Bolton’s very own Vernon Kay is about to become the new host of ITV show This Morning, temporarily, while Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield have some time off.
The 47-year-old will join the show from August 31 and will spend three days presenting it alongside Rochelle Humes.
Vernon and Rochelle are being drafted in from the end of the month while Phillip and Holly take a well deserved break during the summer holidays.
Rochelle, alongside show regular Alison Hammond, will host a ‘girl power’ Monday version of the show before Vernon enters the way on Tuesday and hosts until Thursday.
Holly, left, Phil right // ITV’s This Morning
Then, on Friday, Rochelle will return to host with Alison while Alison’s regular Friday co-host, Dermot O’Leary, will host parts of the show live from Manchester.
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Speaking to The Sun on Sunday, Vernon said: “To be asked to guest host on a show I’ve watched since its inception is a huge tick for me.”
The Mirror reports that Vernon’s presenting stint is part of a drive to try out new faces on the hit morning show, which has been on air for 33 years.
This Morning airs weekdays from 10am until 12.30pm.
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Manchester Thunder are attempting a Netball Super League record and you can help them break it
Danny Jones
Reigning netball champions Manchester Thunder are returning to the AO Arena once again this spring and are hoping to smash a league record in the process.
The best part is, you can help them break it by simply grabbing a ticket.
The high-flying Northern side are enjoying yet another impressive season, currently sitting second in the Netball Super League with a game in hand on Surrey Storm at the top of the table.
However, as well as hoping to retain their NSL title and win their fifth trophy in just over a decade, the Thunder are also looking to earn themselves a league record in their upcoming game against local rivals Leeds Rhinos at the AO and it’s looking very doable.
Heading back to the AO Arena for the first in over a year since their last meeting at the legendary Manc venue back in March 2022, the fixture promises to be “bigger and better than ever”.
After besting the Rhinos (52–67) over at Leeds Beckett earlier this month, Manchester Thunder are now looking to surpass the blockbuster scenes from last year’s arena match, where more than 4,000 fans turned up to see them take on the league’s newest team, with a target of at 5,960 attendees now set.
Dubbed the ‘Battle of the Roses’, the Lancashire lot’s aim is to not only beat their Yorkshire counterparts once again but to beat the official NSL record for the most supporters at a home netball game, which currently stands at 5,959.
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Netball Manchester Live 2023 is already one of Manchester’s biggest annual sporting events but with this milestone now up for grabs, it’s set to be a big afternoon whether you’re a netball fan, a fan of sport in general or just want to play your small part of history.
The sport as a whole is riding quite the high in recent years, with a record crowd of nearly 9,000 fans piling into Birmingham’s Utilita Arena for the season opener back in 2020, where all 10 teams compete in a massive day of netball action.
Cementing themselves as one of the best teams in the NSL, Manchester Thunder are hoping to keep pushing that momentum further and, who knows, with the AO Arena capacity at around 21,000, they could even go on to break international records in the 10,000s.
With over 2,000 tickets already sold, Manchester’s premier netball team are on track to reach a record attendance, but every friend, family member and netball-lover you convince to come along helps them move a step closer to achieving this amazing feat.
Tickets for Manchester Thunder vs Leeds Rhinos Netball at the AO Arena on 7 May are on sale now. You can grab yours HERE and we hope to see you there!
Blackpool has been named one of the top five worst seaside towns in the UK
Emily Sergeant
It won’t be a title to shout about from the rooftops, but Blackpool has been named one of the worst seaside towns in the UK.
In what is grim reading for the North, The Telegraph has this week published a list of what it considers to be the top 20 best and worst seaside towns in the UK, giving each place on the list a ranking out of 100 – and Blackpool has, unfortunately, found itself quite close to the bottom.
The much-loved Lancashire resort has come in at number 17.
With a pretty brutal brutal ranking of 22/100, claiming number 17 on The Telegraph’s list effectively means Blackpool has been named the fourth worst seaside town in the UK.
Sharing a top five spot with fellow Lancashire town Morecambe, and a place in the top 10 alongside Southport in the North West, Tyneside’s South Shields, Lincolnshire’s Cleethorpes, and North Yorkshire’s Scarborough, Blackpool is not only the most populous town in Lancashire, but according to The Telegraph, is also “one of the most storied in the UK”.
Blackpool has been named one of the top five worst seaside towns in the UK / Credit: Blackpool Pleasure Beach
Described as having “pavements littered with tales of hedonism and high jinks, as much as poverty and neglect”, Blackpool is credited by the publication for having invented the “working-class weekend break” and serving as a “laughter lab” for generations of famous comedians.
The paper, surprisingly, even called the town “sort of sophisticated” – but only if you “ignore” the Pleasure Beach’s iconic Big One rollercoaster that looms over it.
Giving a run-down of why Blackpool has been named in the top five worst seaside town’s in the UK, The Telegraph explains that it’s “too big to fail”, adding: “With the Illuminations, the Tower, Strictly glitz, a branch of Madame Tussauds, heavily made-up gay and trans scenes and stag and hen groups, Blackpool isn’t a sedate escape.
“A walk along its long prom in summer is like featuring in a documentary called Mad, Bad, Sad, Glad Modern Britain.”
The Lancashire resort is described as having “pavements littered with tales of hedonism and high jinks” / Credit: FreeImages | Geograph
The publication claims the town is “too idiosyncratic, too well-loved (and loathed), too generous to fit one style or market”, and rounded out the review claiming that even if you spent “£10 billion gentrifying” the place, it wouldn’t make much of a difference.
“All you’d get is Miami with rain and donkeys,” the description concludes.
On the other end of the spectrum, St Ives in Cornwall took the number one spot on the list with a rating of 98/100, while Southwold, Whitstable, Lyme Regis, and North Berwick completed the rest of the top five.
The Manc -
23rd August 2021 
