One of the most recognizable faces in the British Media is Christine Hamilton. Christine regularly pops up on our TV screens and was one of the first ever “Queens of the jungle” when she appeared in the 2002 “I’m a celebrity get me out of here”. She is also an accomplished author and has more recently been found touring the world and writing about her adventures in the national press. We caught up with Christine recently when she was in London.

Easily: Good morning Christine. It’s lovely to see you again, but I’ve been hearing a lot from you on Twitter recently under the name “British Battleaxe”. Can you explain the background to your online persona – British Battleaxe?

Christine Hamilton: I first got called a Battleaxe (as well as a lot of very unflattering things) during the 1997 General Election campaign. I thought it was kinda fun and so, inspired by the caricature, I wrote ‘Christine Hamilton’s Book of British Battleaxes’. It’s a light-hearted, entertaining cornucopia of 33 Belligerent British Belles who have enlivened the pages of history and the headlines of the popular press, ranging from Queens Boadicea to Victoria, from Nancy Astor to Margaret Thatcher; from Fanny Cradock to Bessie Braddock; from Joan Collins to Ena Sharples; from Cynthia Payne to Edwina Currie and from Barbara Cartland to Barbara Woodhouse . As if that wasn’t enough, I incorporate it into my email address and even changed my name to Mrs British Battleaxe using the Legal Deed Service Website. All a bit of fun and not to be taken too seriously!

E: So when did you first get the internet bug and start using the web?

CH: Heavens, I’m not sure. I wasn’t in the vanguard but not too late on the bandwagon. Would around 2000 sound about right – that seems right to me – give or take a year or so!

E: So as someone who is essentially self-employed, how often do you spend online per day?

CH: Well that varies enormously. If I’m out and about, working or playing, very little. Although I am wedded to my Blackberry I don’t use it for anything more than e-mails and the occasional Twitter. I am not one of those people who spend hours on the Net – I use it for what I want and need but not for entertainment. I’ve never played a game on it for example.

E: One of the beauties of the internet is that you can easily find out what others are saying about you. Admit it, how often do you “google” yourself?

CH: Honestly, very rarely – there’s too much horror stuff out there – better not to see it! Occasionally, someone draws something to my attention, maybe on Youtube, and I have a peak – but I usually regret it!

E: You are stuck on a desert island but you have a laptop that can access one internet site. What website could you not live without (apart from Easily of course!)?

CH: http://www.thelegaldeedpollservice.org.uk/ Neil (Hamilton) does all their legal work so life would be less easy without them!

E: You are a bit of a cook in your spare time as we can profess to have seen with our own eyes. Have you converted to online grocery shopping yet or do you still need to be touchy and feely with your food?

CH: I’ve used it a couple of times but I go to a Wholesale place where I shop in bulk for as much as possible (it’s great for food too) and for the rest I try and use our village shop.

E: Have you joined the Facebook generation yet?

CH: Absolutely not. Have resisted all attempts to get me on Facebook but I completely see how useful and fun it is for others – especially youngsters. If we had children I probably would but not been tempted on it yet.

E: Away from the internet, what have you been working on recently? And what do you have coming up?

CH: I’ve been lucky enough to do some travel articles this year so been to Russia, Spain and Italy – with more exciting places to get to next year – Cuba, China & Tibet and Mexico. Also spoken on a couple of cruise ships which is great – I love being all at sea! I’ve had a lot of speaking engagements in recent weeks – different kinds of audiences from all-chaps to all-girls and everything in between. I am about to take part in Celebrity Masterchef which is giving me nightmares – I’m an OK cook but I know I shall panic and fluff it up!

E: It would be rude not to mention your time in the jungle with the current crop on ITV suffering, Do you feel jealous about their adventures?

CH: Yes and no. Half of me would love to go back in there but when I see the mega-egos, the rows, the petty squabbling, the ghastly (some of them) contestants – I thank goodness I am snuggled into my armchair watching at a safe distance!

E: Finally, you always seem so jolly and happy with life, what is your motto?

CH: Absolutely – you can’t beat the old wartime axiom ‘Keep Calm and Carry On!

Many thanks to Christine for taking the time out to speak to us. More information on her journey through life can be found on her website

http://www.christinehamilton.info.

Location: Oxford

Business: Limited edition prints

Website: www.virtual-archive.co.uk

Good morning Ian, good morning Pam, thank you for welcoming us into your home.

Good morning, nice to meet you.

You are the first winner of the Easily Website of the Year competition, could you tell us more about your business and your website?

Certainly, I used to be a commercial car photographer but I had been thinking for a while about a new project of my own – combining my skills in photography with my passion for architecture was the ideal match.

How did this idea come to your mind?

We are lucky to live in the architecturally rich city of Oxford. That gave a real opportunity for me to produce these images of iconic Oxford and college buildings which we now sell worldwide. You can find a lot of romantic postcard views of Oxford, however, none of them has a focus on the architectural side of these beautiful buildings.

Could you explain to us what makes your work unique compared to other images?

I developed a technique which gives the image a different type of perspective from a photograph — more like an architectural drawing.

My work consists of assembling many images of the same building in order to arrive to a perfect flat perspective which we can see in architecture, but with the accuracy of high definition photos. Some of my prints combine hundreds of images and can take months to put together to reach the level of quality you can see on my website.

Indeed it is impressive to see the level of details in your prints, how do you manage to do this?

I started doing this before the digital era, shooting on transparency film. Each shot was developed, then scanned and assembled on my computer. This was very slow, painstaking work! Luckily, thanks to the advent of digital photography, I can now work much faster and with even more accuracy. Last year I produced four new prints of Venice and also started to produce prints of the Cambridge colleges.

How do you sell your prints?

90% of our sales are online. Our website is the perfect medium to reach worldwide customers. Everything is printed in-house on demand. We also sell our work through an art gallery in Oxford, adverts in the Oxford and Cambridge alumni magazines and links on several of the college web sites.

What a chance to be so autonomous with your website! How long have you been with Easily?

For ever! We bought our first domain name in 2000 when we started Virtual Archive and we now have around 10 domain names and two websites: www.virtual-archive.co.uk which sells our limited edition prints and www.ianfraser.co.uk which showcases my commercial work.

That’s fantastic, we are delighted to see that your business has grown like Easily. Congratulations again on your excellent work, here is your ‘Website of the Year’ trophy and your iPod Touch.

Oh…thank you very much!

You also won £100 of Easily vouchers, what do you plan to do with them?

Well, we’ll need more disk space, as my new images are consuming a lot of space, as well as data transfer. We also want to register a couple of new domain names.

Excellent, I’ll suggest you wait a couple of weeks then, as our new hosting will be released this month with up to 20Gb of disk space with unlimited data transfer.

That’s brilliant, that’s just what we need.

Pam, Ian, thank you very much for your warm welcome, and we wish you all the best for 2009.

Thanks and you!

Following our birthday, we received this nice mini-horoscope from Jill, as it was much appreciated, we think it worth sharing it with all of you. Thanks for that Jill.

“Virgo’s are typically hard-working, and pay attention to detail,
although they can be fuss-pots, at times.  Their watch-word is servitude -
that’s what I meant by ‘right-for-purpose’.  The cap fits!

Not without a lot of hard work, though.  Getting into the limelight has
been an uphill struggle at times.  Dreaming up new and different ideas is,
well, a good idea.  You need to stay ahead of the crowd, and not lose sight
of your visions.  Having Leo rising helps your profile, as long as you
treat your royal subjects well.  Easily’s attention to detail and customer
care are very important – but you’ve got that covered.

There you go.  Here’s to the next nine – at least!
Best-oh,
Jill  ”

www.woodwords.co.uk

Name: Mike Spencer

Location: Holme Lacy, Herefordshire,UK

Activity: Printing Agency

Website: www.spencerprint.co.uk

Hi Mike, you have run your own printing agency, Spencer Print, for a couple of years now. We’ve heard that you are starting a new project of illustrated autobiographical books; could you tell us more about it?

Yes, my colleague and I are producing a series of one off biographies aimed solely at the rich and famous.

Is your colleague the illustrator?

My colleague, Karl Dixon, is an internationally acclaimed cartoonist who has worked on the Dandy Comic. He has now left them to form his own publishing company.

How do you establish the storyline behind the books?

Karl Dixon will interview a client and his family to ascertain all the most personal and cherished moments in their life.
This will then be used to produce a one off autobiography solely for the client and his family which won’t be on sale to the general public.

What will the book look like?

The book will be illustrated with watercolour, on high quality watercolour paper. The book will then be bound with leather, with the option of gold leaf and diamond inlay.

Why are you focused on the rich and famous?

The book will not be cheap. It will sell at a minimum of £1000 per page, with an average book being 40 pages. We are confident that once one book has been sold then every star and rich person will want one. We are also looking into getting a TV programme produced filming the process.

This sounds great, how are you feeling about it?

We are extremely excited by this project and it has huge potential. We only need somebody really famous to sign up, and then the sky’s the limit. We are also going to be producing tutorial DVD’s and running an online course.

How will you promote all of these new services?

When I have more funds available I plan to upgrade my Easily Account so I can run an online store. We plan to sell DVD Tutorials and run an online drawing college. If we can sell just one autobiography to someone really famous, then we believe demand will increase for the books, videos and courses.

Mike, thanks a lot for your time and all the best for your creative projects.

Thank you.

* All enquiries on this matter will be handled by Karl’s PR Company, Sales Solutions 4 U Ltd. Please contact Gabrielle Van der Velde on 07961 053166 or email her at gabriellevan@aol.com.

Name: Paddy Doyle

Location: Solihull, UK

Activity: Professional multi-disciplinary athlete

Website: www.worldsfittestathlete.co.uk

Easily: Hi Paddy, thank you very much for accepting this interview, how are you feeling today?
Paddy: I’m fine thank you

So Paddy, you are the world’s fittest athlete and hold over 160 records, how and what pushes you to reach this level of excellence?
To achieve 166 Course, Regional, National, British, European and World fitness endurance records I have to train every day, duration of training 3 to 4 hours. I hold various World Records under several different sporting catergorys. To be awarded the World Fitness Endurance Title I had to beat three tough multi fitness records they are as follows -

{World Multi Fitness Record}

12 mile walk

12 mile run

110 mile cycle

Weights lifted 312,170 lb   

1,250 press ups

1,250 star jumps

3,250 sit up crunches

20,000 metre rowing

1 mile run carrying 44 lb back pack

1,250 hip flexors 3 kilometre’s gym stepper

2 mile swim

{Finishing time 21 hrs 21 min’s 2 sec’s.}

{Guinness World Record Physcial Fitness Challenge}

12 mile run

12 mile walk

1,250 press ups

3,250 sit up crunches

1,250 standing hip flexors

110 mile cycle

20 mile row

20 mile cross trainer

Weights lifted 300,000 lb

2 mile swim

{Finishing time 18 hrs 56 min’s 9 sec’s} Previous World Record Holder Rob Powell “USA”

{World Fitness Champion’s Title Record}

2 mile & 21 metre swim

20 mile row

20 & 1/4 mile cross trainer

10 mile speed march

100 & 1/4 mile cycle

550 star jumps

3010 sit up crunches

Weigths lifted 300,000 lb various lifts

10 & 1/4 run

505 hanging leg lifts

{Finishing time 17 hrs 12 min’s 33 sec’s} previous World Record Holder Rob Powell “USA”

Once I completed the official title records, the title was awarded by the Registry of World Record Holders. The founder and President Dean Gould and USA President Dr David Adamovich.

How long have you been working in the army? What have you learned from this experience?
My military background was serving in the 2nd Battalion Parachute Regiment, RAF Infantry reserves and the Royal Fusilliers, total regular and reserve service 8 years. I found that the army gave me the discipline to succeed. I have a training team consisting of a sports therapist, martial arts instructors and strength athletes, they push me hard in the gym and when we are training in the hills.

And now, what’s your next challenge? A new record?
My next official World Record will hopefully be to represent Great Britain at the World Record Challenge Cup starting on the 1 August to the 10th August, I hope to attempt the record in the USA this all depends on sponsors, one of the record will be the most back of hands push ups in 1 minute carrying 40 lb back pack.

Sharing this adventure is important; could you tell us a bit more about your website and why you’ve chosen Easily?
I decided to build my own web site to share my experiences and pass on my knowledge.  Easily.co.uk have promoted my web site and have always found them the be very supportive when I have any technical issues.

What message or advice would you give to our readers?
My message to all readers stay positive, if you put your mind to a challenge, believe that you will succeed. I have always been humble and respectful to all who I have met, and have always treated people equally.

Thank you very much Paddy, we wish you all the best in your coming projects.

We just wanted to thank Heather for the delicious Polos she sent us in exchange of a support advice. We have shared them amongst the team.

Thelma Ruby, an 83 year old English actress, has recently bought a computer, and using the Easily.co.uk Website Creator Package with the help of her friends she has launched her first website to become, we believe, our oldest hosting customer. Now she is updating her website herself with Brio to tell her life story, which, you can imagine, is full of exciting anecdotes. We wish her good luck on the Online world.

For more details, go to her website: www.thelmaruby.com