The Daily: July 3

We scour the news so you don't have to.

The homeless take the stage
‘The homeless are what you step over when you come out of the opera’ was the comment by the former Conservative cabinet minister, Sir George Young, which sparked debate at a homeless people’s shelter. The argument centered around what homeless people really want. It is not a house, nor is it comfort. They want to restore their pride and show the public what they are good at. The performing group, that involves 300 homeless people, will take the stage at the London 2012 Olympic Games and they have also been given the platform at the Royal Opera House in the upcoming event, With One Voice.

Simons astonishes with new Dior look
Ralf Simons amazed all with the new Dior collection, presented in a recent show. Despite the low expectations from other designers, the collection was described as ‘absolutely poetic’ and ‘perfection’. The first splendours that his audience encountered at the show were the flowers that covered each room. The audience would go through an archway of white orchards into an explosion of blue delphiniums, the very definition of elegance and femininity. Simons described these flowers as ‘metaphors for the collection as a whole.’ The main fashion statement of the collection was the bar jacket.

Queen bobs along to ‘Miss Otis Regrets’
Lord Lloyd Webber has revealed that amongst the Queen’s favourite songs is Cole Porter’s song of a wronged woman who ‘shoots her lover down’. It is said that the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh danced to it in London clubs when they were courting. Lloyd Webber spoke of a birthday party for the Queen which he held at his own home where they ‘did the cake and a small cabaret’. The Queen apparently loved the birthday bash although it was not her first at Lloyd Webber’s house. A previous party there included a sing-a-long which the Queen and the Duke did not join in with, but tapped their feet to the piano.

From hospital to exam hall
A student has graduated from the University of Cambridge with a first class honours degree in English Literature, despite sitting the exam in hospital a mere 28 hours after giving birth to her daughter. 33-year-old Isobel Cohen, an undergraduate at Lucy Cavendish College, discovered she was pregnant in her final year and says it was a ‘total surprise’ to her and her husband. Although hoping the baby would come late, a scan showed baby Beatrice had a gut disorder and so labour was induced. Isobel’s newborn daughter was still in intensive care as sat the Practical Criticism exam in her hospital dressing gown. Dr Stephanie Ellington, senior tutor at the college, said Isobel’s achievement is ‘phenomenal’. Mother and baby are now doing well.

Jerusalem solo scrapped
Though we might think of rousing singing in deliriously patriotic unison when we think of ‘Jerusalem’, research by Professor Jeremy Dibble - a musicologist from Durham University - has discovered that in Charles Hubert Parry’s original score, the first part of the hymn was to be solo. Only at the second verse were ‘all available voices’ instructed to sing. The Professor says how singing it this way reflects the composer’s desire to ‘create a song of strength, hope and unity’. People enjoyed singing the hymn together from the start so much that Parry’s initial intention soon became lost, as did the finer nuances of meaning with which the piece was written.

Poundland prospers
Poundland’s profits continue to soar, rising to more than £40 million. Although at one time, the middle classes sought to keep the budget store out of their towns, it is now seen as crucial in breathing life into threatened, run down shopping areas as one of few high-street success stories. The chain has opened 22 new stores this year already, including four in the Republic of Ireland. Chief Executive, Jim McCarthy said the reason for their success lies predominantly in their fixed price: ‘It makes it easy for families to budget as they can see how much they’ve spent before they get to the checkout…Customers recognise the exceptional value for money that Poundland offers’.