I was just starting school when the first episode of Close To Home screened in May 1975. The opening titles, which traipse around New Zealand's main centres - reflecting the whole country - were a nice touch. Focusing on the domestic goings-on of Wellington's Hearte family, the soap ran for over eight years. At its peak in 1977, nearly a million viewers tuned in twice weekly. You can take a trip down memory lane by visiting nzonscreen.com, which has the first episode.
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A reader recently stayed at the SkyCity Grand Hotel and was surprised the hotel didn't have any toothbrushes or toothpaste on offer. "This is the first hotel I've been to [five star or otherwise] that doesn't provide these most basic amenities. They did suggest we buy them from the nearest dairy ... Am I missing something here? Or is this the standard with five star hotels these days?"
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A Massachusetts high school principal said he banned the word "meep" because it was being used to disrupt school. The Danvers High principal told students they would be suspended for saying "meep", a favourite utterance of lab assistant Beaker from the Muppet Show, because students were using it to plan a massive disruption by students via Facebook.
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The first English encyclopaedia contained almost as much fiction and speculation as truth. Here are three strange assertions from The Encyclopaedia Britannica 1768 ...
Medicine: Cures for flatulence included drinking camomile tea and blowing smoke from a pipe "through the anus". Cures for toothache included drinking laxatives, or bleeding in the foot. If the tooth is rotten "it will be best to burn the nervous cord and then the cavity may be filled up with a wax mixture". Or, the French way was to fill the hole with another human/animal tooth of the right size.
Aphrodisiacs: Vermicelli noodles were first brought from Italy, where the food was in "great vogue"; it was chiefly used in soups and pottages, "to provoke venery" or sexual gratification.
Australia and New Zealand: Despite the fact that both lands had been discovered, their existence was not recognised in the Encyclopaedia until they had been colonised. (Source: Telegraph.co.uk)
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Paul says New Zealanders have a right to free education because it's guaranteed under the Education Act. "State schools cannot charge fees for attendance. It is the board of trustees and principal of those schools who mislead their school community and purport to charge who need to look at their conscience, as they are in breach of their legal obligations. Lack of funding is the state's problem. I personally have a problem with the state's priorities; funding Rugby World Cup, America's Cup, Air NZ shares, a national cycleway and all sorts of other useless ventures rather than putting the funding to good use - education."
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View today's Herald cartoon
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Today's Webpick: Flying car jumps over roundabout, captured on CCTV allegedly (cough, cough) in New Zealand… Go here and scroll down.
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