Grace Jones, the oldest person in Britain, is celebrating her 112th birthday tomorrow.

She’s known to her friends as ‘Amazing Grace’ and she says that the secret to her long life is knocking back a dram of whisky every day for the last 60 years.

Her nightly tipple is a measure of Famous Grouse.

Grace was born in 1906, the year that the world’s oldest gas balloon race was first held and suffragettes disrupted the State Opening of Parliament.

It was also the year that the Bakerloo and Piccadilly Lines on the London Underground were first opened.

Originally from Liverpool, Grace came into the world just five years after the death of Queen Victoria.

She’s survived the first and second world wars and lived through 26 prime ministers.

Coincidentally, Grace has taken the title of Britain’s oldest person from another woman, also called Grace Jones.

The previous title-holder was born in 1899 and died at 113 in November 2013.

Grace is a former millinery factory owner and mother of one, and now lives in Broadway, Worcestershire.

She says: ‘I never miss my night cap. All I have is the whisky at night.

‘Whisky is very good for you.

‘I started having a nightly tot of it when I turned 50 so I’ve been having it every night for the last 60 years and I certainly have no intention of stopping now.

‘My doctor said “keep up with the whisky Grace, it’s good for your heart”.

‘I still feel the same as I did when I was 60.

‘The best memory of my life was when I married my husband Leonard. He was a true gentleman, the son of a parson.

‘We were always together and we loved one another.’

Grace married chief engineer Leonard Roderick Jones in 1933 in Liverpool. They enjoyed 53 years on marriage until he died in 1986, aged 79.

Grace still says she’s in good health.

‘I feel fine. I feel full of spirit. I have received lots of nice cards and presents this year and they are still coming in. We will be here next year as well.’

Grace is going to celebrate her milestone birthday surrounded by her friends and family in a large country estate called Buckland Manor.

Her lunch will be accompanied by a complimentary glass of whisky.

Deidre McCarthy, Grace’s daughter, is 80 years old and she admires her mother’s long life.

‘My mother is extraordinary’, she said. ‘She’s still very particular over her appearance and insists on always looking her best.

‘Once she married my father she very much became a lady of leisure.

‘She enjoys meeting people and still reads a little and watches television.

‘Each week her carer takes her into Broadway where she likes to do a little shopping if the weather is nice; she is in amazing health but her hearing is a little poor.

‘She is glamorous, beautiful and intelligent. She is really alert and still with it.

‘She loves her tot of whisky every evening before she goes to bed and why not? Whisky is her thing and she’s been having it for the last 60 years.

‘I must say I certainly take after her in that regard, it’s the perfect way to unwind at the end of the day and it’s certainly done my mother no end of good.’

Happy birthday Grace, we hope you have a wonderful day with the people you love and enjoy a healthy tot of Famous Grouse.

If the regular nightcap is really the secret of Grace’s long life, then pass the whisky.

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If your idea of the perfect day is spending it in bed asleep, you’re in luck – because you can now get paid to do just that.

Nasa is looking to pay someone £12,000 to sleep for 70 days.

They want to see how the human body adapts to weightlessness in a ‘bed rest’ study.

Yes, it sounds pretty simple – but just to put it into perspective: you have to do absolutely everything in bed.

To participate in the study, you must live, eat and shower in the same position as it causes the body, and the cardiovascular system, to adapt as though it were in space.

Nasa basically wants to monitor your body. And don’t worry, you’ll be in safe hands. They often rely on human subjects to support data collection.

The results allow countermeasures to be devised that will help astronauts on space missions, as well as bed-ridden people on Earth – so, you’ll be doing a good deed while getting £12,000 richer.

What have you got to lose? Well, apart from your social life, of course.

If you’re on the lookout for another job, one company is looking for people to become official pie tasters.

Holland’s Pies is looking for five people who absolutely love pies to taste their ranges.

You get paid in pies – an entire year’s supply, in fact.

Sure, it’s not thousands of pounds, but at least you definitely won’t go hungry.

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British traditions are weird.

Winding ribbons round a pole because summer is coming? Burning the effigy of a Catholic who tried to bomb Parliament? Rolling cheese down a hill? All a bit strange.

The giant vegetable competition at Harrogate Autumn Flower Show in Yorkshire is one of these bizarre, wonderful and quintessentially British traditions.

The Flower Show is probably the most important autumn gardening event in Britain, giving keen vegetable growers the opportunity to show off the monstrously large offerings from their allotments.

Vegetables are judged on their length and weight, and there are 13 classes, including pumpkin, marrow, parsnip, leek, cabbage, potato, beetroot, carrot, rhubarb, runner bean and cucumber.

The world-famous vegetable competition was held on Friday, and the entries were impressive.

Let’s have a look at some massive vegetables, shall we?

The very abstract carrot

The cabbage you could curl up in like a leafy nest

The pumpkin that could double as Cinderella’s carriage

The onion that will definitely make you cry

Just some men rolling a giant pumpkin, nothing to see here

Cor blimey that’s a big cabbage

The reverential cradling of a giant marrow

This isn’t even the strangest competition in the UK.

We also hold the annual World Nettle Eating Championship in Dorset, the World Conker Championship in Northamptonshire and the Gurning World Championships in Cumbria.

Congratulations to all the winners with the heaviest and longest veggies.

May your allotments always be blessed with gargantuan crops.

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Cats always get what they want. And one white cat recently wanted some biscuits.

So he went out of his way to get them himself.

The fluffy white cat was spotted by shoppers in a Tesco Express store on the lookout for food on 12 September.

He’d walked right into the shop in Rugby at around 9am and headed straight for the pet food aisle.

After browsing the treats, he knocked over a box of Go-Cat biscuits before curling up to take a nap next to them.

Shopper Melanie Morris-Jones, 39, said she had to double take when she spotted the cat ‘chilling out’ by the cat food.

The mum-of-two said: ‘I had just popped in to the Tesco to get a drink and some food before work.

‘I came across the cat just lying there next to the box of cat food it had knocked off.

‘It had clearly tried to go for the food but I don’t know it must have just given up.

‘I asked the cashier if she knew there was a cat over in the pet aisle

‘She said yes she knew it was there and that it was a regular.

‘I’m not sure who owned it – but it was completely chilled out. The cat looked like it didn’t even care.’

Melanie added that she found the cat just lying there so funny that she had to take a picture, and posted it to Facebook.

She added: ‘To be honest I didn’t expect it to get so much attention.

‘It was a bit ironic that the cat was down that aisle as it looked quite plump and well-looked after.

‘Its certainly not something you see every day.’

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Shellfish, pate, and blue cheese: All things you’re supposed to avoid while you’re pregnant.

So far, so easy (unless your cravings are specifically for stilton).

Going without your morning cup of joe might be a step too far, though.

Are you allowed to drink coffee while pregnant, or should it be avoided?

You can still drink coffee during pregnancy, which is good news for those who can’t function without caffeine.

You will, however, have to limit your caffeine intake, as high levels of caffeine consumption when pregnant has been linked to low birthweight babies.

The recommended limit according to the NHS is 200mg per day.

To put that into context, a cup of instant coffee has about 100mg, while a cup of filter coffee has about 140mg.

A can of cola is 40mg, and a cup of tea is 75mg.

Switching to tea or decaf might be a better option if you want to drink more hot drinks, but you can still have regular coffee in moderation.

Keep in mind that it’s also advised to have fewer than four cups of herbal or green tea daily.

One green teabag can contain up to 50mg of caffeine, but the limit for the caffeine-free herbal varieties as well as this is down to the fact there has been little research done on the effects on unborn children when it comes to herbal and green tea.

NHS guidelines state that although this is recommended, don’t worry too much if you go slightly over on the odd occasion.

Drink plenty of water and eat a balanced diet alongside watching your caffeine intake and you and baby should be just fine.

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Apologies in advance if you haven’t been to the gym in months: Henry Tseng is about to make you feel pretty lazy.

Henry is 111 years old and still works out every single day.

Each morning he pedals on a recumbent exercise bike for exactly half an hour, does yoga poses while sitting in his wheelchair, or squeezes stress balls to strengthen his grip.

In his 90s he used to do an aerobics class each morning at six, and could still do yoga poses and headstands.

His daughter, Linda Hsia, told Daily Mail Online that her dad has always exercised, joining the YMCA gym in 1978. He’s always lived a healthy lifestyle, enjoying swimming and sports in his youth and refusing to drink or smoke.

When Henry lived in Hong Kong he learned daily yoga moves from an instructor who came to his house. He kept up the habit even when he moved to Los Angeles in 1975.

Of course, a solid exercise routine needs to go with a healthy diet – and Henry’s got that covered.

For breakfast he has two soft-boiled eggs, half a grapefruit, half a banana, bread with butter and jam, and half a bowl of cereal or oatmeal. He washes it all down with a cup of coffee and a glass of orange juice.

He’ll pop out for lunch, taking his pick from Chinese, Italian, or Mexican food, and sometimes treats himself to McDonald’s.

For dinner it’s baked chicken, ground beef, pulled pork, omelettes, or soup.

And after each workout he enjoys a mocha – he’s not interested in depriving himself of things he enjoys.

Henry told the LA Times that he credits his long life and good health to a positive attitude as well as his commitment to daily exercise.

‘I have lots of small troubles like everybody, but I just say, “forget about it”,’ says Henry. ‘Nothing is impossible.’

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If you’ve looked at the cover of any magazines recently, you’ll know that the standard string of daisies strung around your hair is dead.

In the flower headbands place is a truer definition of the flower crown: A regal mass of flowers decorating the wearer’s head.

Please see Beyoncé and Rihanna’s Vogue covers for reference.

But as glorious as celebs’ piles of flowers may be, they’re perhaps not the most wearable trend.

Topping your head with bundles of roses and towering peonies is surprisingly heavy – you’ll likely get a sore neck by lunchtime. The arrangements are delicate, so easily fall apart, and are unlikely to be celebrated by commuters struck by hayfever thanks to your pollen-packed hat.

Thankfully, another beauty icon has come up with a take on the look that’s more suitable for the average wearer.

Taylor R – the same YouTuber behind garden brows and Christmas tree brows – has introduced to the world the flower vase hair trend.

Don’t panic, you don’t have to figure out a way to tape a glass vase to your head without it shattering after two nods.

Flower vase hair simply makes your hair look like a vase holding a bunch of flowers.

Taylor demonstrates the technique on her Instagram, explaining that you use a plastic bottle for your base, pulling the hair up around it before shaping it into a vase design with hair ties.

Once you’ve made your hair suitably vase-esque, you place your chosen flowers into the bottle and let them peek out of the top. The end result is pretty glorious.

We reckon this look is perfect for day and night, adding some brightness and joy to the workplace, a date, or a trip to Tesco.

Just be careful of doorways, especially if you’re on the taller side. The trend adds quite a few inches to your height and you do risk knocking your flowers out of your masterful creation.

You can easily tweak the look to fit your vase aesthetic. Try tying your hair into two vases, use a mini bottle for a petite vase, or decorate the body of your hair vase with hair clips and extra flowers.

Taylor’s look has sparked a trend across Instagram, so there’s plenty of inspiration for you to gaze upon. Enjoy.

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Two brothers who spend four hours a day tending to their pumpkins are hoping to smash the record for growing the largest one in the world.

Stuart and Ian Paton, 57, use over 100 gallons of water every day in order to grow their pumpkins, increasing the weight by 60lbs every 24 hours at their peak.

They said their favourite for this year already has an incredible circumference of 19ft 6ins and the stem is bigger than a heavyweight boxer’s forearm.

The brothers are the current UK record holders, with a pumpkin they grew last year weighing more than a tonne at 162 stone (2269 lbs).

However, they want to beat the world record – which is 2624lbs – and also become Grower of the Year by having the heaviest combined total of three pumpkins on the planet at the same time.

They say they have six ‘absolute monsters’ at the moment and will be sending their second and third heaviest to competitions in Holland and France, but keeping their best for the UK.

The pair said they will keep what they believe is their champion to be weighed at this year’s Autumn Pumpkin Festival, in Netley, Hants, at the beginning of October.

Ian said: ‘This pumpkin should absolutely smash our previous record from last year.

‘We have only been growing it for 96 days and it definitely weighs well over 2,000lbs.

‘My brother Stuart and I probably spend around fours hours a day tending to pumpkins, using 100 gallons of water each day.

‘We have six plants growing at the moment and they are all absolute monsters, the smallest one ‘the runt’ as we call it, is well over 1,200lbs.

‘At the moment we can’t gauge how heavy they are going to be, but it will be well over 2,000lbs.

‘The circumference of our biggest is 19ft 6ins around and the stem is bigger than a heavyweight boxer’s forearm, it’s like something out of Jack and the Beanstalk.

‘We’re aiming for the world record so it needs to be big.

‘We’re having our biggest weighed in Britain because Britain’s our patch, we’re quite patriotic in that sense.’

The brothers, who work as gardeners in Pennington, in the New Forest, Hants, say growing pumpkins has become a bit of an addiction, having been doing it for the past eleven years.

Ian said: ‘It all started with one pumpkin that we were growing eleven years ago.

‘We went away on holiday and when we got back we rushed down the garden to have a look – and there was this big pumpkin.

‘It wasn’t too huge – it was about 64lbs, but it had shot up so quickly.

‘It’s amazing watching them grow so much – there’s nothing like it, they’re just incredible.’

The twins’ massive pumpkin from last year was flown over to New York, USA, for two weeks to be featured in the New York Botanical Gardens.

Ian added: ‘It was amazing, they flew us and the pumpkin out. It was a crazy adventure.

‘After we’re done with the pumpkin it just ends up on the compost, we do save the seeds for our next grow, but there is nothing you can really do with the rest of the pumpkin.

‘You definitely cannot make pumpkin pie with it, I hope people will one day stop asking me that. In fact, it tastes more like watermelon than anything else.’

The world record for the largest pumpkin is 187.5 stone (2624 lbs), which was grown in Belgium by Mathias Willemijns, but Ian believes he and his brother will soon break that.

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Model and new mother Valeria Garcia shattered boundaries by walking for Marta Jakubowski at London Fashion Week while pumping breast milk.

She revealed that she’d been using the Elvie Pump and expressing milk throughout the entire show.

Garcia wore a black trouser suit and bra, with the pumps underneath.

She gave birth to her second child, a son called Anton, in June.

The Elvie Pump is the first ever silent and smartphone-controlled breast pump that can be worn under your clothes, with no need for wardrobe changes.

The connected smartphone app automatically monitors milk flow and tracks pumping sessions, and makes it convenient for mothers to go about their day to day lives without having to take time out to pump.

It’s designed to suit women who want to go back to work while producing enough breast milk for their babies.

Marta Jakubowski’s SS19 collection was inspired by her teenage memories of the Noughties, youthful rebellion and the desire to embrace her femininity, mixing day go colours, body jewellery and exposed underwear with pencil skirts and two pieces in more mature, subdued shades.

The Elvie Pump was included in the show to demonstrate Jakubowski’s commitment to female empowerment and to celebrate the independence and freedom that all women should be able to enjoy.

Tania Boler, founder and CEO of Elvie said: ‘Being a new mother can be incredibly stressful.

‘We spoke to a lot of women about the struggles they experience post-pregnancy and it became obvious that outdated pumping technology was a real obstacle for women wanting to provide breast milk for their baby.

‘Women need technology that keeps up with their busy lifestyles, especially at a time of so much change. We designed Elvie Pump to make breast pumping as easy, streamlined and flexible as possible for mums.

‘Our aim is to transform the way women think and feel about themselves by providing the tools to address the issues that matter most to them, and Elvie Pump does just that.’

Earlier in the year, model Mara Martin was praised for breastfeeding her baby while she walked for a Sports Illustrated show in Miami.

She gave her 5-month-old daughter Aria a feed while modelling a sparkly gold bikini.

If the notoriously exclusive world of fashion is willing to embrace the biological function of breasts, perhaps public breastfeeding will cease to be seen as a controversial issue.

For those interested in buying the Elvie Pump, there’s a waiting list that customers can join ahead of the October release.

The device costs £229 for a single pump, and £429 for two.

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River Island has just launched a mother-daughter range for any mums who fancy matching with their kids.

The 12-piece line was designed by former hairdresser Lou Teasdale, who cut hair for one Direction, and blogger Emi Ozmen.

The collection, Silver & Lux x River Island, was named after the two women’s children, Silver and Lux.

It features a range of items, including a T-shirt saying ‘I make the rules’ and one saying ‘I break the rules’, 70s prints and denim pieces.

Announcing the new line, River Island said ‘it’s time to get matchy-matchy in more ways than one’.

Launching the range online, the mums said they wanted to release a ‘twinning collection’ that wasn’t ‘cheesy to wear’.

‘It’s our guilty pleasure twinning with the girls but it’s hard to find cool or vintage styles,’ they said.

‘We have always loved vintage clothing so we’ve taken a lot of the patterns and colours from the 70s.

‘We needed things that worked for both us and the kids and very much wanted the girls to be “mini us’s”, not us as giant kids obviously.’

Both Lou and Emi have been sharing photos of their matching outfits, posing with their kids, and the response has been amazing.

So far, comments include: ‘Love this idea! I am going to have to buy 6 of each plus my own because I am turning this into a “Auntie and her mini squad” matching range. I love the track suit. My nephew will look better in it than all of us!’

One person wrote: ‘Not a mom but you can DEFINITELY bet that I’m buying matching clothes for my niece and I’.

The collection is coming to stores soon, with prices starting at £8.

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Jamie Oliver has been losing fans left right and centre ever since he took away our beloved Turkey Twizzlers.

But now people on Twitter are actually calling on him after Food Insider shared a video of a burger so huge it feeds six people.

The 13 pound burger, dubbed ‘Belly of the Beast’ and created by Truffles N Bacon, a cafe in Las Vegas, is made with beef, pork belly, tater tots, Cheetos, cheese, fried eggs and more.

It’s so big it fills an entire large dinner plate, and comes encased in what looks like half a loaf of bread.

Yes, it’s over the top, which is why people are saying Jamie Oliver should be focusing on unnecessary food like this instead of trying to tax our milkshakes.

People have called the burger a ‘mess’

Other people have slammed how unhealthy it looks

Other people have been noting how difficult it looks to eat.

One person wrote: ‘These giant foods just look a pain in the arse to eat.

‘Burgers are burger sized so you can get a bit o bun, meat, sauce etc in on bite, fuck ploughing through 300 bites of meat to hit a bit of bread.’

And we’d have to agree. This burger looks absolutely impossible to eat. And it’d still be as messy sharing it with six.

But hey, at least one person’s into it:

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When it comes to celebrating animals, we tend to focus on the small and fluffy.

Fuzzy ducklings. Tiny rabbits. Cute little kittens. Puppies.

Our hooved pals – pigs, horses, donkeys, llamas – are woefully unappreciated, dismissed as farmyard animals rather than being honoured for the majestic creatures they are.

Righting this wrong is Gerrard Gethings with his photo series, Hoof.

The series’ title is fairly self-explanatory: Gerrard photographs animals with hooves.

But these aren’t your standard animal snaps. The beasts are given the respect they deserve with portraits in the style of classical paintings.

Hoof is part of a larger collection of celebrations of underrated animals, called Ordinary Creatures. Gerrard has previously photographed pigeons and geese with the same beauty and grace he delivered to falcons and eagles.

Take a look at Gerrard’s photographs below to get a new appreciation for these less-celebrated animals. If you’re inspired, you can buy prints of the pictures online.

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A stunning Victorian church complete with an original steeple, tower, stained glass windows and pews is on the market for offers over £650,000.

Church House in Cupar, Fife has been converted into a family home after previously serving the local community until the 1980s.

The C-listed property dates back to 1843 and despite a modern conversion into the 21st century, it still includes many ecclesiastic features.

It was put on the market by estate agents Galbraith recently for offers over £650,000 – and has been described as an ‘imaginative conversion’.

The listing reads: ‘Church House is a most impressive country property, beautifully and sympathetically converted to provide outstanding, flexible accommodation well suited to modern day family living.

‘The building dates from 1843, with later additions, and was the church serving the local community until the 1980’s, at which point the transformation into a superb family home began.

‘The house is Category ‘C’ Listed and sits in approximately 0.5 acres of garden ground with the imaginative conversion creating a unique and delightful property with many superb features which could have significant potential for business use such as holiday letting, B & B or similar.’

The building features stone pillars, archways, vaulted ceilings and beautiful lancet windows. It sits within 0.5 acres of garden and includes a master bedroom, four double bedrooms, two attic rooms and a cellar.

On the ground floor is a kitchen and breakfast room, a family room and a study with a wood-burning stove and a separate open fire.

There are folding doors between the two rooms, so that they can be used as one large room if the buyer prefers.

The first floor, featuring the bedrooms, can be accessed by either a main tower staircase or a feature spiral staircase from the main hall area.

There’s a spacious upstairs sitting room which offers ‘flexible living space’, next to a master bedroom which benefits from a dressing room with a walk in wardrobe and en suite bathroom.

Finally, there is also a ‘wonderful galleried reading area’ and a ladder accesses two attic rooms, and three unique rooms in the tower which are hidden away in the top floor – which is a former belfry – for anyone wanting to enjoy ‘wonderful panoramic views’ over the countryside.

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Every time I listen to the soulful voice of India Arie singing the words ‘I am not my hair, I am not this skin, I am the soul that lives within’ I feel such a resonance with the mantra.

At the same time, I am saddened that black people are repeatedly told by society that they are their hair.

Chikayzea Flanders is among several black school children who have been subjected to arbitrary policies about their hair from schools that clearly preoccupy themselves with things that shouldn’t impact a child’s education.

He was ordered by his school to cut his dreadlocks or risk being kept in isolation from the rest of his class. His mum, Tuesday Flanders, rightfully took legal action against the school’s demands and won.

To order such a thing of Chikayzea is to dismiss the cultural and historical significance of his hair, and there could be no justification for such a demand that isn’t inextricably linked to racism.

It was argued that, being Rastafarian, Chikayzea’s hair is an intrinsic part of his belief system.

It’s a fair point, but one that frustrates me – because a black person’s hair choices should not need to be validated to appease others.

This incident doesn’t exist in a vacuum.

Black people have manipulated their hair in many forms for centuries, just to appear ‘neat and tidy’, lest they be labelled as savage or unkempt.

In 2014, the American army banned black female soldiers from wearing natural hairstyles, even though looks such as cornrows were more efficient for the soldiers to wear.

Met with uproar, the policy was quickly scrapped.

Black hair is political.

The natural hair movement was born out of the need for black women to embrace their hair in its natural form, after spending centuries assimilating to the demands forced upon us by societies that promote Eurocentric beauty ideals.

Another example is the incident at Pretoria High School for Girls in Gauteng, South Africa; in 2016, the school demanded that pupils chemically straighten their hair to avoid ‘untidy afros’.

This sparked a debate in the country on racism still being present and the need for a wider conversation on the issue.

Decades ago, American writer Audre Lorde wrote an essay called ‘Is Your Hair Still Political’, where she details how a black woman working at airport security denied Lorde permission to travel, because had dreadlocks.

Meanwhile, her companion (who was sporting a hairstyle that was considered less political) was allowed to travel.

It’s interesting that a black woman enforced these rules, because it speaks volumes to the ways in which some black people have internalised how our hairstyles have been policed over time.

We strive to assimilate, and demand the same of other black people because we ‘don’t want to look bad’.

Instead, we should ask ourselves who exactly we are doing this for, because the society that denigrates our natural hairstyles is the same society that praises non-black people when they don the same styles.

As an example, celebrities like the Kardashian sisters regularly try their hardest to emulate looks seen on black women and are praised by many (though not all).

More importantly, they make money from it.

These hairstyles, when worn by black women or men, are the reasons that some get fired from jobs or don’t ever get the job in the first place.

Related to this issue is the curiosity a lot of people seem to have with our hair, with some attempting to touch it without asking beforehand.

It’s problematic, because in my opinion it’s a symptom of the psyche that drives the policing of black people – namely, slavery.

For centuries, society deemed black people as property and undeserving of human rights.

The black body (and its hair) was viewed as a site that could always be dictated and demanded to meet Eurocentric ideals.

Slave owners also took advantage of enslaved Africans, which meant many children were born with mixed heritage. As a result, their hair was of a looser curl pattern.

This signifier of a closer proximity to whiteness is something that people began to see as a social upgrade.

Terms such as ‘good hair’ then became the norm within black communities. A black person’s hair became a metric to judge their ‘goodness’, desirability and social status.

Society believes it has a certain access to black hair – whether that be dictating how it’s worn, when it can be touched or who makes financial gain from emulating styles cultivated specifically for black hair.

This entitlement is why black hair is still political.

Policing of our hair is society’s way of policing our existence.

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Svalbard is almost three times the size of Wales, but it has a fraction of the population, with around 2,700 inhabitants compared to some 3 million.

The archipelago – located half way between Norway and the North Pole – is often referred to as one of Europe’s last great wildernesses, and I’d been told by friends that the place is a must-visit for its breathtaking scenery and unique wildlife encounters.

In a bid to explore the area, I signed up for an eight-day expedition cruise with G Adventures along with around 130 passengers.

My adventure started with a flight from London to Oslo, before boarding a plane to Longyearbyen, the administrative centre of Svalbard and once a hub for coal mining.

Svalbard Airport, 3 km northwest of Longyearbyen, is the northern-most airport in the world – the area seems to be home to most northerly everything, the local brewery holds the title as does the town’s department store.

It was 2am in the morning by the time I landed, and it was still light, with a crisp freshness rolling in from the Arctic Ocean.

The G Adventure operation was pretty slick and we boarded a bus from the airport to our hotel (a rather nice Radisson Blu complete with a hot tub) for a brief sleep before boarding the ship the next day.

The MS Expedition ship, which was completely refurbished in 2009, makes for a comfortable journey, with simple cabins and communal areas with large windows to watch the world go by.

I was sharing a triple cabin with two globetrotting 60-year-olds; one from Derbyshire in the UK and the other hailing from Brisbane, Australia.

We were an unlikely trio but all got on well, and it was great sharing stories from our travels and debriefing after our days exploring the area.

I dove into the Arctic swing of things quite literally, opting for a polar plunge on the first day of our voyage.

Our first port of call took us to the stunning shores of Magdalenefjorden.

From this secluded spot, we hiked up to a view point that rewarded us with a panoramic of the glistening blue waters and golden sands, which looked more suited to the Caribbean than this spot nearing the North Pole.

It looked like a fairly inviting place to do the polar plunge, but after we landed, the weather gradually worsened, with the fog descending, the wind whipping up and a sprinkling of frozen rain to keep us on our toes.

Despite the chilly conditions, the expedition leader decided our swim should go ahead, and around 20 crazy people – myself included – stripped down to our swimming gear and ran into the freezing waters.

As I plunged headfirst into the salty sea in my bikini, I lost my breath and I swiftly stumbled back towards the shoreline, my whole body tingling.

But this was just one of the many times that it took a moment to catch my breath again, such was the beauty of the place.

Actually, just before my chilly dip, I was delighted when I spotted a delightful little puffin bobbing in the water next to our zodiac boat.

It was the first time I’d seen one, and I sat transfixed by the bright-beaked bird as it majestically surfed along.

On another occasion, further along the coast at Torellneset, on the northern island of Nordaustlandet, we came across a large group of walruses.

They were easily distinguishable, not just by their size, but also by their funky smell and pig-like snorting sounds.

There were dozens of the tusked creatures writhing in the water, while others laid out on the beach like sleeping sumos.

At one point, a small group of juvenile walruses charged towards our zodiac boat to investigate what we were doing.

I have to admit, it was a little scary as the blubbery beasts powered forwards, panting, and swam under our dingy before mysteriously disappearing.

Another highlight was spotting a pod of beluga whales as we navigated the icy waters in front of the magnificent Monacobreen glacier, which is named after Duke Albert I of Monaco, who led the expeditions that mapped the area in the early 20th century.

But the piece de resistance was our polar bear encounter at Karl XII island in the far north.

As we cruised towards the mysterious rocky outcrop, three big bears came into view and we watched them lumber along the craggy landscape.

Apparently, they are stranded on the 1.2-mile strip of land until the sea ice returned in the autumn, leaving them to survive on bird eggs and other scraps in the meantime.

Ending our voyage on a real high, we managed to make it to 82 degrees north – just 500 miles from the geographic North Pole – with the boat crunching a path along the ice edge.

My boat trip to Svalbard might have been a cold adventure but the memorable encounters each day left me feeling warm inside.

How to book

The G Adventures Realm of The Polar Bear eight-day sailing expedition from Longyearbyen to Longyearbyen starts from £2969. Flights can be arranged and added to the package for an additional cost.

SAS runs regular flights from London Heathrow to Oslo, Norway, with connections on to Longyearbyen. For connection waits / layovers, Priority Pass membership gains lounge access at Oslo airport.

(Top picture: Sadie Whitelocks)

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It’s true that with bipolar disorder, especially during a manic episode (when you’re flying high and feel that nothing and no one can stop you), many sufferers have an increased sex drive.

Your libido can feel off the charts compared to what you’re used to. I’ve been wide awake at four in the morning, my head buzzing with thoughts and desperate to be intimate with someone.

So, I’ve woken my partner up in the early hours of the morning for sex.

There is a stigma attached, especially to women with bipolar that they’re promiscuous and will sleep around.

This can lead to the stigma that we’re up for anything. I’ve spoken to men on nights out and they’ll assume I want a one night stand because I’ve mentioned I have bipolar.

Many women living with bipolar are described as being emotionally unstable. Recent research suggested men have better sex with women they perceive to be this way.

This perpetuates the stigma that women with bipolar are seen as better sexual partners because of their vulnerability during mania. In fact, women with bipolar mania are more likely to be taken advantage of and experience sexual harassment.

Reading this report made me feel angry and disappointed that research like this exists. Mania is part of a larger illness, bipolar, and shouldn’t be seen as a desirable trait in women. It can have long term, disastrous effects on a person’s life and relationships.

I’ve been called a ‘nightmare’ to have a relationship with because I have bipolar. I’ve been told by exes that ultimately I’ll be unfaithful to them at some point because ‘I won’t be able to help myself.’

To hear this makes me feel like there’s something intrinsically wrong with me.

It makes me feel like I’m broken and can’t be fixed. I’ve felt very alone and isolated because of comments like these.

Relationships are about trust, respect and honesty. Unfortunately there are people out there that believe these three things aren’t possible with someone who has bipolar.

At points I have been so convinced by these comments that I feared I would never be able to have a long term relationship with anyone.

This wasn’t true. I’ve now been married three years and we work hard at our relationship, which is what makes it a successful partnership. 

I’ll admit that I have cheated on an ex when I was manic. It was when I was in my early 20s travelling for two months in Japan.

Was it because I was young and away in a foreign country or because I had bipolar? I’m not sure.

My impulse control goes out the window when I’m manic. Without my support system of family and friends around me, manic and in a foreign place, I made a mistake.

When I came home from my trip, and the mania ended, I felt incredibly guilty. At the time I hadn’t thought through what I was doing — I lost all my inhibitions — but now home I felt like I was a terrible person.

That feeling that I may never be right for someone took a while to leave, but now I can reflect and offer advice to other women who might have been shamed into feeling the same.

Don’t. You know yourself.. You don’t need others telling you what you are and aren’t.

Yes, many people are ill informed about bipolar and may buy into the stereotypes that exist around us, but by sharing our experiences of bipolar, we can change the narrative.

It’s important to share information and there are fantastic resources and charities out there such as Bipolar UK.

There are support groups across the country for those with a diagnosis and for their partners that they can attend.

Ultimately, a relationship is a commitment. If that person would stand by you without judgement during a physical illness, then they should be able to do the same for a mental illness. Finding stability with bipolar is hard work and that means being in a relationship with someone you can trust.

Relationships are about trust, respect and honesty. Unfortunately there are people out there that believe these three things aren’t possible with someone who has bipolar.

They are. Mania in bipolar doesn’t define someone’s personality, or shape their ethics and principles.

In fact those with bipolar often are extremely compassionate and caring because of how difficult it can be to receive a diagnosis and the highs and lows they’ve experienced.

We’re all human beings, with our faults and vices, but with the ability to love implicitly. We’re all deserving of relationships, of love and a mental illness should never be a barrier to that.

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Clean eating may become a thing of the past, as a study reveals that beer, wine and chocolate could help you live longer.

According to scientists, a simple diet of food and drink combats inflammation and slashes the risk of a premature death in middle aged and older people by almost 20%.

This means plenty of fruits and vegetables, wholegrain bread, breakfast cereal, low-fat cheese, olive and canola oil, and nuts.

But you don’t have to be super healthy all the time – these foods can be finished off with a snack bar, tea and coffee or the odd glass of wine or beer.

The research also shows that if you want to live longer you should avoid foods that increase inflammation, including all forms of red meat, offal (haggis for instance) chips, fizzy drinks, ready-made pasta sauces and processed baked goods like bread, pies and biscuits.

The study of more than 68,000 participants, aged between 45 to 83 years old, found those who enjoyed regular diets of anti-inflammatory foods are18% less likely to die over the next 16 years than those who did so less.

After filling in a questionnaire based on 11 anti-inflammatory foods, they were given a score ranging from zero to 16 – the higher the score, the healthier the person.

More specifically, they had a lower risk of death from cardiovascular diseases (20%) and cancer (13%).

Oddly, smokers who followed the diet experienced even greater benefits.

The findings concluded they were almost a third less likely to die than smokers who didn’t follow the diet (measured during the duration of the study).

But non-smokers who followed the diet were predicted to live nearly five years longer than smokers who didn’t.

‘It is known that fruits, vegetables, tea, coffee, red wine, beer and chocolate are rich in antioxidants,’ said Professor Joanna Kaluza from Warsaw University of Life Sciences (WULS).

‘Wholegrain bread, breakfast cereal, vegetables and fresh as well as dried fruits are rich in dietary fibre; and olive and canola oils are rich sources of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids, which are of potential health benefit because of their anti-inflammatory properties.’

While inflammation is the body’s way of healing itself when you’re hurt, chronic inflammation has been linked to serious illnesses, such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes and dementia.

Professor Kaluza said: ‘Adherence to a diet with high anti-inflammatory potential may reduce all-cause, cardiovascular and cancer mortality and prolong survival time, especially among current and former smokers.

‘To our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate an empirically developed AIDI in relation to all cause and cause-specific mortality and to examine differences in survival time associated with adherence to an anti inflammatory diet.

‘Our dose response analysis showed even partial adherence to the anti-inflammatory diet may provide a health benefit.’

Using national registers her team analysed 16,088 deaths among the 68,273 participants – 5,980 due to cardiovascular disease and 5,252 cancer, with the others down to other causes.

Professor Kaluza also said that including wine and beer in the index may be considered controversial based on ongoing debates regarding the relationship between alcohol intake and mortality.

It was noted that the participants in the present study comprised of men and women who consumed ‘relatively low to moderate’ levels of alcohol.

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Four-year-old Emmy King, who was born with spastic diplegia – a form of cerebral palsy – just walked into school for the first time.

The youngster, from Lychpit, in Hampshire, had a life-changing operation that now allows her to walk independently, just in time for the start of the new school year.

Parents Carly and Dave feared Emmy would be wheelchair-bound for life when she was diagnosed at 20 months.

So, they took her to the US to get a special treatment costing £85,000. But it was all worth it when the proud parents were able to watch the toddler walk through the school gates.

Mum Carly, 32, said: ‘When Emmy was diagnosed with cerebral palsy as a baby, before I’d even left the consultant’s office, my mind jumped straight forward to this moment.

‘Will she ever walk? Will she be able to go to a mainstream school?

‘Since the day she was diagnosed our entire family has worked tirelessly to make this a reality.

‘One year of epic fundraising and two years of daily, relentless physiotherapy, and here we are. Our dream has come true.’

Family, friends and strangers donated thousands of pounds to pay for the vital treatment.

The operation, called selective dorsal rhizotomy (SDR), was performed on Emmy before her second birthday.

Since then she has been having intensive physiotherapy to help her to stand independently and learn to walk.

‘Those donations have changed her life and without them, she wouldn’t have walked into school,’ said Carly.

‘She would have had to use her frame and it would be a completely different story.

‘To have the independence to walk into school and not feel any different, that was always our dream and it really has come true, she can start school like all the other children.’

Mum-of-two Carly also noted how extraordinary it was that Emmy was walking but also how ordinary it was.

She said that she felt equally proud when her other daughter Isla started school.

‘I had built this moment up in my mind for so long, but it was just the same as when her sister Isla started school,’ Carly said.

‘But isn’t that amazing? It was just Emmy starting school.’

Emmy is now enjoying herself classes, making friends, and has already become very popular.

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Yup, we’re officially jealous of dogs.

While some of us are trying to squirrel away enough cash to enjoy a weekend trip, these dogs are living the high life – getting pedicure treatments, taking afternoon swims and eating gourmet doggy food at Love Ur Dog luxury resort in Wirral.

Much like a hotel for humans, there are four-poster beds, 48-inch HD TVs and a chaffeur service of new Range Rovers.

Though the guests are probably a bit furrier, noisier and smellier than usual.

Founded by Scott Williams, an power boat racer who struggled to find good accommodation for his dogs while travelling, the luxury boutique hotel offers penthouse, garden view and executive suites.

For dogs travelling together, newborns and those cranky pooches who like their peace and quiet while on holiday, there are also specially designed puppy, family, quiet and XL suites.

Fussy pups will particularly like the choice of bedding – silk or Egyptian cotton.

Some of the guests can even have their own little front garden.

Rooms cost between £25 to £45 per night and there are also daycare packages available for those wanting a longer stay.

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Remember that episode in Friends when Monica gets stung by a jellyfish and asks her pals to pee on her to ease the pain?

We debunked that myth earlier this summer, as it was revealed that urinating on a person who’s been stung can actually make it worse.

But what about mosquito bites?

Faith Canter, 39, claims that drinking urine helps keep the swelling down.

The health and fitness coach doesn’t apply wee to her bites though – she drinks it.

Faith, also a self-love coach and author, is originally from Aberdeen, Scotland. She was living in Castelo Branco, Portugal when she was bitten by a mosquito on her eye during the night.

When she woke up and looked in the mirror, she saw a huge lump covering her right eye.

This was just one of many times Faith has suffered an extreme allergic reaction to mosquito bites.

In the past, she has tried several medical treatments to alleviate her symptoms – from steroid creams to antihistamine tablets – but nothing has worked.

It used to take seven to 10 days for the itching to stop and the swelling to go down.

Then, one of her friends recommended urine therapy; applying wee or massaging it into the skin or gums for medicinal or cosmetic purposes.

At first she thought it was a crazy suggestion, but her eye was so severely swollen, that she decided to test it out and drank half a cup of her own urine.

Faith says the bite was healed within just four hours.

Now she drinks two glasses of the stuff a day, for its supposed health benefits.

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