Kate’s supporting role to the real Windsor star

By Patricia Treble - Friday, March 9, 2012 at 10:52 AM - 0 Comments

Oli Scarff/AP

It was clear Kate was determined not to be the centre of attention from the moment the royal party arrived at St. Pancras station in London on Thursday. Her clothes were dark and unobtrusive, leaving the focus solely on Kate’s travelling companion—the Queen, who was officially starting her Diamond Jubilee tour of Britain.  Kate even wore her hair pulled back under a hat, avoiding the inevitable photo op when she battles for control of her tresses as they get whipped by the wind. That meant all attention was on the Queen, aided by her bright pink outfit, in Leicester, leaving Prince Philip in his customary back-up role and Kate chatting with local officials.

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Meet Prince Harry’s keeper, who also helped crush ‘News of the World’

By Patricia Treble - Wednesday, March 7, 2012 at 12:41 PM - 0 Comments

Prince Harry racing (and cheating against) Usain Bolt on a track. Harry showing off his dance moves to a Bob Marley tune. William and Kate competing in a dragon boat race in Prince Edward Island.  Kate spending a solo Valentine’s Day visiting a children’s hospital in Liverpool. While the young Windsors deserve kudos for their relaxed, fresh new take on royal engagements, accolades should also be showered on the man who’s a step or two behind them: Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton. As private secretary to William, Kate and Harry, the 51-year-old former army officer has one of the most important jobs in the royal bureaucracy that surrounds the Windsors; after all, his charges are the future of the monarchy. Nothing happens on a public outing that hasn’t been vetted by him.

Hired in 2005 to be the private secretary to William and Harry, he is a former captain in the SAS, Britain’s legendary special forces regiment. He served in the first Gulf War and spent two years battling Colombian drug lords. After leaving the SAS he worked for Kroll Risk Management, the huge security firm. And he’s not just all action: he graduated from the exclusive school of Eton, where William and Harry were also educated, and did a stint at Clarence House as an equerry to their great-grandmother, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.

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Andrew Marr gets royals talking in ‘Diamond Queen’

By Patricia Treble - Monday, March 5, 2012 at 3:32 PM - 0 Comments

Peter Bregg/CP

Tonight at 10 p.m. ET, CBC Newsworld airs part one of Diamond Queen, a three-part series that looks at the monarch’s life and reign. It’s part of an avalanche of books, TV specials and exhibitions or special events marking the 60^th anniversary of Elizabeth II’s ascent to the throne. Most are forgettable attempts to cash in on the celebration, but some are worth watching.

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Kate, Camilla and the Queen out for tea at Fortum & Mason

By Patricia Treble - Thursday, March 1, 2012 at 1:49 PM - 0 Comments

It is so rare for Queen Elizabeth II to take family with her on a public engagement that the BBC World Service broke into its newscast to go live with the coverage of the arrival of the monarch, her daughter-in-law Camilla, and her granddaughter-in-law Kate at Fortum & Mason, the exclusive London department store. They were there to unveil a plaque marking the revitalization of the area (has anyone counted how many times the Queen has whipped back the curtains on those markers in the last 60 years?), meet servicemen involved in sending gifts to troops overseas, and have tea with the store’s staff and owners, the British branch of the Weston family.

From the Telegraph:

Two things stood out: Continue…

Three amigos, house of Windsor edition

By Patricia Treble - Tuesday, February 28, 2012 at 3:48 PM - 0 Comments

Camilla and Kate en route to the Horse Guards Parade, Akira Suemori/AP

It may have only been a small notice in the Court Circular, a record of all duties by Britain’s royal family, but it caused editors and photographers to block off the date on their calendars, for it has the making of a photo-op unlike any other in recent royal history; on March 1, the Queen, Camilla, duchess of Cornwall and Kate, duchess of Cambridge will visit Fortnum & Mason, one of London’s most exclusive department stores, where the Queen will unveil a plaque marking the regeneration of Piccadilly.

So three generations of Windsors, aged respectively 85, 64 and 30, will be out and about together. And given Fortnum and Mason has a fabulous restaurant, there is speculation that they will have tea; an historic tea for a Queen and two future queens. Continue…

Four soldiers and a prince walk into the Arctic…

By Patricia Treble - Friday, February 24, 2012 at 5:21 PM - 0 Comments

Martin Hartley/CP

Members of the royal family know that just popping in at an event will give the hosting charity a platform like no other. The media will come calling, along with generous donors and loads of volunteers. Because if royalty supports it, then it must be a good cause, no? For select charities, involvement by a Windsor can go much deeper—Princess Anne’s decades-long devotion to the Save the Children Fund helped it grow into a global humanitarian behemoth. And in that same tradition, her nephew, Prince Harry, went on an Arctic expedition last spring to raise money for Walking with the Wounded, a charity that raises money to aid British troops who have returned wounded from the front lines.

The polar adventure is the subject of an intriguing new documentary, Harry’s Arctic Heroes, airing in two parts on Discovery World on Saturday, Feb. 25 at 8 and 9 p.m. ET. The focus isn’t on Harry—he’s busy training to be an Apache helicopter pilot—but rather on the four soldiers who volunteer for the gruelling trek. Each was severely wounded in Afghanistan and each has to conquer both physical and mental demons while in one of the most demanding and unforgiving environments on Earth.

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Even movies stars go gaga for the Queen

By Patricia Treble - Friday, February 24, 2012 at 11:18 AM - 0 Comments

Being starstruck by Queen Elizabeth II is a noble tradition. It has afflicted everyone from children to battle-hardened politicians. On the last day of the Queen’s tour of Canada in 2010, for example, she visited Queen’s Park, whose lawns around the legislature were packed with officials, media and citizens. And in the midst of the engagement, Premier Dalton McGuinty walked by the media, turned and with a broad grin plastered to his face, exclaimed, “I love her!” Continue…

The Wessexes won the royal tour sweepstakes

By Patricia Treble - Wednesday, February 22, 2012 at 6:00 PM - 0 Comments

zakgollop/Flickr

In the royal family’s “divide up the world for Diamond Jubilee visits” sweepstakes, the winners have got to be the earl and countess of Wessex, a.k.a. Prince Edward and his wife Sophie. While William and Kate go to Singapore, Charles and Camilla hit Papua New Guinea (as well as Canada) and Princess Anne gets Zambia, the Wessexes land in the Caribbean. For 16 days. In winter.

The Windsor clan, minus the Queen and Prince Philip, who are staying home this year, kicked off the oh-so-complicated royal tour on Tuesday with the Wessex tour. The Diamond Jubilee schedule is getting so packed—Charles and Camilla just announced a Scandinavian visit for next month—that royal officials must be burning through Excel spreadsheets as they try to keep paths from crossing. Indeed, in early March, while Edward and Sophie are still on their sunburn tour, Prince Harry will be visiting the Bahamas and Jamaica, which may make for some intriguing photo ops. Continue…

Record-low temperatures cause sauerkraut disaster in Germany

By Patricia Treble - Wednesday, February 22, 2012 at 10:40 AM - 0 Comments

Ina Fassbender/Reuters

The brutally cold weather that has plagued most of Europe for more than two weeks has killed more than 450 people. Though mother nature’s icy grip on the continent has relaxed lately, temperatures are still far below seasonal norms. And that has put Europe’s transportation system under increasing stress.

Heavy blankets of snow have closed highways and isolated villages in the Balkans. The Danube River is so packed with ice that the vital commercial waterway is closed from Austria to the Black Sea. Further north, in Germany, much of the canal system has been closed due to ice. Last Friday, the link between the canals and the Rhine River, Europe’s busiest waterway, was frozen shut, effectively stranding northern industrial sites.

The cold is doing more than snapping temperature records—it’s also playing havoc with daily life. Last week, drivers on the autobahn near Frankfurt were stuck in a 10-km long traffic jam when a truck carrying sauerkraut spilled its load after being involved in a multi-vehicle accident. The pickled cabbage froze instantly and formed such a bond with the highway surface that it took four hours for emergency workers to scrape away the mess.

Behind palace walls: revelations about a private queen

By Patricia Treble - Friday, February 17, 2012 at 5:45 PM - 0 Comments

While Queen Elizabeth II is so famous that to most of the world she is simply “the Queen,” her personal views and beliefs are largely unknown. The sovereign, 85, has never given an interview and never publicly expressed a political opinion. Elizabeth the Queen, a new biography by Sally Bedell Smith, delves beneath the regal surface to reveal a private, self-effacing woman who is gregarious yet modest, dutiful yet mischievous. She’s created a charming, human biography of a woman who has slowly, almost imperceptibly transformed the business of monarchy from a hide-bound anachronism into a sleek, professional business.

Q: Given you’ve written an acclaimed biography of Diana, you knew more than the average person about Elizabeth II. What was your impression of the Queen before writing the book and how did it change?

A: My impression of her was more shaped by Diana’s perspective, if you will. I knew she’d served for all those years and was very dutiful, but I didn’t appreciate her high level of professionalism, how assiduously she goes about every aspect of her job, and her ability to connect with people.

Q: When most people talk of her they mention her formal side, her sense of duty and responsibility. What’s she like in private?

A: As a person she has a spontaneity, a joie de vivre. She is very gracious and a thoughtful hostess. I remember Harold Wilson’s widow saying she was so touched that the Queen knew what her favourite flower was [gentians] and that she always made sure that when she came up to Balmoral she had those flowers.

Obviously, she can be starchy when things aren’t going right in an official situation; she can give people the glare and they will freeze in their tracks. In talking to her friends it was really interesting because they say she’s very thoughtful. When the children are ill, she’ll inquire about them. She gives very good advice. Continue…

Germany: Crowbusters gone crazy

By Patricia Treble - Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 5:00 PM - 0 Comments

After enduring years of springtime attacks by crows on pedestrians walking city streets, Germans could be forgiven for wishing a nasty end to a few of the birds. But revelations about a militant group of “crowbusters” determined to exterminate the “feathered vermin” has sparked alarm even from fellow hunters.

Going by online names such as Demonicus and Harras, the anonymous group of crow killers uses semi-automatic weapons to decimate entire murders of crows with maximum efficiency, according to Der Spiegel. They think nothing of driving 1,500 km to a hunt. Last year at least 330 birds were shot in one hunt that was broadcast online. Another 300 died in Bavaria after local farmers helped lure the birds into the hunters’ kill zone by spreading manure on their fields. Still, the crowbusters’ single-minded fervour caused a hunting club in the Westerwalk mountains to ban the group from their region.

Regardless of concerns about the hunters’ zealousness, Germans just aren’t fond of crows, especially when they go on the offence during nesting season. In 2010, so many Berlin residents were assaulted that one bloodied area posted warning signs.

Canada Post’s Diamond Jubilee stamp strikes all the right chords

By Patricia Treble - Monday, February 13, 2012 at 7:32 PM - 0 Comments

CNW Group/Canada Post

That Canada Post would create a stamp to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee was a foregone conclusion. But what kind of stamp would it be?

The omens weren’t good. Their last jubilee offering, back in 2002 for the golden anniversary, was a graphic mess that featured a stolid formal portrait of the Queen placed awkwardly in front of a faded orange and tan Maple Leaf background. Goodness knows what the Queen thought when she signed off on that (she has to approve all stamps bearing her likeness). Continue…

All Windsors to the battlements!

By Patricia Treble - Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 4:45 PM - 0 Comments

The Queen on the eve of her Diamond Jubilee anniversary (Chris Radburn/AP)

Every Commonwealth nation was vying for the bragging rights of snagging a Diamond Jubilee visit from the sovereign and Prince Philip. (She’s never done a foreign trip without her husband of nearly 65 years.) However, given the Queen will turn 86 in April and Philip, who underwent a heart procedure over Christmas, will be 91 during this exceptional year (the London Summer Olympics start a month after the big Diamond Jubilee celebrations in June), officials clearly heeded the mandate given by Britain’s Home Office to bureaucrats planning Her Majesty’s Silver Jubilee celebrations back in 1977: “You must not bore the public. You must not kill the Queen.” So they are keeping the Queen and Philip in Britain and, instead, are sending everyone else out to the Commonwealth.

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The Queen loves her Diamond Jubilee stained glass window

By Patricia Treble - Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 6:43 PM - 0 Comments

Sean Kilpatrick/CP

Creating and installing a new work of art into a heritage building usually causes a hiccup or two. The Diamond Jubilee stained glass window officially unveiled today in Ottawa was no exception.

In the colourful window, installed just above the main Senate staircase in Parliament, Queen Victoria—the only other monarch beside Elizabeth to reach year No. 60 on the throne—is depicted looking to the right and catching the gaze of her great-great granddaughter, who looks leftward. Yet that is a view not usually seen of the Queen. Her official portrait always faces to the right on all currency.

The creators needed to ask her permission to flip her image. (She said yes.) They also got Elizabeth’s OK to show both queens wearing the diamond collet necklace and earrings worn by Victoria for her official 60th portrait in 1897, and by the Queen to her coronation in 1953. Their headpieces, however, are different: while Elizabeth II is depicted wearing the imaginary Canadian snowflake-and-maple leaf diadem, Victoria wears the diamond fringe tiara she donned so often during her reign.

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Up a tree a princess, down a Queen

By Patricia Treble - Monday, February 6, 2012 at 3:02 PM - 0 Comments

Sean Kilpatrick/CP

I’ve got bad news for you, Prime Minister. The King is dead.—Edward Ford, private secretary to King George VI

Bad news? The worst!—British Prime Minister Winston Churchill

Monday, Feb. 6, 2012 not only marks the 60^th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s accession to the throne; it’s also the anniversary of her beloved father’s sudden death; a tragic event that shocked both Britain and the Empire.

“His Majesty had ruled for 16 years and he was the figurehead for his subjects during one of their homeland’s darkest periods,” the BBC said. “As the news of the King’s death spread, shops, pubs, restaurants, cinemas and theatres closed, and some employers sent their upset workers home.” Nurses at St. Catharines General Hospital in Ontario discovered what happened when they exited the wards to investigate why the hospital was so suddenly quiet—the staff was crying in the corridors. Continue…

What will Kate wear now?

By Patricia Treble - Wednesday, February 1, 2012 at 8:10 AM - 0 Comments

Danny Martindale/Getty Images

Royal Ascot has had its fill of the current less-is-best fashions. After years of hemlines creeping ever upward and hats shrinking into little more than feathered pompoms, the taste arbiters at Britain’s grandest racetrack are getting out rulers to enforce more conservative clothing requirements at the five days of racing in June that is Britain’s top social event.

Now fascinators, those tiny head-top confections so beloved by Kate, duchess of Cambridge, are strictly verboten—headpieces have to have at least a 10-cm base to be allowed into the exclusive invitation-only royal enclosure. In addition, all dresses and skirts are to be of “modest length, defined as falling just above the knee or longer.” Even tops and dresses concealed by jackets have new rules: they can’t be strapless, halter-neck or have a strap of less than 2.5 cm. And Ascot’s fashion police will also be casting their critical eyes over the men—cravats are banned, as are coloured bands on top hats and any shoe colour that isn’t black.

A regally busy year

By Patricia Treble - Monday, January 9, 2012 at 5:54 PM - 0 Comments

Ian Gavan/AP Photo

If 2011 sent royal watchers into a frenzy with six glittering weddings, Prince William and Kate’s smash tour of Canada plus a titillating scandal involving a sex club and, allegedly, Sweden’s king, then the events already crowding the 2012 calendar will send monarchists into orbit. Here are the top five happenings of the year:

1. Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee
The year-long celebrations to honour the sovereign’s 60 years on the throne promise to include some must-see events, including a 1,000-boat flotilla on the Thames and the lighting of 2012 beacons from one tip of Britain to the other. The country gets a four-day holiday in June for all the events, which will see millions lining the route to St. Paul’s Cathedral for a service of Thanksgiving. The last time a sovereign hit the big 60 was in 1897. Then Queen Victoria was so fat and unwell she remained seated in her carriage for a blessing at the cathedral. That’s not likely to happen with her über-healthy great-great-granddaughter. However, in a concession to her age—she’ll be 86 this year while Prince Philip will be 91—the regal couple is staying in Britain while the rest of the family will visit every realm country in the world, as well as some big Commonwealth republics.

2. Kate, year two
The duchess of Cambridge turns 30 today, a milestone she celebrated in advance on Sunday by attending the London premiere of Steven Spielberg’s “War Horse”–wrapped in a fabulous, floor-length lace gown by Alice Temperley–followed by “low-key and private” celebrations. London’s tabloids were taking turns guessing what William got for his wife. The latest had it being a watch–a very, very nice watch. There were also reports the Queen would give her a family tiara, though that will only be confirmed when she wears it in public. But so far, the royal family has kept everyone guessing.

After a massive debut in 2011—wedding, royal tour etc.—Kate’s expected to keep a much lower profile this year, so as to not overshadow the Queen. Expect a continuation of her ultra-neutral, ultra-simple fashion. As for a baby, the stork isn’t likely to come until after the summer’s Jubilee festivities and the London Olympics.

3. Queen Margrethe II of Denmark’s Ruby Jubilee
A cousin to most of Europe’s royal families, “Daisy,” as she’s been known since birth, celebrates 40 years on the throne this year. Not only is she beloved—her popularity stands at more than 80 per cent—but so is the monarchy itself, which Margrethe, who turns 72 in April, has done an enviably good job of modernizing. People like royals to act royal, but not too royal, and Denmark’s queen has figured out how to successfully walk that tightrope. Her dynasty is ancient—traced back to Gorm the ?—and the sovereign at times wears a crushing amount of historic jewelry. But she also has an artistic streak–she illustrated a Lord of the Rings edition; sketched sets and costumes for the 2009 film The Wild Swans, based on Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale; and even designs some of her own clothes. And she is often seen doing her own shopping in Copenhagen.

And don’t expect her to abdicate any time soon to plunk her photogenic progeny, Crown Prince Frederik, and his equally glam wife, Mary, on the throne. Margrethe recently told the Danish daily Politiken, “My view has always been that it is an assignment that you have for life.”

4. Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden’s upcoming bundle of joy
After a year marked by scandal gossip about her regal father’s alleged frequenting of sex clubs, along with revelations about her mother’s Nazi family secrets, the future queen will likely enjoy this year a lot better. In March she’s due to give birth to her first child, who, under Swedish law, will succeed Victoria on the throne.

5. Spain’s unsexy scandal
If there is a royal family guaranteed to have it rough in 2012, on the other hand, it is Spain’s. On Feb. 25 the king’s son-in-law, Inaki Urdangarin, the duke of Palma de Mallorca, is slated to appear before a judge over allegations of corruption. The husband of Infanta Cristina is under investigation for misusing fund given to his foundation to organize sporting events. Spanish papers allege he siphoned the money into his private businesses and it’s widely believed he’ll be criminally charged in the affair within months.

Monks with brooms fight in Jesus’ birthplace

By Patricia Treble - Friday, January 6, 2012 at 5:40 PM - 0 Comments

It was a spectacle that should put smiles on women’s faces: dozens of men fighting for the privilege to do housework. Yet in this case, it wasn’t a light-hearted holiday fracas but a religious contretemps, sparked in one of the holiest seasons, in the birthplace of Christ: Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity.

Some 100 Greek and Armenian Orthodox clerics attacked one another with brooms and fists while cleaning the 1,700-year-old church in the West Bank last week in advance of the Jan. 7 Orthodox Christmas (and after the Western Christmas). While the exact spark of the crisis is unknown, its origin can be traced back to a centuries-old system known as the Status Quo. Promulgated by the Ottoman Turks, who ruled Palestine from the 1500s to the First World War, it was meant to end physical battles over control of all of the area’s holy sites by preserving forever the existing rights of those Christian churches that occupied the buildings. So whoever dusted a particular area of floor, cleaned a specific chandelier or used a particular area on a particular feast day, owned that right forever.

While those rules have reduced the bloodshed, they also resulted in churches fiercely protecting their rights, since letting anyone take over a responsibility, however slight, resulted in the loss of ownership of that right. In 1853, a dispute involving a golden door key and whether Catholics could put a silver star over the manger escalated until several Orthodox monks were killed and Russia had the excuse it needed to start the Crimean War against Turkey. And in 2006, the Greeks were doing their traditional dusting of chandeliers in an Armenian-controlled part of the church when they tried to move their ladder from its mandated spot. “They had to know this was like waving a red rag in front of a bull,” Raymond Cohen, a professor at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University, told Smithsonian magazine. Several clerics landed in hospital.

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Happy first royal Christmas holiday, Kate

By Patricia Treble - Thursday, December 29, 2011 at 7:21 AM - 0 Comments

(Lefteris Pitarakis/AP Photo)

For weeks leading up to Dec. 25, London’s papers have reported every little detail—real or imagined—about Kate’s first Christmas as a member of the royal family. For one, she had to pack a lot of luggage while staying at the Queen’s huge private estate in Norfolk. Katie Nicholl of the Mail on Sunday said the duchess of Cambridge “will need a casual outfit for breakfast, a smart outfit and a hat for the morning church service, a dress for lunch, a cocktail dress for early evening drinks and a full-length dress for the evening meal.” Then there was the debate on whether or not she’d take part in the annual shooting parties that are prominent, must-attend features on the royal holiday schedule. (The jury’s still out on whether she handled a gun or not.) Apparently her sister Pippa—who’s very sporty when she’s not wearing derrière enhancing bridesmaids dresses—was invited to keep Kate from getting too homesick for her family’s usual Christmas traditions.

Yet, in the end, the pressure on the newest royal was lifted in part due to the oldest member of the family: Prince Philip. When he was rushed to hospital on Dec. 23 with a blocked coronary artery, the media immediately swung its focus to the ailing 90-year-old husband of Queen Elizabeth II. Peter Sissons, the former BBC anchorman, told the Telegraph that the news sent the network into a tizzy, dusting off obits and black mourning outfits as “those who were working over this year’s holiday period lived in fear that the Duke might pop off on their shift.” Sissons should know. He was lambasted for not wearing a black tie when he announced the Queen Mother’s death in 2002.

As for Philip, the irascible consort put up with four nights in a hospital bed before being allowed back to Sandringham and the familiar routines of royal life. And if Kate got a break from all the attention, she also got a lesson in one inescapable fact of being a member of the house of Windsor: They never retire, but just keep going–and going and going.

Juan Carlos’s bad year

By Patricia Treble - Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 11:30 AM - 0 Comments

EPA/Keystone Press

This hasn’t been King Juan Carlos’s year. Since June, the Spanish monarch has had his right knee replaced, had surgery on his left Achilles, and suffered a black eye and injured nose after colliding with a door. However, all those health problems pale in comparison to an intensifying corruption scandal centred on his son-in-law, Iñaki Urdangarin, that threatens to damage the monarchy itself.

Urdangarin is under investigation for allegedly siphoning millions from his non-profit foundation, the Nóos Institute, into private companies under his control. An Olympic handball player before being elevated to duke of Palma when he married the king’s younger daughter Infanta Cristina in 1997, Urdangarin headed the foundation from 2004 to 2006. As well, leaks from the prosecutor’s office in Palma, the capital of the Balearic Islands, state the institute charged inflated fees and prices on big public contracts to organize events in the region. Police have raided Urdangarin’s offices and removed documents. He’s expected to be named a formal suspect within weeks, with charges coming later.

Urdangarin broke his silence this week, telling the news agency EFE, “I deeply regret that [the accusations] are causing serious damage to the image of my family and the house of his majesty the king, who have nothing to do with my private activities.” His lawyer says “he is fully innocent.”

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Sexism and the Israeli military

By Patricia Treble - Monday, December 19, 2011 at 11:30 AM - 0 Comments

Israel’s defence minister and military chief of staff are in trouble for chauvinistic comments that were caught on tape. Last Tuesday, Ehud Barak and Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz were watching an army exercise when Barak jokingly asked where the “girls” were. Gantz responded the female soldiers were on break, that “they sing during their break”—meaning they don’t do it on duty. The comments touched a nerve because they were making light of an incident in September when religious male soldiers—who want more gender segregation in the military—walked out of a ceremony rather than listen to female soldiers sing.

Adding to the alarm was Gantz’s reaction when he realized the comments were recorded. He warned the journalists not to air the comments, cautioning Nir Dvori of Channel 2 that “otherwise this will be your last story.” Soon, however, the online news site Ynet broke the story. Gantz later apologized.

While the two Israelis thought their gaffes might stay secret, Chilean President Sebastian Piñera had no such luck at a conference in Mexico where he “joked” that “when a lady says ‘No,’ she means ‘Maybe,’ when she says ‘Maybe,’ she means ‘Yes,’ and if she says ‘Yes,’ she’s not a lady.’”

‘Downton Abbey’ makes a scene

By Patricia Treble - Friday, December 16, 2011 at 4:00 PM - 0 Comments

Nick briggs

It’s a cultural touchstone in Britain and a ratings hit in the United States, yet the socially stratified, angst-ridden world that is Downton Abbey nearly didn’t make it to air. In 2007, a project that executive producer Gareth Neame was working on with writer Julian Fellowes had stalled. But Neame had another idea: “a new episodic TV series set above and below stairs in an English country house in the Edwardian era with a big cast of characters.”

However, the writer was reluctant to sign on because he had used a similar “upstairs-downstairs” concept in the movie Gosford Park (2001), won an Oscar for the screenplay and didn’t think lightning would strike twice. Neame, who has a reputation for successfully rethinking old TV concepts, didn’t believe anyone else “would write it with such affection and confidence.”

Fortunately Fellowes was reading a book about rich American girls who married poor Victorian aristocrats. He spent the next few weeks turning that concept into a series.

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Canada’s most dangerous city: Prince George

By Ken MacQueen and Patricia Treble - Thursday, December 15, 2011 at 5:58 AM - 0 Comments

Most days, after Doug Leslie is back from work at the molybdenum mine in tiny Fraser Lake, B.C., he sits at his computer and writes a chatty little note to his 15-year-old daughter Loren. It’s a catch-up on the day, and maybe a bleat about those times he pulls the night shift, or about the cold of a northern B.C. winter, or about how quickly days fly by now that he shoulders the destiny Loren has inspired. “Loren, can you do anything about this weather?” he asked her recently. “It’s snowing and I hate winter, it’s cold and damp, and you are not here to warm up the room.” Invariably, he tells Loren how much he misses her, before signing off, “Love Dad.”

The notes grew increasingly plaintive as Nov. 27 approached. The pills weren’t helping him sleep, and the gulf separating father from daughter seemed impossibly wide, although he’d like to believe she reads every one of his messages. “That has been my sanity,” he says of his missives to a daughter who will forever be 15. Nov. 27 was the first anniversary of her murder.

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Lingua Franca

By Patricia Treble - Thursday, December 8, 2011 at 8:10 PM - 0 Comments

Bunga bunga: The nickname for wild sex parties hosted by former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi at his villa.

CarmagedDon: A traffic jam of Biblical proportions predicted for Los Angeles when a crucial stretch of the 405 highway closed for roadwork.

Clouds: Where IT is parking its applications and storing data and backup files. Now software, like Word, isn’t loaded onto each computer but is accessible to all via the Internet. Lovely, until the connection goes down.

Glitter bombing: Protesters like throwing glitter on GOP candidates such as Newt Gingrich and Michele Bachmann because it’s a snap to conceal, easy to handle and difficult to remove.

SlutWalk: After a Toronto cop said “women should avoid dressing like sluts” in order not to be attacked, rallies sprang up around the world protesting the “blame the victim” message.

Tiger mom: Yale law professor and author Amy Chua’s term for her strict parenting style: no complaints, no grades less than A, no TV, no play dates.