Christmas Quiz: today’s winner is @BeccaJW
Rebecca Wheeler (@BeccaJW) is our winner today! She correctly identified that Rihanna is the umbrella-loving pop star who shared the stage with X Factor winner Matt Cardle at the weekend. As nobody answered yesterday’s question correctly, Rebecca wins two prizes – a luxury Christmas pudding and a stocking.
Congratulations Rebecca from all the team at Speed!
'Speeps' Profiles – Marie Efthymiou
This week, Marie Efthymiou (phonetic spelling available on request) entertains us with holiday anecdotes and suggestions as to how one might explain ‘PR’ to a four year old.
You’ve just got back from your holiday. Where did you go?
I had the most amazing two weeks! We started in not so sunny San Francisco (the best bit was visiting Alcatraz). And then onto Vegas which was out of this world and one massive party! And ended up in LA, which was all about soaking up the sun and celeb hunting (I didn’t see any, but I do have some very interesting snaps of Jennifer Aniston, Simon Cowell and Orlando Bloom’s front gates if you’re interested?)
What was your best meal?
I’m embarrassed to say but it was actually in a Greek restaurant on Long Beach – you see we’re not to dissimilar to you Brits, us Greeks will always sniff out the lamb kebabs.
I also became a little obsessed with their pancakes for breakfast. Everyday I ordered a short stack buttermilk pancake with maple syrup and bacon (very yummy, but thank goodness I don’t live there as I would be HUGE, it was near to impossible to find anything that resembled fresh fruit or veg).
What’s the one thing you have done on a holiday that would most shock us?
Being the good Greek girl that I am, I didn’t do anything that risqué or shocking. But I did take a liking to Harley’s and spent most of the time travelling around LA on one (on the back that is, there’s no ways I could control one of those big, bad boys).
How would you explain PR in three sentences to Steve Earls’ 4-year old?
We tell stories. And we try to make them as exciting as possible (which can sometimes be hard) so when we tell all the big bosses who work at the newspapers, magazines, TV and with computers they like them so much that they tell the whole wide world (well not always the whole world, sometimes just Basingstoke).
If someone wrote a biography about you, what do you think the title would be?
Good Greek Girls Don’t Exist
Why are manholes round?
Well it’s pretty common knowledge that round tubes are the strongest and most material-efficient shape against the compression of the earth around them. And obviously we all already know that it also needs to be round as human beings have a roughly circular cross-section.
'Speeps' Profiles – Simon Matthews
This week, the winner of our ‘Wall of Shame’ competition (on the basis of the submission of this super snap), Simon Matthews, answers some suitably random questions about fetishes, football and the role of PR in today’s business climate.
Q – Tell us about your worst habit – throw in any fetishes.
A – I’m far too generous which has led to at least one of my friends owing me £600
Q – List the 3 most embarrassing things you’ve ever said/done – whilst sober.
A- Inadvertently accusing my step-step-grandfather (step-dad’s step-dad) of using inflatable sex dolls – in my defence I was young and didn’t really understand what I was talking about.
In ‘Nam I fell down an open manhole while walking across a field with my friends, after an interesting run in with some prostitutes who stole 100,000 Dong (about 5 of her majesty’s sterling pounds) – without any form of professional services being exchanged I hasten to add.
I once ate a habenero chilli in one mouthful because an attractive lady bet I couldn’t. I was successful in the attempt but my mouth was in such a state of pain and dribbling that I was rendered insensible.
Q – What’s your take on today’s business climate and the role & importance of PR?
A – It’s still a little rocky out there in places and PR is as important as ever – if not more so. A company with no PR will struggle for awareness in a competitive business environment, so they need us to put them right in front of their customers in a way that advertising and other marketing disciplines can’t.
Q – Are you a football fan? Why? Who do you support? Have they won anything?
A – Crystal Palace. Winning is for chumps.
Q – I hear match.com will soon have a new member – what qualities do you possess that one might…consider?
A – In the name of research, I have bravely volunteered to sign up to match.com. Apart from being generally great at everything, I’m a pretty good cook. All I can ask is that the ladies form an orderly queue.
Q – Name your top 3 Speeps and the reasons why you love them/don’t love them so much. We’re an honest bunch, don’t be afraid of the possibly hostile repercussions.
A – Very difficult to choose as I do like all of you lot, despite your best efforts – here’s an arbitrary selection:
Bex has to get a look in on this – she’s lovely and, as a bonus, hasn’t fired me.
John Brown – often looks quite dapper and is the source of many japes.
Nicole – lunch buddy extraordinaire.
'Speeps' Profiles – Sarah Apps
This week, our newest member of the Speed team gushes a little bit about the rest of us (clever lady) and talks of leeches and beef stew & dumplings.
Who is the person, at Speed, who has made the biggest impression on you this week (for right or wrong reasons)?
I can’t just pick just one person as everyone has been really great and welcoming!!!
What’s the worst thing you ever did on a school exchange trip?
I told my friend there were leeches in the water halfway through a raft race. She panicked and we all fell in and lost the race.
If you could ask David Beckham one question, what would it be?
I’d ask Becks if I could have a picture with him – with his top off.
When was the last time you broke the law?
I’m too much of a good girl and have never broken the law, apart from speeding and underage drinking but most people have done that! (Not consecutively though)
From ‘first’ impressions, what one word best sums up Speed?
Immense
What is the last thing you cooked that you were proud of?
Beef stew and dumplings.
We all scream for ice cream!
Those pesky people at Ben & Jerry’s are attempting to traumatise those of us who are desperately trying to get their body bikini-ready at some point this summer by touting their wares FOR FREE across the UK today with their Fair Cone Day.
Yes, their Caramel Chew Chew is work of the ice cream gods and yes, it makes me want to cry tears of joy with every spoonful but it certainly isn’t going to make my arse look any less like two bags of porridge and any more like JLos.
As a grown woman I would love to be able to have mastered the art of self control but unfortunately, when it comes to pleasures of the gastronomic kind, I am at a lost (apart from mushrooms, bleaugh, you can keep your dirty mushrooms). Being based in Leicester Square the Ben & Jerry’s shop is a mere stones throw away. I’ve noted that the queue isn’t that long…that there’s still plenty of ice cream to go around…that the people look so happy as they leave with their cones-of-delight….!
But then I remember what happened last time I went on hols without any kind of abstention from pie, and from what I didn’t manage to block from memory, it wasn’t pretty and no amount of tanning was going to make that blubber-like substance ‘normal’.
And so the ongoing internal battle continues. Well, until 5pm at least when the offer ends…wish me luck!
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Launch of The Mads
As a parent, I know how much I rely on the help and advice available freely, 24/7 through the internet – whatever the problem, there’s always someone who has shared their experience online. And when it comes to the lighter side of parenting, the comical tales from other mums and dads can help raise a smile even after the most frustrating day with a toddler.
Most mum and dad bloggers write their blogs in their own time, after a day at work and when the kids are in bed so that’s why it’s great to see them being recognised with the launch of the Mummy and Daddy (MAD) Blog Awards, which will celebrate the utter brilliance of British parent blogs.
There are ten different categories to enter in The Mads – everything from ‘Blogger of the Year’ to ‘Funniest Mad Blog’ and I for one can’t wait to see who the winners are when they are announced in September.
To enter or to nominate a blogger, simply visit the site and complete the online nomination form.
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Love it, hate it . . .
I’m a loud and proud Marmite lover – there’s no better snack than a wedge of cheddar dipped into a jar of luxuriously silky dark Marmite, so you can imagine my glee when I read in today’s Metro that Unilever has produced a Marmite Extra Old, also known as XO. Due to hit the supermarket shelves a week today (March 8), XO is a result of a secret blend maturing for 28 days – four times longer than the original product.
The new recipe has been developed with the help of the Mamarati – a secret group of 40 hardcore fans that have expressed their love for all things Marmite flavoured across a variety of different social media networks.
Other fans of the savoury spread can join the new social media group at www.marmarati.org – a website dedicated to Marmite’s loyal fans. Here you can engage in conversation with fellow Marmite lovers and upload videos, poems and photographs of how best to enjoy the strong tasting spread – the most creative posts win one of 200 commemorative jars.
Marmite is the latest in a long line of brands that are using social media to interact directly with their consumers and they’re doing it well.
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Women & the workplaceThe endless debate about women in the workplace continues with two very different stories this week. First new research revealed that what women want in 2010 is a husband who’ll be the main breadwinner so we can stay at home and raise the children. Apparently today’s generation is returning to the traditional values of home and family, with the men going out and doing the work. Whilst our mothers, or even grandmothers, lived through a time when women fought for full-time work and better pay, today women with young children are going back to the very traditional division of labour in which they want the husband as the breadwinner.
In contrast celebrity mum-to-be Denise Van Outen ignited the debate in a different direction yesterday when she spoke out about how she how she wanted to work but felt that she had lost her judging job on a BBC show because she was pregnant. In her words “I’m not ill, I’m having a baby.”
So should women stay at home or go out to work? Who knows – personal circumstances or desires make the choice for most but at least women today have the option. When Anne Diamond fell pregnant for the first time in 1987, there was total outrage that she planned to continue working five days a week as a presenter on Good Morning Britain. As she explains ‘My pregnancy was even the subject of a leader article in the Guardian, along the lines of ‘what is the world coming to when a pregnant woman expects to continue with her high-profile job as though nothing has changed?” It’s hard to believe but she was in fact the first TV presenter to be pregnant and to go on doing her job!
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