Table of contents for 50/51 - 2016 in Best

T he Great Gatsby is an iconic love story in which a beautiful girl called Daisy falls in love with Jay Gatsby, an elusive figure who throws party after party in an effort to impress her. Yet, ultimately, their heady love affair ends in disaster. Is that the fate awaiting Corrie’s most glamorous couple, Aidan Connor and Eva Price (Shayne Ward and Catherine Tyldesley)? We hope not – but things aren’t looking good as we watch to see if Street heartthrob Aidan will break Eva’s heart and leave her for Maria, while she fights to avoid spending this Christmas behind bars. It sounds to us – just like in The Great Gatsby – that there will be fireworks and tears ahead… Thankfully, real life is much rosier for the popular…

A t this time of year, we all enjoy a party, and the seasonal drinking that goes with it. Unfortunately, this can mean December days are ruined by hangovers for most people. You can’t avoid them totally – other than by being teetotal, of course – but there may be some tricks to help you feel a little better the morning after… WATER IT DOWN Much of the drinking at parties is mindless: sipping on a beverage while you’re chatting and having fun. Before you know it, you’ve drunk far more than you intended to. If you consciously alternate alcoholic drinks with water or soft drinks, you will drink less, and keep yourself rehydrated, which will lessen the hangover. Also, avoid fizzy drinks, which speed up how quickly your body…

Chef Jamie Oliver shares his family plans – and perfect dinner menu – for the big day It’s been a busy year for Jamie Oliver. Not only has he written his first-ever Christmas cookbook, but he and wife Jools, 42, welcomed baby River Rocket in August. He’s brother to Poppy, 14, Daisy, 13, Petal, seven, and six-year-old Buddy. Here, Jamie tells best why Christmas is his favourite time of year… How are you celebrating River’s first Christmas? We’re all so excited, and it’s one reason we wanted to keep Christmas Day small and at home, just the seven of us. It’ll be a special moment when River’s stocking goes up alongside everyone else’s. I’ll do Boxing Day at ours, which is looking like 40 people. I’ll be busy cooking for…

£11.82 TOTAL COST Crab cocktail A tasty new take on a classic starter SERVES 8 PREP: 20 mins 1 x medium iceberg lettuce, shredded 3-4 x 170g cans of white crab meat Juice of 1 lemon 2 pink grapefruit, segmented 2 avocados, peeled, stoned, quartered & sliced into fans Pinch of paprika Brown bread and butter, to serve (optional) FOR THE MARIE ROSE SAUCE 6tbsp mayonnaise 4tsp tomato ketchup Pinch of cayenne pepper Shake of Tabasco sauce 1 To make Marie Rose sauce: in a bowl, mix ingredients together. Taste and add more seasoning as needed. Put to one side. 2 Divide lettuce between individual glass bowls, then top with the crab meat (toss first with a little lemon juice, freshly ground black pepper and pinch of cayenne, if you…

Fresh from Dragons’ Den Bargain booze When buying booze for the big day, don’t worry about choosing branded bottles. Morrisons’ Prosecco Spumante, £8.25, took the top spot in taste tests, but the runner-up, Lidl’s Allini Prosecco Spumante, is the real steal at £5.29. It’s also worth heading to Aldi for spirits, as they have a lot of non-branded items that are rated highly on flavour, yet cost about half the price of brands. Mums: go to Iceland If you think freezer supermarket food is a no-go, think again. In a blind taste test by our sister mag Good Housekeeping, Iceland’s Luxury Mince Pies beat 24 brands to the title of Britain’s Best Mince Pie, and at £1.50 for six, they’re a bargain. Their £6 Luxury 12-Month Matured Christmas Pudding came second…

ARIES (21 Mar/20 Apr) LOVE Devote yourself to pleasure, romance and creativity as the year begins. Venus retrograde in your sign from early March to mid-April can intensify misunderstandings, but disagreements will be resolved, so don’t start thinking a relationship is over without giving it a fair chance. Your love life will heat up in August as Mars snuggles up with the Sun. LIFE There’s plenty to keep you entertained at home, but travel is highlighted as well. 28 March will be a great time for new starts. Strike out on your own, if need be, with courage and confidence. You’ll need an outlet for your excess energy between April and August. Make the most of all opportunities to broaden your horizons. A series of short trips, for both business…

Christmas is almost upon us, and once all the gifts have been unwrapped and the leftover turkey demolished, it will be time to turn your attention to New Year’s Eve. So here are a few ideas to help your party go with a bang! You can share your attempts on Instagram @princessclarabella or on Twitter @_ClaireRichards. Here’s to another crafty year in 2017 – and I hope to see you all soon. Happy New Year! Claire Richards xx WHAT YOU NEED c 1 Box Canvas 100cm x 30cm, or in any size you’d like or will fit c Black paint c Gold glitter c Sparkle Mod Podge c Gloss Mod Podge c Paintbrush 1 Start by painting your canvas with black paint. Once it’s dry, paint another coat and leave…

Both these sets of clues lead to the same answers, revealing in the shaded squares a film starring Tom Hanks, pictured (5) Win EVERY WEEK STRAIGHT CLUES ACROSS 8 Work hard to achieve something (8) 9 Wimbledon game (6) 10 Gaol (6) 11 Faith, belief (8) 12 Belonging to them (5) 13 Belt (5) 14 Employing (5) 16 Carmen, e.g. (5) 18 Shine a torch briefly (5) 20 Equine animal (5) 25 Textile, fabric (8) 26 Not smooth (6) 27 Cuts bread (6) 28 Not starchy (8) DOWN 1 Fabric stiffener (6) 2 Interrogate (8) 3 Middleman (5) 4 Rips (5) 5 Unfresh (5) 6 Nobleman (6) 7 Extinct creature (8) 15 Sound of part of a word (8) 17 Groundbreaking people (8) 19 Formal lecture (6) 21 Kids’ up…

Following the death of Sheridan Smith’s beloved father, Colin, 80, from cancer, the actress took the decision to bow out of The Royal Variety Performance last Tuesday. His passing has brought a heartbreaking conclusion to the year for the theatre star. Sheridan, 35, who has previously described her tight-knit family as being ‘a bit like The Waltons’, was devastated when her dad was diagnosed with the terminal disease in March of this year – resulting in her temporarily pulling out of her leading role in West End show Funny Girl. When one unsympathetic Twitter user criticised the former Two Pints Of Lager And A Packet Of Crisps and Gavin & Stacey actress for not performing, she wrote, ‘If you just found out your dad had cancer, you wouldn’t be such a…

With COLEEN NOLAN At Christmas, we all want to see loved ones. But one family member I won’t see – as much as I’d love to – is my half-sister. I was in my mid-twenties when I found out she existed, during one of those chats about life with Mum and my sisters, Linda and Maureen. We were talking, and Mum suddenly came out with, ‘Something you don’t know is, you have a half-sister…’ And then she told us the story. That’s the problem with family secrets. The truth will always come out in the end. It was when my parents were living in Ireland, and Mum was eight months pregnant with her second eldest, Denise. She must have had an inkling that my dad, Tommy, had another woman, and…

What exactly is Raynaud’s? Q Can you tell me about Raynaud’s? I get very cold hands, and a friend of mine suggested that I may have it. A Raynaud’s is a condition where your fingers get very cold and change colour when the temperature drops. Sufferers notice their fingers change from normal to very white, then often to blue, before going back to normal. It is due to a spasm in the blood vessels, making them shut down, that reduces blood flow. It can be painful, and may happen in response to anxiety as well as the cold. Wearing gloves and using hand warmers can help. Will my daughter be safe? Q My daughter is pregnant, and has been told she has GBS infection. Is this serious? A GBS is…

‘If ther e’s one thing I’ve learnt’ ‘Marriages are hard work but if you put in the time and give them attention, your relationship can remain as exciting as it was at the start.’ I know that a lot of women – and men – will be wondering exactly what my husband did to convince me to make love to him for 365 days straight. But the truth is, it was my idea. And before you ask, no, I’m not some kind of sex addict. Quite the opposite, in fact. I used to dread the rare occasions Andy and I would ‘do it’. That’s why I came up with my provocative plan. Childhood sweethearts, engineer Andy, 35, and I met at school in our hometown of Ohio, USA, when we…

Christmas is my favourite time of year – decorating the tree, cosy nights in and wrapping presents. But what I love most of all about the festive period is spending it with family. Every year, my mum, Jackie, my partner, Marc, and his parents would have Christmas dinner together. And I just couldn’t wait to have another mouth around the table when Marc, now 38, and I started our own family. When we’d met online, in October 2011, kids were one of the first things we talked about. As a little girl, I’d doted on my collection of dolls, and couldn’t wait for the real thing. Luckily, Marc felt the same way. So we bought a house with plenty of spare bedrooms and officially ‘started trying’. We were so excited,…

It’s no exaggeration to say that Good Morning Britain meteorologist Laura Tobin, 35, is one of the most adventurous weather girls on TV. Since her first GMB weather report in 2014, the Northampton native has chucked herself into a tank of ice-cold water, made herself a human cannonball and, most recently, learned how to do some fancy spins on the ice rink to add a festive touch to her weather reports. Laura has been married to her husband, Dean, a fellow former student of Reading University, since 2010, and the couple live in Berkshire. Laura, yours really isn’t the average weather report, is it? No… I’m probably the best-travelled weather presenter in the world. I want to get out and represent as much of the country as possible. We can…

‘Sidney faces heartbreak at Christmas’ On screen, the handsome James Norton, 31, plays lovelorn clergyman Sidney Chambers. He’s in love with Amanda (Morven Christie), who is estranged from her husband and heavily pregnant, but whether she’s married or divorced, they can never be together. Thankfully, real life is much simpler for the actor, who hails from Yorkshire. Here, he gives best the inside scoop on the action-packed Christmas special. What can viewers expect from the Grantchester Christmas Special ? Snow, carols, turkey, some dodgy Christmas jumpers, more snow, a little heartbreak, and a lot of Christmas cheer! Sidney’s role is the same as ever: balancing his duties as a clergyman with the temptations and complications of life and love and the rest. All very conflicted, as usual. What did you…

BEST’S CELEBRITY INSIDER GETS FESTIVE! It comes as little surprise that Simon prefers Christmas in the heat of Barbados, instead of staying in cold and frosty Britain. Simon is a sun-worshipper – even as a teenager, he opted to spend Christmas with his pals in Antigua, Mauritius or Thailand – and Barbados has remained his favouritegetaway ever since he first went there with our late mum, Julie, 16 years ago. Mum loved the island and was a regular at the famous Sandy Lane resort, where she had many friends. She preferred the comfort of the beach, as she wasn’t a huge fan of Simon’s luxury yacht, Slipstream. It’s difficult to think of Barbados without thinking of Mum. The annual Christmas trip was the highlight of her year, and she would…

She comes across as bright, bubbly and carefree, but TV presenter Susanna Reid has been a single lady since splitting from her hubby, journalist Dominic Cotton, in 2014, after 16 years together. While the gorgeous 46-year-old has never publicly admitted to looking for love again, she may be hoping that next year will bring her romance, particularly since her ex has moved on (with mum-of-two Adela Straughan). So, could it be a case of New Year, new man for the brunette beauty? We certainly hope so! Astrologerto-the-stars Russell Grant, 65, thinks it might be, too. He’s predicted her horoscope for 2017, and it looks like love could be on the cards… Lucky Susanna! ‘A secret romance could develop,’ he explains. ‘But it won’t be until next Christmas that any rumours…

Best on Test TOP TIP A stopper keeps the fizz just as much as putting a silver spoon into the neck of a Champagne bottle. best FOR BUBBLES…

With BRUNO DON’T BET ON DANNY! Lots of people think Danny Mac taking the Glitterball is a foregone conclusion, but it really isn’t! What lets Claudia down is her acting skills – so I’d say it’s between Danny, Louise and Ore. They’ll be neck and neck up until the freestyle dance – which makes or breaks it with viewers. How exciting! The man on my wish-list I’ve said before that Victoria would be brilliant, but I would just love to see David Beckham shaking his tail feather on Strictly next year. He wears clothes very well, after all, and he’d have all those tattoos on display. He’d never do it, but a man can dream, can’t he? WHEN IT’S ALL OVER… The first thing I look forward to after Strictly is going…

Give it the cold shoulder We’ve been urging you try this trend for a while. However, if you’ve yet to embrace the look, now’s the ideal time. If the build-up to Christmas has left you feeling less than partyperfect, the cold-shoulder style is a subtle way to flash a little flesh and look instantly glam. For the easiest-to-wear option, go for an open-shoulder top with threequarter or long sleeves. It’s a great way to show off your shoulders to perfection. Remember, when wearing this style, your bra strap should not be seen, so wear a strapless or multi-way style. Off-the-shoulder Bardot styles show off your décolletage while covering the tops of your arms. Go for a bold shade teamed with plain black trousers for a relaxed party look, which could…

HOW IT WORKS 1 With the festivities nearly upon us, we’ve come up with a short, sharp, three-day plan to help you lose a few pounds by the weekend and reduce bloating. 2 Each day, follow the menu on the page opposite, which includes breakfast, lunch, dinner and two snacks. For one meal a day, substitute our savoury soup (recipe below). 3 Warming winter soup (makes 2 bowls) ½ onion, 1 celery stick, 1 garlic clove, 3 carrots, ½cm fresh ginger, 2 cups vegetable stock To make, chop and parboil the carrots until soft. Chop and fry the celery, onion, ginger and garlic for 2 mins in low-cal spray oil. Add the stock and carrots and simmer until soft. Cool, then blend. Enjoy 1-2 bowls daily. 4 As well as…