"Our" ABC scoops the rest

It may be just some light celebrity reporting but the ABC has scooped the well funded private media networks with their exclusive photos and report on the filming of the movie Thor in Brisbane with actor Chris Hemsworth ( the Hemsworth brothers were brought up in Byron Bay about a 90 minute drive from Brissy). The ABC have confirmed their pictures were taken by an ABC staff photographer and that they would never buy in paparazzi pics in a tale like this. They have also done a follow-up today on how the LIVIN top Hemsworth is wearing -with profits going to a suicide prevention charity-are selling like hotcakes.
My source also says Hemsworth was active in informing the ABC of their filming schedule as he wants to promote LIVIN and deliberately chose the national broadcaster as he is a great believer in it.

Johnny Depp's Surprise Visit to a Brisbane Hospital

He's like a walking PR machine as he daily greets tourists and fans hovering around the Gold Coast filming Location. Johnny Depp took time off from shooting the new Pirates of The Caribbean flick to visit the Lady Cilento Children's Hospital in Brisbane today and surprise patients. Our spy disguised as a lowly gaffer on the film set swears that Depp never gets out of that costume and arrives on-set every day still in character. You can see the full video here.

Mary Poppins Revealed.

Julie Andrews is in town on her very first visit to Australia for her show An Evening With Julie Andrews in which she reminisces about her 60 year career on the stage and in movies.
At a press conference today she gave the assembled media a taste of what's in store including anecdotes about her many co-stars and some revealing information about her loss of voice 15 years ago:
"I was in denial for about a year thinking maybe I just wasn't healing as fast as I should. When it was quite obvious that I was not, then I had to deal with it."
She's a warm and friendly lady and full of charm and has some quite fascinating tales to tell. We can't tell you any of them though as we are sworn to secrecy. You have to buy tickets to the show-pretty cheap at $99 to hear all!

An Evening With Julie Andrews premiers in Brisbane on May 18 and then moves to Perth, Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne.
It will be hosted by Sydney based actor, Nicholas Hammond, who played Friedrich von Trapp in The Sound of Music.

ShiBo & Joel Rock !

These two kids walked onto the stage last week at X-Factor and simply blew away the audience. It's time to re-visit these amazingly natural talents ahead of next weeks Factor: 14 year old Shiane Hawke from Darwin  and 15 year old Joel Goncalves from Brisbane who sang a Michael Jackson song with the most beautiful voice.

Jack ( The Ripper) Died In Australia

Forget the Queen's respected surgeon, or the member of the Royal Family. Finally the true identity of the infamous Jack The Ripper has been exposed (120 years after he sliced up 5 prostitutes in the East End of London)

Jack was a Londoner known as Walter Thomas Porriott who was well known to police as Andrew John Gibson. He lived in London at the time of the murders and then sailed for Sydney just as the murders stopped and The Ripper vanished from the news. Apparently he lived in Brisbane and died in 1952 after a long career as an impostor and fraudster.

It really stands to reason. Not only were convicts sent to the colonies for a range of petty crimes but upper class families often sent their wayward sons to the other side of the world to escape scandal. And where better? At the turn of the last century Australia was a favoured place to escape to and create a new identity. It still is.
As the Ripper was never caught, it could be said that being confined to living out one's life in Brisbane was a suitable punishment.
Read the full story here at the Telegraph.co.uk

STOP PRESS : Now former solicitor John Morris claims Welsh-born Lizzie Williams (left) was the Ripper and says she killed her victims because she could not have children, ripping out the wombs of three in an "unhinged state".
 Read more here.
 
Tommorrow : Is Rupert Murdoch related to the The Ripper?