BBC

Essex-born singer-songwriter Olly Murs is Top Gear’s next Star in a Reasonably Priced Car, with the BBC releasing photographs from next Sunday’s (February 22, 2015) episode.
   Murs is pictured along with the Stig, and behind the wheel of the red Vauxhall Astra that celebrities have been taking around the long-running TV show’s test track since 2013.
   Murs first came to prominence as a contestant on The X Factor, where he finished runner-up in the 2009 series. Madame Tussauds has even made a likeness of him for its exhibit.
   His latest album, Never Been Better, was released last November and débuted at number one on the UK albums’ chart.
   US actor Aaron Paul currently heads the leaderboard among the stars who have driven the Vauxhall Astra.

BBC

The GHD Aura is the latest professional hair-drier, with the soft of innovation that we have come to expect from the British company.
   If you’re thinking a hair-drier is just a hair-drier, think again. GHD’s Aura has two patented technologies, called Cool-Wall and Laminair, where you can direct the air flow for greater precision and control.
   Laminair ensures that the hair is more evenly heated at the same temperature, aiding styling and leaving hair smoother and shinier. It also helps align hair in a single direction. Cool-Wall creates a ring of cool air around the hot air, so the casing and nozzle remain cool—allowing you to get the drier closer to the scalp for more volume and root lift.
   It’s received award-winning hairdresser Sara Allsop’s endorsement, as she uses the Aura at her Auckland salon, Dharma. Allsop says the GHD Aura is quieter and more powerful.
   GHD has released two DIY videos showing techniques you can employ to get your hair smooth and polished, or extra, glossy volume.
   Retail price in New Zealand is NZ$300. For stockists in New Zealand, call 0800 880-209 or visit www.ghdhair.com/nz.

West Yorkshire-born singer–songwriter Ed Sheeran, 23, is the next celebrity to appear on BBC2’s Top Gear.
   Sheeran will be the long-running show’s Star in a Reasonably Priced Car in the next episode to air in the UK on Sunday, January 25.
   Sheeran, who does not have a driving licence, piloted the Vauxhall Astra automatic around Dunsfold Park in Surrey for the episode earlier this week.
   He had claimed earlier that he had put off taking his licence due to his fear of fast cars.
   The BBC has just released a photograph of Sheeran with the show’s ‘tamed racing driver’, the Stig.
   The time to beat on the Top Gear celebrity leaderboard with the Astra is 1 minute, 44·7 seconds, recorded by American actor Aaron Paul, who drove a manual version of the car. Jack Whitehall, who like Sheeran drove the automatic, recorded 1 minute, 54·5 seconds.

Above Two series indelibly tied to Brian Clemens: The Avengers, for which he wrote and produced, and The Professionals, which he created, regularly wrote and executive produced.

British screenwriter Brian Clemens, OBE, passed away on Saturday, sources say.
   Clemens was the creator of the cult 1970s LWT show The Professionals, with a string of credits to his writing career including The Avengers, The Persuaders, The Protectors, Bergerac, Diagnosis: Murder and Bugs. He also created the German show Blaues Blut (Blue Blood) in the 1980s.
   Brian Horace Clemens was born in Croydon in 1931, and was a weapons’ training instructor during his National Service. He wanted to be a journalist but began his career at J. Walter Thompson as a messenger, before becoming a copywriter. During this time a screenplay of his that he had sent to the BBC, Valid for Single Journey Only, had been accepted and produced in 1955 and starred Ernest Clark and George Colouris.
   Clemens wrote for B-movies and half-hour serials made by the Danziger brothers in the mid- to late 1950s, including Mark Saber, White Hunter, The Man from Interpol and Richard the Lionheart. The Vise and Dial 999 were also from this period, with Clemens using the pseudonym Tony O’Grady around this time.
   In the 1960s, Clemens’ scripts were made by various ITC shows, including The Invisible Man, Man of the World, The Sentimental Agent and The Champions, and he wrote the pilot for Danger Man. He also wrote the pilot for The Avengers, where he was script editor and associate producer, and he was responsible for casting Diana Rigg as Emma Peel. He wrote for The Baron, and he penned the pilot for The Persuaders. Some of the last ITC action series such as The Protectors and The Adventurer also saw Clemens scripts.
   In the 1970s, Clemens created a sitcom, My Wife Next Door, and wrote a US TV movie, The Woman Hunter. He also wrote the anthology series Thriller for ITV, Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde, a 1971 Hammer horror, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad in 1973, and wrote and directed Captain Kronos, Vampire Hunter in 1974.
   The Avengers was revived in 1976 was The New Avengers, earning Clemens a new generation of fans. As executive producer, he had cast Joanna Lumley as Purdey. In response to Thames’s The Sweeney, Clemens created and produced The Professionals for LWT, which proved to be the series he is most associated with. A TV movie, Escapade, was made in 1978, and meant to have been a pilot for a US version of The Avengers.
   In the 1980s, Clemens wrote for Remington Steele, Bergerac, Worlds Beyond, The Father Dowling Mysteries (where he served as executive story editor), and Perry Mason. In the 1990s, Clemens wrote for Diagnosis: Murder, Bugs, The Highlander TV series (he had also co-written Highlander II: the Quickening), and a revival of The Professionals, entitled CI5: the New Professionals. Attempts to revive The Professionals as a feature film were not realized, although The Avengers was shot as a Hollywood movie in 1996, starring Ralph Fiennes, Uma Thurman and Sean Connery.
   Clemens also wrote numerous plays, beginning with a stage adaptation of The Avengers in 1971, and continued until 2012 with Murder Weapon.
   Clemens and his wife, Brenda, divorced in 1966. He was with the actress Diane Enright till she committed suicide in 1976. He married his second wife Janet in 1979, and they had two children. He was awarded the OBE in 2010.
   Brian Clemens was related to Samuel Clemens, a.k.a. Mark Twain.

Taylor Swift headed out on Monday in Tribeca, New York, with her mother, father and younger brother, wearing a fashionable ensemble of a Ralph Lauren navy roll-neck sweater and coat, over a tartan skirt and woollen tights, topped with a green woollen hat.
   The singer, who recently turned 25, and who remains one of the most talked-about musicians in the occident, looked fashionable in navy and magenta. She wore a bright red lipstick and thick eyeliner.
   The family enjoyed brunch at Locanda Verde on Greenwich Street.
   Green, rather than navy, was the choice of Lauren Silverman, wearing a Melissa Odabash bikini with a straw hat and netted top while on holiday in Barbados with Simon Cowell and their son, Eric.
   Our last video is a summary of One Direction’s best moments of 2014. Still riding high, the former X Factor stars have scooped many awards, and as a group, earned $75 million in 2014.

The $300 million budget set aside for Spectre, the 24th Eon James Bond film, will need a marketing bonanza. After Aston Martin revealed its DB10—10 cars built exclusively for the film and not general sale—and Jaguar Land Rover confirmed that they would be supplying a C-X75 and Range Rover vehicles, Belvedere Vodka is next, launching its global partnership with James Bond at the Bond in Motion exhibition at the London Film Museum last night.
   Guests included Lily Cole, Tinie Tempah, Amber Atherton, Pixie Geldof, Douglas Booth, Kim Hersov, Ella Catliff and Christophe Navarre, while Belvedere president Charles Gibb played host.
   Belvedere’s limited-edition bottles see the Belvedere palace replaced with an image of the MI6 headquarters from the film, while its trade-mark blue will be changed to green, on one. These will be limited to 100 bottles. The second change will be to Belvedere’s Silver Sabre bottles.
   The marketing programme commences in February, with point-of-sale promotions. Updates will be put on Belvedere’s Instagram account.
   Spectre, which is named after the fictional terrorist organization from the Ian Fleming novels, will première on November 6, 2015. Daniel Craig will return as the super-spy, and the cast includes Monica Bellucci, Léa Seydoux, Andrew Scott, Dave Bautista, Naomie Harris, Ralph Fiennes, and Christoph Waltz as the villain. Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson produce, while Sam Mendes (Skyfall) returns to direct.

Above Alive Skin & Hair offers Australian and New Zealand customers a range of 3,000 beauty products.

Alive Skin & Hair has launched, stocking over 3,000 hair care, make-up, beauty and skin care products, targeting Australian and New Zealand customers. The website stocks brands including Alpha H, ASAP Skincare, Dermalogica, Elemis, Jane Iredale, Joico, Matrix, Moroccanoil, Skinceuticals, St Tropez, Thalgo, and Youngblood, supplied straight from the manufacturer, and sold ay 15 to 35 per cent off the recommended retail price. Alive Skin & Hair can ship the same day for orders placed before 12 p.m. AEST, and shoppers earn points with each purchase. There are experts to help with online and telephone enquiries. Alive Skin & Hair also gives shoppers the chance to choose two new samples to try, for free, with each order.
   New Zealand natural skin care brand Living Nature has gained a bigger footprint in the Japanese market with a concept store on the second floor of the Grand Tree Musashikosugi Shopping Centre near Shibuya, Tokyo. Operated by @Star Japan, the Living Nature distributor there, the new store reaches thousands of Japanese shoppers, located a few minutes from the busy Musashi–Kosugi train station, which sees 390,000 commuters per day. @Star Japan, meanwhile, has operated since 2000, and has had a long-standing relationship with Living Nature.
   In a release, @Star sales and promotion manager Ai Takahara said, ‘This development of the concept store provides a way to engage with consumers and enable our highly trained staff to share their experience of the Living Nature range, which offers truly natural products for face and body.’
   In Cornwall, England, Spiezia Organics has rebranded, and is about to launch three new hair and body products, containing 95–8 per cent certified organic ingredients and botanicals. Its Organic Gloss shampoo features ingredients including lemon peel extract, zizyphus joazerio bark extract and dandrilys; its Organic Shine conditioner helps stimulate hair growth with ginger oil and lemon peel extract, and contains royal jelly to strengthen the follicles and prevent hair loss; and its organic hand and body cleanser has aloe vera gel, radish oil and lemongrass oil. Spiezia Organics’ commitment to the environment extends to its 100 per cent sustainable packaging, while it is the first UK company to have Soil Association accreditation across its whole skin care range.

As we suspected, the DB10 moniker will not go to the DB9 successor at Aston Martin, but to a limited-edition model released for the 24th EON James Bond movie, Spectre.
   Aston Martin says it will build 10 of the bespoke cars next year, hence the name, and claims that the vehicle was developed specifically for the film, to star Daniel Craig, Christoph Waltz, Monica Bellucci (who was tipped to be in a Bond movie even in the 1990s), Léa Seydoux, David Bautista, Andrew Scott, and Naomie Harris. Sam Mendes (Skyfall) returns to direct.
   The car, along with the name of the film, were officially released on the 007 Stage at Pinewood Studios. Mendes himself took the cover off the DB10.
   Aston Martin’s chief creative officer, Marek Reichman, worked closely with Mendes to develop the car. It previews the company’s design direction for the next generation of production models.
   Dr Andy Palmer, CEO of Aston Martin, said, ‘In the same year that we celebrate our 50-year relationship with 007, it seems doubly fitting that today we unveiled this wonderful new sports car created especially for James Bond.’
   The cinematic James Bond first drove an Aston Martin in 1964, when Sean Connery got behind the wheel of the DB5 model in Goldfinger.
   The car will be built at Gaydon, Warwickshire. Spectre, which begins filming on Monday, including locations in London, Roma, Ciudad de México and the Austrian Alps, will be released on November 6, 2015.