Samuel Larsen - Off With His Dreads

21 year old Samuel Larsen, joint winner of 'The Glee Project' season 1, who plays New Directions member Joe Hart has finally chopped off his famous dread locks and my oh my who knew there was this whole heap of handsome hiding under them... I mean yes he was pretty easy on the eye pre-dread removal but now... HELLO!

Louis Smith - Inspiring A Generation.

Louis Smith. 24. Badass Gymnast. Waltzing Wonder. Inspiration.

 Little over a year ago Louis Smith was catapulted to national hero status with his Olympic dreams coming true. But this didn’t happen over night, it took almost two decade of dedication, sacrifice and hard work, three key attributes that are a catalyst for inspiration.

In July/August last year Louis won two Olympic medals on his doorstep at the London Olympic games, a Silver in the individual pommel horse final and a team bronze. It was a record-breaking moment for Louis and the rest of Team GB. The years of training had paid off, sending out the clear message that if you desire something and you give it your all it can happen for you. This is something Louis promotes and is reflected in his tattoo ‘What I Deserve I Earn’ something of a motto for the next generation of believers to live by.

After an extended and much deserved holiday Louis embarked on a whole new challenge completely out of his comfort zone. Strictly Come Dancing. It was during this show Louis waltzed into the hearts of a not so flexible and new diverse audience of fans. This took the way in which he inspired people and the people themselves he inspired down a whole new path.

Its not only his talent and achievements that inspire people, its his personality and persona. Every TV appearance no matter what the tone of the show and what is asked of him Louis comes across polite, well mannered and down to earth. Quite the feat considering the amount of adoring female and male fans that he has offering to massage any ego. It’s no act either, in person Louis is equally as polite and engaging, a credit to Mummy Smith.

Louis Smith is the type of role model this country has been crying out for and can be proud of, something recognised by the Queen in the form of an MBE in the New Years honours list.

Now its one thing to take my word for it that all these factors surrounding Louis have inspired a generation – the tag line for the 2012 Olympics – but here’s a few people that have personally been inspired, in very different ways.

@GraceTregonning – He’s inspired me to become a gymnast and never give up and don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t.

@BronaghTodd – He inspired me to take up Latin/Ballroom dancing, which it turns out I’m pretty good at J thanks Louis!

@LoveLouis1970 – I want my two boys to grow-up to be as humble, determined and genuine as him.

@MaBelle_UK – Even as his star continues to rise, he has remained down to earth, thoughtful and ‘real’.

@micmay789 – He inspired me to be determined and that 19 years of practice really pays off. Every fan knows he has got moves

What’s next for Louis? Well his new book Louis Smith – My Story So Far is released 4^th July… you can pre-order it right now.

Song Of The Week - Matt Corby 'Resolution'

Australian - Talented - Handsome

What more could you want, take a listen to his new song 'Resolution' then check out Matt Corbys others on YouTube, you won't regret it.

Man Candy - Mats Hummels

In honour of tonights Champions League final we thought we'd do some research into the players that'll be on show (it was awfully hard work, what with all the shirt swapping photos) and make them our Man Candy.

Now Bayern may be hot favourites to lift the trophy but Mats Hummels, Dortmunds No.15 is our hot favourite.

Champions League - The Germans Rule

With the Champions League final just days away it’s a distinct German affair. Out of the 8 last Champions League finals 7 have contained at least one English club, now to be 7/9, where as in this same time frame only 2 finals have played host to a German club. Why now? What are they doing that we aren’t?

Many suggest it all stems back to the German FA completely re-organising their ‘footballing blueprint’, its no secret that the German national team is known for their organisation and strict formations, something the English national team has fallen foul to a few times. But this wasn’t enough for the German FA.

It took time and patience but for years they’ve been re-organising from the bottom up, starting with the academies, each one must have at least 12 players eligible to play for the National team, something the English FA should perhaps look towards considering our top leagues foreign player bias. Showing a keen interest in nurturing home talent has certainly worked with players like Gotze, Reus, Kroos and Muller wowing fans on a weekly basis. Its not only personnel they’ve had an influence over its also the facilities all academies must have grass pitches, artificial pitches, floodlights, massage rooms, etc etc. Yes it cost money, however its evident the investment is paying off.

At the top they introduced the 50 + 1 rule for club ownership, meaning all but two German clubs in the top league are member-owned ruling out a Mr Money Bags takeover who perhaps wouldn’t follow the new German ethos.

Its taken time but with Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, who fnished 1^st and 2^nd respectively in the Bundesliga, taking to the pitch in this years final it is clear they’re doing something right.

Man Candy - Danny Mac (Dodger)

In honour of Danny's sexiest male Soap Award win and him being officially sexy and all, the Hollyoaks hunk is our Man Candy.

Song Of The Week - Passenger 'Let Her Go'

After surfing through the music channels I found myself stumbling upon this gem, now i'm a little bit in love, his voice, oh wow. 

This is our song of the week - Passenger 'Let Her Go'

Big Brother - Back Bigger & Better

As summer (its that thing in the middle of the year where we hope that bright warm ball of fire in the sky makes an appearance) draws closer so does the next series of Big Brother, only this year its bigger and better than ever.

Channel five have heard our cries and had a little overhaul, they’ve made changes, and good ones at that.

The biggest most notable changes are the presenters, we wave goodbye to housemate legend Brian Dowling and welcome Emma Willis, an inspired appointment by channel 5, much like Davina, Emma is a huge long time fan of the show and can pull off the much required sincerity. The live eviction shows will once again be bearable. Over on Bit On The Side its all change to, Emma will still be present but the hilarious Rylan Clark and AJ Odudu will be steering the late night ship of mayhem and opinions. With Rylan and AJ in charge you can guarantee mischief and TV gold.

We also have some new spin-offs to fill our big brother voids between the nightly catch-ups. There’ll be a new Sunday lunchtime Bit On The Side (this used to be the best episode of little brother back in the channel 4 days) as well as brand new show Bit On The Psych. This will see a panel of experts and psychologists analyse the housemates behaviour, so rather than the usual few minutes we get squeezed into Bit On The Side we’ll have the full session.

Finally, they have listened, LIVE FEED IS BACK! (sort of) every evening there’ll be two hours of live feed 7-9 shown on 5* not quite what campaigners had in mind but it’s a start.

Channel 5 have recently begun the teaser trailers for this years series and there's a theme '#WHATSTHESECRET', so I think it is safe to say we're in for another new treat. But what will it be? A secret house? every year every contestant at some point suspects there's a secret house, its about time they gave them reason for suspicion! Or perhaps Big Brother is going to adopt a strategy used by Australian BB where each Housemate has a secret that needs to be guessed? Whatever it turns out to be, i'm excited to find out what it is!

Bring On Summer! (please)

Bye Bye Becks

The day has come, we knew it would happen, David Beckham has announced his retirement from professional football. Perhaps the Mayans got the date wrong and this is the end of the world!

The news broke today and instantly took over every twitter and news channel just showing how popular and relevant David is. He’s had a career every young boy and lets face it every grown man who knows the offside rule could only dream of, even Becks himself said it was his ‘fantasy’.

We should all thank Bobby Charlton for spotting David at a soccer school in Barcelona prompting him signing schoolboy terms with Manchester United age 14. It was here he spent most of his career, the figurehead of the famous youth class of 1992, 394 games were played, 85 goals scored, trophies collected year after year. Then he took over Spain playing for giants real Madrid 115 times before moving stateside cementing his status as global star playing for LA galaxy 118 times with a loan spell at AC Milan racking up another 33 games before finally ending his career with newly crowned French league leaders PSG.

Thankfully our lives will not be Beckham free, with ambassadorial duties for Sky Sports, Adidas and Unicef to name a few along with his iconic celebrity status there will be plenty of Becks based news to meet our needs.

However, there’ll be no more David Beckham in shorts. No more David Beckham swapping shirts at the end of a match. No more sweaty torso’s of the week in ‘Heat Magazine’.

Wipe away those tears and cheer yourself up with these…

England Squad Announced.

Here's the England Squad announced to play Republic of Ireland & Brazil. Reading goalkeeper Alex McCarthy is a surprise inclusion as is the lack of usual regular Gareth Barry. 

Goalkeepers: 
Ben Foster, Joe Hart, Alex McCarthy. 
Defenders: 
Leighton Baines, Gary Cahill, Ashley Cole, Phil Jagielka, Glen Johnson, Phil Jones, Joleon Lescott, Kyle Walker. 
Midfielders: 
Michael Carrick, Tom Cleverley, Frank Lampard, James Milner, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Theo Walcott. 
Forwards: 
Andy Carroll, Jermain Defoe, Wayne Rooney, Daniel Sturridge, Danny Welbeck. 

Jack Is Back - 24 Returns

FOX have confirmed it. It is happening. Jack is back!

Now quell your excitement, its not quite 24 as we know and love it. After the shows three year hiatus Kiefer Sutherland will reprise his role as no nonsense rule bending, baddie killing, Jack Bauer, in a 12 episode season. 

12 episodes for a show based on a day set in real time, how does that work? I hear you cry! Well… the newly named 24: Live Another Day will follow a similar format simply missing out those less interesting filler hours. So we’ll still get everything in chronological order but Bauer and Co’s chopper rides will be twice as quick.

Fingers crossed the rebooted season will be a huge success and we get treated to even more Jack!

Only just over a year to wait…

Man Candy - David Gandy

David Gandy - White Pants Man - Adonis

He's oh so classically handsome, and boy can he pull off a pair of white speedos. Arguably the biggest male model in the world, he's officially man candy.

Eurovision - Our Year (Definitely Isn't)

Its that time of year again! Cue foreign power ballads, euro pop, outlandish outfits and awkward presenters attempting humour. Yes, its Eurovision time. 18^th May is the date our evening will be invaded by a marathon show of songs and performers more camp than Elton John playing naked twister with an oiled up Chippendale wearing a cowboy hat… in fact that sounds like it could be the inspiration for a few eastern European entries.

Years past, lets face it, we’ve done rubbish! So rubbish in fact the United Kingdom were beaten by Jedward! But this year, this is our year (definitely won’t be) the UK have pulled out the Welsh tinted big gun… Bonnie Tyler. ‘Believe In Me’ is certainly no ‘Total Eclipse Of The Heart’ but with Bonnie and her famous powering vocals a live performance should win over the voting European public. Maybe. Hopefully. At the very least not a Nil Pois.

Theatrics and clichés aside we have the voice of sanity Graham Norton talking us through the show, making the ordeal tolerable.

Bring On Saturday!

Angelina Jolie - Brave & Inspiring

Lara Croft, Mrs Smith, Evelyn Salt (we’ll forget 'The Tourist'), just some of the names Angelina Jolie is known by. Until now. Now she’ll be associated with the likes of, brave and inspirational. Labels Angelina would not have wished for under such circumstances but will no doubt tactfully embrace.

Angelina began the process of undergoing a double mastectomy in February and was completed by the end of April. She took the decision to be proactive as doctors estimated she had an 87% risk of breast cancer due to Angelina carrying the BRCA1 gene. On the decision she says “I decided to be proactive and to minimise the risk as much as I could” and “I feel empowered that I made a strong choice that in no way diminishes my femininity” Her partner Brad Pitt commended her bravery as “absolutely heroic”.

Since taking the news public there’s been an outpouring of admiration and support for her honesty, such media coverage is hopefully going to act as a catalyst for many more women getting checked out and becoming aware of their options.

After the double mastectomy her chances of developing breast cancer have reduced dramatically to under 5%.

Lets hope the outdated and overused ‘adoption’ jokes finally dry out and a little appreciation for her decision and continuing charity work begins.

The Start

Here it begins. 

ItsBizNews. 

gossip - news - TV - films - celebrities - scandal - everything!