Get up-to-date with British news and culture with English UK
17 November 2017


Dr Who's new look revealed

It is just over a month till we see the new Dr Who in action. The Christmas Day episode of the show about an alien who looks like a human and travels in a old-fashioned police phone box will have a handover from one Dr Who actor to the next.

For the first time in its 54-year history, the new Doctor is a woman, played by Jodie Whittaker.

This week, we saw how she will appear in the show. Each Doctor has their own style – Matt Smith had a bow tie, David Tennant had a long coat and Peter Capaldi has sunglasses and a guitar. Jodie Whittaker will wear short trousers held up with yellow braces, a stripey top, boots and a long coat. We also know she will have three companions travelling with her in the Tardis.

We will find out more about the new Doctor in the Christmas episode – but fans then have to wait almost a year for the new series.

It must be nearly Christmas – the adverts have arrived

It has become a new Christmas tradition in the UK for shops to spend a lot of money on TV adverts. The biggest is usually the department store John Lewis. This week, the store began showing its advert.

It cost GBP7m, was made by a Hollywood screenwriter, and is two minutes long. It features a giant monster, called Moz, which a little boy finds underneath his bed and becomes his friend.

It is not only John Lewis which makes these Christmas adverts – most of the UK's major stores are doing the same. Marks and Spencer's advert features Paddington the Bear, the star of one of this autumn's biggest films. The adverts are expected to spend around GBP6bn on advertising in the last 3 months of this year. That is GBP 140m more than last year. Advertising experts say Christmas sales are so important for stores that they need to spend a lot.

The books we are buying for Christmas presents

Every Christmas, a different type of book sells well. Last year it was books about the Danish art of living well (called Hygge). This year, it's survival and fire-making.

Books on the shelves this year include The Art Of Fire, The Little Book of Building Fire, and Playing With Fire. Joining them are How To Stay Alive, A Survival Guide For Every Situation, The Wild Book, and Do It Yourself Bushcraft.

The books cover everything from how people around the world make fires, ways to start your own as well as advice on surviving in the wild and lots of writing about nature.

Publishers say the trend began with a book published last year called Norwegian Wood, which is about chopping and stacking wood for a fire. They believe technology is developing so fast that people want to slow down and connect to nature.

Roman temple opens to public in London

The City of London was very badly damaged in World War 2. In the rebuilding that went on afterwards, the remains of a Roman temple was discovered. It was for worshippers of Mithras, a young male god who killed bulls.

At the time, the find was a sensation. People queued to see the walls and the Roman remains inside them. And lots of people took things away and kept them at home.

After two weeks the site was closed and building work carried on. The remains of the temple were moved and recreated nearby, but it was not a great site for visitors.

Now a new building has been completed on the site, and it includes both the recreated temple and some of the things which were found inside it. People have given back the Roman items they took from the site, and they have also been given by local museums.

You can now visit the Mithraeum every day except Mondays, and see how the temple might have looked, and some of the things found inside it. It is free to get in, but you need to book ahead.

 

previous entry << >> next entry