Roller Derby has been big in the US for many years, but it is now tipped to be the next big contact sport in Britain too.
You’ve probably never heard of Roller Derby, just like me, but the game is played on roller skates almost exclusively by female only teams and resembles a mock-up between ice hockey, speed skating and rugby.
Initially the sport can look quite complicated, but the London Roller Girls web site does a pretty good job of explaining how it works, plus there’s an intro video further down their page.
One of the most established British Roller Derby leagues is the London Roller Girls who generally play the sport at Earl’s Court in London, but expect this to expand throughout Britain fairly soon as more leagues are created and expanded.
If you want to know what it really looks like, this video gives an introduction:
Thanks to VisitLondon for the heads up on this new sport.
Did you know it’s National Chip Week? National Chip Week runs from 21st to 27th February 2010 and celebrates this simple, classic food item. Thick or thin, straight cut or crinkly, saucy or au natural, whichever is your favourite, please post a comment to tell us why you love chips!
And, in recognition of the Great British chip, lovechips.co.uk has even served up some chip-related movies for you to enjoy:
The British pub may have been in a desperate state of decline over the last decade or so, but it’s nice to know some of the quirkier names still remain. We’ve scoured the UK for the most peculiar pub names we could find, and offer them to you below:
1. The Jolly Taxpayer, Portsmouth, Hampshire
2. The Hedgehog & Bucket, Belfast, Northern Ireland
3. The Frog & Radiator, Greenwich, London
4. The Stab & Wound, Kilwinning, Ayrshire
5. The Swan with Two Necks, Blackbrook, Staffordshire
6. Land of Green Ginger, Kingston-upon-Hull, East Yorkshire
7. The Cat & Cucumber, Brighton, East Sussex
8. The Leg of Mutton & Cauliflower, Ashtead, Surrey
9. The Ferret & Trouser Leg, Sydenham, London
10. Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire
Think you can do better? Post a comment to tell us of a pub with an even stranger name! Or brace yourself for tomorrow when we’ll be posted a list of the UK’s ten rudest pub names!
Did you know – it is 539 years today since the Shetland and Orkney Isles came under Scottish rule?
For a long time I’ve wondered exactly how Scotland managed to get the islands, especially the Shetland Isles which are almost closer to Norway than they are to Scotland.
The islands also have very much a Norsk culture and identity about them and some up there don’t even regard themselves as being Scottish, although most would chose that over British if they could.
Apparently, the islands were claimed by Scotland on the 20th February 1472 after the king of Norway defaulted on a marriage dowry payment when his daughter was married to James III of Scotland in 1468 (More details on Wikipedia).
So that’s what happened this day in history and the islands are still worth visiting to this day, especially Orkney.
Going to Drayton Manor Theme Park? Here’s footage from some rides at the park, which re-opens for the season next month, from the drop of the Apocalypse to the somewhat more tame Troublesome Trucks in the Thomasland section of the theme park, to give you an idea of what you can expect.
It’s the weekend so here’s a quirky statistic for you. Apparently, the number of people that can see the sea from their upstairs window in the UK is two million. That’s around one in thirty of us. Are YOU one of the lucky “few” with a sea view? If so, please post a comment and let us know where you overlook.
Today in 1968 Britain introduced what became known as British Standard Time to replace the changing GMT / BST.
The idea was that we would synchronise our clocks with Europe instead of switching to Greenwich Mean Time in Winter, but as history shows this didn’t exactly go down too well.
What the experimenters forgot was the further north you go, the later the sun rises in Winter therefore this experiment meant that for those in Scotland especially, the sun might only be rising at 9am which proved rather dangerous especially for school children who often walked to school.
Eventually the scheme was scrapped in 1971 and we returned to changing our clocks according to Greenwich Mean Time and British Summer Time.
With the schedule of London Olympic events now published, the next decision is what events to buy tickets for.
The London Olympic schedule gives the A to Z of events at the London Olympics with current planned times of each event, the venue where it’ll be taking place and the all important ticket prices.
There are a mind blowing number of events taking place from archery to Greco-Roman style wrestling so unless you have an absolute favourite sport or an unlimited bank account, this is really going to take some working out.
What we often forget watching the Olympics on the TV is the number of rounds many sports have before the quarter finals. For example in archery there are 6 rounds for both men & women stretching over 5 days just to get to the quarter finals which is where the TV sports shows are likely to pick up the action.
Put another way – there are 640 sessions from 25th July to 12th August taking place, so plenty for sports fans to see.
TV Coverage: For those planning to let someone else worry about the headache of scouring the events plan, Dave Gordon – the BBC’s head of major sports events – has his own plan of what you might want to see and what the BBC would like to broadcast. You can see the full plan here.
Tickets: The Tickets for the games won’t be available until March 15th for the main Olympics and 9th September for the Paralympics although the organisers are encouraging those interested to pre-register at the London Olympics tickets web site.
A father and son team are hoping to restore a boat which produced one of the most famous Loch Ness Monster mistaken sighting photographs.
The Scot II was originally built in 1931 as an ice breaker for the Caledonian Canal, but later became a pleasure cruiser on Loch Ness. It was during this time around 1960 that the boat was filmed by an interested tourist – Tim Dinsdale – and throughout the 1960s this was believed to be proof of the Loch Ness Monster.
The boat may infact have triggered several more sightings of Nessie as the wake from the boat tended to continue on the surface for up to 20 minutes after the boat had passed.
Now James Clark, a former skipper of the Scot II, and his son have bought the old boat and are planning to restore it so that once again it can take tourists around this famous Scottish loch.
The original cost of the restoration was estimated at £750,000 but with help from volunteers including apprentice engineers from Babcock and students from Fife’s Carnegie College, the cost is now estimated to be closer to £375,000.
The Museum of London is taking a fascinating look at London from 1860 to modern day, all through the use of candid photographs.
These aren’t your usual posed photos, but rather show that even back in the early days of photography, people were interested in capturing real life around the city rather than simply holiday snaps or Victorian stern looking photos.
One of the earliest examples of genuine candid photography on display comes from Paul Martin in the 1890s where he used a camera disguised as a parcel to ensure he captured people and the city in the natural state.
There are also examples of what you could say became the first paparazzi in the form of Horace Nicholls who also used candid techniques at the end of the 1800s to capture images of Victorian’s in relaxed leisurely pursuits.
Other works show dedicated amateur photographers such as Paul Trevor who photographed life around Brick Lane in East London almost every day for 10 years during the 1970s, before the gentrification of the area.
The photographs come right up to the modern day with digital pictures from Stephen McLaren who seeks out colourful street images around London.
The full range of over 200 photographs will be on display from February 18th to September 4th 2011 and entry is free.
Roller Derby has been big in the US for many years, but it is now tipped to be the next big contact sport in Britain too.
Did you know it’s National Chip Week? National Chip Week runs from 21st to 27th February 2010 and celebrates this simple, classic food item. Thick or thin, straight cut or crinkly, saucy or au natural, whichever is your favourite, please post a comment to tell us why you love chips!
The British pub may have been in a desperate state of decline over the last decade or so, but it’s nice to know some of the quirkier names still remain. We’ve scoured the UK for the most peculiar pub names we could find, and offer them to you below:
Did you know – it is 539 years today since the Shetland and Orkney Isles came under Scottish rule?
It’s the weekend so here’s a quirky statistic for you. Apparently, the number of people that can see the sea from their upstairs window in the UK is two million. That’s around one in thirty of us. Are YOU one of the lucky “few” with a sea view? If so, please post a comment and let us know where you overlook.
Today in 1968 Britain introduced what became known as British Standard Time to replace the changing GMT / BST.
With the schedule of London Olympic events now published, the next decision is what events to buy tickets for.
A father and son team are hoping to restore a boat which produced one of the most famous Loch Ness Monster mistaken sighting photographs.
