This week's UK news: 4 May 2012
j0314269
4 May 2012


Grandad to become grandma

A 78-year-old is going to become the oldest person to have a sex-change operation in the UK's public health system.
Ruth Rose says she has dreamed of being a woman ever since she was a child. She spent most of her life as James, worked in the Royal Air Force, and has a wife and family.
However, Ms Rose has been living as a woman for three years. Specialist doctors have now agreed her operation can go ahead in 2013, when she will be 80. The National Health Service carried out 154 sex-change operations in 2009.

The wettest drought ever

We expect rain in April in the UK. We call it April showers. But last month was the wettest ever since records began over a hundred years ago. We had almost three times the usual amount of rain and many areas have flooded in the last week.
It has rained almost every day since the water companies declared a state of drought and banned people from using hosepipes to water the garden or wash cars.
The weather has been very strange this spring, because the very wet April followed a March which was the fifth driest ever.
Last weekend saw the first-ever beach wedding in the UK, held in Bournemouth. Kate Smith and Frazer Seed were marrying in a little wooden beach hut. The weather was so bad that a large tent had to be put over the hut to keep the rain off the couple and their guests.

Prince Charles likes being cold

Prince Charles, the next king, has told an interviewer that he likes to keep the heating at his home turned low. He also suggested that his wife does not like this.
"I don't mind keeping the heating down as long as I can have a hot bath. Most people think it's too cold. I never hear the end of it," he said. The prince said he liked sitting in a draught (this is when you get cold air blowing indoors, perhaps through a window or under a door).
The Prince also said that he hated throwing things away. He had tried to find a new use for his old bathroom curtains and had tried to turn them into cushions.

The football match everyone wanted to watch

There was a lot of interest in this week's match between the two Manchester clubs, City and United. This is partly because there are years of rivalry there, and partly because the result will help decide who wins the title this season.
Before the game, there were three matches to go and City were three points behind United.
United had won most of the two teams' past encounters for the past 32 years, but that changed on Monday night when City won 1-0. Both teams still have a chance of winning the Premier League title. They are on equal points with two games each left to go - but City has a better goal difference.

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