EastEnder to write family memoirs

Outgoing EastEnders star Roberta Taylor has revealed she plans to write a book about her mother and long-lost father.

"My book is the story of the love of my mum's life, a married man she met when she was 18 - my father," said Taylor, who plays Irene Raymond in the BBC soap.

"It's a gritty story and ultimately it's one of personal triumph," she told TV Times magazine. "But it also says, if you trust too much, you're dead."

Despite her fame, Taylor has been unable to trace her father, who she has not seen since she was a child.

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Casualty date for Theakston and Joely

Broadcaster Jamie Theakston has revealed he spent his first date with Maybe Baby star Joely Richardson in a hospital casualty department.

Theakston told Heat magazine that he and Richardson had planned to go for a walk, but the actress cut her leg and they ended up in casualty all day.

"Instead of going on this date I took her to hospital," said Theakston, but added: "it was all worth it...she's a wonderful woman and we're really happy."

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Connolly's Harley to be sold on the net

A Harley Davidson tricycle used by the actor and comedian Billy Connolly on his World Tour of Australia is to be auctioned on the internet.

In 1995, Connolly traversed Australia on a four-month voyage of discovery filmed for BBC One.

Now the customised trike - engraved with Connolly's nickname The Big Yin - is to be auctioned by Sothebys.

The Harley is expected to fetch up to £12,000 when it goes under the hammer.

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Carroll letters hailed as 'a treasure'

Letters written by children's author Lewis Carroll - who wrote Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - have been discovered in a locked casket.

The letters, dating from 1896 and 1897, were hidden in a locked journal inside a casket at Alnwick Castle - ancestral home of the Duke of Northumberland.

Historians say the letters, written close to his death, are "a treasure".

A spokesman said: "Carroll's books were the Harry Potter books of their time."