Daily Archives: June 11, 2009

Here’s an iPod everyone will want!

Posted by Wendy on June 11, 2009 No comments

elton_john_ipods_groupshot1I am not a person who is that much into gadgety things but this special edition iPod is something I could easily be talked into buying.

Okay, so there are only 900 of the little guys available worldwide and they wont be on the cheap side to buy but what a way to get your hands on your very first Apple iPod…or your second or third.

Each iPod will come in various colours – there will be 100 available only in each colour – and they are the last thing in bling as they are encrusted with Swarovski crystals. For those of you who need to know the finer details you will be happy to know that they will come in 8 gig and 16 gig technology. 

I think I want one!

12.5% of each sale goes to Elton John’s AIDS Foundation so all that money is going to a great cause and you will have something special to call your very own.

Copyright © 2007-2012 Cultured Views. All rights reserved.

NSW gives a State Funeral for RPA’s Professor Chris O’Brien

Posted by Wendy on June 11, 2009 No comments

chrisobrienHe would never have asked for such and certainly deserved no less; the pioneering Australian cancer specialist Prof. Chris O’Brien passed away at the age of 57 last week and was accorded the honor of a full State Funeral at Sydney’s St Mary’s Cathedral yesterday.

Dr O’Brien is not only known and treasured by the many people who he looked after as patients, but also for his role in the real-life medical series RPA.  It was a series I often watch and I was shocked to hear that this wonderful man, so dedicated to fighting the scourge that is cancer, had tragically contracted the disease himself. Prof Chris – fondly known as Dr Gorgeous by family and patients alike – was diagnosed with a brain tumour (glioblastoma multi-forme) in 2006.

Prof. Chris played a key role in the research into head and neck cancer and was fundamental in founding the Sydney Head and Neck Cancer Institute in 2002. He treated patients of power and influence and patients who were ordinary and vulnerable – he related to them all in the same way; with humanity, compassion and kindness.

Throughout his battle with an illness that he himself had treated in his own patients he forged ahead with his work to establish a major centre for cancer treatment – the Lifehouse at RPA - when completed in 2012 it will be Australia’s largest cancer care centre. This, as well as the love and friendship he shared with his beloved family, many friends and colleagues, will be his lasting legacy.

We always lose the very people we need to keep…

Copyright © 2007-2012 Cultured Views. All rights reserved.

In the footsteps of C.S Lewis – a literary tour

Posted by Wendy on June 11, 2009 No comments

cslewisI am always finding out new and fascinating things about Belfast and one of the really delightful discoveries has been the influence in the world of literature that Belfast has had. I was even more excited to learn some time back that one of my favourite authors was born and raised here; C.S.Lewis.

What child has not been enchanted by his Narnia books and what adult was not touched by his story told in the film Shadowlands? I always thought that Anthony Hopkins played the role of Lewis perfectly and it is one of my favourite films to watch on a lazy afternoon.

But to get a real touch of the C.S Lewis phenomenon I only have to walk down the road to where the statue of Lewis opening the famous wardrobe door stands outside the library at the Holywood Arches. Ten minutes takes me down the quiet leafy lane where his birthplace and childhood home, Little Lea, still stands in all it’s Edwardian glory – albeit a private home today so one must always respect the owner’s privacy. But it is wonderful to stand and view the beautiful old house in the large grounds surrounded by tall trees and imagine the little boy playing and exploring the many rooms and corridors within.

littleleabelfastBack in 1905 when the house was built by Albert Lewis there were only fields surrounding the house on the outskirts of Belfast – it is a changed landscape today, situated in a pretty residential area but still secluded, charming and magical. Nearby again is Campbell College where young Jack spent a year as a boarder just down from the Stormont Estate – it is a different Northern Ireland today from that which the young author knew all those years ago. 

If you want to see this for yourself you will have to come to Belfast; I suggest taking one of the excellent Literary Walking Tours which feature C.S Lewis and includes a bus trip from nearby city to where he grew up and spent the childhood from which the magic of his books came.

What else did C.S Lewis write?

C.S Lewis Association of Ireland

Copyright © 2007-2012 Cultured Views. All rights reserved.