If you happen to be in Cambridge between now and the end of the summer, don’t miss the University Library’s exhibition about 20th century crime fiction with artefacts and first editions from the likes of Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle and Wilkie Collins. Crime fiction is by far the most popular form of fiction in … Continue reading “Murder by the Book”
If you teach in 5e, you’ll soon be receiving the latest addition to our Shine Bright textbook collection: Shine Bright 5e. It’s a textbook and workbook rolled into one! Check out the introductory video! Inside you’ll find: A game to discover the textbook-workbook. A short introductory chapter to revise the previous year’s work, Welcome to … Continue reading “Shine Bright 5e: Manuel-Workbook”
The Kenyan government wants its people to plant 100 million trees to regreen the country. They even have a new tree-planting holiday. And the ultimate goal is much bigger: to plant 15 billion trees in 10 years. The JazaMiti initiative, which means “fill with trees” in Swahili, aims to help tackle climate change. As in … Continue reading “100 Million Trees”
Dick Turpin was a highway robber in early 18th-century England. Unlike Robin Hood, he didn’t rob the rich to give to the poor. But he became a legend thanks to early “tabloid media”: broadsheets and penny dreadfuls. A new TV series takes a humorous look at the historic criminal. Dick Turpin could be considered as … Continue reading “Your Money or Your Life!”
Lyon’s Quais du Polar festival is celebrating its 20th edition from 5 to 7 April. It has grown and grown and this year will welcome 135 authors from 15 countries. As far as the Anglophone contingent is concerned, you will no doubt recognise some stars like John Grisham and his legal mysteries; Donna Leon, specialised … Continue reading “Quais du Polar Lyon is 20”
A hundred years ago, a Scotsman became famous for NOT running a race at the Paris 1924 Olympic Games. Eric Liddell’s story was immortalised in the 1981 film Chariots of Fire. And a play about his life is coming to Paris for two performances on 23 March. Liddell was an excellent sportsman who played rugby … Continue reading “Chariot of Fire: The Eric Liddell Story”
British choreographer Matthew Bourne and his company New Adventures pride themselves in finding new ways of “telling stories without words”. In Romeo and Juliet, Bourne has taken one of the best-known words in the English language and transformed the familiar story in a reinvention which plays on the dystopian elements of the original script. Bourne … Continue reading “Romeo and Juliet Without Words”
On 13 March, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill which would ban the social-media app TikTok from the country unless it is no longer owned by a Chinese company. The legislation was rushed through in record time, although it is not certain it will be confirmed by the Senate. What risk does Congress … Continue reading “U.S. Congress Tries to Ban TikTok”
Red Nose Day is back on Friday 15 March in the UK. British charity Comic Relief has been encouraging people to don a clown’s red nose and “do something funny for money” since 1988. Red Nose Day is an occasion for many people across the country, and especially schools, to have a laugh while raising … Continue reading “Time to Put on a Red Nose”
Definitely not one to show your pupils! Wicked Little Letters is a delicious comedy with Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley, set in a 1920s English seaside town, where the population starts receiving defamatory letters full of profanities. An Irish migrant with a good stock of swear words in her vocabulary, Rose Gooding is accused of … Continue reading “Rumours, Rumours”