Snow finally melts

There has been snow somewhere in the UK every day for a month now. This is very unusual in recent winters here, which are usually wet and mild.

The thick snow which has covered the whole country for the past ten days is finally melting. Many schools were shut because staff and pupils could not get there safely through the snow, but most are now open.

There has been so much snow that now there is a risk of flooding as it melts. And weather forecasters are warning that it could get very cold again next week.

British people doing less exercise

Lots of people decide that they will exercise more and lose weight in January. But most British people are doing less exercise than ever.

More than half of British people say they do less exercise than ten years ago. Families are less likely to go for walks together. Instead, they spend time together eating and watching television.

Scientists at Loughborough University said it was worrying that families were not walking together as much as before. They say walking is good exercise. Not taking exercise can cause many health problems.

A new way to wake up

There has been a lot of interest in a new morning radio programme.

Terry Wogan presented a national morning radio show for 27 years until last month. His listeners, who are mostly older people, loved the programme and sent in lots of food and jokes.

Now Sir Terry has been replaced with a younger DJ called Chris Evans. Lots of listeners were not happy about this. They thought Chris would be too young and noisy. So when the new show started this week there was lots of interest in how it would sound.

New musical for London

London’s newest musical looks like it is going to be really popular.

Legally Blonde is based on the film which starred Reese Witherspoon.  The musical is  very silly but people who have seen it say it is great fun. The main character is blonde, silly, dresses in pink and has two tiny dogs – but still succeeds academically.

All the early shows sold out and the atmosphere is like a pop concert. The show started being successful because people were telling each other about it, but now newspapers have recommended it too.

by Susan Young
susan@englishuk.com