This week's UK news: 8 April 2016
j0314269
8 April 2016


Rolling Stones exhibition, why magicians don't fool little children, a restaurant for Windsor Castle, and a village and JK Rowling's chair are for sale.

Every week, we summarise the UK news to give you some insight into what is happening in Britain, and what people are talking about.

Half a century of the Rolling Stones on show in London

If you've ever wanted to see Mick Jagger's stage costumes, Keith Richards' guitars, or the horrible flat where the Rolling Stones lived before they were famous, it's time to get to London. A special exhibition, called Exhibitionism, has just opened at the Saatchi Gallery in King's Road. The exhibition also includes lots of old photographs and even a 3D simulation of what it is like to be on stage with the Stones.

 

Magic tricks don't fool small children

A psychology study by a former magician has found how magic shows fool their audience. Professor Richard Wiseman found that magicians get their audience to relax, and that means the adults stop concentrating so hard. This makes them blink, and then the magician does the tricky with tiny hand movements. Young children, though, don't relax in the same way and sometimes see how the trick is done. Professor Wiseman says that what is surprising is that the magicians don't realise the audience is blinking.

 

Windsor Castle gets a restaurant for tourists

Until now tourists seeing Windsor Castle have had to stay thirsty or hungry until they left. Now Royal Palace managers have decided to spend GBP 27m on improvements to the castle for the 1.3m people who visit each year.

The changes to the castle, which is a short journey outside London, include a new restaurant in a 700-year old part of the building, an education centre, and a new grand entrance for visitors. Improvement work for tourists is also being done at Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, the Queen's official home in Scotland. The work to both palaces will be complete by the end of 2018. 

 

Village for Sale

An English village is up for sale for GBP 20m. West Heslerton in Yorkshire includes 43 houses, a petrol station, a 21-bedroom mansion, a sports pavilion and playing fields, and untouched land surrounding it.  The village belonged to a lady called Eve Dawnay, who died at the age of 84. Her family are hoping to find a buyer who wants to keep the village as it is now.

 

Harry Potter chair sold for GBP 280,000

The chair on which JK Rowling wrote the first two Harry Potter books has been sold at an in New York. It is an old dining chair, and Rowling has written on it: "I wrote Harry Potter on this chair." She sold it to raise money for a children's charity, and the man who sold the chair this week has also promised money for charity.

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