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Celebrity Big Brother 2009 has kicked off on Channel 4 and as expected actor Verne Troyer is a Celebrity Big Brother roomie, and the third member of the ‘celebrities’ to enter the Big Brother house this year. Presented with her usual panache Davina McCall, introduced the housemates to the hungry crowd. First in to the fray was La Toya, big sister to the bizarre Michael Jackson, who was greeted by the crowd with a mixture of cheers and jeers. Just before Verne Troyer graced the famous house, Mutya Buena the former member of girl band the Sugababes entered experiencing a much better reception from the crowd than La Toya had received.

Much to the disgust of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, Fifa have given their agreement for a British football Team to represent the four nations in the 2012 Olympic Games due to be held in London. It is felt by those opposing the union that a British team would jeopardise any future participation of the individual countries concerned. Mr Sepp Blatter although previously opposed to there being a Team GB has now decided that such a union would not be detrimental stating that "The executive committee confirmed that the participation in the 2012 London Olympic Games of a single team representing Great Britain would not affect the existing individual status of the four British football associations.”

Well that season is almost here – no not Christmas ………. Big Brother! It seems that no sooner is the turkey out of the oven then conversations turn to Big Brother. Whether it is who is going to appear in the next Celebrity Big Brother or what sort of misfits or miscreants are going to audition for BB10? If you see yourself as the next Big Brother winner then auditions are being held in Edinburgh on Saturday 3rd January, Cardiff on Tuesday 6th January, Birmingham on Saturday 10th January, Dublin on Tuesday 13th January, Newcastle on Saturday 17th January, London on Saturday 31st January and Sunday 1st February and Manchester on 7th February 2009. Full details of venues can be found on Channel 4’s Big Brother web pages. If you are unable to make any of those audition dates then fear not, you can even audition on YouTube. Post a video that will get you noticed and the Big Brother team will invite you to a special adition!

The big football news this week is the Champions League Draw, which sees some interesting ties and will without doubt throw some much needed excitement into this magnificent football melting pot. The final Champions League Draw sees Chelsea v Juventus with Claudio Ranieri returning with his team to play the club that was home until 2004, no doubt with the intention of rubbing salt in the wound left after Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich forced him out. Juventus are a strong team and Chelsea Manager Scolari will be hoping that some of the problems that have beset the team in the form of injuries will be resolved by the time the kick off finally takes place. Another match that is bound to bring some anticipation is the exciting prospect of the meeting between Inter Milan and Manchester United, this contest will allow the old rivalry between the two managers, Jose Mourinho and Alex Ferguson to be rekindled, as well as the mutual respect the two undoubtedly have for each other. As the previous manager of Chelsea, Mourinho has much experience of football encounters with Ferguson’s Manchester United Team and this experience is likely to stand him in good stead for the Champions League clash.

One of the biggest snooker matches of the year has been tarnished with allegations of snooker match fixing. The story centres on the first round of the UK Championship tournament between Jamie Burnett and Stephen Maguire, bookmakers closed their books on all further betting on the market when irregular snooker betting patterns became obvious and demanded the governing body; World Snooker, investigate further. Bets were flooding in for Maguire to beat Jamie Burnett 9 frames to 3; this was the eventual score which ultimately added more fuel to the match fixing flames.

Manchester United have been crowned the best club in the world after winning the final against Liga de Quito in the Fifa Club World Cup, adding yet another title to their already impressive haul of trophies. Wayne Rooney, named Player of the Tournament, scored the winning goal late in the Fifa Club World Cup match much to the chagrin of the opposing team. Quito must have felt assured of a win as Manchester United had been reduced to ten men due to defender Nemanja Vidic being sent off. However United proved they were a force to be reckoned with the winning goal the result of excellent teamwork between Cristiano Ronaldo and Rooney 16 minutes before the final whistle of the Fifa Club World Cup match.

British Sport has been full of surprises this year, with our outstanding medal winners in the Beijing Olympics to our much loved 23 year old racing dynamo Lewis Hamilton winner of the 2008 FIA Formula 1 World Championship. This surprising year has now culminated in the crowning of Olympic triple Gold medallist Chris Hoy as the BBC Sport Personality of the Year 2008, knocking Hamilton surprisingly into second place. Lewis Hamilton was pragmatic on not achieving the publics top vote of BBC Sport Personality of the Year 2008 commenting that he wasn’t disappointed on Hoy’s win and added "I was up against some amazing athletes who have achieved so much,". The bookies had favoured Olympic Gold swimming medal winner Rebecca Adlington to win first place in the category of BBC Sport Personality of the Year 2008 but she eventually went on to receive only a third place vote.

Bettymovil is the very latest mobile phone sportsbook to be released by Barcelona based International Sportsbook Mobile Company (IMSC) in partnership with Movistar. This exciting mobile betting venture begins with the first stage of the operation launched in Spain with other European countries expected to have access to mobile betting in the near future.

Paddy Power have got themselves into a little hot water for a national press advertising campaign that featured betting odds for the ‘Next Airline to go Bust’. A complaint was made to the Advertising Standards Authority regarding an advertisement that provided the public with an opportunity to bet on the demise of airlines such as United Airlines with odds of 25/1, Virgin Atlantic 100/1 and FlyGlobeSpan at 3/1. The complainant felt that the airlines named were ‘denigrated’ because of the implication that they would soon go into administration.