Innholdsfortegnelse for 226 i The Week Junior

On 5 April, the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson was taken to hospital, 10 days after he tested positive for Covid-19. Covid-19 is a disease caused by a type of newly discovered coronavirus that is called SARS-CoV-2. The following day, Johnson was moved to an intensive care ward, where people with severe symptoms (signs of illness) can be better looked after. Symptoms of Covid-19 include a fever, coughing and breathing difficulties. Why is Johnson in hospital? The Prime Minister had been displaying symptoms since tests showed he had Covid-19 on 27 March. He was moved to the intensive care ward to be closer to lifesaving equipment that could help him if his illness gets worse. In the meantime, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has taken over some of his responsibilities. What…

16 April 1964 The Great Train Robbers are jailed On 16 April 1964, the men involved in the Great Train Robbery were given some of the longest jail sentences in UK history. The gang stole £2.6 million from a train as it travelled from Glasgow to London. At the time it was the biggest robbery in British history. In total, 12 people were jailed for being involved in the crime; seven men were sentenced to 30 years in prison each. At the time, the gang’s leader, Bruce Reynolds, was still on the run. He was later caught and sentenced to 25 years in 1968.…

● Many streaming services, such as Disney+, Netflix and Sky Cinema, now choose to release films online before they hit the cinema. Some new films never even reach the big screen. ● In 2019, the average cost of a cinema ticket was £7.11, but some London cinemas charge as much as £40. The lowest monthly subscription for Disney+, Netflix and Amazon Prime is £5.99. ● In 2019, more than £1.25 billion was splashed out on cinema tickets, almost doubling from £627 million in 2000.…

Spring is here and the RSPB has just launched a new daily challenge. It wants people to see what they can spot in their gardens or from their windows from 8am to 9am, and share the results on social media using the hashtag #BreakfastBirdwatch. Even though people may not be going outside as much, there is still lots to see from indoors. Beccy Speight, the RSPB’s chief executive, said, “Nature is still doing its thing. Birds are singing and blossom is bursting. Watching wildlife can offer many of us hope and joy.”…

Is pizza your favourite food? No, but it’s up there. Pineapple on pizza – good or bad? Not for me. Although there are worse things to put on a pizza. What did you want to be when you were little? I think I had a two-week phase of wanting to be a detective. What is your best childhood memory? Playing with our dog. He was black with white paws, which we used to think were like dinner gloves. If you could have one superpower, what would it be? Being able to breathe underwater.…

Dua Lipa has released her newest album one week ahead of schedule to spread happiness among her fans. The pop artist announced the news on a YouTube livestream, explaining that the coronavirus outbreak had encouraged her to change the planned release date. She told fans, “Yes, it (the album) was made to be listened to out at festivals – but at the same time, I wanted to give people some happiness during this time, where they don’t have to think about what’s going on and just shut off and dance.” At the moment the singer is living in an Airbnb (a type of rented holiday accommodation) in the UK. After a flood in her London flat, she and her boyfriend had to move into the holiday home – and then…

Sir Linkalot is one of the apps used in schools – and by young people at home – to practise their spelling skills. It’s usually paid for with a monthly subscription but now it’s going free for 12 weeks to help young people who are studying at home. Parents and carers can register with their email addresses to get a code that makes the app free for 12 weeks, without having to sign up to a subscription at the end of that time. The app stars a knight character called Sir Linkalot, as well as a spelling expert (The Week Junior’s Susie Dent, who writes our Word of the Week). It’s for anyone under 18, and particularly those who would have been taking their SATs this year. It’s one of…

“This is me doing my school remote learning extreme reading challenge. I coloured the rainbow on the front cover, then went out in the garden to read.” Lucy “I couldn’t see my family for Easter because of Covid-19 so I decided to make fun Easter cards to give to them.” Isabella “This is a photo of baby nuthatches nesting outside our house, which I took on my camera. I’ve been lucky enough to watch them grow.” Rufus…

On 13 October 1940, the Queen gave her first public speech, aged 14, alongside her younger sister Princess Margaret. Princess Elizabeth, as she was then known, spoke to children who had to move to the countryside to escape the bombing of cities during the Second World War (1939–1945). She said, “When peace comes, remember it will be for us, the children of today, to make the world of tomorrow a better and happier place.”…

A SPECIAL FRIENDSHIP Orangutans and otters have been seen playing together at the Pairi Daiza zoo, in Belgium. The otters live in the same area as the orangutans and like to get out of the water to keep the great apes entertained. “It makes life fun for both species,” said Mathieu Goedefroy, who works at the zoo. THIS VIDEO GAME On 2 April, Untitled Goose Game won family game of the year at the 16th annual BAFTA Games Awards. In the game, players control a goose that is terrorising locals in a small village. The game has been a huge success, selling over a million copies. This year’s winners were revealed on a livestream. A LUCKY FIND A UK nurse was mowing the grass in her garden when she discovered…

Now that you’ve read a bit more about it, tell us what you think by voting in our poll at theweekjunior.co.uk/polls. Vote YES if you think films at home are better than the cinema, or NO if you don’t. We’ll publish the results next week. The aim of the Big debate page is to present two sides of an issue fairly and objectively, in order to stimulate discussion and allow our readers to make up their minds. The views on the page do not reflect those of The Week Junior, and the page is not funded by third parties. The page is created in association with the English-Speaking Union, an educational charity helping young people discover their voice and realise their full potential. For more information, please see esu.org…

Designing new pet toys can be a great way to reuse plastics or other items, cutting down on the amount of waste being sent to recycling sites. Dogs are the easiest animals to make toys for. A washed-out milk carton filled with some chunky treats can entertain them for hours, as can a squished-up plastic bottle inside a knotted old sock. In both cases, make sure to remove the lid because it could be a choking hazard. Old toilet rolls can be a great starting point for cat toys. Fold one end of the tube closed, pour in some treats, and then fold the other end. Your cat will have to find a way to open the roll to get at the treats. Not only iss making toys fun for…

Ava Garside’s Perfect Sense project could help people living in big cities where air pollution is a problem, but something unusual has been happening lately. With large numbers of people staying at home, air pollution has started to fall in cities across the UK. For almost three weeks, people have spent less time in factories, offices and vehicles, and more time where they live, as part of efforts to tackle the coronavirus outbreak. Other countries, such as China, have seen a huge drop in air pollution. According to NASA, levels of harmful nitrogen dioxide gas across much of China have fallen by up to 30%.…

A Japanese company called Open Meals is giving people the chance to eat the weather, in the form of sweets. It has created a 3D printer that makes sweets each day according to weather data. Factors such as wind speed affect the width of the treats, and the temperature decides the colour, so the sweets act as a record of the day they were made. The Cyber Wagashi (which means cyber sweets in Japanese) could perhaps even be made to order – for instance to show the weather on the day you were born. Enjoy these stories? Find more in this month’s The Week Junior Science+Naturemagazinesciencenature.theweekjunior.co.uk…

The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart by Stephanie Burgis (Bloomsbury Children’s Books) When a fierce young dragon called Aventurine is tricked into drinking an enchanted hot chocolate, she finds herself transformed into a puny human girl. Stuck in a new body, she sets out for the city, where she soon finds herself working in a chocolate house. There are new friends and delicious treats ahead, but can Aventurine adjust to her human life? The Dentist of Darkness by David O’Connell (Bloomsbury Children’s Books) After inheriting the McBudge Fudge and Confectionery Company in The Chocolate Factory Ghost – and having some madcap magical adventures – Archie McBudge is looking forward to a relaxing summer. However, the town’s magic is under threat and a sinister dentist is trying to wipe out all…

The Mask of Zorro Google Play, iTunes, Sky Cinema, YouTube Movies The character of Zorro dates back to 1919, and the swashbuckling hero has featured in lots of films since. If you like superhero films, then, and fancy something a little different, The Mask of Zorro, from 1998, is well worth adding to your list. It stars Antonio Banderas (who voiced Puss in Boots in the Shrek films) in the title role, and it’s got the feel of a really fun, old-style adventure film. A sequel followed, The Legend of Zorro, in 2005, but that was not as good as this hugely entertaining and witty family film. WOW! Antonio Banderas, who played Zorro, practised for the lead role by training with Spain’s Olympic fencing team for four months.…

Scrabble Go The official mobile version of Scrabble lets you play against people over the internet. It’s perfect for pitting your wits against friends and family members whom you can’t meet in person. Uno Popular card game Uno has been the cause of many a happy family evening (or possibly loud arguments) in its time. Its mobile app lets you play online – again, against friends and family – with different choices of rules to keep things interesting. Exploding Kittens Don’t worry: no kittens were harmed in the making of this game. Take turns to draw cards, defusing kittens if you draw them. You can play online or with people at home.…

Take on simple weekly challenges such as spotting wildlife, saving energy or taking part in a digital detox in order to pause and notice the wonders of the natural world. The scheme was created to help young people feel part of something that makes a difference. You can get involved each week, along with hundreds of other young people, and by hitting the red button online when you’ve completed a challenge, you’ll develop a sense of solidarity with people working towards the same goals. Ask your parent or guardian to sign your family up at tinyurl.com/TWJ-Warriors…

Teacher’s name: Mrs Heath School: Brown Clee CE Primary School, Shropshire “Mrs Heath is so much fun and we sing songs like Bertie Bought a Bicycle. She is really good at explaining things when I don’t understand. We all miss her now we are not at school.” Mollie If we pick your teacher as Teacher of the Week, we’ll sendyourschoolthreefreeissuesof The Week Junior. Send your nominations, along with a picture of your teacher and your school’s full name and address, to hello@theweekjunior.co.uk…

1 What is the world’s largest type of fish? a) Blue whale b) Whale shark c) Swordfish a □ b □ c □ 2 True or false? Theresa May is the new leader of the Labour Party. 3 In which country have people been wearing fancy-dress costumes when they take their bins out? 4 What was the average cost of a UK cinema ticket in 2019? a) £7.11 b) £7.67 c) £8.23 a □ b □ c □ 5 True or false? Ons Jabeur is a tennis player. 6 How much do people in the UK spend on their cats and dogs each year? 7 When did US astronauts first land on the Moon? a) 1967 b) 1968 c) 1969 a □ b □ c □ 8 True or false?…

Tens of thousands of people have signed up to a scheme that links elderly people with younger generations to tackle loneliness. The Adopt a Grandparent scheme was set up by CHD Living, a business that runs care homes in Surrey, England. Volunteers are paired with a resident at one of the homes. During the coronavirus outbreak, 50,000 people around the world have applied to be involved. They can video call with their new “grandparent” and send them letters, pictures and poems.…

A growing number of films are being released online before or at the same time as they appear in cinemas. This is because people can watch films on streaming platforms. On 24 March, Disney+ joined the UK streaming market. It has several films that viewers have not been able to see in cinemas, including a remake of Lady and the Tramp. Despite the success of streaming services, many people think cinemas are better. Cinemas are closed at the moment because of the coronavirus, but in recent years films like Avengers: Endgame have broken records for the money they earned. However, £2.1 billion was spent on video streaming last year, compared to £1.25 billion spent in cinemas. So are films at home better than going to the cinema? Yes – it’s…

“For most people, food writing sounds like the best job in the world – and I think they’re right,” Orlando Murrin, president of the Guild of Food Writers, tells The Week Junior. He says once people know his job is writing about food it’s easy to start conversations, because people want to know which restaurants he’s eaten in and which famous chefs he knows. Murrin is the host of the BBC Good Food podcast with Tom Kerridge. In 1992, he was a semi-finalist on the BBC cooking programme MasterChef and has run award-winning hotels. Murrin says food has always played a big role in his life. “My mum was a great cook, and she’d sometimes let me have a go,” he says. The first meal Murrin prepared by himself was…

The results of the 41st Big Garden Birdwatch are in. They reveal that more small birds were seen on the last weekend in January this year than over the same period in 2019. Experts think that this is because the recent winter was so mild. The Big Garden Birdwatch is run every year by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), the UK’s largest charity protecting birds, nature and wildlife. Between 25 and 27 January, the RSPB asked people to spend an hour counting the birds they saw in their gardens. Nearly half a million people took part, and almost eight million birds were counted. For the 17th year in a row, the house sparrow was the most common bird that people saw, with more than 1.3 million…

On 11 April 1970, Apollo 13 launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, US. It was meant to be the third US mission to land on the Moon, after Apollo 11 and Apollo 12 – both in 1969. However, when one of the spacecraft’s oxygen tanks exploded, the mission changed from one of exploration into one of survival. As the mission’s 50th anniversary approaches, find out more about the greatest rescue in the history of space travel. The mission no one was watching The Apollo programme was set up by NASA, the US space agency, to land a man on the Moon by the end of the 1960s. Once this had been achieved by Apollo 11 in 1969, other Moon missions didn’t generate the same levels of public excitement. The…

A hospital ward run entirely by robots has been treating sufferers from Covid-19 in Wuhan, China. Covid-19 is a disease caused by a new form of coronavirus – a type of virus that infects the nose, throat and lungs. Symptoms (signs of the illness) include a sore throat, cough, breathing difficulties and a high temperature. The ward opened on 7 March, in a sports centre that has been converted into a temporary hospital. To protect doctors and nurses from catching the coronavirus, an experiment was launched to let robots take care of 200 patients with the mildest symptoms. The robots were donated to the hospital by the Chinese technology company CloudMinds. Engineers made a map of the hospital and uploaded it to an online server. The robots can use this…

Colin is a pizza delivery boy and aspiring detective who’s desperate for an interesting case to solve. Unfortunately, there just aren’t many mysteries in sleepy Rufflington-on-Sea but when the great detective agency the Golden Spatula League comes calling, Colin soon finds himself grappling with excitement and danger – not to mention more pizza than he can handle. Colin takes on the codename Mark Anchovy and heads to Italy, where he must track the movements of art thief Big Alan Fresco, who is suspected of stealing a valuable painting. Working undercover at Fresco’s favourite pizza restaurant, Mark Anchovy tries to solve the mystery – while avoiding his history teacher. The first in a three-book series, this illustrated detective tale is an exciting and entertaining read. WIN!  We’re giving away six copies…

Ancient trolls No one knows for sure where troll stories came from but one of the first examples can be found in early legends from Scandinavia (a region of northern Europe including Denmark, Norway and Sweden). In these stories, they sometimes had magic powers and were not very friendly to humans. First Troll toys The first Troll dolls were made in 1959 by Thomas Dam, who was Danish. He made one out of wood for his daughter, and it had woollen hair and glass eyes. He made more for her friends when they all wanted one, and then set up a company to make them. A troll-ific collection Sherry Groom in the US had 8,130 Trolls in 2018, when she was awarded the Guinness World Record for largest collection of…

Food Unwrapped Does Chocolate 8pm on 12 April, Channel 4 It’s Easter, which makes it the perfect time of year to celebrate all things chocolate. In this show, there’s a compilation of some of the best chocolate-related moments from the series, including a trip to one of the UK’s biggest chocolate factories. One Night in the Museum 8pm on 15 April, BBC Scotland then BBC iPlayer Three groups of classmates from Scotland are off to London for an overnight adventure at the National Maritime Museum. With no adults in sight, they will have to survive the night alone, discovering ancient ships and artefacts from the UK’s swashbuckling history. The Last Kids on Earth: Book 2 Streaming on Netflix from 17 April The second part of Max Brallier’s The Last Kids…

How much do games cost? Many board games can be under £20, with some less than £10. If looked after, games can last for years. Once shops reopen you could have a hunt in charity shops, which often have games at a good price. What about card games? Many games use cards to play, but there are games that use only cards and no board. Uno is a colour-based card game for between two and 10 players. There’s also a Uno version for players who have trouble telling certain colours apart. Can I make my own game? Yes. If you play lots of board games, you might have ideas of how to make your own. Write down some basic rules and use simple items, dice or counters to get started.…

After several covers focusing on the coronavirus outbreak, it’s been a lovely distraction for the team to put together this week’s issue – with the dramatic and daring story of Apollo 13 taking pride of place on the front of the issue. It’s 50 years since this incredible space survival story took place – and it’s a breathtaking reminder of how humans can work together, using their ingenuity, calm logic and clear thinking to get themselves out of the stickiest of situations. Find out all the details of what exactly happened on pages 12–13. To hear our art director, Dave, discuss how he came up with the front cover, do listen to this week’s issue of The Week Junior Show, where he’ll be revealing all the tricks of the trade.…

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Follow The Week Junior on PopJam@TheWeekJunior. You can download the PopJam app from the App Store or Google Play. This week, our PopJammers shared messages of hope for workers on the frontline... “Well done NHS! You are amazing!” “NHS you are working so, so hard. Keep it up and for all of you at home WASH YOUR HANDS.” “My mum works for the NHS and the hospital is working really hard to stop Covid-19 from spreading.” “Thank you NHS for keeping us as well as you can.” Tell us what you think of this week’s issue and we’ll print some of the best comments here.…