A Gym so posh it's called James

I see from today's Times ("Steve Gerrard's new gym is bigger than the houses next door" - click here) that Steven Gerrard, captain of the mighty Liverpool FC has built a gym behind his stately pile in Freshfieds, Merseyside.

Nothing unusual about that? Well this gym is larger than some of the surrounding houses, being built on the site of a former bungalow. The two storey copper and glass structure came with a price tag of £350,000.

And apparently the building is on such a scale that it actually has a different postcode to Gerrard's house in whose garden it sits. "It's like building an Asda in the middle of a beauty spot" said one disgruntled neighbour.

The neighbours will need to make sure they get the right address when they send their vitriolic letters of complaint...

Olympic trivia

I heard a really interesting fact today about Olympia, the site of the first Olympic Games in Ancient Greece.

Do you remember from school days the images of the stadium surrounded by statues of athletes? I had always assumed that these statues were the "track stars" from 776BC.

But no! I'm told the statues were carved to immortalise those who were found to have cheated in the games - to make their deceptions public forever to the eternal humiliation of them, their families and their friends.

I can think of several public figures who deserve this kind of treatment today.

It's a great day for tennis

What an unbelievable men's final at Wimbledon! The suspense was awful, with the British weather giving stop/start all afternoon.

Nearly five hours - the longest men's singles final in history - seventeen minutes past nine by the time Federer's return ball clipped the net.

And at 6-4, 6-4, 6-7, (3-7), 6-7, (8-10), and 9-7 this was way past tie break, even if they were allowed. As one of the BBC comentators put it - "this is just different tennis to anything we've ever seen before."

And what a great guy Nadal is. Of his opponent he said to Sue Barker "He's still the best - he's still number one - he's still five times champion."

As someone commented - it's a great day for tennis.