An embarrassed Luton schoolteacher has broken nearly two decades of silence to claim that he sang the lead vocals for reality TV star Timmy Mallet’s ’90s hit Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini.

The wacky I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! star has been telling “teeny weeny” porkies in the jungle over his involvement in the number one song, according to Luton’s Lea Manor High School deputy year head Everton Barnes.

The 45-year-old has finally confessed that he was drafted in to sing on the novelty record by producers Nigel Wright and Les McCutcheon because Timmy could not nail the high notes.

The former Wacaday children’s TV presenter and his band Bombalurina held on to the top spot in the UK charts for three weeks in 1990 with their cover of Brian Hyland’s 1960 hit.

According to TimesOnline, Passengers using Luton airport are to be offered the opportunity to pay for fast-track security checks, in a scheme scheduled to begin early next year. Tickets will be available from vending machines in the check-in area.

“We are aware that some passengers would value a way of guaranteeing the quickest possible progress to the security search point,” said Natalie Raper, marketing director at the airport. “We are therefore introducing the ‘priority lane’ option and will be making a charge of £3 per passenger for this service. Only those who choose to use this lane will be charged. By offering a range of options, we can provide an airport experience to suit the needs of all passengers.”

Not everyone has welcomed the idea. Alice Reinkel, who regularly flies on business from the airport, believes premium-rate security lanes are a worrying development. “It’s as if the airport is learning from the no-frills airlines,” she said. “How long before they introduce pay-as-you-go check-in or priority baggage reclaim? Airport security should be a classless matter.”

The shadow aviation minister, Julian Brazier, says asking passengers to pay extra for faster checks is not the way forward. “It’s a distraction from the main issue, that we need a thorough review of airport security in this country. What we have at the moment isn’t very effective and is far slower than other countries.”

According to the borough council website, An officer from the Council’s Street Services Enforcement Unit donned a giant cigarette butt suit last Friday as part of an exercise with Council and Hospital staff to encourage people not to drop any litter outside the hospital, particularly cigarette butts.

A specially trained nurse from NHS Luton was also on hand to give out information offering help and support to anyone considering quitting smoking.

Cllr Don Worlding, portfolio holder for the environment, said: “Friday’s exercise was to remind people that dropping litter, including cigarette related material, is antisocial and against the law. Litter around the hospital has a negative effect on hospital patients, staff, visitors and local residents. If necessary, Council officers will be issuing Fixed Penalty Notices in future if the situation doesn’t improve.”

Lynne Watson, Director of Personnel and Development at L&D, said: “Staff from NHS Luton’s Stop Smoking Service are based here at L&D to support staff, patients or visitors who want help to quit smoking and we are actively promoting this service to improve the health of our local community.”

Luton Stop Smoking Service offers help and support to people who want to stop smoking, from a variety of locations across the town.  To find out more, call free of charge on 0800 013 0845 or visit their pages on the NHS Luton website www.lutonpct.nhs.uk

John Menzies has cut hundreds of jobs in its airport ground handling and cargo business to cope with turbulence in the airline industry, according to a recent press release.

Around 50 workers at Gatwick, Manchester and Luton have lost their jobs as part of a 600-staff cull across Menzies Aviation’s global operations in 118 airports.

The Edinburgh-based company said the move was in response to cuts in passenger flights and weaker cargo volumes.

Menzies said divisional earnings for the year would be in the range of £14 million to £16 million, as revealed in its lower-than-expected October forecast.

Company secretary John Geddes said the staff cuts would be spread across the company’s 14,000-strong global workforce with one office, Hong Kong, closing completely.

He said the company, which employs staff at Heathrow, Gatwick, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Manchester, had lost staff in both its cargo and ground handling businesses.

“We have trimmed our workforce through a combination of natural wastage and redundancy,” he said.

The division was also hit by the bankruptcy of Sterling Airlines, its largest customer in Denmark. However, Menzies Aviation won a number of new contracts from easyJet, Etihad, Qantas, Air New Zealand and jet Blue.

Mr Geddes said he thinks the job losses could be the last of the bad news for the foreseeable future.

“We have great visibility into the first quarter of 2009 and we think things are settling down,” he said.

The Luton Borough website has unveiled details of this year’s Christmas Lights switch-on celebration.

They say, there’s great entertainment for all the family in St George’s Square; look out for a runaway Christmas tree fairy, tap dancing turkeys providing music, dancing and comedy, an 8ft tall stilt walking ice queen and a winter dragon as well as a traditional Victorian fun fair and fun inflatables.

For budding dancing on ice stars there’s an ice rink available from Friday 14 November to Sunday 16 November, free of charge, sponsored by the Galaxy Centre and The Mall, with donations welcome for the Galaxy Centre charity The Cirdan Sailing Trust and The Mall Cares’ nominated charity NOAH Enterprise.

In Market Hill, there’s festive entertainment including Christmas music by Luton Youth Concert Band, as well as young soul singer, Ruth Brown, rock band Cozmik Debris and a choir carols competition.

In The Mall you can join Santa, Peppa Pig and the Mall Monster for The Mall Christmas parade before visiting Santa in his grotto at Central Square. Chiltern Radio’s Gaz and Babs will be entertaining the crowds with a stage show in Smith’s Square and will lead the count down to The Mall Christmas light switch on at 4pm on Sunday 16 November.

This event is sponsored by the Galaxy Centre, Luton on Sunday and Chiltern Radio.

Luton Town’s football game was abandoned, earlier this week, as parts of south-east England had more than an inch of snow - while London experienced its first October snowfall in more than 70 years as winter conditions arrived early.For greater south-east of England it was the first October snow since 1974. High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire had 3cm (1.2 inches). One of the coldest temperatures recorded was -4.1C in Benson, Oxfordshire.

“It is unusual to have snow this early,” the Met spokeswoman said. “In October 2003 sleet and snow was recorded in Northern Ireland, Wales, south-west, north-west and north-east England and the Midlands, but it was mainly over higher ground.”

Football matches were postponed or abandoned at Luton, Northampton, Walsall and Wycombe.  And, a spokeswoman for Luton airport, where snow began falling at about 6.30pm, said 12 outbound flights were cancelled last night and 16 arrivals diverted to other airports because of the weather.

Luton Airport has announced a £2 million investment in improvements to its customer experience.

The airport’s operating company confirmed that it will shortly commence work on its central terminal area, which will include enhancements to the bus set-down area, drop-off zone facilities and the short-term car park.

Once completed, the developments are expected to offer a “significant improvement” to journeys for both arriving and departing passengers.

The work will begin this month and continue until Easter 2009, during which time the airport said it will endeavour to minimise disruption to passenger traffic.

It was recently announced that August 2008 was the busiest month in the history of Luton Airport, with more than 1.09 million people travelling through the gateway, an increase of 2.6 per cent on the previous year.

Luton went 2-0 down against the run of play against Brentford in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy second round, but rallied to draw 2-2, according to Vital Football.

A brace by Chris Martin was enough to take the match into penalty kicks and although Harry Worley put his spot kick into Hazlebury Crescent Two saves from Conrad Logan left stand in skipper for the night, Rossi Jarvis with the opportunity to win it for the Hatters.

He stepped up and netted to put Luton into the Southern Section quarter finals.

Conrad also made a couple of great saves to keep Luton in the match in the second half as they bombed forward in search of the equaliser.

The most pleasing aspect of the game was that the performance was better than ever and against a strong Brentford side who have been difficult to beat recently.

New signing Garreth O’Connor debuted and looked the part instantly. he will be a great asset if that form is to continue and Luton will score from the kind of crosses he was putting in.

The Hatters now look forward to back to back Saturday Home fixtures against firstly, Darlington, and then Accrington Stanley.

LTFC managing director, Gary Sweet, has warned there are more budget cuts to come despite the wage bill already having been cut by two thirds.

The LTFC2020 consortium have reduced their bill from around 5million to around 1.8million since assuming control at Kenilworth Road in July.But Sweet claims the budget will be cut by another third over the next year.

He told the Luton Herald and Post: “It (player salaries) has got to come down by another third from where we are.

EasyJet is to cut 60 jobs.

The management and administration posts which are to be cut are all based at the company’s headquarters at Luton Airport, in Luton, Bedfordshire.

A spokesperson for the firm said the airline industry was facing tough times caused by the high price of fuel.

A spokesman for the lower-cost airline insisted the company was still profitable but had to make cutbacks in order to remain competitive.