Yes, I’ve managed to get tickets! Row Q for Queen!!!!!!!!!

Queen & Ben Elton’s We Will Rock You Celebrates 5th Birthday
With Special Performance Monday May 14
And Announces Extension into 7th Year.
Show Now Goes On Until 2008

Can it really be five years since Queen and Ben Elton turned London’s Dominion Theatre into ‘the place of living rock’ with their partnership hit musical, We Will Rock You?

The answer comes with news that Elton and Queen’s Brian May and Roger Taylor are lining up a shindig evening at the theatre on Monday May 14 to celebrate exactly five years to the date that the show, which has since haunted the critics, first opened its doors.

As with past landmarks reached by the show - becoming the Dominion’s longest running musical, the 1000th performance - we should anticipate the May 14th evening becoming something of a special event, certainly involving the show creators themselves, and with the added anticipation of one or two ‘special guests’ popping up on stage unannounced.

We shouldn’t forget that since it’s opening, the likes of Britney Spears, Beyonce, Pink, and McFly have all made guest appearances on the Dominion’s WWRY stage.

And while five years in the life of many a West End show may be considered a long time, it appears Messrs Elton and Queen are not content with settling on running for a mere half a decade. The producers today announced the extension of the show into October 2008, heading the show for, at least, a run into its seventh year.

The news of We Will Rock You having made it past the five-year mark is not the only fact about the show which marks out its spectacular success in the West End.

In reaching this latest birthday, the show passes the 3 million-ticket mark, and same time becomes the longest running entertainment ever to occupy the Dominion. The show’s closest rival, which it now far surpasses, was 1958’s filmed version of South Pacific, which talked its last happy talk at the end of four years.

The previous longest running stage musical, Grease, came to an end at the Dominion after 3 years and 3 months.

It is not only at home that WWRY continues to prove a popular attraction with audiences. In Toronto, where the show opened earlier this month, the producers have already this month announced two further extensions to the run. Elsewhere in the world, the show continues to run in Spain, Germany, and Switzerland, and later this year begins a lengthy tour of Asia.

A limited number of tickets for the fifth anniversary show are now on sale at usual ticket prices (£27.50 - £55). In person from the Dominion box office or by telephone on: 0870 169 0116 (booking fee).

WE WILL ROCK YOU. A Phil McIntyre/Queen Theatrical Productions and Tribeca Theatrical Productions production. Dominion Theatre, Tottenham Court Road, London, W1. (Tottenham Court Road tube station).

I wonder if this is the cause of my asthma, I had a random allergic reaction after eating mussels and I couldn’t breathe!

news.bbc.co.uk

Studies explain ‘lobster asthma’

Lobsters owe the toughness of their armour to chitin
Scientists say they are uncovering why some people’s asthma is triggered by shellfish, insects and parasites.
The clue lies in a compound called chitin that gives beetles and crabs their protective outer shell and invertebrates their internal structure.

Humans and other mammals lack chitin, and have developed defences against it.

The latest work in Nature builds on previous animal studies showing a link between asthma symptoms and immune reactions to chitin.

Common trigger

The team at the University of California, San Francisco, found chitin triggered an allergic inflammatory response in the lungs of mice and increased production of a chitin-destroying enzyme, called chitinase, made by cells lining the lung airways.

In humans, individuals have different versions due to small genetic differences.

The researchers are now trying to determine if some of the variants are less effective at breaking down chitin, and if people with those variants are more prone to asthma because they are less able to control their exposure to inhaled chitin.

This study reveals a mechanism by which chitin can trigger allergic inflammation

Leanne Male, Asthma UK’s assistant director of research

Insects, moulds and parasitic worms produce billions of tons of chitin each year, making it one of life’s most common compounds.

Asthma experts have already noticed that some professions - including people working in the shellfish processing industry - have higher rates of asthma.

Lead researcher Dr Richard Locksley said: “It is possible that afflicted workers have forms of the chitinase that functions less well than the other common genetic variants.

“These are areas we are interested in following up.”

Leanne Male, Asthma UK’s assistant director of research, said: “This study reveals a mechanism by which chitin can trigger allergic inflammation.”

She said more work was needed to confirm the findings in humans and establish how this mechanism might apply to everyday situations.

She said 5.2million people in the UK have asthma and are continuously exposed to chitin present in the environment.

www.monopoly.co.uk

At the last minute, we decided to travel across Spain over to Majorca!

We started by getting the ferry from Portsmouth to Bilbao on the Pride of Bilbao ferry on the Friday nught and we arrived very early on Sunday morning.

The ferry drops you off in Santurtzi and from there we got a train over to Bilbao which only took about half an hour!

Bilbao station had the most fantastic stained glass window!

We walked over to our hotel and had a drink and some Spanish Omlette in the cafe. The hotel let us check in at 10am so we went back to bed for a while then went over to watch the Easter celebrations at lunchtime! It involved a donkey and lots of people in big hats!

We walked round the city and saw the Guggenheim museum, lots of little streets in the old town and we finally went for some tapas!

The next day we got the 10am train from Bilbao to Zaragoza - it would have been fine but we were one station away from Zaragoza when the train broke down. It was chaos and we didn’t understand much Spanish but after an hour, we were put on a minibus and taken to Zaragoza station and we arrived by about 5pm! The train itself was very nice and you could watch a film and have a snack!

Arrived at the hotel and they were playing Under Pressue, a bit later when I was in the hotel lobby they were playing These are the days of our lives! We went out for a wander round the city and Terry made up a sight seeing tour for us!

We went out for some dinner and ended up having mores tapas (croquettes are the best food in the world!). Then we were wandered round the town and caught more of the Easter celebrations!

The next day we got the train for Zaragoza to Barcelona! The train station at Zaragoza was massive and very odd!

We arrived in Barcelona and walked down Las Rambles down to the Port and waited for our ferry to take us to Majorca!

I felt sick all the way over for 4 hours! We arrived in Palma quite late so went to check in at the hotel and then went out for a drink and some tapas at a Spanish bar we found off the main street!

The next day we walked round Palma old town for hours until our feet hurt then we had some tapas at a very expensive place around 4pm!

We went back and had a rest at the hotel then went out and had curry!

The next day we got a cab over to Magaluf and checked in the hotel! That night we went to see the Pirate show which was actually fantastic!!

The next day we went out for cocktails and just chilled out in the sun!

On Saturday we stayed in bed all bed and went out in the evening to see a Queen tribute band!!!!!!!!!!

On Sunday we flew back from Palma to Bristol and were totally exhausted!!