Jordan Banjo to replace Gregg Wallace on Eat Well for Less in major BBC shakeup
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Jordan will take over hosting duties after Gregg quit after eight years in January, saying he needed to lessen his workload and spend more time with his young son
Jordan Banjo to replace Gregg Wallace on Eat Well for Less in major BBC shakeup
Gavin & Stacey favourite Joanna Page is to make her debut as a BBC presenter alongside Melanie Sykes on Shop Well for Less?
The pair replace former hosts Steph McGovern, who has joined Channel 4, and The One Show’s Alex Jones, currently pregnant with her third child.
Also, Jordan Banjo is to replace outgoing Gregg Wallace on sister BBC1 show Eat Well for Less? with Chris Bavin remaining as the co-host.
Wallace quit after eight years in January, saying he needed to lessen his workload and spend more time with his young son.
Now Jordan, 28, will assist Chris in helping families to save money and sort food facts from fiction.
And the two shows will also combine to create a brand new third series – Shop Well for the Planet – in which all four hosts work together to help families try out green choices while shopping, without spending a fortune.
Image: Handout) Handout)
In the fifth series of Shop Well for Less? Jo and Mel will help families change the way they shop without changing their lifestyle, looking at everything from branded cleaning products to designer clothes.
They will also give money-saving tips so that families can keep hold of their hard-earned cash.
Mum-of-three Joanna – best known as Stacey West from Barry Island in the hit BBC comedy - said: “I’m so excited to be working with Melanie, helping out lots of people across the UK and maybe getting a few tips for my own spending habits. It’ll be great fun.”
Image: BBC/RDF) BBC/RDF)
Mel added: “Shop Well For Less? is such a well-loved series - I can’t wait to get stuck in.”
BBC commissioner Ricky Cooper said the three-part environmental spin-off would show viewers how to make sustainable choices: “Eat Well and Shop Well’s simple swaps and tests have already changed the way millions of us spend, so it’s incredibly exciting to bring these brands together to tackle one of the biggest challenges we all face as a nation – going green.”
Jordan said he was “super happy” to be joining the shows, due to air later this year.
Image: BBC/RDF) BBC/RDF)
“It’s so important that we look after ourselves and the planet, and I’m 100% ready to do my bit to help get the nation eating well and shopping well.”
The One Show’s Alex has said she intends to go on maternity leave from next month.
Coronavirus vaccines may reduce or eliminate symptoms of long covid
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A woman receives the covid-19 vaccine at Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts Scott Eisen / Getty Images
Some people with long covid, in which individuals have long-lasting symptoms after a covid-19 infection, are reporting improvements in their health after being vaccinated against the coronavirus. The reports are based on anecdotes and a small, informal survey rather than a scientific study, but the trend might offer clues to what causes the persistent symptoms.
For most people, covid-19 is a mild or flu-like illness. However, some people are still ill many months after the infection.
Although it is normal …
Peffley: Aster, a quintessential fall flower
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Staff Writer
Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
Gardening for You
For crossword puzzle fans, a clue that appears often in crossword puzzles: a five-letter word for ‘fall flower’? A-s-t-e-r
The aster is the classic fall flower because, like mums, asters set blossoms only when days are shortening. Asters begin setting flowers in July and reach peak bloom in September.
Aster is not only a common name but is also a genus in the largest family of flowering plants family, the Asteraceae. The Asteraceae family, formerly the Compositae family, is commonly referred to as the aster, daisy or sunflower family.
The previous designation, Compositae, is descriptive of the flower: what appears to be a single blossom is actually a composite of many smaller individual flowers that develop on and around a center disk.
The genus name Aster comes from the Latin word “aster” meaning star, named for the shape of the flowers. The petals resemble the arms of a Ferris wheel.
Each blossom is comprised of two kinds of many smaller flowers: disk flowers that arise from a center disk and ray flowers that look as if they are petals surrounding a center disk. Each blossom is wrapped in a feathery, hairy “pappus” encircled by green bracts; the green bracts are most visible on young buds before the blossoms open.
Because asters established from seed may take a few years to bloom, potted plants are usually preferred. Plants grown in full sun have the showiest floral displays.
Not only are asters charming delicate small blossoms in an autumn ornamental garden, as a low-growing perennial they attract pollinators, making them especially appealing as summer flowers wane.
The aster in the accompanying photo is the variety ‘Monch’ a hybrid between Aster amellus (a-MEL-lus), the Italian starwort, and Aster thomsonii (tom-SON-ee-ee), a Himalayan species. Its delicate 2 inch, daisy-like flowers have lavender blue rays encircling a yellow disk.
The pappus is visible in the two flower buds on the right.
Some information from wildflowers-and-weeds.com
Q&A: Crepe Myrtle
Q: Lubbock Avalanche-Journal reader Pam W. of Lubbock asks about preventative measures that could be taken this autumn to try to avoid a rerun of last year’s Crepe Myrtle damage.
A: Pam has a great idea as she thinks ahead to next season. The damage sustained by crepe myrtles last winter was a combination of events culminating in a perfect storm for injury. The succession of several hard and early October freezes hit the myrtles while top growth was still tender, before branches had sufficiently hardened off.
To prevent or lessen such damage occurring again, start now to slow vegetative growth, giving the tops every opportunity to harden off – such steps include reducing irrigation, ceasing fertilizations, postponing deadheading of flowers until spring and mulching the root base without piling mulch on the trunks - and hopefully the upcoming winter will be kinder.
Ellen Peffley taught horticulture at the college level for 28 years, 25 of those at Texas Tech, during which time she developed two onion varieties. She is now the sole proprietor of From the Garden, a market garden farmette. You can email her at gardens@suddenlink.net