Dateline

London

Demand for British Butlers Builds

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Jim Carter plays Carson, the redoubtable butler who runs the household at Downton Abbey. His role has inspired a veritable boom in the butler business.[/caption]

BRITISH-TRAINED traditional butlers are apparently in high demand from new billionaires influenced by Downton Abbey. Specialist domestic service recruitment firms report that requests for such staff have more than doubled in the past two years. Butler schools are experiencing a boom in business, and why not? A top-flight butler can command a salary of more than r£100,000.

Loch Alsh, Skye

World’s Largest Flame Shell Reef in Scotland

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Flame shells covering more than four square miles of Loch Alsh between Skye and mainland Scotland form a living reef that is habitat to a coastal ecosystem.[/caption]

A SURVEY COMMISSIONED by Marine Scotland has discovered a reef of flame shells, perhaps the largest in the world (certainly the largest in Britain), in a sea inlet between Skye and the Scottish mainland. The 4.6 square mile reef is estimated to contain a colony of more than 100 million of the rare, brightly colored shellfish. Their nests on the seabed create a living reef that supports hundreds of other species.

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Scotland’s Fishing Season Gets Traditional Start

A pipe band led a procession of anglers through Kenmore and down to the River Tay in a traditional inauguration of Scotland’s salmon fishing season. Riverside, the ceremony included drams of whisky all ’round before a blessed dousing of the fishing boats and water with said spirit.

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UK’s Second Wettest Year

The Met Office has released data confirming that 2012 was Britain’s second-wettest year since records began in 1910 (52.4 inches)—and just missed 2000’s top spot by a merest 7mm. Analysts suggest that the frequency of “extreme rainfall” may be increasing on the island; four of the five wettest years have occurred since 2000.

Regional Accents Getting Surprisingly Stronger

For years, experts had predicted that local dialects would quickly disappear with increased social mobility. Now, a study at Aston University, Birmingham, has concluded that accents no longer have a stigma and are stronger than ever as people struggle to retain a sense of local identity. The Scottish brogue and the Welsh lilt are safe.

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Downton Abbey Still Rocks

Now into its third season on PBS, the Downton Abbey phenomenon continues. Some 8 million people watched the year-three opener—twice those who saw the second-season debut and quadruple the customary PBS primetime audience.

Millbank, London

Northern Painter L.S. Lowry in Tate Exhibition

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For the first time since his death in 1976, Lancashire painter L.S. Lowry will be the subject of a major retrospective in London this summer at the Tate Gallery.[/caption]

THE FIRST MAJOR RETROSPECTIVE of L.S. Lowry’s work since his death in 1976 will be held this summer at the Tate Britain. More than 80 of the Lancashire painter’s northern industrial cityscapes and eight rare landscapes will be included in the exhibition that begins June 16th and runs through to September 7th. Though Lowry’s work is not universally admired by art critics, recent sales of his paintings have commanded millions.

Trafalgar Square

Her Royal Portrait Panned

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Though Kate seemed to be pleased with the painting, art critics have been predominantly critical of the first official portrait of the Duchess of Cambridge.[/caption]

THE UNVEILING OF the first official portrait of Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, at the National Portrait Gallery was greeted with much criticism. Though the Duchess pronounced herself well satisfied with the result, art critics have been generally scathing and the public cynical at the way the future Queen was depicted.

Whitehall

“Last Squadie Out, Turn Off the Lights”

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It was a little extra R&R this winter for the Royal military. In order to save on utility bills, the financially strapped Ministry of Defense shut down a bit.[/caption]

THE ARMY WAS GIVEN a 25-day Christmas break—to save on utility bills. All 110,000 British military personnel were given “block leave” from December 14 to January 7, with all barracks and other military sites closed. Soldiers and civilians who had already used up their annual leave were directed to “work from home.” The decision has proved highly controversial, with one former commander of British forces in Afghanistan quipping: “The idea that troops can work from home is beyond satire. What are they supposed to do? Shooting in the back garden? An improvised bayonet assault course at the local play park?”

Llandudno, North Wales

Best Hotel for Service in the World

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It doesn’t take a huge staff and a huge room tariff to create a great hotel experience. Just ask guests at the Lauriston Court in this north Welsh seaside town.[/caption]

UNEXPECTED AS IT MIGHT BE, an 11-room guest house in Llandudno has been named the best hotel in the world for service by TripAdvisor. The Lauriston Court Hotel was honored based on thousands of guest reviews. Magnificent seas views, delicious breakfasts and friendliness at the Lauriston Court all received five-star raves. With B&B prices starting at just £35 per person, it is little wonder that Lauriston Court was also named sixth on the list of world’s best bargain hotels.

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Famed Colliery Band in Jeopardy

The South Yorkshire brass band that inspired the great 1996 film Brassed Off is in danger of closing. Despite its international reputation (and appearance at the opening ceremony of the London Olympics), the Grimethorpe Colliery Band has lost its financial sponsorship. The band’s manager confirms that its schedule of 40-50 concerts a year was “not sustainable for a long period.”

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Her Majesty Attends the Cabinet Meeting

It was not without precedent when the Queen attended a weekly meeting of the cabinet at 10 Downing Street with Prime Minister David Cameron in December. Her Majesty became the first monarch to do so, however, since her great-grandmother Queen Victoria.

Opening the Baby Book

With the much-anticipated pregnancy of the Duchess of Cambridge, Britain’s betting instincts have once again awakened with an active book on the naming of the coming Royal infant. Elizabeth and Diana are early favorites with the punters. Kate herself has said she wants to meet the baby before settling on a name.

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Fewer than Half of Londoners are White

For a generation everyone has acknowledged that London is not most ways representative of England, let alone Britain. Released figures from the 2011 Census reveal that now only 45 percent of the population call themselves white, while large populations identify themselves as Indian, African and Caribbean. Nationally, the proportion of white people in Britain has fallen from 91 percent to 86 percent since 2001.

Fowey, Cornwall

Anger Over Plans to Move Ancient Monument

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Supposedly, the Tristan Stone marks the burial place of Cornwell’s famous legendary figure of romance.[/caption]

THE 1,500-YEAR-OLD Tristan Stone, near Fowey, reputedly marks the spot where the ill-fated Tristan, of Tristan and Isolde fame, lies buried. Now, the Cornwall Council has given permission for the 5th-century plinth to be moved to make way for a housing development and a park-and-ride. Local campaigners are furious, with one member of the council’s cabinet sputtering, “Such desecration is the equivalent of Napoleon shooting at the Sphinx for target practice.”

Sandringham

The Queen Seeks Planning Permission

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Just like everyone else, Her Majesty must apply for planning permission to make alterations to the house apparently planned for her grandson’s coming family.[/caption]

ON BEHALF OF HER MAJESTY, the Sandringham Estate has filed for permission for a “major development” of Anmer Hall, a 10-bedroom Georgian mansion just a short drive from Sandringham House. The Grade II-listed property is to receive a new garden room, get a new driveway route and have a stable block turned into accommodation. The proposed building work would prepare a residence fit for a king and queen, as the mansion has reportedly been earmarked by the Queen for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.