His cardiologist must have winced at Quo's latest video, which required Parfitt to strap himself to the top wing of an airborne biplane, then fraternise with cheerleaders. He later married Boyd in March 1979.Clapton is credited with bringing an international audience to Bob Marley by covering the reggae star's "I Shot the Sheriff", inventing the genre "white reggae".Clapton will write the as-yet-untitled book with Christopher Simon Sykes, who he has been friends with since 1967.Richard Cable, Managing Director of the Random House Division said: "Eric is a rock legend. Together they cause hundreds of millions of patients to fall ill in hospital every year.The campaign for clean hands, the first Global Patient Safety Challenge launched by the WHO, aims to provide bottles of alcohol rub on every ward in every hospital and clinic. Muslim scholars have approved the use of the alcohol-based product by Muslims and more than 200 hospitals in Saudi Arabia have installed alcohol rub this year.Sir Liam said: "The Global Patient Safety Challenge addresses a vital area. Healthcare-associated infections can be reduced, saving millions of lives worldwide.". Eric Clapton, who has often avoided public interviews and tried to keep his private life out of the public eye, is to write his autobiography. Clapton, 60, has signed a deal for the book detailing his life as a guitar hero. Published by Century, a subsiduary of Random House, for a sum rumoured to be in the region of £3.5m, the autobiography will be released in Spring 2007.Clapton achieved iconic status in the late 60s with the band Cream ."Born in Surrey, in 1945, the illegitimate son of a Canadian soldier, Clapton was brought up by his maternal grandparents.
His grandfather gave him a guitar at the age of 14, and he copied the style of great blues guitarists.He established his reputation during 18 months with the Yardbirds, at the age of 18, earning the nickname "Slowhand", before joining John Mayall's Bluesbreakers where he earned a second nickname: "God".It was while leading Derek and The Dominos that he wrote "Layla", a song inspired by a love triangle between himself, the former Beatle George Harrison and Harrison's then-wife, Patti Boyd. I thought I would get a chance with a bit of hard work, although deep down you think it just might not come. We kept our discipline but there was very little else going for us. Britain's chief medical officer will launch a secret weapon against the spread of avian flu today - a small plastic bottle of alcohol rub issued with a warning to wash your hands often. Sir Liam Donaldson will warn that clean hands are the best defence against the threatened flu pandemic and regular use of the alcohol rub could save millions of lives from other hospital infections. A global campaign to improve hand hygiene is to be launched in 12 countries around the world today.
It is not a matter of if a pandemic happens but of when," he said.Fears about avian flu were raised last week by David Nabarro, newly-appointed as a UN co-ordinator for avian and human influenza, who said the next pandemic could claim from five million to 150 million lives.It depends on the avian flu virus which has so far infected more than 100 people in the Far East killing more than half of them, mutating so it spreads among the human population.Dr Nabarro called on political leaders to take immediate action to halt a human pandemic, warning that the higher death figure would result if governments failed to act now.Sir Liam, who chairs the World Alliance for Patient Safety, said the flu virus was transmitted in droplets in the air when infected people coughed or sneezed, the same as the cold and other respiratory viruses.But a key route of transmission was from the hands of someone infected, who touched their nose or mouth and then opened a door or pressed a lift button later touched by someone else."We want to try and reduce the risk of cross-infection in people admitted to hospital when a pandemic strikes," Sir Liam said.At any one time, more than 1.4 million people worldwide become seriously ill from an infection they pick up in hospital, including up to one in 10 hospital patients in developed countries such as the UK.The commonest infections are Staphylococcus aureus, of which the antibiotic resistant form MRSA (Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus) is the most lethal, and E.coli. Doctors fear that, when a flu pandemic strikes, hospitals will be overwhelmed and could become breeding grounds for the disease as it is transmitted between patients and medical staff.Speaking before leaving for Geneva to launch the campaign at the headquarters of the World Health Organisation, Sir Liam said the threat of bird flu was one of his greatest concerns."It does keep me awake at night. His latest work will be shown at this year's Frieze Art Fair. What was the idea behind the piece? 'I typed "breasts" into Google; the list of results was extraordinary, and I thought: "That says it all". The associations of the word - from the pathological and misogynistic to the natural and wholesome - embodied the full colourful rubric of what it means to be human.' All the artworks commissioned by Harpers & Queen to raise money for Breast Cancer Awareness can be seen in the November issue, on sale now All works will be auctioned in January. To bid, contact Naomi Lyons on 020-7025 2409 or email naomil breakthrough .uk..
