementary education majors to solve the advanced mathematics problems in Chapter 7 with 90% accuracy, he does expect elementary teachers to be able to follow the logic and the steps used in the illustrations.

Highlights from Toby's Friday afternoon show on Shout Radio. Featuring chat with top showbiz guests.

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Vic Ferrari, author of NYPD: Through The Looking Glass: Stories From Inside America's Largest Police Department, The NYPD's Flying Circus: Cops, Crime & Chaos, Grand Theft Auto: The NYPD's Auto Crime Division, and NYPD: Law & Disorder is a retired twenty-year member of the New York City Police Department who refuses to write in chronological order. With no formal training or Harvard degree, Vic's managed to write four behind-the-scenes books about his former employer. With remarkable attention to detail combined with a sarcastic flair, Vic exposes the good, the bad, and the ugly of America's largest police department. 

Highlights from Toby's Friday afternoon show on Shout Radio. Featuring chat with top showbiz guests.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Cooper is a Dallas-based Pop/R&B/Rap Recording artist signed to Dream Media, LLC. His style has been described as a "mature Justin Bieber with a message". His music combines pop, house, rap and R&B to create a unique yet relatable style that is groovy, yet positive. Cooper takes us on a journey of Love and Loss with his 1st CD to be released this December 15, 2022.

"BabyGurl" is the first single from the cd with the same name from newcomer Dallasite singer and songwriter Cooper. This talented artist ingeniously fuses pop with rap and blues to create a delightful and unique sound. Combined with the hard-hitting and versatile production of Cedric "Cnote" Buard, this amazing dynamic duo has the formula for success.

Highlights from Toby's Friday afternoon show on Shout Radio. Featuring chat with top showbiz guests.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The government is being urged to support a campaign that hopes to tackle the £1.5bn engineering skills shortage by placing greater emphasis on how engineering can be taught in primary and secondary schools.

Tonight, Kevin Burke education consultant, ex-Department of Education and author of the IET’s new report Engineering Kids’ Futures will head to a Parliamentary event at Westminster to remind MPs of the vital importance Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects play in supporting the UK economy.

It follows an open letter to the then Prime Minister Boris Johnson from Professor Danielle George last year that argued the key to delivering on the Government’s ambitions and reinforcing the UK’s position as a science and technology superpower relied on future generations of engineers.

The engineering economy accounts for 26% of all UK employment and adds an estimated £645bn to the UK’s annual economy (source: Royal Academy of Engineering November 2022). It is estimated there is a shortfall of over 173,000 workers in the STEM sector: an average of 10 unfilled roles per business in the UK. What is more, 49% of engineering businesses are experiencing difficulties in the skills available to them when trying to recruit (source: IET Skills Survey 2021).

David Lakin, Head of Education at The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) believes the engineering skills shortage can only be filled if the UK generates an estimated 59,000 engineers annually. Lakin argues a simple solution to the problem is to “grow your own” workforce with an emphasis on the development of engineering and skills starting at the primary school level, feeding through into secondary education and beyond.

It comes as new research from the IET has found just how important the school system is to finding the next generation of engineers with 59% of Dads and 53% of Mums relying solely on the school curriculum for teaching their children about engineering and technology with a further 61% saying they would struggle to explain to their children which careers require engineering and technology qualifications.

Furthermore, 64% of parents admit it's been more than ten years since they learnt about engineering or technology so don’t feel they are qualified to pass their knowledge on and 38% also don’t think that the current school curriculum is adequately preparing their children for all available career options.

In fact, 69% feel the curriculum doesn't teach real-life skills with engineering and technology (39%) topping the list of subjects that leaves their children least prepared for a career. 69% of parents say it's essential that primary school children are exposed to engineering and technology to spark interest from a young age with a quarter (24%) of parents saying there’s not enough emphasis on Science, Maths and English.

Worryingly, 60% of parents also believe schools don't do enough to encourage young girls to consider engineering and technology career options.

The IET is now offering the Government some key recommendations to make sure potential scientists, engineers and technicians are not lost.

Highlights from Toby's Friday afternoon show on Shout Radio. Featuring chat with top showbiz guests.

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Country music singer and activist for Alzheimer’s, Debby Campbell was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1956 to Diane Kirk and Glen Travis Campbell. She is the eldest of 8 children and the daughter of the most famous “Rhinestone Cowboy” Glen Campbell. Debby loved singing from an early age and spent many summers with her dad on tour, and in the television studios with his Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour television show.

Debby graduated high school in England living with her mom and step-dad Jack, while her step-dad was in the Air Force. Her dad, Glen became a world sensation and would perform in England and send for Debby so she could spend time with him.

In her early 20’s, Debby married and became a mother of 3, two boys and a girl. She lived in Italy, and the US during this time and currently loves being a grandmother to 6 grandchildren and 1 great-grandchild.

In the mid 80’s Debby became a flight attendant and remains flying internationally as well as domestically.

In 1987 Debby became part of her dad's shows on tour as a featured singer, along with her full-time job as a flight attendant. She toured and travelled with the Glen Campbell show for 24 years, including travels to Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania, Bermuda, and so many more. Many of the Glen Campbell fans became loyal fans & friends of Debby’s and she has remained friends with them today.

Her appreciation for Country music landed her with her own show in Branson, Missouri at the Roy Clark Theatre in the early 90s. She continued her career as a featured singer at the Grand Palace with her dad and then on to her Dad’s Theatre –The Glen Campbell Goodtime Theatre and ending with a residency at the Andy Williams Moon River Theatre.

Debby’s bragging rights include hosting the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon, performances at the Grand Ole Opry, opening for greats and Grammy Award artists such as Charlie Daniels, Jerry Reed, Eddie Rabbit, Colin Raye, and performing the National Anthem for the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas. She is the author of her recently released book titled “Life with My Father Glen Campbell”. She has also been credited with recording duets with her dad on “United We Stand”, “Let It Be Me”, and “Little Green Apples” and on multiple recordings of Glen’s “Live with South Dakota Symphony” on CD and DVD. As Glen recorded some of his final music, Debby was instrumental on background vocals.

Debby is active with the Alzheimer’s cause and finds time for her first priority, family and friends. She golfs, enjoys bowling, travels and of course, sings.

Highlights from Toby's Friday afternoon show on Shout Radio. Featuring chat with top showbiz guests.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kim Lengling is a bit different, she listens to shadows and talks with animals. She also happens to write a monthly column for a local newspaper sharing veteran stories, she is a guest columnist on USMILITARY.com and is the co-host of a twice-weekly local radio show focused on veterans. She currently has two veteran-related books published.

When she’s not writing or dog-sitting for her friends and family members, you can find her taking walks through the woods and fields that surround her home, crocheting, reading, listening to music, singing or assisting veterans within her community. With her wonky sense of humour and the proclivity to talk with critters, you have a small glimpse of her, but just a small one.

Highlights from Toby's Friday afternoon show on Shout Radio. Featuring chat with top showbiz guests.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.