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feather_ghyllI really should have posted this bit sooner, but on the tennis front, surprising news that Carlos Alcaraz has split from long-time coach Juan Carlos Ferrero. It sounds as if it came more from Alcaraz, and the tennis world notes that the timing is interesting, so close to the only Grand Slam that Alcaraz has yet to win.
I watched the highlights of the end of the Next Gen tournament (the scoring is weird, the court looks weird without the doubles lines, it’s held in sports-washing Saudi Arabia, although that last is not remarkable.) It was won by top seed and last year’s finalist Learner Tien, who showed that he’s been playing with the big boys all year and got himself into the top 30, which means a seeding at the Aussie Open.
The Great British Bee Christmas special 2025
Another new presenter in Sophie Willan, I don’t know if Sara Pascoe will return for the series proper or if they’re trying Sophie out. To some extent, she was overshadowed by the chaos that Lucy Beaumont brought as a competitor.
This is never as good as the proper series, because instead of people who can sew, it features celebrities who can’t. At least, Anton off Strictly admitted to some experience, and it showed. Everyone else seemed like novices who’d been given a crash course and was probably getting help when the camera wasn’t on them.
The pattern challenge was for a gift sack, which is basically a rectangle, although for some difficulty there was a lining and a drawstring to do, so they needed to leave a gap. The usual happened, things went wrong for Susan as soon as she picked a glittery material. The unusual happened with Lucy, who picked leopard print and red, because she was inspired by the song about mummy kissing Santa Claus. The men did better, with Tom, who seemed very into being Hammer from Gladiators, picking perhaps the most sensible material, and proving he’d seen the show by adding on a bow to gain Esme’s favour. Lucy had sewn it all up when she shouldn’t have, and had to unpick. Anton picked a busy pattern, but had time to add bells to his drawstring.
Esme was pretty harsh, declaring she didn’t like brown and wanted to burn Lucy’s messy sack. The other judging comments were fairer. Anton came top.
The transformation challenge was a range of outfits into a child’s fancy dress based on the song 12 Days of Christmas. Three of the contestants plumped for birds, while Lucy started with udders, and then decided to do the rest of the cow. Susan’s French hen was henlike enough, but went very Scottish, and she had to unpick a bit. Tom was doing a swan, but even after being asked about the eyes, didn’t do them, while Anton was doing a goose, and added a golden egg at the very last minute.
The uddertastic cow had everyone in hysterics. The Scottish hen came last for not being on brief, the eyeless swan came third, the cow to be milked second and Anton’s goose a-laying came first.
Esme did a lot of namedropping this episode and seems to like a very boozy Christmas.
Made to measure was meant to be an outfit representing the celebs’ favourite treat. Lucy was going for a (simple) dress inspired by Stilton cheese, Tom for a dress representing gingerbread, Susan a dress representing Viennetta, and by far the most ambitious, Anton, was doing a flute of champagne in gown form. He got stuck on representing the glass, and the state of the dress when time was up wasn’t quite the state of the dress on the catwalk. There had been a last minute fixit on the Viennetta dress, which looked almost great, if not towards the top. Tom was busted for ironing not sewing on bits and bobs to his dress, while Lucy’s short dress wasn’t particularly well sewn. Anton got mixed reviews, and there was a judges’ confab with Sophie, where Patrick tried to claim that Tom and Susan’s made to measure had made them equal to someone who wasn’t a total novice.
But Anton won, and then proceeded to sing, which may have been why he agreed to sign up to this. Very much a Christmas special to be watched in an undemanding and stuffed state. I caught up with it on Boxing Day.
I watched the highlights of the end of the Next Gen tournament (the scoring is weird, the court looks weird without the doubles lines, it’s held in sports-washing Saudi Arabia, although that last is not remarkable.) It was won by top seed and last year’s finalist Learner Tien, who showed that he’s been playing with the big boys all year and got himself into the top 30, which means a seeding at the Aussie Open.
The Great British Bee Christmas special 2025
Another new presenter in Sophie Willan, I don’t know if Sara Pascoe will return for the series proper or if they’re trying Sophie out. To some extent, she was overshadowed by the chaos that Lucy Beaumont brought as a competitor.
This is never as good as the proper series, because instead of people who can sew, it features celebrities who can’t. At least, Anton off Strictly admitted to some experience, and it showed. Everyone else seemed like novices who’d been given a crash course and was probably getting help when the camera wasn’t on them.
The pattern challenge was for a gift sack, which is basically a rectangle, although for some difficulty there was a lining and a drawstring to do, so they needed to leave a gap. The usual happened, things went wrong for Susan as soon as she picked a glittery material. The unusual happened with Lucy, who picked leopard print and red, because she was inspired by the song about mummy kissing Santa Claus. The men did better, with Tom, who seemed very into being Hammer from Gladiators, picking perhaps the most sensible material, and proving he’d seen the show by adding on a bow to gain Esme’s favour. Lucy had sewn it all up when she shouldn’t have, and had to unpick. Anton picked a busy pattern, but had time to add bells to his drawstring.
Esme was pretty harsh, declaring she didn’t like brown and wanted to burn Lucy’s messy sack. The other judging comments were fairer. Anton came top.
The transformation challenge was a range of outfits into a child’s fancy dress based on the song 12 Days of Christmas. Three of the contestants plumped for birds, while Lucy started with udders, and then decided to do the rest of the cow. Susan’s French hen was henlike enough, but went very Scottish, and she had to unpick a bit. Tom was doing a swan, but even after being asked about the eyes, didn’t do them, while Anton was doing a goose, and added a golden egg at the very last minute.
The uddertastic cow had everyone in hysterics. The Scottish hen came last for not being on brief, the eyeless swan came third, the cow to be milked second and Anton’s goose a-laying came first.
Esme did a lot of namedropping this episode and seems to like a very boozy Christmas.
Made to measure was meant to be an outfit representing the celebs’ favourite treat. Lucy was going for a (simple) dress inspired by Stilton cheese, Tom for a dress representing gingerbread, Susan a dress representing Viennetta, and by far the most ambitious, Anton, was doing a flute of champagne in gown form. He got stuck on representing the glass, and the state of the dress when time was up wasn’t quite the state of the dress on the catwalk. There had been a last minute fixit on the Viennetta dress, which looked almost great, if not towards the top. Tom was busted for ironing not sewing on bits and bobs to his dress, while Lucy’s short dress wasn’t particularly well sewn. Anton got mixed reviews, and there was a judges’ confab with Sophie, where Patrick tried to claim that Tom and Susan’s made to measure had made them equal to someone who wasn’t a total novice.
But Anton won, and then proceeded to sing, which may have been why he agreed to sign up to this. Very much a Christmas special to be watched in an undemanding and stuffed state. I caught up with it on Boxing Day.
