Dateline

Gower Peninsula, Glamorgan

Britain’s Best Beach on the Bay

©LOOP IMAGES/CHRIS WARREN

FORMING the western shore of the Gower Peninsula, Rhossili Bay has been voted the best beach in Britain. The three-mile strand of sand near Swansea captured 47 per cent of the votes in the Cadbury beach awards polling. Dylan Thomas once described the remote three-mile stretch of beach as “wild, bleak and barren.” There are also great seascapes across the Bristol Channel and Carmarthen Bay toward Tenby. Tresco, on the Scilly Isles, finished a distant second with 19 percent. Much more famous seaside destinations, Blackpool and Margate, tied for third place with 10 per cent apiece. They are also considerably more populated.

St.Austell, Cornwall

Rewriting Roman History in Cornwall

A ROMAN FORT, recently discovered at an undisclosed location near St. Austell, is challenging received history about the Cornish peninsula. It had previously been thought that the Romans did not settle the southwest beyond Exeter. John Smith of the Cornish Historic Environment Service enthused, “This is a major discovery, no question about it. It certainly means a rewrite of history in the Southwest.” Following the discovery of pottery and glass artifacts, a geophysical survey of the site revealed a fort, marching camp and sundry annexes. Adecision has yet to be made to thoroughly excavate the area.

‘THIS IS A MAJOR DISCOVERY, NO QUESTION ABOUT IT. IT CERTAINLY MEANS A REWRITE OF HISTORY IN THE SOUTHWEST’

And Just in Passing

Unearthing a Gladiator Cemetery in York

What may be the only cemetery of Roman gladiators in the world is being excavated at a site just west of the York city center. So far, the investigation has revealed 80well-preserved skeletons unearthed by the York Archaeological Trust in ongoing fieldwork.

C4 PICTURES/PA WIRE

Protecting the Devon Cream Tea

Campaigners from Devon traveled to London recently to press the case for having the Devon Cream Tea given Protected Designation of Origin status with the EU. They’re attempting to distinguish the tea of Devon from a presumably lesser quality imposter served, for instance, in neighboring Cornwall or Somerset.

©JACK SULLIVAN/ALAMY

And Just in Passing

Whisky Galore in Fife

Beverage giant Diageo has begun the expansion of its whisky bottling plant in Leven, Fife. Among Diageo’s brands is Johnnie Walker, the most widely distributed Scotch in the world. The £86 million expansion will boost production in Leven to about 30 million cases a year and create nearly 400 jobs. It’s nice to see everything hasn’t suffered in the present economy.

ANDREW MILLIGAN/PA WIRE

Taxi DriverWins Tip of his Life

Taxi driver Don Pratt drove Mary Watson to the shops around Newquay, Cornwall, every day for 20 years. “She was a very nice lady and always very generous,” Pratt remembers. He won’t forget now. When Mrs. Pratt died recently at 86, she left her entire estate worth some £250,000 to the cabbie.

Carlton House, London

Prince William Leads Jubilee Project

COURTESY OF THE QUEEN ELIZABETH II FIELDS CHALLEGNE

THE QUEEN Elizabeth II Fields Challenge is the first initiative in honor of the Queen’s upcoming diamond jubilee to have royal backing. Prince William has launched the campaign to save British playing fields. With some 6,000 such fields lost to development since 1992, the aim is to preserve or create 2,012 parks across Britain, named for the Queen, in time for her jubilee in 2012. “I sincerely hope that these fields will become a living reminder to all of the Queen’s steadfast duty, dedication and love for this country,” said the prince.

Johannesburg, South Africa

England in the World Cup

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ALL ENGLISH EYES were on South Africa this June as an England team featuring such luminaries as John Terry and Wayne Rooney led English hopes in the World Cup. After their disappointing performances in matches against the U.S. and Algeria, the Bishop of Croydon sought divine intervention. The bishop asked God to “help England rediscover their legs, their eyes and their hunger: that they might run more clearly, pass more nearly and enjoy the game more dearly. Amen.” The bishop’s prayer was answered well enough to gain England a clutch 1-0 win over Slovenia to enable the side to squeak into the knockout round of 16. There, they were promptly sent back to Blighty by Germany, 4-1, to general national disapproval and God’s deaf ear.

Whitehall, London

New Peers in Dissolution Honors List

As is traditional, outgoing prime minister Gordon Brown has exercised his right to produce an honors list at the dissolution of Parliament. This includes those who are tapped by seemingly divine fiat to be elevated to the House of Lords with titles and life peerages. Some 23 individuals across the political spectrum were so honored in Brown’s list. Most sniggered at is the peerage for former Labour deputy PM John Prescott, who spent his entire career railing against such empty frippery as titles and the Lords as an institution. Prescott accepted his peerage, but insists he did so only because of his wife, who wanted to be a Lady. Other notable figures elevated to the Lords include Tory Michael Howard, former home secretary, former Northern Ireland first minister and Democratic Unionist leader Ian Paisley and Sir Ian Blair, of the Metropolitan Police. Privy Council Appointments and knighthoods were given out as well.

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Kingston-upon-Hull, Humberside

Britain’s Conkers Under Alien Threat

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ACADEMICS AND experts are sounding a public rallying cry to save the nation’s horse chestnut trees. The country’s beloved conkers are gradually being destroyed by an alien moth called the horse chestnut leaf miner. The moths arrived in Britain in 2002 and have been spreading at a rate of 40 miles per year, leaving diseased and weakened horse chestnut trees in their wake. Dr. Darren Evans from the University of Hull is keeping a watchful eye on nature’s own salvation: “Nature’s form of defense against this alien invader is a tiny parasitic wasp that eats the moth caterpillars—the wasps are the natural pest controllers.”

And Just in Passing

Getting the Mighty Concorde Flying Again

Work has begun on a £15 million project to get the Concorde back in the air. The British Save Concorde Group has tested the engines hoping to get the supersonic jet returning to flight for the first time since its retirement in 2003. Plans call for a Concorde flyover at the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics.

TIM OCKENDEN/PA ARCHIVE/PA IMAGES

Bog Orchid Major Discovery in Wales

The latest Welsh Orchid Survey identified more than 250 sightings of different species across Wales. Flora conservationists were most excited, however, by the discovery of a stand of bog orchids in the Elan Valley near Rhayader—thought to be extinct in Wales since 2007.

PHOTOLIBRARY.COM

And Just in Passing

Mr. and Mrs. Average Revealed

An analysis of more than a million customers by the insurance company Aviva has provided a snapshot of the most typical Briton. The most “average” Brit is named Smith, drives a Ford Fiesta, takes a holiday in Spain, gets up at 6:45 a.m., eats lunch at their desk, lives in a house called “The Cottage,” visits the pub every week and would rather shop for clothes than exercise.

British Wives Nag Husbands—A Lot

A study by health group Everyman found that wives spend 7,920 minutes a year nagging their husbands; that’s two-and-a-half hours a week. The chief nagging complaint was about not helping to tidy the home. Not helping wash dishes, drinking too much and not visiting the doctor also ranked. While most men would publically not admit it, 83 percent surveyed confessed that their partner was often right to nag them.

STUART MCCLYMONT/GETTY IMAGES

Whitehall, London

Emergency Budget Pays the Piper

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“YEARS OF DEBT and spending make this unavoidable,” said Chancellor George Osborne, unveiling the emergency budget measures necessitated by Britain’s debt crisis. VAT will rise from 17.5 percent to 20 percent in January. Benefits and welfare payments will be slashed by £11 billion a year. Public servants, including teachers, face a two-year pay freeze, as do the Civil List payments to the Royal Family. With the exception of health and foreign aid, all government departments face realterms cuts of up to 33 percent over the next four years. While the coalition government has protected front line spending on schools for a year, education will bear significant cuts as well. Universities, meanwhile, are already grappling with a projected £1.4 billion in funding cuts.

Magdeburg, Germany

Saxon Queen Found in Cathedral

SCIENTISTS revealed that bones excavated in Magdeburg Cathedral in 2008 are actually the remains of Queen Eadgyth, granddaughter of Alfred the Great and half-sister of Athelstan. The Saxon princess married Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, in 929. She died in her mid-30s in 949 in Magdeburg, Saxony. Although she was originally buried in a local monastery, her bones were reinterred in Magdeburg Cathedral in 1510. They will be reburied this year—500 years after her original interment there. The recent discovery makes Queen Eadgyth’s bones the oldest surviving remains of an English royal burial.

Cambridge

Time Change Would Save Energy

RESEARCH at Cambridge University suggests that putting clocks forward in winter would save nearly 500,000 tons of carbon dioxide. By making evenings lighter, reduced peak electricity demands could cut carbon emissions by the equivalent of taking 200,000 cars off Britain’s roads. A Lighter Later campaign is seeking to make British Summer Time permanent, and to extend summer daylight another hour—two hours ahead of GMT. In addition to the significant energy savings, campaigners see the change as saving lives on the roads, boosting leisure activities and contributing generally to social well being.

Whitehall, London
MPs Still Squirming from Scandal
THE AFTERMATH of last year’s huge parliamentary expenses scandal is ongoing— and hitting MPs where they live. A new Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority is setting and administering the rules for the reimbursement of allowable expenses to Members of Parliament. After cashstrapped MPs in the new elected parliament squealed loudly enough, the IPSA agreed to advance £4,000 each to cash-strapped MPs to help them face their cash-flow difficulties. Despite that tax-free assistance, scores of members are vocally expressing their pique at the strict new reimbursement requirements. The British public does not seem inclined to express much sympathy with their plight.

And Just in Passing

Hi Tech Comes to the Mabinogion

The medieval Welsh folk tales known as the Mabinogion are now available as an application for the iPhone. Lady Charlotte Guest’s famous 19th-century translation of the ancient tales from the oral tradition of Celtic storytelling, many of them dating back more than 1,000 years, is available to download for free.

That’s a Light Switch
There’s a real switch on renewable energy. If it gets too windy, the National Grid will pay wind farm owners to switch off their turbines. The payments are apparently essential to prevent the electricity supply from overloading the network. Critics say the payments highlight the problems of depending upon intermittent wind power. The payments are passed on to customers’ bills.

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