Do you have a favourite Monty Python sketch?

Nothing was sacred to “Monty Python’s Flying Circus” — and that is probably why the comedy troupe’s television show became so popular.

The irreverent programme starring  John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and Graham Chapman first aired 40 years ago in 1969.

Among Monty Python’s most popular TV skits are those that mock unworkable aspects of Britain’s authoritarian class structure, including its famously intractable rules, monumental political bureaucracy and befuddling misrepresentations.

After several seasons the show stopped airing in Britain, but played on in North American television re-runs.

Will you miss Teletext?

It will be the end of an era. Associated Newspapers has announced that it will shut the analogue Teletext TV service in January next year.

The shutdown was expected to take place in 2012 and the company has also said that it will even close several of its Freeview digital services. The service has been badly hit by a fall in audiences and revenue brought on by the economic downturn.

Teletext services have been running since 1974, providing news and weather reports, football results and film listings. Some commercial services on digital channels will remain, as will the profitable travel websites.

Candidates feel the heat in “The Apprentice” kitchen

After a monumentally useless performance in last week’s opening task, “The Apprentice” candidates return to our screens tonight to add further ridicule to the claim that they are the “brightest business prospects in Britain.”

This week’s task sees them struggling to… make sandwiches. It is boys versus girls again and team Ignite and team Empire have to set up a catering service in the City of London, pitching for business, sourcing ingredients, creating menus and basically making a pig’s ear of the whole thing.

Yasmina and Rocky, both from catering backgrounds, are team leaders and you would expect them to know what they are doing. Fat chance. After over-spending last week the girls try to make up for it by offering chicken wraps without chicken and adding their own budget ingredient to a salad – hair.

The boys, rather brilliantly, go for an Olympic themed catering service and don togas to serve their food to bewildered city professionals.

“The Apprentice” makes a welcome return

You have to ask yourself, following last night’s opening episode of the fifth series of reality show “The Apprentice”, why lawyers even bother entering the competition. Sir Alan Sugar reportedly has little time for legal eagles and it was pretty clear, once her team had lost the first task, that poor Anita Shah, pictured, was going to be the first one booted out of the competition.

Mind you, she was pretty useless.

The show’s opening claim that the candidates, who are competing for a job with Sir Alan Sugar and a six figure salary, are “Britain’s brightest business prospects” is patently untrue. “The Apprentice” seems to have adopted the Big Brother mantra of selecting candidates not for their worth but because of their oversized egos, unwarranted self-belief and willingness (in some cases eagerness) to stab each other in the back.

Bill Gates and Sir Richard Branson did not get to where they are today by saying things like “To me making money is better than sex” (contestant Ben Clarke) and “Business is the new rock ‘n’ roll and I’m Elvis Presley” (Philip Taylor, an estate agent).

What’s your gadget of the year?

******For those immune to the charms of the latest gadgets, they are expensive, infuriating and fragile devices that are destined to be lost or stolen or end up languishing in the back of a drawer.******But for gadget-lovers there is nothing better than getting their hands on a covetable new toy that promises to make life easier or more fun.******Readers of Stuff magazine, who are more likely to fall into the second category, are voting for their favourite gadget of the last 12 months.******Here’s the shortlist: Apple’s iPhone, Sony’s PlayStation 3, Nintendo’s Wii Fit, Microsoft’s Xbox 360, Asus Eee PC and the B&W Zeppelin.******Nominees in the other categories include the BlackBerry Bold, Nokia N96, Creative Zen X-Fi and TomTom GO 730.******Do you constantly upgrade your mobile/iPod/television in a quest for the latest features? Or are you quite happy still using your basic phone and full-size TV?******What was your favourite gadget of the last year and why do you love it so much?*******Click here for full story*

“The Apprentice” has its new Katie Hopkins

“The Apprentice” has found its bully, sergeant major and army officer — oh, and its first scapegoat.

So scary was the bully that she was even likened to the villain of the last series Katie Hopkins.

But at least you could watch and learn from Hopkins and admire her lucidity, if not her morals.

This bully — step forward Jenny Celerier — is just, well … brutish.

Are the kids too hung up on fame?

Once, kids had to work hard to become famous.

Whatever their chosen route, it would usually involve endless hours of practice — be it in the gym, on the pitch, at the keyboard or on the stage.

Now, with the advent of the reality TV star and the explosion of shows like the X Factor, America’s Next Top Model, Laguna Beach and the like, it seems anyone can do it and earn themselves millions in the process.

In the meantime, the media obsession with celebrities like David Beckham and Paris Hilton reinforces the yearning for stardom.