The French pastry chef Gaston Lenôtre, whose successful catering business made him a household name, died aged 88 yesterday after a long illness, his company said.

A "sell" note from Investec ensured that there was no festive cheer for Kingfisher this Christmas Eve. The FTSE 100-listed retail group retreated to 130.2p, down 2.54 per cent or 3.4p, after the broker reduced its pre-tax profit estimate for 2010 to £330m to reflect lower profits at the company's b&q chain and increased losses in China. "There remains little or no visibility on the shape or method of recovering Chinese profitability," the broker said, advising investors to move out of the stock.

Like one or two other of our small but much loved institutions, the rock cake seems to have crumbled away a little lately, almost unnoticed. It does seems a long time since they were a common sight, now supplanted perhaps by those US-style muffins that landed in the mid-Eighties.

The home I grew up in... was built in the Twenties by my great-grandfather. It had an amazing hanging garden made up of Spanish moss. My family was really into plywood, timber and bricks, and inside all the features had intricate detail. I still miss the smell of the place.

Food regulators moved to ban artificial additives from hundreds of products yesterday, three decades after parents began complaining that their children suffered mood swings after consuming brightly coloured sweets, cakes and drinks.

Dr Pepper launched an advertising campaign in 2004 with the slogan "What's the worst that could happen?" showing those that tried the soft drink for the first time suffering a series of hilarious calamities.

The campaign against the terrible conditions that prevail in the factory-farmed chicken industry has generated an overwhelming response. But not all of it has been favourable to the high-profile figures leading the campaign. Jamie Oliver has attracted charges of hypocrisy for his criticism of Sainsbury's, despite the fact that the television chef accepts a lucrative stipend to appear in adverts for the grocery giant. Some feel that Oliver would cut a more impressive figure if he pledged to accept no more money from the chain until it overhauls its poultry-rearing standards.

Ed Joyce was able to celebrate his call-up to the England one-day squad yesterday with a big hundred in the four-day match here. It was the third time he has passed 150 in his burgeoning career - one of his previous ones was scored here last year - and his third in all at the Walker Ground.

At the Krispy Kreme shop in Washington's Dupont Circle yesterday morning a steady stream of customers were making their way inside to get their hands on the freshly cooked doughnuts. "I come here every morning for two of them," admitted a guilty-sounding Maneda Harrington, a 28-year-old accountant. "They're delicious."