GILLY, at the moment, is finding it hard going following Carter all over Preston, in particular to shops selling videos.

A couple of years ago, Carter appeared on, and won, an edition of Cilla Black's Blind Date. In the run-up to Christmas, the TV company has released a video showing the best of Blind Date, plus bits never shown on TV.

It's not the actual video Carter is interested in (although he does feature for 15 seconds), it's the case. You see, on the front is our Cilla and on the back cover, complete with Sooty glove puppet, is Carter!

So every video shop or store with a video counter we go in, Carter turns all the videos over and hangs around the counter hoping to be recognised!

WE have had a great response so far to write a letter to Santa on the Breakfast Show. Just a reminder to our younger readers and listeners to get theirs in as soon as possible and one lucky boy and one girl will be invited into the studio during Christmas week to meet Father Christmas and take part in the Gilly and Carter Breakfast Show.

So come on boys and girls, get writing to Santa at: Gilly and Carter Breakfast Show, Red Rose 999, PO Box 999, Preston, PR1 1XR.

HERE is another of Gilly and Carter's hard-to-believe stories. In West London, a man was taking a driving test to get his licence to drive a motor scooter.

At the test centre, he was given the instructions they always give out. He was to drive on a specified route and, to determine his driving skills, he would be observed by a hidden examiner. At some point during the drive, the examiner would suddenly appear and step out in front of the scooter. This would test his braking reaction.

Easy enough, the man dutifully followed the instructions, driving carefully over the route, but when he reached the end of it, the examiner hadn't appeared in front of the scooter so he rode through the route another time. Then again, and again, there was still no examiner.

Finally, the man pulled up to the test centre and asked what was going on. He had ridden through the route three times and hadn't seen the examiner. Where was he?

"We're sorry," he was told, "The examiner had stepped out in front of the wrong scooter!"

MORE points to ponder this week. Have you noticed in London's Burning that Blue Watch now only appear to turn out to ONE fire per week (must be cutbacks).

We reckon another TV series where it is difficult to name three main characters in 10 seconds is Casualty. Also have you noticed that Charlie the staff nurse never attends to any patients?

MORE silly signs. In a Norwegian bar: Ladies are requested not to have children at the bar.

At a Bangkok dry cleaners: Leave your trousers here for best results.

JOKE of the Week: A bear walked into a pub and ordered a pint of lager. The barman, knowing bears didn't know much about money, said: "Five pounds please." Then he added: "You don't get many bears in here." The bear replied: "No wonder at a fiver a pint!"

Gilly and Carter's question of the week.

The first six correct answers win tickets for a family of four to watch Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at Southport Theatre on December 20.

The question is: Which well-known Preston actor played R2D2 in Star Wars and is also appearing in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at Southport Theatre?

Mark your entries Snow White comp and send to: Preston Citizen, 3 Winckley Court, Chapel Street, Preston by December 12.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.