This week's UK news: 14 September 2012
j0314269
14 September 2012


Summer of Sport continues

This summer has been all about sport in the UK, with the Olympics and the Paralympics. On Monday, we thought it was all over as the Games had all ended and a victory parade for the athletes attracted huge crowds in London.

But two of our Olympic gold medallists weren't at the parade. Cyclist Bradley Wiggins was taking part in a round Britain cycling event, and Andy Murray was in the final of the US Open Tennis tournament.

Murray had never won such a major event before, but later that night he beat Novak Djokovic in an incredible match. This meant that sporting stories remained in the news this week.


King's body found in car park?

Richard III is one of Britain's most famous kings. He was blamed for the murder of two young Princes in the Tower of London, and Shakespeare wrote a play about him. Richard was described as having a crooked back in the play.

Richard died at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485. People think he was buried in a local church but the building had disappeared. Recently, researchers decided that a car park in Leicester might be where the church used to stand, and started a special dig.

This week, they found the crooked spine of a man, with an arrow in his back and a damaged skull. They are now checking the bones and comparing the DNA with a man whose mother was known to be a descendent of King Richard.


Prime Minister apologises over football disaster

In April 1989, 96 Liverpool supporters died at a football match in Sheffield. They were crushed to death when too many people were allowed into a stand at one end of the ground.

Shockingly the fans themselves were blamed for the disaster at the time. The emergency services, including the police, covered up what had really happened.

This week an independent report was published. It found that the Liverpool fans were not the cause of the disaster, and they were allowed to die in an unsafe football stadium. Almost half of them might possibly have been saved if the emergency services response had been better. The report also said that 164 official statements had been changed to cover up what had happened.

Now there are calls for more action to be taken, including a new inquest on the victims' deaths.


The most expensive home in the UK?

A house in central London is for sale, with a price tag of GBP 300m. The house has 45 bedrooms, is seven storeys high, and overlooks Hyde Park. Reports say it is decorated with real gold and has its own underground car park and swimming pool. It is twice as expensive as the most expensive house sold before.

The average London home costs GBP 386,000. So the Hyde Park house is 815 times more expensive than the London average.

 

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