Too much sex on Coronation Street these days? The girls and boys of Weatherfield's most lively street don't know the half of it, not where a certain Mrs Elsie Tanner is concerned. Elsie remains Coronation Street's most over-sexed woman, but just how many male acquaintances did she manage to notch up between 1960 and 1984?

Over the twenty odd years that Elsie spent on Corrie, not a year went by when her bed was left empty for any length of time, it's no wonder that Ena Sharples had so much to say about Elsie's so-called morals! [Ben]

Click below to read the definitive list of Elsie's lovers.

Watching Sally Webster on screen this week starting her book learning for an A Level in English, made me wonder which other Corrie women have taken up academic studies? The only other one that easily springs to mind is Racquel when she decided to learn French with Ken Barlow as her tutor. But that can't be all, can it? There must have been more Corrie women who have decided to try to study and learn. Or are they all like Valerie Barlow who once memorably said: "I'll never become one of those tweedy intellectual types... I've got more important things to do, like looking after my husband, my children and the house".

Last time we blogged the Cadbury ads it was to have a moan about those eggstremely annoying chocolate egg bars. This time I'm venting my spleen against that Trudy! Trudy! woman who's so spaced out eating her Flake bar that she's making all sorts of mistakes on the set. I don't know when the new Coronation Street sponsor takes over on screen but for this Corrie fan, it can't come quick enough.

It's hard to know which one of them is the most camp but I've noticed a slight Bet Lynch-ness creeping over Sean Tully in the past couple of months on Coronation Street. Has anyone else noticed this? It's in Antony Cotton's delivery of Sean's lines both behind the bar at the Rovers Return and with the Underworld girls. He's started saying 'cocker' which was one of Bet's catchphrases and his mannerisms especially behind the bar are becoming more Bet by the day.

William Roache has already written his autobiography called Ken and Me, released back in 1993. But a little birdie told me (ok, I read it here) that there is a new forthcoming autobiography soon to be released.

I'll keep my eagle eye on the bookshops and let you know as soon as it's released and if any Coronation Street fans buy the book and read it and would like to do a quick review for Corrieblog do please email me to let me know.

There was a time when the only intelligent conversation on Coronation Street came from one man, and that man was schoolteacher Ken Barlow. It has been Kenneth to whom most have turned when in need some form of educational stimulation, and he has probably offered private tutition to at least two thirds of the Street, but could Ken's position as resident know-it-all be under threat? John Stape is the new kid on the Weatherfield block and has already won over ditzy Fiz Brown with his brains, and now he is offereing his expertise to Corrie's social climbing Sally Webster by providing some private tuition.

Sally has already described Shakespeare as a foreign language, so could she be headed for some serious faux-pas in the style of Raquel's infamous 'voulez-vouz coucher avec moi, ce soir?' [Ben]

Nearly 47 years of Coronation Street means there's a lot of trivia, facts and figures relating to our favourite show. How well do you know your Corrie?

1. What happened on Gail's first date with Brian Tilsley?
2. Dev wasn't the first man that Tracy shared with her mother. Who was the other man she tried to nick off Deirdre?
3. What was the name of the cousin that Sophie met at school?
4. Rosie and Sarah Lou both had crushes on older "fit" mechanics. Who where they?
5. Norris had a job interview but who did the interviewer, someone from his past, turn out to be?

You can find more trivia here on Corrieblog and all our trivia quizzes in one place here.

Last week we had a great caption competition from Flaming Nora, and when I stumbled across this summery photograph of a certain Rita Littlewood on holiday in 1974, I just knew that it would make a perfect summery caption game. Click the picture for a version that's a little bit bigger.

Corrieblog is going holiday crazy at the moment, what with Eileen and Steve jetting off to Malta, and Tvor asking Corrieblog readers about their holiday plans. [Ben]

Sally flicks through Howard’s End which was as painful for Howard as it was for her Kev. “I remember Howard’s End. It was a telly programme about boats” he says when Sally starts her book-learning for A-level English. Kev was recalling Howard’s Way which was indeed a programme about boats, I always thought of it as a posh Coronation Street-on-sea. Sally also attempts The Tempest and picks through Pride and Prejudice while Fiz’s fella John the teacher offers his services to Sally if she wants some home tutoring at a reasonable fee. Janice belittles Sally’s studies and tells her she’s just a back street knicker stitcher and always likely to be so but it does start Janice wondering what she could do to be a better Battersby. Maybe buy some bitter butter? When John (Mr Stape to his mates) comes round to Sal’s for her first home tutor session, Sal’s got the kitchen table full of dips and crisps and Kev warns Sophie “Don’t diss the Stapester”.

Double episode update
Episode 1 written by Jayne Hollinson, Episode 2 written by Jan McVerry
Ashley and Casey get down to their undies in the conservatory after Casey sends Claire into town to join a support group and get things off her chest. She does the same with Ashley until Claire returns home but doesn’t suspect a thing. Oddly, baby Freddie’s curly hair had disappeared tonight, I think it’s like parsley as you can have curly parsley and flat-leaf parsley. Tonight we had flat-hair Freddie.

It's summer! Well, somewhere. It's been raining on and off here in my part of Canada for most of it and from what I've heard, the UK isn't faring much better. I think we need a bit of sunshine and summer holiday snaps to cheer us all up. Here's one I found of Elsie Tanner in a glam swimming cossie. Ah yes, the beach, the seaside! Sand, waves, pleasure piers with loads of entertainment, silly hats and a little stick of Blackpool or Brighton rock.

Betty Turpin, sorry Betty Williams, is Coronation Street's most enduring barmaid and an all-round good egg. First appearing on the cobbled streets of Weatherfield in 1969, Betty has remained a firm fixture throughout five decades of the programme, experiencing the death of loved ones, the revelation of an illegitimate child, being Weatherfield's resident darts champion as well as cooking hundreds of portions of her infamous Lancashire hotpot.

How has Betty's life on Coronation Street shaped her into the strong and resilient woman that she is? Continue reading below to find out. [Ben]

We all knew he was bound to be up to no good. How can any son of Terry Duckworth not be? And now, it’s been revealed in The Daily Star just what Paul Clayton’s evil plan will be. Yes folks, hang on to your hats as Jack and Vera’s grandson diddles the Duckworths in what will surely be a really nasty story. Apparently, Paul is going to steal his granddad Jack’s identity. He buys a fake driving licence and nicks the Duckies utility bills and the deeds to the house so he can raise £20,000 to buy a share of Leanne’s pizza place. Jack and Vera will face losing their home after becoming victims of identity fraud.

Want more Corrie spoilers? Click here

Here on Corrieblog we’ve check eBay regularly to bring you some of the more unusual, weird and downright scary Coronation Street items for sale on th’internet car boot sale. You can see a whole list of the stuff we’ve linked to in the past here . My personal favourites for sale on eBay have been the Weatherfield Wayfarer and the Kabin paperboy. As well as the irreverent stuff we blog occasionally here, there are always signed photos, old books and memorabilia for sale over at eBay. Sadly, there’s also a load of old tat.

Have a look at all of the A-Z of Coronation Street

Things have taken a few strange twists down Weatherfield way since Coronation Street had to rewrite scripts involving crazy K.C kidnapping baby Freddie. While the ever-powerful Corrieblog jury is still out on whether or not the new stories have worked, my brain was ticking away as I wondered when Corrie has changed scripts in the past.

Click through below to read more about the Street's hasty script rewrites. [Ben]

We’ve already had spoilers about David Platt planning to shoot his family later this year but it looks like he’s going to get even more vile. The Daily Star reveals that David Platt (Jack P Shepherd) sinks to a new low when he tells police he has been abused by his mum Gail (Helen Worth). The warped teenager leaves home after shooting up the house with an air rifle and resorts to sleeping rough on the streets. But when he's picked up by police after suffering a brutal beating by yobs, he tells them it was his mum who lashed out at him before booting him out of the house. A Corrie insider told the paper: "Fans will be shocked at how nasty and twisted he has become. Gail is at her wits' end."

Want more Corrie spoilers? Click here

The darling of ITV, Corrie's Antony Cotton, has been given a payrise for his role as knicker-stitcher-cum-barmaid Sean Tully. This isn't just any payrise, it is a £40,000 payrise, cranking his total wage packet up to £120,000. He has already been signed-up for an ITV chat show, which must be worth a pretty penny, and now more money from Corrie. Antony must be one very rich man. Is Antony worth this amount of money to ITV?

If it were my decision, I would've saved the money and invested in some lovely new wallpaper for the Rovers. [Ben]

Currently on Coronation Street, we're seeing Casey try to take everything Claire has, including her husband Ashley. She's intent on seducing him and the actress, Zoe Henry, is getting tips on tempting from her husband, Jeff Hordley, who played womanizer Cain Dingle on Emmerdale. She says he taught her to lurk and be a good bad girl. There's a double standard here, though. She thinks you get a very different reaction from the fans when you're a bad girl than male actors who play bad men do. Is she right?

Episode written by Jonathan Harvey
Last year Chesney’s birthday was July 26, this year it’s July 29, but Chesney’s got more to worry about than a changing birthdate when Schmeicel goes missing from the back yard. Cilla’s been sacked by Mr Wong who’s closing down the chippy so she’s bad mouthing Jerry’s kebab shop to anyone who’ll listen and it won’t be long before she starts blame Jodie Morton for nicking Chesney’s pet and possibly serving it up as a hot-dog.

In today's Sunday Mirror, there's a long interview with Gaynor Faye who we all knew as Judy Mallet on Coronation Street. She talks about how hard it was to get back to work after having her two children and how much she's enjoying her recently cancelled series, The Chase. Even being off for only 6 months seemed to affect her auditions and ability to get work for a while and she says she felt like she'd had "a lobotomy instead of a baby". She's been engaged to the kids' dad for 6 years and she's still trying to maintain her "skater's bum" she acquired while participating in last year's Dancing on Ice. I have to say, she didn't make a top impression on me after reading that article over all but maybe it's just the way it comes across in print. Have a look and let us know what you think. I do think she's a very good actress, though, and we here at Corrieblog wish her all the best of luck in finding a fab new project!

For more news on ex-Coronation Street stars, look no further than this!

I'm sorry, but I cannot wrap my head around this storyline. It was played for dramatic effect, not for laughs and was invented to promote the exit of both Debra Stevenson and Bradley Walsh but surely they could have thought of something better than having Jamie fall in love with the woman that raised him from a lad? There was a false start at Christmas and even Rupert Hill stated then that he was glad they didn't put Frankie and Jamie together. I adored Frankie. I think she was a great character and I loved her interaction with Jack and Vera especially.

I was perusing the Manchester Evening News and they mentioned that Beverly Callard was going to be performing with her partner's band in the Manchester Pride Weekend over the August Bank Holiday. What made me stop and look again is that they referred to her as "Coronation Street legend". That would put her in the Hall of Fame with such lofty names as Julie Goodyear, Pat Phoenix, Doris Speed, Violet Carson and Jean Alexander, just to name a few. Bev, who plays Liz McDonald, has been in the show on and off since the end of 1989, so that's a fair run and she's certainly a favourite. She's been landlady of the Queens and is now the landlady of the Rovers Return. She's been part of a favourite couple with Jim and now with Jim coming back to our screens this fall, the "supercouple" Jim and Liz will be at least temporarily reunited onscreen. What do you think? Is Beverly Callard a Coronation Street legend?

It says here that Kevin Kennedy, who played Curly Watts on Coronation Street, wouldn't mind a return to the Street if the part was right. This is good news to my ears as I was a huge Curly fan and I'm sure it's welcome news to other Curly fans too. But do you think Curly should return or is it wrong to keep on bringing old characters back, no matter how well loved they were in the past?

If there's one thing you can count on, that's Corrieblog getting its facts right. Earlier today we blogged the fantastic news that Britain's most famous pub, the Rovers Return Inn, is to get a long-awaited facelift. However British tabloid, The Daily Record, gets it very wrong when it states that: "The Rovers has changed only once"

The Rovers decor has, in fact, changed five times between 1960 and 1986. Click below to read more.

Episode written by Simon Crowther
Violet’s sad and withdrawn with the weight of her pregnancy news playing on her mind. She eventually tells Sean but there’s no joy in her news, she’s scared stiff and Sean’s reaction to finding out he’s going to be a dad doesn’t help her in her plight. He wants to tell everyone he knows, shout it from the highest hill and even tell the golden daffodil but Violet pleads with him to keep it a secret until after her three month scan. Sean goes to the clinic with Violet where she has a first scan and she’s frightened that it could be another ectopic pregnancy so is over the moon when she finds out all is well. Sean can’t contain himself, he’s as happy as Larry (Grayson).