Jewish cooking is not just for Jews as homemaker extraordinaire Martha Stewart is getting into the Passover spirit by offering a huge choice of recipes to make.

From what to eat on the night through to other festive treats to have during the 8 days of Passover, the choice is eclectic and tempting.

Highlights on offer include making your own gefilte fish as well as a handy guide to creating matzo ball soup.

The family of Harry Houdini’s widow are seeking to block plans to exhume the escape artist’s remains.

Houdini’s great nephew George Hardeen last week launched a campaign to have the body removed from its grave, but has been met with opposition over claims it is a publicity stunt.

Houdini died on Halloween 1926 at the age of 52, allegedly after receiving a punch to the stomach, rupturing his appendix - but reports persist the illusionist was murdered.

The Queen is set to pose for celebrated photographer Annie Leibovitz ahead of a May state visit to the United States.

The 80-year-old royal will be photographed by the 57-year-old at Buckingham Palace in London this week.

“(The photos will be) very formal and painterly,” said Leibovitz. “I feel like I’m a ocumentarian and want to take a very simple portrait.”

New York-based British music producer Mark Ronson has joined the ranks of celebrities showing support for troubled pop singer Britney Spears, and believes she has the willpower to bounce back from her recent problems.

Ronson - who has remixed the starlet’s hit single Toxic for his latest album Version - is confident Spears will benefit from her recent battle with substance abuse, because they expose her as a real person, with real problems.

2007 is starting well for prolific book guru Daniel Hahn who has been shortlisted for three major literary prizes.

The 32-year-old who was born in London and now lives in Brighton is up for honours for his translation from Portuguese into English of The Book of Chameleons by Jose Eduardo Agualusa by the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, his translation, also from the Portuguese of Pele: The Autobiography has been shortlisted for a British Book Award while as editor of The Ultimate Teen Book Guide he’s been shortlisted for an ERA (Educational Resources Award).