Britain’s oldest Jewish person, Bobby Fogle has just celebrated his 122nd birthday and the Board has sent him his annual birthday card along with a free cheesecake courtesy of Baum Bakers of Rochdale.

Every year since 1988, the Board sends a birthday card and cheesecake to every Jewish person who is over the age of 105 at the anniversary of thir birthday.

Along with Mr Fogle, the Board looks forward to sending out 8,430 cards in 2005.

Mr Fogle, along with his family came to Britain from the United States in 1920 and since settling here has been a recognised member of the community.

In 1994, Mr Fogle donated £3m to set up the Fogle Centre in Cornwall, the largest Jewish community centre outside of London.

“I look forward to getting the card every year,” said Mr Fogle. “And I’m also looking forward to what I will be getting next year.”

Board president Harry Greenberg said: “We are delighted to wish Mr Fogle a very happy birthday and we hope he enjoys the cheesecake and his day.”

After much consultation with the Jewish community, the Board has decided to launch a range of specially blessed Jewish water.

The Board water to be called Shalom is the culmination of several years research into the therapeutic properties of blessed water. Both sparkling as well as still will be available immediately with special flavours such as lemon, orange and smoked salmon being launched at the end of February.

The water comes from a special spring discovered at the Stamstead home of Jewish communal elder Albert Stein.

The blessings are provided by a unity of Rabbis who meet once a month to pray over the water. This includes, the Reformation movement, Orthojews and Labour Jews.

Having seen the success of the “Kabbalah” water, the Board recommends all Jews in Britain to purchase its water.

“Not only is our water better than Kabbalah water, but it is also much cheaper,” said Board water consultant Barry Lewis. “At 80 pence for a litre for both sparkling and still, it is a very competitive product in the market.”

The new product which is supervised by the Middlesex Beth Din is approved by Rabbis across the Jewish spectrum.

“I think it is a great idea,” said Chief Rabbi Dr Jonathan Sacks. “The Shalom water will provide much needed funds for the Jewish community in Britain to share.”

Rabbi Gloria Baum commented: “Having sampled the delights of smoked salmon water, it really is the real thing. Forget Evian, this is the best water.”

Shalom water can be found at most supermarkets including Tesco, Asda and Waitrose.

The Board has had assurances from Prince Harry that his recent appearance dressed in a nazi uniform was in order to audition for a role in Mel Brooks’ The Producers.

Writing to Board president Harry Greenberg, Prince Harry said:

“First of all let me apologise if anyone took any offence in what I was wearing to the party. My Uncle Edward told me that prior to doing an audition it is always a good idea to prepare for it.

What I should have done was prepare for it in private but my mate Charlie said it would be OK to go to a party and try out the role there.

I have always had a keen interest in acting and when I heard that Mel Brooks was looking for some extras for The Producers, Charlie said I should go for it.

I now know it was a stupid and silly thing to do. I also now know how dumb it is to listen to Charlie.”

Board president Harry Greenberg said:

“We accept Harry’s apology and hope he has now learnt his lesson. Next time he dresses up, he knows that Nazi uniforms are a no no unless you are a supporter of the Nazi regime or you are using it for screen or stageplay purposes.”

The Board is delighted to reveal that Matt Lucas has been selected for December’s Positive Image Award at the weekly Guardians meeting of Sunday 9 January 2005.

Mr Lucas, a member of South West Ealing synagogue is the first Jewish man under the age of 82 to receive the honour which comes with a certificate and gift voucher from John Lewis worth £250.

“December was a great month for Matt with him winning a best comedy award as well as winning fans for his TV show Little Britain,” said Board president Harry Greenberg. “It seems only fitting that the community recognises Matt’s talent.”

A spokesman for Mr Lucas said:

“Matt is delighted that Britain’s three million Jews have all agreed he was the best Jew in the country during the month of December. He certainly hopes to be a good Jew in other months.”

Since 1978, the Board has been giving out the monthly which celebrates the achievements that Jewish people make in Britain. Previous winners have included: Nigella Lawson, Lionel Blair, Lady Sarah Levinson, Bernie Winters, Michael Winner, Caprice and Howard Rosen.

The Board has written to Channel 4, Ofcom, BBC chairman Michael Grade and the Office of Fair Trading to express its shock over the way British Jewish comics were represented in the recent Channel 4 programme The Comedians’ Comedian.

The show claimed it was a top 50 of comedians as voted by comedians but British Jews appear to have been excluded with Channel 4 putting in one “token” Jew.

Despite a long tradition of Jewish comedy in Britain starting with court jester Mazel the Mad One in 1530, there was only one British Jew - Peter Sellers in its top 50.

Other Jews such as Matt Lucas and David Baddiel were relegated to sideline roles just commenting on other comedians, while the programme showcased American Jews six times as much as the only British Jew.

“Jewish court jester Mazel the Mad One worked at Hampton Court to the delight of King Henry VIII who recognised Jewish comedy as a valuable part of British society, but we find it odd that for over 400 years Jews have been an integral part of British comedy but have been excluded by this Channel 4 programme,” said Board president Harry Greenberg.

“When myself and fellow Board members saw this programme we were shocked at the complete lack of British Jewish representation. Where was Sacha Baron Cohen? Where was Bernie Winters? Where was Barry Bloomfield? Where was Kid Kohen the Clown?

“We would like to know, why was it only a top 50? This show does not appear to be very objective and that is why we have written to the Office of Fair Trading as well as Ofcom, Michael Grade and Channel 4,” Mr Greenberg added.

In its letter to Channel 4, the Office of Fair Trading, Michael Grade and Ofcom, the Board writes:

“As you may know, British Jews have been an integral part of British comedy since the 16th century. It is well recorded that court jester Mazel the Mad One was much sought after especially for his work at Hampton Court during the reign of Henry VIII. So we cannot understand why there was only one British Jew in your top 50 of The Comedians’ Comedian.

Your exclusion of British Jews cannot be accepted by the Board and therefore we invite you to produce another version, this time not as biased against British Jews.

After all, one comic not included is someone with whom Channel 4 owes much gratitude to - Sacha Baron Cohen. Why have Steve Coogan, but not Sacha? Both men do characters and Sacha does better characters that atleast have different voices, whereas Coogan’s characters all sound the same.

The Board’s cultural division would be prepared to assist you in your research so that you can make a fair and accurate programme and we trust you will take up this offer.

We request to see a full list of who was shortlisted and what criteria you had to determine who should be included.”