Birmingham Post

Beauty Style: Retail Therapy

THE LAST WORD IN LUXURY: The days of buying a cheap mobile phone are long gone -if you're out to impress your friends, I'm afraid you've got to fork out a pretty penny. If you really want to join the rich and famous -and have pounds 2,500 sitting around -then get your hands on one of these babies. Vertu's Ascent is the very latest in luxury mobiles, owned by some of the world's biggest stars including Madonna and Gwyneth Paltrow, and is now available exclusively at George Pragnell the Jewelle...

Going Against the Grain

Clothes are about much more than covering yourself up. They're about cut and colour, fabric and feel, personality and passion. No-one knows that better than fashion students.

The Face That Launched a Thousand Ships? ; Us Gossip Magazine People Recently Published Its List of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World Today. But What Shapes Our Perceptions of Beauty? Post Style Editor Caroline Foulkes Finds Out.

Being beautiful isn't all it's cracked up to be. Look at Helen of Troy. She might have had the face that launched 1,000 ships, but was she happy?

Wine Style: On the Grapevine: Brand Concepts

While not exactly facing a crisis, French winemakers are showing a great deal of concern over their future, and are demanding action from their government. The producers claim they are being hit by a combination of factors, but principally it revolves around a drop in wine consumption, both in terms of take-home and restaurant sales. The new generation French are more likely to drink beer than wine, which is now regarded as oldfashioned. The French authorities have also cracked down on drinkd...

Table Talk: Bilash -a World Beater in Indian Cuisine ; Alison Davison Visits a Restaurant That's Truly Out of This World Bilash Tandoori, 2 Cheapside, Wolverhampton, Wv1 1tu. 01902 427762. Hhhhh

Another of my brilliant business ideas has bitten the dust. First I had a grand plan to launch a Brummie version of OK! called Olroight!

From the Catwalk to the Coffee Table ; Forget Tupperware, Avon and Ann Summers -There's a New Big-Hitter in the Home Selling Market. Lifestyle Editor Lisa Piddington Reports On the Latest Fashion Collection That Is Taking Suburbia by Storm

It's the curse of the modern women -the professional plate- spinner -as she juggles work, family and home life... 'I haven't got the time to shop'. Flicking through the pages of glossy mags, she can only dream of that perfect capsule wardrobe. Instead, there are a million and one other things that need doing before she can justify a trip to shops. The children need feeding, there's a pile of papers for work, and the heap of ironing seems to get bigger and bigger.

Colin & Justin: Natural Born Grillers

Junk mail, angry utility reminders and three invitations to al fresco dining. We're just back from holiday and amongst mountains of post lay a trio of invites to some rather cool parties. Hoorah -it's that time of year again. The time when everyone seems suddenly inclined to do it outside. Eating, that is.

Stand Up for Deckchairs

It's a traditional way of enjoying the sun -lying back in a deck chair. When rows of those simple strips of canvas on a wooden frame suddenly sprout on beaches and in parks, it's a sure sign that summer's arrived.

Offers Style: Ladies Day at the Races

Post Style is offering one lucky reader the chance to have a flutter at the races on Ladies Day, July 6 at Newmarket Racecourse. It's time for ladies to don their best hat once again at the Newmarket Racecourse meeting between Tuesday 6 and Thursday 8 July. Tuesday is Ladies' Day, calling for the most stylish, glamorous outfits. Wednesday is Panama Hat Day, a chance for the gentlemen to turn on the style.

Offers Style: Win Innovative Microwave Cookware ; Post Style has Teamed Up with the Leading Name in Specialist Microwave Cookware Microwise, to Give Away 33 Steamer Sets That Retail at Pounds 15.99.

Microwise has revolutionised microwave cooking for healthy, easy and exciting meals in minutes. Whether you're preparing a light snack for one or a meal for the family, the Microwise range of innovative cookware enables you to cook healthy food in a fraction of the time. The Microwise Steamer Sets we are giving away are a musthave collection. It includes the award winning Multi Steamer, which combines boiling with steaming to create perfect rice every time. It can also be used for cooking veg...

Archive

25 years ago Mystery surrounded circumstances in which a young Malaysian man fell 160ft to his death from a tower block at Birmingham University. He was killed instantly after falling from the roof of the tallest building in the university complex.

Anniversaries

Culture: Kemp Won't Take Success for Granted ; Ross Kemp Tells Sarah Waterfall About the Dreadful Jobs He Had to Endure Before Finding Fame On Television

Fleeing Walford can be a difficult business -the list of those suffering from the 'soap curse' is long. This infects those who've been involved in a high-profile, audiencepuller only to leave and end up in panto. But one man who's definitely escaped is actor Ross Kemp.

Culture: In Concert Reviews: Former Blur Man Happy in the Limelight ; Graham Coxon Carling Academy

The last member of Blur to appear at the Academy -Damon Albarn with his Gorillaz side project -played the whole show behind a screen showing animated visuals. His former bandmate and friend Graham Coxon has been even more bashful, though, hiding behind lo-fi production and even lower-fi promotion since leaving the band.

Culture: In Concert Reviews: Wait Was Worth It for Turnage Premiere ; Birmingham Contemporary Music Group Cbso Centre, Berkley Street

Birmingham at last had the chance to hear Mark-Anthony Turnage's The Torn Fields when the song-cycle received its long-delayed UK premiere in Monday's Birmingham Contemporary Music Group concert. Originally commissioned by BCMG for world premiere here two years ago, its performance had to be cancelled due to illness within the family of Turnage's chosen baritone soloist, Gerald Finley. It is easy to understand why the composer was so keen to have Finley performing these five settings of Great...

Culture: Jazz Diary: More Jazz This Week Than You Can Shake a Stick At

Saturday would be a good time to develop a multiple personality, especially if each of you had an accompanying body. There are three places to be all offering music of an extremely high calibre, and all happening at the same time. Over at the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry is one of the finest singers currently working in this country.

Culture: Elgar at Home in the Hills ; Christopher Morley Previews This Year's Festival Devoted to the Music of Elgar On the Composer's Home Turf

What promises to be a biennial festival where the music of Sir Edward Elgar will be heard in the heart of the Worcestershire countryside he loved so much gets underway tonight on what would have been the composer's 147th birthday. Mastermind behind the enterprise, which is sponsored by Birmingham International Airport and has the Prince of Wales as its patron, is William Boughton, conductor of the English Symphony Orchestra and a noted interpreter of the composer's music. He believes this Elg...

Culture: Amateur Stage: Method Acting Extends to Plants

From the Lapworth Players' recent production of Hobson's Choice comes the Saga of the Aspidistra. Pat Fox, thinking on her feet in her backstage role as producer's assistant, bought two look-alike plants to adorn the story of life and love in a Northern bootmaker's shop, and deliberately neglected one of them to add to the run-down effect when times were not good. As it happened, however, the plantloving director was husband Reg Fox -and the sight of all those limp leaves cried out to the gre...

Win a Trip to India with Coconut Lagoon ; Competition and Reader Offer

Today The Birmingham Post, in association with The Coconut Lagoon, is offering two lucky readers and their partners a trip of a lifetime: a holiday for two to Goa or Kerala. The winners will be able to spend seven nights in a luxurious hotel, surrounded by idyllic scenery, fabulous beaches and a wealth of cultural splendour. All you need to do is follow the competition today and tomorrow and answer one question a day. In addition to this fantastic prize, you can also take advantage of a great...

Post People: Best and the Rest

Dramatic photographs of some of the greatest soccer players of all time have gone on show to celebrate the centenary of world football's governing body, Fifa. The exhibition, at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, features 125 players chosen by Brazilian legend, Pele.