Legend, a movie about the notorious gangsters Reggie and Ronnie Kray in 1960s London, will be released in September. The young British actress Millie Brady is playing Joan Collins. The Kray twins were the most notorious criminals of their time, heading a criminal empire of protection rackets, violence and murder.

However, there is doubt about the legendary star ever meeting the Krays. Dame Joan Collins, 82, was one of the many celebrities who visited the Krays’ night spot, the Kentucky Club, after it opened in 1962. The Krays loved to invite the stars to their club, and were often photographed with them there.

My husband has told me about the goings-on there and how he would wait at the Club's bar until one of his passengers deigned to leave. Back in those days, he drove a private hire car in London.

In the film, the actress is seen at the venue with the notorious twins. In reality, it has never been established whether Dame Joan Collins ever met them. You know how details are often tweaked in films or programs about famous people. At the time Joan Collins, one of cinema’s most beautiful actresses, had just missed out on the role of Cleopatra, which went to Elizabeth Taylor.

John Pearson, whose book, Profession Of Violence exposed the Krays, made him the foremost expert on their reign of terror. In his 2010 book, Notorious: the Immortal Legend Of the Kray, Amazon he revealed the extraordinary, chilling closeness of the men dubbed 'The Kings of the Underworld' … Here's an extract by John Pearson from The Daily Mail:

'Mum would always be the nearest thing to a conscience that the twins possessed. Even when they were terrorising both the East End and the West End and delighting in the title of Kings of the Underworld, they watched their language around her because she couldn't abide swearing.



On nights out with her, they and the rest of The Firm, as their gang of thuggish associates was known, were on their best behaviour. They wore snowwhite shirts with tightly knotted slim silk ties, and sharp blue suits with narrow trouser legs and knifelike creases. They moderated their drinking.

Whatever her beloved twins chose to do she was always ready to condone; and if she felt she couldn't actively do so she would close her eyes to it. They were her special boys and, whatever they did, she was always proud of them.

But Violet was a faulty moral compass. Thanks to her, a great deal was forgiven and a great deal more was overlooked. And her approval encouraged the twins to believe they could get away with murder.'

My husband often sat in Violet's kitchen, drinking tea while she chatted happily about her boys. When they rang the car company for a cab, they used to request him in particular to drive them around. Nobody refused in those days, and, like Robin Hood, they looked after their own. My husband learned to keep his eyes straight ahead and pretend he didn't hear anything they said in the back of the car. He rarely talks about what went on, but he remembers, having one of those minds that retains all the details. But he wanted to protect his former wife and young family, so they moved away from London. Even then, somebody rang his new number and made threats to his wife and his mother, which luckily didn't eventuate.


Why do we hold glamor and danger in such high esteem? Movies show the shocking detail, the terror, and the high life so well that we almost forget that life wouldn't be pleasant. All we know is that something's happening to lift us out of our mundane routine.

So, watch the film Legend in complete safety. And be glad you were not around to feel the flack.

Dog walking is a great way to make money and get fit at the same time, and is in high demand in UK cities. Some people even have quit their dull office job to set up a full-time dog-walking business. Not only are London dog walkers paid more than the national wage average (£22,044), but they work only half the hours of the average employee to earn £32,356.

Here are some of the reasons the task has become so popular in the UK:

1) You make really good money. £10-15 per dog per hour. So if you walk four at a time you could make £60 an hour! You could work through an agency or set up on your own.

2) You take exercise in the open air. Of course, sometimes you'll walk in the pouring rain.

3) The hours are flexible and suitable to you. No more office politics or doing a thankless task.

The work is as simple as it sounds. You arrange to pick up the animals, take them for a walk and then return them home. You might need to do it twice a day for each dog and a good walk means a minimum of half an hour – ideally an hour.

At the start, you should take just one four-legged friend and work up to about three or four dogs depending on their size, speed and levels of obedience. Once you've assessed their character, you can organize them into sociable groups. There are no current legal limits on how many dogs you can take out at once, but local councils say the worst problems they have with dog walkers is that they take out more animals than they can cope with at any one time.

The main problems are:

1) Dogs running away and not coming back That's a no-brainer.

2) Not being able to clean up after them all – illegal and a health hazard. This is probably the most odious (and malodorous) part of the job.

Unfortunately in the US, a dog walker earns considerably less; an average of $10.80 per hour. Most people move on to other positions after 20 years in this field.

Last week, we suggested this job to my husband's son who was visiting from California. He has suffered from a bad back since he lost his job. He could combine walking his own pup with other people's pampered pets. He didn't look too enthusiastic—not after managing a golf buggy company which involved various overseas trips. However, when I pointed out that the best thing for a bad back was exercise, he showed more interest.

I couldn't do it, with my walking disability. But, I would have jumped at the chance to take doggies for walks and get paid for doing so. Our wonderful 76 year-old neighbor walks dogs in a field every day from our closest town Radlett, a large affluent village in the county of Hertfordshire between St Albans and Borehamwood on Watling Street with a population of approximately 8,000. He's a keen bird-watcher, and keeps a sharp eye above while he's walking. That's probably why he's so fit and enthusiastic.

Would you consider taking on this job?

That's the question giving my husband nightmares. The latest news about new health targets to reduce cancer, don't seem promising for the elderly. A letter from experts claims the proposals, aimed at reducing deaths from cancer, diabetes, strokes and dementia by a third by 2030, would make elderly patients 'second-class citizens.'

Some scaremongers are wailing that the aged will be left to die with no care. Maybe that's already happening.

In October, tests revealed my husband's prostate cancer. Later, a tumor was removed that was blocking his bladder.

A nurse tried removing the catheter after the tumor operation. Apparently, she didn't follow procedure. She pulled the thing out without deflating the balloon inside which keeps it in place, thereby dragging it all the way into the light, bleeding. He screamed during the whole process, causing concern in the ward. Dazed and out of kilter, he discharged himself and took a taxi home.

We rang for help later that evening. A doctor visited and called for an ambulance. My poor man has worn a catheter ever since, despite several tries to do without it.

The head of the urology department sent a letter and apologized three times for the mistake. Since then, my husband has only seen a member of his team.

An x-ray revealed another tumor the size of a walnut in his right lung.

Driven by our neighbor, my man has attended many appointments with the urology, oncology and cardiology clinics at our local hospital. Nobody does anything helpful except the generous, kind neighbor, who will not allow my husband to pay for costs and tells him to keep his chin up.

The main problem now is a strong infection, which has been with him for seven months. A nasty rash ensued, which although faded, troubles him with itchiness day and night. He's taken every antibiotic known to man—to no avail.

I attended an appointment with him last month, hoping to hear how his case would be handled. Instead, I was shocked. A secondary specialist saw him. My husband wasn't feeling well that day, white-faced with red rims around his eyes. The specialist refused to listen to our concerns and said everything was going as planned and that he would be discharged from the urology department. I came away incredulous. When a copy of her letter to our doctor arrived, my mouth fell open at the statement that the patient 'seemed well in himself.' He did not.

At the last day-care procedure on Saturday to clear the obstruction in his urethra, the head nurse told him she couldn't go ahead until the infection had gone, and that he shouldn't have any operations because the infection would spread to his blood, thereby infecting his whole system. She said she would ring his doctor and cancel his appointments.

My man suffers from stress—itself a killer. He has trouble sleeping. So far, he's handled all bookings for appointments without assistance. It's driving him mad. He knows he's dying but no one person takes charge, and no department works in conjunction with another. Even worse, the doctor is out of the loop until a department sends them a letter about his progress a month or so afterward, and the doctor gives no follow-up care after a urine test. No medication is forthcoming until my husband takes over and asks to speak to a doctor.

After hearing the news that he should cancel all appointments, my organized man wrote to his local doctor, asking them to take charge—to cancel his appointments, to sort out treatment for his bladder infection, to give him some help. No contact after three days. Does anybody care?

How can a sick, stressed man organize his own treatment?

This is a man who is kind, generous and active. Although he's lost so much weight that his arms are like sticks and he's shrunk in body size, he still does the shopping and takes charge of most of the meals. Unbalanced and confused at times, this is a man who stumbles and falls, let down by a National Health system he has paid into for the whole of his working life.

I fully understand that every form of life dies—trees, birds, animals and people. But we want to be valued as we age.

Are we rubbish to be cast aside when we are too old to work work and contribute to society? Would you want your parents treated this way when they age?

When a British woman lay in her hospital bed desperately ill with a failing heart being pumped by a machine, doctors feared her hopes of surviving were fading. But her husband brought in their three-month-old son to lay by her side, and her damaged organ began beating on its own.

The 36 year old new mother had suffered two cardiac arrests, struck down by a virus that attacked her heart muscles. Medics believed her only chance of survival was a transplant.

After fainting several times at home, she had been rushd to hospital, where a consultant diagnosed her with myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle caused by a virus.

Shortly afterward, the fit gym fanatic had her first cardiac arrest as the infection sparked heart failure. Staff used a defibrillator 45 times to get the organ beating again. Once transferred to Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital for specialist care, the sick mum had another arrest, and endured 45 minutes of CPR. When she was stabilized, a biventricular assist device kept the blood pumping through her weakened heart.

But the machine can only be used for around two weeks before complications set in. And after 10 days she was showing no sign of improvement so medics put her on the transplant waiting list.

Her husband took his miserable baby to visit her because he needed cheering up. The medical team were stunned when they saw her incredible recovery after the baby's two-hour visit.

She knew the baby had saved her life. After eight weeks, she was discharged although still needs physiotherapy to rebuild her strength and a full recovery could take up to a year.

But she has signed up for the 5k Color Run charity race to help raise funds for “incredible” team that saved her and giving thanks for the miracle of love between mother and baby. Source: The Mirror.

What is this thing called love? How is it more powerful than all the procedures modern medicine can come up with? If it's so strong, maybe we should concentrate on developing that power within us all.

In a personal anecdote, love saved me after I arrived all alone in London from Australia. I got a job straight away and traveled around the world with my employers while I cared for their baby. But, inside I felt numb. My empty, shattered, betrayed heart seemed to be dying.

The first time I met a London man, I sighed, wondering if I'd ever meet someone I could care for. However, while we talked at a restaurant, sincerity shone from his eyes. In a blinding flash, his pupils seemed to open and draw me deep into his inner being. From that moment, I loved him. He saved me from an empty life.

Do you have a story about the strength of love?

For decades certain delicious foods have been blacklisted, the cause of deadly thickening of the arteries, heart disease and strokes. Foods high in cholesterol have been branded a danger to human health since the 1970s.

But a key report in the US has found that the science which warned us off eating high cholesterol foods could have been flawed. These were:

Butter. & ghee.
Hard margarine.
Lard, dripping and goose fat.
Fatty meat and meat products such as sausages, bacon and liver.
Shellfish.
Full fat cheese, milk, cream and yogurt.
Eggs.
Coconut and palm oils and coconut cream.

A growing number of experts have been arguing there is no link between high cholesterol in food and dangerous levels of the fatty substance in the blood. Many people working in the field claimed butter is a more acceptable spread for bread, because the body knows what to do with it, whereas margarine confuses the natural process.

Now, in a move signaling a dramatic change of stance, the US Department of Agriculture will accept advice to drop cholesterol from its list of nutrients of concern and no longer warn people against eating them.

A US cardiologist of the Cleveland Clinic, said: 'It's the right decision. We got the dietary guidelines wrong. They've been wrong for decades.'

However, when you’re shopping, look at the Nutrition Facts label on foods. Don’t ignore the amount of saturated fats and trans fats listed. Eating a lot of cholesterol-rich foods on a regular basis still is a bad idea.

The cholesterol in your body comes from two sources. Some comes from the cholesterol in your food, but most is made by your liver. If your liver is stimulated to make lots of cholesterol, levels rise in your blood. What stimulates the liver to make cholesterol? Primarily, saturated and trans fats.

Doctors around the world are now shifting away from warnings about cholesterol from fats and focusing concern on sugar as the biggest dietary threat.

Now let's get creative about this advice. I have always listened to my body. It doesn't want fatty foods, but rather, sends a message for me to eat fruit and vegetables.

My husband and I prepare our evening meal together, nowadays. His spirit is still willing, but his body is weakening due to cancer. Experts have given him bad advice and treatment for the last eight months. But he's fighting to remain level. We are all reliant on a professional to guide us along a path filled with pitfalls.

My husband and I share the experience of cooking and eating to compliment each other. After a meal of chicken or fish, salad and wholemeal bread, everything inside me hums with health and satisfaction. His face beams with a glow that only food, shared with someone you love, can give.

But every person is an individual and each one of us yearns for different food. You may feel you need fried food to feel good. So, have it—in moderation. Think about how the food is processed inside you. Be pro-active, as my computer man always advises. Combat any harm with exercise.

Are you inspired to change your diet? Or are you happy with the foods you eat?

The diversity of immigrants in Britain has brought food from around the world to our door. Exotic dishes are available to us all and some have become firm favorites: pasta and cheese-laden pizzas, the zing of chilli and the sizzle of exotic spices in curries from India, Vietnam and Thailand and the noodle and rice dishes from China and Japan.

However, what about normal British food? Is that just as good—or even better? With a heritage of producing good ingredients and cooking them simply, perhaps natives to our small island should not ignore food grown on our own land.

My husband's two adult sons came over from California, US, to visit last week. One evening, we ordered fish and chips and they tucked into the greasy food until they were fit to burst. Apparently, American chips (fries) are totally different. They put the texture down to the fact that the UK potatoes were grown in very cold soil. While they were staying with their sister, they ate all sorts of exotic food. But, what they longed for was real English food. At midday before their flight, we ate our last meal together at a local pub, offering a roast dinner at a very cheap price. Too much food filled the large plate. However, they made a good effort at eating it, saying they would take away a fond memory. How can roast meat and the accompaniments be so different from American food?

You may not know England's original fare, so I'll set them out for you to explore.

British food has traditionally been based on beef, lamb, pork, chicken and generally served with potatoes and one other vegetable.

The staple foods are meat, fish, potatoes, flour, butter and eggs. Just recently, we are advised that high cholesterol food like eggs and butter are no longer a danger to health. Sigh! I wish experts would make up their minds.

Roast beef and Yorkshire pudding is served for a traditional Sunday lunch, which is a family affair. Beef is eaten with hot white horseradish sauce, pork with sweet apple sauce and lamb with green mint sauce. Yorkshire pudding, made from flour, eggs and milk, is an oven-baked batter which forms a well in the center. Substitutes for beef could be pork, lamb or a whole chicken; sometimes duck, goose, gammon, turkey or game. Also along with their roast dinner, the 'boys' plate contained a small sausage wrapped in bacon.

Toad-in-the-Hole Toad-in-the-Hole is similar to Yorkshire Pudding but with sausages placed in the batter before cooking.

Fish and chips. Fish (cod, haddock, huss, plaice) deep fried in flour batter with chips (fried potatoes) dressed in malt vinegar. Fish and chips are usually bought at the 'chippie'.

Ploughman's Lunch is served in Pubs. You get a piece of cheese, a bit of pickle and pickled onion, and a chunk of bread.

Shepherds' Pie is made with minced lamb and vegetables topped with mashed potato.

Cottage Pie is made with minced beef and vegetables topped with mashed potato.

Bubble & Squeak is made from cold vegetables left over from a previous meal. The main ingredients are potato and cabbage, but carrots, peas, Brussels sprouts, and other vegetables can be added. The ingredients are fried in a pan together with mashed potato until the mixture is well-cooked and brown on the sides. The name is a description of the action and sound made during the cooking process.

Traditional English breakfast: Eggs, bacon, sausages, fried bread, mushrooms, baked beans. And we can't leave out black pudding which looks like a black sausage, but is made from dried pigs blood and fat.

Bangers and Mash is made from mashed potatoes and sausages, called bangers because they used to explode when they were cooked due to their water content during wartime rationing.

Other dishes include: 
gammon (ham) steak with egg. 


Lancashire hotpot—a casserole of meat and vegetables topped with sliced potatoes, pie and mash which comes with a sauce known as liquor which is a curious shade of green and non-alcoholic. Jellied eels are a delicacy often sold with pie and mash.

Red meat hasn't been in my diet for over twenty years. Born in Australia, I wouldn't eat many of these old English dishes, but the fresh fruit and vegetables grown in this green and pleasant land are second to none. We cook all our food from raw ingredients, whereas our American visitors always eat out—something that wouldn't be possible with the prices charged in restaurants here.

What about you? Do you eat your native fare? Or do you like a mix of different cuisines?

At Melbourne Zoo a few days ago, a younger male silverback set upon an older female gorilla in what has been described as an “unprecedented” show of aggression.

Born at the Jersey Zoo in 1997, the 33-year-old gorilla Julia later expired from her wounds.

The silverback Otana was born in the UK and joined the Melbourne zoo two years ago, where his introduction to the group had appeared to be working well.

Staff observed the silverback behaving aggressively towards Julia on Friday. That night, Julia removed herself from the group and spent part of the night sleeping in a heated cave outside.

The silverback male has now been separated from the group, and the upset staff are being offered counseling.

Are these animals any different from humans?

Higher primates are noted as having complex social structures—like us.

Gorillas are non-territorial and live in groups called troops that generally consist of 1 to 4 adult males (called silverbacks), some juvenile males (called black-backs), several adult females and young.

Okay—we differ in most societies by having only one adult female per family.

The oldest and strongest adult male silverback is usually dominant in the troop and has exclusive breeding rights to the females.

Chuckle. Wouldn't every hot blooded man wish he could be in this position?

Silverbacks are typically more aggressive than other group members since the troop's safety is their responsibility. The silverback makes all group decisions, is responsible for most of the calls, receives the dominant portion of food (even when resources are limited) and can terminate troublesome behavior with just a look.

In some human social structures, dictators rule with an iron fist. But mostly, people living in democracies choose to elect many powerful men to reach a decision about how we're governed.

A gorilla male must have an established home range and great strength to confront any rival before acquiring his own troop. Therefore most silverbacks are usually solitary for about four years and turn 15 before acquiring a troop of their own.

Young men often roam the dark streets looking for excitement before they reach adulthood. They sometimes attack older females while they're in the sanctuary of their homes (heated caves.)

Adult gorilla females are not bonded to one another and usually compete to groom and stay close to the silverback. Mothers are closely bonded to their offspring for the first three years of life.

Women do everything they can to make themselves look good and hope they outshine their rivals in the clothes they wear. Makeup and hair styles complete their image. When they become a mother, they are devoted to their child into adulthood.

Okay, I've exercised a fair amount of creativity with my comparisons. But, that's the way I see it. I'd like to think humans use their brain to elevate them higher than primates, but so often, that's not the case. As to the soul inside each person; I'm not sure they are more deserving than gorillas.

Here's an inspiring thought: Lift yourself above animal behavior and be the person you were meant to be. Love your neighbor—care for them as if they're part of your family.

For the last few months, I've snatched a few moments to work on my memoirs. Everybody has a story to tell, and my life stretches back over seventy years. While I can still remember events, I'm writing what happened to me, and how society, and men's attitude to women in general, affected me. To be sure, not much has changed. Women are still down-trodden and unappreciated in all works of life. Sexual discrimination is rife, and people of the female gender are preyed upon.

Here's a short excerpt—a section I wrote yesterday.

What I'm wondering is this: Would you be interested in reading a memoir about a woman you don't know?

Everybody loves strawberries. They represent love and the delight of summer. Dipped in chocolate, they make the perfect temptation.

Here's the first line of the Beatles song, Strawberry Fields Forever.

Let me take you down
Cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields
Nothing is real
And nothing to get hung about
Strawberry Fields forever ...

Did you know the strawberry (genus Fragaria), genus of more than 20 species of flowering plants, is part of the rose family (Rosaceae)?

Strawberries are native to the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, and cultivated varieties are widely grown throughout the world. The fruits are rich in vitamin C and are commonly eaten fresh as a dessert fruit.

My husband's adult sons are over from America on a visit at the moment. When he presented them with English strawberries, he said they are the most flavorful in the world. Soon, they'll be served at Wimbledon during the tennis tournaments at an exorbitant price per bowl.

But did you know the history of strawberries goes back over 2,200 years?

Strawberries grew wild in Italy way back in 234 B.C. The ancient Romans thought strawberries had medicinal powers. They used them to treat everything from depression to fainting to fever, kidney stones, bad breath and sore throats.

The first Europeans tasted them in Virginia when their ships landed there in 1588. Early settlers in Massachusetts enjoyed eating strawberries grown by local American Indians who cultivated strawberries as early as 1643.

The garden strawberry was first bred in Brittany, France, in the 1750s via a cross of Fragaria virginiana from eastern North America and Fragaria chiloensis. Nowadays in France, where they’re believed to be an aphrodisiac, strawberries are served to newlyweds at traditional wedding breakfasts in the form of a creamy sweet soup.

Wild strawberries grow in a variety of habitats, ranging from open woodlands and meadows to sand dunes and beaches. The woodland, or alpine, strawberry (F. vesca) can be found throughout much of the Northern Hemisphere and bears small intensely flavorful fruits.

The woodland strawberry (Fragaria vesca), which was the first strawberry species cultivated in the early 17th century.

Some believe the name came from the practice of placing straw around the growing plants for protection, others say the name originated over 1000 years ago because of the runners which spread outward from the plant. The name may have been derived from the Anglo-Saxon verb to strew (spread) and the fruit came to be known as streabergen, straberry, streberie, straibery, straubery, and finally strawberry to the English.

As to healthy properties, strawberries are believed to help reduce the risk of heart disease and certain cancers. They are low in calories and high in vitamins C, B6, K, fiber, folic acid, potassium and amino acids. The high levels of nitrate increases blood and oxygen flow to the muscles. Research suggests that people who load up on strawberries before exercising have greater endurance and burn more calories.

So: anyone for strawberries?

Along with the news this morning about the licorice root preventing tooth decay along with cranberries, which both hinder bacteria from sticking to the teeth, comes the directive to eat chocolate cake to become slim. Of all the ... 

But, let's look at that last suggestion, which is bound to appeal more.


A new study shows morning is the best time to consume sweets—when the body's metabolism is most active and can use the rest of the day to work off the calories.

Eating chocolate as part of a breakfast which includes proteins and carbs also helps stem the craving for sweets later. This, of course, means your breakfast needs to be substantial.

Researchers split 193 clinically obese, non-diabetic adults into two groups who consumed either a low-carb diet (300-calorie) breakfast or a balanced (600-calorie) breakfast that included a chocolate cake dessert. I know what conclusion I'd come to, but I'm wrong.

Halfway through the 32-week study, both groups had lost an average of 33 lbs per person. But in the second half of the study the low-carb group regained an average of 22 lbs per person. The chocolate cake eaters lost another 15 lbs each. Source: The Telegraph. 

You might wonder how I link food with dogs. Well, they are two of mankind's favorite things. New research suggests dogs have been man's best friend for up to 40,000 years—earlier than previously thought.

The study shows dogs' special relationship with humans might date back 27,000 to 40,000 years. The findings come from genomic analysis of an ancient Taimyr wolf bone.

The genome from this ancient specimen, which has been radiocarbon dated to 35,000 years ago, reveals that the Taimyr wolf represents the most recent common ancestor of modern wolves and dogs, which could have been more valued family members than mothers-in-law.

The researchers made the discoveries based on a small piece of bone picked up during an expedition to the Taimyr Peninsula in Siberia, Russia, which they took back to the laboratory to genetically test.

Radiocarbon dating led them to conclude the bone was 35,000 years old and came from an ancient Taimyr wolf. This wolf lived a few thousand years after Neandertals disappeared from Europe and modern humans started populating Europe and Asia.

DNA evidence points to modern-day Siberian Huskies and Greenland sled dogs sharing an unusually large number of genes with the ancient Taimyr wolf. Source: The Telegraph.


How could we NOT love dogs? They've been part of our domestic life since time immemorial. As for chocolate—well, you tell me.