Dateline

Met Office, Bracknell

Early Winter Snow Causes Chaos

©SOLENT NEWS & PHOTO AGENCY/MIKAEL BUCK

UNEXPECTED AND unwelcome winter arrived across Britain the first week of December. Heavy snow, gale winds, ice and frozen fog created a nightmare week for travel. Edinburgh and Gatwick airports, among others, were closed for days and the East Coast train service between London and Edinburgh (and numerous points between) was disrupted for a week. Schools were closed across much of the country, petrol stations ran out of fuel across Scotland and East Anglia and food shelves were stripped empty in many places. The Army was called in to help clear snow and ice in Edinburgh, which saw up to 30 inches of snow—the heaviest snowfall in the Scottish capital since 1963.

Virtually Everywhere

Insult to Injury

THEN, winter chaos arrived again with a vengeance the week before Christmas. A daisychain of moderate snows and subfreezing temperatures combined to create travel chaos that lasted another week. Heathrow airport remained severely crippled through Christmas, and every other UK airport suffered cancellations and delays for days. Train service was similarly disrupted around the country, with the crucial East Coast mainline being shut down entirely at one point. With Eurostar running a restricted service on slow tracks, at St. Pancras Station, queues wound outside the station onto Euston Road for more than a mile as 6,000 people waited in line for seven hours. As many as 300,000 people never did make it home across Britain for the coldest Christmas on record. Just to add to London’s holiday cheer, a 24-hour strike by Tube drivers brought London Underground to a halt on Boxing Day. Out in the country, more than half the 300 traditional Boxing Day hunts were cancelled due to snow and ice.

GETTY IMAGES

And Just in Passing

Marmite Good for the Heart

Researchers at Bristol University have concluded that Marmite can help heart attack victims live longer and help prevent heart failure associated with diabetes. A derivative of vitamin B1 (thiamin) called benfotiamine speeds the healing of heart tissue.

WEIDER HISTORY GROUP

New Forest Acorns Fatal to Ponies

A glut of New Forest acorns this past fall has led to the death of more than 30 New Forest ponies into the winter. Ponies that gorge on the nuts have suffered liver damage. The traditional medieval custom of grazing pigs in the forest to feed on the acorns has been employed, with some 600 pigs let loose.

123RF/PETRO PERUTSKYI

And Just in Passing

Glasgow in Curry Coup

For a record fourth time in the past decade, Glasgow has been named Curry Capital of Britain. The city bested 11 other UK cities during the National Curry Week competition. Each city was represented by an entry with four local restaurants. Glasgow’s KoolBa, Mister Singh’s India, Balbir’s and Mother India Café took the golden kabob.

Aye, Aye, Captain

For the first time in its 170-year history, Cunard has appointed a female captain. Captain Inger Klein Olsen, 43, took command of Cunard’s Queen Victoria in December. Olsen joined Cunard as a first officer in 1997 and has served on Several ships.

COURTESY OF CUNARD LINES

Portsmouth, Hampshire

Farewell to Carrier Ark Royal

THE QUEEN has taken a farewell royal salute from the Royal Navy’s aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal at her home port of Portsmouth. The fleet flagship has sailed home for the final time after 25 years. Controversially, the vessel is being retired as part of the Government’s economically-inspired defense review, along with the Navy’s famous Harrier jump jets that flew from its deck. Two new carriers are under construction, though it will be nearly a decade before replacement ships and aircraft are fully in service.

REUTERS/LUKE MACGREGOR

Westminster, London

Local Councils Feel the Pinch

DEFENSE ISN’T the only area of the British budget to face austerity measures. Local councils are losing up to 17 percent of their central government funding. What have been unveiled as the most severe budget cuts since World War II are predicted to result in the loss of 70,000 public sector jobs and an impact on local communities ranging from a reduction in street lighting to less frequent bin collection. Communities Secretary Eric Pickles said, announcing the funding cuts, “Government has been living a credit card lifestyle at taxpayers’ expense, and now it’s time to pay off some of those bills.”
Meanwhile, the North East Lincolnshire Council has created a £70,000-per-year job (with good benefits) to oversee the implementation of its spending cuts.

Horsham, West Sussex

Students Vote to Keep Tudor Uniform

COURTESY OF CHRIST’S HOSPITAL

WHEN SCHOOL administrators at one of Britain’s oldest public schools, Christ’s Hospital in Horsham, pondered the idea of updating the school uniform, a vote of the school’s 800 pupils favored by more than 95 percent keeping the uniform that has been worn since the school’s founding in 1552. Students at Christ’s Hospital wear long, belted blue coats, knee breeches, yellow socks and neckerchiefs. Students and former students alike indicate that they see the traditional uniform as an important element of unity and identity.

West End, London

Dame Judi Dench Greatest Actor Ever

©MGM/COURTESY EVERETT COLLECTION

A poll conducted by the theater industry newspaper The Stage has named Dame Judi Dench the greatest stage actor of all time. A panel of industry experts selected a shortlist, from which readers voted for a favorite 10. Dame Judi bested Dame Maggie Smith for top spot. Now 76, Dame Judi began her stage career playing Ophelia with Liverpool’s Old Vic company in 1957. She has won a record seven Olivier awards, the first for Macbeth in 1977.

And Just in Passing

Battered Bugle Tells a Tale

When Maurice Green, 73, paid £5 for a beat-up World War I army bugle at a bric-a-brac stall at Rotherham market, he had a feeling that it was meant to be his. When he got it home and cleaned away nine decades of grime and tarnish, Green discovered that his grandfather’s army service number was engraved on the horn. Green’s grandfather, Daniel Clay, had played the bugle at the Battle of the Somme in 1916, and died there.

Nettles Given OBE by the Queen

Famed for playing two of Britain’s most popular TV detectives, actor John Nettles has been awarded an OBE (Order of the British Empire) from the Queen. After playing Jim Bergerac in a long-running series, Nettles has become known worldwide as the wry DCI Tom Barnaby of Midsomer Murders. Nettles will solve his last murder and retire early next year after 15 years as Barnaby.

LEWIS WHYLD/PA WIRE

And Just in Passing

Aberdeenshire’s Best Quality of Life

For the second year running, Aberdeenshire has finished on top in a Bank of Scotland survey to determine the place in Scotland with the best quality of life. A bank economist explained, “Aberdenshire scores highly relative to the average for Scotland on several indicators, such as health, life expectancy, employment, average earnings, school results and climate.”

PHOTOLIBRARY

VAT Up and Away

The New Year saw Britain’s ubiquitous VAT rise from 17.5 percent to 20 percent in a move the Treasury expects to generate an extra £13 billion a year with which to tackle the UK’s burgeoning deficit. Goods and services that cost £100 will cost an extra £2.13p. In the meantime, the Government has set a target inflation rate of 2 percent for 2011. Hmm.

Scots National Trust Scores Bequest

A reclusive Las Vegas millionaire, William Lindsey, has left his “substantial” estate to the National Trust for Scotland. Lindsey had already recently given &doller;4 million to the Trust projects at Culzean Castle and the Burns Center in Alloway. It’s not believed that Linsey ever visited the country.

Clarence House, London

The Royal Engagement Portrait

WIREIMAGE

Prince William and Ms. Catherine Middleton have chosen to release this photo as one of two official portraits to mark their engagement. The Clarence House Press Office is working overtime these days in the inevitable build-up to the April 29th wedding date. After all, an eager public wants to know every detail of the preparations for the Westminster Abbey wedding. The bumph continues. Meanwhile, the savvy prince sidestepped a choice between spending Christmas with Kate or with the royal family house party at Sandringham by volunteering for duty at his RAF search and rescue base on Anglesey for Christmas and Boxing Day.

Cramlington, Northumberland

Anglo-Saxon Village Unearthed

AN ANGLO-SAXON village of the 6th-8th century has been uncovered at the Shotton surface mine on the Blagdon Estate near Cramlington. Archaeologists have so far unearthed six post-built halls thought to be housing units, several outbuildings and a network of enclosures, trackways and fencing. Karen Derham, a Northumberland County archaeologist, affirms that the find “has given us the first direct evidence of Anglo-Saxon settlement in this part of the county.” As archaeologists have expanded their investigation at the site, they have also unearthed several Iron Age roundhouses.

DOMINIC LIPINSKI/PA WIRE

Westminster, London

Protesters Turn Violent

London was throbbing as thousands of demonstrators forced their way into Parliament Square and pressed against lines of riot police. December saw student protests turn sometimes violent during several days of disruption in the capital. Demonstrators objected virulently to a vote in the House of Commons raising the maximum cost of tuition at British universities to £9,000 per year. The move, taken as part of UK budget austerity measures, was accompanied by provisions for student loans that only require repayment to begin when the student is making &doller;48,000 a year. Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall got caught in the emotional mob on their way home from the theater. As it happened, of course, anarchists from as far away as Argentina and Latvia swelled the student numbers with plans to provoke violence and chaos during the protests.

Way Down South

Tory Peer Conquers Antarctic Peak

Tory peer Lord Forsyth, 56, has raised more than £350,000 for charity by successfully climbing Antarctica’s highest peak, Mount Vinson. The former Scottish Secretary braved temperatures of -30C to conquer the 16,000 foot, ice-shrouded mountain. Lord Forsyth undertook the expedition to support Children in Need India and Marie Curie Cancer Care. All surviving former prime ministers as well as PM David Cameron were among his sponsors.

COLIN MONTEITH/HEDGEHOG HOUSE

And Just in Passing

REUTERS

Queen’s Christmas Speech from Hampton Court

Usually the Queen’s Christmas Day Speech is broadcast from Buckingham Palace. This year, however, Her Majesty was recorded from Hampton Court Palace. The Queen chose Hampton Court to commemorate that it was there King James I convened the conference that led to the Authorized or King James Version of the Bible, celebrating the 400th anniversary of its publication this year.

Last Survivor of the Lusitania Dies at 95

Audrey Lawson-Johnson of Melchbourne, Bedfordshire, was three months old, with her family emigrating from America to England, when the liner Lusitania was sunk by a German U-boat in 1915. When the torpedo struck, her nanny, Alice Lines, delivered Audrey’s two-year-old brother and her safely into a lifeboat, as the vessal sank in 18 minutes. Though she lost two sisters, Audrey’s parents survived. Her mother, Amy Lea, became instrumental in founding the Lea & Perrins company, famed for its Worcestershire sauce. Mrs. Lawson-Johnson is described by her daughter as being “…witty to the end. She was a remarkable women and she had a remarkable life.”