Tag Archives: David Beckham

Victoria Beckham gives birth to daughter

Posted on by

Victoria Beckham has given birth to a baby girl.

The fashion designer and her soccer star husband David – who already have three sons, Brooklyn, 12, Romeo, eight, and six-year-old Cruz, together – welcomed their daughter into the world this morning at Los Angeles’ Cedars Sinai hospital.

The tot weighed 7lbs 10oz although her name is yet to be revealed.

A spokesman for the couple – who have been married for 12 years – said: “David and Victoria Beckham are delighted to announce the birth of their daughter.

“Happy and healthy she arrived at 7.55 am this morning at Cedars Sinai hospital in Los Angeles.

“Brooklyn, Romeo and Cruz are excited to welcome their new baby sister to the family.”

Victoria – who has made no secret of her desire to have a daughter – recently said she felt “blessed” to be pregnant again even though it’s tough being a working mother.

The 37-year-old star said: “As any working mother out there knows, it really is like juggling glass balls when you’ve got the kids and a husband to look after, and you’re passionate about your career.

“But I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’m blessed.”

Kate Middleton & William Sidelined by Posh & Becks

Posted on by

After all the Royal Wedding fever has died down and with the patter of a little baby Posh on the way, it would seem that the royal couple have been sidelined…

A new survey by House Exchange, the mutual exchange website for social housing tenants, reveals that nearly twice as many Brits said they would rather swap homes and lives with David and Victoria Beckham (13%) than with Kate Middleton and Prince William (7%). The poll shows that it is in fact the glamorous jet-setting lifestyle of the Beckhams that us Brits really hanker after rather than the down to earth, low-key approach favoured by Kate and Wills.

The British public, however, were quite happy to move into some rather Royal properties with Buckingham Palace (12%) and Warwick Castle (10%) coming top of the list of famous House Exchanges, closely followed by Monica’s flat in friends (9%) and Mum and Dad’s House (5%).

The survey results also show that many people are happy in their current homes, especially the over 55s, of which more than half (55%) said they wouldn’t want to swap homes. This is in direct contrast to the 16-24 age group, where only 19% were happy to stay were they were.

Kim Doran, House Exchange Manager, said: “Young people often struggle to find their ideal home due to high rents and difficult lending conditions. However, the situation is much bleaker for social housing tenants who are not on the property ladder. We estimate nearly 500,000 of the UK’s 3.9 million social housing tenants would like to move home but can’t.

“They end up stuck on transfer lists for years and this is why we have developed House Exchange, a mutual house exchange database for social housing tenants anywhere in the UK.”

The House Exchange website currently has around 70,000 properties listed around the UK and makes around 1,000 successful swaps per month. Over half the social housing tenants that sign up have been trying to move for more than two years, yet 80% of tenants using House Exchange find their perfect match within six months, and many move within only six weeks.

House Exchange boasts two exciting features to make it easier for tenants to find their perfect match.

Three way swap

If tenants can’t find a direct swap, they can find a third property to complete the house exchange. A three way home swap is a good way of completing more house exchanges. It also helps more people move into homes that are appropriate for their needs.

Real-time matching

House Exchange matches all properties instantly. This means that when a perfect property match is found, tenants are notified immediately by email.

Visit House Exchange at www.houseexchange.org.uk

Royal Wedding Attracts Over 1 Million Facebook Updates.

Posted on by

The Royal Wedding gathered world attention and a massive amount of Facebook updates. Read on for who was popular….

The Big Numbers

· Over a million people in the UK used Facebook statuses to discuss the Royal Wedding in the past 24 hours.

· During this morning alone some 684,399 status updates referencing the wedding were posted in just 4 hours in the UK – equating to an average of 47 mentions every second.

· Many people in the UK were so excited they couldn’t sleep, with just under 500 people updating about the pending nuptials per hour ahead of 8am

· Much has been said about the US obsession with today’s wedding – and this was reflected in our numbers – with greater numbers of American Facebook users posting updates than those from the UK – 1.953 million to the UK’s 1.004 million.

So who were people talking about?

· David Beckham’s arrival led to a surge in discussion – with 9,000 mentions of his name in just 20 minutes!

· Just under double the number of people were talking about David Beckham than Victoria Beckham

· The Queen and Prince Philip didn’t even feature in the top list of discussed people – and Prince Andrew was nowhere to be seen.

· Instead, we saw Harry’s position at number three and fledgling Royal celebrity Pippa Middleton at number 8

· Kate’s rebrand into ‘Princess Catherine’ has begun in earnest, with nearly 2,000 people mentioning her new name for the first time after the ceremony

· Prince Beatrice’s hat became the subject of a Facebook fan page – ‘Princess Beatrice’s Ridiculous Royal Wedding Hat’ (4000 fans) http://on.fb.me/lGyn7z

US versus UK

· Despite not featuring in the top ten list in the UK, in the US the Queen was the 14th most discussed topic – with a position in the list similar to that of Victoria Beckham in the UK.

Here’s the list for the UK:

1

Kate Middleton

131,385 mentions

2

Prince William

104,747 mentions

3

Prince Harry

64,107 mentions

4

David Beckham

22,421 mentions

5

Victoria Beckham

12,346 mentions

6

Elton John

12,283 mentions

7

Princess Diana

11,103 mentions

8

Pippa Middleton

8,619 mentions

9

Prince Charles

6,791 mentions

10

Princess Beatrice

4,439 mentions

11

Princess Catherine

1,928 mentions

12

Princess Eugenie

1,385 mentions

13

Guy Ritchie

290 mentions

And what got people chatting?

The dress…

· Speculation grew throughout the morning as to the designer of Kate’s dress; with references to Sarah Burton of Alexander McQueen, and Diana’s dress designer, David Emanuel.

o 13,120 mentions of Sarah Burton

o 7,863 mentions of Alexander McQueen

o 4,264 mentions of Emanuel

The hat…

· Samantha Cameron’s lack of a hat attracted a lot of attention – as she arrived at Westminster Abbey there was some 600 mentions of her total lack of hat…

…and the nose…!

· Tara Palmer-Tompkinson’s nose attracted a lot of discussion – with 2046 mentions in just 20 minutes!

Elton

· National treasure Elton John featured prominently in pictures from the Abbey – leading to over 12,000 mentions of him within status updates.

Where were people talking about the wedding?

· Thousands of people crowded the streets of London in order to see the event – and lots of them got closer to it by checking in to the key locations along the route using Facebook Places.

· Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey were most popular – with XXX and XXX people checking in.

New ways to interact with a Royal Wedding….

· ITN’s live stream was available on its Facebook Page with live comments: www.facebook.com/itn – It saw 3.5million streams + peaked at 110,000 viewers online.

· ITN used Facebook Questions to ask “who is the best dressed” and “where should they go on their honeymoon?” https://www.facebook.com/eonline#!/ITN?sk=questions

· CNN live streamed the event on its website with live comments: http://edition.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2011/royal.wedding/live/

· ABC live streamed the wedding on its Page: https://www.facebook.com/abcnews as well as creating royal wedding polls: https://www.facebook.com/abcnews?sk=app_20678178440

· ITN, CNN and ABC incorporated live Facebook statistics into their TV broadcasts.

Facebook Stories

· Facebook Stories, an app that enables people to share their thoughts and views, saw thousands of submissions from more than 30 countries, in more than 20 languages

Katy Perry and David Beckham Team Up For Adidas

Posted on by

adidas is all in
adidas launches biggest marketing campaign in the brand’s history

Adidas has unveiled their latest global campaign, the biggest in the brands history, with the launch of ‘all adidas’.

This is the first time ever that adidas has created a campaign that leverages the three divisions that make up the brand – Sport Performance, adidas Originals and Sport Style, and combines them in one commercial that shows the unique breadth and depth of the brand.

The ‘all adidas’ campaign showcases adidas’ distinctive presence across and into different sports, cultures and lifestyles, fusing the worlds of sport, music and fashion. Captured in their authentic surroundings, brand ambassadors including football stars Lionel Messi and David Beckham, NBA star Derrick Rose, pop icon Katy Perry and the adidas skateboarding team, amongst others, show that when you love the game, whatever the game, you put your all into it.

The commercial is supported with a brand new soundtrack from Justice called Civilization (official release date 4th April 2011). Directed by Romain Gavras, famous for directing Justice and M.I.A, the campaign is built around a 30- and 60-second version of the commercial for TV and Cinema as well as an extended 2-minute version for Online. Viewers and fans can then continue the conversation online through social media platforms such as Facebook and twitter, where adidas serves up daily, in-depth exclusive content from the various parts of the brand – from new product releases to competitions for Katy Perry tickets and much more. adidas already engages in excess of 10 million fans of the brand on a regular basis across these platforms. In addition, the creative will come to life in a complete through-the-line offering, including mobile, retail, activation events and print.

“In the past ten years we have successfully extended the adidas brand into three powerful sub-brands with adidas Sport Performance, adidas Originals and adidas Sport Style. Now we are proud to be able to show the breadth and depth of the adidas brand in one global brand campaign,” explains Erich Stamminger, member of the Executive Board responsible for Global Brands.

“‘all adidas’ is the biggest campaign we have ever executed. Its creative concept brings together the diversity of the brand under one strong roof. From the court to the catwalk, the stadium to the street, we are giving an authentic statement with credibility that only adidas has.”

Montreal-based agency Sid Lee created and produced the global campaign. Sid Lee was hired as the global advertising agency for lifestyle label adidas Originals at the start of 2008 and developed the global campaigns for Originals in 2009 and 2010 including ‘House Party’. In 2010, Sid Lee was announced as the global lead-agency for the entire adidas brand.

The “all adidas” campaign takes place throughout 2011 in a mix of environments from sport to music, lifestyle to fashion with different elements rolling out over the year. Five second teaser spots have been aired in the weeks leading up to the global launch of the hero advert film on March 16th, 2011.

www.adidas.com/areyouin

Save the Children Launch ‘No Child Born to Die’

Posted on by

David Beckham mentioned Save the Children’s No Child Born to Die on his Facebook page, reaching over seven million people. Piers Morgan and Stephen Fry, Alexandra Burke and Emma Freud twittered about it. Simon Cowell has backed the campaign, so has Helena Bonham Carter. The UK’s biggest names in show business, sport and journalism lined up to back Save the Children’s new campaign today – No Child Born to Die – which aims to save millions of children’s lives.

At the launch event for Save the Children’s No Child Born to Die campaign this morning:

* Alexandra Burke revealed she was “Born to Believe” and told how she was so moved by her trip to Haiti with Save the Children in 2010, that: “It was really heartbreaking…it opened my eyes up to many things..seeing what was going in Haiti and how it can be stopped…even if you put in £1 or £10 , it can make a difference. ”

* Edith Bowman – whose passionate belief in the cause was sparked by speaking to mums and children in war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo , told Save the Children she was “Born to Talk…but about serious issues.” She said: “It just seems a ridiculous the number of children to be losing their lives in this day and age.”

* Amanda Mealing – who was “Born to Perform” told the launch event in central London about a newborn baby in Bangladesh who had died of septicaemia because its umbilical cord had been cut with “a sharpened bamboo stick”. She added: “I know that if I forego my one takeaway coffee a day, and (donate the money), it can make a real difference.”

* Natasha Kaplinsky who visited the Delhi slums with Save the Children earlier this month to see our life-saving work said she was “Born to Love, Learn and eat Fudge”.

Quotes from other celebrities backing Save the Children’s campaign:

* Piers Morgan announced he was ‘Born to Irritate’
* Actress Brenda Blethyn was ‘Born to Sing’ but reveals she’s never got round it.
* England footballer, Frank Lampard, is ‘Born to Play Ball’.
* Hugh Dennis is ‘Born to see Life from a Funny Angle’
* TV Presenter Dr Hilary is ‘Born to tell bad medical jokes’
* TV presenter Sarah Beeney was ‘Born to Laugh’
* Spooks star Hermione Norris confesses to being ‘Born to eat sweets’.

* Dr Abhay Bang, whose pioneering community-based methods reduced child mortality by an astonishing three quarters in 39 villages in India told the launch that empowering village women was one of the keys to success: “If you open a window of knowledge, the skills are in her hands, the knowledge is in her head, the equipment is on her shoulder, and the compassion is in her heart, she literally becomes a mobile health clinic.”

* Justin Forsyth, Chief Executive of Save the Children, said at the launch event in central London :“It is shocking in this day and age that 4000 children a day are dying of something as simple as diarrhoea or pneumonia: what a senseless waste of young lives.” He added: “We know what works, the tragedy is that just when we are beginning to make progress we risk slowing down. Our rallying cry is No Child Born to Die. We can end this massive loss of life. That is why we need every family, up and down the country to get involved…In five year’s time, we want to look back on 2011 as a turning point in the battle against child deaths.”

To sign up and show your support for the campaign visit www.savethechildren.org.uk/bornto. There you will find more information about ‘No Child Born to Die’, ways to get involved and real life stories of hope. Or Text I WILL TO 64118 (standard rates apply).

David Beckham more likely than Leonardo DiCaprio to make us act on climate change

Posted on by

According to new research released to mark the launch of the Climate Week Awards, David Beckham is more likely to inspire us to save the planet than green god Leonardo DiCaprio. The Climate Week Awards will celebrate inspiring achievements by the greenest businesses, communities and people in the UK.

Climate Week commissioned Millward Brown to identify which celebrities have most influence in encouraging the public to go green. Bill Gates, Boris Johnson and David Beckham emerged as top influencers on the environment – amongst the most likely to inspire us to become greener. All figured in the top five out of a list of 20, beaten only by Al Gore and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Meanwhile, Hollywood’s most committed eco-hero, Leonardo DiCaprio, languished in 14th place.

The research found a strong correlation between familiarity and green influence, showing that celebs who are not actively ‘green’, like Beckham, still have tremendous potential to wade in on environmental issues. This also explains why, amongst female celebrities, X factor judge Cheryl Cole beat known environmentalist Gwyneth Paltrow to be the woman most likely to make people more eco-friendly.

Supported by Headline Partner, Tesco, and Supporting Partners Aviva, EDF Energy, Kelloggs and RBS, Climate Week runs from 21-27 March. Everyone will have the chance to influence the way society combats climate change by running an event for Climate Week, entering for an award or voting for their own Climate Week Hero at www.climateweek.com/awards

The full list of celebrities ranked (in order of their eco influence) is:

1. Al Gore

2. Bill Gates

3. Arnold Schwarzenegger

4. Boris Johnson

5. David Beckham

6. Ken Livingstone

7. Chris Martin

8. Cheryl Cole

9. Gwyneth Paltrow

10. Duncan Bannatyne

11. Phil Schofield

12. Robbie Williams

13. Fearne Cotton

14. Leonardo DiCaprio

15. Holly Willoughby

16. Colin Firth

17. Graham Norton

18. Sienna Miller

19. Paloma Faith

20. Gary Neville

Kevin Steele, chief executive of Climate Week, said:

“The celebrities in our survey could become award-winning climate heroes, but the survey also showed that everyone can have a big influence with the people they know. The Climate Week Awards give everyone the chance to show what they’re doing to make a difference. From young activists to innovative companies and jaw-dropping technology, these awards will recognise the best ways of combating climate change, and bring them to public attention.”

To enter the Climate Week Awards or to vote for your Climate Week Hero go to www.climateweek.com/awards

Do you want to Interview David Beckham? Here is your chance

Posted on by

The World Interviews David Beckham Live Only on Yahoo!

Yahoo! calls upon its 600 million users around the world to ask the global sporting icon their ultimate question in an exclusive interview

If you could ask David Beckham one question, what would you ask him and why?

Yahoo! is today asking Beckham fans this very question as it prepares to host a unique global interview. The interview will take place in London at 2.30pm BST on July 14th and connect fans simultaneously by video from 20 other countries around the world. Over 90 minutes, David will then take quickfire questions from around the globe.

Yahoo! is calling upon its nearly 600 million global users to submit a question on Yahoo! Answers . David will then answer, live, the winning questions from each of the 20 participating countries.

The interview will be streamed live worldwide on Yahoo!, and viewers will have the opportunity to submit their own questions live during the event through Yahoo! Mail, Beckham’s Facebook page, the Yahoo! World Football Facebook page and Twitter.

David Beckham said: “It’s always great interacting with fans, but I’ve never been part of an interview quite like this – being able to take questions direct from people in 20 different countries across five continents. It’s definitely a first for me.”

The global interview will involve fans from the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Canada, USA, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, India and Dubai. Fans from each country will interact with David Beckham through video utilising Cisco’s TelePresence high definition video suites.

Earlier this month, David Beckham signed a global sponsorship deal to serve as Yahoo!’s Global Sports Ambassador. The partnership brings together the world’s largest online media company and the world’s most iconic sports star to offer exclusive content only found on Yahoo! for Yahoo!’s coverage of the World Cup and the 2010/11 football season.

“At Yahoo!, our vision is to be the centre of people’s online lives, and we do this through delivering unique, personally relevant content found nowhere else,” said Andrew Cocker head of Yahoo marketing in Britain. “David Beckham is one of those iconic personalities that captivates people – whether you are a football fan or not. He is the perfect partner for us because he is relevant to our users globally, and this is their chance to get up close to him like never before.”

Submit a question for David Beckham on Yahoo! Answers

David Beckham World Cup interview. Exclusive to Yahoo! and Frost.

Posted on by

Frost Magazine, in association with Yahoo! gets the inside scoop from David Beckham on England’s disappointing World Cup campaign and tells us which players have impressed him in South Africa.

What was your assessment of England at the World Cup?

We didn’t play at the level we knew that we were capable of. Over the four matches we weren’t good enough and regardless of the goal that never was, Germany played better than we did over the 90 minutes and deserved to go through. Having seen the lads in training, the spirit was good, everyone trained at a really high level, it was just disappointing we couldn’t transfer that onto the pitch. As a team, we have to learn from everything that’s happened, come back stronger and play to our potential.

What was the experience of watching from the bench like?

It was different and at times I wanted to get out onto the pitch and play! It was frustrating at times, but purely because I know what the players out on the pitch are capable of. I have to say the fans were unbelievable, like they always are. It must have been really tough, having spent the time and money they did and the team were so desperate to give them the success their support deserved.

Have your experiences in South Africa and the success of Diego Maradona given you the urge to take up coaching?

While I am flattered to be talked about as a coach and am always available for my country, whenever I am needed, I still see myself as a player and remain supportive of the manager. Diego has done a great job so far though and I wish him well.

Who do you think is in with a shout of winning the World Cup?

It’s a tough one, there are a few teams who are very closely matched and will be there or thereabouts. Argentina looked strong in qualifying from their group with three wins from three and are a potent attacking force with the likes of Messi, Tevez and Higuain. The Germans have such pedigree at World Cups and seem to get better as each tournament progresses. Brazil are Brazil, so you’d expect them to do well and maybe go on to the final. I love watching them play football, all the players are so relaxed and comfortable on the ball. I was lucky enough to play with a few in my career and they are without doubt some of the most skillful athletes.

My other two picks would be Netherlands and Spain. The Dutch have pace throughout their side and with Van Persie, Sneijder and Robben, they have potential match-winners. Spain, despite their shock defeat at the hands of Switzerland, are unbelievably strong all over the pitch. Villa is on red-hot form at the moment and if Torres starts scoring, they are going to be a handful for anyone. That’s before you consider Xavi, Iniesta, Silva, Alonso, Fabregas, need I go on?

Which players have impressed you at the tournament so far?

With all the pressure on Messi, prior to the tournament, he’s been a star-performer so far for me. He’s been brilliant on the ball and an important link man for Argentina and instrumental in their four wins so far. Sneijder has been in fine form for the Dutch and scored some vital goals. I’ve also been impressed with Chile as a team and Sanchez, bags of pace and trickery. Diego Forlan for Uruguay has scored goals but also worked hard for the team, the same can be said for Ozil for Germany. I’d heard a bit about him before the tournament and he hasn’t disappointed, at the centre of many German attacks. David Villa has been Spain’s standout performer. He has scored goals, created chances and worked his socks off for his team and looks a good bet to be the top scorer at the World Cup.

How will the performance of Team USA affect the development of football in the US?

It can only be positive. I thought USA played well in the tournament and it will stand them in good stead for future tournaments. I know TV viewing figures were considerably more in the US compared to the World Cup four years ago. The MLS is getting stronger all the time and the increase in the number of youth leagues will all help in the development of football in the US.

Got something you’d like to ask David Beckham? Then head over to Yahoo! Answers. The football legend and global superstar will be answering the best of your questions in a unique video interview on Wednesday 14 July, with live video link-ups to 18 countries – shown exclusively on Yahoo!. So get thinking and submit a question today.