Rachel Stevens

A teacher's continuing lessons

SOMERS - Teri Wing is diligent these days about showing her appreciation for others. Each opportunity, the Somers-Lakeside school superintendent learned in recent months, could be her last. And, in a series of lessons that some would argue are coming much too early in children's lives, the 193 students at Somers Middle School are learning that they can't take another chance for granted. "I wonder if I told Dawn enough what a wonderful teacher she is," Wing said. "I told her, but did I do it enough? It makes me aware of how often I say positive things to other people." The Oct. 26 traffic death of beloved sixth-grade teacher Dawn Bowker was perhaps the toughest blow in a year that had more than its fair share of tragedy for students, parents, teachers, administrators and officials of the school district. In March, a sixth-grade boy on a school outing to Blacktail Mountain ski area crashed into a tree on a downhill run, leaving him with severe brain trauma and every bone in his face broken. Today, with 20 percent hearing in only one ear, he attends school for a couple of hours a day while his twin sister does her best to carry on with a normal life. A number of parents of the district's school board members and faculty died. A sixth-grade student's mother is undergoing cancer treatments. Another sixth-grade boy spent much of the fall in the hospital after breaking his arm for the second time

-from doing nothing more strenuous than tossing a ball. Doctors continue their research and treatment.

Celebrity BB quitter in the grip of £1,000 a week drugs death wish Jo's fine pair of lungs

THESE sensational pictures show CBB's Jo O'Meara as you've never seen her before. The former S Club 7 singer stripped off for an explicit photoshoot with her lover on a steamy holiday. In the shots curvy Jo, 27, lies back while Paul Hawkins snaps her boobs, prances around in tiny knickers and takes a cheeky snap of his manhood. Last night a pal said: "Jo is very comfortable with her body because she knows she looks great. "She and Paul were always at it like rabbits - and when they stopped they took dirty pictures of each other. They loved it. "She was pretty wild. I wouldn't be surprised if she strips off on Big Brother. She will definitely get her boobs out." Jo posed for the shots on Spain's Costa del Sol when she was just 20 - before wholesome S Club became famous with hits like Don't Stop Movin'. She met millionaire's son Paul in her hometown of Romford, Essex. And the friend said: "They were madly in love. On holiday they spent most of the time in their room -that's how they ended up taking saucy photos of each other." Jo, whose bandmates included Rachel Stevens, left Paul after three years for a string of other men. She has talked openly about sex in the past - and confessed the strangest place she's romped was "a field in Essex, surrounded by cows".

First Night: Celebrity Big Brother, Channel 4

Many people have trouble sticking to their New Year diets; but Channel 4's determination to shed weight seems to know no bounds. As Davina McCall (apparently, though I wouldn't have recognised her

-what does she think she's doing scraping her hair back like that?) announced at the start, this year's Celebrity Big Brother is the longest yet: 25 days of television without substance or purpose. Last year - Chinese Year of the Cat - saw Chantelle Houghton, a fake celebrity, emerge triumphant from the Big Brother house, a fully-fledged star. This year a rumour ran round that, in a spasm of post-postmodern irony, Jade Goody, made famous by reality television, was to enter the Big Brother house. This turned out to be untrue; but the casting of this year's series still inspires some thoughts on the nature of modern celebrity. Does Jermaine Jackson, the only male Jackson apart from Michael to have enjoyed solo success, count as a star in his own right, even though few of the other inmates had any idea who he was? Is his celebrity just a facet of his brother's notoriety? (In answer to a question from Davina, Jermaine said that Michael would probably be watching: "He has a way of seeing everything." Suspicions of divinity confirmed, then.) Given the warmth of the crowd's reception for Jo O'Meara - the one in S Club with the big chin who could actually sing - why did her solo career crash, while her prettier, less talented colleague Rachel Stevens had a string of hits? Clearly, popularity and commercial success are only tangentially related. And why did H from Steps feel the need to "come out" in The Sun prior to the programme, when those of us who have followed his career thought he had come out some years ago? The biggest star in the house is probably Shilpa Shetty, an ex-Bollywood megastar who, as she confessed in her pre-admission interview, expects to find life hard without an entourage; but her celebrity has no purchase in Britain; none of the other celebrities had the faintest idea who she was. Almost everybody, on the other hand, knew who Leo Sayer was. Otherwise, we have Ken Russell, optimistically self-described as "the most famous English film-maker", and at 79 having trouble with the stairs; Danielle Lloyd, disgraced former Miss Great Britain and girlfriend of Teddy Sheringham, who is reported to believe that Winston Churchill was America's first black leader; Donny Tourette, lead singer of the band Towers of London, who listed among his pastimes spitting and "never lifting the seat", and whose leering, two-fingering procession into the house lifted him from near-anonymity to panto-villain status; Cleo Rocos, former sidekick to Kenny Everett; and Dirk Benedict, Face from The A-Team. Finally, and most oddly, we have Carole Malone, a Sunday Mirror columnist, who has disapproved publicly and virulently of Big Brother. She said she could not resist being at the centre of a story "every journalist in the country" wants to write about. Every journalist? Some journalists were looking forward to spending an evening finishing a Joseph Conrad; instead, we get dispatched to the Heart of Darkness. The horror! The horror!

Soapstar Superstar - Doctor In The House

Eleven contestants have been groomed for the new series looking to emulate the success of former Coronation Street actor Richard Fleeshman, who won it last year. The secret to the 17-year-old's triumph was a mixture of acceptable vocal talent along with having a popular on-screen personna and prominent storyline in his soap. I'm fairly certain it'll be the same formula for this year's winner and that's why I got excited when I first browsed over the prices a few weeks ago and saw Alan Fletcher, aka Dr. Karl Kennedy from Neighbours, at around 10/1 with the bookies. Immediately I knew he would be my tip because that price was just too big for the Aussie, who has a considerable cult following around Britain, especially among the university circuit where he often performs live on tour with his band Waiting Room. His character's love triangle in Ramsay Street with Susan and Izzy may have done him no favours in terms of the female viewers but deep down everybody loves the doctor and we're delighted to see him finally get back with his ex-wife in one of the storylines of the year. However before you get too excited about the prospect of making a lot of money on the Doc, I have to say that my heart sunk when I saw his odds had been slashed to a best of 7/4 with Stan James as I started to write this preview. It suddenly makes the bet much less appealing, but given that I'd made him shorter still than 7/4 he still has to go in our staking plan as I'm convinced he'll come out on top. He knows how to perform live and being perhaps the most recognisable face on the show, it's hard to see how he won't win, especially if somewhere down the line he's able to sing 'River in the Soul' - a favourite for all Neighbours viewers. But we also need to look for some value and who better fit that bill than Coronation Street's Jane Danson who plays the troublesome Leanne Battersby. Her character despicably had an affair with Danny Baldwin while she was supposed to be going out with his son in one of the Street's more shocking incidents of 2006. Although technically it's serious foul play in anyone's book, she is one of those likeable bad girls from both male and female perspectives. And in real life Jane is a very popular actress - in 2003 she pretended to be Madonna in a Stars in Your Eyes special and managed to win the show by beating off competition such as Julie Goodyear, Ron Atkinson (who was a quite brilliant Frank Sinatra), Rhona Cameron and Tony Blackburn. So who says she can't win over the public again? At 9/1 with Bet Direct we still think she's certainly decent value. Meanwhile Antony Cotton, who plays Corrie's gay knicker-stitcher Sean Tully, is this series' second favourite at 5/1 with Coral and it's not hard to see why. He is one of soapland's most popular characters and in 2005 won the Most Popular Newcomer category at the National Television Awards. As well as holding down one of the leading roles in Wetherfield, Antony can sometimes be found wooing female TV audiences on daytime programmes such as Loose Women, cementing himself as one of their most likeable personalities.

There is no doubt Antony will win over a fair share of the voting public but having unfortunately witnessed him 'perform' Let Me Entertain You live in Manchester's Press Club, I can say he must brush up on his ropey vocals. However he'll give it his best in high-energy performances, and similar to Ray in X-Factor, the public won't be too concerned if he doesn't have the natural singing talent of the others. Meanwhile Coronation Street's final representative Tupele Dorgu, who is as big as 14/1 with Stan James, can sing to a relatively higher standard than her rivals as her sporadic experiences in the West End performing in such musicals as Mamma Mia will give her a noteable edge over the rest. Tupele regularly performs at charity events and has also appeared on Stars In Their Eyes as Beyonce, although she didn't win. The downside is that her on-screen character, Kelly Crabtree, is a feisty floozie, with long legs, short skirts and a big mouth. Gemma Atkinson, from my hometown of Bury (although Gemma claims she's a Manchester girl to make herself look less of a local), plays Lisa Hunter in Hollyoaks In The City which is an unpopular spin-off from the daily Channel Four soap. As a model who frequently appears in male magazines, it's doubtful if she'll receive much support from female viewers and 16/1 is probably a fair price. Hollyoaks In The City has another contestant in Leon Lopez whose on-screen character is the beefy scouser 'Tank Top'. Having scanned numerous message boards about the show along with carrying out some research amongst friends and family, there are two different types of reaction in regards to Leon. It's either, "Ooh, he's dead sexy," or "Who is he?". Understandably he's 18/1 (but cut from 33s) having been a late replacement for Emmerdale's Ben Freeman who pulled out of the show due to personal reasons. This all means the Yorkshire soap now has three singers in the contest instead of four. Firstly there's Hayley Tamaddon who plays the loveable Delilah Dingle, and she is 8/1 with Bet Direct and is third favourite with most bookmakers. Although the 29-year-old won an episode of Stars in Their Eyes as Lulu last year and also has singing experience from playing lead roles in Grease and Fame The Musical, there is one key reason why it would be unwise to back her. Five years ago she created a hole in her vocal cords because she sang too much and faced the prospect of never performing in this capacity again. Despite having recovered now, Hayley has recently revealed that she's fearing her voice will give way during the show. She said: "There's every chance it could just go. I'm bricking it as it is, but this makes it even worse. The nerves are ridiculous." Verity Rushworth, who has played Donna Windsor-Dingle for the past nine years, is the second act from Emmerdale and can be backed at 11/1 with Paddy Power. The 21-year-old actress and pin-up girl has been trained to perform in musicals and did appear on Celebrity Stars in Their Eyes as Rachel Stevens although she didn't win. Her recent storyline has made her one of the soap's more prominent characters and her chances can't be written off. David Beckham look-a-like Matthew Wolfenden is new on the soap scene having recently landed the role of David Metcalfe in Emmerdale and is a long shot at 18/1 with totesport . His good looks could put him in with an outside chance and he also has musical expertise to call upon having starred in a 2003 production of Saturday Night Fever. In a recent interview David has claimed Ben Folds is at the top of his personal album chart which proves he has a decent taste in music while he would also prefer to lend himself to rocky stuff during the show. It could mean he's a bit of a Ben from X-Factor and could very easily go a lot further than the 18/1 suggests. Indeed Inside Soap magazine have drawn up some fictional odds on how they see the show going and make Matthew their 2/1 hot favourite. Meanwhile Mark Furze, who plays Eric "Ric" Dalby in Home And Away, is in a similar bracket to David and is available 14/1 with Paddy Power. The second Aussie on the programme says his prefered style is heavy metal but admits he'll "try and throw in a bit of everything". Mark is currently involved in two bands - a heavy metal 80's band in which he plays guitar while the other is a punk band. But while this style isn't what you associate with TV talent shows, it could win him support from the younger audience. Perhaps more importantly Mark appeared in Australia's version of Just The Two Of Us in 2006, and although he didn't win the show, he lasted all the way to the ninth week of ten after some impressive performances with Rachael Beck. Although less people watch his soap, he's been around slightly longer so perhaps can't be written off as a complete unknown. Finally we come to former Eastenders actress Elaine Lordan who used to play Lynne Hobbs. Elaine lasted just one day in the 2005 series of 'I'm a Z-List Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here' having been forced to quit on medical advice. Since then she's endured a terrible time - her baby son died the following December just one year after being born with a defective diaphragm while she's also had to cope with her mother committing suicide. As far as Elaine's chances in Soapstar Superstar go, her only hope is the sympathy vote - but this can be a potentially powerful weapon.

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