WOULD YOU LIKE FRIES WITH THAT?Diana LaPorta, running for a seat on the Volusia County (Fla.) School Board, insists she has a bachelor's degree even though a local newspaper has revealed she earned it at "Hamburger University", a training program for employees of the McDonald's hamburger chain. When asked to clarify her education, LaPorta said "it does say on my diploma that it is a `degree of bachelor'." (Reuter) ...If she gets on the school board, that may be the only university the kids will be eligible for.
MR McDONALD BITES BACK
WOULD THE REAL RONALD McDONALD PLEASE STAND UP!Ronald McDonald - no, not that stupid corporate logo paedophile - a real human being, a Scot no less, who has been called Ronald McDonald from birth - was interviewed on Radio One Newsbeat this lunchtime.
He's so incensed about McDonald's attempt to monopolise the "Mc" prefix and about their law suit against "McMunchies" (yes, he described the company as "arrogant and litigiousness") that he's planning to open his own greasy spoon cafe and call it (legitimately) "McDonald's".
SPICY COL SANDERS LOVED A BIT OF SAUCE - KENTUCKY FRIED CHICKEN BOSS WAS A WOMANISERHe was the bow-tied, snow-haired epitome of a typical Southern gentleman. But according to his daughter, Colonel Harland Saunders of KFC fame was more interested in breasts and thighs than a wing. For when it came to sex, she says the teetotaller and non-smoker indulged himself to the full. At one time, he even kept a mistress in the same house as his wife.
Eldest daughter Margaret cooks the old man's goose in her book "The Colonel's Secret: Eleven Herbs and a Spicy Daughter" - a play on the recipe he used to fry his chickens. She tells how the Colonel - it was purely a courtesy title - insisted that his wife hire his girlfriend to do the housework. Not surprisingly, the newcomer spent more time satisfying his extraordinary sexual appetite than dusting and cleaning.
The book will be avidly read in Kentucky, for the Colonel was revered in his home state. The place went into official mourning when he died in 1980, aged 90. And such was his clean-cut reputation that evangelist Billy Graham sent a personal message of sympathy, hailing him as a "preacher's friend". Kentucky officials insisted that his body, clad in his trademark double-breated white suit, lay in state where it was viewed by queues of admirers.
The Colonel found success in the mid-1950's. Backed by an unemployment cheque, he bought a pressure cooker and set to work using his mother's spicy recipe. He and the new Mrs Sanders - a former waitress - then set up their consulting-and-franchising business. The Colonel, who gave the world the catchphrase "finger lickin' good", sold his empire for 1.5 million pounds in 1962, to a syndicate in Louisville. The new owners in turn sold it nine years later to a conglomerate for 180 million. But the Colonel continued to do TV spots for the business well into his 80s.And he made sure that many of his numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren were awarded lucrative franchise outlets.
HAPPY EATER COMES TO NOT SUCH A HAPPY ENDINGHappy Eater, John Major's favourite chain of roadside restaurants, is heading for the chop. The famous name will disappear from Britain's highroads by the middle of next year following a decision by Granada, its new owner, to convert sites to fast-food outlets. Granada has found that it does not attract as much business as the Little Chef restaurants it also owns.
Happy Eaters tend to be favoured by older, greyer people whereas Granada wants to attract a young, free-spending crowd like new Labour. Granada has found that when it converts Happy Eaters, sales can double. Granada has already converted 15 branches into Burger Kings or Little Chefs. It is now drawing up plans for the remaining 46. Most of these will be converted into self-service restaurants in a new Little Chef Express chain.
