Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2025 i Saga Magazine

Welcome to February, which possibly vies with January as most people’s least favourite month. It’s certainly mine: the weather is awful and the New Year’s resolutions are, perhaps, not quite as resolute as they were. Although on a positive note, at least the days are getting longer at last. There’s a moment in late January, don’t you find, when you notice you’re no longer getting up in the dark or pulling the curtains before 5pm, and you can look ahead to warmer times. Is it any wonder that this is peak holiday booking season in the UK? For most, getting a few weeks away is one of our biggest outlays of the year. And today’s tough financial climate makes picking the right break even more important. Here at Saga, our…

Our February picks…

Iconic car names can really help fuel our passion for motoring. From the legendary Volkswagen Beetle to the runabout Mini, a famous boot badge can unlock the door to our hearts. And, it seems, carmakers hope a well-known moniker will open our wallets too, as a new wave of nostalgic models looks set to tempt drivers back to the showroom. New vehicles with names we know and love are about to turn the motoring clock back decades – however the space under the bonnet isn’t always filled with a combustion engine. Instead, historic badges first seen on petrolpowered classics years ago are now being used to boost flagging electric car sales. The Fiat 500, Vauxhall Viva and Citroën DS have already returned, with varying levels of success. New for 2025…

Lockdown was especially difficult for Janette, now 72, a retired private chef. Her husband had died in April 2019, and despite the company of two Airedale terriers, she struggled with loneliness. By 2021, she decided it was time to seek companionship, inspired by an advert for Saga Connections in Saga Magazine. One night, she was sitting in her static caravan in the Scottish Borders, flicking through profiles. John’s face appeared – and he lived only five miles up the road. ‘I messaged him asking if he might like to meet for a coffee sometime,’ she says. John, now 76, a retired farmer, was keen – his wife had passed away in 2020. He visited her caravan and drove her around the county. One of Janette’s terriers settled happily on John’s…

SPRING ✽ Purple sprouting broccoli grows undemandingly for months until spring arrives – with the most delicious stems! Sow in April-May. ✽ Radish is one of my first seeds to sow, harvesting in 4-8 weeks. Oriental radishes take 8 weeks and retain firmness in stir-fries or parathas. Sow inside in March, outside in May. SUMMER ✽ Tomatoes are a favourite – no garden required. A bright kitchen window ledge will suffice. Sow in February-March with heat. ✽ Potatoes are a staple for me. Grow an early and maincrop variety so you enjoy your own for 8 months a year. Plant earlies in February-March. AUTUMN ✽ Celeriac flavours change after a touch of frost to mellow celery. Grate into a crunchy cabbage and fennel slaw. Surface sow in March. ✽ Raspberries…

A few years ago, I was invited to a drinks party thrown by a friend from university. ‘Lots of the old gang will be there!’ she proudly enthused. As she reeled off the names, I performed a mental inventory of how many of these people I had a) unsuccessfully dated, b) potentially offended, or c) unfriended on Facebook. After they’d all passed the necessary clearance, I accepted. After all, what was the worst that could happen? Well, gather round dear reader, and find out. First, there was Julia. I spent 20 minutes chatting to Julia about our student days. I even handed someone my phone to take a picture of me and Julia. A deafening silence followed, broken finally by Julia. Who revealed that her name was in fact Claire.…

Researchers at Birmingham University found that a cup of cocoa can help if you’re stressed and have taken solace in fatty foods (bad for the arteries). Volunteers were fed two croissants with extra butter, cheese slices and a large glass of whole milk, then given a maths test. One group got a cup of cocoa high in flavanols (plant chemicals), the other a low-flavanol cocoa. The high-flavanol group’s arteries were healthier for 90 minutes after the test; the other group’s cognitive function suffered. Green tea or berries do the same. Rachel Carlyle…

This year marks the 150th birthday of the electric dental drill – though I can’t imagine many will rush to celebrate this particular invention. Now retired from a 40-year career as a dentist, I know fear of the drill runs deep. With its high-pitched whine and high-speed vibrations, it is easily the most daunting dental tool, long associated with discomfort. That stigma persists, even though you’re unlikely to feel much pain these days. Plus, there’s no escaping the connotations of DIY and construction. I think people have this image of a Black+Decker drill thumping away in their mouth. When I was training in the early Seventies, drilling and filling was the bread and butter of dentistry. It was one of the first things we learned, practising on ‘phantom heads’ –…

Sting for WASPIs The Government has ruled out compensating women born in the 1950s for the rise in their state pension age from 60 to 65 or 66. Liz Kendall, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions who spoke in favour of WASPI women before she was in Government, told Parliament in December that ‘there should be no scheme of financial compensation to 1950s-born women’. She was giving the Government’s response to a report by the Parliamentary Ombudsman, which found the DWP had been guilty of maladministration in how it informed women about the change and suggested compensation of between £1,000 and £2,950 each for the 3.6 million affected. Kendall apologised for the maladministration but said the £10 billion cost the Ombudsman suggested would not ‘be a fair or…

Mention Ladybird books to anyone who grew up during the Baby Boomer years or the Swinging Sixties and a warm glow of nostalgia invariably washes over them. With detailed colour illustrations, each facing a page of text, these slim pocket-money volumes touched the lives of children across Britain. The golden years of Ladybird books began in the 1940s and lasted until 1972, when the company changed hands at the height of its success. Popularity gradually waned, the UK printing operation closed, and today Ladybird is part of Penguin Random House with formats that target a new generation. But when it comes to the vintage titles, few people know more about the books, writers and artists, and the changing world they represented, than ex-English teacher Helen Day. Her collection numbers some…

TURNING 50 Brad Thorn New Zealand rugby union player Brian Littrell singer (Backstreet Boys) Drew Barrymore actor, right Gary Neville footballer-turned-TV pundit Natalie Imbruglia singer TURNING 60 Chris Rock actor and comedian, right Dr Dre rapper Helena Suková tennis player Princess Stephanie of Monaco royal Sherilyn Fenn actor TURNING 70 Alain Prost racing driver Greg Norman golfer, below right Howard Jones musician Jeff Daniels actor John Grisham novelist Kelsey Grammer actor, above right Kirsty Wark TV presenter, above right Virginia Elliot (formerly Leng) equestrian TURNING 80 Brenda Fricker actor Gerald Davies rugby union player/writer Maud Adams actor Mia Farrow actor, below Roy ‘Chubby’ Brown comedian Sir Simon Schama historian…

our pick PRESUMED GUILTY Scott Turow Almost 40 years after his seminal courtroom novel Presumed Innocent, and 15 years on from the sequel Innocent, Turow returns to fictional midwestern Kindle County to take up again with retired lawyer and judge Rozat (‘Rusty’) Sabich. Rusty knows all too well that sometimes justice just isn’t. Now he must demolish the prosecution’s racially biased but seemingly unassailable case against his fiancée’s adopted son, Aaron, who stands charged with the murder of his girlfriend, Mae. Another forensically plotted, hair-raising read from the brilliant attorney-author, not for nothing known as the ‘father of the legal thriller’. THREE DAYS IN JUNE Anne Tyler The day before her daughter Debbie’s wedding, Gail has just quit her job (or was let go – whichever) when ex-husband Max shows…

Each number in the grid represents a different letter. We’ve given you two letters to start you off, which show that 2=L and 8=O. Write these letters wherever their corresponding numbers appear in the grid and then begin to work out the identity of the other letters. All 26 letters of the alphabet will appear in the finished puzzle. SET SQUARE Fill the blank squares so that each row and column contains all the numbers 1-5. Use any given numbers and the symbols that tell you if the number in the square is larger (>) or smaller (<) than the number next to it. ADD A LETTER Rearrange the letters and add one to these words to make five-letter words that fit the clues. The added letters will spell a…

Hello everyone. I know editors are supposed to be like mothers and not have favourites, but I have to confess a special fondness for this issue. Our cover star Brooke Shields, the child model and actor turned writer, is almost exactly my vintage and I was a huge fan in my Hollywoodobsessed youth. I could never decide if I wanted to be beautiful Brooke or her contemporary, the award-winning actor Tatum O’Neal, who famously won an Oscar aged ten for her role in that great film Paper Moon. So, it was a big thrill when Brooke agreed to be on our cover, in the year she turns 60. We shot the pictures in New York just before Christmas, and she was glamour and charm personified, exactly as my teenage self…

One of my two sons has just turned 40, the other is 36. They both have lovely, well-educated, professional partners. They’re very busy, very happy and have stated they have no intention to reproduce. I’ve made no comment on this. I’ve never asked a question about their future plans. After all, it is none of my business. The decision about having children or not is up to them. Where, then, does that leave me? I did at one time have a fantasy. In my fantasy, one of my two boys would give me a granddaughter. I would be to her what my grandmother had been to me: loving, entertaining, generous, indulgent, full of information about nature, politics, music and drama and never the slightest bit strict. Clearly it hasn’t happened…

Traditionally, marriage is a milestone you expect to hit in your twenties or thirties. But according to the Office for National Statistics, the number of people over 50 getting married for the first time nearly doubled between 2014 and 2022, with 20,506 tying the knot in 2022 alone. Last year, comedian Miranda Hart hit the headlines after revealing she’d married for the first time aged 51. Here, two first-time brides share the joy of finding their husbands in later life. VIRGINIA BLACKBURN ‘Frank Sinatra was right: love is wasted on the young’ As far as first dates go, you wouldn’t have thought this was going to be a remarkable one. We were meeting on a park bench, with a bit of drizzle in the air; both of us as nervous as…

Even if you’ve seen the Netflix movie Nyad, the documentary The Other Shore or read her memoir Find a Way, chances are you still won’t quite believe the Diana Nyad story. She’s living proof that it really is never too late to achieve your goals. In 2013, aged 64, Diana succeeded in swimming an 110-mile stretch from Cuba to Florida against all the odds. She went without sleep for 53 hours on the epic swim, battling fatigue, hallucinations and deadly currents while navigating an ocean riddled with sharks and poisonous box jellyfish. The achievement marked the fulfilment of a dream that had begun 35 years earlier when she first attempted and failed the swim. On that first attempt in 1978 she swam inside a shark cage for 42 hours but…

Artist Daisy Fior’s childhood bedroom overlooked the British Museum, which perhaps helps explain her approach to styling her own space all these years later. ‘My brother and I knew all the wardens and we treated the museum as a playground,’ she says. ‘Art, archaeology and history were always a big part of my upbringing. ‘I was fed on art from day one. When I was six months old, my parents sold their antiques business in the Fulham Road and we moved to Spain because my father wanted to write. My mother used to remind me that as a tiny toddler I was gawping at the El Grecos in Toledo.’ When she was three, her parents divorced and Daisy and her brother returned to the UK with their mother, settling in…

The most common way to enjoy a bottle of wine in Britain is while having a meal. And the second most common? It’s while watching TV. We have entire books telling us the best wines to pair with meals, but what about those to enjoy with films and television shows? Readers, I am here to redress the balance. You can even turn it into a kind of parlour game as you try to link the wine and the show. Who can forget Hannibal Lecter’s famous line in The Silence of the Lambs that he ate a victim’s liver with some ‘fava beans and a nice Chianti’? Perhaps a wine like Monte Bernardi Sa’Etta Chianti Classico Riserva 2020 (13.5%, £34.99, vintagebysaga.co.uk), one of the finest estates in Chianti Classico. There are…

SOW… for sweet smell Sowing seeds sets you on the road to summer and is full of optimism, whatever the weather. For fragrant sweet peas, sow now as they need an early start to produce the most blooms. There’s no need to nick the seed coating – use new seed and sow 3cm deep into tall modules of pre-dampened seed compost; place somewhere warm or with a heat pad under to encourage germination. Once stems reach 15cm, snip them off above the second or third set of leaves to encourage bushier growth. Move each seedling to a 9cm pot, to grow on in a cooler spot, ready to plant out in April-early May once the soil warms. ‘Matucana’, ‘King Edward VII’ or most Grandiflora types give the best fragrance. POT…

We’re in a terrible muddle on the tipping front. And it’s getting worse by the day, in part because no one – except, perhaps, Jacob Rees-Mogg – carries cash about his or her person. This means we are careering down the American route whereby a whole raft of businesses that in the old days never would have expected tips, now add gratuity prompts on their card payment machines. It’s a tyranny of sorts. Contactless payment company SumUp reports that the number of firms applying a suggested tip prompt – normally 10%, 15% or 20% – just before you tap the machine has risen by over a third in the past two years. Who knows where the money goes, but, for sure, it causes hideous embarrassment. Frankly, it’s just not British.…

He has no Met Office training, but Ken Brown would make rather a good weatherman. The former nurse, from Stirling, swears he can feel it in his joints when the weather is about to turn. ‘As soon as the pressure drops, my joints start to twinge and if I wake up with them hurting, I can often predict it’s going to rain later,’ says Ken, 66, who has widespread osteoarthritis and gout. Cold, damp weather at this time of year is especially hard on his knees, feet and hands. ‘My feet swell so badly that I have to wear wider shoes, and I’ve had to get coffee mugs with bigger handles because my fingers are so swollen I can’t hold an ordinary mug.’ Once it might have been dismissed as…

Mexico City is going to need a big cake, a lot of candles and perhaps a piñata or two, because this year it’s the capital’s 700th birthday. When it first came into being in 1325, the settlement was named Tenochtitlán – the capital of the Aztec Empire. But 200 years later, Spanish forces razed the Aztec buildings to the ground and established a new Catholic city on top, renamed Ciudad de México in 1585. The original Aztec settlers would be shocked to see the megalopolis their city has become. With a population of 22.5 million, Mexico City is the country’s heartbeat, a melting pot of cultures where ancient and modern exist side by side. Where else could you find a pyramid jutting out amid the traffic and bustle of downtown?…

How would you like to win a dream trip to explore Western Australia, courtesy of Saga Holidays and Singapore Airlines? You’ll be treated to return flights, with three nights staying at the Holiday Inn in Perth City Centre, before hitting the open road on a week-long self-drive trip that makes the most of the breathtakingly beautiful Indian Ocean Coastal Road. Think gorgeous coastal scenery, pink lakes, ancient gorges, Unesco sites and charming seaside towns. For a chance to win, fill out the online form via the QR code on the opposite page or go to saga.co.uk/WA-competition. Entries close 15 March 2025. T&Cs apply*. PRIZE INCLUDES ✽ 2 return economy flights via Singapore to Perth with Singapore Airlines. ✽ 3 nights B&B at the Holiday Inn Perth City Centre. ✽ 7-day…

PODCAST by SARAH SHANNON Lives Less Ordinary BBC SOUNDS BBC World Service’s episode descriptions for Lives Less Ordinary read like movie plots. The Australian who realised his dad was a heroin smuggler and his babysitter was a convicted murderer; the Brazilian football fan who became his club’s president; the French explorer who slid off a cliff in the jungle and was rescued by goats; the Norwegian fisherman who saved a Russian ‘spy’ whale. These stories, from BBC contributors, are proof that truth is often stranger than fiction. One recent episode told the tale of wannabe Japanese comedian Nasubi, who agreed to take part in an experimental reality show in the 1990s. He was kept in a room, with no clothes or possessions – and could only eat by winning real…

1 Pop star Lionel Richie first came to prominence as lead singer with which group? 2 Under what name was dogfish sold in fish and chip shops? 3 What was T E Lawrence riding when he had his fatal accident? 4 What type of food is Monterey Jack? 5 Who, by tradition, always takes the chair in the House of Commons during the election of a new Speaker? 6 Whose first hit single, in 1971, included the lyric ‘Anyway… the thing is… what I really mean…’? 7 By what name is the kitchen appliance Aktiebolaget Gasaccumulator more commonly known? 8 Which 1977 novel, later a successful film, was based on a stay by its author at the Stanley Hotel, in Estes Park, Colorado? To this day the film is shown…

My other half Chris and I met when we were both walking our dogs in a park in LA during the pandemic. I was grateful for the time Covid allowed me as I needed to take stock, so I had full-on therapy. That day in the park, I had got to a good place. It’s easy to say it but, if you’re happy on your own, you’re going to end up in a better relationship because you’re not looking for someone to plug the gaps. Chris [Light, a martial arts instructor and podcaster from Hollywood] was in exactly the same place, so it was like a cosmic meeting. We now live together in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Sister act I was adopted along with my older brother, but my mum…

February is surely a time for hurkle-durkling. I’d love to leave that there and let you make up your own definition for this glorious-sounding word, but its real meaning is too good to ignore. To hurkle-durkle is to stay beneath the covers long after it’s time to get up. Not only am I a hurkle-durkler, but there is more, because lingering in bed when you should be up and about is surely never complete without a book. It is a combination I love, and one which makes me, to borrow a less mellifluous but equally useful term, a ‘librocubicularist’: one who reads in bed. All this floated through my mind one particularly dark morning when hurkledurkling seemed essential, and I realised how many wonderful words exist for the bookworms of…

Terry Kirby Bridget Jones, p32 A one-time crime correspondent, night editor and, latterly, wine columnist at The Independent, the veteran journalist is a lecturer at Goldsmiths and writer of The Newsmongers: A History of Tabloid Journalism. Nadiya Hussain Recipes, p60 Since winning The Great British Bake Off in 2015, the TV chef has hosted BBC cookery shows, written magazine columns and recipe books, and even baked a cake for the late Queen’s 90th birthday. KT Tunstall World According To…, p129 It’s 20 years since the Scottish singer-songwriter released her album Eye to the Telescope and this year she’ll mark the anniversary – and her 50th birthday -with a special concert. Alex Cayley Brooke Shields, cover and p18 The New Jersey-based photographer began his career in London before moving to New…

What were you like as a child? I was shy, but I loved being outside and being close to my dad. He was a former Royal Marine commando, and we’d go on mini adventures all the time – climbing, sailing, camping. I lived for those times and couldn’t wait to get home from school to do them. My dad died when I was too young [26], so those memories are precious. What’s the best advice your parents gave you? That being a never-give-upper in life counts for a great deal. You don’t have to be the sportiest or the cleverest – those things are God-given talents – but you can be the resilient one. Your achievements include climbing Everest and circumnavigating the British Isles on a jet ski. What feat are…

‘It’s important to keep people knitting because it has all sorts of health benefits’ Down a cobbled lane in north London, there’s a warehouse with mountains of yarn, a hoard of knitting needles, and a stack of just-delivered parcels. Hilde Nakkash, 71, is opening the post. She unwraps knitted scarves with zig-zag edging, patchwork blankets, a pair of rainbow socks. There are always lots of socks. Hilde is a volunteer at Knit for Peace, a charity that links prolific knitters with worthy causes: baby clothes might be sent to hospitals, teddies to children’s charities and handmade jumpers and socks to homeless shelters. Hilde is particularly passionate about socks. ‘If it’s cold, they are the first thing you put on to warm up,’ she says. She also works at a local…

She may now be in her early fifties, a widowed mother of two struggling with the school run and grappling with digital dating (and men much younger than herself), but Bridget Jones is back. Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy – the fourth film to feature the chaotic world of the fictional diarist – premieres in the UK on Valentine’s Day and sees Renée Zellweger reprise her role as Bridget, with Hugh Grant returning as the dashing and dangerous Daniel Cleaver. It’s all a v. v. good thing, as the lady herself might have said. And the film is certain to be a hit with those who have followed the story from the beginning. But what exactly was the beginning? Before all the films, before all the books, the story…

‘Grey-nups’ are on the rise as people remarrying in later life seek to protect their assets. ‘Those marrying for the second, third and even fourth time, and often well into their seventies, are seeing a prenup – the grey-nup – as a critical part of their marriage planning,’ says Vandana Chitroda from law firm BDB Pitmans. ‘Where they have children from previous marriages, they are looking to protect that wealth. ‘The grey-nup provides that security. They do not see them as “unromantic” or making marriage more “transactional”. They see them much in the same way as a will: a sensible, practical financial planning tool.’…

Nelson Mandela’s release on 11 February 1990 gave the world the first glimpse of a man who had been talked about but not seen for nearly 30 years, since being locked away – as prisoner 46664 – in a prison on Robben Island, South Africa. That night I anchored the main ITN news from the top of a flatbed truck in the heart of Soweto. It was the first ever live TV broadcast made from a South African township, and I struggled to hear myself speak above the ululating waves of noise. My colleague was escorting Archbishop Desmond Tutu through the throng – they were lifted up, shoulder-high all the way – and when they finally reached the truck, I asked him if Mandela, or any individual, could ever fulfil…

Espresso chocolate cake This is the simplest of cakes. Made with oil and hot water, it’s also the moistest chocolate cake ever – it literally never dries out, even when left out! The intense coffee flavour makes it super special. Preparation time 35 minutes Bake time 55 minutes-1 hour, plus cooling Makes 12 slices YOU WILL NEED For the cake • Oil, for greasing • 225g plain flour, sifted • 350g caster sugar • 85g cocoa powder • 1½ tsp baking powder • 1½ tsp bicarbonate of soda • 250ml whole milk • 2 medium eggs, lightly beaten • 125ml olive oil • 250ml boiling water • 3 tbsp coffee granules For the ganache • 250g dark chocolate (70%), chopped • 200ml boiling water • 1 tbsp coffee granules •…

Q Why are the new guidelines on HRT important? Mr Tim Hillard We used to battle to get menopause taken seriously. Many GPs were reluctant to prescribe it, and women were confused. The new guideline [from government health body NICE] recommends GPs prescribe HRT as the first line of treatment for women with menopausal symptoms and includes a new tool to help them explain the latest scientific evidence to cut through safety concerns. It emphasises the importance of treating women individually and highlights the need for specialist clinics for more complex problems. Q Menopause symptoms seem to have grown from a handful to dozens. How many are there and how long do they last? TH Symptoms used to be grouped into three categories: what doctors call vasomotor symptoms, relating to…

Stretching for 12,500km (7,770 miles), Australia’s largest state runs from sparkling Indian Ocean beaches in the west to the Golden Outback with its gold rush history in the east. In between, there’s everything from world-class wineries and World Heritage attractions to sacred Aboriginal lands where you’ll hear stories that have been passed down countless generations. Not sure where to begin? Let us be your guide… Stay in the big city Shall we kick off in the state capital, Perth/ Boorloo? One of the sunniest cities in Australia, it’s the perfect place to shake off the jetlag. There are 19 glorious beaches and vast national parks to discover here, so start with a stroll through Kings Park/Kaarta Koomba, one of the most impressive inner-city parks in the world, followed by spotting…

Miss Austen BBC ONE our pick It may be 250 years this December since the birth of Jane Austen, but the author remains as popular as ever and the booming industry based on her work continues to feed the rapacious appetites of her legions of fans. However, with the writer only publishing six novels before her untimely death aged just 41, source material is a little scarce. As a result, writers have begun to get rather creative with their approach to the Austen canon – like the 2009 book Pride, Prejudice and Zombies. Mercifully, the BBC is taking a less avantgarde approach with both its 2025 Austen-adjacent dramas. The Other Bennet Sister, due later this year, is a Pride and Prejudice spin-off, while Miss Austen, out this month, is a…

More puzzles! There are loads more puzzles on the Saga Magazine app. Download from your app store today! PRIZE CROSSWORD £250 prize ACROSS 1 Composer of The Lark Ascending, first performed in 1920 (7,8) 9 Person from a country between Venezuela and Suriname (8) 10 Name for a hedgehog between the 11th and 15th centuries (6) 11 Tree grown for its timber and sweet sap (5) 12 Author of The Luck of Barry Lyndon (9) 14 Highest point of a pyramid (4) 16 Mid-20th century, husband-and-wife furniture designers (5) 17 English inventor, a developer of the incandescent light bulb (4) 18 World’s largest lift company (4) 20 In music, a very slow tempo (5) 22 The Irish pirate in JM Barrie’s Peter Pan (4) 23 Comedian and birdwatcher born in Rochdale in 1941 (4,5) 24 1942 animated film about an orphaned deer…