Welcome

There are those among us who believe the 21st Century is bubbling over with boys who can't be bothered to get out of bed let alone learn how to shave.

They seem to think we're born with an innate understanding of the female psyche and the instructions to change a car tyre are etched inside our heads.

But being a boy isn't easy. There's no manual to growing up. There's just a series of signposts scattered throughout our youth, pointing us in the right direction.

Welcome to 21st Century Boy, one of those signposts.

Blagger's guide to wine

Between the ages of ten and sixteen drinking alcohol involves tentatively sipping a bottle of White Lightening on a park bench or unlocking the drinks cabinet, checking the cylindrical and rectangular bottles for permanent marker pen, and filling up a plastic one with a harlequin concoction Grotbags would be proud of. Post-sixteen, girls enter the fray and it’s learn your wine time. The key is to compliment the flavours and substance of your meal. For example, traditional English pub grub is usually a hearty meaty affair so go for a full-bodied red like Cabernet Sauvignon or Rioja. Seafood and white meats favour dry, crisp whites like Pinot Grigio or Muscadet. Pasta, rice or pizzas absorb the flavours around them so match the wine with the ingredients. A mushroom sauce is light and delicate whereas a nineteen inch deep pan meat feast pizza is heavy so use your noggin. Fruity wines, like most Roses, match a citrus meal such as Thai and sparkling wines, like Cava, have acidity which stands up to the fat of greasy foods such as Chinese. If you’re still confused follow this simple rule. White wines work best with fish and chicken and red wines with red meat. However, don’t be afraid to experiment. Blue Nun and oysters or Burger King and Champagne might not be traditional but it’s your palate so it's your rules. Mum and Dad: marker pens at the ready. It looks like someone’s been at the Merlot.

How to get over a girl

Girls, girls, girls...They truly do make the world go round. But they can also make it stop dead in its tracks. Here's how to deal with a broken heart and keep Earth spinning away on the axis of love. Or hate - depending on how you deal with being dumped.

Cool Art #1: Method Acting

There are many devices actors use to cross-over into the world of make believe. Some obey a strict set of rules; others allow the role to dictate the process. There are even those who slip into their characters like a warm pair of slippers at the end of a long day. But however they get there, it’s an experience precious few others will share and the world they inhabit is often an alien one to the audience. Great actors can make it look as though they have arrived there with a click...

“Just get on with it”

The sun dipped behind the moor land, settling a dusky blanket over the hedges, dry-stone walls, ruffled heather and fanning ferns. My dad rode out from Cadover Bridge, where he and a friend had been swimming, with the darkness chasing him, getting caught up in the spokes of his back wheel. Stephen Stone was far behind. At this rate my dad would be waiting for him at Moor Gate for over an hour, but just as that thought crossed his mind, he heard a pop and pulled up sharply on his bicycle...