The first Canterbury Cathedral all-girls choir is in rehearsal for its first public Christmas concert following a busy year.
Sixteen mainly local girls aged between 12 and 18 were selected for the Canterbury Cathedral Girls’ Choir in January, the first to be assembled under the name of the seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury.
More than 600 people attended their first performance at Evensong in the same month, and since then they have performed at several significant events at the cathedral. These include the service held to mark the 20th anniversary of the ordination of women priests.
Tunnelling to bypass Stonehenge
The ancient landscape of Stonehenge could be transformed by putting a major road into a tunnel past the stones, heritage groups have said ahead of an expected announcement from the government.
English Heritage and the National Trust said they are hopeful the government will announce plans to improve the A303 at Stonehenge – a notorious bottleneck which is “highly detrimental” to the ancient monument – with a tunnel bored underground.
Restoration of Churchill’s carriage
Work is almost complete on the restoration of the train carriage which bore Sir Winston Churchill’s coffin after his funeral almost 50 years ago.
Until the great statesman’s death, the South Railway parcel van S2464S had carried items like newspapers and vegetables. But on a grey, mid-winter day, January 30, 1965, the carriage was seen by millions watching the funeral on small black-and-white TV sets.
Thousands more lined the rail route as Sir Winston’s body was taken to its final resting place in Oxfordshire following a state funeral at St Paul’s Cathedral in London.
Space printer churns out replica
The first 3D printer in space has popped out its first creation – a sample replacement part for itself.
The 3D printer was delivered to the International Space Station two months ago, and Nasa said it has churned out a replica of the face plate for its print head casing. Space station commander Butch Wilmore set aside the small plastic creation for eventual return to Earth.
About 20 objects will be printed in the next few weeks for analysis back home, and Nasa hopes to one day use 3D printing to fix broken equipment in space. A California company called Made in Space supplied the printer. The European Space Agency plans to fly its own 3D printer next year.
$28,000 for bourbon whiskey bottle
One of Kentucky’s newest whiskey makers has made a big splash, fetching more than $28,000 for its first bottle of bourbon.
The Boundary Oak bottle appeared to rank among the most expensive bottles of bourbon ever sold. Eric Gregory, president of the Kentucky Distillers’ Association, said he did not know of any other bottle to have sold for that amount or higher. The money will go to charity.
Boundary Oak Distillery said the winning bidder is from Kentucky but asked to remain anonymous. Whoever it is will have to be patient - Boundary Oak plans to fill its first bourbon barrel in December, and the whiskey will age for two years before bottling.
‘Overweight’ Bigfoot statue stolen
An “overweight” 180kg concrete statue of the mythical Sasquatch was stolen from the garden of an American family.
Ralph Spence, from Delhi Township, west of Cincinnati, said his two sons bought the Bigfoot statue for him several years ago.
The 61-year-old said it started out as a practical joke but “Squashy” soon became part of the family, even being decorated at Christmas.
Spence said he received a call days after the theft from a friend who spotted the statue in a nearby open field.
A note found with Squashy poked fun at his weight, and was signed by “the body building bandits”.