Andy Murray Becomes First British Male Wimbledon Champion in 77 Years

Posted on July 8, 2013 by Catherine Balavage

Andy Murray reached the “pinnacle of tennis” and became the first British man to be Wimbledon Champion in 77 years. After a brutal 3 hour and 10 minute match in blistering heat Murray finally won in straight sets 6-4 7-5 6-4 against his old (on-court) nemesis Novak Djokovic. It was the hottest day of the year and the temperatures reach 40C (104F) in the sun on Centre Court.

Murray, 26, received a standing ovation last night on Centre Court. He then broke down in tears of joy. Murray is now the first British man to take the Wimbledon title since Fred Perry in 1936, Many now think he is a shoo in for a Knighthood and also BBC Sport Personality of the Year.

After his win he kept up a Wimbledon tradition, sprinting towards the players’ box where he hugged members of “Team Murray” including girlfriend Kim, 25. He did, however, initially forgot to hug his mother, coming back to embrace her after hearing her ‘squealing’.

Murray later said the success would “take a little while to sink in. I don’t really know what to say just now. Winning Wimbledon I think is the pinnacle of tennis,”

“The last game almost increased that feeling… I worked so hard in that last game. It’s the hardest few points I’ve had to play in my life… I still can’t believe it.

“Can’t get my head around that. I can’t believe it.”

Murray had previously said that the weight of public expectation made his life “very difficult”. But he thanked the crowd for their support.

“It was different to last year’s final, for sure, and then (at) the end of the match, that was incredibly loud, very noisy. I’ve been saying it all week, but it does make a difference. It really helps when the crowd’s like that, the atmosphere is like that. Especially in a match as tough as that one, where it’s extremely hot, brutal, long rallies, tough games, they help you get through it.”

“I understand how much everyone else wanted to see a British winner at Wimbledon so I hope you guys enjoyed it, I did my best,”

Prime Minister David Cameron and Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond watched the historic sport event from the Royal Box. Gerald Butler, Bradley Cooper, Victoria Beckham also watched Andy win.

Although Murray is the first man to win since Fred Perry, four women won it in that time and have largely been written out of history. Including Virgina Wade. The Guardian Said, “Yep. Partially deaf player Angela Mortimer won the championship in 1961, and underdog Ann Haydon-Jones beat legend of the sport Billie Jean King to win again in 1969.” Writer Chloe Angyal, tweeted “Murray is indeed the first Brit to win Wimbledon in 77 years unless you think women are people” It has been re-tweeted over 9,425 times.

SEVEN-year-old boy wins £10,000 for charity in rap competition

Posted on June 11, 2012 by Catherine Balavage

SEVEN-year-old boy wins £10,000 for charity in FiNDAPROPERTY.COM rap competition

Celebrities, including Russell Brand and Mick Jagger, tweet support for winning rap

Kent-based children’s hospice chYps has received a £10,000 donation thanks to the rapping efforts of a seven-year-old boy who lost his younger brother to a rare form of cancer.

A total of 67 contestants battled it out in the FindaProperty.com Rap For A Cause competition in which Dartford-based Charlie Saunders and his father Tony Saunders – rapping as “Charlie Chyps and Divvy Dad” – won the contest with more than 6,870 public votes.

The competition, run by property website FindaProperty.com, was held in conjunction with a recent advertising campaign in which a number of characters rapped about their property needs.

The contest was closely fought, with the winner receiving only 1472 more votes than Leeds-based 11-year-old Dylan Broadbent – rapping as “Dylz” – who was representing The Christie Charity which funds projects that fall outside the scope of the NHS.

“Dylz” received huge online support, including over 5401 ‘likes’ on Facebook and, in the closing stages of the competition, a tweet of support from Johnny Marr, former guitarist of The Smiths and the comedian John Bishop. Charlie had some celebrity support of his own, with encouraging tweets from Russell Brand, Mick Jagger and Nadia Sawalha.

Charlie entered the competition to raise funds and awareness for chYps, the Kent-based children’s hospice that looked after his younger brother Oscar during his battle with Ewing’s Sarcoma. By providing homecare, chYps supported the Saunders and allowed them to spend us much time as possible away from hospitals while Oscar was gravely ill. The £10,000 prize is being donated to support chYps’ respite service.

Tracie Dempster – Head of Care, chYps, said: “Winning this £10,000 is absolutely amazing and will support the chYps service in so many ways. Much of our service is funded through charitable donations and core services that each family needs, such as specialist nurses that deliver cancer support and chemotherapy rely heavily on monies from the public.

“This £10,000 will help fund our chYps respite service, which is offered to all families. Just imagine what a difference a trip to the seaside could have on a child at the end of their life with competent staff to look after the child for the whole day. We are so thrilled to have won the money and are so grateful to Tony and Charlie for winning it for us in memory of Oscar.”

Tony Saunders said: “Losing Oscar was an incredibly traumatic experience, but without chYps it would have been a hell of a lot more traumatic.

“I kept saying to Charlie, if we get to number one we’re really lucky, but at least we’re doing it for the right reasons.

“If it wasn’t for chyps and the fact they provided treatment at home, we would have been at the hospital non-stop for 18 months. But instead I was still able to run my business and pay the mortgage, Charlie was still able to have a life and go to school.”

The competition was organised by property website FindaProperty.com, following their national TV advertising campaign featuring a rapping granny, young father, and father to be, who all rap at speed about their changing property needs. The contest ran for three-and-a-half months and contestants were encouraged to upload their own rap version of the advert. Visitors to the site were then able to vote for their favourite.

To see “Charlie Chyps and Divvy Dad” perform their winning rap, please visit rap.findaproperty.com.

Frost's Guide to Twitter

Posted on January 13, 2012 by Catherine Balavage

In the past few years twitter has entrenched itself into our everyday lives. It is how I found out Kate Middleton was to marry Prince William, and that Christopher Hitchens had died. Twitter is now how most people get their news. It is also a brilliant marketing tool. No matter what you do with your life, you can improve your career and be in contact with people from all around the world. So here is a guide to getting and keeping followers, with a few facts thrown in.

Go for quality, not quantity.

Some people may have thousands of followers, but they may be spammers or may have paid for them. (Buying followers is against twitters terms and conditions.)

Try to not get upset when people unfollow you

It is usually not personal. Maybe you retweet too much, maybe they are just following too many people. It has nothing to do with you as a person. Just unfollow them back, unless they are incredibly interesting.

Add your photo and professional details to twitter. People are more likely to follow you if they know a bit about you.Brevity is the soul of wit and even more important on Twitter. You only have 140 characters to get your point across. It is a good skill to have.

Twitter has more than 100 million global active users according to Twitter CEO Dick Costolo

Think of all of those people you can be connected too! The internet has made the world more democratic, and twitter has played it’s part in that.

Hash tags

Which is this: # (to get a hash tag on a Mac Alt + 3 = #) This creates, in twitters words, a ‘global conversation’ that everyone can follow.

Put a follow button on your blog or website

Remember, you can only direct message people who follow you, and they can only do the same if you are following them.

Interact with people.
Follow people. They might follow you back. You can follow 2,000 people initially, more if you have over 2000 followers.
Be worth following.
Have a good avatar. A picture of yourself is good.
Have a good bio. Keep it short and interesting.
Post interesting stories. Add links to articles you enjoyed reading.
Add yourself to directories like Wefollow.com
Get your friends to follow you.
Add your twitter to the signature in your email.
Don’t worry if it seems to be taking a while. You’re twitter will grow.
Be interesting- That is the most important thing. If you are interesting people will follow you.
Have a niche; tweet about a specific thing. You can grow your business and become an expert in your field.
Join Klout.
Don’t buy twitter followers. This might look good but what you want is engaged followers.
Don’t constantly retweet.
Don’t tweet all the time. If you clog up someone else’s feed then they will probably unfollow you.
Don’t be offensive. Have your opinion but respect other peoples.
Respond to people.
Follow other people in your field.
Tweet regularly. Three times a day is fine.
Remember that things came across differently in print. Sarcasm and humour can be taken seriously.
Watch out for spam. Change your password and don’t click on links from people you don’t know.
Be relevant.
Don’t try to please everyone. You have to have an opinion or you will not be interesting.

Of the 100 million global active users, half of them log in daily. “We had 30% of our monthly active users login in every day at the beginning of the year. Now it’s over 50%,” Costolo revealed.
200 million tweets a day in June 2011.
There are one million registered twitter apps. 750,000 developers
People who joined Twitter in 2011 include Nelson Mandela, Joe Biden, Zac Goldsmith, Salman Rushdie, Rupert Murdoch and the Pope.

Thirty-five global heads of state use Twitter
In 2011 Twitter had 65 million Tweets a day. They have over 200 million Tweets per day.
Twitter accounts are rarely hacked but Twitter advises the following for security of your account;
Use a strong password with at least 10 characters and a combination of letters, numbers and other characters for your Twitter account. And use a unique password for each website you use (email, banking, etc.); that way, if one account gets compromised, the rest are safe. A personal email account that’s compromised is the second most likely way an intruder gains access to Twitter accounts.
Use HTTPS for improved security on Twitter.
We recommend linking your phone to your Twitter account. Doing this could save your account if you lose control of your personal email and/or password. Here’s how to do it.
If you think your account has been compromised, visit our help page for compromised accounts to find out how to fix it quickly.
Twitter post regularly about safety and security at @safety.
Twitter CEO Dick Costolo said Twitter has 100 million global active users, of those 100 million global active users, half of them log in daily. “We had 30% of our monthly active users login in every day at the beginning of the year. Now it’s over 50%,” Costolo revealed.
Twitter had 200 million tweets a day in June 2011.
Do not unfollow people right after you follow them. Wait five days or Twitter might think you are a spammer.
Half of Twitter users log in every day.
55% of Twitter users are mobile users.