Sound of Music

A new Maria will be gracing the stage in the West End show The Sound Of Music. Summer Strallen's switch from teen Tv soap Hollyoaks to the London Palladium is meant to attract a younger audience, but will it work?

Our showbiz reporter Edward Asta caught up with her to see if it will work.

(A big thanks to Neil Sean for helping me arrange this interview)

MOMA

During my recent visit to the Big Apple i dropped by the Museum of Modern Art.

What could be better a modern art museum in one of the worlds trendiest and richest cities in the world? I was ready to see something new different, bold, mind bending but i did not find this.

Instead i found the same mediums such paintings, photo's and weirdly shaped object just with a slightly more modern take on things. What did i expect? This is modern art? True, but i would have quite liked to have seen something that Incorporated two or more styles in one piece. Something with abit of a shock and awe factor, something incomprehensible or too complicated for words and pictures.

The closest thing i could get to that was the work of Jackson Pollock and as a result i am now ab it of a fan. His work is craziness on a page and fantastic as a result. If you think about what it means it will drive you crazy as well, trust me i have tried. The picture above is a relatively tame creation but make my point. You couldn't explain or describe this accuarately in any meduim which currently exists.

And if you find yourself looking at a melee of colours ask yourself why did this piece end up like this? You'll soon get lost.

A Hattrick

I'm at work at 9.45 pm on a Saturday night and may miss Germanys opening game of the European Cup , so i'm in a bad mood and don't have much time to write an indepth piece.

But here are a few of my opinions on a couple of issues.

New York City - An amazing place. It was less glamourous and dirtier than i expected, but was twice as good.

Euro 2008 - Germany or France will win it. No Cannavaro rules Italy out and France's tricky run in means they may could be knocked out at any stage, where as Germany will progress steadily and will only have overcome Croatia, Portugal and Someone else in the final.

Foo Fighters at Wembley Staduim- Awesome- too good to put into words, listen to their albums and imagine 86,000 people singing, dancing, moshing and getting smashed together and you'll be somewhere close to it, but still nowhere near the mark.

My Computer - Exploding piece of rubbish.

Summer Walkers

The summer brings with it a number of fantastic sights, sounds, smells and spectacles. Flowers in bloom, the sound of merryment and birds chirping, barbecues and beer gardens and World Cups and Olympics.

I don't want to talk about them, these things are great but lets face it you can buy a GQ and read a thrilling article about anyone of these topics from a noble writer. Instead i want to draw attention to and praise the summer walkers.

Who? i hear you ask.

Summer walkers , people you usually drive or take the bus to work but because it's sunny they feel like strolling to work rather than busing it. This group intrigues me most because alot of them clearly don't realise on what they embarked upon when they left home. For instance from my where i live to my nearest tube station is a 7 min bus ride, however it is a 20 minute walk,
and thats at a reasonable pace, and the return journey is up a small hill.

Some people who now join me on my morning walk clearly have not noticed this and one of my great pleasures in the early months of summer is watching the newbies drenched in sweat and clearly agitated try and race home or too work.

My nastier side thinks this is immensely funny whilst my nicer side thinks good on them!

In the meantime a word of caution to all prospective summer walkers, walking around everywhere may look pleasant but it does take abit of effort and please take note of the terrain you will cover. The trail of disgarded clothing left in your wake can't be good for the environment.

Unwritten

A few years ago Natasha Bedingfield released a song called Unwritten, the song lyrics explained the the process of writing and producing a new song.

Consider yourself lucky this intro is not an elaborate build up, teeing up a blog about writing and making a fifteen minute radio documentary. I can assure you this process merits no song and dance.

Also i have been busy making television and radio documentaries over the past few months, which i will make available for your consumption asap.

Let Kids Choose Their Sport

I was on the tube making my way into Uni on a cold Monday morning and i saw a typical scene which explains why you can feed the children of Britain the best and most organic food in the world and teach them the value of exercise all day,, but unless children find a sport they like they are unlikely to adopt a healthy lifestyle.

The games and the competition in which students are placed are the most important tools at a teachers disposal. I say this because my daily route tube route takes me past a schools playground and they were clearly having a games lesson.

How did i know this? It sure as hell wasn't because all the kids were running around enjoying themselves in a coordinated and fun game. The only thing, which suggested half the class weren't suggest standing in a field for no good reason was they were all wearing sports kit.

The usual 'sporty' kids huffed and puffed challenged and dived for the ball whilst the rest stood and watched in a perfect defensive line formation across the halfway line. It was a complete waste of time! Those kids who wanted to play- played- and those who didn't- didn't.

Kids who don't want t play football should be allowed to go and play something else. I am a energetic footballer who enjoys toiling for hours on the training ground, but take the football away and i become idle. I have no interest in running for the sake of it.

All kids should have to find a sport they like and can participate in and surely then they will start to trim down.

Scared or intrigued? I am about to meet Winston Churchill

Now i have met many famous people throughout my life. But in about twenty minutes i'm set to meet an all time legend.

Winston Churchill is coming to Sky News.

Son of Lord Randolph Churchill, surely not, he died in 1965 but , President of the United Kingdom National Defence Association.

Great my dream is destroyed! Like the time i find out Michael Schumacher is coming in, only for him to get sent to bloody Millbank!!

Oh well, i've got plenty of other things to be getting on with instead of chewing the fat with a deceased Prime Minister.