Yesterday [26th Aug] was Michael Tao's birthday and he held a party in a hotel for his family and friends to celebrate. Among the guests were his old friends William So, Bobby Au-Yeung and his wife, Kiki Sheung, Gilbert Lam and Marco Ngai. Michael points out that he is 40 this year and every year he celebrates quite low key, but having attended many of his friends' birthday parties, he feels that he ought to celebrate his fortieth in style. Talking of birthday wishes, he says that apart from wishing for good health, he would also like to earn more money so that his wife has a good life.

The birthday boy received many birthday presents: his wife gave him two bags, one for work and one for his make-up. As for William So, he bought an LV necktie and says: "It's because his most successful series in the past was filmed wearing a suit [Em's note: I think the reference is "Files of Justice"] so I hope that his return to TVB will be as good as it was then."

Michael had to work on filming for new show "Ching Chu Yu Nam" (From Blue Grows Green) until 10pm so he couldn't go for dinner with his mother on the actual date as he sighs that he hasn't seen his mother for a while now. However the cast and crew of "Ching" including Bobby, Kenix Kwok and Shirley Yeung prepared a celebration for him as Shirley and Kenix both presented him with a birthday kiss.

Michael was asked for his comment on Sunny Chan's return to TVB, he offers his congratulations. When asked whether Sunny would prove to be a strong competitor against him, before Michael has a chance to reply, Bobby who is standing beside him pushes in and says: "His competitors are the students, not Michael."

Also, Shirley was discussing last week's final of the Miss Hong Kong Pageant and feels that the contestants were very calm and although she hasn't seen the winner Mandy Cho, she thinks she is very photogenic. With the addition of the section where the contestants had to 'defend' themselves, she found this quite refreshing. Was the results as she expected? She did not respond to this, but said that she respects the decisions of the judges.

http://www.singpao.com/20030827/gossip/434625.html