Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2025 i Saga Magazine

Our May picks…

When my partner Leycester first suggested that we should live with my mum, I spat out my coffee in shock. I love my mum – she is my best friend – but I was so used to my own space, and we are both fiercely independent women. Looking back, though, I’m so glad we did it. Living with both my partner and my mum has become our normal, and now it wouldn’t feel right to change it back. Despite the occasional chaos, it works. We rarely argue, and when we do, it’s usually about something trivial. Sharing the space means we all muck in. Mum isn’t keen on cleaning, so I take care of that side of things. But we share the cooking. It’s handy when I’ve had a long…

One late afternoon in May 1988 I stood with my colleagues on the balcony of a Moscow hotel where we witnessed something we never thought we would see in our lifetimes. Walking in Red Square, in what I seem to remember was the glow of a sunny late afternoon, were the President of the United States, Ronald Reagan, and Mikhail Gorbachev, the leader of the Soviet Union. So far as I can tell, wherever they were heading did not necessitate that walk – it was entirely symbolic – but they were doing it anyway and smiling broadly. Their body language was telling the world that they were celebrating what Reagan explained to reporters was ‘the friendship of two peoples’. Gorbachev’s smile confirmed it. We had to pinch ourselves to remember…

Pesto pasta with charred beans and potatoes This is our test kitchen colleague Katja Tausig’s twist on the classic Ligurian combination of pasta, pesto, green beans and potatoes. Serves 4 YOU WILL NEED • 55g basil leaves • 50g pine nuts • 1 garlic clove, crushed • 100ml olive oil • 40g Parmesan, finely grated • 180g fine green beans, trimmed • 1 lemon: finely grate the zest, then juice to get 1 tbsp • 250g dried trofie (or orecchiette or cavatelli) • 300g new potatoes, peeled and sliced into roughly 2cm pieces (250g) • salt and black pepper METHOD 1 T o make the pesto, put 45g of the basil into a food processor, along with the pine nuts, garlic, ⅛ tsp…

For an easy dose of nature, there is little to beat a bunch of fresh cut flowers to bring the outdoors in, whatever the weather. We’ve become a nation of flower fanciers, spending over £2bn a year on florist and supermarket bouquets – more than newspapers, crisps or concert tickets. But behind this beauty is a darker underside, at odds with the natural world we seek to celebrate, due to the high carbon footprint of most cut flowers sold in the UK – 90% of which are imported. If, like many shoppers, your weekly basket includes a standard bunch of supermarket flowers, with lilies and roses, you’re generating the same carbon footprint over a year as taking a monthly flight to Paris! Flowers jetted in from as far afield as…

Even in an age when nearly everyone carries around a futuristic communicator-cumcomputer, the humble torch still manages to be the most elemental technological gadget, with its basic but vital job of defying darkness. However, it wasn’t the first hand-held electrical device. The battery-powered telegraph and the portable hearing aid were already around when the first modern torch was patented, around 1898 by David Misell, a Liverpool-born inventor who had moved to New York. Misell sold the rights to the American Electrical Novelty and Manufacturing Company, later renamed Eveready. Eveready cannily donated several to the New York Police Department, which immediately adopted them. Nothing much then happened to improve the torch for more than 100 years. The ones used in both wars were much the same as Misell’s original, and even…

Q I am worried about my husband. He is in his mid-seventies and has lost at least three inches in height over the past few years. I raised the possibility of osteoporosis, but he dismissed this as ‘something women get’. He hasn’t broken any bones and has no other symptoms. Do you think there could be another cause for him shrinking? a We all lose a bit of height later in life but given that your husband has lost three inches in as many years, the ‘bone thinning’ condition osteoporosis would be my main concern, and he should discuss it with his GP. Half of all women over 50 will have at least one fracture as a result of osteoporosis at some stage – typically of the hip, wrist or…

1 INFLATABLE INDOOR/OUTDOOR ICE BATH, £49.99, B&Q (diy.com) A basic lightweight inflatable pod that is quick to inflate and deflate and made of puncture-resistant material. 2 LUMI THERAPY RECOVERY POD MAX ICE BATH, £119.95, John Lewis & Partners (johnlewis.com) A fully portable insulated pod that is lined with easy to clean PVC and has an inflatable top ring for support. 3 BRASS MONKEY OAK WOOD BARREL PLUNGE ICE BATH, £5,950, John Lewis & Partners (johnlewis.com) This is made from upcycled Scottish whisky barrels with a standalone water chiller that can cool water down to 3°C and it holds 400 litres of water.…

Payouts dropped There will be no compensation for the 46,000 customers of Safe Hands funeral plan firm. They lost around £70 million between them when the company went bust in 2022. Now, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has announced it will ignore a report by its own complaints commissioner that said it should reconsider compensating people who lost money. In her critical report, the commissioner Rachel Kent – who hears complaints about the regulator – said the FCA should have been proactive in investigating the firm even before it took over regulating funeral plans in 2023. The firm broke a rule that said client money must be held separately in a secure trust. It wasn’t. The FCA says there was nothing it could do at the time. Customers will now…

If you’d rather be at a festival where gastronomic treats take top billing then head for the Big Feastival (22-24 August, bigfeastival.com). Blur’s Alex James knows how to put on a good show – and this one springs up once a year in his Cotswolds garden. Expect chefs Raymond Blanc and Si King from The Hairy Bikers. Thanks to Rick Stein and co, Cornwall is now well and truly on the food map, so why not celebrate this with a visit to Porthleven Food Festival (2-4 May, porthlevenfoodfestival.com)? It’s a mouthwatering weekend of food, with events ranging from a pasty workshop to a Fisherman’s Mission barbecue. A Gourmet Weekend ticket costs from £55 a head. Another regional offering is Malton Food Lover’s Festival, (24-26 May, visitmalton.com/food-festival-yorkshire). The cute town of…

Easy fix Lesley Reynolds’ story (Health, March) mirrors my experience. I, like Lesley, soldiered on for years with decreasing hearing and managed to get by with subtitles on the TV, plus a box that amplified the sound. I also had conversations where I’ve not understood a word but kept nodding and smiling and eventually avoided interaction that required input. I finally admitted defeat and went for an assessment at which I was diagnosed with severe hearing loss and prescribed hearing aids. I’m amazed at how much difference this has made. I now hear background noise and don’t swerve away from people I think may want a chat. Don’t put up with the struggle and stress of increasing deafness. It is so easy to get this sorted. Frances Robinson, Harrow Music…

Each number in the grid represents a different letter. We’ve given you two letters to start you off, which show that 6=U and 14=N. 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. FUTOSHIKI 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 word.…

I hope you are all enjoying a merry, sunny month of May. Sadly, there’s not much merriment at Robinson Towers, with my two younger daughters each enduring a hellish rite of passage: A-levels and the university final year dissertation. Why do we insist on holding exams at a time of year when we should all be out dancing around maypoles – or at the very least sitting under cherry blossom trees sipping a cool glass of rosé? Watching poor Daisy hunched over her opus on sustainability and urban development takes me back 40 years to my own struggles interpreting Mary Tudor’s (right) motivation for her zero tolerance policy on Protestants. Rivers of tears and thousands of words later (all typed up by my dad’s saintly secretary), I was not much…

Dame Barbara Cartland told me, many years ago, as I was approaching my 40th birthday: ‘My dear, after 40, a woman has to choose between her face and her figure. My advice is keep a lovely, plump pretty face and stay sitting down.’ Lady Antonia Fraser said much the same; French film star Catherine Deneuve placed the advice ten years earlier and was a little blunter: ‘A 30-year-old woman must choose between her bottom and her face’ – derrière and visage. Until now, I’ve taken Dame Barbara’s advice, retaining rosy, relatively unlined plumptitude and not worrying about my backside. Then came Mounjaro on the advice of my physiotherapist. I’d put on 4st after I damaged my spine last year. – I needed to lose it and get back to a…

If ever someone was a joyous role model in middle age, it’s Jo Whiley. In the run up to her 60th birthday in July, she sounds as enthusiastic as ever introducing both oldies and fledgling musicians on her Radio 2 slot. She’s been hosting the BBC’s Glastonbury Festival coverage for 28 years, interviewing the likes of Sir Paul McCartney and Dolly Parton. And at the weekend, she’s often DJing up and down the country with her 90s Anthems shows, packing dance floors with people of all ages. ‘I don’t get back until three or four in the morning after jumping up and down on stage all night – it’s like a Jane Fonda workout,’ she says. ‘Recently, the morning after one, I said to my mum, “I’m a bit stiff”.…

Ellen Clark* will never forget the time she first set eyes on Julie, the new activities organiser at her husband’s care home. By then, her husband John had been a resident for six months and Julie’s arrival had given him a sudden zest for life. At first, Ellen had assumed he was simply enjoying Julie’s projects – like making a bird feeder or digging the flowerbeds, even though he’d never set foot in a garden centre before. When she finally met her in February 2023, she suspected another reason lay behind her husband’s enthusiasm. Julie was in her early fifties and extremely glamorous – blonde ponytail swinging, full face of make-up. ‘All the staff wore uniform except her,’ says Ellen, 85. ‘She had a silk blouse open and loose at…

Rachel grows thousands of roses for weddings. Her secret is choosing vigorous varieties, which tend to be hybrid teas or floribundas, not English rose types, which are weakened by frequent cutting. Hard pruning in February improves stem length, plus regular high-potash feed in summer. Her choices are… 1 ‘Chandos Beauty’ Repeat flowering apricot flowers and gorgeous scent; healthy and happy in all weather. 2 ‘Duchess of Cornwall’ Coral pink cabbage rose that’s scented but tough – longer vase life than most. 3 ‘A Whiter Shade of Pale’ Blush pink hybrid tea, compact and fragrant. Good disease resistance and vase life.…

There are certain unexpected benefits to getting older. No one ever tells me I look tired any more, mainly because they realise that’s just how my face rolls now. People rarely call me after 8pm, and if they do, they apologise for waking me up. Sales assistants in expensive boutiques greet me warmly, assuming anyone over 50 must be awash with liquid assets. (And who am I to tread on their dreams?) There’s only one aspect of ageing I’m less keen on – and all of it involves my hair. For years, my relatively shiny locks were a trusted wingwoman. They elicited positive feedback from hairdressers, friends, even, in one case, a traffic warden. But sadly, my hair is no longer serving up main character energy. I know this because…

At least half of women over 50 suffer from bladder leaks, something US biomedical engineer Gloria Kolb aims to change with the UK launch of a revolutionary, non-invasive pelvic muscle training device. Elitone delivers neuromuscular electrical stimulation through the skin via gel pads, which contracts pelvic muscles 100 times in a 20-minute session. After six weeks, women reported a 70% improvement in leaks. It’s not cheap at £332.50 – but two incontinence pads a day for a year costs £150+. See elitone.com; available at pharmacy2u.co.uk and Currys. Rachel Carlyle…

Most early mornings Juls Abernethy (right) gently immerses herself into the icy outdoor cold water bath in her back garden. It’s a chilly ten-minute ritual she repeats five times a week to ease a chronic pain condition. Rather her than me, you might think. But she swears by its effects. ‘The pain relief I get after taking a dip relieves the inflammation in my body more than any medication could. I’m pain-free for hours afterwards – no tablet ever gave me that much relief,’ says Juls, 55, who lives near Dorchester in Dorset. ‘It’s so effective I’m now weaning myself off the steroids I’ve been taking. I’ve also suffered from anxiety and depression in the past and I get this fantastic feeling of euphoria every time I take an ice…

For someone whose first dance at their wedding was to 9 to 5, and whose son was born while Islands in the Stream played, you could say I’m a bit of a Dolly Parton fan. So, when the time came to tick Dollywood off my bucket list, my excitement levels were as high as the Tennessee Great Smoky Mountains, where the theme park owned by the country singing legend resides. I’d expected chintzy fun, served up with Dolly lookalikes walking around, greeting guests with a twanging guitar and a Southern welcome of ‘Howdy, y’all’. Boy, was I wrong! The 165-acre theme park isn’t chintzy or tacky in the slightest… and there wasn’t a big-boobed, big-haired impersonator in sight. Just like Dolly isn’t your average country singer, Dollywood isn’t your average…

We begin this month with prospects for the future of this column. With fair winds, lots of luck and the continued support of my lovely editors at Saga Magazine, I hope to bring you my monthly musings from Washington for a long while. But – and this is a sentence I never expected to write from the US – if that no longer proves possible due to the country’s growing authoritarianism, I may end up writing a Letter about America rather than a missive from the so-called land of the free. It never occurred to me that within four months of President Donald Trump’s inauguration, foreign correspondents like me would be wondering how much longer we might be allowed to plough our furrows here. But there now seems real risk…

The Hay Festival, Hay-on-Wye (22 May-1 June, hayfestival.com) always makes headlines. The early line-up includes author Ben Macintyre on the SAS raid on the Iranian Embassy, and the BBC’s Naga Munchetty on women’s health, all washed down with a refreshing ale from Al Murray’s pub landlord. The Edinburgh International Book Festival (9-24 August, edbookfest.co.uk) looks as enticing as ever. This vibrant city transforms itself in August into a major cultural hub, attracting thousands of visitors. The literature scene takes off too, with a prestige line-up, all to be announced next month. At the Henley Literary Festival (4-12 October, henleyliteraryfestival.co.uk), you’ll find a raft of household names. The 500-seater marquee at Phyllis Court will once again host the lively proceedings against a backdrop of the River Thames. Finally, The Cheltenham Literature…

TURNING 50 David Beckham footballer, below Enrique Iglesias singer Jamie Oliver chef Lauryn Hill singer/songwriter Melanie Brown singer, above Nina Hossain TV journalist TURNING 60 Alice Beer TV presenter Brooke Shields actor Emma Forbes TV presenter Hazel Irvine TV presenter Jeremy Vine TV and radio presenter John C Reilly actor Linda Evangelista model, below Pat Cash tennis player and coach Rob Brydon actor, comedian and presenter TURNING 70 Ben de Lisi fashion designer Debra Winger actor Donatella Versace designer, above Hazel O’Connor actor and singer Olga Korbut gymnast TURNING 80 Bianca Jagger model, below Bob Seger singer/songwriter Francesca Annis actor Pete Townshend musician (The Who), above Priscilla Presley actor Rita Coolidge singer TURNING 90 Julian Mitchell playwright Lee Meriwether actor…

THE BOYS Leo Robson Still mourning his mother, Johnny Voghel is going nowhere and not very fast, with a job in university admin (not as glamorous as it sounds) and a flatlining relationship. When his older half-brother, Lawrence, a charismatic human crisis, arrives from Chicago, Johnny plays it cool as he angles for Lawrence’s affections. Meanwhile, his house in Swiss Cottage fills up with a cast of brilliantly drawn characters. Taking place over two weeks, against the background of the Olympics, this is a cracking debut from cultural journalist Robson, an exercise in sparkling repartee amid the North London summer doldrums. WORDS FAIL ME Frances McKendrick School counsellor Jane, 41, advises troubled kids, while struggling with demons from her past. She knows the rule: you don’t get involved, right? But…

Floral tribute I was eight years old on VE Day. My family had a flower shop in Brixton and I was charged with selling red, white and blue buttonholes for one and threepence each. They were so popular we had a policeman controlling the queue. Later, the whole area in front of Brixton Town Hall was a heaving mass of people celebrating and singing. As young as I was, I was aware of the momentous meaning of the occasion, this peace that was an unknown experience. Anna Shorey Alderney, Channel Islands Dancing for joy I’m 86 and can remember VE Day quite well. We danced around the garden and I had plaits in my hair with red, white and blue ribbons. Our next-door neighbours lived with us when their house…

1 Which everyday item will normally contain an ISBN? 2 In 2001, Crown Prince Dipendra lost the plot and murdered ten members of the royal family of which country? 3 Boots, Raleigh Bicycles, Brough Motorcycles, department store Jessop & Son and sci-fi publisher Angry Robot were founded in which Midlands town? 4 Which popular children’s writer, born Theodor Geisel, coined the words ‘flunnel’, ‘nizzard’, ‘sneedle’, ‘bippo-no-bungus’ and, perhaps most lastingly, ‘nerd’? 5 In April and May 2005, which theatrical knight played an author and conman called Mel Hutchwright in Coronation Street, thus fulfilling a long-held ambition? 6 In London in 1873, 1,150 died. In Glasgow in 1909, about 1,000 died. In London in 1952, more than 3,000 died. In New York in 1953, around 200 died. In London in 1956,…

Sometimes it’s easy to believe that we have become a nation of potty mouths. Swearing is freely available on TV, in the cinema, and on almost any UK high street. Which means it’s tempting to assume that we are turning the air blue like never before, and that almost any profanity, no matter how taboo, can be liberally sprinkled into conversation as readily as fillers such as ‘like’ or ‘basically’. History offers a bit more perspective. As a linguist, I’ve been fascinated by the journeys of our swear words since they first appeared (mostly in the Middle Ages: the euphemism ‘he used a good old Anglo-Saxon word’ doesn’t actually fit in most cases). Importantly, today’s biggest no-nos weren’t considered particularly offensive at the time; some were even freely used in…

Liz Jones Something to smile about, p74 The awardwinning Daily Mail columnist and former editor of Marie Claire has travelled to Istanbul for a mouth makeover and for the first time in her life is able to smile with confidence. Jeremy Vine World According To…, p129 When he’s not hosting his weekday BBC Radio 2 show and his Channel 5 show on weekday mornings, the presenter still finds time for novel writing and riding his penny farthing. Sean Malyon Birds of a feather, p36 A photographer mostly found walking south Devon’s coast paths. After 20 years taking pictures, it was time to slow down – until Saga said, ‘Pigeons!’ and the cameras were quickly back into action. Yotam Ottolenghi The comfort zone, p52 Known for championing vegetables, the chef co-owns…

What are your memories of growing up in Battersea, London? I was born in the same room as my mum in a house that had a peppercorn rent. Dad was a scaffolder, then a postal worker, and Mum worked in a chip shop but taught herself hairdressing. Our nan lived with us, and I had a very happy childhood playing out on the street with my three brothers. Where did the acting come from? My life changed when I played the lion in our school play, The Wizard of Oz. It was like an epiphany. Then I went to the National Youth Theatre and on to RADA. Congratulations on last year’s Best Actor Bafta for your role in the BBC drama The Sixth Commandment. How did you feel about it?…

✽ If you have any concerns about abuse of an older person, call the Hourglass 24/7 helpline on 0808 808 8141 ✽ ‘Anyone moving into care should receive a detailed information pack on how to raise concerns and grievances and the processes that would follow,’ says Veronica Gray at Hourglass. ✽ AgeUK advises contacting the care home manager; detailing your concerns in a letter can make it easier to cover everything. Be concise and polite and include any evidence you have (eg emails, notes, bank account activity). ✽ If you are looking after someone with dementia, find out if there is an Admiral (dementia) nurse in your area who could offer advice and moral support: 0800 888 6678…

Thousands of homing pigeons joined the World War II effort as message carriers on both sides, with British, American, Canadian and German forces all using the birds’ navigational skills across Europe, North Africa, India and the Middle and Far East. Birds of prey along the British coast were culled to ensure safe passage for the pigeons. One US pigeon, known as GI Joe (right), saved more than 100 Allied troops from an air raid by their own side by flying 20mph in 20 minutes when no other means of communication could get through in time – and was awarded the Dickin medal for gallantry, the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross, at the Tower of London in 1946.…

Gingham is not only swinging from the fashion rails for spring/summer 2025 but is firmly back for interiors too – along with its bolder, brighter cousin, the chequerboard print. Checks are one of those timeless and versatile patterns that somehow manage to feel fresh and modern too, depending on how you style them. Nothing says homely like traditional gingham (see Rose & Grey’s tablecloth, previous page) but you can also mix it up with larger checks and/or stripes in the same colour, or with clashing floral patterns in different sizes to create a modern effect. ‘Gingham is having a bit of a moment. There’s something wonderfully nostalgic about those timeless checks, like a warm hug from the past,’ agrees Molly Freshwater, co-founder and creative director of Secret Linen Store. ‘But…

Australian Chardonnay stopped being fashionable at a single dinner party, above a pub sometime in the late-1990s. The pub was the Queen Vic in EastEnders. The hosts were Grant and Tiffany Mitchell. They invited Phil and Kathy and shared a bottle of something that looked a lot like Lindeman’s Bin 65 Chardonnay. I remember writing an article about it. You won’t find people recommending that sort of wine in London’s East End today. You’re more likely to be served something obscure and ‘natural’, perhaps by someone in a fisherman’s beanie hat, a leather apron and ‘artisanal’ sandals. Eighties-style, over-oaked Aussie wines are seen as irredeemably… Eighties. The past few decades have seen the dominance of ABC – Anything But Chardonnay – as the marker of a wine lover’s good taste.…

PLAN… for a bean-feast Climbing beans are among the best-value crops to grow and mid-to-late-May is the time to sow – once the soil warms and frosts pass. Prepare a sunny, sheltered spot, tying together a sturdy wigwam of eight canes for them to climb (2m over ground, with 30-40cm in the earth). Dig in a generous layer of compost at the base and sow two beans per cane, discarding the weaker one if both sprout. Where you suffer from slugs, sow into small (7cm) pots of peat-free compost and plant out once roots fill the pot. Runners do best in damper summers while French beans (above) prefer warmer days. Reliable croppers include ‘White Lady’ runners and ‘Cobra’ or purple ‘Cosse Violette’ French beans (seaspringseeds.co.uk). ENJOY… more blooms Spring-flowering bulbs…

There’s a mirror in the lift where I work. It offers without doubt the most unforgiving reflection of oneself in the whole world, so frightening that even if you’ve just returned from a sunny fortnight in the Caribbean and are all suntanned, relaxed and ready to go again, you look dreadful. It might be the harsh lighting – or, then again, perhaps it’s just telling the truth. What’s interesting is how many of my younger colleagues can’t resist staring at themselves in this unflattering mirror. I call it vanity – and can’t remember if I was just like them at their age. Hope not. Frankly, I’m with Grant Edgar, the headmaster of William Farr Church of England Comprehensive School in Lincolnshire, who temporarily banned mirrors earlier in the year from…

I’ve spent my life covering my mouth with my hand. There’s not one childhood photo where I’m smiling. When my second teeth came through, they were higgledy-piggledy. An orthodontist prescribed metal braces, plus teeny plastic bands to be secured around hooks to separate my teeth while I slept. Food got stuck. My mouth ached. No boy would dream of kissing me. In my teens and twenties, I suffered from anorexia, which meant I subsisted on four apples a day, washed down with Diet Coke. My teeth enamel eroded. Back to having a hand in front of my mouth. But, aged 40, by then a glossy magazine editor, I could afford to go to a dentist in Harley Street (fellow patients were Martine McCutcheon and the late Dame Maggie Smith), where…

1 Check with your doctor first if you have a health condition, such as high blood pressure or a heart rhythm condition. ‘In 99.9% of cases, you won’t have a bad reaction,’ says anaesthetist and cold water enthusiast Dr Mark Harper. 2 Warm up first, perhaps in a hot shower. 3 Temperatures of 10-15°C are ideal, but anything up to 20°C will have an effect. Going below 10°C is riskier and has no added benefits. 4 Immerse gradually, but not your head, concentrate on your breathing. 5 Don’t stay in too long. ‘About 80% of the health benefits come in the time it takes for you to get your breath back,’ says Dr Harper. ‘As a general rule of thumb, it’s better to quit wanting more than to get too…

How to get there The closest airport to Dollywood is McGhee Tyson Airport in Knoxville, which is about an hour’s drive away. Tickets A one-day ticket costs $92 (£71) plus tax; a two-day ticket costs $122 (£94) plus tax; a three-day ticket costs $132 (£102) plus tax. There’s a $10 discount if you’re aged over 62. Where to Stay The park’s ‘official’ accommodation is Dollywood’s DreamMore Resort & Spa, and Dollywood’s HeartSong Lodge & Resort. For a chic stay, try The Historic Central Hotel in downtown Sevierville (newhotelcollection.com/centralhotel.php). More information at dollywood.com and tnvacation.com…

MUSIC FESTIVALS BEST FOR NATURE Forest Live HIGH LODGE, THETFORD FOREST (Norfolk); CANNOCK CHASE (Staffordshire); WESTONBIRT ARBORETUM (Gloucestershire); DELAMERE (Cheshire) 12-28 June forestlive.com Buy a ticket, save a tree. That’s the wonderful idea behind Forest Live. It’s not shirking on the line-up either. Headliners include Sting, Gary Barlow, The Script, Elbow, James, Rag’n’Bone Man and Snow Patrol – so there really is something for everyone. Try ‘Glade VIP’ status for an extra £100-£150 if you want a guaranteed spot right at the front of the stage and access to flushable loos. BEST FOR FAMILIES Latitude HENHAM PARK, SUFFOLK 24-27 July latitudefestival.com The only festival where you could plausibly entertain three generations at once. Older family members can marvel at headliner Sting’s longevity while the young enjoy the Kids and Family…

PODCAST by SARAH SHANNON The Gift, BBC Sounds What happens when casual research into your family tree reveals a serious secret? The Gift, a radio series now available on BBC Sounds, talks to people who tapped into the global DNA database available through heritage companies and got far more than they bargained for. A recent episode met David, a man in his 60s who took an ancestry test he’d been gifted for Christmas. When the results came back they said one of the results was a DNA match with his sister Claire. There was just one hitch: David’s sister is called Jessica. He assumed a mistake had been made, but after contacting Claire online he discovered that she was born on the same day, and in the same hospital as…

More puzzles! There are loads more puzzles on the Saga Magazine app. Download from your app store today! PRIZE CROSSWORD £250 prize ACROSS 1 Number one song for Madonna in 2000 (8,3) 8 Outer Hebrides isle 17 miles by 13 miles (5,4) 9 Brand-name soap powder launched in the late 1960s (5) 11 Mainline railway station in the London NW1 district (6) 12 Sheep’s milk cheese made in central Spain (8) 14 Greek mathematician known for his water displacement theory (10) 17 Small country between Ghana and Benin (4) 19 Botanical genus to which the holly tree belongs (4) 20 Archaic name for the giraffe (10) 22 Name of each of the eight bicuspid teeth (8) 24 Cosmetics brand founded by a French entrepreneur in London in 1834 (6) 27 Spiral-horned antelope of Southern Africa (5) 28 Actress who played Hope Harcourt…

You’re never too old to get a tattoo and in my 60th year I’ve just got one. For her 18th, my daughter Anna wanted a tattoo from the Smith’s song Still Ill. So she’s got the words: ‘For there are brighter sides to life’ on her arm. On mine, is the other half of the lyric: ‘and I should know because I’ve seen them’. Had it been a huge anchor on my back, I might have had second thoughts, but I would have done anything to be part of her project. So far, my daughter Martha, 20, hasn’t asked for one! It’s my 60th this month and I’m sending an email invite to everyone in my road to celebrate at the cinema. We’re seeing a film that came out in…