Miley Cyrus

If I’m honest, I’m in the I think the Coronavirus while serious is being blown out of proportion camp. If I can add a little bit of light to the situation, amongst the Cockney community it is now known as the “Miley Cyrus”. The advice from the Prime Minister is ‘Don’t forget it is still the case that the single most useful thing we can all do is to wash our hands with hot water and soap, singing Happy Birthday twice’

Now that can get boring after a while so one helpful music fan, journalist Jen Monnier, from New York, decided as a ‘public service’ to come up with her own coronavirus playlist, which includes a handful of popular songs where the chorus takes around 20 seconds to sing. If it doesn’t, repeat it!

Shrove Tuesday is best remembered for pancakes of course but if you live in Ashbourne in Derbyshire the town braces itself, battens down the hatches and prepares for a football match like no other. The centuries-old tradition of Royal Shrovetide football keeps the anarchic, brutal origins of the beautiful game alive, a world far removed from the pampered millionaires of the Premier League. It all kicks off at 2.00pm on Shrove Tuesday, with thousands congregating in the Shawcroft car park for the eagerly-anticipated “turning up”, when the ball is dropped from a plinth into the waiting hordes.

The ball is thrown into the air and into the ‘hug’ by the ‘turner up‘, a respected local person chosen to do the honour. Famous ‘turner-ups’ have included Prince Charles and The Duke of Devonshire.

Once play begins, a large number of players(we’re talking over 1,000 per team)try to move the ball to their goal by pushing against the opposition.

Your team depends on which side of the Henmore Brook you were born on: those born South of the Brook are the Down’ards, and try to goal the ball at the old Clifton Mill. Those born on the North are the Up’ards and try to goal the ball at the old Sturston Mill.

The process of ‘goaling’ a ball requires a player to hit the ball against their millstone goal three times. The scorer is usually elected en route to the goal and is typically someone who lives in Ashbourne. It is a huge honour to ‘goal’ the ball and the scorer often becomes a local celebrity.

The match continues until 10pm. If a goal is scored before 5pm, then a new ball is ‘turned up’ again and a new game started. If the goal is after 5pm then the game ends for the day.

Check it out online it’s completely nuts!

The World Pasty Championships took place at the Eden Project in Cornwall last weekend. There were eight categories in the Championships with the opportunity to enter a traditional Cornish pasty or an alternative savoury pasty.

Cornish Pasty – Company won by The Phat Pasty Co.

Cornish Pasty – Professional won by David Timmins from Cornwall

Cornish Pasty – Amateur won by Vanessa Farr from Bristol

Cornish Pasty Junior (15 and under) won by Daisy Lovejoy, aged eight, from Plymouth.

Open Savoury – Company won by Rowe’s Cornish Bakery with a chicken, leek, potato and onion pasty.

Open Savoury – Professional won by Nick Brown from Liskeard, Cornwall with a ham hock, cheddar and apple chutney pasty.

Open Savoury – Amateur won by Jan Micallef from Sheffield with a goat’s cheese, pear, shallot and walnut pasty.

Open Savoury – Junior (15 and under) won by Jodie Heath, 14, from Bodmin, Cornwall with a sweet and sour chicken pasty.

In 2011, the Cornish Pasty Association won a long campaign to gain European Union PGI status for the Cornish pasty which means that only pasty makers based in Cornwall who make pasties to the approved recipe are able to label their products as Cornish pasties.

If I see a West Country Pasty takeaway at an airport or a train station I’m stopping for the big traditional. None of that savoury stuff for me.

Also taking place last weekend was the UK Wife Carrying Championships. Dozens of couples took part in the 13th annual race, with a barrel of ale awaiting the winners at the finish line. The bizarre contest kicked off at 10.30am along the 380-metre course in Dorking, Surrey.

The rules state that those being carried can in fact be male or female but must weigh at least 50 kilograms with strict penalties for dropping your partner. Entrants must also only use one of the recognised holds which include the bridal carry, piggy-back, shoulder-ride and fireman’s carry.

But the most popular stance is the Estonian Hold which involves the ‘wife’ hanging upside-down on the carrier’s back with their legs crossed in front of their face. The couple who finish the race first win a barrel of local ale worth £150 – but this is not the only prize on offer.

The carrier who completes the course with the heaviest wife will win a pound of sausages. The oldest carrier will receive a tin of pilchards and jar of Bovril while the last placed duo will receive a ceremonial Pot Noodle and a can of dog food.

In addition the first-placed finishers will be asked to compete at the World Wife Carrying Championships in Finland.

The best kebab houses in Britain have been revealed, after hundreds of thousands of punters voted for their favourites.

At a glitzy award ceremony last night the winners were unveiled at the eighth annual British Kebab Awards, which celebrates the £2.8 billion industry.

Winners took to the stage triumphing in 16 categories, including Booker Makro’s Chef of the Year, Ace4Kebabs Kebab Van of the Year, Just Eat Best Delivery, and eight regional awards for recognising the best kebab restaurants across the UK.

Best Delivery went to the BBQ Grill in Chatham and the prize for Customer Satisfaction went to Birmingham’s Mount Nemrut Turkish Restaurant.

You can’t beat a kebab after a night out but the ones here just don’t taste the same as back in the UK.

Real Mallorca struggled to create a chance against probably the most boring side I’ve seen in a long while, Getafe. They were missing their top scorer Budimir, so when the teams were announced the immediate thought was where are the goals going to come from? And so it proved as Getafe won by 1-0. Attention turns to what can only be described as a must win for Mallorca away at Eibar on Saturday at 13.00. There’s a 5 point difference from Mallorca in third bottom and Eibar fifth bottom. A win would not only be Mallorca’s first but would drag Eibar into the fight. Next Saturday it’s the small matter of Barcelona at home. Tickets if not already sold out are close to being sold out. The most expensive ticket at 290€ is the same price as my season ticket! I went to the away game at the Nou Camp and hopefully the result will be better than the 5-2 gubbing we got there.

Atlético Baleares are still top of Segunda B Group 1 with 11 games to go by 5 points from UD Ibiza. This weekend they play each other in what could be a title decider. The boys and I are going along with our Man in San An who’s flying in from Ibiza. Kick-off is Sunday at 12 midday and you can get tickets online and if there are any left at the stadium before the game.

Jake was banned last week but his team won 7-0 and Jude didn’t have a game, so we took in a couple of other games instead to pass the time away. Let’s see what happens to them both this week.

Enjoy your weekend!

Richie presents the Radio One Mallorca

Breakfast show Monday to Friday07.30-11.00am on 93.8fm in Mallorca and 102fm in Calvià, online at www.radioonemallorca.com on mobile through their free App for IPhone & Android, The Tunein Radio App, iTunes, the Spanish TDT TV service and all smart speakers. If you can’t hear him on the radio then you’ll find him working at Pirates Adventure the islands number one night out and every now and again he may make an understudy appearance!

Follow him on Twitter @DadTaxi1 & Instagram @dad.taxi or feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com