Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2024 i Saga Magazine

At this time of year, I am beginning to fall out of love with the winter. In the autumn I try to convince myself that the cold, sharp days to come will make up for the gloomy bits. On our wonderful January wedding day, 55 years ago, the sun shone from a cloudless, blue sky. My mother taught me that behind the scenes at a good wedding there is usually a hidden, unspoken drama. We would sometimes compete to see which of us could uncover the story; but often there was simply no contest. People could not resist telling secrets to my mother. Our wedding was no exception. There were two gentlemen there who knew a great deal about each other but had hardly ever spoken. They sat far apart…

SAGA VOICES 'Keep taking the tablets' we used to say as a put-down in the school playground. And that's exactly what we're doing as we age: only 20% of Saga customers don't take any daily prescription medication, while nearly half (47%) take up to three prescription drugs every day and 22% take five or more. Unsurprisingly, our poll of 4,354 over-50s found that the older people got, the more prescription medicines they took: a third (36%) of 50 to 59-year-olds took none but that fell to 16% for those in their 70s. In their 60s, 57% took between one and four different drugs, but not many took more than five. By their 70s, 58% are taking between one and four pills and for 26% it's five-plus. Yet, this is still…

fyi Pâtissier Nigel Rumsey and his wife Mary opened their first café in Buckinghamshire 20 years ago, selling handmade pralines, truffles and petit fours, inspired by the film Chocolat. Luxury Organic Milk Chocolate Easter Egg, £34.95, rumseys.co.uk Lawyers Helen and Simon Pattinson quit their jobs to travel to South America, camping on a cocoa plantation – and in 2000 opened their first handmade chocolate shop in Brighton, using ethical cocoa. Silkie – White Chocolate Speckled Hen, £13.99, montezumas.co.uk For every £1 spent on Harry Specters award-winning chocolate, founded by Mona Shah in 2012, 69p goes to benefit young people with autism. Its factory in Cambridgeshire provides training and employment. The Red Speckled Egg, £14, harryschocs.co.uk Andy and Claire Burnet left corportate careers to make fresh, seasonal, handmade chocolates on the Jurassic…

need to know Daisy Cooper, the deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats and their spokesperson for health and social care, gives more detail than leading figures from the main parties on what her party's election manifesto will promise. 'When it comes to the general election, social care will be at the absolute heart of our manifesto,' she says. 'Our biggest investment will be on free personal care. There is a really severe inequality in our healthcare system where if you are diagnosed with a long-term physical illness, you get lifelong care, free, on the NHS, but if you have dementia you don't. That is a huge, huge scandal. We don't think that people should have to lose their homes because of their care costs.' Under the plan, those who move…

home & style INTERIORS / RECIPES / GARDENS / TECH / BEAUTY / WINE DECK THE HALLS Forage twigs and cuttings from the garden or hedgerow, add delicate blossom (from the garden or florist), dangling catkins and perhaps seasonal flowers to bring a bit of much-needed spring to your home. Why not start an Easter decoration collection if you haven't already? Visit your local garden centre to source pretty egg-shaped baubles or look for handmade decorations at craft fairs and in gift shops. Attach them to your foraged twiggy blossom placed in a tall vase filled with water. A ceramic vase will keep the water cooler than a glass one so the delicate flowers should bloom longer. Tone the decorations with your Easter table (see previous page) in eggshell blues and…

GARDENS When animal welfare officer Rebecca was made redundant, it was the tipping point after a succession of family bereavements had left her isolated and depressed. But, looking for answers from her GP, she was surprised to be directed outside rather than to the chemist. Her doctor is one of a growing group now sending patients to local gardening classes and outdoor therapies to tackle a range of problems – and, for Rebecca, the results were a revelation. 'At times I've felt very isolated and lonely and this gave me with the outlet I needed. No other treatment has done that,' she says. 'It provides me with some good social connections as well as teaching me a lot about growing vegetables and keeping an allotment. I love being outdoors, learning…

Here are a couple of quiz questions you can try on your friends. First, which country drinks the most wine per person? Second, which country makes the most wine per person? If you didn't get Vatican City as the biggest drinker and Moldova as the largest maker, don't worry. Very few people do. It's clearly thirsty work leading the world's Catholics. But few people even know Moldova is a wine-making country, let alone such a significant one. It's not only the world's largest wine producer per head, it's also the world's largest wine producer per acre. This is a legacy of its role supplying the Soviet Union with wine from vast collective wineries. And they've left their mark on the country too. The heart of Moldova's capital city, Chișinău, is…

health & wellbeing YOUR QUESTIONS / BRAIN FOOD / VARICOSE VEINS Q Following an operation for prostate cancer I have to take sildenafil (Viagra) to get a proper erection. My wife and I are in our early sixties and still have a very active sex life, but I struggle with the lack of spontaneity and the need to take a pill an hour or two before. Is there a faster-acting option? a Sildenafil is the standard NHS treatment for erectile dysfunction. It works pretty quickly but still has to be taken at least an hour before sexual activity for best effect, and that is on an empty stomach. If you have eaten a large, fatty meal, absorption can be slowed and it may take a bit longer to start working.…

Almost everything you have read about varicose veins is wrong, says vein specialist Prof Mark Whiteley. Here he debunks some of the most common myths 1 It's a women's problem. It's not, men and women get them in equal numbers. 2 They're caused by being overweight. Untrue, they run in families – although being overweight can make them worse once you have them. 3 You get them if you stand too long. No, this isn't a cause, although standing can make varicose veins worse if you already have them. 4 Crossing your legs causes them. No, it doesn't. 'If simple pressure from crossing your legs really did cause venous problems, then we would all be constantly getting DVTs (clots) or varicose veins every time we sat down or did anything…

what's on THEATRE / EVENTS / FILM / EXHIBITIONS / RADIO / PODCAST / TV / BOOKS From Premiership footballers to pop icons, movie stars to the mega-rich, Ferrari is the supercar of choice. But, for the man who gave his name to the brand, which has just signed Lewis Hamilton to its 2025 team, life was a lot less charmed. In fact, the challenges Enzo Ferrari had to overcome are so compelling that almost 36 years after his death, the story of the man behind the marque is still the subject of huge fascination. Despite being an imposing 6ft 2in tall, Enzo was a tormented and flawed man who described life as a 'long and wearing walk'. The death of his son Dino – who was just 24 and…

TURNING 50 Eva Mendes actor Matt Lucas actor and comedian, right TURNING 60 Bret Easton Ellis author Elle Macpherson model, right Ieuan Evans Welsh rugby union player, below left Juliette Binoche actor Neneh Cherry singer Prince Edward Duke of Edinburgh Shane Richie actor Tracy Chapman singer-songwriter, below centre TURNING 70 Cheryl Baker singer (Bucks Fizz) David Wilkie swimmer Jimmy Nail actor, above Ron Howard actor and director TURNING 80 Diana Ross singer, above John Suchet TV news presenter Dame Kiri Te Kanawa singer Michael Nyman composer Roger Daltrey singer, below Sir Ranulph Fiennes explorer TURNING 90 Gloria Steinem feminist Richard Chamberlain actor Shirley Jones actor…

HAS ANYONE SEEN CHARLOTTE SALTER? Nicci French The disappearance of the beautiful, life-loving Charlotte Salter in a bleak midwinter leaves her family bereft and with no answers. Why did she simply fail to arrive at husband Alec's 50th birthday party? The police in this Suffolk village left every stone unturned, just assumed she'd scarpered. So, when DI Maud O'Connor is drafted in from London 32 years later, in command of a factious local crew, what chance has she of solving the mystery? What forensics can survive? What of Alex, a prime suspect, now lost to dementia? What hope, for the family, of closure? Another page-turner from the husband-and-wife team Nicci Gerrard and Sean French – a writing duo at the top of their game. SMALL HOURS Bobby Palmer When newly redundant…

More puzzles! There are loads more puzzles on the Saga Magazine app. Download from your app store today! £250 prize PRIZE CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 Coastal city of Florida 29 miles north of Miami (4,10) 8 Member of a mendicant Roman Catholic order founded in the late 12th century (5) 9 Battle fought on 13 August 1704 (8) 11 Criminal member of Fagin's gang in Oliver Twist (4,5) 12 The Irish pirate in Peter Pan (4) 15 Flower part consisting of the stigma, style and ovary (6) 17 The marionettemaker in Pinocchio (8) 19 Maritime Masefield poem published in 1902 (3,5) 20 Dried plant husk used for sloughing off dead skin (6) 22 Inner Hebrides isle with An Sgùrr as its highest point (4) 23 Metallic element that burns with a violet flame (9) 27 Suffolk site of two nuclear stations, one…

I've been very lucky to work on three TV projects in this past year – Renegade Nell for Disney+, and for Netflix, a series adaptation of David Nicholls's book One Day, as well as a new drama called The Gentlemen. The Gentlemen is from director Guy Ritchie and it is inspired by the film with the same name. In it, I play the matriarch of the family, Lady Sabrina, or 'Lady S'. Following the loss of her husband, played by Edward Fox, her second son, Eddie, inherits the entire family estate only to discover it includes a large cannabis empire that he wants no part of. Initially, I thought The Gentlemen was going to be a gritty, serious drama, but it has a real spoof element within a heightened world.…

With Valentine's Day firmly behind us, some may be breathing a sigh of relief. Gone are the giant heart-shaped balloons and chocolate boxes, the 'dine-in for two' special supermarket offers, and the general proliferation of sugar-coated, flowery pink missives from Cupid. But cynicism aside, there is nothing wrong – and indeed everything right – about telling someone how much we love them. And for a lexicographer there are pleasures to be had in delving into the hidden nooks and crannies of the dictionary and finding endearments from the past that deserve another outing. Because whatever your standings in love, and whomsoever that love is directed at, English offers a rich lexicon of terms of endearment that takes us right away from the usual epithets and offers us the chance of…

EDITOR'S LETTER Welcome to our March issue. First, I would like to reassure you that no BBC presenters were harmed in the making of this month's magazine cover. The striking image of Chris Packham was shot by photographer Dan Burn-Forti in woodland near Chris's home in Hampshire, then 3D illustrator Lisa Sheehan ingeniously added the flames, smoke and soot to represent the threat from global warming – a subject never far from Chris's mind. Last year was the hottest since records began in 1850, with wildfires in Canada destroying an area twice the size of Portugal. It's mind-boggling, but Chris reminds us that everyone has the power to join the battle and do something, however small (p22). Writer Sue Ryan exhibited her own quiet power in recovering from a stroke.…

VIEW POINT I honestly don't dare to begin totting up how much money I've wasted over the years each time I've thought, 'Yes, these are essential outgoings. You'll never, ever motivate yourself to exercise at home. You hate doing exercises. You're lazy. You don't know how to do them properly. Your body is deteriorating at a phenomenal rate – look at the bingo wings on your upper arms; look at the spare tyre around your middle; look at the way that once flat, taut torso now bulges out in any frock or T-shirt that used to fit. There's only one way to rectify this sagging morass: join a gym.' And join a gym I did. Many, many times. On each occasion I agreed to pay the monthly fee by direct…

KELP Used as food, fertiliser, animal feed, bioplastic, a potential biofuel, and thickener for beauty products. Flavour Savoury, umami. DULSE Used as food (as a bacon substitute or sprinkled into cooking), skincare and animal feed. Flavour Smoky when fried. SEA LETTUCE Used as food, skincare and is being studied for use in medicines, bioenergy and animal feed. Flavour Herby, similar to sorrel. LAVER Used as food (as a soup base or flavouring, and Welsh laverbread) and skincare. Flavour Savoury, often compared to olives.…

Goat's cheese, asparagus and smoked salmon tarts These look so attractive and are easy to make in large numbers. Serve them warm – pastry is always best served warm! Serves 6 YOU WILL NEED • 18 fine asparagus spears • 1 × 375g pack ready-rolled puff pastry • 1 egg, beaten • 2 × 150g rolls, or tub, soft goat's cheese • 50ml pouring double cream • 2 tsp freshly chopped thyme • 1 tbsp freshly chopped chives • 1 tsp Dijon mustard • 200g smoked salmon slices • juice of ½ lemon METHOD 1 Preheat the oven to 200ºC/fan 180ºC/gas 6. Line a large, flat baking sheet with non-stick baking paper. 2 Cook the asparagus in boiling salted water for 3 minutes. Drain and refresh in cold water. Drain again…

FLAVOUR in the bag Get delicious new potatoes, such as Jersey Royals, at a fraction of the shop-bought price and bags more flavour, by planting 'first early' types now to harvest from June. The tubers make an easy and space-saving crop – simply use a large pot or an old compost sack with 20cm of compost in the base, cover the tuber in 10-20cm of compost or soil on planting, and water in. As the leaves appear, repeat the layers and watering until the container is full of compost. Kick-start tubers into growth by placing on a sunny window ledge for a week, to encourage sprouts to form ahead of planting – known as 'chitting' (top left). KNOW your compost Prepare for a new season of container gardening by getting…

Top up your tea Flavanols are a buzzword in brain health. Found in abundance in plants, notably tea leaves, these antioxidants have been shown to help the hippocampus region of the brain, involved in short-term memory. The newest research, a three-year study of 3,562 people, average age 71, published in US journal the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that those who consumed the highest amount of flavanols performed up to 16% better in memory tests than those with low consumption. While the subjects were given 500mg daily flavanol supplements, similar amounts can be achieved through diet, explains Gunter Kuhnle, professor of nutrition and food science at the University of Reading and study co-investigator. 'Roughly half of the UK population consumes less than the 500mg optimal amount of…

fyi The following tips will help ease symptoms while you are waiting for treatment, but they don't address the underlying cause, so always see your doctor * Take more exercise. Walking or running will relieve pressure on the ankle. * Raise your feet at rest to encourage blood flow to the heart. * Wear graduated compression stockings to help maintain blood in the lower legs and reduce discomfort and swelling. * Try Micro purified flavonoid fraction (MPFF) supplements. These are made from citrus fruit and while they don't cure vein reflux, they help reduce inflammation in the vein. They're available online.…

FINANCE Get SIPP-shape Do you have a personal pension pot, often now called a SIPP? If so, make sure you say who you want to get the pot – or what is left of it – when you die. You can choose whoever you like – spouse, partner, child, friend, charity – using a form called an 'expression of wishes'. The trustees who look after your pension will make sure it goes to those people when you die in the shares you set out. If you die aged 75 or older, the recipients pay income tax on it, though to postpone that they can simply transfer the money to a pension of their own and only pay income tax when they take money out of that. If you die before…

PODCAST The Life Scientific Locked away in their labs, leading scientists get little public exposure or praise for their vital work. BBC Radio 4's long-running series The Life Scientific addresses this, interviewing leading scientists about their fields of expertise. It is not just a science talk, presenter Jim Al-Khalili (whose day job is physics professor at Surrey University) finds out about the scientists' lives and what inspires them. With more than 300 episodes to choose from on BBC Sounds, listeners can scroll through to find the scientist that piques their interest. A recent episode saw Michael Wooldridge, professor of computer science at the University of Oxford, analysing our obsession with AI as a dystopian threat, while in another, Professor Mercedes Maroto-Valer discussed turning CO2 from climate-enemy into useful material. She…

Dan Burn-Forti Cover A London photographer specialising in editorial and advertising photography, Dan shoots everything from celebrities and cars to animals and landscapes, often taking a humorous approach. Lisa Sheehan Cover Lisa is a 2D/3D 'image maker' producing imaginative CGI illustrations. The idea that you can create almost anything your mind can conjure up continues to inspire her every day. Milly Johnson Turning 60, p34 Once a trainee accountant, Milly wrote greetings cards – including Purple Ronnie – before turning to novels. She's sold 2.5 million in the UK alone and is now on to book 22. Joely Richardson The World According To…, p129 Not only is Joely an acclaimed actor, whose mother is the inimitable Vanessa Redgrave, she can also impressively still do a cartwheel at the age of…

INTERVIEW You had open heart surgery to replace an aortic valve in 2022. Are you still feeling the benefits? It sounds like a cliché, but it really did give me a new lease of life. Before the op, I was getting pains in my legs, backache, neck ache and God knows what else. I went to chiropractors, physios and acupuncturists, but nothing seemed to work. After I had the new valve, all the aches and pains disappeared. It shows you what a central part the heart plays in your day-to-day life. It's not just breathing… it's everything. When did you realise there was a problem? In 2018, I'd been for lunch with a mate of mine, we were walking back to the car park and he was really struggling. Not…

200 YEARS OF CADBURY In March 1824, a small shop opened at 93 Bull Street, Birmingham, selling teas, spices, coffees and cocoa beans. It was one of the first in the city to boast plate-glass windows. Inside, its owner, John Cadbury, could be seen grinding cocoa beans using a pestle and mortar, experimenting with an early kind of drinking chocolate. He was unaware that his family would one day have much more to be proud of than swish windows; that those cocoa beans were the seeds of a globally renowned chocolate company. This month marks 200 years since that modest store was founded. Cadbury is now the second-largest confectionery brand in the world (Mars takes the crown), famed for its purple-wrapped chocolate. Products include the nation's favourite, Dairy Milk, and…

need to know Richard Holden sits in Cabinet as 'minister without portfolio', though his real job is chairman of the Conservative Party, preparing the party's election campaign. Asked how a Conservative government could overcome staff shortages in social care while also clamping down on immigration, he claims that the solution is improved pay and professional esteem for carers. He says that recruiting more district nurses and improving the treatment of conditions like dementia so that older people can live 'not just longer lives but healthier longer lives' would reduce demand for places in care homes. He says, 'One of the biggest things we have done since 2010 is really raise the minimum wage, which has made social care more attractive, because almost all care workers are at or near the…

Those birthdays that end in a zero can be scary. On the day I turned 30, I felt as if I'd aged a decade overnight. Thirty seemed so much older than 29. Then over the years, you lose dear people along the way and your mindset changes. So now I rejoice every year I chalk up because having another birthday is a privilege, not a right. And a 'zero' birthday should, I do believe, be a year-long event to ease you into that new decade. That's exactly how I'm approaching turning 60. I'm not about to shy away from it, I'll race headlong into its embrace. It's a special birthday because, for once, it's going to be all about me. I've spent my fifties worrying about my boys turning into…

Of all the nannies who've worked in the royal household over the years one really stands out: Mabel Anderson. Now 98, Mabel spent more than 30 years of her life helping to raise the Royal Family's children and became a firm favourite with both the Queen and her children, particularly Charles. A policeman's daughter from Elgin, Scotland, she took on the vital role of shaping and caring for our future King from when he was a baby. Mabel is now enjoying her well-earned retirement in a grace-and-favour apartment in the grounds of Frogmore House in Windsor Great Park having stopped work in 1981. She will have no doubt been greatly concerned to hear about Charles's recent cancer diagnosis. She was once at the epicentre of Charles's life and he's described…

I've always been irresistibly drawn to the colour peach. But my enthusiasm for it slightly baffles my Polish builder Pawel. 'Why ALWAYS this colour?' he once muttered while grudgingly painting my cabinets a rather fetching shade of 'Peach Puff'. The answer is simple – you can take the girl out of the Eighties, but you can't take the Eighties peach obsession out of the girl. As far as teenage me was concerned, peach was the only colour worth caring about. And in fairness, I wasn't alone. When Prince did his epic Sign O' The Times tour, every ticket holder was instructed to wear peach or black. It was also the hue Princess Diana chose for her honeymoon outfit, a look my grandmother later attempted to recreate courtesy of her Grattan…

An old woman says to an old man, 'Let's go upstairs and make love.' 'I am not sure I could manage both,' replies the old man. I think this is my favourite joke of all time. Yes, I do have a puerile and smutty sense of humour. But mostly it appeals to me now I am old, and have an equally as old girlfriend. Sorry, pet, ten years younger. Most of us know what varicose veins look like – unsightly, swollen and enlarged veins that often occur on the legs and feet and are blue, green or purple. They can be lumpy, bulging or twisted in appearance; some are colourless or not visible. 'Around 15-20% of adults have visible varicose veins, but around the same number have varicose veins that…

going places SKIING / INDIA / LETTER FROM AMERICA Whichever way you look at it, skiing is absurd. Clipping two long, slippy sticks to your feet, pointing them down a mountain and letting physics take over? Totally insane. Learning to do this for the first time at 54? Insane doesn't even cover it. However, my instructor Sean is unruffled. His oldest learner so far was 65, his oldest current client is 92. His colleague taught a beginner of 72 who loved it so much he bought an Alpine chalet. Even so, as a complete novice I have questions. Will my dodgy knees and stiff lower back cope? Will I fall? Will I injure myself? Will I be able to do it? Answers: yes, yes, no, and kind of. It's true…

Landline, please I was interested to read that BT says it will not ask anyone who only uses a landline to switch to Digital Voice (Saga Voices, February). This has not been my experience. Although I have a smartphone, I prefer to use a corded landline phone. The Digital Voice system does not sit well with this type of phone so I asked BT not to switch me. However, I was told I had no choice because I have the BT Halo fibre broadband package. The fact that I live in a rural area with a very mediocre mobile signal and an overhead wired electricity supply which is subject to interruption from falling trees in high winds seems to carry no weight in my argument. Richard Pengilley Barnstaple, North Devon Switch…

1 What might be measured using a protractor? 2 Which menhir salesman, who fell into the magic potion when he was a baby, accompanies Asterix the Gaul on his travels? 3 Where are there corners called Luffield, Priory, Copse, Stowe, Club and Becketts? 4 What was the name of the puppet who co-hosted Children's BBC from 1985-87 with Phillip Schofield? The pair went on to host Going Live! and several other shows afterwards. 5 What was the name of the chemist who worked for Mars in Slough, on the flavourant properties of chocolate, before becoming Britain's first astronaut and, in 1991, the first British person in space? 6 Which marsupial can be Red, Eastern Grey, Western Grey or Antilopine? Red is the largest surviving species, Eastern Grey is the one…