New Zealand Woman’s Weekly 1810

This was not the type of holiday break the Wessex family wanted! Possibly inspired by some of the action at the Winter Olympics in South Korea, Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex (53) and Sophie, Countess of Wessex (53) whisked their children, Lady Louise Windsor and James, Viscount Severn (10), off to St Moritz, Switzerland, for a family trip last week. But the alpine family fun was cut short for Lady Louise. The 14-year-old keen skier took a tumble on the mountain, injuring her left leg and was later seen being assisted as she hobbled along the icy paths at the resort on crutches. We think the royal teenager deserves a gold medal for being a good sport while her parents and brother continued on the slopes!…

I left the of fice early one afternoon this week and very nearly never r eturned. T o celebrate our Grandpar ents of the Year competition – which closes next weekend on Mar ch 6, so get cracking with your entry! – I headed to R yman’s Bert Sutclif fe village in Auckland’s Birkenhead for an afternoon high tea. And, basically, I didn’t want to leave. Coast’s radio host Lorna Subritzky was our MC and put everyone thr ough their paces with a trivia quiz, while we drank Champagne, talked for hours and I left with my cheeks sore from smiling and laughing so hard. So, a big, big thank you to everyone at the village for taking the time to shoot the breeze with me – and I mean…

Census Day is almost upon us and for the first time, it’s going high-tech, with New Zealanders being encouraged to fill out their forms on the computer. On March 6, everyone will be asked to help build a snapshot of the people and places that make up our country. But unlike previous years, don’t expect a knock on the door or forms to be dropped off at your home. In coming days, the massive collection of data will take place largely online, with households receiving a letter in the post containing a unique personal access code. Using the code, people are urged to go on to the Census website and follow the step-by-step instructions to fill out the questions on or before March 6. It should take roughly 20 minutes…

It seemed like a great idea. The brief was to interview Clarke Gayford, the host of the Fish of the Day television show, pick up a few fishing tips and find out how he’s coping with being thrust into the international spotlight as partner to the new prime minister, with a baby on the way. At Clarke’s suggestion, we would head out on his boat, throw a couple of lines over, chat for a few hours and hopefully come home with snapper for dinner. Only the morning of the interview dawned cloudy and windy, and Clarke made the call that we’d stay on land. Probably all for the best. Imagine the headlines if we’d had to be rescued. It was a little disappointing as I had been looking forward to…

Breaking up is hard to do, especially when you’re Jennifer Aniston and your second marriage comes to a very public end. But as upsetting as it is for the former Friends star to part ways with her husband Justin Theroux, at least they have split “lovingly”, according to a joint statement they released, and there appears to be nobody else involved. Jennifer (49) is “doing okay”, say her friends, although she’s heartbroken. That’s in contrast to the devastating end to her first marriage to Brad Pitt in 2005. There was also a statement released then, in which they said their split after five years of marriage was not caused by speculation in tabloid media, which was a way of denying reports that Brad had fallen for co-star Angelina Jolie while…

Sweeping her long blonde hair aside, Shannon Francois smiles as she points to a patch on the right side of her face that’s a lot shorter than the rest of her mane. “You should have seen it a few weeks ago,” she says ruefully. “They left the sideburn, but this big patch was shaved… I looked like I just had a mega sideburn. Very attractive! It makes me look tough, though, I suppose.” While the star Silver Fern mid-courter can laugh at her wonky ‘do now, it was a different story last June, when the 27-year-old Dunedin-based athlete was told the last words anyone wants to hear – “you have cancer”. Fully recovered after not one, but two operations for multiple basal cell carcinomas, Shannon is physically in tip-top shape…